Location:\u00a0Voray sur l\u2019Ognon to Calais<\/p>\n
High point: Steve remembering to pick his Mum up from Gare du Nord train station – the reunion we have all been waiting for!<\/p>\n
French point: Spot the landmark- Eiffel Tower, Concorde, Madeleine, Musee du Louvre.<\/p>\n
No point: The revelation that Coca Cola Light (ie Diet Coke in France) tastes better because it actually does have different ingredients!<\/p>\n
Ah, Paris in springtime. The sun is shining, the blossom trees are blooming, the tulips are trumpeting in honour of Martha\u2019s impending arrival. It\u2019s the homestretch now! One day to go!<\/p>\n
You see, some people like to walk around Paris, others take the Metro. Me, I prefer to call my mates Steve, Amy and the FTFE crew to pick me up in their FIRE ENGINE! After all, who drives a fire engine around the world for charity I ask you? Crazy kids!<\/p>\n
It was straight in the deep end for this Aussie sheila. After negotiating on foot the heavy Saturday afternoon traffic in front of the Eiffel Tower it was into the front passenger seat for me! Or should I say the navigation seat as the Tom Tom was placed in my hot little hands. The task, should I choose to accept it, was to navigate from the Eiffel Tower to the train station in plenty of time to pick up a very special guest from the Eurostar – Steve\u2019s mum! So no pressure then<\/p>\n
After all the predictable jibes from the boys in the back (women drivers, women map readers, Australia losing the Ashes\u2026) we settled in to enjoy our picturesque journey along the river Seine.<\/p>\n
It was like seeing Paris in fast forward, my tour guide skills in full force, pointing out landmarks as this was Amy\u2019s first time in Paris!<\/p>\n
After spotting the Concorde, Madeleine and the Louvre and some marvelous driving from the lovely Amy, (including the best reverse park of a fire engine I\u2019ve ever seen) we arrived at Gare du Nord. Phew. We made it. And we were early.<\/p>\n
Seated in a caf\u00e9 across the road from the station, some sustenance was needed whilst we waited for the special guest. \u00a0Nicoise salad for Amy and all the boys enjoying the same order of fromage sambos (that\u2019s Australian for sandwiches and french for cheese. \u00a0And they say Aussies aren\u2019t cultured!)<\/p>\n
Steve, James and Amy set off to the train station to make sure they were there in plenty of time to meet the special guest. \u00a0After 9 months, over 31,000 miles, 5 continents, 28 countries, 1 Guinness World record attempt and 100,000 pounds raised for 3 amazing charities in honour of Steve\u2019s Dad, it was going to be a Kleenex moment.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like a Jane Austen novel. \u00a0The part in Emma<\/em> when her and Mr Knightley finally get together at the end, but it\u2019s not actually written about so you don\u2019t know exactly what happens but you can imagine it was super emotional and an incredible moment. Reunion of the year. Ok, boys, back in the room now, all references to Jane Austen over.<\/p>\n Meeting Steve\u2019s Mum was lovely. She\u2019s just like your own mum \u2013 kind of a universal mum. Just before they were leaving, in true mum style she was asking \u2013 where are you staying in Paris, do you know where you\u2019re going? How are you going to get there? Bless her! There was also a serious discussion about Steve\u2019s hair. And no doubt about how proud she was about the journey!<\/p>\n So when people ask me \u2019Where\u2019s the best view of Paris?\u2019 From the top of the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe? From Concorde down the Champs Elysees and up to Madeleine? Along the Jardin des Tuileries to the Louvre? Guess again people \u2013 it\u2019s from inside a fire engine!<\/p>\n But not just any fire engine. One full of total goodness and inspirational people. A place where anything is possible. A place which makes life smile. And not just at the bad jokes from the boys in the back. \u00a0What an honour to have been on board for a moment. Thanks guys.<\/p>\n Special guest in tow, the FTFE homecoming team jumped back in the cabin to start the final leg of the journey. Paris to Calais and then home to London in the morning. I watched the big red truck drive into the distance and in the words of one of my favourite Aussie musicians, Darren Hanlon, thought ‘days like these don\u2019t have price tags\u2026’<\/p>\n Deb<\/p>\n PS \u2013 Don\u2019t you think Steve with all that hair looks like a young version of the Captain Snooze guy? Only Aussies will know that reference. Google it.<\/p>\n [flickr album=72157626367569529 num=30 size=Square]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Location:\u00a0Voray sur l\u2019Ognon to Calais High point: Steve remembering to pick his Mum up from Gare du Nord train station – the reunion we have all been waiting for! French point: Spot the landmark- Eiffel Tower, Concorde, Madeleine, Musee du Louvre. No point: The revelation that Coca Cola Light (ie Diet Coke in France) tastes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stage-9-valencia-to-london","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5696"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5853,"href":"http:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5696\/revisions\/5853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}