Another update and some photos!
Ok, now where was I?
Venice...then into the Swiss Alps... we stayed in a valley at a little town called Lauterbrunnen for 2 nights. We were surrounded by these massive sheer cliffs with waterfalls pouring thousands of litres of water from the melted snow in the mountains above appearing every so often along the cliff face.
We opted out of the very expensive day trip up the Jungfrau mountain (we've seen enough snow for the moment...) and walked around the valley instead ending up at some amazing glacial waterfalls inside a mountain and taking a gondola thingy up onto the top of the lower cliffs where there was a small village called Grimmelwald, so tiny and not surprisingly as I don't think you can actually drive up there...so we had a coffee way up there and then caught the gondola thingy back down again...
Next day was back on the bus for the last big haul...6 or 7 hours on the bus and we ended up in the City of Love, gay Paris. We had a night tour (although it was light most of the time...grrr) of the city after arriving and then a quiet beer with some of the others before hitting the sack as we knew it'd be a long day in Paris the next day...
We took it easy-ish in Paris, first up being the Eiffel tower. We climbed the first 2 levels on foot as we're stingey (apparently it took 2 hours to get through the line up to take the elevator to the top!). This was probably a bad move to do first up as our legs were very wobbly after going up and down 1400 stairs. Khan was also suffering from a cold that was making it's way around the bus so the breezyness was not good for him...
After the tower we wandered over through the palace opposite (can't remember the name of it) and onto the Arc de Triumph and then down the very glitzy and expensive shop Champ des Ulysess (spelling is probably terrible I know...) then through the Louvre, didn't go in as we wanted to spend some time at Notre Dame which was next. By the time we'd done all that it was time to go meet the bus as we were due for dinner at a French restaurant and then a cabaret.
The dinner was shit, probably the only time we've had problems with French people, our waiter was rude and there was no vegetarian option, even though we'd specified, they sat 20 something of us then told us we had to move thus splitting groups up...some of the girls knew French so they were spitting French at him, basically making sure they were going to spit on our food...it was a nightmare...got there in the end though...and the cabaret was fantastic, a little more modern than what I was hoping for but I swear at least 3 of the 'girls' were actually post op...
Now a visit to Paris wouldn't be complete with someone from our very obviously touristy group being pick pocketed...I saw the guy casing us and tried to warn people, next thing there's people yelling and chasing this guy...they got the wallet back ok
Paris was where we left everybody, deciding the morning we were supposed to leave to go to Lyon. One of the other girls was heading that way so we tagged along, she helping us with tickets and Frenchy stuff...we've realised that if you make an attempt to converse in French they like it better than if you just give them the "do you speak English" line. A lot of the younger people seem to know English anyway and once you try to speak some garbled French at them they switch to English anyway...however the hotel we're staying at they only speak French which is interesting but we managed to get a room in Lyon ok.
Now I'm sick as we've finally got a chance to slow down.
I think that'd be my biggest complaint about Contiki. It was a lot to cover in 9 days and we spent more time on the bus than sightseeing. It was exhausting as it was late to bed, early rises and hangovers to boot...
I think I also did something wiggy to my leg climbing the tower as it's really sore and i've got a big black and purple bruise that's come up just above my knee on the inside of my leg...
But anyways, From Lyon where we hung out for 2 days so Khan could get better, and me sicker, to Montpellier where there are way too many dogs and therefore way too much dog shit on the streets as the Frenchies don't pick up after their dogs...
And boy was it muggy...I didn't really like Montpellier too much...except for the crepes...they were goooood....
So now we're in Barcelona...arrived last night on a train from the dog pooey streets of Montpellier. The Costa Brava looked very cool as we went by in the train...We were going to stopover for a night in Figueres but found it would cost too much so just went straight to here
We're here for a week in which we're going to the Primavera Sound festival which should be awesome...We've also booked in for a Gaudi tour of the city tomorrow which I can't wait for...
Other than that I added some photos to te previous post as I have been ubable to upload them until now...
If I can get my ass into gear I may even get another photo album up...
Venice...then into the Swiss Alps... we stayed in a valley at a little town called Lauterbrunnen for 2 nights. We were surrounded by these massive sheer cliffs with waterfalls pouring thousands of litres of water from the melted snow in the mountains above appearing every so often along the cliff face.
We opted out of the very expensive day trip up the Jungfrau mountain (we've seen enough snow for the moment...) and walked around the valley instead ending up at some amazing glacial waterfalls inside a mountain and taking a gondola thingy up onto the top of the lower cliffs where there was a small village called Grimmelwald, so tiny and not surprisingly as I don't think you can actually drive up there...so we had a coffee way up there and then caught the gondola thingy back down again...
Next day was back on the bus for the last big haul...6 or 7 hours on the bus and we ended up in the City of Love, gay Paris. We had a night tour (although it was light most of the time...grrr) of the city after arriving and then a quiet beer with some of the others before hitting the sack as we knew it'd be a long day in Paris the next day...
We took it easy-ish in Paris, first up being the Eiffel tower. We climbed the first 2 levels on foot as we're stingey (apparently it took 2 hours to get through the line up to take the elevator to the top!). This was probably a bad move to do first up as our legs were very wobbly after going up and down 1400 stairs. Khan was also suffering from a cold that was making it's way around the bus so the breezyness was not good for him...
After the tower we wandered over through the palace opposite (can't remember the name of it) and onto the Arc de Triumph and then down the very glitzy and expensive shop Champ des Ulysess (spelling is probably terrible I know...) then through the Louvre, didn't go in as we wanted to spend some time at Notre Dame which was next. By the time we'd done all that it was time to go meet the bus as we were due for dinner at a French restaurant and then a cabaret.
The dinner was shit, probably the only time we've had problems with French people, our waiter was rude and there was no vegetarian option, even though we'd specified, they sat 20 something of us then told us we had to move thus splitting groups up...some of the girls knew French so they were spitting French at him, basically making sure they were going to spit on our food...it was a nightmare...got there in the end though...and the cabaret was fantastic, a little more modern than what I was hoping for but I swear at least 3 of the 'girls' were actually post op...
Now a visit to Paris wouldn't be complete with someone from our very obviously touristy group being pick pocketed...I saw the guy casing us and tried to warn people, next thing there's people yelling and chasing this guy...they got the wallet back ok
Paris was where we left everybody, deciding the morning we were supposed to leave to go to Lyon. One of the other girls was heading that way so we tagged along, she helping us with tickets and Frenchy stuff...we've realised that if you make an attempt to converse in French they like it better than if you just give them the "do you speak English" line. A lot of the younger people seem to know English anyway and once you try to speak some garbled French at them they switch to English anyway...however the hotel we're staying at they only speak French which is interesting but we managed to get a room in Lyon ok.
Now I'm sick as we've finally got a chance to slow down.
I think that'd be my biggest complaint about Contiki. It was a lot to cover in 9 days and we spent more time on the bus than sightseeing. It was exhausting as it was late to bed, early rises and hangovers to boot...
I think I also did something wiggy to my leg climbing the tower as it's really sore and i've got a big black and purple bruise that's come up just above my knee on the inside of my leg...
But anyways, From Lyon where we hung out for 2 days so Khan could get better, and me sicker, to Montpellier where there are way too many dogs and therefore way too much dog shit on the streets as the Frenchies don't pick up after their dogs...
And boy was it muggy...I didn't really like Montpellier too much...except for the crepes...they were goooood....
So now we're in Barcelona...arrived last night on a train from the dog pooey streets of Montpellier. The Costa Brava looked very cool as we went by in the train...We were going to stopover for a night in Figueres but found it would cost too much so just went straight to here
We're here for a week in which we're going to the Primavera Sound festival which should be awesome...We've also booked in for a Gaudi tour of the city tomorrow which I can't wait for...
Other than that I added some photos to te previous post as I have been ubable to upload them until now...
If I can get my ass into gear I may even get another photo album up...
posted by mazspazz at
3:18 AM
1 Comments:
hey kids, looks like you went to the same cabaret I went to whe I was there a few years ago, and I thought it was amzing, all the juggling and mimes and comedians and acrobats (and boobs of course)...glad to hear you great expedition to the Continent is going well, catch you soon!
Post a Comment
<< Home