Day 15: 5kms in 5 hours and more.

It's Monday and once again the weather is perfect about 24 deg and sunny. We have been away for 2 weeks now, and I have only bugged the house sitter 3 times, we do miss Rory but there are also a few Westies around to satisfy our puppy needs. Today was a free day, we thought about going back to the Louvre, and we are still tossing it around, but may change to the Pompidou Centre instead, I'm sure Mona won't mind..

We decided on a leisurely walk around the city and The Marais area. We walked past some fantastic pattisieres and chocolate stores, much like Acland St Saint Kilda, although every street here is like that but better.

We stopped for lunch at a small bistrot where Sandy was more than impressed with her little jug of wine, not to mention the food as well.

Lunch over and we just happened to stumble across the shopping area, never have I seen so many shoe shops with so many fantastic shoes, seriously I could have bought at least 10 pair, instead I just settled for the 1, as did Sandy as I had already purchased a pair in London. We finally made our way home after a 5km round trip ( at about 1km/ hr, broke no records here) without getting lost, we are getting good at this! 

Back out this evening for French Onion Soup then home to relax ready for tomorrow's big tour day with the owner of the appartment.

Today's Question: With so many bakeries, patissieres, chocolatiers, everything cooked in butter why are French people so slim? I want their secret!!

Day 14: Bonjour....and then what?

After a delicious healthy home made breakfast we made our way to markets at the end of our street. Yum, yum, and yum, we bought some olives, une baguette (that's one) and some flowers for the table.  I am sure I could be French, if only I could roll my Rrr's.

 We dropped our shopping back to the appartment and after a quick map check we ventured out to find The Louvre, Rue de Louvre is at the end of our street so we only had one decision to make, left or right and for the first time we made the right decision. A good start. We reached the Louvre only to be met with a massive line up.

The line was about an hour long, and it was quite warm so we didn't want to be standing out in the sun. I had read about a secret entrance which again we managed to find but you needed pre-purchased tix, which we didn't have so we will go back tomorrow. We don't want to disappoint Mona as I know she is expecting us, and unlike the queen we know she will be there! 

We then walked along the Seine over the Bridge of Lovers, a bridge covered in padlocks, with all the keys thrown into the Seine ( imagine the metal content in that water).

We then headed to the boat which was to take us to the Eiffel tower. Quite an imposing structure and a gazillion people around.

FACT: When first constructed Paris locals hated it and it was known as the giant asparagus.

 We are heading back on Thursday for dinner, I look forward to seeing it at night.

We got back on the boat to head home and got off at the Louvre to walk the rest of the way, past the artists, and the stalls and the lock sellers. 

It is becoming obvious that we are both getting quite fluent in the one French word we know- bonjour, because as soon as we say it people start talking to us in French until they notice the look of bewilderment on our faces, by Saturday we will just about pass as locals.

Today I Learned: You don't need a beach or a pool to sun bake, a cement riverbank is fine and bathers are a choice not everyone makes..

Day 13:Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi Ce Soir

Up early this morning to board The Eurostar to Paris, it was sooo busy and I felt like we had rushed and pushed and scrambled our way onto the train, all without coffee. You think I was grumpy, you're right, it took me about 1/2 an hour and a large coffee to become human again (sorry Sandy).

The trip to Paris was so quick, I think the train does about 300 km/hr. We were there before we knew it. Sandy learnt to say no in French very quickly, particularly with the beggar with child who approached her twice. 

We taxied to our appartment, where we were met by Martinn for our very thorough orientation, Sandy feels like Gulliver in her presence. 

After orientation was over she then showed us the fridge, she has cooked us  dinner for tonight and also breakfast for tomorrow.

The Menu:

What a spread, and such a nice gesture for our first night and morning here while we get our bearings( if we get our bearings). We have successfully been for a walk around the neighbourhood, found the supermarket, wine shop, ordered a beer and a coffee, tomorrow I will try to order a coffee with milk in it. I did also discover Paris' oldest Pattisiere but more on that later. 

They do seem to like their electric cars as well.

A Kia Carnival they're not, but I am sure they are kind to the environment.  

Day 1 in Paris and no Eiffel Tower in sight, stay tuned.

Bonsoir mes amis.

Day 12: London it's Been a Blast

Our whirlwind tour of London is almost over, and I think we have packed as much into our 3 days as possible. Our appartment is in a fantastic location in Kings Cross, 5 mins walk from the tube.

Last but not least was Buckingham Palace, we caught the tube and walked through a beautiful park, not Hyde but another one, so many people out enjoying the sunshine.

Buckingham Palace sure is one big house with very flashy gates and lots and lots of gold. We had tickets to the state rooms and the Royal Childhood exhibition. Wow those rooms, so much gold, so much luxury, so much pomp.  It is such a shame I wasn't allowed to take photos, because it really is hard to explain, but this is one of the rooms we were allowed in ( obviously when no-one was home though)

The exhibition itself was great and so was the footage of the Queen acting like any normal child, dancing and showing off for the camera. Sandy had a déjà vu moment while in the palace, not sure if she was channeling the Queen Mother, more likely Princess Margaret I think.

We went through about 10 rooms and after about 2 hours ended up in the backyard, not a corgi in sight.

Sandys palace fact: The backyard is 36 acres, just a bit larger than a courtyard block.

What Her Royal Highness does have in her backyard ( apart from a couple of dickheads taking selfies) are royal squirrels, this was our first squirrel so we were very excited( it's the little things).

After the palace tour we had to go back into Oxford St to pick up some shoes I had ordered, This involved a 2km walk, once again because our internal compass seems to always point in the opposite direction, maybe it's hemispherical( not sure if that's a word but I'm going with it), anyway by the time we got there it was new feet we needed and not new shoes. I think if we were doing that 10000 steps for everyday in sept we would be up to about the 22nd by now.

London you have lived up to all our expectations and more, heres to visiting again, when you're not so far way.

Words to Sum up London:  Expensive, Historical,Surreal, Busy, Crowded, Tiring

Day 11, The Tower, The Clock and The Eye

This morning we got up about 8am, my back is still sore so it takes me about an hour to warm up( starting to piss me off ). Sandy has had to be the pack horse for the last week, I am forever grateful. 

We got the hop on hop off tour this morning to the Tower of London, call me stupid but I thought it was just that ... a tower, but no it is a whole castle with multiple towers. It is being surrounded at present by 88000 ceramic poppies to commemorate the 100 years since WW1 and the soldiers who lost their lives, very special.

This is also where the Crown Jewels are held, no photos were allowed, but never have I seen so much gold and diamonds in the form of crowns, sceptres, platters, jugs etc, an amazing sight. 

It was then a trip on The Thames to The London Eye. 

FACT: It is about 350kms long( marginally longer than the Torrens but about the same colour). Supplies about 2/3's of Londons drinking water( let's hope there is some form of treatment before it reaches the tap).

We motored past Big Ben and disembarked on the opposite bank. After the usual security checks we got into our pod with about 12 other strangers and got an amazing birdseye view of London and it's surrounds.

After this we made our way to Oxford st for a very poor shopping effort of which I am hoping to improve on but with limited time left.

Our London Discovery: A very expensive city, everything is approx double. I.e petrol £1.35/ litre, Sandwhich £6.95, Shaw and Smith wine at Hestons £75.  If everything had a $ sign instead of a £ sign it would be on par, maybe if they sold of some of those jewels they could subsidise us poor Aussie tourists.

P.S. This Griswald now has a cold and is subsidising the British economy with her regular trips to Boots Chemists.

Day 10: London Calling

We arrived in London at about 5.30pm yesterday at Canada Water ( yep Canada Water in London.... go figure), after being told that a taxi was a half hour away I decided to try my luck with Uber, an online taxi/chauffeur service, which I set up before I left as it is worldwide. A car turned up as requested and we made our way to the hotel, 1/1 Uber and I will try it again. 

Appartment is good and Sandy finally got to do some washing, it's been over a week. After a well earned rest we attacked the tube with gusto, Sandy only had to be reminded 3x to stand on the right and me once. We have decided to be the perfect tourists starting our day at Piccadily Circus and then continuing on to Trafalgar Square.

After Trafalgar Square we made our way to Harrods, in particular the food halls...OMG, there is nothing you can't buy.

All this food was making us hungry and for someone as indecisive as me there was just too many options. We settled on something typically English in a Roast Beef and Horseradish Sandwhich , and where else to eat this but somewhere else typically English, Hyde Park, if only we could find it. According to the sales person it was 2 mins away, well our internal GPS's have been faulty since the start of this trip so 20 mins later and not a tree or blade of grass in sight, we perched on a ledge next to some car park and ate our sandwich .

We ventured back to Harrods after lunch to continue our shopping and check out their Xmas floor, luckily Harrods use a Westie as one of its trademarks so I had no trouble in convincing Sandy about the souvenirs.

We arrived at Dinner on time without getting lost, and surprise, surprise the restaurant backs on to Hyde Park, what a beautiful setting for what was to be a fantastic meal. The menu is based in period dishes from the 13th Century onwards, we skipped entree and went straight for main course, Bone in Rib if Hereford Prime (c.1830) perfectly cooked, we couldn't eat it all.

We then both had deserts, The Tipsy Cake ( c.1810) and The Tarte of Strawberries( c.1560). The Tipsy Cake with spit roasted pineapple was the best desert that Sandy has had.

I had the Strawberry Tarte, the presentation was spectacular and it did taste amazing but it wasn't quite as special as the Tipsy Cake.

To finish our evening off we were given a tour of the kitchen, very busy and also very professional, as you would expect. What a first full day in London and what a fantastic way to end it, we are truly lucky.

Day 9: E.T Phone Home.

It was the final day of our whirlwind bus tour around Great Britain. Our last morning of getting up at 5.45am, we won't miss that! We left Wales at 7.10am heading for Bath, where we had a walking tour and a tour of the  famousRoman Baths, (obviously whoever named Bath was lacking a little imagination, just think, if the same person got to name Edinburgh it would just have been called Castle).

The baths were very interesting and only required the smallest amount of imagination to appreciate what it would have been like all those years ago. 

They are from a natural hot spring so you can actually see steam rising from the pools. At the end of the tour you get to taste the warm water, and for all my water chemistry friends I do have the composition (trip is now a tax deduction).

Our final stop on the tour was Stonehenge, particularly interesting because there is no one story of how or why these giant stones came to be here.

Is it for religious purposes, is it a temple, some sort of sacrificial altar, or was it aliens that erected this over 5000 years ago? It was a fitting end to the week and one of the highlights.