HOLA! Este es Español - por favor? Mi casa su casa? Por favor. Mui Bien.
That´s the extent of my Spanish..... only studied for two weeks at University before giving up... I know - I am a total embarrasment to myself.
Came to the gorgeous San Sebastian in Spain arriving about 8.00 last night. Now the Busabout people think Brett and I are an item so still stuck with him. Am really craving some girly company - I don´t think I can take the burping and farting much longer. Got put in the world's smallest hostel room (actually a pension in what we think is a bachelor pad). Brett had the top bunk, me the bottom and two sisters from London the double bed. There was about a foot of space around the double bed, and not much else. Showered and all went out for a lovely Paella dinner. Girls left on the bus first thing this morning, but that was on three hours sleep as we'd all gone out clubbing last night. Drinking very yummy Sangrias and feeling like everyones mother - -getting my bun pinched by the locals but they were all so young.... it was quite tedious.
San Sebastian is packed with tourists. There are two beaches which I went to today. Think it only got up to about 37C or so today, and the sun here is definately less harsh than back home. I put 45 on all over, and lay on the beach for a couple of hours this afternoon. Even so, I would never ever have gotten away with that in NZ - I didn't even go a little bit brown and my Siberian Suntan is starting to wear off! Everyone here is majory tanned but I can´t figure out why. Maybe it´s because they all shut down shop for four hours every afternoon and take their siesta on the beach? Great life huh? Can you imagine doing that back home?
Wandered around the ancient streets today and had a late lunch of Gazpacho and salad, and more sangria. :-)
Off to a Tapas bar with Whiny Brett now - we had to change rooms again this morning so it's just me and him again...
Saturday, August 09, 2003
Bordeaux
IT'S HOT!!!!
Bordeaux is hotter than Tours, and not much breeze as it is a little bit inland from the Ocean. Spent two days walking around the (quite pretty) town, cancelling my credit card which I'd managed to lose in Tours at the internet cafe, and then cooling off in the fountain in the middle of town. People were using it like a swimming pool. One guy even dived in with all his clothes on - shirt, jacket, tie, socks, shoes and trousers. People were dunking their dogs in it.
Had been placed in a room with an Aussie guy - Brett (seeing a pattern here? - Maybe God is trying to tell me something???). Anyway, he seemed perfectly ok, until I realised that he never says anything at all positive and whines a lot. Aaaaaaargh. But he did help me cancel my credit card, which involved, very simply, buying a phone card, finding a phone (easier said than done when all the phone booths turn to ovens and you need an air-conditioned one in order to keep your senses), and then jotting down some notes. Also, he is very handy for map-reading so I've been keeping him on. I suck at map-reading.
We didn't do any wine tours as we had heard that they were a bif of a rip-off. But we did buy some very cheap Bordeaux and drink it by the fountain. (Well, I drank it actually - Brett doesn't drink. Have you ever heard of an Aussie that doesn't drink? I think it's quite a bad sign....)
Ten facts about the French that I have discovered:
1) French people kiss. A lot.
2) French people are a million times more polite than the Brits and I don't care how many people disagree with me. They're all wrong.
3) French people address each other as Sir or Madame and are very formal (like the Japanese).
4) It is illegal to be fat in France.
5) It is illegal to be ugly in France.
6) French food is flipping fantastic and I want to learn how to make it.
7) It has, and probably always will, remain a total mystery to me how French women stay so good looking after popping out three perfect looking children, wear white all day and keep it white, and still manage to look like they could grace the cover of Vogue.
8) French people do not gain weight even after eating three pain-a-chocolat for breakfast, a brie and pate bagette for lunch and a three-course gourmet dinner followed by a gelato ice-cream. Unfortunately I do.
9) French Fries are not served with everything, as they are in most other countries.
10) I don't think I was ever French in a former life.
Was very glad to leave Bordeaux and the heat for Spain and staying by the ocean...
Bordeaux is hotter than Tours, and not much breeze as it is a little bit inland from the Ocean. Spent two days walking around the (quite pretty) town, cancelling my credit card which I'd managed to lose in Tours at the internet cafe, and then cooling off in the fountain in the middle of town. People were using it like a swimming pool. One guy even dived in with all his clothes on - shirt, jacket, tie, socks, shoes and trousers. People were dunking their dogs in it.
Had been placed in a room with an Aussie guy - Brett (seeing a pattern here? - Maybe God is trying to tell me something???). Anyway, he seemed perfectly ok, until I realised that he never says anything at all positive and whines a lot. Aaaaaaargh. But he did help me cancel my credit card, which involved, very simply, buying a phone card, finding a phone (easier said than done when all the phone booths turn to ovens and you need an air-conditioned one in order to keep your senses), and then jotting down some notes. Also, he is very handy for map-reading so I've been keeping him on. I suck at map-reading.
We didn't do any wine tours as we had heard that they were a bif of a rip-off. But we did buy some very cheap Bordeaux and drink it by the fountain. (Well, I drank it actually - Brett doesn't drink. Have you ever heard of an Aussie that doesn't drink? I think it's quite a bad sign....)
Ten facts about the French that I have discovered:
1) French people kiss. A lot.
2) French people are a million times more polite than the Brits and I don't care how many people disagree with me. They're all wrong.
3) French people address each other as Sir or Madame and are very formal (like the Japanese).
4) It is illegal to be fat in France.
5) It is illegal to be ugly in France.
6) French food is flipping fantastic and I want to learn how to make it.
7) It has, and probably always will, remain a total mystery to me how French women stay so good looking after popping out three perfect looking children, wear white all day and keep it white, and still manage to look like they could grace the cover of Vogue.
8) French people do not gain weight even after eating three pain-a-chocolat for breakfast, a brie and pate bagette for lunch and a three-course gourmet dinner followed by a gelato ice-cream. Unfortunately I do.
9) French Fries are not served with everything, as they are in most other countries.
10) I don't think I was ever French in a former life.
Was very glad to leave Bordeaux and the heat for Spain and staying by the ocean...
Thursday, August 07, 2003
Tours
Nealy missed the 8.00am bus as didn't hear my alarm clock go off at all! Must have completely crashed after that dreadful day yesterday. Thank God one of the guys in the dorm who was on the same bus as me woke me up, but not until 7.15 and it was a good 20 minute walk away to the hostel pick-up place. Made it in time though. If you miss a bus after pre-booking it, you have to wait 2 more days for the next bus and you can't book it - you have to go stand-by. If it's full, it's two more days (or of couse, get the train). So Jane, don't miss the bus ok? Was actaully quite glad to leave Paris for some French countryside. Straight to sleep on the bus however and missed the whole thing. Arrived in Tours about 1.00pm. Luxury! Room to myself in the hotel. Tours is quite pretty but not a lot to do apart from the Chateau tours. The quarters of the Old Town are very quaint and it is everything a small french village should be. Am glad I went there, as most people skip it. Saw the most beautiful gothic cathedral, and could quite happily have spent the afternoon in there as it was mercifully cool. They really knew how to build things back in the old medievil times.
Tours, if you can believe, was even hotter than Paris, and my room got up to 33C that evening. No fan or air-con but I think I am slowly aclimatising. I remember SE Asia was like this too and I did get used to it eventually, but after 7 years of daily air-conditioning in Tokyo the old sweat glands are getting a major work out. My skin looks great though!
Tourist Beaureu (sorry can't spell that word) was opposite my hotel and first thing next day, I decided to go to one chateau on my own in the morning before it got too hot, and then treat myself to a chateau tour for the afternoon, where at least you can sit in the air-conditioning for a bit and just listen to the guide. Chateau d'Amboise was very pretty - like a postcard. Perfect looking village surrounding the river. Got the train there and back on my own, (only just managing to make the 9.03 in time!), meeting a nice Spanish couple on the way. Got back in time for another supermarket lunch (ham, cheese, bagette, apricots, plums - all this yummy fresh fruit is so cheap!) and caught the tour for 1.10pm. 2 small mini-vans jam-packed with folks from all over the globe and 1 guide/translator who was driving the van behind us and talking into a microphone which was somehow connected to our van. Silly Italian couple sitting next to me who kept talking loudly over all the English so didn't catch a lot of it. Don't ya hate being a tourist sometimes?
They took us to the chateau's of Cheverny, Chombord and Fougeres. Fougeres had been ransacked during the French Revolution and it's huge cavernous rooms were basically empty. The home of Louis XIV and built about 1030 then added to over the years by various famous french aristocracy. English completely destroyed it during the 100 years war. The most impressive however was the privately owned Chombard, which had a lot of beautiful rooms, and still belonging to a family during from the 13th Century in the Loire Valley. They still kept hunting dogs on the ground, and the poor things were just baking in their pen. They kept climbing into their water fountain to cool off - quite a funny site. The grounds were the size of Central Park and no public allowed on them, so a lot of native animals (for the hunts). Trophy room packed wall to wall with deer antlers - horrible. How can someone shoot an animal like that?
The problem with all these chateau's is that it is so hard to imagine every-day life. I mean, I can imagine Marie Antoinnette, gracefully descending the white limestone carved spiral staircase, fan in hand and maids trailing behind, but what I just can't imagine, is Marie, naked in the morning, attempting to find her underwear, when there was absolutely no evidence of a closet anywhere! You know what I mean?
That evening, I broke the bank, and the diet, and had a lovely dinner in the Old Quarter of smoked salmon, roasted duck and fromage selection, followed by a fantastic chocolate mousse. So much for my diet ey?
Tours, if you can believe, was even hotter than Paris, and my room got up to 33C that evening. No fan or air-con but I think I am slowly aclimatising. I remember SE Asia was like this too and I did get used to it eventually, but after 7 years of daily air-conditioning in Tokyo the old sweat glands are getting a major work out. My skin looks great though!
Tourist Beaureu (sorry can't spell that word) was opposite my hotel and first thing next day, I decided to go to one chateau on my own in the morning before it got too hot, and then treat myself to a chateau tour for the afternoon, where at least you can sit in the air-conditioning for a bit and just listen to the guide. Chateau d'Amboise was very pretty - like a postcard. Perfect looking village surrounding the river. Got the train there and back on my own, (only just managing to make the 9.03 in time!), meeting a nice Spanish couple on the way. Got back in time for another supermarket lunch (ham, cheese, bagette, apricots, plums - all this yummy fresh fruit is so cheap!) and caught the tour for 1.10pm. 2 small mini-vans jam-packed with folks from all over the globe and 1 guide/translator who was driving the van behind us and talking into a microphone which was somehow connected to our van. Silly Italian couple sitting next to me who kept talking loudly over all the English so didn't catch a lot of it. Don't ya hate being a tourist sometimes?
They took us to the chateau's of Cheverny, Chombord and Fougeres. Fougeres had been ransacked during the French Revolution and it's huge cavernous rooms were basically empty. The home of Louis XIV and built about 1030 then added to over the years by various famous french aristocracy. English completely destroyed it during the 100 years war. The most impressive however was the privately owned Chombard, which had a lot of beautiful rooms, and still belonging to a family during from the 13th Century in the Loire Valley. They still kept hunting dogs on the ground, and the poor things were just baking in their pen. They kept climbing into their water fountain to cool off - quite a funny site. The grounds were the size of Central Park and no public allowed on them, so a lot of native animals (for the hunts). Trophy room packed wall to wall with deer antlers - horrible. How can someone shoot an animal like that?
The problem with all these chateau's is that it is so hard to imagine every-day life. I mean, I can imagine Marie Antoinnette, gracefully descending the white limestone carved spiral staircase, fan in hand and maids trailing behind, but what I just can't imagine, is Marie, naked in the morning, attempting to find her underwear, when there was absolutely no evidence of a closet anywhere! You know what I mean?
That evening, I broke the bank, and the diet, and had a lovely dinner in the Old Quarter of smoked salmon, roasted duck and fromage selection, followed by a fantastic chocolate mousse. So much for my diet ey?
Chatuau de Versailles in 40C heat and Sacre Cour
Had met another Aussie called Robert (he was a bit dopey but he reckoned he was an Optician but he quit 'cause he was bored), and the previous day we had decided to visit Versaille together. Met him for breakfast at 8.30 but I was still bone-tired and could have done with some more sleep). Disgusting dirty kitchen in the dingy basement of the hostel, stale bagettes and margerine and no plates and crappy coffee.
That was about the best thing about the whole day.
We then went to a supermarket to stock up on some sandwhich fillings for lunch and then proceeded to bumble our way around the metro system to Versaille, only to find that large chunks of it were closed for repairs, so we had to also get buses. As with London and Prague, I was feeling like the ball in a pin-ball machine - completely out of control but somehow out of sheer perseverance, still managing to eventually find the right hole.
We followed the hordes of tourists descending on the Palace and then joined the 300+ queue in the baking sun for an hour to buy tickets. The chateau was fairly good, but nowhere neat as magnigficent or well-mailnained as The State Hermitage in St. Petersburg. There were so many crowds (Saturday day-trippers?), that it turned into a very tiring afternoon. After paying double the entrance fee for the Gardens (because they said they would turn the fountains on later), we had a very yummy picnic lunch next to the sign saying 'do not sit on the grass', (loads of other Frenchies sitting there too). It was the only place in the park that was in the shade. Eventually got told to skedadle. (Is that a word?). Have you noticed I can't spell English OR French? I actually won a spelling bee competition when I was a kid and got on TV, but I guess you wouldn't believe that either. Well so anyway, another two hours cooking in the sun and we were ready to leave. Got back with much less hassle, and my grand plans to go to see the Moulin Rouge disintregrated as all I could manage was a walk up with hill to Sacre Cour with my bagette, cheese and pate, and watching the live shows till it got dark. Very cool aren't I? Spent the whole time fending off nasty leering French gits. Then a wander around Montmarche. Still can't spell French. Competely whacked after an entire day out at Versaille 40 degrees celcious can't spell that either in the shade and all I remember is being told we can't sit in the shade on the grass and getting whistle-blown off.
That was about the best thing about the whole day.
We then went to a supermarket to stock up on some sandwhich fillings for lunch and then proceeded to bumble our way around the metro system to Versaille, only to find that large chunks of it were closed for repairs, so we had to also get buses. As with London and Prague, I was feeling like the ball in a pin-ball machine - completely out of control but somehow out of sheer perseverance, still managing to eventually find the right hole.
We followed the hordes of tourists descending on the Palace and then joined the 300+ queue in the baking sun for an hour to buy tickets. The chateau was fairly good, but nowhere neat as magnigficent or well-mailnained as The State Hermitage in St. Petersburg. There were so many crowds (Saturday day-trippers?), that it turned into a very tiring afternoon. After paying double the entrance fee for the Gardens (because they said they would turn the fountains on later), we had a very yummy picnic lunch next to the sign saying 'do not sit on the grass', (loads of other Frenchies sitting there too). It was the only place in the park that was in the shade. Eventually got told to skedadle. (Is that a word?). Have you noticed I can't spell English OR French? I actually won a spelling bee competition when I was a kid and got on TV, but I guess you wouldn't believe that either. Well so anyway, another two hours cooking in the sun and we were ready to leave. Got back with much less hassle, and my grand plans to go to see the Moulin Rouge disintregrated as all I could manage was a walk up with hill to Sacre Cour with my bagette, cheese and pate, and watching the live shows till it got dark. Very cool aren't I? Spent the whole time fending off nasty leering French gits. Then a wander around Montmarche. Still can't spell French. Competely whacked after an entire day out at Versaille 40 degrees celcious can't spell that either in the shade and all I remember is being told we can't sit in the shade on the grass and getting whistle-blown off.
Paris
Said Goodbye to Tasha and James for the next three months. I will stay with them again when I return for a week in November. Was so great being able to spend so much time together. Found the Busabout departure hostel - for a full day's travel, all the buses leave the hostels at 8.00am. The bus was completely full. Uneventful trip to Dover and ferry across to Calias then back on the bus, where the whether immediately changed to very sunny and hot - at least 15C hotter than London. Gratefully, the coaches are all air-conditioned. Dozed off my hangover (had been out catching up with old friend from shool - Carolyn till late), arriving Paris just before 6.00pm. Mary, our guide on the coach, was brilliant. She was very positive about Paris, and gave us tons of tips on where to go and what to do, how to avoid the pick-pockets on the metro etc....
On the buses, we can book additional 'travel sectors' with the guide and they put them into their special hand-held computer and the bookings get uploaded straight away. I took advantage of this with Mary and booked all my sectors as far as Tangiers for the next two weeks, as it being the beginning of August, this is their busiest month. We can also book hostels for the same night on-board the coach, or through their website which is pretty useful if you haven't been that organised, (like me).
Even though I was completely whacked, I decided to do a bike tour of Paris that evening. Mary had highly recommended it, plus we got a good discount with her. "Mikes Bikes", run by Americans, was a pretty good outfit and you see loads of Paris with very little effort this way. Paris is quite flat, (apart from Montmarte and Sacre Cour - where my hostel was - loads of hills to climb with my backpack!). It is otherwise good for cycling. First, though, I had to get the meeting place at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, by 7pm. The new shoes I had bought in London the day before gave me a blister and the bus took ages to get to the other side of Paris. Eventually arrived 20 minutes late, hobbling over to join the large group, which had just finished their introduction. About 30 other tourists doing the tour, so we became an attraction in ourselves (felt a bit like I was doing Tour de France!). We biked through the Latin Quarter, past Notre Dame (which had been cleaned since I last saw it and only the tower was still black), around the Louvre, down the Champs Elysee and ended up at sunset doing a boat cruise and drinking cheap wine. Pretty good evening!
Got lost again on the way home as (of course) the nearest metro station turned out to be closed), and didn't get to bed till 2.00am. Exhausted. They make the Eiffel Tower sparkle for ten minutes every hour in the evening - very pretty so hope my photos turn out.
On the buses, we can book additional 'travel sectors' with the guide and they put them into their special hand-held computer and the bookings get uploaded straight away. I took advantage of this with Mary and booked all my sectors as far as Tangiers for the next two weeks, as it being the beginning of August, this is their busiest month. We can also book hostels for the same night on-board the coach, or through their website which is pretty useful if you haven't been that organised, (like me).
Even though I was completely whacked, I decided to do a bike tour of Paris that evening. Mary had highly recommended it, plus we got a good discount with her. "Mikes Bikes", run by Americans, was a pretty good outfit and you see loads of Paris with very little effort this way. Paris is quite flat, (apart from Montmarte and Sacre Cour - where my hostel was - loads of hills to climb with my backpack!). It is otherwise good for cycling. First, though, I had to get the meeting place at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, by 7pm. The new shoes I had bought in London the day before gave me a blister and the bus took ages to get to the other side of Paris. Eventually arrived 20 minutes late, hobbling over to join the large group, which had just finished their introduction. About 30 other tourists doing the tour, so we became an attraction in ourselves (felt a bit like I was doing Tour de France!). We biked through the Latin Quarter, past Notre Dame (which had been cleaned since I last saw it and only the tower was still black), around the Louvre, down the Champs Elysee and ended up at sunset doing a boat cruise and drinking cheap wine. Pretty good evening!
Got lost again on the way home as (of course) the nearest metro station turned out to be closed), and didn't get to bed till 2.00am. Exhausted. They make the Eiffel Tower sparkle for ten minutes every hour in the evening - very pretty so hope my photos turn out.