Wow! An entire month since our last post; bit pathetic really, sorry to anyone who has been checking to see if there are any updates! We promise to write a little more often, especially as we now have a few more trips planned (and not just talking about boring old Bedford).
Well,… At 3.00AM on Friday the 1st July, Philippa and I set off for our little trip to France and Spain. We had earlier decided that as it was only a week, it would be a great idea to drive to Luton airport and stay in long term parking. After driving around in circles for what seemed like hours looking for the cheap “off-site” (they weren’t kidding) parking, we finally found the place up some side road in the middle of nowhere. After checking the car in, we boarded an overcrowded shuttle bus to the airport which took another 15 minutes. Finally arriving at Luton airport, we checked in with minutes to spare and finally boarded our easyJet flight to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris!
Being a budget flight, the easyJet plane pretty well landed in a paddock and we had to catch yet another bus to the terminal. After passing through immigration and customs we flagged down what we believed was our shuttle bus (we were told by the shuttle bus company to flag down the “grey” mini bus); in broken “Frenglish”, we were informed that it wasn’t our bus – we flagged down another two shuttle busses until we found the correct one! Our driver was an interesting young guy, who had no problems having an argument on his mobile (in Hindi) and swerving in and out of lanes (in many respects, it was worse driving than in most of Asia). At one point he pointed out a young couple being rather “intimate”… driving down the freeway – he explained that sex while driving is one of the biggest causes of road accidents in France (second only to arguing on a mobile phone)!!. The trip into Paris took over two hours, apparently (according to our informative driver) we had arrived into Paris on the second day of their yearly sale! People were coming into Paris from all over France and the rest of Europe to get their hands on the latest designer labels – some up to 90% off! Wow, did we time our trip right!
The shuttle bus finally pulled up at our hotel, and we were immediately greeted by Liz, Kristy and Andy (some great mates from back home in Melbourne) who had only arrived moments earlier from Kuala Lumpa – Paris was the second stop on their big trip! After checking in and unpacking, we went on a walking mission to find some breakfast; it wasn’t long until we found a traditional Vietnamese (French) bakery where we were able to stuff ourselves on cheap baguettes and croissants. Next was Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris – the amazingly decadent Catholic church constructed in about 1345. Standing in this magnificent active church, with priceless artwork and furniture – it made me wonder if the congregation or even the vatican had ever considered selling it and moving to a warehouse out in the suburbs; the millions, if not billions they would get for the church could probably end world hunger! The rest of the afternoon involved tracking down the gelato shop recommended in the Lonely Planet guide to Paris, a long coffee in a cafe and than an afternoon snooze (we did wake up at 3.00AM)!
After waking up a little later in the evening than planned, we sussed out a local brasserie (pub) for dinner and than headed to the Musée du Louvre; unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to go inside as they were closing up, but we did get a look through some of the windows and spent a good hour or so admiring I.M. Pei’s famous pyramid in the courtyard. Some people were setting up equipment for a film shoot outside the front (although we have no idea what the film was, my guess is The da Vinci Code – as according to IMDB, they are currently filming and the Musée du Louvre is listed as one of the filming locations). After a short stroll back to the hotel, we all went strait to sleep – and trust me, I slept! These fit girls who have no concept of taxis wore me out!
Saturday morning found us up at the train station, attempting to organise train tickets for our onward journey(s); it is incredible how far you can get in France by only knowing the words Bonjour and Merci – we all found the French (in general) to be friendly if you at least attempted to speak in their language and the arrogance everyone has heard about seemed to only apply to the American tourists who refused to even try! Next we learnt to use the Paris Metro and made our way to Luxumburg Park for a nice, relaxing picnic lunch in the sun. Unfortunately lunch was cut short as a police officer scolded the girls for sitting on the grass and made them move along. I had already determined that sitting on the grass was a no-no and managed to avoid being reprimanded by sitting on a park bench on the path!
Somehow we made our way to The Arc de Triomphe and spent the next few hours navigating around the crowds trying to find a bargain in the expensive shops located in that area. The Arc de Triomphe was an impressive monument come round-about; however, other than a war memorial – I don’t know what purpose it stood (perhaps thats all it is)? Phew! The day was still young and we again navigated the Paris Metro to Sacre-Coeur, another impressive church – situated atop a mountain – offering the most incredible view over Paris. Although Sacre-Coeur is somewhat smaller than Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris, the charm and view more than made up for it’s size. Sitting on the grass outside the church, enjoying the view – an old friend from School, Sonja happened to walk past – it was all a little surreal that she happened to be at the same place at the same time as us on the other side of the world! It was really great to quickly catch up with her and hear all the gossip from back home – I didn’t feel so far from home at that point!
A gentle stroll down from this majestic holy place was the notorious Moulin Rouge, unsurprisingly – once the romance of the movie dissapears, the Moulin Rouge is just another strip club in a street full of sleaze. We obviously didn’t see the show (the girl’s wouldn’t let me), but it was fun to see the famous wind-mill. After taking obligatory photos in front of the wind-mill, we quickly made a bee-line to the closest Paris Metro station as we wanted to get out of that part of town ASAP and headed to the Eifel Tower. The Eifel Tower is amazing! Postcards and documentaries do not do it ANY justice whatsoever! Unfortunately we arrived just a few minutes too late (we spent too long eating dinner, and filling up water bottles in the toilet), and were not able to go up to see the view! Following a stroll along the Le Seine river, we caught another train back to the hotel and slept, and slept, and slept. Seriously, I don’t know where these girls got all there energy from.
On sunday morning, we made our way by train to Château de Versailles, which started it’s life as a ‘hunting lodge, a little gentleman’s chateau’ in 1623. The ‘hunting lodge’ soon grew into an incredible palace by 1770, with the most unbelievable gardens I have ever seen. We spent the majority of the afternoon enjoying the sun (with the rest of France) by the Grand Cannel which stretches for 7KMs. The Château de Versailles is by far the most opulent estate I have ever seen, anywhere and if you are ever getting to Paris – it is an absolute *must see*. After a bit of a mix up with trying to work out which train to catch, we eventually ended up back at the Eifel Tower for our second attempt to get up to the top; unfortunately we missed the deadline, AGAIN!! Perhaps next time I get to Paris I will get to see the top! Miserable, we made our way back to the Hotel (via a shop that sold crepes). Monday morning we tearily said good-bye to the girls, and made our way by train to the wine city Bordeaux.
Phew! What a busy couple of days! I had an absolute blast, and have decided that France is by far my favorite European country (so far). Philippa will fill you in (hopefully) tomorrow on the rest of our trip through Bordeaux, Biarritz and Spain!
