All the Parisian shiny things

A thick line of traffic welcomed us to the outskirts of Paris. We crawled our way into the central city and marvelled as we drove by Notre Dame, Place de le Bastille, Arc de Tromphe and the beautiful sparkling Eiffel Tower. No matter how overrated I thought Paris would be, the Eiffel Tower took my breath away.

We checked into the best hostel we stayed in, St. Christopher's and grabbed a cider and a bite to eat. We had an early check out in the morning, and walked to our next hostel which was this strange hippie hostel/ bar run by a guy stuck in the 90's. 

Paris called for typical tourism, so we headed for Notre Dame and met up with two Aussies we'd met in San Sebastian. They were headed for Notre Dame too and thus joined in on our renditions of Quasimodo and other cliches. We passed on the ludicrous cue to get to the viewing deck of Notre Dame and headed for the Latin Quarter for lunch, stumbling accross a gorgeous quirky little kebab cafe.

Once refueled we walked via the "Sex and the City" bridge to the Louvre, we hung out there for a few hours mocking all the people taking the typical Louvre photos (yes, I can totally believe you are holding that enormous glass pyramid between your thumb and forefinger, no I have never seen anyone do that before. No offense.) and bombed a few tour groups for information.

The next day we strolled through one of the many markets and then went to the Catacombs, one of the few things we did line up for an hour for and treaded through the creepy underground mass grave. Incredible what they made of it, and how old the remains are! 

After downing some delicious overpriced coffee we headed for the Arc de Triomphe. Unfortunately I got a bit snap happy in the Catacombs and used all my battery from the flash on my camera and it died after I took one photo of the Arc de Triomphe. Nevertheless it was awesome, and we spent ages drinking in the engravings and such.

Then it was time... by day, once again the Eiffel Tower was the taker of our breath. 

Astounded by how cool it was we slowly made our way from Esplanade du Trocadero through the gardens and across Pont d'lena (bridge) to finally stand underneath the Eiffel Tower. As the sun went down we had a rest in Champ de Mars gardens and casually gazed at the tower, ahhh so cool. We took the time to process what we had experienced in Paris and talked about what we were expecting of the next season of travelling (settling in the Netherlands). We called it a day and headed back for our hostel to pack everything up to head to Amsterdam. Thankfully nothing went wrong at the dodgy hostel and at the end of it we left with all our gear and organs.

Paris was incredible, I am sure we will be back to revisit some of the sites, and to explore some of the sites we didn't get to enjoy. All the ado about Paris is present for a reason.

Xx Jaz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

French indulgence and door curtains.

Leaving Spain was really difficult, after spending a good 5 weeks, covering not even a third of the country, we did not want to leave! Adding salt to our wounds, we had to go back to those French jerks. Basically, we had really low expectations and so we were pleasantly surprised by the power house town that is Bordeaux, France.

We spent a few nights there, and went on a rainy day trip to St. Emelion with a few fellow travellers we had met on the bus trip over. The journey out there was a beautiful winding road that took us through some small French towns, amazing to see the architecture incomparison to a bigger city. My favourite thing was spotting all the curtains that they put on the outside of their front doors, still can't figure out what purpose it served, but it kept me amused the full hour journey! Once in St Emelion, we indulged in some wine tastings, a few sneaky macaroons and crepes so delicious we were almost in tears. 

The next morning we prepared for Paris, oh the anticipation!

Xx Jaz

Dream cellar much!

 

Bilbao, Guggenheim, San Seb and other strange nouns

We left central Spain to travel north, we were lucky enough to be given a lift up to Bilbao with our friend Pedro, who we met at our second VaughanTown. He was incredibly generous and took the scenic route to his favourite place in Spain; Parque Natural de la Sierra de Cebollera. Serisously, it was like we had gone through a wormhole into Canada. I never thought Spain could be so incredibly Alpine. 

I will always remember it, just being so astounded by the raw beauty of that national park. Not something that is on the tourist radar either, it takes a local to bring you there! 

Pedro then drove us on to his home town of Bilbao, and took us to dinner at an amazing seafood restaurant. Slightly awkward that I (Jaz), don't have much of a palate for seafood. However tried and liked my first meal of crab, complete with the hammer and prying tool! We also had some squid and a beautiful super fresh fish, like swimming in a tank next to the table. After dinner Pedro escorted us to our hostel, where we indulged in some much needed sleep. The following day we met up with Jon, whom we also met at VaughanTown, and he took us on a guided tour of Bilbao including the incredible Guggenheim Museum and also for coffee, drinks, dinner, and more drinks. We can't get over the hospitality of the Spaniards, so accomodating, generous and genuine. The culture and people are addictive, we have fallen head over heels in love with all things Spain.

Bilbao through San Sebastian by train was a great scenic route, following the coast. San Sebastian was a much needed rest for us,after a few months travelling, we spent a lot of time catching up on emails, trying to get our resume's in order and sorting out 'real life' things again, such as jobs and housing for our arrival into Amsterdam in about 3 weeks time. Had the weather been better, and invested into a less scummy hostel and not have been so exhausted, I think San Seb would have been far more of a hit. We still had a great time, enjoying the San Sebastian film festival, and relishing the last days of summer and the last time our toes will touch the sand until next summer... when and whereever that may be!

Xx Jaz