Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Cheese fest - Paris part 4

I mean how many sights can one city have, 3 maybe. Well the final day involved a wander through the incredible Notre Dame. The hunchback was in residence and the bells kept tolling to remind us that he was down there somewhere taking over the opera house. Hang on, maybe that was some crazy play. Anyway, incredible place filled with people and amazing stained glass windows.

So what better to spend the time in Paris doing but eating Cheese! We gathered a quick selection of giant babybel (I thought they'd just be called bel but I guess I was wrong), soft cheese, pastrami, chocolate, 5 euro bread, chess pieces and grapes and had ourselves a snoozy picnic with all the locals in Jardin de luxembourg. A quieter afternoon spent in cafes drinking strong coffees and paying out the 45 year old ladies who look 75 because they smoke 18 packs a day and drink nothing but champagne.

We also found the Marais, but at this point after seeing the Bastille as well we were just completely blown away by the place. Well, there's always the next trip to France to sample the other 85,000 boulangeries in central paris.

My parting thoughts were of amazement, crazyiness, inequity and of cheese. The trains are bodgy and the city has some dodgy dodgy areas, but overall its the number one tourist city in the world for a reason, and its not the 8 euro beers!

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I came, I versailles'd, I conquered - Paris part 3

So birthday's at Versailles, home of the sun king and a giant collection of gold! Gold chairs, gold wallpaper, gold statues and a large collection of gold records for his recording work as a french harmonica player. We stopped at the way at some wacky markets where everything was a bargain and the food was amazing. Then we braved the french train system on a sunday only to find that there was track work. So we took the bus and after a long period of time and a small stop a little cafe for coffee and some fine facilities we arrived at the end of a very long queue.

Versailles feels like a theme park, the palace is just unbelievable, the hall of mirrors was filled with mirrors and tourists. The decoration in the place is just unbelievable. If I recommend anywhere in the world as a completely over the top to visit its Versailles. I can't even begin to describe what kind of life the French royals must have had at the height of their power, everything must of been provided on a golden platter, literally.

The gardens were in some ways even more incredible. You know, just build your own giant park with canals, immaculate planned hedges, mazes and all kinds of things. We wandered around and soon found Marie Antoinette's palace which is a nice pale pink colour marble for the ladies. ooooh, pretty, and less filled with tourists than the main palace. Off with her head indeed! If i'd been a peasant and had seen the miraculous world that the royals lived in I would have been calling for her head too!

Anyway, here are a few more random pictures from around the palace and grounds. Insanity.

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Thursday, July 09, 2009

Paris vs Super Nintendo - Part 2

Sacre Coeur, eh. Well that was stop 1 on this fine 35 degree day in central Paris. A night of guzzling foie gras and dancing to frenchy euro trash music had left us with an appetite for croissants and churches. The churches began with the big one on the hill, and it was quite spectacular. The french priest inside told a homily in French that left me quite astounded and deeply moved, but I didn't really understand much of it except that he said Jesus occasionally, my french being largely learned off simpsons episodes and old episodes of allo allo. We climbed the few hundred steps to the top of the dome after paying the man for the privilege and felt enlivened by the view across Paris to the Eiffel Tower.

After wandering through Montmartre arguing like french artists over whether Monet or Manet was better than Corot, we headed into the depths of suburbia and the Arc of Triumph. I won't put a picture of it here, because you've all seen it, large arc shaped thing swarming with tourists. Instead here are some slightly more interesting pictures of some of the vans that are littered around Paris covered in graffiti. They are some of the most interesting street art I've seen for a while and it says something about the French mentality that this kind of art is allowed, and potentially even encouraged. I dunno what it says, but its gotta say something right.

Sure, we could've hung around looking at vans but a stroll down the Champs Elysees was on the cards. Actually the whole street isn't for me, its just a huge tourist jam. Yeah the old guy breakdancing was kind of fun (Dance Papy Dance read his t-shirt) and the displays of futuristic cars were exciting but I mean it just didn't feel like Paris. A stop at a patisserie / boulangerie was in order for some espressos and ridiculously good pastries and then onwards. Via the Hotel De Invalides which is a hotel reserved exclusively for invalids who like gold domes we headed towards le tour eiffel.

Sure its just a tower, and yeah they were going to rip it down after the expo that they built it for, but in the end they decided to hang onto it. The climb up the steps was exhausting as we had already trudged hundreds of miles through the snow to get there. Plus the Michael Jackson tribute concert out the front was in full swing and out the other direction a collection of french dwarves was protesting for peace to the gypsies (my interpretation of their french) but dammit the view was worth it.

We were completely stuffed at this point and it was approaching the end of our 46 mile walk so we walked the remaining hour and a half back to the hotel via the local french take away (whole chickens, lamb shanks, gourmet sausages and fresh made potato balls) and a french cafe for a wine and somme dinner. Get it, hey.

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Paris in summer - Part 1

So why visit Paris in the summer? All the locals have left, its hot, its stuffy and the streets smell faintly of urine. All this may be true but its also amazing and filled with sensational buildings, unbelievable food, cheese, wine, frenchies, dirty trains and all kinds of madness.

First of all, we had to get there, thank you Mr. Easyjet for the two aborted landings at Charles De Gaulle. Meanwhile half the plane was shitting themselves because we were about 50 metres off the ground when the pilot decided to pull out. Still, it didn't matter despite the fact that we ended up at the wrong airport!

Anyway, where to begin, with a wander through the streets and into some of the crazy shops. First impressions were that there was just something to do or see on nearly every street, cafes brushed shoulders with historic monuments that leaned slowly against drunken french bums playing accordians.

Of course where else could we go but the Musee D'Orsay! Some might suggest that the louvre might have been a better option, but no the queues put us off and the fact that the collection of impressionist work was infinitely superior at D'Orsay. It also proved a good opportunity to walk around subtly mocking the accents of some of New Zealand tourists who were visiting the gallery. We also found the clothes amusing of the old guys wearing stockings quite entertaining but most of all we found the pictures exciting.

Next stop, some garden outside for a little snooze. Those of us who are nearing middle age decided that a little sleep on the tiny little chairs in the park was the perfect thing to do after a day of galleries. Fortunately for some of us the galleries were not over, unfortunately for me the galleries that were left were the galleries lafeyette. It was just shops and it was sale time so you could barely move. Oooh, boy was I gipped, like seriously shops in Paris, who would've thunk it. Still the building was pretty cool and a lot more interesting than Woden plaza on a Saturday morning when the place is filled with booners.

Last stop for the evening was off to the crazy world of some bizarre restaurant where we were the only customers escaping from the heat to drink Kir and eat paella. Well, that was meant to be the last stop but we realised that Moulin Rouge was just around the corner so we had to go catch a few shows. We were too tired for the shows, but the red light district was just kicking off - party time.

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Wednesday, July 01, 2009

St Andrews, home of the patron saint of golf

As I write this its been a bit over a week since the olde visit to the east coast of sunny scotland. We started at Anstruther, famous for its fish bar, where you can get into a real fight with a halibut over a spilt prawn cocktail. Nah, its a helluva place filled with chip shops and nice views out over the tiny jetty.

So we headed to the famous Anstruther fish bar, winner of best fish and chips in the UK a couple of times. First problem, they wouldn't do salad take away for K, well that's just plain ridiculous, make the salad and put it in a box to take away. How hard could it be. So the fish supper (fish and chips) was good but not great, if this is what Britain has to offer as the best version of their national dish then I'm sorely disappointed. Sure it was better than your average pub version but it wasn't earth shattering. Still our car enjoyed the ride and the excitement of a partially clear day in Scotland.

Next stop St Andrews, home to some amazing ruins, some type of golf course and a uni where prince william spent most of his time getting drunk and trying his luck with the local neddys.


If you cannae understand wae a
neddy is
then yar need to yar hed examined.

In fact, St Andrews is a nifty kind of touristy town, the ruins of the old cathedral are stunning, with or without an icecream and the local castle looked very castley. The old town streets were fun for a bit of a wander, and because the weather was good every man and his dog was out getting drunk and eating ice cream. Fun! Of course no visit to St Andrews is complete without trawling through the thousands of antique stores, not....

No visit to St. Andrews is complete without a visit to the home of golf. It was a mild day so I hit 65 off the stick on the old course, not a bad achievement considering I haven't touched a club much in the last couple of weeks. Actually they wouldn't let me on the old course because I didn't have enough starch in my shirt and my salary was not measured in weight. Still, its a cool course and I can see why it would be damned hard when the wind gets up.

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