10 things we love about Paris

1. Our Apartment. Check it out on this website. http://www.sogecri.com/tournelles/      It is gorgeous. We get free international phonecalls, free computer and internet, have been able to do our washing and fill our fridge with loads of food. The owner Quentin is an absolute gem. He met us here, helped us settle in and even arranged our cab for the airport. We love him. We love the apartment.
2. Cheap Evian.  Its the cheapest thing you can drink.
3. The glorious Architecture.  The buildings are gorgeous. All of them. We havent seen an ugly one, and cant work out whether none of them are new... or whether the new ones are just still built with old-time beauty.
4. Dog Friendly. People in Paris love their dogs. They take them everywhere. They are all well behaved and you often wont notice there is a dog sitting next to you on the metro or under a counter in a shop. Being dog lovers, we like this. Notes - they are all better behaved than our dog. And despite what people tell you, we didnt see a single dog shit in the streets.
5. Our area, Le Marais. It is beautiful, clean, is the premier neighbourhood for eating out. It is very trendy with upcoming designers. Its well located. Its just good and we recommend it.
6. Galettes and Crepes. Available from market stalls with a variety of fillings, these are a delicious snack or lunch on the go.
7. Cheap booze in the supermarket. (Also available in the rest of europe, we know).Why hasnt this caught on in Australia? So easy to buy beer and wine with your food shopping. Adam has particularly loved Kronenburg 1664.
8. Transport. Stinky as it is, its easy to navigate and we never took longer than éà minutes to get anywhere. I thought only Adelaide could claim that!
9. The people.  OK, so i know i said they stink while i was grumpy the other day.. But they didnt live up to the 'arrogant french' reputation. They have all been good to us, they have all spoken english as soon as they realise its our language of choice, and have been generally nice. Much better customer service than we received in London!! (Plus during this trip we've realised, if you're not AMERICAN, you're a bloody legend!)
10. The fact that its only the halfway point of our trip. You beauty!!!

From Paris to Paros.... we'll report next from the beautiful greek islands. Note that we wont have internet on hand again so blog posts will slow waaaaayyy down again.


Toodles!

Vingt-huit (28) and the last day in Paris

Today is my 28th Birthday. It's also our last day in Paris. And it's the day we saw how good Paris really is.
We woke up early, checked facebook for all of my birthday messages and enjoyed a breakfast of ham and cheese baguettes (the staple food of the trip so far).
We were trying to decide what to do for the day as we are a bit 'over' following the tourist trail. Paris hasn't been my favourite location and I think its because we have spent time doing things that dont really interest us - i.e. visiting Museums and Churches - just because you kind of think you should. I want to love Paris like I thought I would. After today I pretty much do.

First off we headed to the Catacombes. I know I said we wanted to avoid the tourist trail, but this one interested us! For those that dont know, the Catacombes was a disused quarry that was used to store bones once the cemetaries got full. You go 20m underground (lots of stairs) and follow a trail of underground corridors all lined with bones and skulls. Eeerie to look at - but fascinating.

The line to the Catacombes was long.. so Adam went and bought us Coffee and Macarons and I managed to tick off one of my Paris experiences while we were waiting. Great idea on his part... though I'm not sure how genuinely Parisian the macarons from McCafe are!!! Ah well, they were tasty!

After the Catacombes we decided to jump on a bus and head off for some shopping. I must say that riding the bus was one of the best decisions we have made. We've spent the last 4 days riding the metro underground train system and have missed out seeing this spectacular city in all its glory. I had a new appreciation of Paris by the time we reached Galleries Lafayette, an enormous department store. The store was huge and I have never seen so much high-end designer gear in one place. Very impressive, though a little out of our budget. What was also cool about the department store was (a) its ceiling, and (b) the view from its roof. See both below.

Leaving the shopping centre empty-handed, we jumped on the metro to head home. I decided we should hop off one station early and walk through our neighbourhood. Well... what a decision! Turns out we are in the most gorgeous are of Paris. And it's cool. The streets are lined with cool cafes, cool bars, cool shops, and cool fashion designers selling their wares. We are stoked, but a little disapppointed we didnt discover it sooner as it really would have changed the way we 'did' Paris.

We stopped in at one of the cafes for lunch (at 5pm!) of French Onion Soup - woohoo another item ticked off the list! It was delicious, as the before and after below surely shows.  

We're heading back tonight to enjoy the area, before we shoot off to Greece first thing in the morning.

All in all it was a good birthday. But then.... every day is like a birthday when you're on holidays.

Mona, Mona, Mona...... The Dougwood's trip to the Louvre

Museums dont really do it for me. Jess does not care for them either...... 
The Louvre!.. probably should do that one.

We finished the bike tour and headed to the Louvre, it stays open to 9:30 on fridays and only 6pm on a school night so being a friday we thought we could knock it over in a few hours. Got there at about 4pm and headed to see what this ' Mona and her friend Lisa were doing to drag in millions of people a year .

Basically it was pretty cool to see some of the great pieces of art and sculpture to grace the earth but we did enjoy seeing some of the more obscure pieces, the unexplainable images and just alot of boobs out and small dicks.( you would think if someone was going to make a sculpture of you or paint your picture, wouldnt you say ' you might need a bit more paint on that brush leonardo' or 'how about a bit more clay on the extremities Luis'.

The following pictures are a bit of a story of some of the beautiful, not so beautiful, just plain weird and what the fuck is that? .....

                                            The show stoppers! (the ones we've heard of)

(that's the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo/Aphrodite for those more uncultured than us!!)

The weird ones that entertained us for the next couple of hours...

'but grandpa, what a big mince-meat nose you have'

Wow, im a bit freaky.. (we're still laughing at this one!!)

You could take an eye out with that stick.

OR maybe - I'd rather poke myself in the eye with a blunt stick than look at the 'cherub' above;

A pinch and a punch for the first day of the month.

Jess(on the right): Get home to bed you village drunk

Heath(on the left): Oh whats the problem? Cant he stay out with the boys?

Adam (in the middle): euauuuggcch?

"Snakebites" - Getting girl's tits out for years now.

The way we felt after a few hours at the Louvre.

Fat Tire Bike Tour...... WooHoo

Today we were doing the 'Fat Tire Bike Tour ' which was a gift from Stace and Erica. Stace had done this tour previously and thought it would be great for us to do to get a good look at the city. We met the tour group under the Eiffel Tower before a short walk to there offices to get the bikes. The bikes are big 'cruiser' style with fat tyres ( obviously ) and long handle bars which are easy to ride and a lttle bit cool. 

The Tour starst off with a gentle ride through a park before venturing out onto some of the busiest roads in Paris covering off the main sites and attractions of the city. Sites ticked off were , Eiffel Tower, Champ de mars, Ecole militaire, The Dome Church ( Napoleans tomb ), Hotel des Invalides, Jardin des Tuileries, Placa de la Concorde( stolen from the Egyptians ) , Musee d'Orsee and Musee du Louvre. The tour guide gives an  informative trip through French history with a bit of a slant to keep it entertaining , the french had a violent and crazy past.  It was really good fun and jess was a demon on her bike as some of the pics will show. The tour finishes back at the Eiffel tower for some great shots and back to the office to drop the bikes off.

Thank you very much Shags for a great gift that we really enjoyed.

A & J .

escargot... mmm?

One of the main things i wanted to do on the trip was to try a few of the local dishes. In Spain we did the tapas thing , London was the pub pie and now in France we had already done the 'boeuf bourguignon , Foie gras, i had a dodgey intestine sausage and a market Gallette. But last night i wanted the 'escargot'... snails!

We went to a little resteraunt around the corner from our appartment called 'Bofinger', it was busy and had a good atmosphere. I ordered the snails for entree, there would be only six and convinced jess that one was hers. We had ordered a bottle of wine so we were sipping on that and it was not long before the little suckers came out. It was not exactly what i expected as they were already removed from their shells and sitting in a dish in galic and herbs.

They were small , black and not easy on the eye.... here we go... the first one i chewed for ages, it was rubbery and very strong on the garlic , not alot of flavour itself but not too bad. The main thing i think that weirds you out is when you are chewing them you can feel the bit that would be slidding along the ground...for you that have eaten snails im sure you are not that interested in this blog but it was a bit of a  culinary moment for me.

Jess had a crack at hers and initially was going ok but as soon as she felt the weird 'bottom of snail bit' she swallowed it very closely followed by  half a glass of wine. I finished the rest of them and quite enjoyed my first escargot experience. Another positive was when finished there were six little pods full of garlic oil and herbs that were great for dipping the bread in...... all class.

So tonight we have a couple more to tick off , jess wants some 'french onion soup' ( not sure if just called onion soup here), creme brulee and tomorrow maybe a macaroon. ' Frogs legs'...... i have not seen them on any menu the entire time in France ???? im sure they just tast like chicken..

A.

Late night words

I'm a little too tired for a real blog post. It's 12.40am and Adam is already snoring. But i feel a bit bad about bagging Paris this morning. So...

Today Paris started to redeem itself. It must have got scared by my blog this morning.

• The rain stopped, the sun shone.
• The metro didnt even stink.
• We walked out to find markets outside our house. We both got 'galettes' (the savoury cousin of crepes). Mine had salmon and goats cheese. Adams had chorizo and egg and cheese.
• We went to a cemetary and visited the graves of Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde. I'll post pics of this tomorrow. It was quite cool.
• We went to Montmarte for a look around. Different to our area. Busier in terms of tourists. A bit daggier and dirtier though. A lot of people trying to scam you with cotton bracelets, pretend petitions, pretend dropped rings etc. (Lucky I can dagger any scammer to the ground with an evil stare and a harsh "non!". Adam insists he can do it himself.. but as i told him, he's nicer than me by nature. They dont get it til they see me glare.)
• We saw the Sacre Cour. Another church.. but with the addition of great views of the city. 
• We walked to Moulin Rouge.. and posed out the front of it like husseys. We're contemplating seeing the show if we can use the rest of Kate n Todds voucher for it (lastminute.com being difficult again so we'll wait n see).
• We went out for dinner and lots of wine downstairs at a local restaurant. Hence Adam snoring and me dribbling rubbish now. 

Tomorrow (courtesy of one generous Shannon Stacey and his lovely girlfriend Erica), we are going on a "Fat Tire Bike Tour" over Paris.  In 4 hours we'll see all the sites, then decide which ones to go back to in the arvo or the next day. Fanks Shannon!!!

I had better get some sleep. Speak to you all soon!

(ha - i think this is long enough that it counts for a real blog post after all. Will add pics later)

Big generalisation ahead...

Don't read the green section if you're offended by generalisations.

People in Paris stink.

Nowhere else in France has stunk, but it really stinks here. The Metro is vile. The tube in London smelt like roses compared to here. Parisiens are smelly.

My Year 9 French Teacher stunk. I didnt like her at all. People in Paris smell like her. Gross.  

That is all. People offended by generalisations can resume reading now.

Paris defeats The Dougwoods, 3 - 1

We came home last night feeling defeated and beaten. Bastille Day is not all is cracked up to be. If people say that Europe is too packed in Summer, then you can only imagine putting all of those people in one place. But it wasn't just the people... we have realised that the French dont know how to party and can't plan an event. I'll try not to be too negative. Adam thinks we need to wait days for the hindsight effect to kick in.. but here it is in truth.

Tuesday night (13th), Quentin our apartment owner, told us that it may be noisy all night as the celebrations kick off the night before Bastille Day. We went down to the concert near our house and it ended at around 10pm. Ha, can't party. But we'll forgive them - maybe tomorrow will be huge.

Wednesday morning (yesterday) we were up bright and early to head to the big parade on the Champs Elysees, the one you see on TV where the planes fly over with red, white and blue behind them. It apparently started at 10am, so we got there at 9.30. The street was absolutely lined with all of the army force of france, tanks, jeeps, etc. But they just sat there.. for about an hour. Then the planes flew over. And then nothing. Maybe one of the jeeps moved. It was incredibly boring. THEN the heavens opened up and we all got drenched. I'm talking 'just showered in your clothes' kind of wet. Maybe this was a blessing... coz it meant we left. Score 1 to Paris.

We had coffee, went home to dry off and watched Forrest Gump in the sanctuary of our apartment. There was nothing else to do as the rain was too heavy.

Later in the arvo we decided to check out the Louvre. There was a sign up saying that because of national day, it wouldnt be open late (would close at 6pm) but 'could close anytime we want for any reason we decide'. Weird. You guessed it... Closed - Second score for Paris.

But we did get some pics..

 

We walked what felt like 25km to the Eiffel Tower where we met our friends for the Fireworks. Walked another 5km to try buy wine and finally succeeded. This is where we score. We got a good spot on the grass, drank wine, played Uno and the sky remained clear (well, dry at least) while we sat there for 4 hours before the fireworks started. It was really fun. (Though I'll add there was no entertainment or music for the 200,000 people there - see, they cant plan a party!!!). The fireworks went for about 40 minutes and were pretty spectacular, paired with some fun french tunes. The wine was good, the crowd was happy and we felt pretty lucky to be standing there.

But...just to take the shine off the night, the Paris gods decided to f*ck with us a little more.

Ok.. one would think that on a night like this, plans would be made to block streets off, run public transport, maybe have some police directing people where to go. Hell, even after a little crows match in Adelaide there are buses galore to move people out. But there was nothing.

We headed for the closest metro, like everyone else. I dont know how to describe the next bit. I dont think I've ever been in a crowd so large. Cheeks squashed against shoulders and people crushed together so tight you cant even move your hand to put it over your bag.. but you're still being pushed from behind. In front of you, cars are lined up all down the road (who the hell didnt close the road???) so the mass of people is squeezing between cars and motorbikes. Being pushed but with nowhere to go. It was like a third world country. Most of the tube stations were LOCKED so we just kept walking. We walked for 2 hours. We found a metro station and think we got the last train. People were running for it, so we can only assume. Even then, the ticket box was locked so we had to jump the barriers and sneak in. Score 3 to f*ckin Paris.

It was hell. We came home and couldnt even speak to each other. We fell into bed in utter dismay.

Bastille Day in Paris may sound fun. But really the celebration is not nearly exciting enough to make up for the head f*ck.

Paris, you would want to make things up to us today. You really need to redeem yourself if you dont want to go down as worst leg of the trip.

Hopefully back later with a more positive update.

(looking at the pics, we probably sound like spoiled whingers coz it looks pretty good!! It was a tough day. We swear.)

The City of Lights

We are here in Paris! We arrived today, safe and well thanks to Adan's driving. My comments in Biarritz were tongue in cheek and he actually did an aweso,e job. There were more high-fives than swear words, so I think you can say we won.

It is 13th July and we are here in time for Bastille Day. The party kicks off tonight and apparently then continues all day tomorrow as well!

We are glad to be here and are ready for the action of a big city for the next 5 nights. As much as we loved Dordogne and Beaune, we are referring to them as the 'mature age leg of the trip' - and are fully recharged and ready for a bit more partying.

If you have mqde it through the last 6 or so blog posts, then we commend you. You are up to date with the trip. Our gorgeous apartment has a computer and internet so we'll be updating you with our every waking thought! Stay tuned!

..oh and to the parents, we now get also get free international calls so will give you a buzz in the morning! (your evening).

Aurevoir!!

Driving in France.... wow!

So when you read the "fast facts" section on the first page of the France piece in the Lonley planet it states.
Famous for:
1_croissants
2_cheese
3_the Eiffel Tower
4_strikes
5_TERRIBLE DRIVING

We picked up the car in Biarritz airport with all the enthusiasm to drive around France having a great time, this lasted 2 minutes. I stalled the car twice leaving the car park and was already in a sweat. Basically i could not get used to having all this car on the right of me, my GPS (jess) was doing her best to remain calm as i was almost side swipping parked cars and curbs. The gear changes were clunky and i had know idea of cars around me as i was not looking in any mirrors, only straight ahead trying to focus on approaching roundabouts and avoiding pedestrians. Jess has already spoken about night 1 in the car so i wont go into it too much but it was very hairy and f*ck was the word of the day.


Point to car makers; no need to install indicators in cars being sold in France... they dont use them.


Day 2 was getting better , we got out of the small beachside town and onto the open road, it takes a minute or so to get the flow going again of the wrong side of the road and off we go. Once on the motorways the french get alot better, they all stay to the right when flying along and only go out to pass at 150km hr. I have to say it does not take long to get used to humming along at 140/150 km hr. I was improving.


Over the next few days of driving around France i really was enjoying it , it was a bit of a challenge but i have always loved a road trip and we were doing what we had planned , to drive around country france and have a great time. I am only mentioning this now as we have returned the car to the rental place and its public transport from now on . On the second day we came past an accident where a car had left the road and had tumbled down into a field and looked like it had rolled a number of times... it was f*cked. The day after on the motorway we came upon an accident where a car had hit the guard rail and had flipped and landed on its roof about 50 meters further on, still on its roof... it also was f*cked. Two very sobering moments.


On the final driving day we had a 3 hour drive into Paris a city not renound for great driving. We took the motor way all the way into the center and then it was game on! My GPS was doing a great job as i was darting all over the place trying to stay on track on roads with no lanes and scooters and pedestrians everywhere. We finally found where we needed to be , maybe not the most direct route but with no damage to ourselves or Leon (the car).


Driving in France was a crazy experience , not as crazy as the bulls, but alot of fun. If anthing, maybe me using an indicator at a roundabout surprised a couple of Frogs!


Adam ( Dick Johnson).

Beaune...Beouf Bourguignon, Blog Withdrawals & Bodies in the Barrell

Leaving beloved Dordogne behind, we scrambled through maps and Lonely Planet trying to decide where to next. We have 2 nights til we need to be in Paris... where is that time best spent? We decided that part of France's appeal comes from food and wine..so where else but the "spiritual heartland" of these 2 things - Burgundy.

The town we chose is Beaune (pronounced Bone). It is supposed to be one of the best places for tasting wine.. and it is also the home of the famous dish, Beouf Bourguignon (but lets just call it Beef Burgundy... coz we're Aussie!). Its also the origin of escargots (snails) and is close to Dijon, mustard capital of the world. We drove about 4 hours to get there. As we drove into town we were mighty impressed. Like every other town we've visited, there was an old town. This was one big circle of walled town, surrounded by a ring road. Outside the road was newer town. Again, it was full of gorgeous cobblestone lanes.

Adam is making me tell you this bit:
We found a hotel (moreso a room through an outside courtyard at the back of a restaurant) and the guy there was slightly odd. He didnt take our name, or passport, or credit card.. just gave us keys and showed us the room. Perhaps for this reason, I woke up in the middle of the night (3am), scared shitless. I woke Adam up to tell him I thought we were in a strange place.. and that the guy that checked us in might be like Ivan Malat. It hit me that there was no record we were even in this hotel. Nobody knew we were even in Beaune.. because we hadnt been on the blog at all; and i suddenly really missed this little link to home. Moreover, we have been using cash for everyting so there are no bank records. I'm slightly embarrassed now, but at the time, I wedged a chair against the door and laid there holding my phone contemplating messaging dad to say where we were. By daylight, I'd fallen back to sleep and realised we werent going to become bodies in the barrell or be served up as Beef Burgundy!

Monday morning we woke early to hit the tourist trail. We saw two pretty awesome things in Beaune.

First awesome thing = Hotel Dieu, a medieval hospital from 1443, which was used until the 1970s. The roof is tiled in multicoloured tiles and looks spectacular in the sun.

Second awesome thing = the wine caves at Marche aux Vins.
Its in the centre of the old town. You walk downstairs until you are underground and see where they store thousands of bottles of wine. On entry you are given a tastevin, which is a small flat silver cup that you taste the wine from. You literally walk though these caves and help yourself to wine. Each one is set up in the dark on a little wine barrel with a candle.. and you help yourself. To as much as you like. Ok.. so there might be a sign saying "one taste only" - but nobody is watching!!

After tasting all 16 wines I was drunk!! I think Adam was too but he denies it. Best 10euro spent!

Went out for a 3 course lunch, includng the obligatory Beef Burgundy.. then home to our spooky hotel for an afternoon nap. Did I mention we love life???

Dordogne - Day 2

Up early to to the Tourist office to collect our options for today's activities.. and we decided on our destinations.

Along the way, more stunning scenery...

First stop: Sarlat, a town closeby. Google Sarlat and you will see how amazing it looks, so it was first on our list.. but Lonely PLanet warned us that Summer crowds took the shine off things and they weren't wrong. A market that we'll liken to the Brickworks filled the entire town! Every stunning laneway, cobbled alley and cul-de-sac was overrun with people, umbrellas and utter junk! It was probably because it was a saturday... but it wasnt even worth photographing. It was good to sit and drink beer in the sun though.

Next (or was it before? who knows),  a look at some prehistoric homes that are built into the caves. They actually go a fair way back, there are even some castles which are multi level but obscured by cliffs. Pretty spectacular.

We stopped at a few castles along the way...

..Then went to our pick of destinations, Les Jardins Marqueyssac - a castle surrounded by the most unbelievable gardens ever!!! It was high on a hill so we had amazing views, there was a 6km walk to the various areas of the castle (other viewpoints, waterfalls, little stone huts where the occupants used to write poetry, etc). It was just cool. Like Alice in Wonderland and Labyrinth all rolled into one. Here are some pics...

Late in the day, we went back to our Chateau for a swim and sunbake (we LOVE life right now!!!!) then headed back into town for another French Dinner.

Tonight, I (jess) went for double duck: Foie Gras with toast followed by a Duck Breast with stewed Nectarines.  Adam chose the warm Goats Cheese Salad, followed by some kind of sausage.. We asked what kind of sausqge and our lovely french waitress simply said "you know... intestine" while indicating her stomach. Adam wasn't fussed "oh she means the skin... all sausage is intestine really". Ha!

Let's just say that the Duck was unbelievable. And the sausage shall never be spoken of again.

The wine was fabulous!