Big Adventures, Little World

We didn’t have much planned in the morning so we slept in for a while before getting up and heading into the town for a look around and some food. We found a nice café and some delicious sandwiches, which seemed more like they were in bagels. I had one that had caramelised onions, brie, camembert as well as lettuce and tomato. It was so good.

We went back to the campsite, picked up a few things then headed off for Bel to go and jump from a helicopter. She had her skydive jump and was really excited about it. I went along as well to go watch and take some photos. It was really cool and I would have loved to do it as well, but just couldn’t afford to unfortunately. She said it was absolutely amazing, as did the others that did the jump as well, but she was completely freaked out at the same time, especially when hanging out of the helicopter with the only thing holding you there is the straps attaching you to the instructor.

Back at camp we had a couple of bottles of wine then had some dinner before going down to the bar to watch the World Cup final with all our new friends. It was a fun night, especially getting to hang out with some people from the other tours as well. We went off to our dorms to get some sleep and to be up nice and early to head off back to France, this time Avignon, the next day.

We were up bright and early to pack up our bags and tents, have another cold shower, have some breakfast and be on the road by 9AM. We made it off on time and started the long drive, with most people falling asleep, and The Da Vinci Code playing on the TV’s in the bus, which had been named Betsy. About 1PM we stopped for petrol, any snack we wanted and to have some lunch that had been prepared for us earlier. Again, our chef made some great food, and after a little stretch we were back on the bus for the second half of our trip to Switzerland.

Arriving in Switzerland was beautiful and truly had some of the most amazing views. We were staying at a campsite in a small town call Lauterbrunnen, as well as a couple of other groups from Topdeck as well which made for some great parties for the next two nights.  When we got to the campsite it was raining and we were given the option to upgrade to a dorm room instead of staying in the tents. Best 18 Swiss Francs I’ve ever spent. A group of us upgraded and it just made it that much easier not having to worry about setting up and taking down the tent. They also had hot showers available to us, and that was a great feeling after the cold showers of the past two days. The area of the campsite is so beautiful and very relaxing and serene. It is surrounded by mountains with waterfalls all coming down the sides of them straight into the clear stream. There was also another snow covered mountain as well, and although I didn’t get to go up and touch, I’ve now at least actually seen real snow.

We had a late dinner and then headed to the bar in the campsite with the other Topdeck groups where we had some local beer called Feldschlossen which wasn’t too bad at all. They also had this game in the bar where there was a big tree stump flat on the top and every stands around it and each had a nail hammered into it a little bit, and the object is to get it nailed in completely using what is like a big eyelet. It’s hard to explain so have a look at the photos. The first person to get it nailed all the way in gets a drink bought for them, by the last person to get it nailed in. I played and didn’t miss at all and after about 5 shots had it nailed in and won a free drink.

We were up nice and early and found out that the campsite didn’t have any hot water so cold showers it was. At least the weather was warm though so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I don’t think I would enjoy the tour if it was winter. After a breakfast which reminded me of my attempted omelette, we go going nice and early to get into Paris for a free day where we could go off and explore the city. Two and a half hours later we got there. The traffic in Paris is just insane, and no wonder, as it is a massive city with a population of about 12 million people.

Bel and I had planned out what we wanted to see while on the bus, and a lot of it was what we had seen the night before, but getting up close and actually going inside some of these places is so different to just driving by in the bus. There was three drop off points for people to start their day, the first one being at Mont Marte area which is home to the Sacré Cœur, some great views of the city and the famous Moulin Rouge. Being that this was a bit out of the city we stayed on the bus and took a couple of photos of the Moulin Rouge and kept going to the next drop off point, which was the Place De L`Opera, which is where the Phantom of the Opera is from. We didn’t get to go inside and see the Phantom, but we did get out and take some photos and have a look at the building. It’s such a big building and has some statues of some famous composers out the front as well as some other statues on top of the building made of pure gold. The building has so much gold all over it, as do so many of the buildings throughout the city. Truly amazing and would be worth an absolute fortune. We got back on the bus to head to the final drop off point, the Place De La Concorde.

Our long day of walking began from there, as we made our way down through Tuilleries Gardens, and a fair of some kind that was going on, although we weren’t really sure why, but possibly for Bastille Day, which was coming up next week. The garden is so big, full of statues, and used to house the home of Marie Antoinette, until it was stormed by the Parisians and destroyed, with Marie Antoinette captured and beheaded. At the end of the garden is the Arc De Triomphe Du Carrousel, which is a smaller version of the Arc De Triomphe and can fit under the arch of the bigger version. It also runs in a direct straight line all the way down to the Arc De Triomphe heading through the Place De La Concorde.

From here we had reached The Louvre, and made our way down through the big glass pyramid, bought a ticket to get in, and made our way through the Denon wing of the museum so we could go and see the Mona Lisa. While we could have spent hours there looking at the artwork, over half a million pieces we are told, we weren’t really sure what we were looking at most of the time, and all the descriptions were in French which made it a bit hard to know. So we checked out the Mona Lisa, along with a few hundred other people. The Louvre is such a busy place and makes it that much harder to look around, so after we had seen the Mona Lisa we made our way out of the Louvre, where we saw a few army men just walking around casually with machine guns. Such a strange thing to see, but I’m sure they are used to it over here, where we have nothing like that at home.

We walked all the way to Notre Dame which is such an amazing and beautiful building from the outside, but looks so different when you actually get inside the building. The thing that amazed us the most was that from the inside it is full of some of the most beautiful stained glass windows I have seen, but then from the outside all you see is dark grey/black colour so you wouldn’t even know without going inside. It also had the first ever gargoyles on the building which were used to cover up the drain pipes, but they looked more like a cheetah coming out of the building.

We started another long trek all the way down the river Siene and to the Musee De L`Armee which holds the sarcophagus of Napoleon, but was buried outside of the city originally, ad was moved there after 19 years of being buried. Along with the museum there is also the Hotel Des Invalides, which was the last building the Germans had held during an invasion of France, until it was stormed by the French people, and til this day you can still see the bullet holes in the building from the French running at it and shooting at it to take it back from the Germans.

We made our way to the Champs Elysees after that, looking for somewhere to try frogs legs and escargot (snails), but unfortunately no really had frogs legs and only a few places had escargot but they were so expensive being that it was along the Champs Elysees. We kept walking down to the Arc De Triomphe and the crazy roundabout, which was a lot busier than the night before, and everyone still managed to make their way around it somehow.

By this time we were starting to get hot and tired, but we managed to find a little café to sit down in, have a drink, and they even had some escargot for us to try. We thought it was a bit strange, as they came out still in their shells, but we had to at least try them. They didn’t taste too bad, they were done with garlic and parsley, but were a bit chewy and had a bit of a grassy taste when you would eat them. I don’t think I would choose to eat them, but am glad that I tried them. It was disappointing that we didn’t find anywhere to try frog’s legs, but that just gives me a reason to go back again, as there is so much to see and it really is such a beautiful city, although I don’t think I would ever want to live there, but it is definitely a great place to visit.

Even though we were so tired from all the walking we had done, we pressed on as we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. We wanted to climb all the way to the top, but the line for it was probably about 4 hours long, whereas we had about 2 hours left before we had to meet the rest of the group, and we didn’t really want to wait that long anyway. So we found the line for going to the second level, rather than the top, which we only waited in for about 10 minutes, with the only trade off being that you had to climb the stairs yourself rather than get an escalator. I think this was much better anyway, as being stuck in the elevator with about 40 other people would have been disgustingly hot, and also, you get some much better views as you make your own way up the stairs. We got to the first level, which was so high up itself, and had a look around while up there, and then pressed on up the next lot of stairs. I have no idea how many stairs we climbed but they seemed to just keep going on and on. By the time we reached the top we were so worn out, but it was most certainly worth it as the views were incredible. You could see out so far across the city and it just went further and further out, and it is such a big city in width and the buildings size. It seems that just about every building is about 3 stories high, and most of it is all of similar height which makes it look strange but really wonderful. Although we didn’t get to go all the way to the top, I don’t think that it would have been that different in views from there, as even the second level is so high up you can see out over most of Paris. It would have been nice to be able to say I had been to the top of the Eiffel Tower however, but again, just another reason to come back.

We had some time before we had to meet the rest of the group so we went and lay on the grass of the Champs De Mars, which is right next to the Eiffel Tower and you can just lay there and look up at it. I didn’t realise it was as big as it was until being underneath it and looking at it from right beside it. It truly is such a spectacular building and I am so glad that I have seen it, though I am sure there will be so many other things I say the same thing about.

We went off to find our group as we were meeting in the Champs De Mars for a picnic and views of the Eiffel Tower. The tour guides and chefs had spent the day preparing our picnic, all we had to bring were the drinks, so we had picked up a couple of bottles of red wine, French of course, and sat down to a great meal and a few glasses (or in our case, plastic cups) of wine. The tour guides had told us to be discreet with the drinks as it is now illegal to drink In the Champs De Mars, where previously it wasn’t. For our picnic, we again had some escargot, but they didn’t really taste any different to the ones we had had earlier in the day. The picnic was such an amazing thing to do, and I think anyone would enjoy it.

The final thing for the day we had to do was a riverboat cruise down the Siene, with the second bottle of wine to finish off. It was nice just to sit down and cruise down the river with a few plastics of wine, again being a bit discreet about it, as apparently it is frowned upon, but many people still seem to do it. The cruise went for about an hour and a half and was interesting though we weren’t really paying attention to the guided tour coming through the speakers as it was in about 7 different languages and by the time they went through them all you had usually missed what they were talking about. We just sat and took it all in and drank and chatted. It was a really good end to the day. We then just had to make a stop off to pick up the rest of the group, who had gone to a Cabaret show. We had a bit of time to kill before they finished so we stopped off and had a beer and met a few other people on a different TopDeck tour who were really cool, and who I think will be at the same place we are staying in Switzerland, so hopefully will be able to catch up with them for a few more drinks.

Waking up at 4 in the morning isn’t fun, but for the end reward it was definitely worth it. We made our way from home bright and early and got to the hotel in Central London just before 6:30 before we headed off to catch the ferry to France. There wasn’t too much to see during the drive but as we got to the ferry we came up to the White Hills of Dover, although didn’t really have the best view because there was so much fog. By the time we left on the ferry at 10:30 the fog had cleared up considerably though and we got some great views as we sailed off to Calais in France.

Once we arrived in France we got on to our bus, and started the drive to our campsite in Paris. It was a long drive to get to Paris, and once we reached the campsite we were still a bit outside the city so hadn’t really realised how amazing the city truly is. We got our tents setup and had some dinner made by our on road chef and I was surprised by how good the food was. I look forward to some of the other things that he cooks us through the trip. After we finished up dinner we were taken into the heart of the city for a driving tour on the bus.

We saw some pretty amazing things on the driving tour and our tour guide gave us some information about the things as we went as well. Some of the history of the country just blows my mind. It just doesn’t compare at all to Australia. Most of the buildings in Paris are older than the whole country of Australia! As we drove off it was still light outside by soon the sun was setting and we found out why Paris is called the City of Lights. Everything is lit up and it just looks beautiful. Even all the old buildings full of history are all lit up and provide some really spectacular sights.

Our tour started as we drove down the Rue De Rivoli, the second most famous street in Paris which is full of shopping all along there, but so expensive. Some of the stores even require an appointment to go in them.  As we drove a long we saw some amazing sights like Musee Du Louvre (The Louvre), Palais Royal (Royal Palace), Jardin Des Tuilleries (Tuilleries Gardens) and the Place De La Concorde where beheadings used to take place and the streets ran with blood. We kept driving along and onto the most famous street in Paris, The Champs Elysees. Again which is full of ridiculously expensive shops but some really amazing buildings as well. Sometimes the Champs Elysees is known as the street of rubies and diamonds, because looking down it from Place De La Concorde all you can see at night is the brake lights from all the cars on one side and the headlights from all the cars on the other side. It really does look like it as well, and is quite a bizarre thing to see. As we got to the end, there is the Arc De Triomphe, which was ordered to be built by Napoleon so that his troops could walk under arches as they returned home from a battle that they had won. It is also surround by the most dangerous roundabout in the world, which has 10 lanes with no lines marked and 12 exits, but somehow people seem to navigate their way around it with ease.

Our driving tour kept going to the highlight of the night which was no doubt the Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower) which was light up completely and is really one of the most spectacular sights I have ever seen. We parked illegally out the front so we could all get out and take and few photos, as well as get harassed by gypsy folk trying to sell you crap. In the space of 5 minutes we got asked about 3 times if we wanted to buy things. Luckily our tour guide had warned us that they are most likely trying to set you up to pick your pocket rather than actually sell you things, that’s just a bonus for them. We got back on the bus and as we drove off the sparkling of the tower began, which happens on the hour at night for about 10 minutes. It looks really cool but kind of takes away from the tower itself as the all you see is the sparkling and don’t really see the tower itself. We continued our drive to start heading back to the camp and we drove down by the river Siene, and passed Notre Dame, but unfortunately saw no hunchback. We kept going and eventually made it back to the camp at about midnight. It had been a long day and all I wanted to do was get some sleep, so we crawled into the tent and got some much needed rest. That was until I woke up to the sound of pouring rain, which was a bit of a shock considering the heat during the day. The tent wasn’t leaking at all, so I fell back to sleep until morning, ready for another full on day.

Not too much has happened since the last time I wrote to you all. Mostly just working with the intention of saving as much as I can to pay for all my traveling I want to do, but here is the breakdown of the last few weeks…

I started working at a place called CharityShare doing IT support, and while it has been quite boring, it hasn’t been too hard or boring, and it’s allowing me to go off traveling and see the world, which is the main reason for coming over here.

So after 5 weeks of working there I ended my contract and prepared myself for Bel’s (not sister Bel) arrival and our imminent departure on our camping bus tour through some of the most famous places in Europe. With so much to look forward to, and so many more adventures to come I am filled with excitement, and it seems as though now my travels are really starting, as working day in and day out just seems like normal life, even if it is in such a different city.

The World Cup has been huge over here, but all of a sudden now that England are out, no one really seems to care anymore. Although that can be said for me as well now that the Aussies are out. We watched the Aussie games and a few different pubs, and luckily didn’t have to work during any of them. First game we saw at this little pub in Clapham, which had a beer garden about 4 times the size of the pub. The next game we watched at the Wimbledon Walkabout, which is an Aussie themed pub where mainly Aussies hang out. The last game I went out to Brixton and caught up with Jimmy where we went to one of his friends house and watched the game and Australia cruelly bundled out of the tournament, but was still a good night.

We’ve also had the next of our visitors in Kate’s friend Casey who has been staying with us. He was going to be here for a couple of weeks but has since had his flight changed and will staying with us for another couple of weeks. Having 4 people in the house hasn’t been too bad at all, will be insteresting to see how we go if we have a couple more staying too!

My Auntie Pam and Uncle Warren had been on a river cruise tour through Europe and spent a few days in London, so one night after work I made my way to their hotel in Westminster. This also gave me a chance to see some of London’s biggest landmarks up close, for as soon as I left the station, there right in front of me was Big Ben, then out behind for what seemed like miles was the House of Parliament. These building are huge and it is just amazing to walk along and admiring these buildings. Not only that though there are so many other building in the area that are of a similar style. It is just amazing and I am sure I could spend a whole day there walking around and just looking at everything.

After meeting up with Pam & Warren, we went to have dinner at a nice little place not far from their hotel that they had walked by earlier in the day. The place was called ‘The Loose Box’ and they were having a BBQ night. Three Australian’s in London sitting down to have a BBQ, at least the beer and wine wasn’t from Australia! We sat down in the front garden not far from the BBQ and the smell of the cooking meat was great. The sight of a couple of burgers that came out to the table next to us was too much to resist so we all ordered the burger. It didn’t disappoint either, it was really delicious and left me feeling completely full. After dinner and a couple of drinks it was time for us to part ways, but was great to catch up, the last 3 places seeing them now being, Fiji, Adelaide and London in true globetrotting style.

I also got out to an art exhibition, called The Modern Toss London Museum of Urban Shit-Naks Exhibition. It was very funny and I wanted to buy some of the prints but couldn’t afford it. Was really cool to heck it out though. You can see some of their work here: http://www.moderntoss.com

That’s about all for now as I head off on the big European tour in 2 days time. Will try to send out an email or two during the trip but no promises.