A weekend in Paris

I was lucky enough to get whisked away to Paris on the 24/25 March. Daniel and I got up very early on the Saturday morning and caught the Eurostar into the city centre of Paris. Thought we’d try a different mode of transport to flying.

Our first destination as you can probably guess was the Eiffel Tower, though the weather was terrible so we didn’t climb it, the top was covered in clouds and mist so figured we’d be back and would do it then. Had an interesting lunch nearby where Daniel ordered a tomato salad for entree and got just that – 3 sliced tomatoes on a plate!!! After that we caught the metro over to Notre Dame and had a look at the outside (line up to get in was huge and it was raining) and then went underneath and had a look at the display of ruins of the old streets.

We headed up to look along the Champs Elysees that evening which was buzzing with people. Had a chocolate éclair (very tasty) and then wandered along the street up towards the Arc de Triomphe – the traffic at the top was insane, one very crazy roundabout. We ended up climbing to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and had a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower and down the Champs Elysees. As we were on the top they lit the Eiffel Tower up with a whole heap of lights which was really pretty (some may say tacky but I am easily pleased).

The Louvre Museum was our first destination on Sunday morning and after we had a look at the “Mona Lisa” portrait and the Aphrodite statue, we almost got around one level before heading back down to the Champs Elysees. The Louvre was huge and you could easily spend hours and hours there and still not see it all!!!

Had our fill of crepes (chocolate and choco-banana) and then headed back to the Louvre to have a bit more of a wander around. Caught the train back Sunday night and got home around 11pm, which compared to other weekends, was a very early night.

I am heading back to Paris on the 10th May with Claire after a few days in Rome, so should be able to see a few more things then. I quite liked Paris though and will definitely be back more than once I am sure!

Beers in Dusseldorf

March 16-18 took us away to Dusseldorf in Germany. Once again it was supposed to be Luke, Michael, Daniel and I but we ended up one down – Daniel forgot his passport and realised too late to make it to the airport!!!

Hired a car for the weekend (airport was quite a distance away again). Got to our hotel with enough time to devour a giant kebab sort of thing (but tasty and not just as a homeward snack after a night out!). Drove to Cologne the following morning to have a wander around and check out the cathedral there. The cathedral is the tallest in the world and is spectacular inside. We wandered around inside and then climbed to the top of one of the spires (after 500 or so steps we finally reached the top!). The view would have been tops had the weather been better – was still good to be at the top.

While we were in Cologne we walked along the riverside - you wouldn’t believe how fast the current is there. Also did a spot of shopping and I ended up bringing a pair of very cool shoes home.

Crazy sign on our drive and photos along the river.

Ended up back in Dusseldorf late in the afternoon and so we began our “pub crawl” then. Went down to the old town section and started at one of the beer halls. Each one serves their own beer and as they see you finishing one they are ready to fill you straight up again – very good service! Had a pork knuckle for dinner; randomly went to a mustard shop and made a purchase; and then after many more beer halls had a German hot dog thing on the way home.

Michael, Luke and I at a rock beer hall and the drunken guy who fell asleep near us.

Sunday was spent driving around somewhat randomly. Went to a palace but all we could look at was the gardens which were nice. Filled myself up with a cherry waffle, had a look at a few other towns, some memorials along the way and ducked across briefly into the Netherlands.

Got back late Sunday night (surprise, surprise) and although the weather wasn’t the nicest, still had a good weekend.

Visiting the Vikings in Oslo

On February 2-4th, Luke, Michael, Daniel and I flew to Oslo, Norway to spend the weekend. Arriving late on the Friday night (stupid EU passports, no online check-in for us with Ryanair), we hired a car and drove the 2 hours from the airport to Oslo with a quick hot dog break on the way.

View of Oslo from our hotel room.



We spent Saturday driving along the coast down towards Sweden. Came across a completely frozen lake (we thought it was nifty).



Stopped in at the town with Santa’s shop, unfortunately it was about the only week all year that it is closed – I was very disappointed!!!



Stopped at a village on the fjord but due to the season, we couldn’t go for a boat ride across.



Made friends with some of the locals though, Ariel says hi.



Crossed the border and had an afternoon snack in Sweden before heading back to Oslo.

Sunset on the way home from Sweden.



Luke and I decided that we needed to try some of the local cuisine so we went to dinner that night at a pretty schmancy restaurant. Luke and I shared cods tongues for entrée and then each had reindeer for main. Cods tongues were interesting and the reindeer had a bit of a strange taste but was really nice.

Sunday was spent wandering around Oslo City, spotted some ice statues in the park and had a walk along the harbour. Had a quick look at the palace – didn’t quite make the guard change.



View from the palace.



Also drove out to the ski jump from the winter Olympics held there in 1952. The jump was huge and they use the landing area as a pool in summer!!!



Wanted to try our hand at tobogganing but unfortunately due to the run being icy we couldn’t hire any toboggans. Watched the last bit of an outdoor ice hockey game before heading to a Viking ship museum. The ships were quite well preserved – some from around 900AD.



Overall a good weekend and we had wonderful weather, sunshine the whole time, temperature low but no wind so very lucky. Was cool to be somewhere covered in snow, people cross country skiing to get around and with the boats floating in a frozen harbour.

Week in Spain

After Daniel's family headed home, Ellie stayed behind to spend the week with us (and Debbie, Charles, Dave) in Malaga, Spain (20-27 January). We hired a van and did quite a few day trips around the place. Lucky for us, Debbie's grandma had secured a week in a resort in Malaga, so the apartment we had was really nice, shame it wasn't quite hot enough to make use of the pools!!!

View from the balcony of our room.

Saturday we checked in and chilled out. On Sunday we drove into Malaga and spent the day. Did a walking tour around the city.

Dave, Debbie and I in Malaga.

Also went to the Picasso museum which was great. He actually came from Malaga so there were heaps of his paintings and sculptures as well as his sketches and stuff. Then in the basement there was an archaelogical digging site, which was kind of weird but oh well.

Daniel and Charles as close to the Picasso Museum as they would get.

We all made the crazy decision to wear shorts and paid the price as it dropped in temperature later, as well as all the weird looks we were getting from the locals. Also had one of the biggest and most repulsive burgers ever that night. Dave models his.

Monday we made the drive to Granada and had a wander around the Alhambra - an arabic fortress from the 9th century. It was located at the top of a hill overlooking the city, pretty spectacular views in parts. We looked through the palace buildings which had stacks of water features and gardens, and the rooms themselves were beautiful. Along with the palace we also climbed the ramparts and towers along the walls.

Gibraltar was our destination for Tuesday. Drove up the Rock nature reserve, checked out the caves as well as the siege tunnels which were both pretty cool. View was great, we could see across to Morrocco from one side and the other across Gibraltar and the airport. This lies just inside the county border, so the traffic has to stop for any incoming planes, we got to watch it while at the tunnels. Highlight was the crazy monkeys just outside the caves, one stole and ate a banana out of a ladies hand as she went to have it.

Wednesday was spent in Morrocco. We had decided to take a ferry from Tarifa to Tangier so that we could tick another continent off our list. A very interesting day. We didn't do much research before arriving so kind of stepped off the boat and got bombarded by the locals wanting to be our guides. Dave managed to ward them off initially, before being sucked in by one telling us about this great restaurant that was cheap and just around the corner. We definitely ended up coming out as the suckers, it wasn't cheap nor close by. Ended up just walking around by ourselves, checked out the markets, the town sites and watched a guy tempt a snake out of a basket with a flute. Also saw the walls dangerously topped with shards of glass (below).

Drove to Ronda on the Thursday. After a brief stop at a strange town on the way, we got to Ronda. The town is split into the old part and the new and is joined together by a huge bridge. We climbed inside the bridge and walked around it, pretty spectacular particularly the views down the valley. Rain then washed us out and after a brief look at the bull fighting ring, we made our way back to Malaga.

Ellie on the bull and the matador.

The journey home was broken up for us when as we were going over the mountain range it started bucketing snow. Looking like a bunch of freaks we stopped off numerous times to "play in the snow". A mini snowman, snowball fight and attempt at a snow angel later we were back on the road.

Last 2 days were pretty relaxed. Ellie left us on Friday for her long journey home. Debbie, Charles and I went to visit the local palace ruins, and checked out the beach and then we headed back to London on Saturday.