Yes, we got up bright and early and yes we made it to the Eiffel Tower nice and early… but we still had to line up for TWO hours in the sweltering heat. This weekend has been stiffeling with heat, I’m melting from the moment I open my eyes until I close them and all the hours in between that! We took it in turns standing in line, allowing one another a chance to sit in the shade and try to reenergize (it worked marginally) and after two hours of line ups, heat, annoying other tourists we were finally allowed up and I have to say, it was worth it. The views from up here are amazing, you can see forever! We stayed up there for a long time, walking around, going to the different levels to get other views, taking lots of photos. We waited for so long we were going to make the most of this!

After this (melting the whole time) we had NO energy left for the Louvre, it had been a nice idea, but there was no way that it was going to be achieved, not today anyway. After this we instead made our way to the Arch De Tremont, the busiest round about in the world, and it has to be said, this is a crazy, hellish round about. There is NO way I’d ever contemplate driving anywhere near this round about. There is no procedure or signs or anything, just a free for all. I watched in horror as a motor bike and a car came VERY close to a large collision, but it was narrowly avoided with a lot of loud horns and rude gesturing, no one was very impressed with that! We used the underground pass to the middle where we sat under the arch for a while, breathing in a sigh of satisfaction when our backs were pressed up against the cool marble seats. For some where so busy there was not so much noise here, it was actually quite peaceful.

We were completely buggered now, so hot, so sweaty, just ready to lie down or have a cool shower so we slowly made our way back to the hotel, along the way taking in the sights of the streets and stores around us (i.e.: Chanel, Louis Vutton etc, big name brands) but my fave thing we saw along this road was a busker called “Dancing Papy” This old man wore his hat side ways, had up beat more modern music blaring and was giving it all he had for the dance world. It was so funny and sweet. I gave him some money quickly and moved on, others followed suit and as they did so, they had to dance into the middle with him, it was so nice. At one stage I looked over my shoulder and saw another 4 people just dancing these crazy moves on the pavement with him, clapping and laughing. It was a lot of fun.

We made our way back to the hotel, had a small rest before heading to the market that was on at the end of our street. Here we brought some sheep cheese, bread and hummus and, a new dress for me. I am in love with this dress and it only cost 10 Euro, a real bargain I feel for the middle of Paris! We took our edible goodies to the shade of a lovely big old tree where we sat on the grass and tore off pieces of bread, dipping them in the hummus and ripping off bits of cheese, it was the best French meal we’ve had yet, very relaxed, very nice and a lovely way to finish off our quick Parisian stop over.

written by  Chris and Emily on June 14, 2009 from Paris, France
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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The Metro station we planned to get off at was closed so we had to go another stop further but it worked out well as we got to walk through one of the prettiest parts of Paris (I think) there were streets lined with trees that lead both to the Arc de triumph and the Louve. There was an Egyptian Obelisk that must have been plundered by the French at some point at the entrance to the park; I remember seeing one just like it (maybe a little smaller) on the bank of the Thames in London. The park is really nice and quite open, first impression of Paris is that it is a lot more spaced out and open than London the parks have walkways the size of roads going through them instead of the small paths that go through the parks in London. As we entered the park we were confronted by the first of many scam-artist baggers who will ask you "do you speak English" if you say yes they show you a postcard with a sob story about a father in hospital on it and ask for money. Em gave her 70c and she didn't seem pleased with the amount but we walked on making note to pretend not to speak English next time we were asked, we noticed later that these women work in gangs and target all the tourist attractions.

We pulled up a couple of the chairs that are scattered around the parks and chilled out in the shade for a little while and then headed in the direction of the louver. Got sidelined by a street "artist" who draw my character pretty badly and Em bartered him on the price down to 10Eu he claimed that he was drawing the portrait for free but he was pretty forceful that we should buy it when it was finished, oh well it will make an interesting souvenir.

We had a look at the Louver on the outside and checked prices etc, both of us were not up to a day looking at art so we decided to save it for later and go see more of the city. Off to Notre Dam we went, a decent hike but well worth it along the river across the famous --insert bridge name here-- and onto the island. Notre Dam is free and the most frequented attraction in Paris, 10s of millions of people go through it each year! We joined the queue an experience we have avoided mostly on this trip but one that we can avoid anymore. The queue looked huge but it moved really quickly and we were soon inside where we could check out the round stained glass windows that I have seen photos of before and wander around looking at the chandeliers, the organ and the carvings. As churches go it was nice but not the most impressive we have seen, but hey it's Notre Dam you can't not go there!

After this we moved on to the Eiffel Tower. The line up for this attraction was insane! We decided to not line up in the beating heat, but rather find a nice patch of grass under a tree and lie here for awhile. It was so lovely and relaxing! We spent quite a long time doing this, it was so refreshing and it was great to be able to people watch and take in the sounds, smells and workings of Paris. When we eventually thought we'd had enough we made a lazy move back towards the Metro station to catch the train back and chill out in the air conditioning of our hotel room!

written by  Chris and Emily on June 13, 2009 from Paris, France
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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We started the day by getting up nice and early, and with Sues assistance of dropping us at the station, made our way to London where we dropped our bags at a luggage desk before finding Regent Street, in order to find the Eurail Office and buy our Eurail pass for the next few weeks. I have to say that these passes are BLOODY expensive, but, are almost essential for Europe travel, it will in the long run, save us quite a bit of cash. We brought these passes in an hour or so and then had 5 hours to kill until our next train, so we walked back to St James Park where we had lunch, lay in the sun, tried to be squirrel whisperers again (weren’t so successful this time, it seems they don’t like bread) went onto Trafalgar square and then back to St Pancreas to pick up our luggage and catch the Eurostar to Paris.

The journey really didn’t take that long; I was prepared for a lot longer so I was rather chuffed when we hopped off after 2 hours or so.

The Paris Metro (train station) is quite easy to negotiate, even if your French is dismal. I actually find it 100 times easier than the London underground to be honest. We had a little trouble finding our hotel though, we followed the map down to the tea, but we couldn’t see it at all, we were on some sort of alley street, so with a lot of aimless wandering we eventually stumbled upon it, no where near the map directions. Our room is gorgeous. A large room by city hotel standards, nice ensuite bathroom with a spa (I was in heaven seeing this) and the most comfortable bed EVER. We dumped our stuff and went for a little wander about, discovered a market that was just closing up, a few restaurants and bits and bobs before making our way back to the hotel for some well deserved rest.

written by  Chris and Emily on June 12, 2009 from Paris, France
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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We were up early today, packed and with the car Sue and Patrick once again kindly lent us, on our way to Coventry. It was only a 2 hour drive, nothing to a couple of Aussies who happen to like a decent road trip, so we were there in plenty of time. We checked into our hotel, which thankfully we were able to score for a 60% discount (you wouldn’t want to pay full price for this place, bit of a dive really) found some pub grub next door before Chris drove me to the concert. I swear to you, in all honesty, I have no fingernails left. I was so nervous about this concert that I couldn’t stop biting them. Gates opened at 4pm; we got there about bang on time. If concert going in Australia has taught me anything, it’s get there early, so I did (if my back up chick and fellow thater lover Ashe had been with me we’d have been there well earlier though planning our back stage admittance…) I first purchased a wee bit of merchandise, then took a quick look at the essentials (where is the water stand, and most important, where are the loos and how many are there?) before dashing out to the arena only to find… THAT THERE WAS STANDING RIGHT AT THE FRONT! Well, I did this mad dash waddle (my equivalent to running) to the front and stood my ground. No one, no matter who they were going to move me from this position, it was amazing! Ashe and I have strategized for years of how we were going to achieve this goal, and here I was living it out, I only wished she were there with me. Oh well, the day will come I’m sure (we’ve planned it long enough) I stood there quite patiently as the crowd grew and the clouds set in, I crossed all my fingers and toes that it wouldn’t rain and then concentrated on watching the support acts, Gary Go (?) and then The Script, both were quite good, but I wasn’t there for them, they were just a hindrance to the main act for me! After the script left the stage I felt a large drop fall on me, I closed my eyes and wished REALLY hard for the rain to go away, but it didn’t. Instead it POURED down, and I mean completely and utterly chucked it. I was totally drenched to the bone within 30 seconds, the rain was so heavy and the drops so fat, no one had any escape. A lady beside me had brought an umbrella, she allowed me, along with her friend to seek shelter under it, but it was no use, then another 2 ladies joined us under it, so it was a little tight and really, honestly, no good despite this ladies sweet and kind intentions. We all huddled under the brollie, rain running off our noses, me wringing my jacket arms out, and asked aloud “do you suppose the lads will go on?” And to be honest, I wouldn’t have blamed them, or been surprised if they hadn’t, but just as we were contemplating this horrid thought, a clown came out, and then another, then some more, all carrying balloons… it was starting!! We screamed, and so it began. The tour is called “The Circus” (after their new album title) hence the opening involving clowns and other circus performers, it was amazing with all the different props, acts and performances.

Take That sprung out from the middle of the arena (there is a long cat walk out there and a stage middle of the ground) the place erupted, it was just amazing and I can’t remember when I last screamed so loud. I sound like a star struck teenager I know, but this has been a life long desire so I was making the very very most of it! The lads (Gary, Mark, Howard and Jason) sang all the old school songs, the new stuff and they were all brilliant. They then rode an elephant, yes; you read right, an elephant to the main stage where I was now only a matter of meters from them…I had to remind myself to breathe now. I’d love to be able to tell you in detail the set they played, the clothes they wore, how they all looked, what was said etc, but I don’t think I could fit so much on the blog and more to the point, I don’t think some of you would be really all that interested, but if you want to know, then let me know and I can fill you in with every last minute detail. Let me just tell you the high lights though:

• Howard’s arms.
• Howard and Jason riding unicycles
• Mark riding a unicycle with the aid of two acrobats as he is too little to hop on one himself
• Gary not even attempting the unicycle and instead riding a trike – hysterical.
• The elephant
• The old school melody
• Never Forget
• Shine
• Mark trying to be a ‘scary’ lion tamer. He is not scary, and though he tries bless him, he is not a lion tamer. He is way too sweet.
• Did I mention Howards arms?

So, as you may have gathered I quite took a liking to Howard, which is strange as I always have been loyal to Gary, but in person all I can say about Howard is … PWHOAR!!!!! Still, my loyalty is too Gary.

The concert finished too soon for my liking but I ran out as soon as I could as I realized that to pick me up poor old Chris would have to go through hell. There were over 40,000 people there so traffic was going to be difficult to say the least. As I walked out I saw the neon lights of the 24 hour Tesco off in the distance, bless them. I arranged with Chris to pick me up from here thinking it would be easier, and to a degree it was, but it still took him an hour to make the 5 mile drive, it was CRAZY! Traffic was stand still so it took awhile, but it was okay, we were expecting it and as I was still on a high poor Chris got the run down of EVERY last detail of the event from a very excited me.

Last but not least I have to say that I just loved the way that, despite the fact it was POURING with rain TT still came on stage, did amazing, full on performances and not once had any cover for themselves either, they got just as drenched as everyone else and they just laughed and encouraged everyone to dance in the rain. They are most certainly not divas, the only thing they did mention was that they wouldn’t be using hair product in the rain again as it stung very badly when it ran into their eyes.

So, I had an amazing, great time and Chris bless him, the wonderful, patient husband he is, waited back at the hotel for me to call and relaxed by reading and watching old western movies (it was the only thing on the telly, we only had one channel!)

written by  Chris and Emily on June 10, 2009 from Coventry, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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Saint Stephens Green was lovely. A huge garden brimming with gorgeous flowers, clean, green glass, happy and chilled out looking people sitting about enjoying their lunch time breaks… It was really nice. We found ourselves a bench and sat down, enjoying the atmosphere, Chris then decided to lie down on my lap so that I could stroke his hair as he relaxed… it was all very nice, but then HE came along…

Chris was lying on my lap, just saying goodbye to his dad who he had called for a bit of a chat, when this grumpy looking man came up to us, stood in front of Chris, grunted and motioned for Chris to move his feet. Chris got up and the man proceeded to take his jacket off and make himself at home in the spot Chris had been. Not so much a problem, but we looked about us and saw that there were PLENTY more seats free that he could have taken residence in and not having to make Chris move. Chris then pointed this out by saying “you know, there are seats over there that are free” and oh my goodness… this man went OFF. His face went red and he started to yell, very loudly “yeah, well, no one tells me where to f*#&ing sit! These seats are for sitting, not lying about, no one tells me where to fu*%ing sit you hear me! I’ll sit where I want to f*#&ing sit, you can’t tell me where to sit, I can sit where I want” I didn’t quite know whether to laugh or get angry, I kind of came across a bit of both in the end, but then he went on a little too long for my liking and I became angry so I said “you know, we were only relaxing, there’s no need to get so angry” and then he went off again “these seats are for f*&#ing sitting, I can sit where I want to sit, these aren’t for you to be exerting your self about on (what the hell was that about?!) And then the WITCH with a million little rat dogs came up and said “alright Tony?” and Tony (big mean ugly red faced fowl mouthed Tony) turned to her and began to relive the tale of Chris and I relaxing on the park bench as if it were a mortal crime, to which I interjected with “we were relaxing” then horrible witch woman (she looked like a witch, long grey hair, cloaky clothes, twisted facial features) turned and said very patronizingly, “well, that’s what the grass is for” Huh? What are the seats for if not for relaxing? Anyhow, I was now quite angry, as was Chris, and they were attracting quite a lot of attention to us with their constant rant and raves and the f bomb being dropped like it were confetti… So we ended this argument with “You are SOOO rude! Thanks so much for your warm Irish hospitality huh?” And we stormed off repeating once or twice more just how incredibly rude they were and how they didn’t need to speak to us like that. Horrible red faced man with his stupid glad bag of lunch time goodies and his silly patronizing witch girlfriend. I hope her million rat like dogs ate his lunch when he wasn’t looking. And anyhow, how do you suppose we were meant to ‘relax’ on the grass when there are big bold signs saying “PLEASE KEEP OFF THE GRASS” about?

Anyhow, annoyed and irritated by this rude behaviour we moved away and out of the park and into a nice restaurant that was teeming with people. The very top level of this restaurant has been turned into a little theatre, where they hold lunch time plays, which you can watch as you have your bowl of soup. Chris and I decided to partake in this and were the youngest there by about 40 years, but we enjoyed our soup and the play, which was about a nursing home and a man loosing his memory. It was a different way to enjoy lunch, and a nice one at that.

After this, we still didn’t feel like doing much so we moved onto a little independent movie theatre that show more Indy and art house flicks. We got there just in time to see a new Ryan Reynolds flick “Fireflies in the garden” which was sad, but good none the less. We were two of four people in the cinema.

Now, we’re back at the backers, having had a good chat with Peter the manager (who is lovely) and contemplating seeing some live Irish dancing tonight… so far everything we’ve looked at requires you to pay for a set course dinner menu in order to sit and enjoy a show, and we’re not really up for that, not at E30-E48… we’ll see how we go. We’ve really enjoyed Ireland, it’s been a great little journey and we’ve had a grand time, seen so much, done so much and met some real characters. It really is a lovely place that we hope to return too some day.

written by  Chris and Emily on June 8, 2009 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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Back to the Dublin Backpackers once more, it is feels like home and we are so comfortable here. We had a little rest before we head out into the city centre which was a little quiet given it is a Sunday. We did a little grocery shopping for the next two days and head back to cook dinner. Really, not a very interesting day, but it was another chilled out one that was nice. It’s really nice to have some time to just do mundane things and I think we have too do this from time to time just so we can recharge our batteries and be ‘normal’ being on the go all day everyday is fun, but it isn’t so healthy really, we need time to stop and do ‘chores’ like washing and grocery shopping.

We will be in Dublin another day, before we head back to the UK for a little time where I will see TAKE THAT! You can’t begin to imagine my excitement! It’s been such a long time coming and the wait for my tickets to arrive has been an anxious one (tickets only get sent out a week before the concert, mine was sent only yesterday, it now has to be sent onto another address where I will pick it up.. it was touch and go there for awhile if it would arrive in time, but I think we can all breath a sigh of relieve now and say that it’s all okay and it WILL arrive in time) after this, we will head to Europe for a while. We are both excited about the next few weeks, and so for this reason, I’m glad we’re having these few days of “nothing” to just relax.

written by  Chris and Emily on June 7, 2009 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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We stopped in Maccas again for our free WIFI, but this detour was hellish. Maccas on any day is busy, but being a Saturday and in the middle of the city, it was HELL! Screaming children, harassed mothers, over worked, flustered looking employees giving you ‘looks’ when you added on a “and could I also please have a…” when ordering, they clearly didn’t want to be working there.

After this, and a brief look about the city, we moved onto see the new Terminator movie, which I have to say, is crap. I didn’t like this movie at all, and for a moment closed my eyes during the film before thinking “oh crap, we paid for this movie, I guess I should watch it” I liked Star Trek much better. I am obviously a geek, not an action/adventure girl.

This was about all we accomplished today. Other than dinner that is. We went to a little place around the corner called “Foo.kin Express” it made us giggle, and it was a nice meal! We sat and people watched for a time, taking in all the women who walked past, dressed to the nines. All in tiny dresses, huge heels, and fake tanned until they look orange and all sporting peroxide blond locks. This is obviously the look that is fashionable here in Belfast, but I am happy not to join this ‘fad’ and just be me!

This really was the extent of our day, it was so chilled out, so relaxed, so nice, and we really really enjoyed ourselves.

written by  Chris and Emily on June 6, 2009 from Belfast, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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added by chris:
We had done over 2000km's on our trip around Ireland and looking at the little map in our blog we did a nice circle of the country, the first country that I have lapped, and my biggest road trip to date. Very satisfied!

After this, Dave, the wicked owner, drove us into the village to catch a bus into Belfast, which was nice of him; he didn’t have to do that. We ended up having 40 minutes to kill in the cold, chilly wind. The weather, up until today, has been amazing, sunny, hot and wind free. The day that we give the car back it turns grey, cold and windy! No matter, we came prepared for every season. We pulled on our warm jumpers and Chris, being a man, went on a hunting, gathering session for a strong hot cuppa and hot choccie. He succeeded with this Mission, and not long after the bus arrived to take us to Belfast.

The journey took about 2 hours, not too bad we decided, given the windy little coastal roads. I swear though that the bus driver was a big meany. Every time someone got up, either to get something from their bags or to walk down the aisle for their up coming stop, he would put the brakes on suddenly making everyone lurch forward in a drastic, violent motion. He was a big fat meany he was and he also looked miserable.

I have to say, it was kind of nice to arrive back in Belfast. It was also a bonus that we knew our way around the city and where we had to go etc. We stayed once more in the hostel, which was much nicer this time as we had our own private room with our own CLEAN bathroom, it felt like luxury after ‘ruffing’ it in the back of the van (as much as we loved it!)

We strolled the streets until we found a nice little spot to eat, it was cheap and lovely and busy! We enjoyed our fresh salads and veggies and bit of meat before, feeling the exhaustion of the last few days, went back to the hostel and fell into a deep, peaceful sleep!

written by  Chris and Emily on June 5, 2009 from Belfast, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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