European Getaway Day 2 (17-11-2006)

Day in Paris

We woke up at 7am for our breakfast at 8 and left for the bus at 8:30. Breakfast was a continental buffet, they had croissants (we are in France), fruit, bread rolls and a selection of cold meats and cheese. It was a different kind of breakfast unusual having a bread roll sandwich style breakkie. I still ate, it you know me I have to eat the food I can when I can get it. A lot of the people thought it was a really crap breakfast as they wanted cereal or even some toast including Kieran.

After breakkie we hiked up the hill and got on the bus for our trip into Paris for our free day. We got dropped off at the Eiffel tower. There are a few ways you can get to the top of the Eiffel tower the first is the stairs to the first level. Then from the first level you can then walk up to the second where you can purchase tickets to get the lift to the top. The other way was the lift straight from the bottom to the top of the tower. When down the bottom the line for the lift straight up was massive. We decided to take the stairs as it was only 3.30 euro but the lift all the way was 11 euro.

We started to climb up to the first level. The stairs are metal and enclosed by a wire mesh like fencing but you can clearly see through the fence and feel the wind etc despite having the fence on either side of you, it does feel very open. I was fine at first as we got closer to the viewing deck I was feeling a bit more nervous about the height and how I would go getting up to the top and then back down again. I made it to the first level where we saw some excellent views of Paris and ended up spending a while on this platform just walking around and reading the plaques and seeing the suicide net ( unfortunately I don’t have any photos of that) When it came time to go up to the top, I struggled a bit. I tried to walk up the steps but just could not do it the view and the openness of the stairs was getting to me. I was happy to have made it to the first platform, for someone who is afraid of heights I think I did well and have no regrets not going to the top. However Kieran was braver than me and ended up climbing the steps to the second level and then caught the lift to the top (another 3.30 euro. I will let her tell you of her experience to the top while I stayed in coffee shop waiting for her safe return).


”Kieran’s trip to the top”: Hi, after Glen had finally made the decision that he could not and did not want to go any further (which did take a while …a lot of psychological dispute) I started to make my way up the stairs to the next level. I was O.K for probably the first 5 flights of stairs and then you could feel the wind a lot more and the ground became further and further away and I began to feel a little uneasy and also thought thank God Glen didn’t come because he would have been crapping himself and I would have probably have to carry him or blindfold him to get him up there. I made it to the second level and was lucky to keep my ticket from blowing away when buying it from the lady. I felt better once I reached the 2nd level as the area is fairly large and it feels safer. So I made my way to the lift to go to the top. The top still appeared pretty far away and I didn’t know how I would feel about such a long and high lift ride. Once in the lift which was 80% glass I started to freak out. Despite the fact that the lift was speedy it felt like it went forever and I could feel my heart beating out of my chest, my stomach went through my legs and I kept thinking “please don’t break, please don’t break”. I think that spending the time talking to Glen about how high it was etc made me think way to much about it. Anyway it sucked it was like going up on the probe 7 at Wonderland and hoping you wouldn’t be coming down like the probe 7. I eventually made it to the top and took a minute to calm down. At the top the lift opened up to an inside glassed area. We probably should have just got the lift from the very bottom to the very top and we both would have been fine. Anyway I then went to the outside area and it was pretty freaky the wind was strong and you could actually feel it move. I tool some photos/video and made myself go to the edge and look over a few times then made my way back down to Glen. At least I can be proud to say I went to the top even though it was scary!

After Kieran’s safe return we headed down the stairs as I clung to rail, its always worse going down looking at the ground dammit. After our trip to the hunk of metal, we took off for our walk around Paris to see the sites that we have read about.. First on our walk was the tomb of Nepolean Bonaparte, then onto Notre-Dame to go see Quasimodo. Then back to the louver. We didn’t go in as there was not enough time. We will be back and see it all over again so we were not fussed about missing Mona Lisa. After the louver we stopped for some lunch an apple and custard Danish. It was very yummy. We then made our way up the Champs Elysees ( the main street) which is very pretty at night with all the lights on. At the end of the street is the Arc De Triomphe (must be said in an American accent amazing race style Arrrkdayy Triuummff) worked out how to get across the road as you cannot run across it. There are no lines on the road and apparently no insurance companies will insure a car if it has an accident on the road. It is organized chaos (not as bad as Bangkok though). Ohh while I am talking about the French drivers they have a thing called bumper parking where they will nudge a car with their bumper to get in and out of spots as they pack so close together people will just hit each other to get in and out. It is crazy.

So back to the trying to get over the road to the arch de triumph, managed to find these signs which pointed to an underground path to get to the middle. We started to follow the signs which made us cross a few roads before realising that the signs were saying the underground path is on the other side at the Champs Elysees road where we had initially been standing. So we back tracked found our way to the underpass and made it to the middle just in time before closing. We didn’t walk to the top as there wasn’t enough time but we might do that when we go back

After the Arc we had to find our way back to the Eiffel tower as we were having a champagne picnic dinner there. We wound our way through the streets, good thing we had a map. Although you could see the tower we still wanted to find the quickest way there (we didn’t want to be late). Made it down to the tower with time to spare and found the others but could not see the bus where the picnic was to be set up. We all stood around for a while with the group. We waited for an extra 45mins for the bus. We had no idea what was happening, at first we thought they had left us and we were stranded in Paris with all the others.

They finally arrived at 7:45pm due to a traffic accident; everyone was starving especially us who had only really had a danish all day. We pulled out the tables and camping stools and had a good meal of chicken and salad as well as the Champaign. To top the meal off we had Escargo (snails) in a garlic sauce. I could not pass up eating these as I would never have ordered them in a restaurant. The trick to eating them at a picnic was to break the 2 outside prongs of a plastic fork and then stick it in and scoop out the little sucker and eat it before it got cold. You only should chew it a few times and then swallow the more you chew the worse it is. I have not had oysters or muscles so I cannot compare it to that but it was like garlic calamari in a way a little bit chewy, but still ok to eat. Even Kieran had one!

The whole time we were eating dinner we were waiting for a girl to come back from walking around town that we hadn’t seen since the morning. We were told to meet at the drop off point at 7pm. Which we all had except for her and the coach. When the coach arrived at 7:45 she was still not there. We started eating dinner thinking she will just be late. We finished dinner and still she was not there we waited until 9 pm and she still didn’t show. The tour leader had to make a decision to wait for her making everyone else miss their optionals or treat her like and adult and make her get her own way back to the hotel. The second option was the choice. Before we went into Paris for the day we were all given a map of the city and a ‘get lost sheet’ which has the address’ and contact phone numbers for where we were staying on tour. So if we did get lost we could get a taxi back.

After finishing our picnic dinner we packed up the coach and headed onto optional extras for the night. Some people were going on a boat ride down the seine river. We and mostly the girls were going to a cabaret show. On the way Jaz (tour Leader) was trying to find out if anyone had S.J’s mobile number. She was asleep when the contact number and emergency contact numbers were collected by Jaz on the first bus trip

In the Cabaret show you get to see a bit of boobie (can't take photos inside, sorry guys). It was interesting to see that the only guys who went to the show were the only 2 men who were their girlfriends on the trip. I wasn’t going to miss out on boobs. We arrived at show, me and the other taken man (the saffas) with about 15 girls. We walked in the door and the place was packed heaps of people in there drinking and eating. Part of our package was to get either 2 beers or half a bottle of wine each. That’s a pretty good deal to me. Kieran and I opted for the half a bottle so we could share a whole one. So we down got our bottle of wine and started to enjoy the evening.

There was some singing just before the show, which really got the crowd in the mood it was great. One thing I did notice before the show started was the when the French people were drinking their champagne or sparkling wine; they don’t care about safety when popping the top. Infact they would try and get it to fly really high not caring who it hit in the head or where it landed. Lucky for us we were under a balcony so we wouldn’t be hit. It was crazy to see and I was amazed no fights broke out. If I kept getting hit by the cork I would go find where it was coming from.

The cork popping continued for a while, then the show started. A French man came to welcome everyone in the crowd and told us about the show. He spoke a few languages which always amazes me and he spoke good English even though it was with an American accent. The curtains opened and the show began. There were boobs out straight away! The show was a sing and dance act. Not every act or part had boobs out. It was interesting to see how different these are to what I thought one would have been. It kinda felt a bit like a Rock eisteddfod where the kids are trying to tell a story (but these are good looking men and women with only half there clothes on). This is what the show was like they were telling the story of dance through the ages and in French. They skipped a few years but started in the 20’s and ended up somewhere in the future with space ships and fluro suits. By the way Kieran said the guys had there tops off too and they were pretty nice to look at.

Half way through the show there was an intermission where a man (Christopher) was doing aerial tricks on a piece of rope hanging in the middle of the room over the crowd. It was excellent, he had amazing strength, however he was a bit of a ‘love me do’ which kind of ruined it for me. It was still good to see anyway.

They continued on after the rope tricks. Half way through the last half we heard a scream and girls moving from behind us, it was from one of our tour’s tables. We all thought that one of the girls had spilt her wine on another girl. What actually happened was one of them was not feeling the best and had a spew on the table and on her friends jacket. What a way to ruin a good evening for that table, classy too. The show finished with the classic Cancan and balloons fell from the sky. We got a balloon as a souvenir. We then headed back to our bus where the boat people were waiting; they too had been drinking on the cruise. Even got some back on the bus, can’t say no to a drink so had a few for the road on the way back to the hotel. Got back to the hotel and met the boys in the bar for a few more drinks (Kieran joined me). The night ended at 2:30am.

Glen and Kieran

European Getaway Day 1 (16-11-2006)

European Getaway 16 Nov – 5 Dec 2006

London to Paris

The day started out by waking up at the nice hour of 4:45, had to rush around as we had to finalise our bags, we had only got to bed at 1:30 that night, so running on hardly any sleep.

Walked with our packs on back and pillows in hand to the tube station, had to catch 2 trains to get to the pick up point from where we were staying. Nice ride on the district line all the workers were looking at us funny as we had so much stuff at such and ungodly hour.

Hoped out of the train at our station and headed to where we thought we had to go. Found the Topdeck bus, but couldn’t find the hostel, asked the driver but he was not sure either, he new it was down that street somewhere (No shit mate). We left our packs on the coach with the driver and ran down the street as it was 6:55 and we had to leave at 7. Ran down the street and out the front of the hostel was the Tour leader Jaz who said as we were running up to her “you must be Kieran and Glen?” and Correct she was. She had been waiting for us. As we walked into the hostel with her, another person walked in joining the tour so we weren’t the last ones which made us feel a lot better. (This was not to be the same for the whole tour, as we were not late for anything else.)

We all walked down to the bus, we were the only ones not carrying anything so I offered to carry some stuff for Jaz as she had heaps of stuff. Got on the little bus and found a seat. We sat in the middle halfway between the cool kids at the back and the nerds at the front.

It was a 2 hr drive to Dover we learnt all about the people who were sitting at the back of the coach, it was very big brother like with all the questions people were asking each other. Almost like everyone was walking around going ASL? (Age Sex Location for those who are not geeks) As if they were in a chat room. I will tell you about everyone on the coach in a later post.

Got to Dover and saw the white cliffs, although they were more of a grey, from the weather but still got to see them in real life. We had to go through French customs as we were going into France and leaving England, crossed over without any problems (lucky Kieran told me to leave the machete and heroin at home!). We had to take all our bags off the bus as it was just the one to drive us from London to Dover; another bus was waiting on the other side, the one we got to know and love that drove us through Europe.

We got our boarding passes, (yellow cards which say bon voyage, they were dodge) Made our way to what some would call a boarding platform, I like to call it a gang plank. Once on the ferry we explored what was there and then settled down with a meal for lunch/morning tea (it was a kiddies meal that came with a multicolour crayon Yay!). After the meal we headed to the family room to chill out in, Kieran had a sleep to cure the sea movement.

The ferry made it to Calais in 90 mins, at Calais we met the Driver Mav (nickname of Maverick due to the aviator sunnies she wears. Her real name is Peta. Next we met Gavo the cook. All the Topdeck crew are from Australia.

We Packed our bags into the coach (her name is Judy, 'that's a nice name'), took our seat, we took the middle again to best judge our new travel companions. Driving into Paris was a nice drive past the country side, pass the Somme a good history lesson to see the land where the western front was fought.

The first night we stayed in a hotel, Kieran and I had a room to ourselves. There is one other couple with us, they are South African. We took our bags up to our room via the lift as we have massive bags we could only fit us and our bags in there. We ended up on the third floor with a view of the river. The view was through a suicide window that we could open right up and jump out of if we wanted to. I only ever stuck my head out. After we got our bags up to our room we had to meet back down stairs for a tour around the city with Jaz and see some sites. We needed to get the bus back into the city, as our hotel is a bit far out to walk back to.

We took our bus trip back into Paris, had a driving tour of the city saw all the things that we could go back to the following day when we had free time and view them in sunshine. We stopped at and walked up to the Sacr’e-Coeur, a massive Church on the hill built by the Germans as a present to France. It is a really nice church only problem is the finger men on the way up to see it. What are finger men? Well they are these guys (normally of dark African appearance) and they have a piece of string in a loop that they try to put on your finger. Then when you cant get it off, they hold onto the other end and you have to pay them to get the string off your finger. It is pretty much black mail. No one on our trip got stung by these ppl. What we did when walking past these men is to put our hands in our pockets, not look and just walk past, when they talk say no thanks and keep on walking.

For dinner Kieran had a hotdog and I had a donner kebab. Now donner kebabs are not the same as back in oz, what they do is open the pita bread (half the size of home) and then stuff the meet and salad inside of it. There is no rolling and pressing it under the sandwich press. It was a massive meal with the chips and drinks. We had some free time and we had a bit of a walk around. Met back up with the rest of the group, got back on the bus and continued to check out the famous sites of Paris such as the louver, Eiffel tower of course!, Arc De Triomphe etc. After our driving tour we went back to the hotel room for the end of the first day was over, and we needed some sleep. Some of the group stayed up and drank in the bar Kieran and I just went to bed. I did try to watch some TV but there were only 5 channels all in French, it was funny to watch Will and Grace in French.

European Life Update

Hi All

Just wanted to say Hi and yes we are both still alive. Comming back from our big 20 day Europe tour has been busy. In the last week we have been looking for work, a place to live and now we are in Scotland on a 4 day break ( you need a break after a big holiday i think). We will be back in London soon, I will update the blog as best I can. As you can imagine I have heaps to write about and could not do it all on the tour (didn't take the Lappy). So I have made notes and will write it all out when I have the time so stay tuned as there will be a few days of whats been happing, along with pictures soon.

Glen