London, England

We decide that today we’ll make the most of our free tickets.

We catch three trains to get to Baker Street Station, where we walk straight into Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum (no queues again).

The first room is full of all sorts of celebrities including Dame Edna, Eric Cantona, Terry Venables and Brad Pitt. These are great, and some are actually eerily too good.

The museum then has theme rooms. Its first one is actors i.e., W. C. Fields, Sly Stallone, then a music room (Michael Jackson, Cher, etc.) before explaining the House of Horrors. This shows some infamous criminals and explains about how executions had been carried out. Pretty gruesome! It also shows how Madame Tussaud got her start. During the French Revolution she had to make death masks for royalty that was executed. When the war finished, she immigrated to England and started doing face masks and started her museum.

The next room is that of past and present royalty, as well as political and religious leaders. These include the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, the current Royal Family and our own John Howard.

The last part of the exhibition is a ride which takes you through the history of London. When we finished, we headed out and got some lunch before going to the Planetarium.

The Planetarium was basically a half hour movie, shown on the domed roof, that talked about the starts, solar systems, the sun, planets and their moons. Although it was really interesting, I’m glad we didn’t pay to get in.

We jumped on the tube when we left and headed out to St John’s Wood. This is only a couple of blocks from Abbey Road Studios made famous by The Beatles. After Roberta signed her name on the wall, I got a photo of her crossing the road – just like the album cover. That was enough for us for the day, so we headed back to The Castle.

We had a take away dinner before Roberta, Kelly, Beck and I went to a local pub (Big Hand Moe’s) for a goodbye drink, as Roberta is leaving tomorrow. We stayed until closing.

London, England

We decided to go to town today for another look around. We had a sleep in this morning. It’s good to sleep in a bed in a real house.

We started at the Genevieve, down the road, for a pub lunch. That was great! (Chicken & Ham Pie with veggies).

The train to Victoria took 20 minutes, before jumping on the tube to Leicester Square. Tonight, we are going to a show, so we head to the Half Price Tickets booth to see what we can get into. Our best option is Grease for only £9.50 so we take it.

We now have no idea as to what to do next. We eventually decided to head to Trafalgar Square to the National Galleries, when we were stopped by someone doing a survey. She offered us £15 each and free tickets to Madame Tussaud’s for 45 minutes of work. As if we could say no! Madame Tussaud’s Rock Circus is being completely refurbished, and the survey wanted our opinions on the concept they had come up with. We gave a fair bit of input, which the marketing person liked, as she didn't really like the proposed concept.

Afterwards we went to spend our new found fortune at a little cafe just off Charing Cross Road for dinner.

From there we found where the theatre was, so we wouldn’t be late. There was a pub next door, so we stopped in for a pre-show drink. Grease started to 7.30 pm and was an absolute blast. As with other musicals we have seen, Grease was fantastic – and it was very true to the movie, except for a slightly different ending. 

The show finished at 10 pm and it took us until close to midnight to get back to Streatham Hill, where everyone had already gone to bed.

Paris, France to London, England

We were out of the hotel at 7.30 am to walk down to meet the bus at Three Ducks Hostel for our ride back to London. The bus leaves another miserable Paris day half an hour late (8.45am).

The bus ride to Calais made two service stops before meeting up with the 1.30 pm ferry. One of the service stops was a huge Cash & Carry, so we bought some cheap wine and chocolates to take back to our hosts at the New Mansions at Streatham Hill – now known as Barcombe Castles. The ferry crossing was a little rough, but not too bad. We spent our time on the boat just having lunch and reading the paper. We got through customs relatively quickly at Dover and headed onwards to London.

We arrived at the Porchester Hotel just after five pm., and after a quick phone call, we were on our way to Reggae’s. This was a mammoth three train effort which took us the best part of two hours, but we arrived to a much nicer place than what they had at the Mansions. There’s a spare room for us dossers. The place is about 20 minutes away from the tube via British Rail, but everyone seems happy with the place, even though they are out of the middle of London.

We went down the road and had some take-away for dinner before joining everyone for an evening of television – in English.

Paris, France

Our last day doesn’t start too well weather-wise. The clouds and rain are still hanging around.

We had nothing really planned for today, but decided that seeing as though we’d been to the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay, we would go to the next museum in chronological order – Musee d’Art Contemporary. We caught the Metro over to the station and arrived to find the museum was under renovation and not re-opening until November.

We are, however, within sight of Notre Dame, so we head down there to see if the scaffolding has disappeared. On the way we found a cheap Italian place, so stopped for lunch.

Notre Dame is still covered in scaffolding so we opted to head for the Eiffel Tower – we can’t come to Paris and not climb the tower. On the way we stopped at numerous souvenir and book/magazine stalls along the Seine River, where we picked up a couple of presents for people. By the time we got half way to the tower, it started to rain, so we opted to catch the Metro back to our hotel and do some reading, writing and relaxing.

This we did until about eight pm when we decided to go back and try our luck at the Tower again. We picked up a dozen spring rolls along the way for dinner and walked the 15 minutes through Champs du Mars before making it to the Eiffel Tower. We were in line for about 20 minutes before catching the elevator up the eastern leg to the second level. We had to get out here to change elevators, and it was absolutely freezing. We got straight in the next elevator and made it to the top of the 310-meter tower where, to my relief, the area was enclosed in glass. The view here at night is spectacular, with the best being the view down the Seine to the Louvre and Notre Dame, as well as looking at the Trocadero with the Arc di Triomphe in the background. We didn’t stay up there for too long, as my love of heights got the better of me, but enough to have a perfect view of Paris.

Roberta & I, Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

Afterwards we walked back home for our last sleep on the continent.

Paris, France

We had a bit of a sleep-in this morning – still tired from yesterday’s big adventure.

Today we are going to another of Paris’ famous museums – Musee d’Orsay. The museum has three floors of painting, sculptures and art decor from 1848 – 1919 as purchased by the French government. It is housed in a 1900 converted train station, refurbished in 1986 to be a museum. There are many works here by Van Gogh, Renoir & Monet amongst others, but the most famous piece would have to be Whistler’s Mother by James Whistler. It took us five hours to get through the entire collection. We picked a good day to do it, as well as the gloomy skies only bought more rain to the city.

When we finished, we decided to go home via the Metro, the walk here took us half hour and the longer the day goes on, the lazier we get.

We spent the early evening watching the rain fall, reading newspapers and writing in our diaries.

At eight pm we decided we would go out for dinner. We were going to go to a small restaurant around the corner, but it was closed, while another place was deemed too expensive. With the persistent rain and lack of shelter, we ended up buying take-away Chinese and going back to the hotel to eat it.

We’ve kind of blown the usual budget the last few days, but Paris is so expensive, it can’t be helped. And it’s well worth it. We had another night in hoping that tomorrow, for our last day on the continent, the weather will improve.

Paris, France

Today is the second most anticipated day of the trip, only beaten when I found out we could see The Cure in Portugal.

We left early this morning and caught two metro trains to Nation, then another train to Marne-la-Vallee Chessy to go to DISNEYLAND PARIS!  For all the great churches, palaces, museums and beaches we'd seen, we thought it was time for a change.

We arrived at 10.30am on a day when it looked like it may rain at any moment, to walk right in (no queues again). With map in hand and a photograph of the entrance taken, Australia’s two biggest kids were on their way.

Me, Disneyland, Paris, France

We started off in Fantasyland, its theme being Disney’s stories. Its entrance is Le Chateau (covered by the very distinct European scaffolding – as found everywhere). It contains stained-glass windows, one of a million souvenir stalls, and the story of Sleeping Beauty. On to our first ride. Snow White & The Seven Dwarves, and then Pinocchio, were sit down rides which took you through the stories of both. Roberta went on the carousel, before we both got on the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups. Next up was It’s A Small World – a boat ride through thousands of dolls representing each country – even your typical Aussie with an akubra hat, a koala, and a kangaroo were there. The other canal ride took us through Storybook Land with scenes from about 15 Disney stories (this was the lamest of the rides). Alice’s Curious Labyrinth was next. This hedged maze took a bit of getting through even with so many people going around. We skipped the Casey Jr train ride and Dumbo The Flying Elephant, but went on Peter Pan’s Flight – a flight in the same vein as the first 2 rides – before going into Adventureland.

We started off on the Pirates of The Caribbean – a long cruise through many swashbuckling adventures. This ride is indoors and from it you can see the Blue Lagoon Restaurant. It looked great and we were going to go there for lunch, until we saw the prices. I don’t think even Bill Gates could afford to eat there. We then walked through Adventure Island and The Swiss Family Robinson’s tree top home until we got to Le Temple du Peril – a roller coaster that we waited 45 minutes for (and were only on it for two) just to keep the heart pumping. We had lunch at Colonel Hathi’s Pizza Outpost and I rang home to tell them where we were. The last stop in Adventureland was La Passage Enchante d’Alladin, which was scenes from the movie Aladdin (Dud! I thought it was going to be a ride).

Next was Discoveryland – the high-tech section of the park. We walked through Arcade de Jeux Video – a pinball parlor like any at The Entrance – until we got to Space Mountain. This was easily the ride of the day. This is an indoor roller coaster completely in the dark where the only things you can see are the props i.e., moon, planets, stars, etc. Unfortunately, you couldn’t see the complete loop, the two corkscrews or any of the other twists and turns. This ride gave me enough adrenalin to last a lifetime. After this, we went on the Startours ride, which is a simulation ride from a scene in Star Wars. Another good ride – but would’ve been better (for me) had all the characters been talking in English. As we got out of this ride it finally started to pour. We headed over to Le Visionarium to watch a short film about time travel. The film was in this huge room with a 3600-view, giving you the feeling that you were experiencing everything that was happening. When we got out, the rain had stopped and the sun was blazing away for the first time since we’d been in Paris.

Me, Star Tours, Disneyland, Paris, France

With only an hour before closing time, we headed over to suss out Frontierland. There were only two attractions that we went on here. First was Big Thunder Mountain – the meekest of the park’s three roller coasters, but still enough to keep you alert. Secondly was Phantom Manor – a haunted house that told the story of a ghostly bride, with scary skeletons and holograms throughout. The scariest part was the guy at the front door who jumped out and frightened Roberta to death. We gave the river cruise, kid’s playground and animal farm a miss.

Big Thunder Mountain, Disneyland, Paris, France

We headed back to Main Street, USA and had a look through the Disneyland Boutiques (lucky I have some control, as I could have spent a fortune here) before leaving. We had our photo taken out the front of the park before heading back to the train station home. I wanted to go to Disney Village, across the way, where the shops and restaurants were, but another downpour put a stop to that idea.

Roberta & I, Disneyland, Paris, France

The train trip took us an hour and a half, but it was definitely worth it, as we both had a great day.

When we got back to the hotel, we thought we’d go to the Aloha hostel, where Roberta had left some shoes when we stayed back at the beginning of Eurobus. The half an hour walk bought no luck as the shoes weren’t there, but we were told to try with other staff tomorrow.

On the way home we stopped at a Chinese / Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. The food was delicious, and cheap, and a great way to end a great day, as afterwards we went back to the hotel for a well-earned sleep.

Paris, France

We arrived in Paris, to gloomy weather, at 8.30 this morning and head straight off to Hotel Printemps, which is near the drop off point, but half the price. We get a room that won’t be ready until midday, so we dump our bags and head off for a while.

We had breakfast at McDonalds on the corner before walking to the Eiffel Tower.

Weather-wise, Paris is no different than when we left – cloudy, windy and a bit cold. But the atmosphere is heaps different. Gone are the people who were here last time for the World Cup, as too are the makeshift tourist information stalls and countless souvenir stalls. Now the city seems somewhat empty.

We are tired, but decide not to waste the day and head to the Louvre Museum. Once we line up, it takes half an hour to get into the museum and instantly we head to Leonardo di Vinci’s Mona Lisa. This relatively ordinary painting is said to have been carried everywhere by the artist and is famous for the fact that nobody seems to know who the subject of the portrait is, with some saying it is a self-portrait. We also saw the Venus de Milo – the famous armless sculpture of Aphrodite. The Louvre houses thousands of paintings, sculptures, and artefacts (of which we probably didn’t see half). But by three pm we were stuffed and decided to head home for the day.

Venus de Milo, Louvre Museum, Paris, France

We got back to the hotel and were asleep before our heads hit the pillow. We awake again at seven pm and decided on a take away dinner. Paris is probably the most expensive place we’ve come across when it comes to food and for a cheap meal tonight, we had to resort to Pizza Hut. We probably haven’t eaten too well on this trip – but who cares, we’re on holidays.

We are still tired and decided to stay in tonight and hopefully recover from last night’s horrendous bus trip.

Avignon, France to Paris, France

Today couldn’t be more different from yesterday if it tried. The sun is shining and there wasn’t a cloud to be seen when we got out of the tent this morning.

It was back into town again to see it in leisure today. We started off at a café beside the church where a coffee and a coke cost us AU$12 (won’t be racing back there).

Me, Cathedral Notre, Avignon, France

We then headed up to the gardens, which gave us a great view of the Rhone River and the surrounding area of Avignon. We also had a view of Pont d’Avignon – a bombed bridge spanning only half the river, and a quarter of its original size, made famous in a French nursery rhyme, (apparently).

Pont d'Avignon & Rhone River, Avignon, France

After this we just wandered around town aimlessly, going from street to street checking out Avignon until we came to the internet place again. Today it was working better so we spent an hour sending messages and catching up on news.

Lunch was a couple of sandwiches at the park behind the tourist office. 

From here we decided to head back to the campsite to start packing and to prepare for the night’s trip to Paris. All our wet stuff had dried and we spent most of the afternoon cleaning the tent and playing cards. We also had one last cook tent meal – fettucine with tomato, onion and capsicum – before burning off the last of the gas and throwing away our camping utensils that we won’t need from now on.

We spent the evening talking and playing cards with others from Eurobus before the bus arrived at 10.30 pm (an hour and a half late).

The trip to Paris is ten hours and I was so uncomfortable on the bus that I only got three hours of intermittent sleep – even with the help of a sleeping tablet.

Avignon, France

We woke up this morning to the sound of a couple of drops of rain on the tent. I bought my towel in and noticed that the weather had taken a turn for the worse overnight. Within 20 minutes we were in the tent in the middle of this huge thunderstorm. Thinking it would pass any moment, we had some breakfast and thought we’d wait until all had stopped. Unfortunately, it only got harder, so I had to get out and attach all the ropes to the tent, as we’d only used the basics last night when setting up.

When I’d finished doing this I went to the showers, through knee deep water on one of the campground’s roads, to try and warm up. Of course, by the time I got back to the tent, the rain had stopped, but it still looked to be a miserable day anyway.

We walked over to town to take a look around. The only real sight was the church, which we only saw from the outside, otherwise we just wandered around (in the rain) having a look until two pm, when we walked up to the local cinema and saw Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, which was bizarre, but good, and a great way to dry out for two hours.

Back out into the rain and we walked down to the internet café on the other side of town. There was a problem and the computers were slow, so we didn’t stick around for long, but we met up with two Eurobussers, Nick from South Africa and Steve from Ireland, and we chatted for ages before heading to Maccas for dinner.

We got back to the camp site expecting the worst, but the Taj had handled the rain well, except for a small hole in the floor under my bedroll. We mopped that water up and made repairs with the huge sticky tape bought in Granada.

We were going to go back to town for drinks, but after a few games of cards and the rain persisting, we opted to stay dry in the tent.

Nice France to Avignon, France

We checked out of the hostel at ten am and went to dumped our backpacks at the drop off / pick up hotel.

Today is our last day in Nice so we decided to make the most of the weather and head back for one more day on the beach. It was just beautiful today, as it has been all the others we have been here. We swam at the beach and lazed around in the sun for four hours – a length of time neither of us could handle back at home.

At three pm we packed up and headed back towards the Eurobus pick up point, stopping on the way at a café for a late lunch (cheese and tomato panini) and a McFlurry.

We got our bags out of the hotel and waited out the front for the bus for the next hour. Surprisingly, the bus was on time and we started our trip to Avignon at 5.15 pm. We made one stop at a servo along the way, where I rang the New Mansions to check on our accommodation in London. All is sweet, and we can even stay at Benno’s if we need to. The bus pulled into Avignon at 8.45 pm. The camp site is on the river, outside the town’s walls and as we pulled in, a full moon was just above the town’s huge church, on a perfectly clear night. It made the place look pretty spectacular. We went to our lot and pitched our tent. I can’t believe it’s going to cost us AU$8 a night each, compared to the AU$25 the hostel people are paying. So glad we bought the Taj with us.

We went to the camp’s restaurant and had a small pizza for dinner between us, before retiring early for the night.

Nice, France

Once again Nice has put on the good weather for us.

After our big sleep in, Roberta and I headed to la plage to bask in the sun for most of the afternoon, with a stop for breakfast our only variation of the morning.

We got back to the hostel at six pm and we stuffed around for ages.

At 8.30pm, after reading the English Daily Telegraph, we went out for dinner. We went to the pizza place where we went with Kern & Beck and ordered one of these huge pizzas again. It was a bit of a splurge seeing that we’d done nothing all day (and spent no money).

After dinner we went back to the hostel and had an early night.

Florence, Italy to Nice, France

Time to head back to the sun, sea and rocks of Nice today.

We packed up the tent and caught the bus to Florence SMN one last time. We got there at 10.45 am and had to wait an hour for our bus. We filled in time with an early lunch and a phone call to mum. The bus trip took five and a half hours and at no time did I know where we really were (although the last hour and a half was along a picturesque coastline). We met a couple of guys form the Eurobus who had been to Florence for a day’s shopping (so Buddah!). They were hoping to be on the bus to go straight through to London tonight, but considering we arrived at Nice at 5.15 pm (the same time the Eurobus was to leave) a half hour walk from the drop off point, I didn’t like their chances.

We went back to the same hostel we were in last time, Pado Tourisme, and got the last two beds. Thank God – seeing as there’d be nowhere else in Nice where we could stay for 60 francs a night.

We walked down to the main street, so I could find a place to exchange my excess lire for francs, and then we went to a Chinese fast-food place for dinner.

After dinner we decided to go and see a movie, and after passing two cinemas that only had French dubbed movies, we ended up at the Rialto to see the Avengers. This would have to be the worst movie I’ve seen since I slept through Blues Brothers 2000.

It was midnight by the time we came out and so we went straight home. Even though our room backs on to the railway line, both of us crashed.

Pisa and Florence, Italy

Finally had a good night’s sleep last night. I’m glad we moved the tent.

This morning we caught the bus down to the station to begin our day trip to Pisa. The train took us just on an hour and when we arrived at 11.45 am we went to the tourist information to see what there was to do. Basically, there is the famous tower and a square around it – and that’s all.

Arno River, Pisa, Italy

So, we walked the 20 minutes through the city and university square until we arrived at Campo dei Moracoli (Field of Miracles). Here, although there are a few buildings, you can’t help to look at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This tower leans an average of one millimeter per year. To combat this the Italians have stacked one side with 600 tons of lead. The lean is so much that the tower is no longer open for the public.

Me, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Beside the tower is the huge 11th century cathedral. It is relatively simple inside, with artworks lining the wall, a large Mosaic of Christ above the alter, and a large 11-columned pulpit as its showpiece. It is also said that the façade covering the front entrance has to be seen to be believed. But, as has been our luck, it was being restored, thus covered in scaffolding. The other connection these two buildings have are Galileo. He used the tower to prove gravity theories and used the cathedral’s chandelier to test his theories on pendulums.

Cathedral & Tower, Pisa, Italy

Cathedral, Pisa, Italy

On the other side of the cathedral is its baptistry. We went in there but didn’t spend long as there was really only the pulpit to see (and it wasn’t much).

We found a restaurant just off the square to have lunch at. Roberta had a good pizza, but my lasagna was small and ordinary.

We walked back through town to the station where a train turned up within five minutes. I slept most of the way home and when we got back to Florence (5.30 pm) we decided just to go back to the campsite. Roberta whipped up another great cook tent meal before we headed to the camp’s bar for a couple of drinks and some cards before crashing around 12.30 am.

Florence, Italy

The continuation of cultural overload happened again today. The day started off with breakfast in Piazza della Signoria. This plaza has many statues and fountains including the one of Neptune.

Neptune, Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy

Also here is Loggia della Signoria – another area of the plaza which is full of significant statues.

We walked over to the Uffizi, handed over our prepaid ticket (laughed at everyone queueing for the next hour or so), and walked straight in. The Uffizi is said to hold the most important art in Italy, with its collection dating between the 13th – 18th centuries. Inside we saw two famous Botticelli’s – The Birth of Venus and Allegory of Spring – as well as countless works by da Vinci, Raphael, Fra Angelico and (of course) Michelangelo. The gallery’s hallways are lined with portraits of famous rulers and statues of Roman leaders and mythological characters.

When we had finished here it was already time for lunch, so off we went until we found a quiet restaurant for our daily Italian fix (today it was pizza).

After lunch we headed towards the station to organize transport back to Nice. We ended up booking a bus for Friday at 11.30 am which cost around 40,000 lire.

From here we went in search of a supermarket only to find an outdoor market (which of course didn’t sell any food like we needed).

We wandered around the numerous t-shirt, leather, handbag and scarf stalls for a while without making any purchases before heading over to Palazzo Vecchio. This palace was home to the Medici family – rulers of Florentine government of a time (and I believe illegitimate members of Popes’ families at the time). It is now a museum containing artworks collected over a period of time and frescos painted in various rooms. All in all, I didn’t really go much for anything here. Maybe because I was tired, or maybe because I’m all museumed out. However, the second last room I liked. It was full of maps painted well before the discovery of Australia, and its centerpiece was a huge, old globe (on which you could only just distinguish some countries and regions.

Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy

This was our last visit for the day. We headed back to the bus-stop and caught the 13 back to the campsite. We moved the tent to a new spot as the last two nights we had been sleeping/sliding on a hill.

Florence, Italy

We caught buses 12 & 23 to the station this morning as Roberta had made a reservation for us tomorrow at the Uffizi Gallery and it had to be paid for at the tourist office.

With that out of the way we started our first day in Florence by going to the Duomo Cathedral. This 13th century cathedral is the fourth largest in Italy (and actually it’s the 11th largest in the world) and is absolutely amazing from the outside as it is covered entirely by a marble façade (built in the 16th century). The dome inside contains frescos of Judgement Day and some of the stained-glass windows were designed by Donatello, but otherwise the interior is quite non-descript. There is meant to be an incredible view of the city from the top of the dome. We didn’t climb it considering the view from our own campsite.

Duomo, Florence, Italy

Duomo, Florence, Italy

Duomo, Florence, Italy

Next, we walked to the Santa Croce. This church was built in 1288 and houses the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo, as well as a monument to the Italian writer, Dante.

Santa Croce, Florence, Italy

Just outside the church is Museo Santa Croce, which is currently holding a Salvador Dali exhibition – so of course we went in. I’d say Dali is my favorite artist as his imagination is wild and his drawings superb, and this collection was no exception. Some pictures had explanations with them which made them all the more interesting and understandable. My favorite section was a series he did based around the Bible and the Lord’s Prayer. After all the straight-forward religious art we have seen, it was great to see it in a different perspective.

When we finished here it was lunch o’clock so we found a small trattoria to have lunch in.

Revitalized, we headed back to the Duomo to go to its Baptistry – supposedly the oldest building in Florence. The most famous part of the building is its northern door. This bronze door has the Gates of Paradise carved by Lorenzo Ghiberti – 12 scenes from the Bible.

Baptistry, Duomo, Florence, Italy

Our next stop was the Galleria del l’Accademia – home of the famous David by Michelangelo, as well as other sculptures and paintings by this artist and others (including Botticelli). The David is the masterpiece though, and it takes you by surprise, as there is no build up to it. You just turn the first corner and there it is. I also found out that this is the character from David & Goliath – ignorant me had no idea.

Michelangelo's David, Galleria del Academia, Florence, Italy

After the Accademia we found an internet place and sent messages for the next hour.

Our last stop for the day was Ponte Vecchio – a 14th century bridge which is full of silversmith’s and goldsmith’s shops – expensive ones at that. The bridge was the only one of the cities to survive Nazi bombing in World War II.

Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy

We caught the bus back home and had another cook tent meal before heading up to the bar for a couple of drinks and a game of cards to end the day.