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Published: September 25th 2006
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Eiffel Tower
Th Eiffel tower in Paris So I've just got back to London after a week of running around mainland europe and it was soo much fun. So I left London on the 18th and after landing in Paris and eventually making it to my hostel (I spent a good hour just trying to get a train ticket!) I spent the afternoon in the Lourve (a very impressive palace in it's own right) which is the first museum I've been in where I haven't got bored after a few hours. In fact it closed before I got bored of it! Saw the Mona Lisa and some Michaelanglo sculptures and lots of ancient Egyption and Roman artifacts which was amazing even though I can't read French and all the info in the gallaries was in French! Next time I think I'll get one of the audio tours and spend a whole day in there so I can actually know what everything says. The following day I walked around the city a bit and through Ille de Cite and the other island in the middlee of the river which are the original bits of the city, past the bastile monument, the royal palace gardens, the Egyption oblisk from Giza,
Pont Neuf
Pont Neuf connecting Ille de Cite with the mainland the Arc de Triumph and then to the Eiffel Tower. on the Wednesday I decided to walk out to Montmarte which was/is the arty part of town and on my way there managed to stumble upon the Moulin Rouge (I had no idea where it was so that was a bit of a surprise). Montmarte was nice but felt quite touristy and the supposedly impressive views of the city were obsured by first fog and then clould while I was up there so it was a bit dissapointing. I walked past a building where Picasso and a few other famous artists, poets etc had live in the early 20th century - it's a hotel these days tho rather than the apartment building it was then. That night I met a Brasilian guy staying in my hostel and got chatting to him about our travels and ended up drinking with him til some early hour thursday which meant I was feeling a little worse for wear catching an early train to Brussels but...
So Thursday was spent seeing Brussels a little and catching up on some sleep. Grande Place is quite grand though the arch in the city hall tower is
Palace Reflections
In the middle of one of the palaces is some steel balls which I thought showed off the palace better than a straight photo would. You can see me in it too! off centre by a metre and is really obvious. Supposedly the architect commited suicude off the tower as a result. And there are so many chocolatiers in Brussels and they all look so good it's hard to know who the best ones are short of trying every one! That night I started chatting to 2 aussies, an Argentinian and some Spanish people back in the hostel (a building where Van Gogh once worked) and ended up at a pub with them that has a menu with 2500 beers on it and they always have at least 2004 beers available at any given time. The beers are from all around the world and how you are supposed to choose one to drink I don't know! Anyway, friday morning I walked around Brussels a little more and saw the Manneken Pis (the pissing boy) which is, for some reason, one of the most famous sights to see in Brussels.
Friday afternoon I got the train to Amsterdam which was quite a nice trip through the wide open fields of the Netherlands. That night I ended up chatting to a Canadian, a South African, a Brit and a couple of Americans (yes I
moulin Rouge
The moulin Rouge know, sounds like some sort of joke) in the hostel bar while I had dinner there and strangely enough ended up at a bar with a live cover band til some unknown hour. On the saturday I walked around the city a bit which was so crowded it was hard to move but the canals all through the city are pretty. I thought about going to a few museams but by this time I was all museamed out so I just soaked up the atmosphere a bit before going back to the hostel for an afternoon nap and then played with my poi and staff in the courtyard where I got chatting to a juggler from Brisbane about juggling/spinning and travelling. That night I went out with the same group of people from friday night for drinks, walked through the world famous red light district which was very wrong but very amusing as well!
Sunday morning I had to get up early for a flight back to London and made it to my hostel about lunchtime where I proceeded to have a very relaxing afternoon to recover from all my partying in mainland europe. Today I'm going to see a
Mannekin Piz
The world famous "p*ssing boy" in Brussels few of the sights in central London I missed the other week and tomorrow I fly to Singapore for a few days. Oh, and as the Eagles made it into the AFL grand final, I'm going to see if I can change my flight home from Saturday to Friday so I can watch it in Perth. They'd better win this year!
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tim
non-member comment
footy
Mate!! all i can say is if you get back into perth for the footy you are going to be one disappointed eagles fan again this year. the swannies are doing it two years in a row!! Great to hear you have had a blast of a time anyway. talk to you later.