Saying goodbye in the drop off lane at the airport is the WORST. I was glad Neve left heading towards something she was excited about; I think that makes leaving and sending someone off easier. And, even though every day on this trip is a new experience, having something to distract me the day she left helped. We had tickets to see England vs Spain at Wembley Stadium that night!! I’m not the world’s biggest soccer fan, I like it, but on most days, unless I’m watching my kids play, I could take it or leave it.

But, watching any major sporting event live is usually a good time, and Mark and the girls were so excited it was hard not to get caught up in the moment. You’re probably thinking “Wait, didn’t they just drop Neve off at the airport in Paris?” Yes, yes we did. There was a mission to get to London at hand. We travelled the 266km from Paris to Calais, drove our car onto a train that then went under the English Channel (with us still in the car) and drove off the train in Folkstone, UK. From there its about 2 hours  to London depending on traffic. Believe it or not, that was cheaper than taking a ferry and so much faster.

We stayed in a hostel a few tube stops from Wembley. There were some interesting characters in the common area when we checked in. And I’m not talking about young, cool backpacker types. They were older vagabond types that were complaining to the front desk about each other….we had a good laugh afterwards about it and the girls have had some fun the last few weeks randomly imitating the conversation we overhead.

The tube wasn’t crowded and we found our way easily and got there in plenty of time. As we pulled up to the station, I thought Grace’s eyes were going to pop out of her head. It was wall to wall people on the platform, going up the stairs, and pouring out of the station. It was madness. We formed a single file train, with Mark and I at the front and back, and began to make our way through the crowd. Molly and I needed some England garb (Grace and Mark had England jerseys that they wore), so we stopped and bought a hat for Molly and a scarf for me. It was like being at an auction; a chaotic, unorganized auction. People were yelling at the guy selling and waving money in the air. But, everyone was friendly and having a good time. It was so much fun.

We all watched the World Cup this summer and the girls know a majority of the players for England. Grace’s favorite player, Harry Kane, was starting and we wanted to make sure we got to see them warm up. We followed the throngs of people toward the stadium. Along the way there were food trucks and beer stalls. Most people arrive early to eat and drink before the game starts. You can get beer in the stadium, but you can’t take it into the stands.

There were over 82,000 people at the game and soccer fans like to cheer. There wasn’t a time when there wasn’t a song or cheer being lead (except when people were yelling at the refs – I didn’t care a whole lot about the outcome, but I even yelled at the refs once or twice. There were some bad calls). I think the highlight for the girls was when England scored the first goal and Mark  was so excited he tossed an entire, huge box of popcorn into the air.

In the end England lost 2-1, with the tying goal being called off in the last 5 minutes. For a soccer game, it was very exciting.

We hung around for a bit afterward to take some photos of the stadium thinking we’d let the crowd disperse outside before heading to the tube station. Ha, it seemed everyone at the game had to catch a train or bus from the same spot. It was a sea of humanity stretching for 800 metres from the stadium to the station. We eventually made it to our train; they were not so spacious on the way back. We were jammed in like sardines. Mark actually almost got separated from us when the door of the train started closing as he was squishing in. He made it, but got a little banged up.

The night in the hostel was better than expected (we had 2 sets of bunkbeds again – score for the kids). But, I think Grace got some bed bug bites. Either that or she was allergic to something. Either way, its gone now and we were careful about where we stored our bags so no critters have followed us.

We drove back to Folkstone via Canterbury and Dover (we booked a late train) so we could spend some time checking these places out. Canterbury’s cathedral is under major renovation, so that was a bust, except for scoring a road map of Europe in a used bookstore for 1 GBP. But, Dover was a win. The cliffs, the castle, the ocean were all spectacular.

The train once again went under the English Channel with us in our car (reading and napping) and 35 minutes later we were back in Calais, France. We decided to stay in Calais and make our way to Bruges, Belgium the next day.

I wasn’t expecting much from Calais, but was pleasantly surprised. We need to have some dinner, so I looked on TripAdvisor for some recommended places that would be fast; we were tired and it was getting late. We tried a place called Le Tunisien on the beach. The shawarma and Tikka chicken sandwich were fantastic. The owner was making homemade doughnuts and he gave one to the kids to try. They weren’t like regular doughnuts, they were really light and almost hollow. Anyway, they were really good. He was so engaging with the girls and told us all about the area, his travels and his family. He asked all about our plans and gave us some tips about things to see and do. It was great for the girls to see the benefits of striking up conversations with people and being open and friendly. We decided to come back the next day to check out the beach in the daylight (but I think the real reason was because Mark wanted to eat there again).

Wow!! The beach was gorgeous. It’s really wide and has fine, soft white sand, and, of course, there are bunkers!! There are a few hundred small white beach house type buildings (the size of a shed) in three rows up and down the beach, close to the boardwalk, with the beach stretching out in front of them. It was a Monday morning so we were pretty much on our own, but we did run into a man who told us about the beach houses. They are all owned by locals. Some people use them to store chairs and umbrellas, others have BBQ’a and beach supplies and a few have cots or daybeds inside for having naps!

We walked back passed Le Tunisien, but it was closed on Monday’s (sorry Mark). The girls played in the park for a bit and then we piled in for the drive to Bruges. We stopped in Dunkirk on the way to see the beach and the memorial to the soldiers who died evacuating to Britain.

We were looking forward to Bruges, friends of ours spent some time there and told us how beautiful it was. Belgium is known for waffles, chocolate and beer. There was something there for all of us!!