Liam Quote O’ the Day: (just for shock value) Oh my GOD!
Happy Father’s Day to the best daddy and best driver in the world!
Cliff Notes Version of our UK Adventure: Last night we were in Brugges, dude, and decided to drive to France, perhaps to visit the West coast…By serendipity, found a Holiday Inn on the outskirts of Calais in a town called Coquelles. They had a pool. SOLD! They also were near what looked like a run-of-the-mill shopping mall with movie theaters. I had the idea of going to Madagascar. But when we got there, it was even better. Called Cite d’Europe, it was kind of like France’s answer to Epcot Center. The food court was a cornucopia of different European cuisines. We chose the French resto where Will had a filet with frites and I had an enourmous crepe. Liam was very well-behaved, considering he already knew we were going to the French Chuckie Cheese next. They had carousels, simulated race car games, bumper cars, air hockey, photo booths, and coke machines. We vowed to return the next day for breakfast, a little window-shopping, and more subjection to overpriced kiddie rides. Then I spotted the mall hours — they were CLOSED on Sunday. Simply foolish. On the way home, we kept passing the signs for the “Eurotunnel.” Intruiging. Could it BE that easy?
Sunday morning. Up for a morning swim in the pool. Spent mostly teaching Liam the Mickey Mouse Song (what few verses I knew) and Daddy reenacting “I am a Little Teapot,” with a twist…the part where Daddy plunges headfirst into the water. Violence….always a crowd pleaser. We decided to go for it — take the Eurotunnel Challenge. We drove up to the gate, bought the not cheap “toll” of 69 euros each way, answered sheepishly “Why yes, we’re coming back tonite. We just want to experience THE EUROTUNNEL.” Crazy Americans, they were probably thinking.
Will and I kept looking at each other withe these silly grins the whole 35 minutes we were on the train. WE’RE IN OUR CAR! OUR CAR ON A TRAIN! TRAVELING UNDER WATER! TO THE UK! WHERE WE’LL HAVE TO DRIVE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD! OH MY GOD!
Update: First let me say once again that Will is an amazing driver. No one else will ever make you feel so safe in a car. But he was nervous en route to Folkstone, understandably so (especially since I am a big fat chicken and don’t drive on expressways). So we made a pact — he’ll keep his eyes on the big blue signs that indicated “This way! Come on through! No need to fear for your life” and I would keep my eyes on the big blue signs that indicated “No entry! Halt and turn around you plebians that drive on the wrong side of the road! Death awaits.'’ We did pretty well and were cruising along on left side of the road. And then it happened. The first car came speeding along on their left side. Our first instinct was to do a squirrel-move and move to the right side of the road, that is, the wrong side. We sped up, we slowed down, we froze, we had eyes as big as saucers. We crapped our pants. Then the car — with the puzzled looking chap inside — just passed us without incident.