Backpashing Europe

22 Jan

I am back in beautiful Paris _ co,plete with strange keyboard configurations!

We decided on a whim to come here from Madrid on an overnight bus......sure; it got us here, but 16 hours on a bus qlmost completely full of skanky and smelly (or are the two mutually inexclusive?) men is not recommended.

Flicking through my trave guide we found a place on Rue de Rivoli, which is where the Louvre is; and connects onto the Champs Elysées and Arc de Triomphe. It is about as central you can get and is super value. We can see the Hotel de Ville from the window to our room. There is also a gorgeous carousel there and an ice_skating rink. Lots of streetside vendors selling crepes too....banana and nutella heaven. The night we got here we visited Centre Pompidou, a zanily designed building equipped with colourful pipes, a brilliant modern art museum and shops and restaurants.

Next day we visited the catacombs where some 6 million Parisiens were buried after the cemeteries became overcrowded. It is truly bizarre walking through corridor after corridor of bones and skulls! Also visited Saint Chapelle, an incredibly beautiful stained glass window rooved church. wandered up past Louvre; onto Champs Elysees; Notre Dame, and the island on which it is situated and visited the Australia shop where they sell vegemite and cherry ripe bars.

Spent Saturday in Brussels - contrary to what i had been told, it is auite a beautiful city but it rained most of the day which was a pain in the butt!

Sunday I was back in Paris....visited Hotel des Invalides which houses the French army museum and is adjoined to the over the top tomb of Napoleon in the Eglise de Dome. We came across the sewer museum but it was closed!

Today we went up to a huge big market place just north of Monmartre. It was full of interesting clothes and a fantastic antiques section but it is in one of the seedier parts of town and was pretty shabby. This qfternoon I wandered through the passages of the Right Bank - all the old 19th century shopping arcqdes with vintqge clothes; antique shops, old postcards and Toulouse-Lautrec posters, and lots of sweet little cafes. ALso wandered about Royal Palace gardens and saw the room where the revolutionary plans were born.

Running out of time.

Tomorrow is more sightseeing; then on Wed I am off to Basque country to have fun with the ETA separatists.

CIao

Love Belinda

20 December 2001

Bonjour

Am now back in France. At present I'm in Languedoc-Rousillion in the city of Nimes. It is quite a nice place but the hostel is a little quiet at the moment... the guy at reception told me a group of schoolies are arriving ce soir so thankfully i am leaving tomorrow. Apart from about 3 people, everyone speaks French and not much English! I think my french is getting slightly better though. A lady on the train today informed me that I spoke french very well. Hmmm...very kind she was.

I left Switzerland on Saturday and it was something crazy like -15!! All of Western Europe seems to be suffering from a cold snap at the moment though - it has even been snowing in Provence. One of the girls I am staying with said that on Friday the whole town basically closed down because of the cold and snow. It is getting a little warmer though and i am optimistic that Spain will be HOT - ok well relatively so.

I woke up Saturday with virtually no voice......a combination of aphonia, diplophonia, pitch and phonation breaks (for all you speechies out there)...mum is certain I'm borderline pneumoniac but it's not that bad. Hey but if I do get really sick, I will make sure you all have my address so you can send lots of flozers. Everyone at the hostel has been laughing at me cause i sound like a frog... but i am in France so that suits! I learnt a new word too.... gorge (throat). It's kinda hard to get assistance in the pharmacy when you can a) not speak much French, and b) not actually use your voice at all!

I spent Sunday exploring the city of Nimes...... quite a nice place...one of the girls from the hostel, Josephine showed me arounnd. We visited the Jardins de la Fontaines, Arena (old Roman arena zhere they used to have bull fights), the archaeological museum, natural history mseum, and a couple other things.

On Monday, I visited Arlés.....visited the archaeological museum on the site of the old Circus Maximus and next to a gypsy camp. Also went to the Roman Arena, amphiteatre and forum, roman baths, an art gallery with a couple of Picassos, and chased the feral cats around the town!

Yesterday I went to Pont du Gard. Very impressive......it used to be an aqueduct back when the area was settled nearly 2000 years ago - maybe longer even....it is quite huge and is in the middle of nowhere. I had planned to go to the village of Uzès in the afternoon but ended up hiking around the bush near Pont du Gard in the fresh air.....

Today I went to Avignon. I had wanted to go here since I was about 9 when my piano teacher told me about the people dancing on the bridge........it turned out to be quite an ordinary bridge but the city itself was really beautiful. I visited the old Holy See, the Palais du Papes, visited another archaeological museum, natural history museum, the gardens on the top of the hill (great view of the river), and Villeneuve dez Avignon; across the river, which were home to a colony of noisy geese, nice sculptures and fountains which had icicles dripping from them because of the cold. I found a fantastic pizza place for lunch.....mmm....

Tomorrow i am off to Montpellier on the coast. I had hoped to base myself in Narbonne and do a trip to Carcassone from there; but i donùt have a list of places to stay in Narbonne and there is no hostel there. I am booked in to stay in a guesthouse in Montpellier which is full of foreign students studying french. You get a room with private bathroom, breakfast and a hugggggggge dinner for FF150 - about $AUD40! good value..... not sure what there is to do there but it is on the coast so maybe it will be warmer

Am meeting Denise in Barcelona on Sunday and will be in Spain and Portugal for 4-5 weeks. Depends on how accessible some places are we are hoping to go. May head back to Suisse and Paris for a couple days if time. I had tried to change my flight to come back earlier but am still going via Thailand and wil be home Jan 30. Just in time for end of cricket ODIs!

The French are obsessed with their animals and take them everywhere....this afternoon on the way back from Avignon; my seatmate was a scruffy looking dog and across the aisle was a gorgeous chinchilla, just like caesar! Peoeple take their dogs into restaurants, on public transport. They actually put signs up outside museums to inform people that their petit chiens are not allowed in the building! Its nice having all the cute animals around but unlike the Parisiens; the folks down here donùt carry their doggie bags to clean up the mess so you have to watch your step.

Must get going

A bien tot

Belinda

Bonjour!

At the moment I am in a cafe just near Notre DAME...in Paris!

Since I last wrote I have visited the Hague (International Peace Palace and Gemeente Museum for a Picasso to Tapies exhibition), and spent a few delightful days in Brugge. The main town square has an ice skating rink in the middle and Xmas markets. The waffles there- well, let´s just say they were quite heavenly...

I arrived in Paris on Monday and am having a great time. I visited the Louvre on my first day here....only got through about half a wing in about 4 hours.....plan on returning tomorrow though to see a little more, but I am certain I will never truly get to do it justice as an occasional visitor.

On Tuesday I went to one of the Museums of Modern Art - It has an interesting range of Cubist, Fauvist, Dadaist etc. works. I also did lots of walking along the Champs Elysees, and had a look at the Arc de Triomphe, Hotel Des Invalides, Le Saint Eustache Eglise (a lovely Cathedral), Jardin des Tuilleries and did some window shopping. I also went to dinner with an American guy from the hostel to sample escargots- aka SNAILS...they weren´t too bad at all - quite salty and a bit like mushrooms - doesn´t everything taste like mushrooms if its indescribable? The worst part was trying to get the mushy snail out of its shell without shooting the whole thing across the floor. I think we may give frogs legs a try in a couple of days...

I picked up a friend from the airport yesterdqy - Sam - and had to get up at the crack of dawn so i am very very tired still. It rained much of yesterday which was a shame, but we went up the Arc de Triomphe and laughed at all the cars below, visited the Madeleine, Musee D´Orsay, and God knows what else!

We have visited the Pantheon this morning and are just shortly heading to Notre Dame and then i think we will head to Monmartre, The Sacre Couer, Salvador Dali museum and to have a look at the Moulin Rouge. Tonight we are going to have dinner with some people from the hostel and head to the Champs Elysees for late night shopping. It is a nice sunny day and i don´t even have a coat on so it should be nice and clear later when we head up the Eiffel Tower.

I am in Paris for a few more days and then I head to Switzerland to stay with my cousin Kraig. It will be great to see him again after many years of him living abroad.

Hope all are well.

A bien tot

Belinda x