Arriving in the Motherland...
is a lot different to what I expected. We are in Leeds at the moment with Luke's brother and fiancee experiencing some English country life. We spent two frantic days in London after a well-received rest in Holland. We did your usual touristy things in London: London Eye, River Thames, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, St James's Park, The National Portrait Gallery, The Natural History Museum, Portobello Road Markets and of course Oxford St shopping! We also met up with an old college friend of mine for some drinks on St Patrick's Day. I for one though it was going to go off, but the bars and pubs in London close up at 11pm. Weird! And so far everything has run smoothly, no mishaps or overspending (well not too much) and it's been quite enjoyable! It's fab that everyone speaks English (funnily enough) again too!
So the next two weeks will be very low key compared to the rest of our travels. We might head up to York and Newcastle for some day trips and meet up with some friends, but mostly we will be enjoying the Commonwealth Games! (I tell you what; I never knew the English hated Australians so much when it comes to competitive sport... like just get over the fact that we are better than you. I love how they only show when Brits win and downplay the fact that we have won like 7523 medals already!)
The end of our European Expedition is near...
but it certainly isn't over! We are back in Holland after a very jam-packed week and a slight change in schedule. Exhausted and slightly undernourished we are very happy to back in the cozy little town of Laag Keppel!
Starting where we last left off, we made it to the Alhambra in Granada and what a magnificent place it was. The Alambra consists of the Alcazar fortress, the Nasrid Palaces and the Generalife (gardens). It houses some of the oldest known Muslim art in the world. We arrived really early as to beat the crowds and it was a very good decision. We could wander through the different parts (except the palaces, you have to visit on the time of your ticket. They only let 300 people every half hour to go through so to preserve to buildings somewhat. Angkor Wat should really take note.) and weren't battling with overwhelming crowds. A real luxury. The fortress was pretty amazing and had views of Granada and surrounding Spanish towns. But what really took our breath away were the palaces. As you step into the building you are immediately inundated with art, carving and mosaics. It's really incomprehesible to imagine the amount of time and effort that went into creating this place. Every wall has intricately carved designs and every ceiling has something to gaze at with wonder. How all this could be done over 800 years ago is unbelievable. The pictures just do not do it any justice. And all of it is in pristine condition. It could have been done yesterday for all we knew. We really were blown away by this little known treasure. We left the palaces with sore necks to wander through the gardens (although there wasn't that much to see being winter, there are some pretty cool hedges though!) and just take in this wonderful place.
We left Granada entirely satisfied with the long trip we had endured to get there, but little did we know the worst was yet to come. Our next destination was Biarritz, France and to get there we spent 16 hours travelling by slow Spanish trains. A really horrendous experience. We left at 8am and arrived in Biarritz at midnight. Truly an exhausting day. We spent our time there enjoying the ocean views and dreamed of a beautiful summer vacation there, but alas the winds reminded us we were there at the wrong time of year. (that didn't stop the crazy people who were taking a dip in water though!) We tried to relax, but with the prospect of Paris on the horizon it was a difficult task!
The next day we were up early to get the train to Paris, but as it happened with our luck the train was fully booked due to a soccer match between Biarritz and Paris. So we were left waiting at the train station for two hours til the next one arrived. And when we finally arrived in the City of Lights we were welcomed by the seriously confusing metro system forcing our tired little brains and bodies to get a taxi to the hotel. Luckily for us, our hotel was right in the heart of Paris and the ride there was one of the most exciting taxi rides ever! Passing through the decorated buildings, stopping next to the Lourve and seeing the Eiffel Tower in the background and the Arc de Triomphe in the distance... it was a heart-thumping 15 minutes! We spent our first night in Paris just taking it all in and walking the streets.
On our first full day we headed for the Lourve. What a fabulous place! And very fortunately (and flukey) for us it was free because it was the first Sunday of the month! (A lot of museums are free on the first Sunday. Woo!) We spent the entire morning there just amazed by the vast collection of sculptures, egyptian art and paintings on display. There is just too much to mention! Alhough we did see the requisite Mona Lisa, which even in its small size creates so much intrigue and mystery. Just what is she smiling about? My favourite painting, however, was The Young Martyr by Paul Delarouche. A really thought-provoking piece. And of course all of the da Vinci, Monet et al was just marvellous. After our visit I kept asking Luke if we could go back! And of course the glass pyramid in the courtyard can keep you staring for hours. It really is a lovely sight by night too, especially with a lit up Eiffel Tower glowing in the distance too.
After the Lourve, we walked through the Tuileries up to the Place de la Concorde where the obelisk stands in the traffic. Then it was on to Champs Elysees for some window shopping (and to check out the four story high Louis Vuitton building. Oh how I wish I could have bought everything in there!) and the last, but not the least, Arc de Triophe, which was the site of some silly photos and car watching. (With 12 streets leading up to it and as the largest round-a-bout in the world, we thought we might be witness to a prang or two!) The next day we visited Ste Chappel and were overwhelmed by its stained windows, although the rest of it was not really worth the €4.50 entrance fee. Then Notre Dame which was gorgeous! It was dark and gloomy inside which gave a really interesting atmosphere. And the gargolyles and carvings on the outside were quite cool too. We later returned to Champs Elysees for shopping, exploring and people watching!
Our last day in Paris was very low key. More shopping around Place Vendome (We were on the hunt for world-famous boutique Colette and there were lots of beautiful designer windows to gaze into!) and we had intended on visiting Musee de l'Orangerie, home to various pieces of impressionist art, but with our luck it was still closed for renovation. Then for the grande finale, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower to see it when the lights were turned on! But again with our luck it was raining so it was a very short visit! Overall Paris was exciting, but a little overrated. Visually a beautiful city, but socially really dissapointing. (Can someone tell us where all the nightlife is? We looked really hard and could not find it. Or is it closed off to tourists?) Most of the people we came across were rude and you get to a point were the looks of disdain get really annoying and uncomfortable. Needless to say we weren't that sad to leave Paris.
And our last stop in France could not be any more exciting: Normandy. We arrived in the small town of Bayeux (the first town to be liberated by the Allies during WWII) to signs saying "Welcome to our Liberators!" The contrast compared to Paris was unbelievable! The people were so lovely to us and it was just such a great place. The hotel we stayed at was about five paces from the station and was nice and cozy. We also organised a tour of some of the D-Day beaches etc there too. The town itself is so quaint and friendly. We were recognised as people again! It was great! It was good to be able to greet people and be greeted back.
The tour was really a mixture of emotions. We started at the D-Day Museum at Arromanches, which overlooked the artifical ports off the beach. We saw two short films about the landings which were really interesting before we headed for some sights. It's a really strange feeling visiting these places and thinking the liberation of Europe during WWII happened right here! Our first stop was Longues sur Mer, which was the site of some German batteries. Large guns and turrets were still intact overlooking the ocean. Next was the powerful American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach. Such a respectful memorial. All of the 9,387 American service men and women killed at Normandy was represented with a marble cross or star of david. Most with their name, division and date of death engraved into the marble, but the 307 whose remains could not be identified were still remembered with a cross. A moving memorial.
We then continued on to the signal monument on Omaha Beach, with the infamous cliffs in the background. Our last stop was La Pointe du Hoc. An eerie place. Among the German batteries lie crater after crater and even barbed wire left after the war. How a seemingly peaceful area over looking the water was the site of a fierce battle is wonderous. The craters now are overgown with grass adding to the eeriness. Almost like a place left in time. A really interesting experience.
We left Bayeux the next day and made the jouney to Holland. Our plans include rest and eating and that's about it! We might squeeze in a day trip back to Amsterdam, but we are looking forward to just taking it easy. We leave for London on Thursday so we should be rested and replenished by then and are looking forward to Episode: London Calling.
So we are finally in Granada...
and it really isn´t too bad! I mean I have to have some gratitude towards this place as it is probably the one destintation that managed to get Luke to come on European Expedition Part Two: The Couples Edition. It is a really great and laid back little town. Although, unfortunately for us, it is a public holiday today (only in Granada...), which means we have a LOT of dirty clothes. Tomorrow we are going to the Alhambra though so that should be really interesting. It´s a bit of a tourist town here (it reminds me a lot of Florence), but you can see why. It´s just so likeable! Good decision on Lukey´s part! And after 12 hours travel by train, it had better be!
Getting here was another adventure in itself. I´ll work backwards from now... Our last stop was Barcelona, which was fabulous in every sense of the word! Just a fun, friendly place! The shopping though is so not as good as everyone says it is. I guess I´ll have to save my spree for Paris! We didn´t do that much in Barcelona except wander the streets and take in the vibes. We did go to the Picasso Museum, which was really interesting. There was a drawing exhibition running there, which was really intriguing. Some really incredible works.
Getting to Barcelona though, was a mission and a half. We had two stops. Both in the south of France. One in Nice. A beautiful town. We both really enjoyed out time there. (And our hotel was so cute! It was totally french and so cozy!) We went to the famous stoney beach, which really is nice (lame I know). We had a cliche baguette overlooking the ocean (the first bit of beach since Thailand!) and it really was lovely. I was in love with France already. We did some window shopping (of course) before we headed back to the hotel to watch more Olympics. (Details of our time in Torino futher down the post.)
Our next stop was Beziers. Don´t worry, I had never heard of it either. And... well it really was the middle of nowhere. It was, like, the suburbs. (Don´t get me wrong, I love suburbs, I live in the suburbs!) We had to take a 15 minute taxi ride,
out of the centre to get to our hotel (more like motel). We were thinking, it´s ok, it´s cool, we´ll go on the net and do some laundry. No internet. No laundry. Hmmm. (Now you understand our laundy predicament... this was like five days ago that we needed to do laundry!!!) However, the people there were so lovely. They let us book out Bacelona accomodation on their computer and even made us a cute little dinner (since there was one restaurant near by... and they were rude. Sorry, how are we supposed to know you don´t open til 7. Maybe you should invest in a sign.) and they were just really nice and friendly people! It totally made our stay in Beziers worth it! I might even go back one day! (Actually probably not, but you know what I mean.)
And Torino!! WOW! What a fantastic night that was! We went to watch the Womens Aerials Finals with hopes of watching an Australian win gold! After Jacqui Cooper broke the world record the night before and Alisa Camplin being defending Olympic Champion we though it could be a good possibility. Unfortunately, it was only Camplin who got a bronze, but it was so exciting that we got a medal we didn´t really care! (I felt bad for Cooper though, after all she´s been through.) And we were also super excited that the event didn´t have to be cancelled due to fog. It was really bad. The conditions were actually pretty horrendous for the jumpers, but they did a great job. And when the Chinese girl who was coming first totally face-planted giving us the bronze, we were very, very excited! (Mean I know, but it´s sports.) The vibe was really amazing. There were heaps of people from all over the world cheering on their countries and HEAPS of Australians showing support too. A night to remember. I wanted to go watch more events after that! But alas, it was not on the cards. Passion totally lives in Italy!
Today, after we found out everything was closed, we had a bit of a rest day and slept for like four hours during the day. (You have to forgive all my likes. There are a lot of Americans around here and they are a bad influence.) Tomorrow, should be amazing, but I´m not looking forward to battling the crowds. But in the end it´s always worth it.
I would also like to send out a
Happy 23rd Birthday shout out to my cousin Sarah, who is in Thailand at the moment! Woo! (Her blog is linked to the side.)
