The last day of Carcassonne was fairly uneventful. After seeing around the castle, which by night is very impressive from a distance, there wasn't a lot left to do. After seeing that the train station had lockers the previous evening, we checked out of our hotel at 10 the next morning and caught the shuttle into the new town. It was at this point, however, that we realised that the train station lockers weren't actually available for use. They themselves were locked away from the general public, so we were stuck with our big ol' bags for the rest of the day. Deciding that we'd seen as much of the city as was necessary, we found a nice little patch of grass by the canal (and apparently the canal runs from coast to coast along southern France. Quite a feat really), and set up camp for the next 5 hours.
This was a pleasant enough day, although we bought a bottle of wine which we were subsequently unable to open. I went to a few different shops trying to find a corkscrew, but the only ones available were relatively expensive souvineir styles, which I didn't really want to carry around with me. They also looked like they would break after a few uses. So Ian decided that warm beer (they don't refridgerate their beer in many stores, it's all on the shelf) would be ok, but after a few sips of a room temperature Leffe , I think he quickly changed his mind.
Eventually the train arrived and we made our way to Toulouse. A former work mate, Christian, was very gracious in offering us his abode for a few days. This is great, as finding accomodation in Toulouse is very difficult. We had a nice home cooked meal (having some real vegetables for the first time in a long time), and they showed us around the city of Toulouse. We stopped off in a Belgian beer cafe, with at least 15 different taps along the bar. This was great, but smoky, and we finished the night off with a walk along the other side of the city.
The next day we slept in a bit and did our own exploring of the town. There's not much to speak of really, it's a fairly simple city without a lot of different touristy sites, but a lot of different shops. There's an interesting period happening in France at the moment, which is that all of the shops are having sales. Apparently the pricing is very tightly regulated, and shops are only allowed to sell below the recommended retail prices twice a year. We happen to be here during one of those periods.
Lisa bought a new handbag, and I decided to get a pair of Birkenstock rip off's, as Ian and Lisa were having a lot of success with their genuine articles. I quickly regretted this decision, as every step felt like they were going to kick off into the distance, and I determined that karma is telling me that I simply was not designed to own open footwear. I haven't ditched them yet, but I hold low promise for their future in my already bulging backpack.
We met up with another former Permian workmate, Seth, who had been telling me for quite some time about a local Toulouse specialty, that is a cheese fondue. We went to a tea house to have tea and cake. There was extreme confusion with regards to Ian's cake, which ended up being that the cake he ordered was too small and required him to choose another. After this we had a couple of Heinekens waiting for Christian to finish work, and then got a group together of the 5 of us (Ian, Lisa, Christian, Heather (Chris's girlfriend), and myself) and Seth with 3 of his friends from the area.
Finding the cheese restaurant, we ordered the fondue and also what is known as a Raclette. It is basically half a wheel of cheese with a heating element above it. Upon waiting a couple of minutes for the top of cheese to melt, you scrape this melted layer off of the wheel and over a bunch of potatoes. The fondue is fairly basic, essentially consisting of a pot of melted cheese into which you dunk pieces of bread. I became quite adept and the dunking and twirling, pulling out very large globs of bread and cheese from the pot. I was named honorary 'Cheese Twizzler' for the evening. White wine was served with the meal and one of Seth's friends, the Norwegian Frederick from Fredericksta, urged us to drink as much of this as possible, as apparently it dissolves the cheese in your stomach.
The amount of cheese eaten by all was nothing short of extreme, but the whole meal was very satisfying. I believe it will take several days of fasting before even a portion of the energy ingested from that incredible amount of stored fat will be burnt.
Following the restaurant, Seth ushered us into a very dark little venue full of Shisha's. He apparently knew the place well, and after chatting with the lady running the place, took us downstairs to a darker room, even more reminiscent of an Arabic or Indian opium den. Strange lights and curtains were strewn around the place with couches and cusions adorning the walls. One very large Shisha was in the middle of our group, and a flavoured tobacco cone was inserted. Upon this is placed a hot coal, a new mouthpiece was inserted into the handle thing and the puff-puff-pass ritual began. The smoke is surprisingly fine and I was hardly able to tell I was inhaling any smoke at all, until you exhale and a very nice apply flavoured smoke escapes from your lungs. The Shisha is essentially a massive water pipe, so the smoke is very well filtered. The whole thing lasted for a good half an hour to an hour, and was supplemented with tea. The tea was incredibly sweet and fruity, which was very nice and complimented the Shisha well.
After we had exhausted the tobacco in the thing, we left the venue. Seths part of the group dispersed at this point, needing to get to public transpot before it shut down. The rest of us found another Belgian beer bar, and had a round of drinks. This was done outside, as the place was far too full and smokey. The bartender was very pleased to serve some Australians and informed us that his ex-girlfriend was from East Doncaster. I was informed of this fact later on, and didn't have the opportunity to let him know that was essentially where I lived. I'd like to think I'd have gotten a free drink or something, but Ian took a more cynical bent and seemed to think I'd have been lucky to get a reaction at all. One of the patrons tried to start a conversation with me, but finding I didn't speak French, it quickly dissapated. She was looking over in my direction for the rest of the time we were there, however, and it was definitely the most infuriating experience I've had with the language gap so far. Bugger being able to order a meal in the local dialect, I can point out things that sound tasty in whatever language you care to present me. However if a pretty French chick starts talking to you in a bar, they don't exactly provide you with a menu of responses to progress the encounter. We left the bar soon after, and finished up with another beer at Christians place before calling it a night.
Today Christian and Heather took us around Toulouse to see some of the few daylight sights to be seen, and after having a tomato, cheese and herb pancake for lunch, we've retired back to the house whilst the girls check out some of the shopping sales. I look forward to checking out the electronic music festival that is happening in one of the parks in a few hours, and sometime during that we're moving to the main square in Toulouse where an orchestra and acrobatic show is being performed in honor of the new metro line that has opened up this weekend. It has been free metro for all this weekend, with a lot of fanfare and general hoo-hah. I've never seen a town so excited about a new piece of public transport.
Saturday 30 June 2007
Friday 29 June 2007
Wednesday 27 June 2007
Disneyland and Castles
After carefully planning our route to get to Euro Disney (not that anywhere called it that), we got up early and began our journey. Aside from a brief rain scare the trip was uneventful, and we made it to the park about 10:30, half an hour after it opened. Our hope that a weekday would be relatively quiet was quickly quashed, and the queues had begun. The first was to get our ticket into the park, of which there were a few options.
The park is actually split into two. There is 'Disneyland Park' and also 'Walt Disney Studios' park. We chose a ticket that only let us into one (as we were only spending a day there, we determined that we'd only have time for the one) and chose, of course, the Disneyland park. I can only assume that the Walt Disney Studios is basically like Warner Brothers Movieworld, but am not exactly sure. At any rate, we made our way into the park, along with several thousands of other peope, and started to look around.
Disneyland in Paris is broken up into Frontierland (like the old west), Adventureland (Indiana Jonesey), Fantasyland (faries and pretty stuff), and Discoveryland (Buzz Lightyear and sci fi stuff). Each of these 'lands' had usually one premium roller coaster or form of ride. We went to Adventureland first and queued for a while to try the Indiana Jones ride. I say 'we', but actually only Ian and myself went on this one, Lisa was still paralysed with fear of rollercoasters. It was pretty good, if quite short, but got us in the mood for the rest of the day. As I mentioned, the queues were considerable. However, there was a thing called a "Fast Pass". For several of the more popular rides, you put your ticket into a machine which gives you another ticket to come back to this ride at a certain time (in a half hour window). At that time, you use this Fast Pass ticket to bypass the regular line, which seemed to cut the queue time in about half. Otherwise, each ride had an expected wait, which turned out to be quite accurate. The trick is you can only hold one Fast Pass ticket at a time, which prevents you from running around to all the rides collecting them. However, if you do end up waiting for a ride, they've been quite clever in making the lines quite entertaining in and of themselves. Each one is decorated in the theme of the ride, so in the case of Indiana Jones, we were walking through jungly areas, with jeeps and tents and so forth. It was very well done. In the case of Space Tours, the whole place was done up like a Star Wars base, with droids yapping on (mostly in French) complete with an animatronic C3PO and R2D2 arguing with each other, again in French. At least R2D2's bleeps and bloops seem to transcend language.
We got our Fast Pass ticket to the Space Mountain ride, which from my previous trip to Disney in LA, I expected to be the biggest and baddest. While waiting for our time window, we grabbed some lunch, and tried to convince Lisa to join us (we'd gotten her a ticket also). This failed, so we left Lisa to watch the Lion King musical production in the food area and headed off. The line again was fairly entertaining with a video of a lady explaining our mission and the safety procedures. The coupled with the screaming of the patrons already enjoying the trip made for an interesting atmostphere. The ride itself is indoors, and pitch black. There are several lit up asteroids that you go hurtling past, and various other lighting effects. It is by far the fastest and most enjoyable ride on the park. Later on in the day we would convince Lisa to join us, and she, while pale as a ghost, enjoyed it just as much as we did. In fact, on this second trip, I had the opportunity of being in the front of the thing which was even more intense.
Other rides we went on included Star Tours, as mentioned before, which includes the trip in a star speeder (more like a transport ship) which is actually one of those simulators that you sit in and it moves up and down, etc, whilst you watch a video screen which flies around in synch with the motion. The whole thing is very realistic, and I'd be extremely interested to see the whole thing from the outside, to see how they actually emulate the g-forces and feeling of movement in such a static context. The Buzz Lightyear ride involved sitting in a little pod which ran along a fixed track. You could spin the thing left and right with a joystick, and the aim was to shoot various objects within the environment with a laser gun to rack up points. The other significant ride was the Big Mountain Thunder somethingorother, which we didn't have a ticket for. This resulted in a line wait of just over an hour, complete with annoying kids running into the back of me. I soon learned that if I shifted my body left and right, the bag on my back would lightly bump their little heads, but they didn't really manage to learn the lesson of keeping a bit of distance. Oh well, the ride itself was pretty cool, but we certainly weren't going to wait another hour for the experience a second time.
Other interesting occurences included a couple of parades, one of which was very detailed. Several floats went past with all different characters from various Disney themes. We only caught the very start of another parade, as the characters were beginning their journey around the park, and this was the only chance I got to be anywhere near Donald. He didn't seem real keen on shaking my hand, but I got a couple photo's none the less. It's ok Donald, I can't stay mad at you!
The other rides included the famous "Its A Small World" with lots of little puppets dressed and acting in different nationalities, the Pirates of the Carribean ride, the Snow White and 7 Dwarves ride and a couple other small ones which elude me. These were all pretty tame, although the Pirates one was pretty cool, lots of animatronic pirates drinking and chasing wenches about the place.
To Willy and Mel, no, I didn't see or hear anything about the girl who died on the roller coaster. Also, I didn't see any roller coaster with that name either, so I think she was at the Studios park, but all the rides I went on at the Disney park seemed perfectly safe!
All in all it was a busy, crowded, but ultimately enjoyable day. Certainly didn't need more than a day there, but it would be interesting to see what the Studios park was all about.
The next morning we got up at 5:30 to get on the train down to Carcassonne, which was a 4 and a bit hour journey from Paris. Using my laundry bag as a neck pillow allowed a small amount of sleep on the trip, and upon arrival we found a shuttle to take us up to the medieval city, where our hostel is situated.
The medieval city is basically a very old fort that has been around for over a thousand years. Rebuilt a few times, the place is massive, and I could easily understand how impenetrable it must have been for armies of the time. There's plenty of the castle to see, even if the whole thing is a bit touristy. We had a local specialty, Cassoulet which was basically a bean stew with pork sausage and a bit of duck. It wasn't bad, but I'm not that keen on beans (the baked bean style). There's not a lot to say about the place, but we spent this morning doing an audio walking tour of the castle part of the fortress (they give you a little handheld MP3 player thing, and you press a button related to which part of the castle you're in and listen to the info) which was very interesting. The place has a rich history of being captured and recaptured several times over the centuries, and each time they do something different to the place, including buliding another wall around the place and more turret defenses, etc. At night they light the whole place up with many well positioned floodlights, and I look forward to going down into the new town tonight and getting some good photos of the lit fortress.
Unfortunately the computers in France have been fairly well locked down, and I haven't had a chance to upload any new photos yet, except for a couple of Trier, there's more of Trier to come though.
All in all, things are well, and it's been fun travelling with Ian and Lisa, both to have someone talk to, and also to have someone to laugh at my crap jokes and puns. I think Ian has enjoyed the reciprocal, however I don't think Lisa is quite as appreciative of our comedic genius. I've also had "It's a small world after all" stuck in my head for the past two days, and it shows no signs of relenting yet...
The park is actually split into two. There is 'Disneyland Park' and also 'Walt Disney Studios' park. We chose a ticket that only let us into one (as we were only spending a day there, we determined that we'd only have time for the one) and chose, of course, the Disneyland park. I can only assume that the Walt Disney Studios is basically like Warner Brothers Movieworld, but am not exactly sure. At any rate, we made our way into the park, along with several thousands of other peope, and started to look around.
Disneyland in Paris is broken up into Frontierland (like the old west), Adventureland (Indiana Jonesey), Fantasyland (faries and pretty stuff), and Discoveryland (Buzz Lightyear and sci fi stuff). Each of these 'lands' had usually one premium roller coaster or form of ride. We went to Adventureland first and queued for a while to try the Indiana Jones ride. I say 'we', but actually only Ian and myself went on this one, Lisa was still paralysed with fear of rollercoasters. It was pretty good, if quite short, but got us in the mood for the rest of the day. As I mentioned, the queues were considerable. However, there was a thing called a "Fast Pass". For several of the more popular rides, you put your ticket into a machine which gives you another ticket to come back to this ride at a certain time (in a half hour window). At that time, you use this Fast Pass ticket to bypass the regular line, which seemed to cut the queue time in about half. Otherwise, each ride had an expected wait, which turned out to be quite accurate. The trick is you can only hold one Fast Pass ticket at a time, which prevents you from running around to all the rides collecting them. However, if you do end up waiting for a ride, they've been quite clever in making the lines quite entertaining in and of themselves. Each one is decorated in the theme of the ride, so in the case of Indiana Jones, we were walking through jungly areas, with jeeps and tents and so forth. It was very well done. In the case of Space Tours, the whole place was done up like a Star Wars base, with droids yapping on (mostly in French) complete with an animatronic C3PO and R2D2 arguing with each other, again in French. At least R2D2's bleeps and bloops seem to transcend language.
We got our Fast Pass ticket to the Space Mountain ride, which from my previous trip to Disney in LA, I expected to be the biggest and baddest. While waiting for our time window, we grabbed some lunch, and tried to convince Lisa to join us (we'd gotten her a ticket also). This failed, so we left Lisa to watch the Lion King musical production in the food area and headed off. The line again was fairly entertaining with a video of a lady explaining our mission and the safety procedures. The coupled with the screaming of the patrons already enjoying the trip made for an interesting atmostphere. The ride itself is indoors, and pitch black. There are several lit up asteroids that you go hurtling past, and various other lighting effects. It is by far the fastest and most enjoyable ride on the park. Later on in the day we would convince Lisa to join us, and she, while pale as a ghost, enjoyed it just as much as we did. In fact, on this second trip, I had the opportunity of being in the front of the thing which was even more intense.
Other rides we went on included Star Tours, as mentioned before, which includes the trip in a star speeder (more like a transport ship) which is actually one of those simulators that you sit in and it moves up and down, etc, whilst you watch a video screen which flies around in synch with the motion. The whole thing is very realistic, and I'd be extremely interested to see the whole thing from the outside, to see how they actually emulate the g-forces and feeling of movement in such a static context. The Buzz Lightyear ride involved sitting in a little pod which ran along a fixed track. You could spin the thing left and right with a joystick, and the aim was to shoot various objects within the environment with a laser gun to rack up points. The other significant ride was the Big Mountain Thunder somethingorother, which we didn't have a ticket for. This resulted in a line wait of just over an hour, complete with annoying kids running into the back of me. I soon learned that if I shifted my body left and right, the bag on my back would lightly bump their little heads, but they didn't really manage to learn the lesson of keeping a bit of distance. Oh well, the ride itself was pretty cool, but we certainly weren't going to wait another hour for the experience a second time.
Other interesting occurences included a couple of parades, one of which was very detailed. Several floats went past with all different characters from various Disney themes. We only caught the very start of another parade, as the characters were beginning their journey around the park, and this was the only chance I got to be anywhere near Donald. He didn't seem real keen on shaking my hand, but I got a couple photo's none the less. It's ok Donald, I can't stay mad at you!
The other rides included the famous "Its A Small World" with lots of little puppets dressed and acting in different nationalities, the Pirates of the Carribean ride, the Snow White and 7 Dwarves ride and a couple other small ones which elude me. These were all pretty tame, although the Pirates one was pretty cool, lots of animatronic pirates drinking and chasing wenches about the place.
To Willy and Mel, no, I didn't see or hear anything about the girl who died on the roller coaster. Also, I didn't see any roller coaster with that name either, so I think she was at the Studios park, but all the rides I went on at the Disney park seemed perfectly safe!
All in all it was a busy, crowded, but ultimately enjoyable day. Certainly didn't need more than a day there, but it would be interesting to see what the Studios park was all about.
The next morning we got up at 5:30 to get on the train down to Carcassonne, which was a 4 and a bit hour journey from Paris. Using my laundry bag as a neck pillow allowed a small amount of sleep on the trip, and upon arrival we found a shuttle to take us up to the medieval city, where our hostel is situated.
The medieval city is basically a very old fort that has been around for over a thousand years. Rebuilt a few times, the place is massive, and I could easily understand how impenetrable it must have been for armies of the time. There's plenty of the castle to see, even if the whole thing is a bit touristy. We had a local specialty, Cassoulet which was basically a bean stew with pork sausage and a bit of duck. It wasn't bad, but I'm not that keen on beans (the baked bean style). There's not a lot to say about the place, but we spent this morning doing an audio walking tour of the castle part of the fortress (they give you a little handheld MP3 player thing, and you press a button related to which part of the castle you're in and listen to the info) which was very interesting. The place has a rich history of being captured and recaptured several times over the centuries, and each time they do something different to the place, including buliding another wall around the place and more turret defenses, etc. At night they light the whole place up with many well positioned floodlights, and I look forward to going down into the new town tonight and getting some good photos of the lit fortress.
Unfortunately the computers in France have been fairly well locked down, and I haven't had a chance to upload any new photos yet, except for a couple of Trier, there's more of Trier to come though.
All in all, things are well, and it's been fun travelling with Ian and Lisa, both to have someone talk to, and also to have someone to laugh at my crap jokes and puns. I think Ian has enjoyed the reciprocal, however I don't think Lisa is quite as appreciative of our comedic genius. I've also had "It's a small world after all" stuck in my head for the past two days, and it shows no signs of relenting yet...
Sunday 24 June 2007
Paris au Trois
I met up with Ian and Lisa a couple nights ago, though they didn't manage to arrive until about 9PM or so. I spent some time waiting for them in a bar talking to a French guy about various things. Not long after we'd started, a rugby league game between France and Great Britian started on the TV. He hadn't seen such a game before, so I tried to explain it to him and his mate, I hope they got the gist of it.
Eventually I found Ian and Lisa, who were ready to go and get some dinner. I hadn't eaten myself, so I joined them. They'd invited two other Australian guys, Matt and Brett, along with us, and we had a nice meal at the restaurant a few stores down the street from the hostel. After this I took them up to the Sacre Cour, as the view I'd seen from it during my wanderings through the day were quite impressive. Acting the tour guide, I found our way up there and after a few photos and a walk around it was time to call it a night.
The next day called for a sleep in, which unfortunately resulted in the missing of the hotel's breakfast. Ian picked up some fruit from the grocery store and we began the days touring. It took us from the hotel down to the "Latin Quarter" of Paris, named due to the high level of historical academia in the region, and that they all used to speak Latin there, rather than due to the current ethnic connotation. There was no salsa dancing. There was, however, the Notre Dam cathedral that we meandered around. Admittance was barred due to some kind of music spactacle that was being prepared, and a pile of chairs was being created in the doorway to block entry. An novel method to be sure.
Following this we bought some wine and baguettes and had lunch in the Luxembourg gardens. This was quite nice and there was an orchestra about thirty meters away from our bench playing various classical tunes. This was followed by a marching band that went around the gardens a bit and then started performing in a different section. I'm not sure if that is a regular Saturday occurence, but it was nice to see.
We moved from the gardens around more of this part of the city and I directed us to the Pantheon which was most impressive. A huge building, I got some nice shots of it, as it was sunny for the first time in a long time, but the queue and high entrance fee caused us to skip checking it out inside.
The Eiffel Tower came next, and we waited around for the "Fat Bike" tour guides to arrive. Ian and Lisa had coupons for the ride, and I decided to tag along for fun. Whilst waiting at the bike collection point, Ian happened to recognise a girl by the name of Kim, whom with which we'd attended primary school. His facial memory was excellent, and we spent the evening hanging out with she and her boyfriend, Cam. Cam, Kim and myself were allocated to the "Kaboose" part of the bike ride, which meant we got to wear flouro yellow jackets and ensure that no cars tried to drive in the middle of our bike group. This seemed a bit odd when we were told about the job, however made perfect sense as we started to clog up the roads of Paris. As a lot of the time, our group literally took up the whole road, it was our job to spread out and ensure no cars tried to overtake and take out any cyclers in the process. It was fun, and Cam and I also took up the guides challege of high fiving as many Parisians as we could to beat the previous record of 13. He got 21 and I got 20, and we both managed to high five a cop. The bike tour ended with a boat ride up and down the main river in Paris (the name eludes me at the moment), upon which we were given a few complimentary wines. The tour all up was quite enjoyable, however not much actual history was given of the buildings. It was more a sight seeing affair which included Notre Dam, riding around the Louvre (this was cool) and a few other significant monuments.
We made our way back to the hostel, and Cam used some of his Bali-tuned bargaining skills to pick up a flashing light Eiffel tower for $2.50. He then tried to sell it to a few other groups for $3, but wasn't so successful. Kim decided she wanted to keep it at any rate, and the nice little trinket was quickly tucked away in a bag.
The next day was a trip to Versailles. There wasn't a lot to see, except one -massive- garden with a huge variety of fountains. We arrived a bit late, 3PM, which was due to getting the wrong train which caused our 30 minutes trip to take about 2 hours. We also got up a bit late and missed breakfast again. At any rate, the gardens were very well maintained, and included quite a big rectangular lake upon which we rowed a small hired boat across for half an hour. Unfortunately after completing this, it was past 5 and all of the fountains had been turned off. This was a shame, as we'd only seen about half of it, if that. We cut our losses and headed back to Paris, finding the correct train this time.
For dinner I had my first try of Escargo (snails), which while after being pulled out of their shells look pretty horrible, don't taste too bad at all. My main meal consisted of Beef Bourguignon (I still don't know how to pronounce that correctly), which was excellent.
I'm very much looking forward to tomorrows adventures, which consist of a trip to EuroDisney. My main goal is to get a photo with a certain blue capped duck . The Indiana Jones ride sounds pretty fun too!
Eventually I found Ian and Lisa, who were ready to go and get some dinner. I hadn't eaten myself, so I joined them. They'd invited two other Australian guys, Matt and Brett, along with us, and we had a nice meal at the restaurant a few stores down the street from the hostel. After this I took them up to the Sacre Cour, as the view I'd seen from it during my wanderings through the day were quite impressive. Acting the tour guide, I found our way up there and after a few photos and a walk around it was time to call it a night.
The next day called for a sleep in, which unfortunately resulted in the missing of the hotel's breakfast. Ian picked up some fruit from the grocery store and we began the days touring. It took us from the hotel down to the "Latin Quarter" of Paris, named due to the high level of historical academia in the region, and that they all used to speak Latin there, rather than due to the current ethnic connotation. There was no salsa dancing. There was, however, the Notre Dam cathedral that we meandered around. Admittance was barred due to some kind of music spactacle that was being prepared, and a pile of chairs was being created in the doorway to block entry. An novel method to be sure.
Following this we bought some wine and baguettes and had lunch in the Luxembourg gardens. This was quite nice and there was an orchestra about thirty meters away from our bench playing various classical tunes. This was followed by a marching band that went around the gardens a bit and then started performing in a different section. I'm not sure if that is a regular Saturday occurence, but it was nice to see.
We moved from the gardens around more of this part of the city and I directed us to the Pantheon which was most impressive. A huge building, I got some nice shots of it, as it was sunny for the first time in a long time, but the queue and high entrance fee caused us to skip checking it out inside.
The Eiffel Tower came next, and we waited around for the "Fat Bike" tour guides to arrive. Ian and Lisa had coupons for the ride, and I decided to tag along for fun. Whilst waiting at the bike collection point, Ian happened to recognise a girl by the name of Kim, whom with which we'd attended primary school. His facial memory was excellent, and we spent the evening hanging out with she and her boyfriend, Cam. Cam, Kim and myself were allocated to the "Kaboose" part of the bike ride, which meant we got to wear flouro yellow jackets and ensure that no cars tried to drive in the middle of our bike group. This seemed a bit odd when we were told about the job, however made perfect sense as we started to clog up the roads of Paris. As a lot of the time, our group literally took up the whole road, it was our job to spread out and ensure no cars tried to overtake and take out any cyclers in the process. It was fun, and Cam and I also took up the guides challege of high fiving as many Parisians as we could to beat the previous record of 13. He got 21 and I got 20, and we both managed to high five a cop. The bike tour ended with a boat ride up and down the main river in Paris (the name eludes me at the moment), upon which we were given a few complimentary wines. The tour all up was quite enjoyable, however not much actual history was given of the buildings. It was more a sight seeing affair which included Notre Dam, riding around the Louvre (this was cool) and a few other significant monuments.
We made our way back to the hostel, and Cam used some of his Bali-tuned bargaining skills to pick up a flashing light Eiffel tower for $2.50. He then tried to sell it to a few other groups for $3, but wasn't so successful. Kim decided she wanted to keep it at any rate, and the nice little trinket was quickly tucked away in a bag.
The next day was a trip to Versailles. There wasn't a lot to see, except one -massive- garden with a huge variety of fountains. We arrived a bit late, 3PM, which was due to getting the wrong train which caused our 30 minutes trip to take about 2 hours. We also got up a bit late and missed breakfast again. At any rate, the gardens were very well maintained, and included quite a big rectangular lake upon which we rowed a small hired boat across for half an hour. Unfortunately after completing this, it was past 5 and all of the fountains had been turned off. This was a shame, as we'd only seen about half of it, if that. We cut our losses and headed back to Paris, finding the correct train this time.
For dinner I had my first try of Escargo (snails), which while after being pulled out of their shells look pretty horrible, don't taste too bad at all. My main meal consisted of Beef Bourguignon (I still don't know how to pronounce that correctly), which was excellent.
I'm very much looking forward to tomorrows adventures, which consist of a trip to EuroDisney. My main goal is to get a photo with a certain blue capped duck . The Indiana Jones ride sounds pretty fun too!
Friday 22 June 2007
Dashed Dreams
Well I got to Trier, booked into a very quaint little hostel run by a lady named Hille. The train trip was quick; Trier is only 50km from Luxembourg, just into Germany. I made my bed (every hostel gives you a set of sheets and you're expected to put them on. For 15 euros, I guess thats not unreasonable!), and headed out to wander.
Trier is apparently Germany's oldest city, claimed by the Romans in the first century BC. It was essentially a capital city of "Gaul" or as we know it, France. There are a few relics of this age, the most famous of which is the Porta Nigra, which was the gate to the city in those ancient times. There are still remnants of the wall that surrounded the place, and walking along the Moselle river was nice.
I made the comment in the last post about the French Luxembourgers not being particularly friendly, however just across the border in Trier, I sat down on a rock near the wall to study my map, and no sooner had I opened it up than a German lady spoke something to me, and after the puzzled expression I must have given, quickly added, "Can I help you?". She showed me where I was on the map, though I'd already worked that part out. Much more importantly she showed me which direction we were facing, which got my orientation in order and I was able to continue on my way. The service in the restaurant where I had a goulash with spatza (a kind of weird noodle) was also great, and generally I found everyone much nicer.
However, the main reason I went to Trier was to revisit the Amphitheater. I got more and more excited as I got closer to the place, and upon entering, the ticket guy directed me up a flight of rocky stairs. I was kind of hoping to enter through the front, and have the majesty of the place opened up to me just as I recall, but I decided to take his advice and headed up. At this point as I got up to the vantage point, my soul was crushed, as the whole place was covered in black tarp and stage, as the roadies were preparing the place for some mammoth concert. My dissapointment was palpable, and I spent about 10 minutes sitting up on the hill pondering my incredibly poor luck, meanwhile a tour of high school kids and very old people also arrived in various places and on top of the disspointment of the place being hardly recognisable, it was now also overrun with tourists. I decided to make the best of a bad situation, and had a look at the places the roadies hadn't sullied with their signs and banners. Thankfully this included the underground area where the gladiators and victims of various sports would prepare, and the dark, wet caverns reignited my imagination somewhat, and being alone I broke a few rules and got some photos in the more interesting areas. All in all I wouldn't describe it as a total failure, but I still have a mind to revisit again sometime and see it without the unholy fixings of touring spectacles.
I left the amphitheater and visited some Roman baths not far off, and this was great. There were some cool old relics here and there, and being alone in the whole place I delighted in playing with the timer on my camera, and running about the place taking photos of myself.
Back at the hostel, I had a drink with the other patrons, an Australian and a Quebecan (dont call them Canadian). The Aussie shared a bottle of white wine he'd been given, but it was warm, and I'm not huge on the white stuff. I had a small glass and headed to the room. In there, a German girl was unpacking her stuff, and she too was doing an internship in Luxembourg. Thats the third person Ive run into, staying in hostels and doing internships in Luxembourg. We chatted for a while, and then I went to get my goulash.
After returning to the hostel, the same group were gathered about the table, with another Quebecan and an American who turned out to be a soldier. Between him talking about the army and describing his friends wiccan religion, which included a story about how he saw some boys spirit in his closet, and the 5 bottles of wine they drank between a couple people, I decided to check a pub next door full of 50 year olds. It was as you would expect, but with a cool darts game, which I dared not disturb the couple of guys playing who were quite accurate throwers. So after a beer I went back to the hostel and seeing that the conversation in the living room wasn't much different, packed it in for the night.
The next morning I high tailed it to the station to get my train to Paris by 10. It was a normal train to a city called Saarbrucken, at which point we boarded a high speed train. However, something was technically wrong with this particular train, and as such it was relegated to the speed of a normal train. This was rectified in Lorenz, where we boarded a French TGV fast train, which didn't have such a fault, and whisked us in to Paris very promptly.
Paris is -huge-. I don't mean kinda big, I mean huge, like kilometers of city. My hostel is in the city, and it's still 5k's to, say, the Eiffel tower. I'm yet to see any of this stuff, as I spent the night with a bunch of people from my hostel. A Canadian guy, and American girl and a bunch of Australians. We went to a couple pubs and eventually I convinced them we should go out and check out some of the music festival that was all over the city. Unfortunately we didn't really move far. There were a couple of street performers we passed, but after talking with people this morning about what they saw, it appears I missed the majority of the good stuff. Pretty dissapointing considering the timing of when I was in Paris to see it, but sometimes things don't go as you expect.
Anyway, Ian and Lisa are supposed to arrive sometime tonight, so I'll probably go for a wander around some areas, but I'm not likely to go into any places until they're here. I'm sure they'll want to see the same things. It will be good to see some familiar faces. Whilst I have met plenty of friendly people (especially last night), it feels like a lot longer than 11 days since I've seen someone I know.
Trier is apparently Germany's oldest city, claimed by the Romans in the first century BC. It was essentially a capital city of "Gaul" or as we know it, France. There are a few relics of this age, the most famous of which is the Porta Nigra, which was the gate to the city in those ancient times. There are still remnants of the wall that surrounded the place, and walking along the Moselle river was nice.
I made the comment in the last post about the French Luxembourgers not being particularly friendly, however just across the border in Trier, I sat down on a rock near the wall to study my map, and no sooner had I opened it up than a German lady spoke something to me, and after the puzzled expression I must have given, quickly added, "Can I help you?". She showed me where I was on the map, though I'd already worked that part out. Much more importantly she showed me which direction we were facing, which got my orientation in order and I was able to continue on my way. The service in the restaurant where I had a goulash with spatza (a kind of weird noodle) was also great, and generally I found everyone much nicer.
However, the main reason I went to Trier was to revisit the Amphitheater. I got more and more excited as I got closer to the place, and upon entering, the ticket guy directed me up a flight of rocky stairs. I was kind of hoping to enter through the front, and have the majesty of the place opened up to me just as I recall, but I decided to take his advice and headed up. At this point as I got up to the vantage point, my soul was crushed, as the whole place was covered in black tarp and stage, as the roadies were preparing the place for some mammoth concert. My dissapointment was palpable, and I spent about 10 minutes sitting up on the hill pondering my incredibly poor luck, meanwhile a tour of high school kids and very old people also arrived in various places and on top of the disspointment of the place being hardly recognisable, it was now also overrun with tourists. I decided to make the best of a bad situation, and had a look at the places the roadies hadn't sullied with their signs and banners. Thankfully this included the underground area where the gladiators and victims of various sports would prepare, and the dark, wet caverns reignited my imagination somewhat, and being alone I broke a few rules and got some photos in the more interesting areas. All in all I wouldn't describe it as a total failure, but I still have a mind to revisit again sometime and see it without the unholy fixings of touring spectacles.
I left the amphitheater and visited some Roman baths not far off, and this was great. There were some cool old relics here and there, and being alone in the whole place I delighted in playing with the timer on my camera, and running about the place taking photos of myself.
Back at the hostel, I had a drink with the other patrons, an Australian and a Quebecan (dont call them Canadian). The Aussie shared a bottle of white wine he'd been given, but it was warm, and I'm not huge on the white stuff. I had a small glass and headed to the room. In there, a German girl was unpacking her stuff, and she too was doing an internship in Luxembourg. Thats the third person Ive run into, staying in hostels and doing internships in Luxembourg. We chatted for a while, and then I went to get my goulash.
After returning to the hostel, the same group were gathered about the table, with another Quebecan and an American who turned out to be a soldier. Between him talking about the army and describing his friends wiccan religion, which included a story about how he saw some boys spirit in his closet, and the 5 bottles of wine they drank between a couple people, I decided to check a pub next door full of 50 year olds. It was as you would expect, but with a cool darts game, which I dared not disturb the couple of guys playing who were quite accurate throwers. So after a beer I went back to the hostel and seeing that the conversation in the living room wasn't much different, packed it in for the night.
The next morning I high tailed it to the station to get my train to Paris by 10. It was a normal train to a city called Saarbrucken, at which point we boarded a high speed train. However, something was technically wrong with this particular train, and as such it was relegated to the speed of a normal train. This was rectified in Lorenz, where we boarded a French TGV fast train, which didn't have such a fault, and whisked us in to Paris very promptly.
Paris is -huge-. I don't mean kinda big, I mean huge, like kilometers of city. My hostel is in the city, and it's still 5k's to, say, the Eiffel tower. I'm yet to see any of this stuff, as I spent the night with a bunch of people from my hostel. A Canadian guy, and American girl and a bunch of Australians. We went to a couple pubs and eventually I convinced them we should go out and check out some of the music festival that was all over the city. Unfortunately we didn't really move far. There were a couple of street performers we passed, but after talking with people this morning about what they saw, it appears I missed the majority of the good stuff. Pretty dissapointing considering the timing of when I was in Paris to see it, but sometimes things don't go as you expect.
Anyway, Ian and Lisa are supposed to arrive sometime tonight, so I'll probably go for a wander around some areas, but I'm not likely to go into any places until they're here. I'm sure they'll want to see the same things. It will be good to see some familiar faces. Whilst I have met plenty of friendly people (especially last night), it feels like a lot longer than 11 days since I've seen someone I know.
Wednesday 20 June 2007
Luxembourg: The city of banking!
Well there I was in Luxembourg. I've noticed as I get further and further away from the UK, the less and less people speak English. I guess this shouldn't come as such a surprise, but it does make getting around a bit more frustrating. I found myself at the bus stop, and one driver shot me an awful look when I tried to ask him if he spoke English, but in French. If you speak English straight up, they don't like you for being a foreigner, and if you -do- give it a go, they like you even less for buthchering their fine vocabulary. It's a no win, but c'est la vie. See what I did there? Ohhh yes.
Anyway, as the title says, Luxembourgs claim to fame is that they're one of the world centers for banking. Riveting stuff to be sure, but at the same time they have a lot of very nice scenery about the place. The whole place has been captured and recaptured about 20 times throughout history, so there are many relics of the place as a fortress. There is a lot of the original wall left, and I took a stroll along it, the day after I got there, snapping pictures here and there. It was quite nice, but it is also a city of hills. Amsterdam was dead flat, as was Antwerp and most of Belgium. Brussels had sort of one big hill, but Luxembourg has the city on top of a massive hill (where the fortress was/is), but also a lot of stuff in the valleys between the mountains. My hostel was included in this. As I trudged down one of these massive hills, I couldn't bear the thought of having to all my stuff back up it as some stage. Thankfully, the hostel offered a shuttle service back to the station for 2 Euro. Sold! My guidebook described the place as having "rolling hills". I can just see this authors description of Everest: "A challenging climb with a chilly summit. You may want to pack a jacket."
The hostel was quite nice, and very new. The place was finished about two years ago I think, and it was quite busy. The first night I got there I was fairly late, about 9:30PM, and I managed to convince the cafeteria to make me a pizza. I then shared this with a bunch of poms from Manchester and a Korean girl whom were all good company for the night, but left early the next morning. I had to move rooms myself (I stayed there two nights), after I got back from wandering, and found a very friendly French guy in there, by the name of what sounds like "Yoog". I'm sure its spelt differently. Anyway, he was poring over his laptop, programming a version of Tetris in Java. We chatted about programming for a while and grabbed some dinner in the cafeteria, along with another French guy. They were both actually living at the hostel, with internships in Luxembourg. Both of them were waiting for their respective flats to become available in France, from where they will commute to Luxembourg. They were both good company, and we discussed many things French, one such thing being that they use Belgians in their jokes the same way we would use the Irish. We all agreed that blonde women could be used in the same context. One interesting facet of the evening was that Yoog didn't like wine. I made the comment that he must have been excommunicated from his country for this; a Frenchman that doesn't drink wine? Sacre Bleu!
The next morning they both left quite early for their respective jobs, and there was one guy in our room who decided that because he had to get up at 7AM, so did the rest of the room. Throwing bags around, and causing zippers to make so much noise it was unbearable, I cursed him silently until he finally left the room, and its occupants, in peace. What a knob, tho I wouldn't say it to his face. He was a lot bigger than me.
About 10AM I had eaten breakfast, packed my things and was in the shuttle to the station, driven by a person of whose sex I was unsure. The painted nails spoke female, but the gruff voice and masculine face suggested otherwise. Either way, this driver was very cordial, if a bit aggressive in driving, however it seems Luxembourg traffic is quite brutal.
I then made my way to Trier. I was supposed to be meeting Ian in Paris today, but he has been delayed by a few days due to accomodation issues. Apparently he couldn't book any, though I had no such difficulty. I shall be preceeding him to Paris tomorrow, and ensuring that we all get the same room in the hostel. Until then I plan to explore Triet a bit. This place holds a special significance to me, as on a tour of Germany and France with my parents a good 12 or so years ago I recall stopping in a place called "Trier" and seeing my first Roman Amphitheatre. This made quite an impression on me, as it was quite a grand site, and at the time I was heavily into Asterix comics, and as such I had an understanding for what this place actually was. I am very excited to revisit the spot and see if I can recapture some of the childhood wonder. The only other thing I remember from that trip was a cruise along the Rhine river, which my brain has fused an association with boredom to. Whenever someone talks about boredom, I visualise the Rhine river.
Pics are up!
Anyway, as the title says, Luxembourgs claim to fame is that they're one of the world centers for banking. Riveting stuff to be sure, but at the same time they have a lot of very nice scenery about the place. The whole place has been captured and recaptured about 20 times throughout history, so there are many relics of the place as a fortress. There is a lot of the original wall left, and I took a stroll along it, the day after I got there, snapping pictures here and there. It was quite nice, but it is also a city of hills. Amsterdam was dead flat, as was Antwerp and most of Belgium. Brussels had sort of one big hill, but Luxembourg has the city on top of a massive hill (where the fortress was/is), but also a lot of stuff in the valleys between the mountains. My hostel was included in this. As I trudged down one of these massive hills, I couldn't bear the thought of having to all my stuff back up it as some stage. Thankfully, the hostel offered a shuttle service back to the station for 2 Euro. Sold! My guidebook described the place as having "rolling hills". I can just see this authors description of Everest: "A challenging climb with a chilly summit. You may want to pack a jacket."
The hostel was quite nice, and very new. The place was finished about two years ago I think, and it was quite busy. The first night I got there I was fairly late, about 9:30PM, and I managed to convince the cafeteria to make me a pizza. I then shared this with a bunch of poms from Manchester and a Korean girl whom were all good company for the night, but left early the next morning. I had to move rooms myself (I stayed there two nights), after I got back from wandering, and found a very friendly French guy in there, by the name of what sounds like "Yoog". I'm sure its spelt differently. Anyway, he was poring over his laptop, programming a version of Tetris in Java. We chatted about programming for a while and grabbed some dinner in the cafeteria, along with another French guy. They were both actually living at the hostel, with internships in Luxembourg. Both of them were waiting for their respective flats to become available in France, from where they will commute to Luxembourg. They were both good company, and we discussed many things French, one such thing being that they use Belgians in their jokes the same way we would use the Irish. We all agreed that blonde women could be used in the same context. One interesting facet of the evening was that Yoog didn't like wine. I made the comment that he must have been excommunicated from his country for this; a Frenchman that doesn't drink wine? Sacre Bleu!
The next morning they both left quite early for their respective jobs, and there was one guy in our room who decided that because he had to get up at 7AM, so did the rest of the room. Throwing bags around, and causing zippers to make so much noise it was unbearable, I cursed him silently until he finally left the room, and its occupants, in peace. What a knob, tho I wouldn't say it to his face. He was a lot bigger than me.
About 10AM I had eaten breakfast, packed my things and was in the shuttle to the station, driven by a person of whose sex I was unsure. The painted nails spoke female, but the gruff voice and masculine face suggested otherwise. Either way, this driver was very cordial, if a bit aggressive in driving, however it seems Luxembourg traffic is quite brutal.
I then made my way to Trier. I was supposed to be meeting Ian in Paris today, but he has been delayed by a few days due to accomodation issues. Apparently he couldn't book any, though I had no such difficulty. I shall be preceeding him to Paris tomorrow, and ensuring that we all get the same room in the hostel. Until then I plan to explore Triet a bit. This place holds a special significance to me, as on a tour of Germany and France with my parents a good 12 or so years ago I recall stopping in a place called "Trier" and seeing my first Roman Amphitheatre. This made quite an impression on me, as it was quite a grand site, and at the time I was heavily into Asterix comics, and as such I had an understanding for what this place actually was. I am very excited to revisit the spot and see if I can recapture some of the childhood wonder. The only other thing I remember from that trip was a cruise along the Rhine river, which my brain has fused an association with boredom to. Whenever someone talks about boredom, I visualise the Rhine river.
Pics are up!
Tuesday 19 June 2007
A Mexican, a Canadian and an Australian walk into a bar...
Well the last few hours of Bruges were Ok. I went to the chocolate museum, and saw the history of it from the Aztecs to modern day chocolate production, including a demonstration of how the Belgians make pralines (filled chocolates). To George's daughter: Yes, the chocolate is a lot better over here!
So I left Bruges, and made my way down to Brussels. It is a pretty busy city, and by time I got there (around 9), there was little I could do except get my room and have a quick look around. In the map guide I had, it discussed a 1930's jazz bar that piqued my interest more than a little+ I wandered around the general area trying to find something that looked a bit old school, and eventually realised that the ultra-modern bar that I kept walking back and forth in front of was actually the place listed in my map! It would seem it has been refitted since the printing of my guide.
I found my way back to the hostel to find that there was a concert happening in the bar area. I went to check it out, only to find the last song in its final throes. Grabbing myself a drink, I started to chat to some of the people around, and it seems that most of them were involved in some kind of development program for underdeveloped countries. They come to this hostel a couple times a month and either present classes or attend them (I couldn't quite work out which), and this was something the hostel organised in conjunction with that. I chatted about this to two Belgian girls, however I have a feeling the seconds' English wasn't great, as she spent a lot of time smiling and nodding with a big smile, but albeit blank look on her face.
Not long after, another band came on and started performing. It was about a 7 or 8 piece band, with plenty of brass which is just my style. They were really good and moved from a great rendition of Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" to some mambo and latin stuff, all the way back to old time jazz. It was really good, and Ill have some photos of them up shortly. Halfway through this I started to chat to a guy in an All Blacks shirt, though he was Belgian, not New Zealandish. We talked about Brussels and what was around and Belgian culture in general, and it was all very informative. He marked a whole bunch of places on my map to go check out, we went through a few different Belgian beers. The band finished, and we kept chatting away until early morning, and which point I figured I'd best get some sleep.
The next day I started wandering around Brussels with the Mexican guy from my dorm. He had been living in France for the past couple of years, and had come up to Brussels to open some art exhibition somewhere. We wandered about taking photos of this and that, but the pace was quite slow. Having had to get through the last few cities fairly quickly, I had developed quite a quick touring style, and I dont take many breaks. Antonio was much more content to stroll around and stop frequently. It didnt help that we got sort of lost and ended up walking in the same circle a couple of times.
I was most interested in checking out the comic museum. Belgians take comics -extremely- seriously, and they´re very ingrained into their natural culture. We found one place, but misread the sign, and it ended up being a scouting museum (more of a corridor, it was very small). We left that and went back to the hostel, but on the way found the real comic museum. I stayed to check it out and Antonio left for the hostel and a nap (siesta?).
The comic museum was pretty cool, so many different comic strips but -heaps- of Tintin stuff which I appreciated. I´ve read all the comics and seen the cartoon versions, so it was fun to pay homage to it a bit. He seems to be their biggest comic export, but the Smurfs aren´t far behind. Unfortunately my camera ran out of juice before the end, so I didnt get too many Smurfs pics, sorry!
After the museum I did my first load of washing. However I was overcome with fear when it came to the dryer, and ended up taking most of it back to my room to hang up. There was only myself, Antonio and Matt the Canadian there, so I figured I could get away with using a few more hangers. We then got some restaurant advice from the chick down the front and headed to dowtown Brussels for an authentic Belgian meal. Antonio, being kinda French ordered a bottle of wine, Bordeaux I think, and Matt and I had the Waterzooi . It was a very nice chicken stew in a white creamy sauce, Antonio had Carbonades, which is like a beef stew. Speaking of food, in Bruges before I left I got some more fries, but this time I got Frittes Stoofrees (spelt wrong). It was basically chips covered in meat goulash, it was great stuff.
Anyway after the meal, we walked back through the Belgian rain and chatted with some people back at the hostel. Belgium rains a lot. Every day seems to start cloudy, get sunny and then start raining about 6.
The next day I wanted to finish off Brussels quickly and get off to Luxembourg. I headed on their "metro" which is basically an underground tram, about 15 minutes out of the center of the city. Here there is the "Atomium", which is a massive great building in the shape of an iron atom. This was pretty cool, and the view from the top sphere was impressive. Apparently the lift was extraordinarily fast, getting us up 100 meters or so in 20 seconds. I felt my ears pop pretty quick. All in all though, its not worth a 9 euro entry fee.
After this I discovered "Mini Europe" which is basically a little park full of 1:25 models of all the famous sights in Europe. The whole thing is based around "Look how awesome the EU is", and the whole thing was a little cheesy. I took a lot of photos, but really its not the sort of place you want to check out by yourself. Its more a thing you go to with a bunch of mates to point and laugh at stuff and take dumb photos. The highlight of this park was a cat that was walking around one of the models, giving a very godzilla like performance, stepping on little cars and stuff. Hilarity! I have photos, but haven't found a place to upload them yet. Some cafes are more locked down than others. So I finished going around Mini Europe, probably spending a lot less time than the average visitor. It was cool to see a few of the monuments I had actually visited in mini form.
Making my way back to the hostel, and picking up another wonderful Belgian waffle on the way, I grabbed my bag, found the train station and headed off to Luxembourg. The train ride was nice, as the train went through various parts of the Ardennes which was very lush and green. With all our water problems back home, its been a while since Ive seen such healthy vegetation!
So I left Bruges, and made my way down to Brussels. It is a pretty busy city, and by time I got there (around 9), there was little I could do except get my room and have a quick look around. In the map guide I had, it discussed a 1930's jazz bar that piqued my interest more than a little+ I wandered around the general area trying to find something that looked a bit old school, and eventually realised that the ultra-modern bar that I kept walking back and forth in front of was actually the place listed in my map! It would seem it has been refitted since the printing of my guide.
I found my way back to the hostel to find that there was a concert happening in the bar area. I went to check it out, only to find the last song in its final throes. Grabbing myself a drink, I started to chat to some of the people around, and it seems that most of them were involved in some kind of development program for underdeveloped countries. They come to this hostel a couple times a month and either present classes or attend them (I couldn't quite work out which), and this was something the hostel organised in conjunction with that. I chatted about this to two Belgian girls, however I have a feeling the seconds' English wasn't great, as she spent a lot of time smiling and nodding with a big smile, but albeit blank look on her face.
Not long after, another band came on and started performing. It was about a 7 or 8 piece band, with plenty of brass which is just my style. They were really good and moved from a great rendition of Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" to some mambo and latin stuff, all the way back to old time jazz. It was really good, and Ill have some photos of them up shortly. Halfway through this I started to chat to a guy in an All Blacks shirt, though he was Belgian, not New Zealandish. We talked about Brussels and what was around and Belgian culture in general, and it was all very informative. He marked a whole bunch of places on my map to go check out, we went through a few different Belgian beers. The band finished, and we kept chatting away until early morning, and which point I figured I'd best get some sleep.
The next day I started wandering around Brussels with the Mexican guy from my dorm. He had been living in France for the past couple of years, and had come up to Brussels to open some art exhibition somewhere. We wandered about taking photos of this and that, but the pace was quite slow. Having had to get through the last few cities fairly quickly, I had developed quite a quick touring style, and I dont take many breaks. Antonio was much more content to stroll around and stop frequently. It didnt help that we got sort of lost and ended up walking in the same circle a couple of times.
I was most interested in checking out the comic museum. Belgians take comics -extremely- seriously, and they´re very ingrained into their natural culture. We found one place, but misread the sign, and it ended up being a scouting museum (more of a corridor, it was very small). We left that and went back to the hostel, but on the way found the real comic museum. I stayed to check it out and Antonio left for the hostel and a nap (siesta?).
The comic museum was pretty cool, so many different comic strips but -heaps- of Tintin stuff which I appreciated. I´ve read all the comics and seen the cartoon versions, so it was fun to pay homage to it a bit. He seems to be their biggest comic export, but the Smurfs aren´t far behind. Unfortunately my camera ran out of juice before the end, so I didnt get too many Smurfs pics, sorry!
After the museum I did my first load of washing. However I was overcome with fear when it came to the dryer, and ended up taking most of it back to my room to hang up. There was only myself, Antonio and Matt the Canadian there, so I figured I could get away with using a few more hangers. We then got some restaurant advice from the chick down the front and headed to dowtown Brussels for an authentic Belgian meal. Antonio, being kinda French ordered a bottle of wine, Bordeaux I think, and Matt and I had the Waterzooi . It was a very nice chicken stew in a white creamy sauce, Antonio had Carbonades, which is like a beef stew. Speaking of food, in Bruges before I left I got some more fries, but this time I got Frittes Stoofrees (spelt wrong). It was basically chips covered in meat goulash, it was great stuff.
Anyway after the meal, we walked back through the Belgian rain and chatted with some people back at the hostel. Belgium rains a lot. Every day seems to start cloudy, get sunny and then start raining about 6.
The next day I wanted to finish off Brussels quickly and get off to Luxembourg. I headed on their "metro" which is basically an underground tram, about 15 minutes out of the center of the city. Here there is the "Atomium", which is a massive great building in the shape of an iron atom. This was pretty cool, and the view from the top sphere was impressive. Apparently the lift was extraordinarily fast, getting us up 100 meters or so in 20 seconds. I felt my ears pop pretty quick. All in all though, its not worth a 9 euro entry fee.
After this I discovered "Mini Europe" which is basically a little park full of 1:25 models of all the famous sights in Europe. The whole thing is based around "Look how awesome the EU is", and the whole thing was a little cheesy. I took a lot of photos, but really its not the sort of place you want to check out by yourself. Its more a thing you go to with a bunch of mates to point and laugh at stuff and take dumb photos. The highlight of this park was a cat that was walking around one of the models, giving a very godzilla like performance, stepping on little cars and stuff. Hilarity! I have photos, but haven't found a place to upload them yet. Some cafes are more locked down than others. So I finished going around Mini Europe, probably spending a lot less time than the average visitor. It was cool to see a few of the monuments I had actually visited in mini form.
Making my way back to the hostel, and picking up another wonderful Belgian waffle on the way, I grabbed my bag, found the train station and headed off to Luxembourg. The train ride was nice, as the train went through various parts of the Ardennes which was very lush and green. With all our water problems back home, its been a while since Ive seen such healthy vegetation!
Saturday 16 June 2007
Bruges: Spot the local
I read in my guidebook, and in several other places that Bruges is quite a touristy place. I had the philosophy that, well, how could that be an altogether bad thing? After all I am, for all intents and purposes, a tourist myself. Then I got to Bruges.
There are people everywhere, and they're certainly not Belgian. Spanish, French, pretty much everyone you could think of (not that I hear much English being spoken), but its just crowd infested. It's almost like a theme park. Every few shops is either a chocolate shop, a beer cafe or a waffle shop. There's a few cathedrals / towers thrown in for good measure, but it basically feels like the city is screaming "Hey, check me out! I'm Belgian!!". At any rate, it hasn't done much for me and I expect to be leaving soon. I'm going to check out the chocolate museum, the belfry to get a panorama shot, and maybe check out the "Holy Blood". Apparently they've got some vial here which is supposed to contain some Jesus blood. I am skeptical at best.
At any rate, here is a link to a map that depicts my journey so far:
Map!.
One interesting thing I wanted to note, is that when I travelled from Amsterdam to Antwerp, the train crossed the Netherlands / Belgium border. I didn't even see a "Welcome to Belgium!" sign, let alone be asked for something like my passport. I find it interesting and encouraging that they have such open borders here.
Oh, and the Photo Gallery is updated!
There are people everywhere, and they're certainly not Belgian. Spanish, French, pretty much everyone you could think of (not that I hear much English being spoken), but its just crowd infested. It's almost like a theme park. Every few shops is either a chocolate shop, a beer cafe or a waffle shop. There's a few cathedrals / towers thrown in for good measure, but it basically feels like the city is screaming "Hey, check me out! I'm Belgian!!". At any rate, it hasn't done much for me and I expect to be leaving soon. I'm going to check out the chocolate museum, the belfry to get a panorama shot, and maybe check out the "Holy Blood". Apparently they've got some vial here which is supposed to contain some Jesus blood. I am skeptical at best.
At any rate, here is a link to a map that depicts my journey so far:
Map!.
One interesting thing I wanted to note, is that when I travelled from Amsterdam to Antwerp, the train crossed the Netherlands / Belgium border. I didn't even see a "Welcome to Belgium!" sign, let alone be asked for something like my passport. I find it interesting and encouraging that they have such open borders here.
Oh, and the Photo Gallery is updated!
Gent and Norweigens
Well Gent was fun. I spent the day looking around, making my feet sore again. I checked out a whole bunch of churches and a castle. Drank some more good Belgian beer and tried their chocolate. I'm not really an authority on chocolate, and while I appreciate its creamy, goo-filled flavour burst, I probably don't get as much out of it, as say, anyone with a pair of X chromosomes.
I don't have a lot to say about the sightseeing of Gent, other than there was a lot of old, medieval architecture, apparently a lot of which was only built in the past century to give it that authentic kind of feel. Even if it may not be for realz, it feels quite legitimate. The guildhalls were cool, with their little golden statues above them, and the Kulminator was a lot more quaint than I expected. I was thinking it would be a raucous pub with many drunkards, but it was just a quiet little establishment with an old lady behind the beer tap. It was in the middle of the day though, so I guess most people were still at work.
There were a lot more people out and about in Gent than there were in Antwerp. After finishing my tour about 6PM, I went back to the hostel to look up the information I'd picked up on Bruges and Brussels. Shortly thereafter, a Norweigen by the name of Fleming entered and we had a chat about various things. He looked familiar, and it turned out he was one of the few people I'd seen in Antwerp at the previous hostel. We discussed the proliferation of Jews in that area, and he explained that they were 'Ultra Orthodox', which explained why they all had the little curls, funky suits and hats. He took some pictures of them apparently, I wasn't really game to, in case they thought it a bit rude.
We went out for dinner at a fairly fancy establishment, it cost about 25 euros each. It's not really my thing, I prefer to the smaller, quieter (and cheaper) places. It's my opinion that you're more likely to get authentic local cuisine. I ordered a pint of Hoegaarden, and it came in the most massive glass I've ever seen. I should have taken a photo.
We finished up and bought another beer at a place not far from the restaurant and had a few more chats. It was good to have some company for the first time in a few days. I'd realised earlier that day that I hadn't really met anyone for a couples of days, and as a result had barely spoken for that period of time. It's a weird feeling. At any rate, got plenty of chit chat in with Fleming, although I will add that he is the slowest beer drinker I have ever met! At any rate, we went back to the hostel about midnight and so endeth the day.
I got up, booked my hostel room in Brussels and headed out to Bruges.
I don't have a lot to say about the sightseeing of Gent, other than there was a lot of old, medieval architecture, apparently a lot of which was only built in the past century to give it that authentic kind of feel. Even if it may not be for realz, it feels quite legitimate. The guildhalls were cool, with their little golden statues above them, and the Kulminator was a lot more quaint than I expected. I was thinking it would be a raucous pub with many drunkards, but it was just a quiet little establishment with an old lady behind the beer tap. It was in the middle of the day though, so I guess most people were still at work.
There were a lot more people out and about in Gent than there were in Antwerp. After finishing my tour about 6PM, I went back to the hostel to look up the information I'd picked up on Bruges and Brussels. Shortly thereafter, a Norweigen by the name of Fleming entered and we had a chat about various things. He looked familiar, and it turned out he was one of the few people I'd seen in Antwerp at the previous hostel. We discussed the proliferation of Jews in that area, and he explained that they were 'Ultra Orthodox', which explained why they all had the little curls, funky suits and hats. He took some pictures of them apparently, I wasn't really game to, in case they thought it a bit rude.
We went out for dinner at a fairly fancy establishment, it cost about 25 euros each. It's not really my thing, I prefer to the smaller, quieter (and cheaper) places. It's my opinion that you're more likely to get authentic local cuisine. I ordered a pint of Hoegaarden, and it came in the most massive glass I've ever seen. I should have taken a photo.
We finished up and bought another beer at a place not far from the restaurant and had a few more chats. It was good to have some company for the first time in a few days. I'd realised earlier that day that I hadn't really met anyone for a couples of days, and as a result had barely spoken for that period of time. It's a weird feeling. At any rate, got plenty of chit chat in with Fleming, although I will add that he is the slowest beer drinker I have ever met! At any rate, we went back to the hostel about midnight and so endeth the day.
I got up, booked my hostel room in Brussels and headed out to Bruges.
Friday 15 June 2007
Its all quiet on the Antwerpian front
Well Antwerp is done. It was pretty cool, plenty to see, and the beer there is as good as I had been led to believe. Strong stuff too!
The only issue I had with Antwerp is that it was so quiet! Compared to Amsterdam, there was pretty much no one around. I figured when it got later it might pick up, so I freshened up at the hostel, and headed back out. It was absolutely hammering down with rain, and one of the cars that drove past managed to hit a massive puddle at just the right angle and I copped the lot. Umbrella's don't really protect from water coming sideways. Anyway so I ended up at a bar that served food and ordered cheese and tomato on bread. It sounded a lot more interesting in Flemish (what Belgians speak). It was still quite nice, and the bread was so heavy it filled me up without difficutly.
Another major food here appears to be fries. Woe be to those who describe them as 'French' though, as the Belgians consider themselves the inventors. I tried their magical fries, and they're really nothing special. I think they are just there to give you something to eat the sauce that drenches them. Chips are always served with sauce, and at one of the fry huts, there are about 20 to choose from generally. From curry to mayonaise to good ol' tomato sauce, or ketchup.
Anyway so I had a few different beers at the bar which were all good, and strong. I wandered out from there to try and find a medieval bar which was described in my little map / guide thing (www.use-it.be, fantastic!) but failed. I went to the irish pub and it was also pretty dead. I spied a sign on the wall indicating a sports / pool area downstairs, jumped with glee to get down there only to find it completely empty. I don't mean just quiet, I mean -empty-.
So I decided to head home. My hostel was in some kind of jewish district; nearly everyone I saw was in their black coat with hat and curly sideburns. Even the kids! I got lost fairly quickly, probably a combination of the rain, not looking at my map and the Belgian beers still doing their work. I walked far too far before asking for directions, which one of the top-hatted jewish men was able to give me. I travelled for a while longer, and another Belgian guy gave me some pointers and eventually I made it back. It was a long day.
So this morning I got the train to Gent, and have spent the day looking around. I'm in a bar drinking another Belgian beer, Hoegaarden (yes, I know its not exactly obscure), using their free internet spot. I've probably tied it up for long enough though, so I'll give an account of Gent sometime later. Hopefully the nightlife is a bit more interesting than Antwerp. Tomorrow I am doing a day trip to Brugge, and will be heading to Brussles that night.
The only issue I had with Antwerp is that it was so quiet! Compared to Amsterdam, there was pretty much no one around. I figured when it got later it might pick up, so I freshened up at the hostel, and headed back out. It was absolutely hammering down with rain, and one of the cars that drove past managed to hit a massive puddle at just the right angle and I copped the lot. Umbrella's don't really protect from water coming sideways. Anyway so I ended up at a bar that served food and ordered cheese and tomato on bread. It sounded a lot more interesting in Flemish (what Belgians speak). It was still quite nice, and the bread was so heavy it filled me up without difficutly.
Another major food here appears to be fries. Woe be to those who describe them as 'French' though, as the Belgians consider themselves the inventors. I tried their magical fries, and they're really nothing special. I think they are just there to give you something to eat the sauce that drenches them. Chips are always served with sauce, and at one of the fry huts, there are about 20 to choose from generally. From curry to mayonaise to good ol' tomato sauce, or ketchup.
Anyway so I had a few different beers at the bar which were all good, and strong. I wandered out from there to try and find a medieval bar which was described in my little map / guide thing (www.use-it.be, fantastic!) but failed. I went to the irish pub and it was also pretty dead. I spied a sign on the wall indicating a sports / pool area downstairs, jumped with glee to get down there only to find it completely empty. I don't mean just quiet, I mean -empty-.
So I decided to head home. My hostel was in some kind of jewish district; nearly everyone I saw was in their black coat with hat and curly sideburns. Even the kids! I got lost fairly quickly, probably a combination of the rain, not looking at my map and the Belgian beers still doing their work. I walked far too far before asking for directions, which one of the top-hatted jewish men was able to give me. I travelled for a while longer, and another Belgian guy gave me some pointers and eventually I made it back. It was a long day.
So this morning I got the train to Gent, and have spent the day looking around. I'm in a bar drinking another Belgian beer, Hoegaarden (yes, I know its not exactly obscure), using their free internet spot. I've probably tied it up for long enough though, so I'll give an account of Gent sometime later. Hopefully the nightlife is a bit more interesting than Antwerp. Tomorrow I am doing a day trip to Brugge, and will be heading to Brussles that night.
Thursday 14 June 2007
Churros in Antwerp
I found spanish donuts!! I had to fly all the way to Europe to get them, but i´ve finally had me some spanish donuts!
Amsterdam concluded
Well I spent the last day of Amsterdam down in Den Haag (about 40 minute train ride out of the Dam), their parliament district. It was pretty cool, and after wandering around a bit, I found myself in an old castle like district, and after asking an old lady selling tourist junk what it was, she informed me that it was in fact the parliament building itself! Pretty cool that they do parliament in a castle.
I then went to the MC Escher museum (the prime reason I went to Den Haag) and it was great! Heaps of different Escher drawings (or I should say prints, as most of the stuff he did was either wood carved or lithographed. He figured he´d be able to distribute more works that way. Fair call really!) that I´d never seen before. Also an optical illusion that you could walk into and a virtual reality experience where you got to walk around inside various Escher kept me there for a fair while!
I trained it back to Amsterdam, picked up my bag and got on a train to Antwerp. If I´d done a bit more research I´d have taken my bag with me to Den Haag and left from there, as it turns out Den Haag is directly on the way to Belgium.
All in all Amsterdam was pretty good. There are about 600 coffeeshops, all the hostels were basically massive stoner dens, and the red light district is something different. They seem to group the prostitutes into whatever your fancy might be. There seemed to be an area for the young white chicks, another for the more mature and exotic flavour, but there´s probably not as many as you might expect for a city famed for this profession.
Just as I had worked out navigation of the place (I got lost several times each day) it seems I need to move on. I´m in Antwerp now, and it seems pretty cool, if a bit quiet compared to the Dam. My hostel here has 3 people that I´ve seen. One guy is living here for a couple weeks waiting for his apartment to be ready. Apparently had a fight with his girlfriend and had to move out. The other guy is a Japanese tourist who took a photo of me and the other guy eating breakfast, gave us a thumbs up and scurried out the door. He´ll be in his element here, there´s a lot to photograph. I haven´t been able to upload any of mine, the few internet cafes Ive used so far dont have USB enabled, so stay tuned on that front. This particular cafe has a keyboard layout I´ve never seen. They keys are all over the shop, and you need to press shift to use the numbers rather than vice versa. It should have taken me about 5-10 minutes to type this out, its been close to double that.
Anyway I´m off to wander a bit more and find some of these hundreds of Belgian beers!
I then went to the MC Escher museum (the prime reason I went to Den Haag) and it was great! Heaps of different Escher drawings (or I should say prints, as most of the stuff he did was either wood carved or lithographed. He figured he´d be able to distribute more works that way. Fair call really!) that I´d never seen before. Also an optical illusion that you could walk into and a virtual reality experience where you got to walk around inside various Escher kept me there for a fair while!
I trained it back to Amsterdam, picked up my bag and got on a train to Antwerp. If I´d done a bit more research I´d have taken my bag with me to Den Haag and left from there, as it turns out Den Haag is directly on the way to Belgium.
All in all Amsterdam was pretty good. There are about 600 coffeeshops, all the hostels were basically massive stoner dens, and the red light district is something different. They seem to group the prostitutes into whatever your fancy might be. There seemed to be an area for the young white chicks, another for the more mature and exotic flavour, but there´s probably not as many as you might expect for a city famed for this profession.
Just as I had worked out navigation of the place (I got lost several times each day) it seems I need to move on. I´m in Antwerp now, and it seems pretty cool, if a bit quiet compared to the Dam. My hostel here has 3 people that I´ve seen. One guy is living here for a couple weeks waiting for his apartment to be ready. Apparently had a fight with his girlfriend and had to move out. The other guy is a Japanese tourist who took a photo of me and the other guy eating breakfast, gave us a thumbs up and scurried out the door. He´ll be in his element here, there´s a lot to photograph. I haven´t been able to upload any of mine, the few internet cafes Ive used so far dont have USB enabled, so stay tuned on that front. This particular cafe has a keyboard layout I´ve never seen. They keys are all over the shop, and you need to press shift to use the numbers rather than vice versa. It should have taken me about 5-10 minutes to type this out, its been close to double that.
Anyway I´m off to wander a bit more and find some of these hundreds of Belgian beers!
Wednesday 13 June 2007
Amsterdam Continued...
Yesterday day I decided to take a free walking tour of Amsterdam, as I'd done enough exploring on my own and figured it was time to be told where some of the good stuff was.
The guide, Elysia, was quite entertaining and gave us a lot of history about why certain buildings where were they where, and took us on a tour in basic chronological order, starting from the oldest district (the red light district), through the 'Golden Age' district where most of the city was built up during its sea trade years, and then through some of the newer parts.
The whole thing went for a touch over three hours and was quite interesting. It finished up at the Anne Frank house which I'd been meaning to visit, and so I finished the tour off with that. I was planning on going on another tour later that evening, but the jet lag caught up with me a bit and I was out not too much later that night. Not that you can really call it -night- here, as it doesn't actually get dark till about 11PM, and the sun starts peeking its head over the horizon not long after 4. It's pretty surreal walking around a city at 10PM in more or less broad daylight.
Today I've checked out the Sex Museum which was basically a chronology of porn. I walked around the city a bit more, checked out the Torture Museum which informative, but not as gruesome as one might be led to believe. I'm trying to book a hostel in Antwerp, as I plan to head over there later on tonight. I want to make time to go to the Haag so I can check out the MC Escher museum before I leave Amsterdam. My mobile doesn't seem to want to call the place, so it looks like I'm going to have to work out how to use their public payphones. Hopefully thats not too difficult, and more hopfully still the hostel will actually have a bed available. Seems there's only one hostel in Antwerp, so I imagine it'll be busy. I was talking to an American dude yesterday, and he informs me that I must check out the "Culminator" in Antwerp. With a name like that, how could I refuse?
The guide, Elysia, was quite entertaining and gave us a lot of history about why certain buildings where were they where, and took us on a tour in basic chronological order, starting from the oldest district (the red light district), through the 'Golden Age' district where most of the city was built up during its sea trade years, and then through some of the newer parts.
The whole thing went for a touch over three hours and was quite interesting. It finished up at the Anne Frank house which I'd been meaning to visit, and so I finished the tour off with that. I was planning on going on another tour later that evening, but the jet lag caught up with me a bit and I was out not too much later that night. Not that you can really call it -night- here, as it doesn't actually get dark till about 11PM, and the sun starts peeking its head over the horizon not long after 4. It's pretty surreal walking around a city at 10PM in more or less broad daylight.
Today I've checked out the Sex Museum which was basically a chronology of porn. I walked around the city a bit more, checked out the Torture Museum which informative, but not as gruesome as one might be led to believe. I'm trying to book a hostel in Antwerp, as I plan to head over there later on tonight. I want to make time to go to the Haag so I can check out the MC Escher museum before I leave Amsterdam. My mobile doesn't seem to want to call the place, so it looks like I'm going to have to work out how to use their public payphones. Hopefully thats not too difficult, and more hopfully still the hostel will actually have a bed available. Seems there's only one hostel in Antwerp, so I imagine it'll be busy. I was talking to an American dude yesterday, and he informs me that I must check out the "Culminator" in Antwerp. With a name like that, how could I refuse?
Monday 11 June 2007
Amsterdam: First Thoughts
Bikes. Bikes are everywhere. I knew to expect this, and still I was a bit taken aback. Bikes were everywhere, and not only this, in several different configurations. People ride bikes singularaly, some have children in front of them, some have children in wheelbarrow-esque boxes in front of them, some ride on the back, side straddle style, and some ride those two person bikes with the two sets of pedals. I'll have some photos up soon showing some of these interesting combinations.
I walked and walked and walked. I plan on putting it into Google's pedometer at some stage, but I would think it was in the order of about 7km's. I saw a lot of stuff, including a church with a spire/tower thing that just kept on going. I didn't go into anything as such, I'll probably start that stuff tomorrow, but I got a good appreciaton for the different things that are around. I'll have pictures up soonish I hope. The hostel (The Flying Pig) doesn't have usb available on the PC's.
This extended walking wouldn't have been a problem, but the first thing I did when getting to Amsterdam was to have lunch. I ordered a mixed grill souvlaki, which I expected to be wrapped up and handed to be ala Australian style, but I was ushered into the restaurant, and served it on a plate. I probably would have filled about two Aussie style souvlakis. I got through a good portion of it, and in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have pushed through that far. Near the end of my walk, a few hours later, I become quite unwell. It was probably combination of the fatty, greasy stuff mixed with dehydration and a significant lack of sleep, but I found myself about 3 kilometers away from my hostel realizing that there was no chance in me walking back. I managed to struggle myself to a tram and eventually made it back.
An hour and a bit of lying down and a bottle of water later I was feeling markedly better, if not completely back to normal. Hopefully after a sleep I'll feel better. Thing is, it's 9pm over here and it hasn't hit darkness yet. This could pose a problem, but hopefully it won't be too long until the sun sets. Until then I think i'll pass on dinner.
I walked and walked and walked. I plan on putting it into Google's pedometer at some stage, but I would think it was in the order of about 7km's. I saw a lot of stuff, including a church with a spire/tower thing that just kept on going. I didn't go into anything as such, I'll probably start that stuff tomorrow, but I got a good appreciaton for the different things that are around. I'll have pictures up soonish I hope. The hostel (The Flying Pig) doesn't have usb available on the PC's.
This extended walking wouldn't have been a problem, but the first thing I did when getting to Amsterdam was to have lunch. I ordered a mixed grill souvlaki, which I expected to be wrapped up and handed to be ala Australian style, but I was ushered into the restaurant, and served it on a plate. I probably would have filled about two Aussie style souvlakis. I got through a good portion of it, and in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have pushed through that far. Near the end of my walk, a few hours later, I become quite unwell. It was probably combination of the fatty, greasy stuff mixed with dehydration and a significant lack of sleep, but I found myself about 3 kilometers away from my hostel realizing that there was no chance in me walking back. I managed to struggle myself to a tram and eventually made it back.
An hour and a bit of lying down and a bottle of water later I was feeling markedly better, if not completely back to normal. Hopefully after a sleep I'll feel better. Thing is, it's 9pm over here and it hasn't hit darkness yet. This could pose a problem, but hopefully it won't be too long until the sun sets. Until then I think i'll pass on dinner.
Lesson 1
Lesson 1: Don't annoy the Qantas crew.
After getting back on the plane from Singapore, I noticed that the flight wasn't quite full. I also noticed that there was a row of four in the middle with only one guy at the end of it. I noticed further that I was in the window seat of a full triple. If I wanted to get up, I'd have to annoy the very nice Italian elderly couple sitting aside me.
The plane started moving to its take off point, when we were informed that we would be sitting here for 15 odd minutes while something got sorted. We were also poiltely informed to stay in our seats with our seatbelts fastened. Deciding we had at least 2 minutes before the plane even thought about moving again, I took the opportunity to jump up and claim the other end of that 4 person row. It meant I had a spare seat next to me and also I wouldn't be annoying anyone to go to the lav, and vice versa. About 3 Qantas personel intercepted me just as I was sitting down in my new seat. I was given a quick word that I should stay in my seat with my belt fastened as indicated, but no further fuss was made as they scurried back to their own seats.
The flight takes off, and as soon as the seat belt turns off, one of the staff inform me that there is a family moving to this location and I must return to my seat. I obliged, after all, I was thinking of the children. I had a look up and down the plane, and there were several lucky passengers that had appropriated entire 4 person rows and prompty lay themselves across them. I happened to sit on the end of a three person seat on the side of the plane, as the gentlemen there was quitly snoozing in his window seat. He rustled awake soon after and gave much such a dirty look that would have killed a person of not of stern constitution. I went to move back to my original seat and the Italian couple were surprised to see me. I looked over to the place I'd moved from, and the family were nowhere to be seen. It had been about 15 minutes since I'd moved from that place, and I thought perhaps that family had found themselves a place further back in the plane. I discussed this with some other staff who had heard nothing about said family. I put myself back in that seat. A few minutes later the earlier stewardess came to inform me that there was indeed a family coming to sit here, and that they had been eating.
I vacated again, and moved back to my original seat. About 5 to 10 minutes later a single woman of large proportions was ushered into my coveted seat. She remained there for the rest of the flight. She even had a meal, which if I am to believe the stewardess was her second. So whilst she made herself comfortable in the place I'd so wished for, I went to watch a movie to find my tv didn't work. It had worked on the flight from Melbourne to Singapore, and I was in the same seat on the same plane. A couple requests failed to bear my audio visual fruit, and I resigned myself to a flight of my own entertainment, some of which was provided by the nice Italian couple next to me in conversation.
Oh vengeful Qantas cabin crew! Hell hath no fury compared with your spite!
After getting back on the plane from Singapore, I noticed that the flight wasn't quite full. I also noticed that there was a row of four in the middle with only one guy at the end of it. I noticed further that I was in the window seat of a full triple. If I wanted to get up, I'd have to annoy the very nice Italian elderly couple sitting aside me.
The plane started moving to its take off point, when we were informed that we would be sitting here for 15 odd minutes while something got sorted. We were also poiltely informed to stay in our seats with our seatbelts fastened. Deciding we had at least 2 minutes before the plane even thought about moving again, I took the opportunity to jump up and claim the other end of that 4 person row. It meant I had a spare seat next to me and also I wouldn't be annoying anyone to go to the lav, and vice versa. About 3 Qantas personel intercepted me just as I was sitting down in my new seat. I was given a quick word that I should stay in my seat with my belt fastened as indicated, but no further fuss was made as they scurried back to their own seats.
The flight takes off, and as soon as the seat belt turns off, one of the staff inform me that there is a family moving to this location and I must return to my seat. I obliged, after all, I was thinking of the children. I had a look up and down the plane, and there were several lucky passengers that had appropriated entire 4 person rows and prompty lay themselves across them. I happened to sit on the end of a three person seat on the side of the plane, as the gentlemen there was quitly snoozing in his window seat. He rustled awake soon after and gave much such a dirty look that would have killed a person of not of stern constitution. I went to move back to my original seat and the Italian couple were surprised to see me. I looked over to the place I'd moved from, and the family were nowhere to be seen. It had been about 15 minutes since I'd moved from that place, and I thought perhaps that family had found themselves a place further back in the plane. I discussed this with some other staff who had heard nothing about said family. I put myself back in that seat. A few minutes later the earlier stewardess came to inform me that there was indeed a family coming to sit here, and that they had been eating.
I vacated again, and moved back to my original seat. About 5 to 10 minutes later a single woman of large proportions was ushered into my coveted seat. She remained there for the rest of the flight. She even had a meal, which if I am to believe the stewardess was her second. So whilst she made herself comfortable in the place I'd so wished for, I went to watch a movie to find my tv didn't work. It had worked on the flight from Melbourne to Singapore, and I was in the same seat on the same plane. A couple requests failed to bear my audio visual fruit, and I resigned myself to a flight of my own entertainment, some of which was provided by the nice Italian couple next to me in conversation.
Oh vengeful Qantas cabin crew! Hell hath no fury compared with your spite!
Sunday 10 June 2007
Intermission...
Well, I've landed in Singapore and am whittling away a short stay while the plane gets refuelled.
No major events so far, although my toothpaste was confiscated in Melbourne by a grumpy security gaurd who informed me that it was 10 grams over the limit for the airplane. Slightly frustrating, but the Qantas lounge in Singapore gave me a little toothbrush and toothpaste when I went to have a shower. And what a shower! I had my own little bathroom with all the usual bits and pieces. A refreshing break.
Add alongside that a nice french onion soup and a self serve bar, and it's been quite a nice little layover.
I'll be sitting in the same seat on the way to London, and hopefully I'll get some sleep with the help of a little friend called
Stilnox, so with a bit of luck I'll be hitting the ground running when I get to Amsterdam. Thats assuming I didn't contract TB from the Indian dude sitting next to me who kept toweling himself down every half an hour and looked like he had a _very_ big night before getting on the plane.
Anyway, so far, so good. Next stop London!
No major events so far, although my toothpaste was confiscated in Melbourne by a grumpy security gaurd who informed me that it was 10 grams over the limit for the airplane. Slightly frustrating, but the Qantas lounge in Singapore gave me a little toothbrush and toothpaste when I went to have a shower. And what a shower! I had my own little bathroom with all the usual bits and pieces. A refreshing break.
Add alongside that a nice french onion soup and a self serve bar, and it's been quite a nice little layover.
I'll be sitting in the same seat on the way to London, and hopefully I'll get some sleep with the help of a little friend called
Stilnox, so with a bit of luck I'll be hitting the ground running when I get to Amsterdam. Thats assuming I didn't contract TB from the Indian dude sitting next to me who kept toweling himself down every half an hour and looked like he had a _very_ big night before getting on the plane.
Anyway, so far, so good. Next stop London!
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