Another day another flight! This one to Croatia.
Have been in Rochdale, near Manchester, for the past 5 or so days. Nice and relaxing, but not all that eventful. The best bit was when I went out to lunch with grandma and 7 of her majority 70+ gal pals and the conclusion of the conversation being they have either read or want to read 50 Shades of Grey. Lordy lord.
The plane smelled like Cheese and Bacon Shapes and babies. Which is funny because Cheese and Bacon remind me of Joni, and here she is next to me! Yay! The baby bit is in no way relevant to anyone.
Needed the bathroom the whole flight, but was trapped by my own politeness as, of course, I would choose the window seat. I like to look out the window and match the view with a song on my iPod and pretend I'm in a movie. Like everyone does right?
Have just arrived in Croatia, it is seriously beautiful! Am sitting in a cafe with Joni, Sophie and Tash! It's been a long time since seeing each other so we have many stories to swap!
Will be in Split until Saturday then we'll be sailing in and around Croatia for the next 8 days so will update on that when I'm on dry land!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Bonjour Au Revoir
The video! I meant to mention the Kindle which was next to my leg and which I've been making great use of, but I got flustered and forgot. Sozzle. Sozzle for being a dork as well.
Our lovely week in Paris has been and gone. Time is going so fast on this trip, the day Claire and I decided to go seems so recent, and it was about a year ago!
Anyway. Paris. A special mention to David Lebovitz for making the week an extra special one. (Google him, or if you can't handle the suspense of opening a new window, he's a pastry chef who blogs on Parisian food). Trying hard not to make this blog so food centric but with two people who will travel 25 minutes and change trains twice for a good piece of cake, how can I not?! So I'll just say this, we found an entirely gluten free bakery, tried our hardest to find the best macaron, and found out that a half wheel of legit Camembert only costs about $3 Australian dollars in gay Paree!
We had a much nicer hostel this time, and although it was a four bed, we had it to ourselves half the time, and the cleaners didn't sleep on a sofa in the living room! We climbed the Eiffel Tower and took more photos of ourselves than there are of Kate Moss. We also did some cracking hunchback impersonations at the Notre Dame (I know I know, original). Unfortunately for everyone those are on the digital camera so I can't put them on here. Listened to a fellow diner sing a French song to his date in a tiny restaurant plastered with posters from French films. We saw a great Egyptian Art exhibition, and yes the Babar exhibition was full of happiness and memories. We walked down the Champs about 8 times, and marvelled at how the metro voice over lady can make the word 'temple' sound like 'talmp'. She seemed like a nice lady. We saw the Moulin Rouge, and saw the line for the Moulin Rouge (unsure which was more impressive). We said this a lot "we love our bread, we love our butter, but most of all we love each other"(10 points if you got that reference). A man played a horn on the metro- so obtrusive. And snails are delicious!!
Back in London now. Last night we had a burger watched some stand up comedy in Angel, and tonight we found ourselves watching a laser show to celebrate the launch of a new Audi model (!!?) and went to a pub that was covered in vines. Special thanks to Mary for having us stay again!
Am off Grandma and Grandads tomorrow. CANNOT WAIT for a double bed and being able to have a shower not wearing thongs. Had to say a sad goodbye to Claire earlier this afternoon, I miss you already amigo!
Much love as always.
* The title of the post is a direct quote by the way. I meant to say thanks seeya, but said hello goodbye instead. Embarrassing myself all over the world.
Cheese!
King of the Elephants
Sunny day at the Eiffel Tower, so why not I guess
Gluten free bakery, mid-chew
Claire let me hold hers for the photo......
Nice
You can't walk on the grass in the park attached to the Lourve. BUT GOATS CAN?
Hellloooooo Paris
Monkey street art in Montmarte
Floor to ceiling books!
Our hostel*
*Not actually our hostel.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Bonjour
Bonjour! We are in Paris at the moment and I think I've found my favourite city- it's beautiful, the food is delicious and we have conveniently arrived during exciting times! The Tour de France will arrive in Paris on Sunday (we won't be there but the city is buzzing a bit anyway), and yesterday, the 14th July was Bastille Day- France's answer to Australia Day!
We've seen plenty of sights so far: the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Élysées, the Notre Dame, the Sacré-Cœur (which you can see from our hostel), and we've been to the Lourve and the Grand Palais museum.
The Bastille Day celebrations were both breathtaking and ridiculously hilarious! There was an ace firework show and light show from the Eiffel Tower, which thanks to a 4 hour wait (we were super keen) we were right in front of. I don't know if you know this but fireworks are my second favourite thing after food, and as I'd just eaten I had the best night ever. The highlight and most hilarious part of the night was easily the fireworks soundtrack. It started off with the classic It's Raining Men, and included YMCA, I Will Survive, some Gloria Estefan and ABBA. So French. The reason there is a photo of a man in jeans was because he was there with his whole family who were seated, but he didn't sit down once because his pants were too tight. Oh how we laughed! Maybe it was so funny because we were 3 hours into the wait. I also mistook a man's regal blue cloak for a rain poncho. Good
times.
The rest of the time we've been walking and eating, and taking lots of photos! (Lots of these photos were taken by Claire because I keep forgetting to charge my phone).
Sorry about the lack of captions for the pictures, Blogger is not co-operating with me! The bookshop is a place called Shakespeare and Company just opposite the Notre Dame- a tiny but crammed English language bookstore. They were closing early for a wedding today, so romantic! (My many suitors take note). Bread is pictured because you get it with every meal, even if your meal is cake and juice.
That crepe is actually a gluten free buckwheat galette with ham, cheese and tomato and it melted in my mouth!
Laudree! Macarons! The most delicious I've ever eaten, although Pierre Herme could give them a run for there money.
The Babar poster is a museum exhibition we're going to on Wednesday(!), there was an orchestra in a metro station, and the one of me and a jug is in Angelina, a fancy patisserie on the Rue de Rivoli. That pot is full of Chocolate Chaud- basically liquid chocolate. Hence the smile.
Au revoir!
We've seen plenty of sights so far: the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Élysées, the Notre Dame, the Sacré-Cœur (which you can see from our hostel), and we've been to the Lourve and the Grand Palais museum.
The Bastille Day celebrations were both breathtaking and ridiculously hilarious! There was an ace firework show and light show from the Eiffel Tower, which thanks to a 4 hour wait (we were super keen) we were right in front of. I don't know if you know this but fireworks are my second favourite thing after food, and as I'd just eaten I had the best night ever. The highlight and most hilarious part of the night was easily the fireworks soundtrack. It started off with the classic It's Raining Men, and included YMCA, I Will Survive, some Gloria Estefan and ABBA. So French. The reason there is a photo of a man in jeans was because he was there with his whole family who were seated, but he didn't sit down once because his pants were too tight. Oh how we laughed! Maybe it was so funny because we were 3 hours into the wait. I also mistook a man's regal blue cloak for a rain poncho. Good
times.
The rest of the time we've been walking and eating, and taking lots of photos! (Lots of these photos were taken by Claire because I keep forgetting to charge my phone).
Sorry about the lack of captions for the pictures, Blogger is not co-operating with me! The bookshop is a place called Shakespeare and Company just opposite the Notre Dame- a tiny but crammed English language bookstore. They were closing early for a wedding today, so romantic! (My many suitors take note). Bread is pictured because you get it with every meal, even if your meal is cake and juice.
That crepe is actually a gluten free buckwheat galette with ham, cheese and tomato and it melted in my mouth!
Laudree! Macarons! The most delicious I've ever eaten, although Pierre Herme could give them a run for there money.
The Babar poster is a museum exhibition we're going to on Wednesday(!), there was an orchestra in a metro station, and the one of me and a jug is in Angelina, a fancy patisserie on the Rue de Rivoli. That pot is full of Chocolate Chaud- basically liquid chocolate. Hence the smile.
Au revoir!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Adios, Gracias and Tapas.
Our last morning in Barcelona is today- so I'll do a quick round up of our week in this b-e-a-utiful Spanish city!
• The food was amazing! We tried everything from market foods, restaurant foods and cheap tapas and all of them were mouthwatering. There was a slight hiccup when the food we bought and kept in the hostel fridge and cupboards got eaten, but more on hostel life later!
• From our hostel window we could see Starbucks, Topshop, Sephora and Pull & Bear (which is a top notch clothes store). Uh oh.
• Managed to find the worst tattoo ever, and we've been to Ios so... you know. It was across a gentleman's back in large bolded capital letters saying "YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT NOT TO DO"...
• We spent most days just heading down La Ramblas, which is the long main street, and going up a random side alley and getting a bit lost. You could spend weeks walking just near La Ramblas and still not have seen everything! There were tea shops, gourmet chocolate shops, designer condom shops(?) (or as the Spanish say: ¿), so many shoe shops, tattoo parlours and about 4 H&Ms within 5 minutes each other. We hired bikes and cruised around, and didn't even fall off!
• Everywhere you go people are trying to sell you a can of coke or beer, or a mouth whistle thing, or some plastic thing you throw. We saw some at the port taking their spare beers out of the bin. So gross. We got so frustrated by it last night I yelled at a man when he asked me why I didn't want a platic throw-y thing and said BECAUSE THEY'RE TERRIBLE. Then we got a red summer wine (better than sangria) and all was well.
• We went to the beach, and all the girls go topless on Barcelona beach. And you know, do as the locals do, when in Barcelona etc.
• We got lost a lot.
• The La Boqueria markets off La Ramblas have everything you could ever want, including whole cows tongues, lambs brains, lambs faces!, paella, fruit, vegetables and 1000000 varieties of chorizo. A certain muffin lady in there remembered Claire's order after the 3rd consecutive day.
• The hostel was hilarious. It's in an amazing location, but it was so unoranised and more like a share house. The housekeeper Coco Gold* slept there and spent most of the time on Skype to his wife, or perhaps mother, and you'd often walk in to see him snoozing on the couch. Someone ate our entire packet of corn thins and cheese one night, clearly not seeing the names on it or not realising it was in the cupboard and fridge not in the free pile. We left a note. No more food went missing... Haha but honestly it was hilarious and don't stay there.
*may or may not be his actual name
• Have not received anymore injuries, and the burn is getting better thanks for your concern. Collectively we've probably spent the most money in pharmacies than anywhere else.
Ah. We'll miss the sun, but I'm so excited as right now we are sitting in our Paris hostel! It's quite a nice hostel and we are about two minutes away from the Sacré-Cœur. Just had dinner at Chez Marie. Top notch grub. Many many photos to come!
Gotta go now and study my French, the man next to us in the restaurant laughed at me trying to decipher the menu.
• The food was amazing! We tried everything from market foods, restaurant foods and cheap tapas and all of them were mouthwatering. There was a slight hiccup when the food we bought and kept in the hostel fridge and cupboards got eaten, but more on hostel life later!
• From our hostel window we could see Starbucks, Topshop, Sephora and Pull & Bear (which is a top notch clothes store). Uh oh.
• Managed to find the worst tattoo ever, and we've been to Ios so... you know. It was across a gentleman's back in large bolded capital letters saying "YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT NOT TO DO"...
• We spent most days just heading down La Ramblas, which is the long main street, and going up a random side alley and getting a bit lost. You could spend weeks walking just near La Ramblas and still not have seen everything! There were tea shops, gourmet chocolate shops, designer condom shops(?) (or as the Spanish say: ¿), so many shoe shops, tattoo parlours and about 4 H&Ms within 5 minutes each other. We hired bikes and cruised around, and didn't even fall off!
• Everywhere you go people are trying to sell you a can of coke or beer, or a mouth whistle thing, or some plastic thing you throw. We saw some at the port taking their spare beers out of the bin. So gross. We got so frustrated by it last night I yelled at a man when he asked me why I didn't want a platic throw-y thing and said BECAUSE THEY'RE TERRIBLE. Then we got a red summer wine (better than sangria) and all was well.
• We went to the beach, and all the girls go topless on Barcelona beach. And you know, do as the locals do, when in Barcelona etc.
• We got lost a lot.
• The La Boqueria markets off La Ramblas have everything you could ever want, including whole cows tongues, lambs brains, lambs faces!, paella, fruit, vegetables and 1000000 varieties of chorizo. A certain muffin lady in there remembered Claire's order after the 3rd consecutive day.
• The hostel was hilarious. It's in an amazing location, but it was so unoranised and more like a share house. The housekeeper Coco Gold* slept there and spent most of the time on Skype to his wife, or perhaps mother, and you'd often walk in to see him snoozing on the couch. Someone ate our entire packet of corn thins and cheese one night, clearly not seeing the names on it or not realising it was in the cupboard and fridge not in the free pile. We left a note. No more food went missing... Haha but honestly it was hilarious and don't stay there.
*may or may not be his actual name
• Have not received anymore injuries, and the burn is getting better thanks for your concern. Collectively we've probably spent the most money in pharmacies than anywhere else.
Ah. We'll miss the sun, but I'm so excited as right now we are sitting in our Paris hostel! It's quite a nice hostel and we are about two minutes away from the Sacré-Cœur. Just had dinner at Chez Marie. Top notch grub. Many many photos to come!
Gotta go now and study my French, the man next to us in the restaurant laughed at me trying to decipher the menu.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Barcelona: Photos
Some explanations:
• The junts sign is everywhere and we don't know what it is?!
• Those avocados were as big as my face. No lie.
• Have become addicted to edamame beans on this trip.
• Watched Claire eat those churros. She said they were amazing.
• Some ATMs include a camera.
• Look at the size of that vending machine!
• The street graffiti here is insane!
• At 1am on Friday night about 90-100 rollerbladers (!) flew past us blowing whistles and yelling...
• The junts sign is everywhere and we don't know what it is?!
• Those avocados were as big as my face. No lie.
• Have become addicted to edamame beans on this trip.
• Watched Claire eat those churros. She said they were amazing.
• Some ATMs include a camera.
• Look at the size of that vending machine!
• The street graffiti here is insane!
• At 1am on Friday night about 90-100 rollerbladers (!) flew past us blowing whistles and yelling...
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