Oh man, I'm at home, I'm as jet-lagged as buggary, it's almost 3 in the afternoon and I can barely keep my eyes open. That after almost scraping in 4 hours sleep last night. Surely this can't go on? I can't think, I can't concentrate, I keep falling asleep at odd hours... Jet lag ain't never felt this bad before. It must be the lack of pain-au-chocolate and camembert. Only one way to fix that... off to the Patisserie. Where I need a credit card to buy a bloody pastry. Il n'est pas Francais.
So as you might have guessed, I'm in Amiens, once capital of the Picardie region, now just the proud owner owner of a most magnificent gothic cathedral (called Notre Dame of course) & a restaurant that tried to kill me! With fishy creamy cheesey goodness though. I tried to hire a compact car to get up here, as you can see from the photo, I ended up with the family truckster.. or you might call it a lorry.. it's an 8 seat diesel Fiat to be specific. Efficient as buggary though which is good when you're paying about AUD$1.60 a litre for essence (petrol). Feels like I'm zooming about i.....
So, I'm back in Paris. It's been a few years but the old girl hasn't changed much.. well, the cheap parts I get about in haven't anyways. Actually that's not true, Gare du Nord has had an entire shopping centre added to it. We caught a sleeper from Barcelona, a reasonably good trip actually. Dee is off to London tonight and Kylie & Jimena will be heading back home to Melbourne tomorrow night. Which just leaves me. I'm sure I can keep myself busy for a while over here >=) perhaps just trying to ind the faaaaaaaaarken keys on this keyboard will keep me going for a week or tzo::flkdjfçejfleje
Hola!
Just packing up in Barcelona, it's been a lazy couple of days here. Yesterday was St. Jordi's day here, he being the patron saint of Catalona, and the tradition is for the gents to give the ladies a rose on the day.. so there were roses everywhere. Not to mention people everywhere. We sat on a tourist bus for a while, up on the open roof checking out the sights. Popped into the Picasso museum, some of his early work in there, he was painting like a champ at 14 you know. We checked out Gaudi's architecture in his apartment block and in the church here that he started work on in 1882. It .....
So, having just cleaned up the bathroom where I had to force the cork inside a half bouttile of wine because I didn't pack a corkscrew and didn't want to pay 4 euro to set off the security system at Charles de Gaulle with a brand spanking new opener, I'm just sitting down to write some notes and to break my teeth on a couple of the local delicacies, two small types of biscuit. One is called Caladon - small, rock hard, almond and honey based and delicious. Apparently they're typical to Nimes. The other, called Croquants Villaret, have been baked by the same family (Villaret) since 1775. Tt too .....
Avignon. Home of the Pope in the day. Apparently a home to the arts. As long as you're there when the festivals are on, otherwise there's some tiny museums in private hotels to avoid. Also tacky merry-go-rounds. Not to mention a 3000% unemployment rate. Dirty, stinky, craptacular. I mean sure, it's got a massive ancient wall surrounding it, built between 1359 and 1370, but what ancient Gaul town doesn't? Alright, at least this one is still standing. None of the Lonely Planet recommended restaurants were open, or looked likely to open anytime soon, nor were non-Lonely Planet ones. I was there .....
wow... after a marathon 30+ hour session from Melbourne we made it to Nice. Plenty tired and plenty happy to get some fresh air. The four of us stayed in a tiny little budget room (once we could get somebody to actually let us in) and the jet lag is kicking in like a mule. Waking up at crazy hours and feeling a whole lot like I'm still floating around up in the air. Fantastic to get a little sun and go for a walk before jumping on the train bound for our apartment in Cannes. Can't wait to settling into the one place for a week and get a bit of sleep before hitting the week of Milia madness.
Melbourne... working right up until the last minute, trying to get everything done before leaving. Of course I didn't! Didn't get much sleep either so I'm hoping to maybe catch up a lot while I'm away...
Packed in the hour before I left, just hoping I haven't forgotten anything. As long as I haven't forgotten the credit cards I'll be right!
I'm going to Fraaaa-aaance, I'm going to Fraaaa-aaance, I'm going to Fraaaa-aaance >=)
