Paris....the city of lights, love and a whole load more

Almost two months since my last blog! I'd better quickly bring you up to speed with what's been happening lately. Im living with Hazel and Dave (Jane's aunty and uncle), their daughter Becky and dog Quiddy in their humble abode at 32 Dorset Road, Wimbledon, London. They have been such the best people in taking me in and making me feel like one of the family. Ive been lucky enough to score a job working at their pest control / tree surgery business where i have been for the past 2 months. Earning pound is much better than spending it!! Anyways, the job is real interesting 'coz i get to spend alot of the time driving around London and seeing the sights and sounds and im learning a few new things also; like types of trees, methods of pruning them, how to make a good old proper english tea, plus a whole raft of other things. Ive been to the Shakespeare Globe to watch Trolius and Cressida, St Paul's Cathedral, Hyde Park, Speakers Corner, Seen the Olympic Village being built, the McLaren F1 Technology Centre, participated in a Ceilidh dance, a murder mystery party, learnt how to play snooker.....the list does go on but im having a ball and i'd like to thank Haze and Dave for their kind generosity and love!!

Anyway...Paris.... i thought it was time to hit some of Europe as its so amazingly close so booked a Eurostar while the sun and warm weather is around and departed from London on the 22nd of September. i managed to convince Becks to come with me for the week and be my personal guide and we've had a ball since. Waking up at 4:30am on Tuesday morning to catch the tube in to town wasn't the best part of the trip but, well, essential i guess. The train stations are so massive and thousands of people moving about going from place to place - they are literally like underground villages. We caught the Eurostar - a very high speed train which took us under the English Channel (which actually didn't take long at all). We arrived in paris, manouvered around Gare du Nord station, and made our way to the hostel not too far away.

Being 10:30am we dropped our bags and headed out in the hot sun to a place called the Sacre Couer - a massive Cathedral atop Montmarte Hill just a hop, skip and jump away. Wow!! The coble paved paths leading to the 234 steps up towards the front door is a magnificent climb but the view of the entire south of Paris was a true spectacle. In fact, in the six days we had visited the hill 4 times.

After a looksie inside the church we ventured around the arty streets of Montmarte and got to see the famous Moulin Rouge building. Our two dorm mates, an Oz couple, went to the show and had an absolute ball...i think he did more than her for some reason. On the second day the four of us walked into the centre of town about an hour away and did a bicycle tour of the city. It was such good fun and i would recommend touring a city like this coz you get to check out the main attractions and where they are and then head back for a closer look. Anyway, the tour took us past Notre Damm, along the river Seine, under the Eiffel Tower (actually seeing it up close is such a buzz and something everyone should do in their lifetime) and to the Lourve Museum to name the main highlights. We later walked back to the Eiffel Tower and sat nearby for a good couple of hours. It is surrounded by the river and green spaces and thousands of people can be seen picknicking, lining up to go to the top and flashing their cameras. We later went to the top via a lift and got to the top just in time to see the sun disappear in the horizon. What a remarkable view of the city but to be there for a sunset was quite stunning. Hoardes of people were around on what was a relatively small platform but even more waiting to come up. at about 9:30pm we ventured down and on our walk home we stopped on one of the nearby bridges for a lovely view of the tower sparkling - as it does for a couple of minutes on the hour.

The next day was set aside for Notre Damm and the Lourve Museum. Notre Damm was pretty impressive. Its incredible old and sits in a prime spot along the river. A massive Cathedral in all its beauty with stained glass windows...just everything so old that its amazing how its in pristine condition after all these years. The Louvre Museum is famous for housing amongst 40,000 pieces the Mona Lisa. We entered via a secret entrance with no one in line and missed the 100m line into the main entrance...huh...local knowledge. If it werent for the massive crowd of people surrounding the Mona Lisa from a distance it would be easy to miss. It was good to see but there was plenty of other amazing art and sculptures in my eyes just as good. The guide books say you need about two days to see the lot but after a couple of hours we gave up in search of a beer.

That night we walked the streets (Paris during day is gorgeous but at night is just pure beauty-and i now know why its the city of love and lights!) and then went on a river cruise hoping to time it right so that we were under the Eiffel Tower on the hour to see it sparkling. Well it wasnt timed quite right but none the less we saw it shine.

Becks and I went to Disneyland Paris on the Friday. We got up early and hit the road so that we could make the most of the day. Joe (Hazel and Dave´s son) works for Disney and gave us a free pass each but..and heres the but..i found out that morning that i had left it in london. Pretty gutted about leaving it behind i forked out 50 euros for the entrance fee, still worth it in my eyes. The sun was bright and hot and the park was filled with thousands of families. I was almost the most excited person there as we rushed from line to line and gave the rides a go. A bit like Movieworld in Brisbane it had all the Disney characters and the rides were themed to some of the famous shows, such as Buzz Lightyear. We went on a couple of the rollercoasters (Kim youd be proud that your brother is a bit more brave these days) and looped this way and that at high speeds. at the end of the day we ventured up to Montmarte Hill yet again for a sunset with a bottle of 2 euro red wine. we sat and marvelled as musicians played into the night.

On the Saturday Becks and I went to the Arch de Triumph - the famous roundabout with no marking or as it appeared no road rules. Apparently a crash occurs every 30 minutes and i was waiting in anticipation...but nothing much happened. We went through the underpass and popped up in the middle. It marks the point where 12 roads meet so you can imagine the chaos. We then walked via a fresh food market where we got some goats cheese, baguette, salami and tomatoes to go with our red wine and had a picnic in the park with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Wow- another thing that everyone should do in their lifetime! A beautiful backdrop it seemed like everyone in Paris was there that day.

The next morning Becks went home and i left Paris on a train headed to Bordeaux. Paris was amazing and a true highlight of my five months away but like all places it has its ´not so good bits´. It was pretty dirty and smelt of urine in places and had a lot of homeless and beggers.

I arrived in Bordeaux with not the highest of expectations after talking to a couple of people. I found my youth hostel which was a 10 minute walk from the station by chance after i couldn´t find the info office and get a map. the hostel was in a rough part of town and was situated next to a YMCA and rock music school so there were alot of French youths around and making noise at night...am i getting old? But i shared a dorm with an Italian/Brazilian and an English guy. The best thing about hostels is meeting fellow travellers and getting tips of them. I went for a walk into the main town centre which is lined with narrow lanes and tall old buildings. The river disects the city in two and was a lovely place to walk along. That night i watched some French football on tv at the hostel and chatted to a couple of people after eating my microwaved lasagne...sorry Dad and Jane. The next day i went on the little tourist train on a tour around the city and then rented a bicycle in the aftenoon to explore it more. A highlight was walking 231 narrow spiral stairs to the top of the tower with a great view of the city and exploring the 900 year old Cathedral wight next door. A couple of the parks were also very nice to just relax in. That night i talked to an ozzie girl for a couple of hours and shared stories and tips...she had been to alot of places around the world and seems to meet hundreds of people so that was also reassuring for me.

The next morning i headed further south to Biarritz by train. Train is definitely the best way to travel however it is more expensive that bussing it. I arrived in Bayonne (8km from biarritz), jumped on a local bus and travelled the short distance to the nearby coastal and surfing paradise. I walked to the hostel following the not so great google map that took me to a dead end. I found it close by tucked at the end of a rural road ad surrounded by a lake and lovely bush walks. Being quite early in the morning (it was dark when i left Bordeaux) i again dumped my stuff and caught the bus back into the main town centre where i had lunch in a park. i sat on the beach and later caught another tourist train around the main highlights. I opted to go to the sea museum (a highlight in my guide book) but everything was in French which kind of defeated the purpose of learning about marine life. Feeding of the seals on its rooftop was fun to watch though. The museum is right on the coastline and had a great view of the Atlantic sea - am i really on the other side of the world? It said at the top of the Eiffel Tower that Wellington was 18000kms away! I went ona bit of a walk around the coast which was very beautiful before laxing in a pub with a pint. The dum thing is that everyone smaokes and unlike in NZ they can smoke in restaurants and pubs still.

I cooked up some dinner at the hostel and got chatting to another Oz chick, Lauren, who plans to travel a similar route to me. We were joined by Charlie from England who just arrived in France for a 7 month teaching placement and Tom, an American from OC and who is a keen surfer. We had a good old chat before arranging to hang out at the beach for the next day. The beach was a short walk away and the water was surprisingly warm, and my first sea experience in France. Tom surfed the waves and i was tempted to give it a go but didnt get around to it. I had swallowed so much water by that time anyway. After a couple of hours of attempting to get a tan we walked along the coast into the town. The three of us had lunch at a local Frence cafe, Lauren had the most amazing salad that i was incredible jealous of. We waled around the coast some more towards the lighthouse which too had a great view of the sea and south towards the town.

That night the four of us took 6 bottles of red wine down to the lakeside where we chilled long into the night. The next morning i wasnt feeling the best but it was time to travel to Spain (another new country just like that). Lauren had decided to come with me as she had a couple of days free which was great coz its fun to travel with someone. The train was about 30 minutes late but soon arrived for the short trip to the border. We got off at Hendaye and caught a tram across the border and to San Sebastian, another little coastal town which was so gorgeous. There are no border checks but a couple of kitted out and fierce looking Spanish guards boarded our carriage. Spain is cleaner but i have been disappointed by the large amount of graffiti. San Sebastian is surrounded by the coast and has a river running through it which set it up to be very pictureresque. I couldnt believe that i was in another new country, the 11th country ive visited. I took Spanish lessons last year in waiting for this moment but not practicing it in NZ has lead me to forgetting most of it. Anyway, we arrived at about 2pm and it was noticeable quiet, perhaps everyone was having their siesta. A lot of the shops were closed, even the tourist information centre, bad timing. Well we found out hostel, Olgas Place, right near the beach. It was so homely and packed with other travellers (mainly ozzies). Lauren and I shared a massive room with two French Canadians. We dumped our stuff and walked back through the town and around the coast to the furnicular-a tram that took us up the top of a hill overlooking the city. Another perfect view we met two of Laurens friends from Sydney who are also travelling around. We sat as i sipped a sprite (Dave - sprite in Spain isnt as nice as elsewhere) and they caught up. We made plans to meet up at one of the many tapas bars in the old town later that night. It was our first tapas experience and if youre not sure it goes something like this. You walk into a bar, point to one of the delicately made food items and get a drink. You keep eating until you are full or want to go next door, say how many you ate and pay. Such a good way of eating and spending a night i cant quite figure out how it hasnt clicked on to the rest of the world yet!? So we went to a few different places trying all these different bite size snacks. I also tried coke and red wine, spanish cider and sangria - all very nice. People dont eat until late around here so it meant that we didnt finish eating until about 1130pm - but it was incredibly fun. I even had some calamari.

The next day (yesterday-Friday) we met even more Ozzies and laxed out on the beach and walked to the top of a hill where stood a statue of Jesus. Another great view. That night a whole lot of us chilled out on the balcony with a view of the beach before hitting a bar that gives you sambuca shots with every drink you buy-how convenient. This morning i caught a 6 hour bus south to the capital Madrid. The drive was ok and surprisingly i slept for most of it (some sort of effect from the night before). The drive was a lot like the dessert road in NZ. Arriving in Madrid i worked out the right metro route to get to my hostel (which was pretty simple and less confusing than i was at first about Londons). The hostel, Mucho Madrid, is on the seventh floor of a building that edges what must be one of the main streets in the city, Gran Via. Theres an amazing park at the end of the street which i walked around this afternoon.

Im here for three nights and have a few things up my sleeve so i promise to let you know next time. Adios!