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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Firenze, Zurich and Senf Man

Our introduction to Florence, or shall we say Firenze since we're in Italy, was not the best. We missed our 8am bus from Rome - Florence. We organised a train ticket online and headed to the Metro and then train station. We met a nice Italian family on the journey, and we had a conversation with our limited Italian and their limited English. We exchanged snacks and laughs. Once we got to Florence we had to find our two bus connections to our Hostel. We finally arrived at our most social hostel we have stayed at, not to mention there was only about 20 people in the whole hostel. We had dinner and then drinks in the park with half the hostel, so nice! We had some interesting entertainment in the park, as the father of the Italian girls will not allow them to bring their boyfriends home, and the Italian boys don't bring girls home to their mama, they end up being very public with their public displays of affection. Wow is all that is blog-appropriate!

After much investigation of the markets, Rick invested in his dream leather man satchel and I discovered an amazing check man shirt in a second hand stall... It's all about the man clothes!

We had a great lunch with a couple we met in a cafe, we had a two or three hour conversation with them about our trip and their lives and about Albania where the woman was from. I also discovered my taste for artichokes, so so good on toasted bread with Ricotta and a sly glass of Red on the side. Times like these is why we quit our jobs.

We signed up for a tour of Tuscany, with a day trip to Siena and San Gimignano. Postcard views and heartbreaking architecture, it was exactly what we imagined. We finished the day with a wine tasting, the old Italian man who ran it was hilarious!

We had a great lunch with a couple we met in a cafe, we had a two or three hour conversation with them about our trip and their lives and about Albania where the woman was from.

Another revolution was the book that Rick picked up from the hostel, which he read in six days.  This from a man who has never been a reader!  Goes to show we are craving to learn again, and to entertain our brains.

Next stop was Milano! I'd dreamed of walking the high fashion streets for so long, and we were finally there! Crazy to see Giorgio Armani's full block of shops... Complete with his multiple fashion lines, homeware range and the Armani cafe. This guy!!

We continued on with an incredibly scenic train ride into Switzerland. Beautiful crystal clear lakes and amazing yachts, and the mountains reminding us of home. We arrived in Zurich and grabbed tickets to Winterthur, where Rick's friend Ben from NZ is living. We stayed with him for the weekend, and partied with the locals at the annual Zurich Street Parade, where we were told to dress in our best "bi sexual" outfit. Not something you generally pack in your 75 Litre backpack, but a bit of trusty yellow paint, and Rick became "Senf Man", that is "mustard man".

The rumours are true; we found Switzerland to be unbelievably expensive. We're talking 11 Francs for a diner kebab. That's NZ$15!! We spent about $300 on train tickets in one weekend, luckily we had the generous hospitality of Ben, so accommodation was free for a couple of nights.

After Winterthur, we trained to Lauterbrunnen. Again a stunningly scenic trip and stayed a few days in the valleys between two mountains. Delicious fresh air and beautiful snow topped peaks, we'd love to go back in winter!

Xx Jaz