Last week I went on a shopping trip to Calais with my friends Carissa, Sarah, and Aimee. (Left to right in this photo.) The trip was organized through a coach tour company, Sunfun International. One of the pickup points for the tour bus was RAF Alconbury, which is a good two hours south of Harrogate. The pickup time was 4am! So, we decided to head down the night before and stay at the hotel on the base.

Aimee very kindly drove. After sorting a few logistical hiccups out, the four of us had dinner in Harrogate Tuesday night before heading to Alconbury. We ate at an Italian place called, "Est Est Est." It was a weeknight and early (for dining out here), so the place was nice and quiet.

Sarah wanted an amaretto sour. The waiter informed us they didn't have sour mix. The maitre'd came to our table and asked Sarah, "You want an amaretto sour?"

Sarah replied (to the effect), "You don't have sour mix though, right?"

The maitre'd said, "Sour mix is for bartenders that don't know what they're doing."

!

So we were curious to see how Sarah's amaretto sour (without sour mix) would turn out. When the drink did come, it was a different color than Sarah expected, but was otherwise pretty good. Sarah gave us a taste. I don't know what amaretto sours are supposed to taste like, but this seemed pretty good. A little while later, the maitre'd came back with a straw, stuck it in Sarah's drink, and put his finger on the end of the straw, extracting a taste. He said he wanted to see how it turned out. We all just sort of looked at each other. I couldn't believe he did that!

The food was pretty good. I ordered a glass of house white wine. I really am not a wine connoisseur, but I'm pretty sure I've had stronger water! :)

I had a nice time at dinner. If that was all the four of us had done, I would have been plenty happy! It was very enjoyable just to go out to eat somewhere nice, with friends.

After dinner, we made our way to Alconbury. We got checked in, and after a bit of confusion as to where our rooms were, got settled in. We really didn't get much rest. By the time we got to sleep, it was pretty late. The tv in the room next to the one Carissa and I shared was on all night, extremely loudly.

By 4am, we were out in front of the base, waiting for the bus. The day before, I made a pumpkin cream cheese bread for us to munch on as an early morning snack. It hit the spot, if I do say so! :)

We managed to doze a bit on our way to Dover, where we took the ferry across the English Channel. I hadn't realized I'd get to see the white cliffs of Dover on this trip. They were really amazing. I also didn't realize I'd get to take a ferry. (When JoAnna and I went to Paris in the summer, we took a train under the Channel. This was my first time on a big ferry.) We stayed on the bus, which drove right onto the ferry (which, by the way, was named "The Pride of Calais," of the P&O Ferries line). We got off the bus, and looked for a way out onto the deck of the ferry. We finally managed to get out on the deck as we were pulling away from the dock. The ferry was pretty big, and we were pretty high above the water. It was actually quite a sight, being able to get a view of the cliffs, at the break of dawn.

I wanted to take pictures, but discovered that I'd left my camera behind. Sarah and Aimee didn't bring cameras, so Carissa was our official photographer. (I will post more photos at some point - hopefully soon!)

It was really cold and windy, so after admiring the view for a while, we went inside. There was a pretty big duty free shop on the ferry, as well as plenty of lounges. There was a cafeteria, a coffee kiosk, and a slightly nicer sit-down restaurant. There was an arcade, and also a little kids area with table toys. All in all, not too shabby.

It was only about an hour's trip from Dover to Calais. The bus took us to a store called "Pidou." It reminded me of Smart & Final. When we'd checked into the hotel at Alconbury, the lady at the front desk had said, "Going on the booze cruise, eh?" That comment made sense once we saw how much alcohol people were buying at Pidou. Apparently people will buy a whole year's supply at once. The only thing I bought was a selection of beer from Belgium for Larry.

There was also a little store next door that sold Belgium chocolate.

From there we went to our destination, which turned out to simply be a mall. I had to laugh because honestly, there's a huge mall just down near Manchester that's just as nice. The prices weren't that much better in Calais, except that the main currency was the euro, rather than the pound (although, a lot of places did take pounds as well).

We had crepes for lunch, which was fun!

At the front of the mall was a huge, WalMart-esque store called, "Carrefour." We bought a few things there.

I had been hoping to finish my Christmas shopping, but didn't really find much that I liked, gift-wise.

The main point of the trip for me was more just have some kid-free time, and be with friends.

After a few hours of shopping, we were back on the bus. We actually had to go through immigration before getting back on the ferry. Now I have a Calais stamp in my passport!

Our return trip was on "The Pride of Burgundy." We went back up on the deck to watch the ferry turn around and leave. The sunset over the shore and the city was quite beautiful. (This photo was taken on our way out on the Burgundy.)

I would be remiss if I didn't mention our feisty and terribly politically incorrect Scottish bus driver! Sarah and Aimee were sitting in the front of the bus (Carissa and I were towards the back), so they told us about all the crazy comments the bus driver was making that the rest of the bus didn't hear.

We pretty much retraced our journey, dropping people off. Unfortunately, people forgot things on the bus, so we had to stop and wait for them to catch up to the bus, and get their things. That was annoying. 

We stopped for a bite for dinner once we were on the road towards Harrogate.

All in all, I'm glad we went and I had a very good time!