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Bonjour,
A lot has happened since my first blog last Friday. Where to begin?
Saturday 4th we spent all day seeing the sights of London. We put in 10 hours walking and covered literally EVERYWHERE. St Pauls Cathedral, Tower of London, HMS Belfast for starters. Here's some informative general knowledge about the Tower of London for you…
The Tower of London is often identified with theWhite Tower, the original stark square fortress built byWilliam the Conquerorin 1078. However, the tower as a whole is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and amoat.
The tower's primary function was a fortress, a royal palace, and a prison (particularly for high status and royal prisoners, such as thePrinces in the Towerand the futureQueen Elizabeth I). This last use has led to the phrase "sent to the Tower" (meaning "imprisoned"). It has also served as a place ofexecutionandtorture, anarmoury, atreasury, azoo, theRoyal Mint, a public records office, anobservatory, and since 1303, the home of theCrown Jewels of the United Kingdom.
The Crown Jewels didn't impress me as I had hoped. I've seen more impressive crown jewels on Jonny!
After a spot of lunch in Weatherspoons we hit up the London Eye via Waterloo, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Nelsons Column (here getting blocked off by Gay Pride), Piccadilly Circus then back to the hostel.
We hit up Camden for some tea then had a fairly chilled evening at the hostel. On Sunday morning we had to vacate the hostel at 10am so we lounged around till then and we took our bags to St Pancras to leave in 24hr storage which cost £8 - but was fair considering we didn't have to break our backs all day lugging them around. We just wouldn't have made it!
We bought a days travel card for the London underground (£7.40) which entitles us to use the buses too which was a pretty good system I thought. Firstly we went to Harrods then Hyde Park where we had a little fun sat down watching all the rollerbladers going up and down the road. We held up signs as they went past rating them out of ten! From here we went to Regents park and had a lie down listening to Michael Jackson we had playing from our speakers. My feet were really bad by now and currently them are red raw blistered and burst all over. Being stood up is a hard task!
We ended London with a trip to Abbey Road and Lords before heading back to St Pancras at 7pm. I got my laptop out and had a surf with my shoes off at Starbucks before Jonny mentioned going to the toilet. He came back to inform me of a "little snag".
The Luggage Claim, although on our receipt said 24hrs was shut. Not opening again till 6am . It had closed at 10pm and we were 15 mins late. The eurostar was set to leave at 5:20 so we were a bit screwed as after contacting the baggage company we were informed nothing could be done. We went to the ticket office to discuss the eurostar and all they could say was come back at 4:45 am when they were to reopen. After pulling an all nighter I finally dropped off to sleep on a chair at starbucks freezing cold. I woke up about 30 mins later at around 4am to see some old Captain Birdseye type cockney looking over me. We were both creeped out so got our stuff to wait for the ticket office to open. After worrying for 5 hours about our trip getting messed up before it had even begun we were told we could just get the next eurostar after the baggage claim reopened. BELTING!
Another delirious nap on public transport later and we arrived in gay Paris to roasting sunshine at about 10.15am. As brilliant at some things as they are, the French CAN NOT DRIVE! The roads are a scary place to be, when crossing (usually one way streets) we still found ourselves doing 360 degree checks as the drivers really care not about running red lights. The mopeds are just as bad too. We got to the hostel and were too knackered to do anything so we chilled out in the courtyard most of the day and got the beers in as soon as the bar opened.
As much of a cliché it is you do see lots of people walking around with baguettes poking out of bags and queues at the patisserie even at 7pm. There are lots of beautiful women doused in fine fragrances but not a lot can be said for French style. Let's just say they don't have the class! Jai terrible!
By the end of the night we had a massive party going and were making friends with all nationalities. It was good times.
Towards the end of the evening "Jim", an American strategic consulatant approached Jonny to discuss the possibility of Jim representing him to go on Saturday Night Live. We couldn't believe how serious he was even when Jonny received his card. He found us the next morning to give me a card too as I had exclaimed I was Jonny's manager. Jim had said how excited he'd been the night before whilst lying in bed thinking about the memo he would be writing to the director of the show and all the possibilities we had. We are yet to email Jim like we agreed…
On Tuesday we put our walking shoes on (ouch, my feet were really bad by now). We decided to do like we did in London and get on the underground. 18 euros for a 3 day pass - bargain. What's better about the French underground is the metro's are more frequent. We literally haven't waited more than 3 minutes for a connecting metro. The stops go all over Paris and unlike London are precisely at each attraction you are wanting to visit. An added bonus is the jazz musicians that board your carriage to brighten up your journey!
First thing we did was to head to the Eiffel Tower which was mightily impressive then walked up to the Arc De Triumph. The Arc de Triumph has a massive roundabout going around it. You already know how I feel about French drivers. Basically no insurer in the world covers you when going round this roundabout on the Champs Elysees. You wonder why?! Well…it's the traffic coming on to the roundabout that has right of way. Every other car you see around Paris has some form of bumper damage or denting in the side where there has been a bump. It's an everyday occurrence here. It's absolutely mental. People have one hand on the wheel and the other on the horn! Stick to the underground!
After the Arc de Triumph we went to see Jim Morrison. This was a momentous occasion for me as I have had a little obsession for a few years now. I still need to see Ian Curtis too…
Post atmospheric downpour just as we met Jim, we headed to le Sacre Coeur. This is a church at the top of a few hundred steps and it brings you out onto the most amazing view of Paris in it's entirety. Good for a snappy snap.
After a belter of a night on Monday we decided we wanted to emulate it and have an even better one on Tuesday. So…we bought vodka. After drinking 2 thirds of a bottle of absolut to myself we and a clan of Americans hit up the red light district for a bit of "voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir". We ended up at a bar directly opposite the Moulin Rouge which was very sombre to sit at. Although I was on the kerb on the phone truly wasted. A lot of drama later ensued but we had a funny enough evening and I kept everyone up with my sleeping.
We have met many interesting characters so far on our trip. Americans have no dress sense and only a few of them can take a joke. There is one guy in particular me and Jonny have laid in to that takes everything to heart. There is also a strange character who we have since learnt is an artist. He's late 40's called Ishmael from Sweden. He is of Iranian descent and doesn't speak a word of the queens. You know me and Jonny….we have taught him some phrases to say aloud and have found great entertainment in this although we haven't been taking advantage of him. He knows were having a laugh and has since learnt what 'I SMOHK KOCH' (as he pronounces it) means - hes a funny chap. It's strange because we both don't have a clue what each other is saying but we have been hanging out and I've translated somehow between him and the group so we all understand where were at. Like me, he's pretty laid back and funny.
On Wednesday we went firstly to book our ticket to Madrid to continue our fantastique trip. After queuing for an hour, BUM BUM BUHHHHHHH yet more catastrophe involving trains. All trains to Spain/Portugal were fully booked so we have had to edit our trip. Were now going from Paris to Luxembourg via Metz tonight. Then go the opposite way to the itinerary going to Germany this weekend. Were not too bothered but it is a bit of an annoyance…exciting though.
Post train annoyance we headed for Notre Dame, where like all the other tourist attractions we were hounded by Bosnians handing over pieces of paper that are asking for money. They have been taught to say 'Do you speak English?!' to break the ice but don't know any other words. We have taken to either replying 'No, we don't speak English' or breaking down with a cockney rhyming slang which creeps them out so they walk off!
We then got some gun wielding police officers to fake arrest us for a photo before walking back on the banks of the Seine. Jonny enjoyed waving at the boat loads of people as they sailed by. From the Metro we went to the Louvre. When in Rome and all that…
Absolutely belting! We got in for free being in EU and aged under 25. RESULT! Here we enjoyed checking out the very seductive Venus De Milo and Mona Lisa. The Egypt room was cool too as I am a bit obsessed with things of this nature.
After a quiet evening planning hostels for Luxembourg we went to the Sacre Coeur again at midnight where it was very picturesque. Lots of people drinking dancing and having a good time. Bit blasphemous if you ask me but it was good all the same.. Having said that I wouldn't recommend staying up there too late as the gang life really appears after dark and its quite unnerving. Stay in groups!
Today being Thurday we spent our final morning at the Catacombs which was very eerie but quite cool at the same time. I shall be in Luxembourg by 9pm tonight so hopefully will get blogs on here more frequently from now on.
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