Barcelona to Switzerland

Hello Everyone

I decided to spend a few days in Barcelona after having 2 weeks in France. It is strange when you dont speak a language, how suddenly you feel a little stupid for the simplest things. In Barcelona, i felt a lot more able to ask for simple things like food and directions without feeling like a small child.

Did the touristic things in Barcelona like the Gaudi monuments, La Rambla amongst other things. This was just a quick break before heading to my dream part of the holiday again. Switzerland.

My trip out of Barcelona was a little messy. First of all the bag I had broke and a bottle of wine smashed on the floor. 2nd at the airport i was told i could not take the champagne and expensive bottle of wine that did not break on board. I had forgotten this was an international flight and not domestic. DOH!! i hope the staff at the counter at Easy Jet enjoy the oppulance, hardly think they could afford 100 dollar bottles of alcohol.

When I got to Geneva, I got on the wrong train but luck was on my side and I made it to Zurich not more than half an hour late. Charlie was there to meet me. I was so glad to see him let me tell you. The holiday since then has been a total dream. Unlike Paris and London this was the nature part of the holiday. Been travelling with Charlie in his car for almost a week driving around the Alps and taking in some of the most spectacular views the country has to offer. All with good food and wine along the way. Also Charlie has great taste in music so the car rides are really fun. I have let my hair down and started to sing along with him!! Even if the songs are in Swiss German.

Ok, my holiday is drawing to a close. I will tie up the loose ends at the airport and hopefully buy a nice watch. OMG.. the watches here are nice but expensive.. See you all soon.

Driving the south

Bon jour from Bordeaux,

I took the TGV train from Paris to Bordeaux to visit Alane. The ride was very comfortable in first class. It only took 3.5 hours but I am told a new line will cut that journey down to 2. As soon as I arrived we drove to a small town called Saint Macaire to see some castles and a 800 year old church. We walked around the old medieval town and i did my photo snapping thing.

We set off the next day Southbound towards Mimizan to visit his mother and see the biggest sand dune in Europe. Dune de Pyla near Arcachon. This thing was gigantic, I ran down this gigantic dune and take some photos. It took a good 10 minutes to go back up. When we arrived at Mimizan, Alane's mother was made some traditional french food. I ate a delicious cheese like pie called maroilles. Before dinner, we took a swim in the Atlantic. Its a little cold mind you in May.

The next day we set off for Biarritz to have a look at some beautiful beaches. I ate seafood as you do when on the coast, before returning that afternoon to Bordeaux.

Yesterday we spoilled ourselves at a spa retreat in Casteljaloux for the day. I got to drive back to Bordeaux. Fun to drive at 130km per hour on the freeway. At night went out on the town to visit the local bar scene. Interesting none the less. The best thing about the night was buying cake in a pastisserie at 2am.. Today its a little overcast so not going anywhere in particular. Might run along the river today to work off that cake. In a few days ill head off to Spain. Would have liked to have headed back to London or Paris to spend more time with friends but as i only have 4 days in the middle of the week, im going to visit Barcelona instead. See you soon.

amoureux de Paris

Bonjour tout le monde.

I am officially in love with Paris. I Arrived here safe and sound. No dramas like lost passports or luggage.

Thank goodness Herve came to greet me. It was much easier to make my way to the hotel without any fuss. The hotel i have been staying at is very central. Its a block away from the Louvre - Rivolli entrance. Its fantastically priced too.

Spent the first day with Herve while he showed me around beautiful Paris from a locals persepctive. Took a lot of photos. That night was meant to catch up with him but unfortunately i ran out of phone credit and could not reach him. A comedy of errors meant I spent most of the night walking around on my own. Thats not the funny part. The funny part is that I spent most of the night walking right past him and his friends.

Well not to worry. I got lucky the next night and met his friends again. Lovely people. I got to dine al fresco and go back and get rotten drunk on Champagne (real champagne worth hundreds of dollars back in Aus) and some green concoction called Jet 27. Its quite nice and I will try and find some when I get back to Australia. We went back to a friends apartment called Valrie. She is house sitting for her boss who is a rather well off agent for photo journalists here in Paris. Her apartment had award winning photos all over the place. Ive never seen so many nice black and white images in one place. This house was behind a gallery and near the richest area in Paris. I was most impressed. Everyone did tell me most parisians did not live this way.

As you can tell im a little excited still by the whole night.

The next day I braved the metro on my own and the intercity trains and took a journey to Versaille. It was mind blowingly big. Its impossible to describe the opulence of this place. I will post photos when I come back. I now understand why the people of france cut their heads off!! The grounds are rather large and if you do go to visit, i do recommend you spend the whole day taking it easy and taking regular breaks. Try doing the chateau then a break, then the grounds then a break. You can rent bikes if you want. Thats much easier except when you want to visit the smaller mansions inside which need you to hide the bike in the bushes. LOL

After a big night, I took my camera after a short break and some more white wine and went off to take photos of my surroundings and of the Eiffel Tower. They light it up at night. Everyone drinks wine and champagne in the grounds around it. Indian guys try to sell you knock off versions of the tower. Its just like thailand. Got some impressive photos that night and made it home by 1am. Mind you people were still up and about dinning.

Today went on my own to the Louvre and then on to the Eiffel Tower. You can take a lift up to the top and get an awesome view of Paris. You can climb down the old stairs if you wish. I recommend that. Tonight ill go to Moulain Rouge to take a photo and then get an early night as tomorrow I am off to visit privincial France. Bordeaux here I come.

Au Revoir

Hello from London.

I arrived safe and sound. Flight was uneventful, except that right at the start of the flight a big girl sat next to me but a fault with the seatbelt meant she was moved and me other travel buddy and me had plenty of room on our way to Singapore. Short lived mind you, someone else boarded in Singapore.

London started with a little drama. I lost my passport on the London Airport Express. I didnt realise i had done this till I had changed to the Tube and as i got to Earls Court, where my hotel is situated. Drama drama drama. To cut a long story short, I made my way back to Paddington station and luck on my side, they found the passport and I was in my hotel by 11am. I guess i didnt have to wait around doing nothing!!

After putting my heavy bag in the hotel I took off to tour london on a big red bus. It was a great idea to get my bearings and see what to go take a look at. Seen a few of the key sights. Saw the National Gallery, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace amonst key sights on the first day. Today I went and did a little more trecking. One of One down sides of this holiday is I really should have taken another week of leave and spent more time here. There is a Tshirt that says I love london. I think i might buy one.

Caught up with Bill for lunch and we are heading to dinner tonight in Soho. Looking forward to taking some night photos with him. Meeting at Piccadilly Circus. Well on that note, if I dont go now, ill be late as usual.

The eve of my holiday.

Ok so I have been extra nerdy and made an excel calendar of my holiday. Its not all in concrete but where details are available, you can check flight numbers etc.

Its sunday and I have scanned my passport and drivers licence. They are sent to my email and are within easy access should anything happen. Not a bad idea really. Better than carrying too many documents.

This morning I printed off copies of my train journeys and put them in my nifty travel document holder from The North Face. You heard it right. Im a corporate trecking snob!

Doing the last of my checks.

• Camera - Check
• Clothing - Check
• Travel Insurance - Check
• Documents backed up - Check
• Phone - yet to unlock my phone online
• Currency - Check

After that im pretty much ready to go. Just log in and print my boarding pass tonight. Stayed up very late last night trying to get used to my new timezone. I hope this method works for me. I want to get to London and go go go!!

I took some sample pics yesterday with my camera and they are simply stunning. I can't wait to start filling up all 16gb of memory. Thanks to Darren I can now ditch the tripod and use a device much like a firm pillow that you can use to steady your camera.

I also found out I can use the standard nikon remote so i dont have to use a stupid cable release remote. See me using it yesterday in Darrens kitchen.

Well im off for my long run this afternoon. I have to stay nice and skinny or i wont fit in to my jeans.

Look forward to my next post from London UK. Everyone take care of yourselves while I am away and look forward to catching up with you on my return.

Europe in a weeks time

I decided to kill off the old blog because it was so heavily focused on South America. Im heading to europe and I want to start fresh. I will try and pull the other blogs in to this one.

Its one week to go until I start my trip to Europe. It will be great to catch up with everyone Ive been talking with on the net or met here whilst theyve been on travels.

Keep looking every few days for updates. I will be posting photos regularly. I hope my camera arrives from Hong Kong in time, or ill be buying one duty free. Cant go without one.

See you all soon