London Calling….

We left Weinheim on a rainy Sunday and boarded our Lufthansa flight to London. The flight was nothing special this time…except we took off during a thunderstorm! It was a little rocky for a while, a bit of knee grabbing, but eventually we came up above the clouds and took only an hour and a half to land in London. It was 11 degrees when we arrived! We took the tube to the hostel near Waterloo, and arrived just before the rain set in. We are right in the middle of the city, and are able to walk to pretty much all of the main attractions in London Town…we went for a walk after checking in, and saw Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, The River Thames & the London Eye (a massive observatory wheel). We weren’t even trying! We were just hungry and looking for something to eat!! We eventually settled into a little English Pub – packed with locals. We ordered some burgers and chips (great pub chips…), and beer and soft drink for £12.50, and then bought some more beer and chips (we are in England….)and retired to the hostel. It is raining heavier now, and we are just enjoying relaxing in the warm common room! (Heartbeat just started on the TV!! ) It has been really fun trying to speak in other languages for a month, but it is hard work just buying a bus ticket! So it’s a bit of a relief to have a couple of days in a native English speaking country!!

Back in Germany....

We left Seville at 6:00am in the morning to make sure we arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. We weren’t quite sure what to expect…. We booked a €20 flight from Seville to Frankfurt before we had even left for Paris…no one we spoke to had heard of the airline, and we were concerned that the price of the airfare was only €2 more expensive than our bus trip from Madrid to Seville! In the end, it turned out great. Clickair is a subsidiary of Iberia Airlines, and we had absolutely no nasty surprise costs or taxes when we got there. We arrived back safely in Weinheim, and spent two days relaxing and enjoying the little town again. We were again spoilt by our hosts- with lovely food and company! The sorbet in Weinheim is still the cheapest we have had in Europe!

Seville Exploring

Seville has a beautiful old Cathedral, and very old gardens to explore. We spent the second day exploring all of the historical monuments (after we sat by the computer for a minute by minute update of Syd FC v Urawa Reds ☹ )… It was still 30 degrees at quarter to five in the afternoon! The shops are very smart here – they are open 9 til 2, and then close until 4 or 5, and then reopen until 8pm. So lunchtime is very relaxed and shopping can be done until late! After our long exploring day, we headed to an Irish pub to watch the final of the European Champions League (Liverpool v AC Milan). On the way, the weather went from stinking hot to severe thunderstorm! We have not seen rain like that in lots of years! Torrential downpour – hail included! In the pub, the Liverpool fan-club turned up – they happened to be building a jumbo jet in Seville that week…. They lost ☹, but the pub was packed and it was still a good atmosphere. We cheered when Harry Kewell got a run in the second half.

Seville

Seville is a lovely town! We arrived on the bus from Madrid with the opposite impression! Obviously we arrived from the wrong side…..we had heard a lot about Seville so our expectations were high! After being pretty much told to go away by the bus information booth, we started walking towards what we hoped was a nicer side of town! We found the town information centre. It’s funny – finding that little ‘ i ‘ now is like stumbling upon an old friend – one that you really really like and are so glad to see!! The lady there was really helpful and gave us a map complete with squiggly line to show us where to walk to our new hostel! We walked through lovely little streets – tons of shops and pedestrians, and nice looking people! The streets are so clean and the weather is so lovely! We made it to the hostel about 5PM, and were starving because we hadn’t had lunch! We found our way to a supermarket, and bought a French stick for €0.20,We got some camembert spread, chorizo sausage, rocket, and a gazpacho mix of vegetables – our best buy ever! €3 for 4 huge tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum and an onion – meant for cold soup but perfect for sandwiches! Some beer (with a free T-Shirt!), wine and chips, and took it back to the hostel. We made the best sandwiches ever, and had heaps of salad left over for lunch the next day!

Madrid

After an average bus ride from Valncia we hit Madrid and walked a loooonng way up a faaaatt hill to our latest accomidation the Cat's Hotel. Inside this place is amazing with hi-tech security band for all the guests, a basment bar, fountain in the hall wall (with traditional 16th centuary wall paper) its a pitty the staff sucked. They were so rude when finally arrived exhausted from our hike that we were contemplating going back to Valencia. After checking in and finding our beds we soon worked out that this was not even close to the dream hostel. They had no kitchen, dirt, timer showers, it was crowded and noisy.
We had some left over pasta from the night before and watch spanish football in the bar then went to sleep.

The next day our first stop was the bus station to book our tickets to Seville and then we headed off the see Madrid. The metro in Madrid is similar to that of Paris but a bit slower and less frequent. We saw an amazing Palace but could not got in and wondered through the main gardens which were full of tourists but very old and well kept.


We thought we would treat ourselves to a nice meal and found a resturant in a square near our hostel which had a translated menu. After trying to get a table and told to wait at their bar we ordered some drinks. After 20 mins and 10-15 other people come in to try and get table and being turned away we were wondering if we understood the waiter correctlly. We were finally lead to a table which was probly the best in the house and ordered a very taste filling meal and a bottle of wine. It all went fine from here except we were served some crazy raw egg soup instead of our vegetable soup that we thought we ordered.

On the road again...

We travel four hours to get to MADRID from Valencia. Another long bus trip but the country side was pretty.

Valencia!

Our bus ride to Valencia was about 4 and a half hours long....not a bad trip though - we followed the coastline for most of the way. On some of the hills, there are massive black bull statues. They pop up all over Spain.....we are not sure what they are for, but they are interesting.....
After we arrived in Valencia - about 11pm, we caught a cab to the Hostel. We found it too hard to orientate ourselves in the dark, so we weren't going to try walking this time. We found the hostel after walking right past it the first time, the Red Nest in Valencia. The staff are fabulous, and at least the hostel was bright, cheery, and full of people. The next morning, after our first night in a hostel (sharing a room with 4 others, one snorer), we found a lovely little cafe to eat in on the park. Ivar had "Cafe & Tarte" for €3..pretty good compared to French prices!! The coffee was good, and once refuelled we headed off to explore Valencia.

We headed in the general direction of the beach, walking along 'the river'. It was a dried out river bed running between 2 main roads, that is sunken down a level from the road. The 'river' is filled with football fields, baseball fields, fountains, trees and evenually opens up to include larger buildings before getting to the water. We came across signs for the 'Port of America's Cup', interesting we thought.....so we followed the signs and decided to have a look. Little did we know, it was actually the day of the semi final of the Louis Vuitton Cup, the precursor to the America's Cup. All of the yachts were in the Harbour, and it was very busy with people wearing sandals, polo shirts and sunglasses!


Right next to the Port, is the main beach. The weather was really hot that day, so the beach was packed! You could also see the yachts lined up for the Cup race on the horizon. We walked along the boardwalk and headed back to the hostel for lunch.

We stopped in at the hostel, and had a game of pool in the upstairs rec room. Once inside, we both realised we had gotten sunburnt for the first time! It's strange though...not like the Australian sun. We had been out for hours and even though we had gotten burnt, it is not as severe as in Australia. We had no sunstroke or any noticeable side effects from the sun...(except red skin...)

We headed to a little shop for lunch. We had found the shop the night before - a hint from the receptionist. They serve little baked rolls for €1, and there are over 80 fillings to choose from. (Camembert, bacon, chicken, fish etc etc). You tick which ones you would like on a orderform, and they are ready in about 3 minutes! They come with a pile of plain chips, and were very handy for filling up our stomachs cheaply!

After lunch, we walked to the Autobus station to make sure we could get bus tickets to Madrid for the next day. Along the way, we walked along 'the river', seeing that there was about 8 football fields, all dirt plus one concrete field, with a bunch of games going on. We bought the bus tickets and walked back through the river, stopping a while to watch some of the games.

Getting to Spain.

We left our hotel in Perpignan early to make sure we got a train to Valencia by nightfall. We arrived at the station in good time, before 7am. We were told by the ticket man that the train to Valencia was sold out, and he could only get us as far as Barcelona. Okay, hiccup. We accepted the Barcelona tickets, and boarded the train - all the time keeping our fingers crossed that we would easily get tickets to Valencia from the Barcelona station.

We crossed under and around the Pyrenees, following the Mediterranean to our first transfer station -Port Bou - our first steps in Spain. We headed to the ticket shop to buy the Valencia tickets, hoping for better luck now in Spain. We bought two tickets to Valencia - only to be told (after we had paid for them) that we wouldn't arrive in Valencia until after midnight......the other option was to buy first class tickets, double the price but we would get there before dark. We returned to the counter & asked for the first class tickets. The lady said that was fine, then cancelled our current tickets, and started the process for the new ones. "Full" , she said, meaning that in the time she had offered them and us agreeing, the tickets had sold out. We reluctantly said ok, and we'll take the original ones arriving after midnight... "Full" she said...what?? In the time she had cancelled our tickets to book the new ones, our old ones had resold.....She said she could not help us anymore and we would just have to go to Barcelona....we boarded the train to Barcelona, a little worried that we would end up without a bed for the night for the first time.

On the way to Barcelona, we discovered in our guide book that there were buses running from Barca to Valencia 19 times a day....hopefully they would not be full and we would have a life line to cling to.....We arrived in Barca at 12;46pm and made a beeline for the bus station. WOOHOO - a bus would be able to take us at 6:00PM - we would get there at 10PM, but at least it was before midnight! (And, it only cost us €44 as opposed to the first class train tickets that would have been €125.00!!!)

We spent the afternoon in Barcelona, had sandwiches and rested in the park, and boarded the bus feeling quite pleased with ourselves. We sniggered a little, and made fun of the train lady who had got us here in the first place. The bus was more than comfortable, we were safe among old folk and a jolly bus driver.

Perpignan

After a day and a half in Bordeaux we were now headed to Perpignan near the Boarded of Spain. We saw the Mediterainian for the first time on the way there. This town was a Spainish French town and the day we spent there was a public holiday so nothing was open and everybody was at home. The hotel was nice and this stop was a well earned rest for us.

Bordeaux

Bikes - For our day in Bordeaux, we hired bicycles and planned a trip to a vineyard. We took about 3 hours to do a one hour cycle trip.....the hardest part was finding our way out of the city to get on the cycle path!! But we passed lots of interesting sights along the way...at one point we were even cycling on the side of the freeway! But we got there safely. The cycle paths are very well planned and they are very safe to ride along. Lots of fun!


The Best Skatepark Ever - whilst trying to get out of Bordeaux for the vineyard, we cycled along a huge boardwalk following the river. To Ivar's delight, we came across what has to be one of the best skate/bmx parks in Europe. They had a section for mini riders, for skaters and for bikes. Ivar took the hire bike for a bit of a ride - not quite a bmx......



Vineyard - we arrived at Chateau Du Taillan about 1:30. (We were originally booked in at 11, but after our detour earlier in Bordeaux, we rearranged the appointment.....). We were guided through by Sophie, who showed us the storage facility and the vat room. The Chateau dates back to the 16th century; and the family who runs the vineyards & lives in the chateau are the 5th generation of their family to do so. We had a tasting of the wine - a 1999 red.



Lunch - we left the vineyard and ate lunch on their marble statue from the 16th century....there was no where else to sit!

To Bordeaux

Running to the train - we woke up late from a good night sleep in the hotel in Amboise and headed down to a great breakfast. We stole a bit extra for lunch knowing we would have a long trip ahead. On returning to the room we slowly organised our packs and check the net for the train times. We needed to get the 10:58 train for the station and it was now 10:15. By the time we got out onto the street it was 10:20 and we had a bit of a walk ahead of us. We power walked for most of the way and ran the last 200 meter arriving at the station at 10:52, just in time to catch our train to Bordeaux.

Hotel Studio - our hotel in Bordeaux was closer to a Hostel. The reception was a block down the street and the bathroom was average. On the other hand we had a large room with 3 beds, it was in the middle of town on an amazing old street.

Amboise

We jumped on a train to Amboise from Paris with a lot of excitement and a little bit of fear! We picked to stay at Amboise because Tours - the main town nearby - was all booked out. The train ride was a few hours long, and we got off with Sunday afternoon, nothing was open and luckily the train station attendant was able to give us a map of Amboise. We took off down the road and came across one of the quaintest towns in France. A river runs through the town in two forks, and a large castle looks down over the main centre. We followed some signs to the hotel, and what we thought would be 10 minutes soon turned to forty. We arrived at the hotel ready to collapse, it turns out the short distance to the hotel is somewhat complicated by windy roads and a constant uphill climb.


The hotel was a welcome relief - there were clean sheets and a really nice modern bathroom. We settled in and got a reservation at a local restaurant - both of us needing a good healthy feed after a few days of cheap eating in Paris. The reception made the last minute reservation at La Epicerie (apparently very busy and hard to get into on weekends....) We ordered a 20€ Menu each (like a pre set menu option, where you can choose one dish from three options for three courses). We had the best meal in a long long time. All of the food was amazing, and you could expect to pay at least $80 for the equivalent in Australia.

We left the restaurant feeling very satisfied, and refuelled for our journey onwards. We stopped to buy some sorbet on the walk home, and headed back to the hotel. We tried to go a more direct route than our original trip to the hotel - ending up in a narrow, dark, windy street under construction. The sun was setting fast and we quickened our pace a little. We passed lots of eerie buildings, it was very odd that this street in the middle of town could feel so deserted.

Eiffel Town Tourists

For our last day in Paris, we headed to the ultimate tourist attraction – the Eiffel Tower. We forgot that it was Saturday. There was also a football match on that nights somewhere, so the city was full! We lined up for half an hour (not too bad…) and climbed the 680 steps to the second floor. It was cold and windy, but the view was worth the effort. We could see all of the places we had been the two days before, all the way to the ciy limits.







We walked back down the stairs (harder than going up for Dee….) and headed across the street to another large museum & garden. This one had a much younger vibe though – rollerblading and skateboarding, breakdancing even. After watching a dance show put on by some local men, we walked back to the Champs Elysees (we only saw one side of the street 2 days before, so this time we walked the opposite way). We were just in time for a military parade down the street, with a band, flags and marchers – a bit like a small Anzac Day Parade.


We asked some football fans if there were still tickets available for the game, we were laughed at and told it was sold out. We ate out for the first time in Europe (pasta and salad) and then went home to see if we could watch the game. We soon worked out that it was the final of the French Cup and 80000 had come to Paris to see the game. It was a very exciting match, 1-1 at full time then 2-2 after extra time and then penalties.
PS Dont forget to click on any of the Photos to enlarge them.