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Well France has been fantastic. We arrived on the train from Strasbourg to Paris, and after deciphering the signs and letterboxes at the front of the appartments for our friend Virginies' place, we figured out where we had to be, and waited til she finished work.
Virginie took us out for tea where we discovered that 'English Cream' is custard. Wer also tried the raw mince that france is famous for, and it really was quite good. Having been to Paris before, we endeavoured to avoid the places that were really thick with tourists. The plan was to go on top of the Arc de Triomphe, but for the same price we went up in a hot air balloon instead. It was great, and there were much fewer tourists. We also went up to Sacre Couer (beautiful Cathedral on top of Mont Martre) again, got amongst the hawkers selling everything from love charms to handbags. Walked Champs Ulysees, had tapas at a Spanish Restaurant with Virginies friends, ate lots of cheese, drank wine, went to a garden and a museum.
Next stop was Lyon where our friend Julien put us up for a couple of nights. We went to the zoo, ate ice cream, saw an astronomical clock in a church, walked around the old town, went to a greek/roman museum, roman amphitheatres. Julien took us to a traditional Lyonaise restaurant (Lyon is the place where food was invented, well at least it has a very high reputation for cuisine in France, and France seems to mean the best food in the world). The typical food here is pork, and they eat every part of the pig. Dave started with a pigs ear salad and his main was a pigs blood sausage with veges. Belinda went a little more tame, but she did eat pork which was all that was aked of her. The dessert was English cream again....I think Dongers would love France.
After Lyon, Julien took us to a party in the French Alps, where we met up again with our friend Iris. (All of these french mates we met in Bolivia- Iris and Julien travelling to gether in La Paz, and Virginie and her friend France on the salt flats at Uyuni). The party was crazy, and we tried a local apertif which just about melted the glass bottle it came in, while watching the French sing the Pizza Hut song (you know- McDonalds, McDonalds.....). We set up our tent in the dark and a little further away from the cottage. Which was lucky because 3 times in the night they came around and did an underwear check with photos, but never found us.... Also, we were told the next day that the only reason they stopped partying was the generator ran out of fuel, and they couldn't play any more music. They even went to the extent of trying to syphon from the cars.
So, after the party, we stayed with Iris in her apartment, and we hiked the French Alps while she was at work. We were blessed with beautiful weather, and on the last day we got a glimpse of Mont Blanc. It was pretty wierd to see huge ski resorts completely empty, and towns basically closed down until it snows again. The mountains were empty during the weekdays, and we saw absolutely noone on our hikes. We collected wild strawberries and raspberries, and the ones that didn't get eaten straight away went into a cake when we got home. Iris kept us pretty well fed- with a new version of pancake that we'll defginetly do again- involving cheese mushrooms, and whatever else you want.
But it eventually had to end, and we caught a train to Lausanne, Switzerland. Don't tell Belinda, but they do cheese and chocolate as well.
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