Empem

Tuesday, 19 August Lots of sleeping on the bus, and it was back into France, destination, Nice. On the way we had a stop over at a perfumery. It was just in time, as the tyre under where we were sitting sounded flat. The perfume tour of Fragonard wasn't the most riveting, but I did learn that the alcohol used in perfume comes from beetroot. Who knew! Upon returning to the bus we found out that the problem with the wheel wasn't a flat, the wheel was actually coming off. At the time of parking the bus, there were only three bolts left holding the wheel on. So it was goodbye Heidi (that was the buses name), hello shuttle bus to take us into Nice. On arriving we had a bit of time to get ready ... read more

Saturday, 16 August We were on the bus at the fresh time of 7:30 in the morning. It was a long driving day, arriving in Avignon, France, in time for dinner. The beds were very dodgy, with one of the top bunks breaking early into our stay. After dinner we had our walking tour with the wonderful Leticia. Avignon is an old walled city that used to house the Pope. In the centre of the town is the church. We had a look around the night markets next to the beautiful old carrousel. The girls got some henna, then we met the rest of the group at the American Bar, which had cocktails and karaoke. No one seemed to be getting into it for a Saturday night, so we went off in a small group to ... read more

Tuesday, 12 August My whirlwind Europe tour was to begin. It was an early start after a small sleep, no thanks to Wayne's World 2 the night before. I made my way to west London to meet up with my tour group at 6.30. From here we got on the bus and made our way down to Dover where we caught the ferry across to Calais in France. Leaving the white cliffs of Dover behind us, we were on our way. It was a bumpy trip, but managed to arrive at the destination with my full stomach contents. After waiting for a while to disembark the ship standing with a bunch of French school kids, a little Damian arose, firmly saying something in his native tongue to me as I walked passed, eyes as wide as ... read more

It was early rise and shine to catch the bus to Stanstead Airport. The flight James and I were taking was up to Glasgow. We arrived in town at lunchtime, after a little confusion as to where to catch the bus from once at Glasgow airport. Not long into our wonder around were we lured into a pub with the promise of £1.99 breakfast. Who can go past that, really? Of course we upgraded to the massive breakfast, but it was worth it. While in the pub, the sound of bagpipes filtered in. This would be the start of pretty much continuous bagpipe playing while in Scotland. You definitely could not be mistaken for being anywhere else in the world. We wandered around Glasgow, but couldn't really do anything, as we were only there for a ... read more

Well, what a weekend! So busy, and are my legs feeling it today (and yesterday for that matter, but being Sunday, had to push on through). Due to the fact that time is ticking away for me in London, it was time to get out there are see the sites. Equipped with my London Pass (what an investment that was!), I set out to get my moneys worth. Following my carefully planned, and roughly timed timetable, which was completed during work hours, I crammed in as much into one day as possible. First stop was the Tower of London. True to English form, the rain was pouring down. This was pretty much the forecast for the whole weekend, so I just had to get out there and suck it up. Besides, bad weather might actually keep ... read more