A Christmas Odyssey

This year we decided to spend Christmas in England and we invited ourselves to our neighbours who winter in Paris, before going on to friends in Surrey.  It meant driving up to Paris and then on through the tunnel.  We did the first stage on the 19th and would have had no problems except, about a mile from our destination, we had a 'coming together' on a roundabout !

Our souvenir of Paris.

Whilst in Paris we went to the Château Vaux-Le-Vicomte about 50 km to the south-east.  The
château was built by the Superintendant of Finances for Louis XIV.  Once the King had seen the
château, his Superintendant was imprisoned for corruption and Louis began building Versailles (he couldn't bare to think that someone had a better chateau than him). He confiscated furniture, plants, the Architect and the Garden Designer from Vaux.  What made our visit extra special were the Christmas decorations, both inside and out.  We began with a tour of the gardens on a golf buggy!

Once we went inside the château we were amazed at the number of elaborate decorations in room after room.

This is just some of the displays, but then we went outside and it was getting dark.

We went into the stables for the display of Carriages ... and even more decorations!!!

We left Paris on Saturday morning, went up to Calais, through the tunnel and on to our friends Paul and Jennifer.
Sunday we all went to Wisley (which pleased Sue), which was also decorated for Christmas.

Christmas eve we went out for a meal, which was interesting as, when we arrived at 7 pm, it was still full of customers from lunchtime who were in a state of inebriation, for example singing "Roll out the Barrel".
Christmas Day and Boxing Day passed in a flash of eating, drinking and laughter before we went to the Panto on Boxing Day afternoon ... Craig Revel-Horwood from Strictly!.... and it was "absolutely fab-u-lous darling".

An additional amusement at the Panto was the arrival next to us of 4 'elderly' people all dressed in Christmas jumpers and Father Christmas hats!

At the interval, a gentleman from the party passed us (on the way to the loo?) when Sue slipped and fell back into her chair.  We commented on the effect he had on women and he claimed that this hadn't happened for years!
The day after Boxing Day we left our friends and went up to see Betty and stayed with her until our return home on the Sunday.  We left her at 7.45 am and got home 10.30 at night, which meant that we could have a nice peaceful New Year's Eve (and early to bed).

And so, that was 2018 done and dusted, but who knows what 2019 will bring?????