My Europe Holiday: Part 2 - FRANCE

Sunday 21 October 2012

Day 2 Intrepid Tour – Tours

My mistake, the previous post had this day as Day 1 of our tour; in fact Day 1 was the Saturday, when we met our group at 6pm. So now I am up to Day 2. So, moving on.

We arrived in the town of Tours, in the Loire Valley, in the late afternoon. Our hotel, Hotel l’Europe, was across from the station, and it was much nicer than expected. My room had a bath, which won me over straight away. Sonja the tour leader led us around the town centre, past the old Tours Cathedral and down a little street with some pretty cool bars and restaurants, across a very modern main street, through to the old town, which had a lot of pubs, bars and restaurants with indoor and outdoor seating around a big square, called la Place Plumereau.

The town dates back to the Middle Ages, which is apparent in the old town area. It is also known as the place where the most pure, “perfect” French is spoken. I couldn’t tell the difference myself... Kim, Kirsten, Sonja and I had a late dinner at a restaurant at the square, while Chris and Jane did their own thing.

Tours Cathedral

Monday 22 October 2012

Day 3 Intrepid Tour – Tours

We were in Tours because of the number of châteaux or castles in the area. We bought some food for a picnic, and set out in the morning on hired bicycles to the countryside in search of a large château called Villandry. Only 25km each way. On a bicycle. I had not been on a bike for many years, but it was a mostly very flat track and once we got out of town, it was actually fairly pleasant. The sky was overcast most of the day, but at least we didn't get rained on.

Once we made it to Villandry, which dates back to the 1530s, we parked the bikes, wandered around the château checking out the furnishings and artworks, and looking out the windows at the beautiful gardens. Once outside, we walked around these gardens, which covered a big area. Ornamental gardens, a maze, a big pond, a herb garden and a vegetable garden, all huge and all really lovely. We had lunch in the main courtyard and then....we had to get on our bikes and head back. Only another 25km. My derrière was a bit sore for a few days as a result of the cycling, I have to say.

Gardens at Château Villandry

The traffic once we got back to town was really busy, with a lot of roadwork. Even though there were bike paths most of the way, in some parts of the town we had to walk the bikes on the road, on the footpath around pedestrians, trying to dodge buses and cars – although drivers in Tours were much more tolerant of bike riders than those in Brisbane.

So athletic and so happy to be cycling 50km through the Loire Valley

That night Kim & I walked back to the Old City and had a most delicious meal at a restaurant called Cafe Gerard – I had the Escalope au Marsala (Veal Marsala) and Kim had Soupe a l’Oignon (French Onion Soup).

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Day 4 Intrepid Tour – Tours to Sarlat

Today we caught the train from Tours to Sarlat, via a town called Liborne. We had to change trains here, and the connecting train was an hour late. So Sonja sat with our bags at a train station bar, and the other 5 of us went into town about 3 blocks away... we had the first below average, lukewarm coffee of the trip so far, and took about 5 minutes to check out the immediate area, before deciding it was more interesting to sit at the train station...

We got to Sarlat a bit over 2 hours later, after passing lovely wine-regiony stops like Saint Emilion and Castillon along the way.

Luxury - having your own space on the train

We walked downhill from Sarlat train station for about 15 minutes and arrived at our accommodation, the Hotel Montaigne, which was quite charming. In the evening we did our walk, around fantastic medieval buildings, lit so they looked quite spooky in the night. We had dinner at a place where nobody spoke English, but we muddled through with our order; they also had a man playing the keyboards, and when he found out we were from Australia, he played us Waltzing Matilda, which was nice of him! Sarlat is well-known for cooked duck and foie gras – not to my liking, but the others had a try.

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Intrepid Tour Day 5 Sarlat

The town is in the Dordogne or Perigord region. This means that we had to hire kayaks and row our way down the Dordogne River on Day 5. We didn’t get picked up by the kayak company until 10:30 due to fog covering the area, so that gave me a chance to call Mum & Dad first.

I shared a kayak with Kirsten, who happens to be a surf lifesaver and therefore an expert rower! She was very patient with my nerves/fear of falling out/crashing the kayak, and my lack of knowledge of how to steer etc. However, she directed the kayak straight for a flock of geese - to get a photo - that just a minute earlier, had been stirred up and antagonised by Chris in his & Jane’s boat, and were fairly peeved, and went for us!

Other than that – the river was very pretty, quite calm and shallow, and the weather that day was perfect for us. There are many chateaux in this area as well. We stopped at a very pretty town called La Roque-Gageac, just as 2 hot air balloons took off in front of us, rising and falling over the river. Then I nearly fell out of the kayak as I lost my balance trying to get out – Sonja to my rescue! (I still got my shoes wet though, boo). There was also an impressive old chateau built into a cliff-face. We had coffee here and moved on.

La Roque-Gageac

I can’t remember the name of the town we stopped at for lunch, but it was nice and relaxing. Even though we were sitting near a car park and saw a poor American tourist reverse into the waiter’s car – twice. They sorted it all out civilly though, and he & his wife were on their way (we saw them again that night in Sarlat). Entertaining stuff. Back into our kayaks for a little longer, ending up at Beynac – where another very impressive chateau stood on top of a hill overlooking the town and river. From here the kayak lady picked us up and took us back to our hotel in Sarlat. I was kind of glad the kayaking was over, even though the scenery was truly beautiful all the way.

No need to get in one of these again for a while

Kim & I wandered around the town, and met up with Kirsten, who took us up into an old church building where an English artist, Adrian Kenyon, was working on his art. Some paintings around, but mostly intricate collages which all included him, hidden in the piece much like Where’s Wally... It was interesting, slightly cynical of the world (in my opinion) and he was definitely up for a chat.

That evening, all of us except Sonja sat at an outside bar in the town square, having a lovely glass of red wine. This was followed by a very nice dinner at another restaurant where they spoke no English, but the waitress and her mother both looked after us well and were very nice and friendly. A pleasant evening in Sarlat.

The cool Intrepid kids

Thursday 25 October 2012

Intrepid Tour Day 6 Sarlat to Bordeaux

This day did not go the way we would have liked. Instead of catching our 9:07am, 2.5 hour train to Bordeaux, the public transport staff throughout France decided to go on strike, leaving us with the option of a 2:30pm bus ride that would end up taking 4 hours 55 minutes and getting us to Bordeaux in the early evening. Groan!

We left our bags at the train station, walked 15 minutes back down the hill, and proceeded to try to fill in about 5 hours in the small town of Sarlat. It is very small. We had seen it the previous day! This was one of the drawbacks of not doing a tour with its own vehicle, and instead using the local transport. But, who was to know the country would be crippled by a public transport strike that day? Just bad timing.

Scenes from Sarlat

Anyway, the bus went to all the stops the train would normally use, so I recorded a few to fill in time and amuse myself while sitting there trying to not have to go to the toilet (not an option). Beynac – Buisson – Bergerac – Gardonne  - Saint Foy la Grande – Velines – Castillon – Saint Emilion – our favourite town of Liborne (again!?) – Bordeaux. I just love the names of French towns, they all sound like charming, wonderful places – except Liborne, because I already know it is neither charming or wonderful.

Our hotel in Bordeaux, Hotel du Faisan, was at least across from the train station where we gratefully got off the bus. The girl at reception was so lovely - warm, welcoming and friendly, and with excellent English – and she recommended a place in town for our dinner. We hopped on the tram, again, right outside our hotel, and headed into the main town about 10 minutes away. The Arboursier Restaurant provided the best bargain meal of our whole trip: 13 Euro for 3 courses and a glass of wine. Hard to beat, I say. I had a yummy salad (not something I say very often), steak and frites and a chocolate brownie with cream, and a really nice glass of red wine. Definitely the highlight of Day 6.

Friday 26 October 2012

Intrepid Tour Day 7 Bordeaux

Today was my niece Katie’s birthday, so I gave her a call via Face Time – I think I was slightly more excited about the call, somehow. Also this morning, the washing really had to be done... Kim & I headed to the laundromat and sat for a couple of hours while the clothes got cleaned. Not the most exciting way to spend a morning, however, having clean clothes to wear is quite a treat when travelling and living out of a suitcase.

Exciting stuff, right Kimmy?

With that done, we caught the tram to a place called Esplanade des Quinconces – no idea how to pronounce the Q word. It was meant to be a very nice, large plaza, with trees lining each side – but on this day, there was a fun fair/carnival taking up all the space. Trying to get a photo of the huge fountain without the ferris wheel or dodgy food stands was not easy; so Quinconces wasn’t as pleasant as we had hoped.

No matter – we got back on the tram and took it to the Hotel de Ville (I think every town in France has a Hotel de Ville) and the adjacent St Andrew’s Cathedral, in what was quite a nice part of town. Kim and the others in the group took the train for an hour’s trip to the wineries around Saint Emilion for the afternoon, but I just couldn’t face another train or bus after the previous day’s effort; so instead, I walked down Rue St Catherine, a very long pedestrian street, with shops ranging from expensive at one end, to cheap and nasty at the far end – something for everyone! It was at a shoe shop here that I bought a pair of Vans. These shoes were the saving grace of my feet for the rest of the trip – sooo comfortable. I then wandered to the Place de la Bourse, another large plaza with very grand old buildings – and caught the tram back to our hotel, where I – relaxed for the afternoon! Boring but necessary, in my mind.

View from our hotel in Bordeaux

Saturday 27 October 2012

Intrepid Tour Day 8 – Bordeaux to Bagneres-de-Luchon

A freezing cold wind blew the clouds away, leaving blue skies over Bordeaux, but it was so, so windy that my ears were aching. Kim & I walked down Rue St Catherine, and I bought a lovely warm scarf, as we would be going to Luchon, a small town in the French Pyrenees Mountains, and it was going to be -7 to 3 degrees the following day.

We all boarded the 1:40pm train to Toulouse – for once, we were at the front of the crowd rush and managed to get some seats together. We were just settling in, when we realised that for the first time so far, we actually had reserved seats, and so we had taken other people’s reserved seats! Our seats were in Carriage 16 and we were currently in Carriage 4. Hmmm. We moved to some seats which were empty, and luckily the guard checking our group ticket didn’t seem to care – or notice? Either way, we didn’t have to move.

The train arrived at Toulouse at 4pm, and we had an hour to wait for the connection, so we all headed out of the station, across the road to the Hotel Bristol for a coffee and the very popular free wi-fi. I saw photos of my niece’s birthday, but could not seem to send emails back home, which was a frustration for the rest of the trip – I could get internet, check Twitter and emails, but not send any emails back. No biggie in the grand scheme of things. Anyway, as we went back to the station, I saw the dodgiest looking people I had encountered in France so far. I felt very uneasy aound them, just drugged out guys in a big group across the road from the station, with dogs barking at people walking around them. We gratefully left Toulouse at 5pm – I’m sure there were some nice parts of the city, but we definitely had not been in one.

Onto Montrejeau, where the train terminated and we caught a 6:50pm bus to Luchon, under an ominous grey sky – we saw snow on a mountain in the distance, while going through Labroquere. Once we arrived at Luchon, it was really cold, as we walked about a kilometre to Hotel Panoramic, then settled into our rooms. As we left a short time later to find somewhere for dinner (a big Saturday  night in Luchon – nobody around, and not much open), there was much excitement as the first snow of the season started to fall on us! Well, it was exciting for about 5 minutes as I had no umbrella, beanie or gloves, so I was cold and fairly wet by the time we arrived at the restaurant!

Sunday 28 October 2012

Intrepid Tour Day 9 – Bagneres-de-Luchon

Beautiful morning view from our room at Hotel Panoramic, Luchon

It was a cold morning, but the sky was clear. Kim, Kirsten, Jane and Sonja set out at 8:30am for a 6 hour hike in the mountains – which had snow on the tops. Jane’s husband Chris couldn’t go as his knee had been operated on about 6 weeks earlier, and I was not properly equipped for the cold or even remotely inclined to attempt the incline. So Chris & I wandered around the small town, then found a golf course, where he stayed for a few hits, and I headed back to the hotel. By 10am the town was buzzing with people, yummy smelling bakeries and shops were open, and it was a different place to the previous night.

Our hotel was across the road from a church, so I went over and attended 11am Mass, all in French (of course). I couldn’t contribute much, but was glad I went. It was very pretty inside, with a huge pipe organ that sounded wonderful. After this, I wrote some postcards in my room, and set out again to find a statue listed on a brochure, called Le Baiser a la Source (Kiss at the Spring), made by Henri Coutheillas in 1949. I found it in a very cute position, in a flower garden by a small pond in a small park. I loved it. There was nobody else around and so I was happily taking photos and inspecting the statue more closely, when really bad, loud music started up and spoiled my serenity! I walked out of the park, and past – a fun fair setting up! It was similar to the one seen at Bordeaux – were they following us around France? I am not a fan – I feel that they cheapen nice places, as they just did with my pretty park scene.

Hidden treasure in Luchon

Anyway, I recovered fairly quickly, and went to one of the few places open at 2pm (shops seem to open from 10am-1pm, then again from 3-5pm) and had a lovely pizza with a small carafe of house white, then a cafe au lait. I had a moment of contentment here, as I looked out the window across to the Bar Le Bellevue, and... the Hotel Le Bellevue. It was a fairly small window.

While I was having a late lunch, the hikers had arrived back and headed to the Spa down the other end of the street. The town has natural springs and it would have felt good to soak after a hard day’s trekking.

Cold but pretty stream

Autumn leaves and the chairlift to the ski slopes

That night, our last night in France, we all sat in the lobby of our hotel, and shared a bottle of red wine that someone had purchased from the winery near Bordeaux. Then we had dinner nearby, and when we came back at about 9:30, Chris, Kim & I got stuck in the teeny tiny lift between the ground and first floors. The sign said it took 3 people – maybe 3 child-sized people! I immediately proceeded to freak out, as Kim stayed calm and Chris tried pressing buttons to no avail... The alarm button had to be hit, and the very nice manager came and helped us climb up and out to the first floor. Total time stuck in lift: approximately 3 minutes. I’m sure I will be able to laugh about it one day. There is a particular song that I will not be able to hear again without remembering that lift and being stuck in it!!

The next day we moved on – TO SPAIN. 

My Europe Holiday: Part One - PARIS

Sunday 14 October 2012

Kim & I flew out of Brisbane on Emirates flight EK 435 at 8:45pm, bound for Dubai. Emirates is a fantastic airline, with a lot of entertainment options on private screens, and the service on this particular flight was also very good, but I have to say – this was a very, very long time to be sitting in an Economy seat, and it seemed like we would never get to Dubai.

Monday 15 October 2012

Almost 14 hours later, we arrived, and while swimming against the tide of other transit passengers, we made our way through Dubai Airport’s duty free shops and searched in vain for a shower. So after a couple of hours (and feeling less than fresh) we caught the next flight, onto Paris on the A380. This plane is the best I have ever experienced. We were 3 rows from the front of the plane, behind the cockpit, and next to the grand staircase leading up to Business & First Class. So basically, we were practically in Business Class (on a normal plane we would have been!) This flight was lovely, but unfortunately the entertainment system broke down about 2 hours from Paris... nothing’s perfect.

Paris – finally! We caught the Paris Metro to our apartment in the Latin Quarter, expertly changing trains at Gare du Nord and getting off at Saint Marcel. And then we got slightly lost for a while. Kim turned out to be the expert at map-reading and I was totally directionally challenged for the entire trip, starting on this Day One...

Once we found our apartment and the entry codes worked, we lugged our bags up the 54 stairs to our 3^rd floor apartment. It was a bit of a bargain for the 5 nights we stayed – possibly due to the very old building with creaky floorboards, teeny tiny shower, temperamental washing machine and TV that stopped working after a couple of days. That said, it was in a great location and I loved having a kitchen, my own room and staying “locally” and not in a hotel in a mega-touristy area.

Kim in our Parisian Apartment

In the late afternoon, we took a long walk to find Notre Dame, which on the map, seemed a lot closer! We wandered around and took photos, then headed back to our apartment, stopping at a local boulangerie where we bought a dinner of hot dogs – they weren’t bad either! Then showered and crashed for the night. 

Tuesday 16 October 2012

This morning we got on the Metro and made our way to Anvers Station. From here we walked through Montmartre and up to Sacre Coeur for a great view of Paris. We went inside where mass was on, so we and the other hordes of tourists had to walk quietly around the sides of the Basilica. Afterwards, we wandered around the streets and markets in Montmartre, a really wonderful place, full of talented street artists, galleries and cafes... not really worth mentioning was the place we went for lunch – it was mainly the bad service that made it unpleasant. Worth mentioning is my recommendation to go a few blocks away from the main market area for food – the places there looked more welcoming, and it was most likely where the locals ate.

After catching the Metro to Porte de Pantin, we walked through a big science park called Parc de la Villette, and met the boat for a Seine Canal and River cruise. This was one cold ride – the boat had to stop every few minutes to go through a series of locks before we got to the river. The locks had to be drained to allow the boat to sink down far enough to be able to get under each bridge. I think there were about 9 locks altogether... made for a slow first half. At the end of all the locks, we had a ride through a cold, dark tunnel, which took about 15 minutes to get through, before we got to the river and saw a few sights before finishing up near the Musee d’Orsay.

C-c-c-cold canal tour

We walked a long way from here to the Eiffel Tower for a few photos before sunset. And then some photos after sunset. We visited the tower a couple of times on this trip, and it really is a sight to behold. Last time I was in Paris, we were able to sit on the grass and look, but this time the grassy area was all blocked off, which was disappointing. So we headed back to our lovely Latin Quarter, had some dinner at a local brasserie, where I tried using my pitiful French on the waiter, then back to the apartment.

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Rained. All day. Versailles today. We caught the RER train (Line C!) there, had a nice walk around the Palace and oohed and aahed at the extravagance of it all, then Kim wanted to check out the gardens. These gardens go for miles and miles (not sure just how many, but I need to stress the point, that the grounds are really huge). Due to the heavy rain, and the fact I had seen the gardens the last time I was in the area, I walked only about half a kilometre with her, then headed back to the chateau to dry off and feel resentful about it daring to rain on my holiday. For these reasons, I have just noticed that I didn’t take any photos at Versailles.

Once we got back to Paris, we took the chance to see the Louvre, as it opens late on Wednesday night, and we thought there might be less people there at night. Wrong! There were many people who clearly thought the same thing – it was very crowded and not the peaceful gallery I hoped for. I looked at the Grand Gallery with the Italian Renaissance art that featured in The Da Vinci Code, then got a surprisingly good look at Mona Lisa – it is fabulous and not too small at all in my opinion – and one of my favourite sculptures, Psyche and Cupid by Antonio Canova; also Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace (a headless Greek goddess Nike). No time for anything else! I still liked the Louvre, but the crowds were pretty big – and this was meant to be during “off-season”!

Thursday 18 October 2012

Musee d’Orsay this morning. Such a contrast to the Louvre. One important reason being, photography is not allowed here, making it less crowded and hectic, as nobody is fighting to take pictures of... the pictures. I had a wonderful morning here, looking at the sculptures, then seeing the Neo-classic period (beautiful, unrealistic perfection – eg La Source by Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres) paintings, through Realism (Olympia by Edouard Manet) to the Impressionists (mainly featuring Monet & Renoir, but I also liked Alfred Sisley & Camille Pissaro which were shown alongside the major names). Everything about the Musee d’Orsay is beautiful, the building and works of art, and the calm atmosphere. We had photos in front of a huge see through clock which looked out to views of Paris, and had lunch in a great restaurant onsite.

Looking through the clock at Musee d'Orsay (Louvre in the distance)

In the afternoon we walked along the posh Boulevard Saint-Germain, then caught the Metro back to Notre Dame and walked (in the rain mainly) around Ile Saint-Louis, the little island in the centre of the river next to Ile de la Cite where Notre Dame is located. The smaller island is lovely and quaint, and we had a nice dinner at a lovely and quaint restaurant called Le Flore, which had a view across the river to the Cathedral, and had the best ice cream in the city for dessert, called Berthillon ice cream. A brand name to be remembered. I believe I had the recommended peche (peach) and framboise (raspberry). Yummy.

Friday 19 October 2012

Today we got off the train at Concorde Station to see Place de la Concorde, and from here, walked to Champs Elysee and down the end to the Arc de Triomphe. Here, I fought off my claustrophobia to trudge up the stairs inside, to the top of the Arc for some more nice views.

View from Arc de Triomphe

Then, after underestimating the distance again, we walked for about 45 minutes down Boulevard Haussmann to Galeries Lafayette, a big shopping centre with a most excellent gourmet food hall and spectacular views from its roof. We had lunch there, then, after turning away a potential pickpocket using the old “is this your gold ring” trick we read about in a travel book (there’ll be no picking of my pockets thanks very much), we got on the train at the worst-signed station in Paris, Opera Station.

Straight to Champ de Mars, the stop for the Eiffel Tower. We only had to line up for about half an hour, then bought tickets and got to the 2^nd level, for some photos around sunset, then decided not to line up again for an hour for tickets to the very top, and so headed back down to the ground. At 7pm we watched the light show, which is always very pretty, then went around the corner to a restaurant with views of the tower for some dinner, then back to Le Latin Quarter. 

Take a guess!

Saturday 20 October 2012

After leaving the apartment and trekking in the rain with all our luggage, we found a fantastic brasserie where we had a really big breakfast (compared to the usual coffee & croissant which seems the only option on offer at many places in Paris), and then used their toilets, which I only mention as they were the best maintained and cleanest public rest rooms we’d seen all trip! And free too.

Caught the train to Porte de Vincennes, to get to the Hotel Charma, for the first night of our Intrepid tour, and where we would meet our group at 6pm. As we got there before the room was ready, we then got back on the train and went to Bastille station to see... the Bastille, and then wandered around the Marais, a really nice area with a lot of cafes and shops, and great old houses, including Victor Hugo’s house, where he wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables (love that story!)

Still raining...

We met our tour group back at the hotel, there were 6 of us altogether – Kim, me, Kirsten from Sydney, Jane & Chris, a couple from Cairns, and Sonja, the Croatian tour leader. We all had dinner at a local place and had a good night getting to know each other. Everyone was quite nice. 

Sunday 21 October 2012

Day 1 – Intrepid Tour Paris to Madrid

We had the morning free, so Kim & I caught the train back to the Champs Elysee, where nothing much was open, due to it being Sunday in France! Seems it really is a day of rest for Parisians, imagine that. Of course, being our last day in Paris, it was a beautiful blue sky day, so we decided to  trek down Avenue Montaigne, which is the street where Carrie stayed in the last 2 episodes of Sex and the City, and which has all the big labels' posh stores lining it. We saw the Plaza Athenee, the hotel Carrie stayed at, and which had large, weird panda statues outside the main entrance – I’m sure there was a good reason for that...

Le Posh Hotel, Avenue Montaigne

We then walked down the street marvelling at the beautiful stores that I’m sure we would have been welcome in, had they been open.

Once we got back to our hotel on the other side of “town” we caught the good old Metro back to our local RER station, Gare d’Austerlitz. This meant we could have stayed in our apartment in the Latin Quarter for one more night and met the group at the station, but we didn’t know that was possible. So we lugged our bags onto the Metro, went back to Austerlitz, and then took the long distance train out of Paris. We then changed trains at Orleans, and got onto the most crowded train I have ever been on (no, I haven’t been to India or places where people sit on the roof okay?) to get to the town of Tours a couple of hours later. I had a drunk and slightly smelly man sitting next to me (but he slept most of the trip), and on the other side, a girl standing in the aisle held her cat in a carrier, right in front of my face. An unsettling and unusual experience – but hey, we were interacting with the locals!

Paris Summary

• Rained at least 3 days out of 7
• Highlights – Montmartre; Musee d’Orsay; view from the roof of Galeries Lafayette; Eiffel Tower light show, Berthillon ice cream at Le Flore, Ile Saint-Louis; Marais area
• Favourite sculpture – Psyche & Cupid (the Louvre, pictured right)
• Favourite painting – LeDejeuner by Claude Monet (Musee D’Orsay, pictured left)
• Worst service – cafe at Montmartre
• Best service – waiter at Le Flore
• Worst part of Paris – lugging bags up & down stairs at train stations (France, learn about escalators, s’il vous plait!)
• Coldest time – river & canal cruise
• Most pleasant time – our first afternoon in Paris, going on a long walk to Notre Dame, with beautiful soft light and scenery

 

Gotta Fly

Friday 12 October - Only 2 days to go till I fly out of Brisbane across the world to Paris. Tres exciting, no?

In the past couple of weeks, my sister had a birthday in Hawaii, my Mum had her birthday on a cruise, as did my niece Aly. Mum & Dad arrived into Sydney on 10 October and my sister & her family will arrive this Sunday morning, and I will leave that night.

Saturday 29 September - I left the holiday house at Bulimba after the Cousins arrived home and after we watched some of the AFL Grand Final together. Sydney Swans beat Hawthorn, which I was happy with, as Hawthorn were the definite favourites and I like when an upset happens (except against my team, of course). On the Sunday, in the Rugby League Grand Final, Melbourne Storm beat the Canterbury Bulldogs. No real comment there. So Sydney won the traditional Victorian game, and Melbourne won the traditional NSW game, in a little turn of events.

Wednesday 3 October - Shikha's 30th birthday. She had the day off. As you should, on your birthday.

Thursday 4 October - Shikha's 30th birthday dinner. Lorraine, Gemma, Shikha and I headed back to Verve for dinner. A very delicious meal as expected, and a good catchup with the girls who don't work with us anymore.

Saturday 6 October - my Mum's birthday. Also a massive cleaning day for me, getting my kitchen and lounge room looking so fabulous, that afterwards, I sat for at least half an hour admiring just how fabulous it was... I clearly need to clean more often, as I was rather exhausted after that effort.

That night, Debbie and I saw a cute movie called Ruby Sparks. The girl who plays Ruby, actually wrote the script, and her real-life boyfriend is the other main character. It's about a writer who had a best-seller when he was 19, but is unable to follow up with another one. He is lonely and a bit socially-awkward, and when he dreams about a fantastic woman, gets all inspired and starts writing up a storm about her (on an old typewriter, how retro and quaint!) To his amazement, she comes to life and all is good for the lovebirds for a while... without wanting to give too much away, I think there's a bit of a message about trying to control or change someone, or being careful of what you wish for, or something deep. I really liked the movie, it was different, funny in parts, and quite dark  in other parts. And the Ruby character is really adorable. 8 out of 10.

Monday to Wednesday 8-10 October - Doing the job at work that I detest so much it makes me feel slightly sick and kind of unpleasant to be around...! Unfortunately we all have to do it 3 days a month, and as I only have 8 working days this month, I get to do mine all at once. Awful. But a couple of good things happened during the 3 days. On Tuesday I had lunch with Jane, my friend AKA Veronica Lodge, to my Betty Cooper (Archie comic references). She is getting married while I am away, so we had lunch to catch up before it all happens. Jane is one of my favourite people, I think she is hysterically funny, and we go back to 2004 when we started work the same day at Infinity Holidays.

On Tuesday 9 October, it was my niece Alycia's 14th birthday. She and her family are on a cruise on the way back to Australia from Hawaii. Still remember the day she was born, and the first time I saw her, being held by the nurse like a football, getting her full head of dark hair being washed as she squawked loudly. Incredible moment in my life!

Wednesday 10 October - Mum & Dad arrived into Sydney after their 72 day (?) cruise. I spoke to them on the phone, and it was so good to talk to them and hear them after so long away without much contact.

Thursday 11 October - Planning day for work - held at Brett's place at The Gap. It poured rain, the first soaking rain Brisbane has had in a while, and doesn't the place fall apart when this happens! Traffic was terrible, accidents all over the traffic reports on the radio, some nimrod got his truck stuck across train tracks and caused havoc for commuters, which caused negative tweets on Twitter and I imagine, some really bad moods that night!! Flow on effects... We had a good day though, got lots of issues cleared up and better defined, and a great lunch of BBQ and salads created by Brett and his partner Ange.

Today was my first day off - I wanted to sleep in till about 8am... got woken up at 7 instead, by the people hired to high-pressure hose the block I live in. Grr. Then I decided to wash all sheets, doona cover and towels, and hang them out on the absolute windiest day in Brisbane EVER. I was swearing and getting tangled in sheets, then pegs, sheets/towels etc were flying off the clothesline. Seems everything was going to be a challenge today. It did get slightly better. I headed to Chermside, got a lovely pedicure, eyebrow wax and eyelash tint, then my free fringe trim at Spring Hill, then got the stupid bunched up but surprisingly dry sheets/towels etc from the line and got my room cleaned and vacuumed. Next up is to iron clothes and trial-pack.

Tomorrow is my sister Sam's birthday. I will be having lunch with her, Sean and Katie at Southbank and then at 5ish, I will be having drinks with some of the girls at Cru Bar, as it will be the last time Kim & I see them before we head off on Sunday night. Then on Sunday night, off we fly to Europe for a few weeks. Can't wait for the flight to be over, and we are safe & sound in our snugly Parisian apartment.

I may not update while on holidays. A nice big post will happen on my return. This one was not so interesting, but I am now up to date!! A bientot and hasta luego!

Must be time for an update

Friday 28 September 2012 - Time really does fly between updates these days. 20 days since my last post, from Ballina. So here are some things that have happened in that time:

Saturday 15 September - Got hair done in the morning, saw the movie Kat & Kimderella (6.5 out of 10, not really recommended!) at Bulimba Cinema with my friend Kim; and then we had dinner with Debbie at my fave, La Quinta Mexican Restaurant, on what seemed to be their busiest night ever. At least 30 people at one stage, were waiting on the footpath outside for a table - and I reckon they, like us, had reservations too! It is that popular.

Sunday 16 September - Nat had a lunch at her place for our friend Flick, who is having a baby boy at the end of November. Rather than a "baby shower" and all the cringeworthy activities that tend to go with that term, we had a nice girls' lunch, and just happened to give her a pressie for the baby. Nat cooked up a storm as she does so well, and it was really rather a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Monday 17 September - as my Mum & Dad headed from San Francisco to Maui on their cruise, my sister Donna was off to Hawaii with John, Aly & Mitchell. On 20th, Mum & Dad would have landed (?) in Honolulu and met up with Donna & her family at our favourite shopping centre, Ala Moana, for the day. Aly & Mitch didn't know they would be there, so hopefully that was a good surprise, and that they all had a good day together.

Thursday 20th September - Today was Lorraine's birthday, and she, Shikha and I went to Verve for dinner after work to celebrate. Verve is a great restaurant, with big yummy meals for a good price.

The birthday girl and Shikha - did I mention Verve is in a dark basement?

Friday 21st September - on Friday night, I headed to Kim's place so we could catch up on planning for our trip. We now have our flights ticketed, tour vouchered, and our other hotels booked, and so to further fine tune it, we looked at what we could do each day in Paris, Madrid and Barcelona, and just how to get from Madrid to Barcelona by way of a super-fast train. Lots of research involved! She also made yummy tacos for dinner. A good hostess is Kim. Tonight also marked the end of Collingwood's season - they lost to Sydney Swans. Ah well, I still love them. Till next year, AFL - I won't be watching Sydney play Hawthorn in the Grand Final...

Saturday 22nd September - My first day house sitting at Bulimba for my cousins, Ben & Kylie, while they took their kids to Yamba for a week. They have their holiday, and so do I - kind of! I just have to feed their lovely old dog Ella, who only needs a bit of a pat, some food and water and she's happy. My kind of dog...! The house is in a great position, within walking distance of Oxford Street (restaurants, shops, cinema etc) and the CityCat to get to work.

Anyway, that afternoon, my Ballina friend Angela came up to stay for the night. She is travelling to Central America in March with some of my friends she had never met till this day, and Kylie Callinan (one of the organisers) put on a dinner at her place (another of my house-sitting locations - see August posts) so Ange could meet the others she would be going overseas with. I hung out with them for an hour, then met up with Nat, Kim, Mel, Rachelle and her friend Tani, for dinner at Bucci's in  James Street, at the Valley. It was a nice Italian restaurant, with regional style (not sure which region) Italian cooking and we had a good chianti with our yummy meals. We saw The Veronicas with about a dozen friends there too! Afterwards, I drove back to Kylie's, picked up Ange and headed back to my "holiday home" for the night.

Sunday 23rd September - breaky with Ange at the cafe down the road, then she headed off to Robina on the way home, to purchase an iPad I do belive! It was a hot day so I hung out in the house watching Foxtel all afternoon, from memory...

Monday 24th September - Something to look forward to - booked tickets for my sister Sam & I to see Morrissey in Brisbane in December. Very exciting, we both love The Smiths, and I got her the ticket as a combined birthday/Christmas present so she would come with me!

Tuesday 25th September - happy birthday to my lovely friend from school days, Nicole Eldridge. This night Debbie came over and we tried out Ahmet's, the Turkish restaurant near me. It was my first Turkish restaurant experience, and it was pretty good, but really filling. Deb and I had a good catchup.

All week I have been catching the CityCat to work, and this is what I see when walking from Riverside to my work:

The same day I took the bridge photo, I saw this in the afternoon:

A big duck - advertising The Great Duck Race, where they race rubber ducks for charity - you'd probably have to be there...

And speaking of ducks - my 'friend' who I call the Little White Bulimba Duck, who lives at the Bulimba ferry terminal, has been missing from there all week. Tonight I saw him for the first time in ages, asleep and all fluffed up, and I was relieved that he was still there and alive... I hope he was alive. I hope he is not lonely. The other ducks that sometimes swim around him are brown, and he doesn't seem to like them much. 

On a final note - I have watched 3 episodes of Sons of Anarchy Season 5, and it is bloody unreal. So much violence and killing, but so riveting, interesting and occasionally, really sad. Great, great show.

Long Weekend of Doing Nothing

Saturday 8Sep12 - I am in Ballina this weekend. Thanks to myself for working on Ekka Show Day in August, earning me a day off in lieu this Monday. I drove to Ballina on Friday night after work. It was a pretty good run, and once I got past the Gold Coast, there was hardly any traffic.

Mum and Dad are still on their cruise, and would be on their last day in Alaska by my estimation, on their way to Vancouver where they are due on Monday.

Today I had breakfast at a coffee shop at Ballina Fair and then was able to fill in a couple of hours shopping before I met my friend Angela for her first viewing (and my second) of The Sapphires. We both agreed it was a really good movie - or, "really nice" movie, to quote Ange.

Tomorrow I intend to sleep in, meet Ange for breaky somewhere, then wash my car, then wash my hair, with a bit of Foxtel watching in between. A lazy Sunday, the best kind if you can get one.

On Monday I believe I will take my time in going to either Robina or Pacific Fair for some shopping, then to visit my friend/hairdresser Courtney who had a little baby girl, Charlotte, in June. So Charlotte would be almost 3 months old and starting to do stuff other than lie like a little floppy bunny, sleep, poo and cry. I've already asked Court if she can arrange for the baby to be awake and happy when I get there - I'm sure that will be no problem!

Last weekend, I saw The Bourne Legacy with Kim & Nat. They both think Jeremy Renner is a bit of all right, which is true, but although I did like this movie, I don't believe that it was better than the Matt Damon aka Jason Bourne trilogy. There was an amazing, breathtaking, fairly long and full-on action sequence that was really impressive, and Rachel Weisz was actually really good in her role - I find her a bit annoying in the few movies I've seen her in previously. And there's the slight envy factor, with her being married to Daniel Craig in real life... Anyway, Jeremy Renner was a natural for his action-man character - I think his name was Aaron Cross - he was very believable and I liked him a lot. Edward Norton is always good, as he is in this - not sure who his character actually worked for and why he was chasing Jeremy/Aaron though! The Jason Bourne story going on alongside Aaron's brings back memories of the last Bourne movie, but as for the rest of the storyline, I really didn't understand much of what was happening! Didn't stop me enjoying it. 7.5 out of 10.

At work on Monday, we had 2 new people start work in our team. Elena actually trained me in June last year when I started, then she left to go to a different area of Flight Centre, then came back to us this week, for which we are all grateful. She has so much knowledge and experience, that she is training the other new girl, Konstantina (Kossi). Elena is also a most excellent patty cake chef. This is one of the treats she brought in on Day 1:

On Tuesday, I went to Footgear in Queens Plaza, in search for the perfect shoes to get me and my feet around Europe. I found that the only shoes that are really comfortable are my runners. After walking around all day a few weeks ago on the Prado Exhibition and Ekka day, my feet were killing me (I did not have my runners on, clearly). So anyway, the girl in Footgear was very helpful and friendly, which meant I only hesitated for a second before shelling out for these expensive little beauties, that are not the most attractive shoes, but feel like I am not even wearing any, and I loved them straight away for that reason!

Okay, then on Thursday night, Kim & I saw a movie called Moonrise Kingdom. It is hard to describe, other than being as quirky as anything I've ever seen. It was just delightful - set in 1965, and it looked like it was filmed back then, with the bright colours and retro look of everything. It's about 2 slightly disturbed 12  year olds who decide they are in love and arrange to run away together, and the search for them that results. It is both touching and humourous. The characters were mostly fairly deadpan, but with lots going on under the surface. Big adult cast, with Bruce Willis, Ed Norton, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray and Harvey Keitel even making an appearance. Funny cameo by Tilda Swinton - her character was simply called "Social Services" and she talked about herself in the third person as Social Services. By name and by nature! I thought it was funny anyway. This film really does need to be seen to understand just how different and gorgeous it is. 8 out of 10 from me.

Warning - Weekends Can Be Dangerous

Wednesday 29 August 2012 - an update from the past couple of weeks:

Saturday 18 August - 6 of us girls went to see the Prado Exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art. The art on display is from the Prado in Madrid, and apparently it's the first time these paintings have been shown in the southern hemisphere. GoMA has been getting some good exhibitions, and this was really enjoyable. I went along because when I go to Madrid in October, these works won't be back there yet. I don't know many Spanish artists, but I picked out a few that I quite liked.

The "Disasters of War" sketches by Francisco de Goya were disturbing, and really showed what was going on at the time of Spain's struggles against French occupation in the early 1800's (I think!) I also liked the religious artists, particularly Antonio de Pereda's "Christ The Man Of Sorrows" and Francisco Rizi's "The Annunciation". After the exhibition, we had lunch at a tapas place called Ole at Southbank, which was really nice, and in keeping with our Spanish 'cultural' day.

And this gorgeous lady, by Goya - isn't she fabulous?!

That afternoon, I met 3 of the girls from work at the Ekka. It was the last day of the show, and we were planning on seeing Eskimo Joe playing at 7:30. The Indian girl and the 2 Kiwis had never been to Ekka, and so it was a complete eye-opener for them. We saw the baby animals, cows, horses, alpacas, llamas etc, then checked out the showbag pavillion and the $15 rides!! before we rested our feet in the Woolworths food pavillion. By the time 7:30 came around and we headed for the rather long queue to go into the band, we found out E.J. didn't start for another hour, and so as we were fairly exhausted, we decided to call it a night. As I finished off my Ekka essential, the strawberry ice cream with chopped up strawberries in the cone (YUM), we saw the 3 guys from Eskimo Joe right next to us, complete with show bags, and I believe the lead singer had a Bob The Builder backpack on, perfectly accessorising his perfect coiffure and muso tight jeans. So we did end up seeing the band, we just didn't get to see them perform.

So that was a big Saturday.

On Sunday, Kim and I saw The Dark Knight Rises, at Chermside. It was my favourite of the 3 Christian Bale Batman movies. Truth be told, I barely remember the first one with Katie Holmes; I was really disturbed for days afterwards, by the Joker in the second one, and so I thought this one was really entertaining, and wrapped things up quite well. 8.5 out of 10.

Friday/Saturday 24/25 August - Our team getaway to O'Reilly's in Lamington National Park

Shikha, Gemma, Lorraine & Andy in our Villa

Andy & I drove up in front of Gemma, Lorraine & Shikha on Friday night, arriving at about 7pm. Brett arrived the following morning for breakfast. Look at what greeted me on Saturday morning on our balcony:

Aww. Lorikeet? Rosella? Not sure, but he is very pretty

After breakfast, I made a boo-boo in going on a guided Segway tour with the team and a very reassuring and helpful guide called Brett. He said how safe these things are and how some 'older' lady had just done the tour before us etc. The fact that the previous group had seen a tiger snake in the bush/forest/whatever, made me even more nervous than I already had been, at the thought of balancing on and driving a 2 wheeled contraption along bush tracks... But, if GOB Bluth could do it (on Arrested Development).... 

 How I hoped it would be...

Anyway, being adventurous, we all set off in single file, with me directly behind Guide-Brett, following in his expert tracks. About 45 minutes into it, after skilfully negotiating turns and tracks and forests, I was starting to relax and actually enjoy myself. Then - we were on an uneven, rocky dirt road, and I hit the side of a pothole - not the best thing to do on a Segway, as one second I was on it, next I had been spectacularly tossed off it, and onto my arse, bouncing as I landed. OW!! Stupid freaking Segway, uneven dirt roads, adventure and nature in general. My first thought was, "I'm going to Europe in 7 weeks and I've broken my back!" As it was, nothing except my spirit was broken, also dispelling any thought of ever becoming a stunt woman. As my friend Allyson said, we need wheels under our feet like a fish needs a bicycle. Or something wise that I completely agree with. 

So, I made it back to the villa, the others headed back to the lodge for lunch, and I soaked in a long, hot bath until they came back. Then I lay on the lounge in the foetal position, trying not to move as I was so stiff and sore. Then at 5:30, alleluia, the Lost World Spa rang to say they could give me a massage, that ended up saving me. I had a 1 hour relaxation massage, which I thought would be useless, as Jenna, the masseuse, had a fairly light touch. When I got up, I wanted to hug her, I felt so much better. It really made a difference, obviously loosening up the stiff muscles for a while. I was able to join the others for a really delicious meal, then a game of Cranium before sleeping like a log. 

Today, 4 days later, my lower back is still a bit stiff, but hopefully no lasting damage has been done. I seem to have a little bit of bad luck when I try to be adventurous - last year it was attempting to sail, which resulted in the worst sunburn I've ever had, and a severe dislike of stupid catamarans (and their owners); this year, it was attempting the Segway. I am really having second thoughts about the sandboarding in Dubai later this year as a result. 

O'Reilly's is really beautiful, up about 45 minutes of winding, hairpin bending roads from the nearest town of Canungra, i.e. the middle of nowhere. The staff were lovely, our villa was very nice, and the food at the restaurant was great too. But as far as getting away from it all, and being  one with nature, I tried it, and I prefer looking at it from a distance, thanks very much:

Beautiful view from the villa's balcony - and somewhere in that beauty, I was chucked off a wild, untamed Segway!

The Stunning Sapphires

Thursday 16 Aug 2012 - So far this week:

Monday - worked. Watched Big Brother on Channel 9, betraying my Amazing Race on the other channel. Thought BB had potential, and I used to love it. This first episode was okay.

Tuesday - worked. Groundhog Day - watched BB as 2 new housemates went in. Still showing signs of  hooking me in. Caught parts of the 2nd last episode of Amazing Race. Missed yoga due to working late shift, and also wanting to catch the abovementioned shows! So very slack of me.

Wednesday - while many Brisbanites had this day off as Ekka Day, I had a fairly cruddy day at work, admittedly my attitude to the job I was doing, did not help. BUT at night, the finale of Amazing Race was on, and it was exciting and very satisfying in the end. The good-natured cops team beat out the "alpha males", one of which many people including myself, really disliked; and in third came the blonde twin cheerleadery, air hostessy types that actually were not too bad, although they did succumb to the pressure and kept snapping at each other in the last leg. BB is not taking my fancy the way I had hoped - maybe I have outgrown it over the long break between seasons.

Today - I got an email from Mum & Dad. They have had internet issues on the ship, so it was short and sweet. They are having a good trip, apparently just missed a typhoon when they sailed out of Hong Kong, and are on their way to Shanghai. Hearing from them made my day a little brighter.

Tonight I watched one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. The Sapphires is an absolutely gorgeous, heartwarming, touching, funny and feel-good flick, that I enjoyed so, so much. It is about 4 aboriginal girls who in the late 1960's, with their scruffy, funny Irish "manager", end up in Vietnam, entertaining the troops by singing soul music. And all the adventures and dangers in this setting that ensue... without giving anything too much away, the home truths and issues of the time are addressed subtly and without preaching, the music is great and so are the characters. Truth be told, I am not a major fan of Australian movies. In my opinion, The Castle is one of the best that springs to mind, and that I remember really enjoying when I first saw it; The Sapphires is definitely another. I loved this movie, and give it a 9 out of 10. Wonderful.