Bonjour from Paris

Speechless...





Paris is everything we were hoping it to be.

After arriving by Eurostar (frankly it was just a dirty train, nothing to write home about), we were welcomed to our apartment by a Robbie Williams look-alike. We knew a bit about it thanks to a recommendation from Mum & Dad Speed, but it still exceeded expectations. It is quaint (but 5 times the size of the London room) and immaculately clean (OCD compatible.) As promised, the lift to the top (6th) floor (where we are) takes 3 petite French people, or in our case just squeezes the two of us and a backpack in. Just.
By far the best part though is the location. With some contortion, we can look out the window at the lawns in front of the Louvre....




We decided to get some housekeeping out of the way last night to make the most of our first full day today, and this involved a trip to la laverie automatique (laundromat). Despite our crash-course in French at WEA before we came, a challenge this size was all but beyond us. After walking a good part of the journey back to London, we managed to find said establishment, and this is where the lost look on our faces really set it.
Without going into too much detail, the bleach, detergent, fabric softener and money all went in the wrong holes, but somehow (in the same amount of time that it would have taken to knit new ones) our clothes came out unscathed.

After a great sleep-in, we hit the street of Paris for a monster walk this morning. This walk at a cracking pace lasted the 23 paces to the first patisserie.



We later burned off this little savory/sweet combination with 276 steps to the top of the Arc de'Triomphe where the 360 degree views of the entire city took our breath away.






(view of Av des Champs-Élysées - Le Tour de France final stage every year finishes about where the third pedestrian crossing is)



(the Grande Arche in the opposite direction - heading there in a few days)

Champs-Élysées was a great place for a walk up and down. Pretty impressive shopping strip. Even the toilets were awesome - it cost €2 but the cubicles (each tastefully and individually decorated) were cleaned and sprayed with lovely air freshener after each person!




Having had a great experience with the hop-on-hop-off bus in London, we took one here too. We saw plenty of other attractions including the L'Obelisque, Notre Dame and enough palaces and museums to last a lifetime.

Another stop by a patisserie on the way home to wet the appetite for dinner and a visit to the bottle'o for a six pack of 1664 beer (good French brew).

Very excited about tomorrow. Planning an early morning visit to the top of the Eiffel Tower, provided that May 1st public holiday closures will not affect it.

After wet and cold days in London, the sun has shining here enough for Jacob to get sun burnt.

Au revoir!


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Adventure continues

Yesterday afternoon was taken up with a coach trip out of town to the Stonehenge, a place where even Gosia felt young. The oldest of the stone structures are over 5,000 years old but beyond that nobody seems to know much about the how or why, and so the audio guide was a bit like the stalling part on Australian Idol before they announce the result - a bit light for content.

Nonetheless, the place was fantastic to see, even sans ghosts. Gosia does claim she can add to the myth of UFO's frequenting the area with this photo:



The stones were actually a little smaller that we thought they would be (largest about 6m high). Apart from the stones, the landscape is dead flat, green, wet and boring as buggery so we caught 40 winks on the way back to London.



Today started with a walk around the heart of town to see Large Ben himself, Westminster Abbey (where apparently the second wedding of the century took place last year) and a few other bits and pieces.





Strolled up to Trafalgar Square and took a few photos and got up close with the Labralions. Apparently, the artist who sculpted them had never actually seen a lion and so he modeled their hind legs and posture on his pet dogs. Hence, London's guard lions look more like begging guide dogs in some respects.






After a bit of walking in the rain we decided it was time for some nourishment so we went to Coventry Market and found a pub with an ideal Steak & Ale pie with mash and a pint or two.



Next up was a lap on the London Eye which put us far closer to the grey soup of cloud cover that seems to be permanently over the city. Despite gloomy conditions it was well worth the ride and gave a great perspective of greater London area.






Interesting fact - blue plaques on the walls in London indicate the former residence of someone who
a) was famous
b) is dead, and
c) lived at that address for more than a year.
......have seen them for all sorts of people from Alexander Pope to John Lennon and Oscar Wilde so far.

This was just one of the gems from the open top bus tour on Thursday - along with immeasurably less interesting facts about Harry Potter.

St Paul's was the last tourist stop for the day today where we ducked in for the Evensong choir recital and a bit of a captain cook. Not a bad little hangout at all.

Closed out the day with some dinner and drinks in Leicester Square with great company in Felicity, Shelley and Helen (all Aussie girls living here - Gosia worked with Shelley and Flick at Flinders physio.)




Feel like we have got a really good taste of London from our few day here and will know how to get around and how it all works for when we are next here.

Off to Paris tomorrow on the Eurostar from Kings Cross - St Pancras station at 9am, getting into Paris about lunchtime.






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Location:St Paul's Cathedral & Our tiny hotel

Pommy weather

Likely our moods are not in line with the London weather. Apparently, it is the wettest April on record!! It hasn't stopped raining. Fortunately, you can buy an umbrella at every corner.
It is also very cold, so we are lucky to have packed scarfs, beanies, gloves etc.






On our first full day here, we explored the city on the hop-on-hop-off bus tour, walked through Harrods (only a small part of it, it is enormous!!), visited the breathtaking Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge and finished the day with Chicago production and a feed of double dipped ribs!
A big day...









It is nice to stop for a bit, sip coffee and watch the world go by before taking a coach tour to the Stonehenge later this arvo.

I don't know why Adelaidians are labelled bad drivers. You should see what the Londoners do on the road. I nearly got run over 3 times before 10am yesterday and once already today (only one of which was my fault...) all good, though, don't worry mum.
Just hoping the French will be more considerate of cyclists and pedestrians...




Having some difficulties staying in touch with the world due to poor access to data, so it maybe a few days before we blog again - probably from Paris.


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Location:Oxford St

First night in London

Finally arrived here and the weather is straight out of the box.... 7 degrees, overcast and raining for the next four days but we couldn't care less.

Pretty knackered even though the flight was as good as long haul can be. Flying into Abu Dhabi just before sunrise was an eye-opener with the dead straight Open roads lit up like Christmas trees and no cars in sight. Massive walled compounds with houses as big as hotels.

Heading to bed shortly and expect to be operating on London time tomorrow for a look around on the open top bus (might be a bit damp.)

If we planned to spend any time in our room we'd be horrified, but thankfully we will be sleeping only in that little dog-box.



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