Week 39 - Paris and London trips

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27/10/2012

As per usual for the Rotary trips organised here, I was up at 5am in order to be at Angular station by the 6:15am cut-off time for the bus trip to Paris, where I would be spending the next 3 days during my second-to-last rotary trip during my exchange. Somehow making the bus in time, with mark taking me there, I jumped in, and set off with around a third of the exchangers that’d be coming along to Paris. The bus trip there was loud and long, but finally around 2:30 we arrived in Paris at our first stop, the ‘Castle of Versailles’. This is one of the most famous Castles in France, and was the centre of political power in France from the late 1600’s. The royal family moved here after the start of the French revolution too, so it’s a site of much significance here in France. As per usual for French castles, there was just an incredible use of fine materials and art used in the creation of all sorts of the rooms, and many looked like they could alone be incredible galleries.

The gardens (despite it being below freezing outside) were also immaculate, and so big it was impossible to do a complete tour in the three hours we had to explore this monument. From here we travelled into the heart of Paris, and there on the not-too-distant horizon was that instantly recognisable Eiffel Tower. As we made our way closer to the centre, it just got bigger and bigger until we were nearly below it as we started our activity for the evening, a night tour of Paris by boat. Despite it being freezing outside, it also allowed for the best pictures and no restriction on noise levels, and was therefore where we exchange students were during the tour. During this we saw all kinds of things, such as the Notre Dame chapel, the magnificent bridges, the ‘Iron Lady’, and the fantastic illuminations along the banks of the canal. Following this, we did a quick tour around central Paris by night, seeing some of the attractions of the town that we’d see in greater detail during the next few days. We arrived at our hotel a little after mid-night, and with a massive day planned for tomorrow, with an early wake up, I crashed.

28/10/2012

Up and at ‘em at 7am today, we got down a bit of the usual hotel-style cuisine and took off for the ‘Musee d’Orsay’, a well-known impressionist art museum that’s a must do during your time in Paris. The line (as always) took a fair while, but once we were inside the museum, the wait was well worth it. We all received an iPod touch that were used as interactive audio-guides, and could follow your movements around the museum and play the appropriate information for whatever exhibit you were in. Pieces from all sorts of artists were here, and ‘Starry night’ from Van Gough was one of the best on display.

After walking around the museum all morning, we were all starving, and what better place to combine an amazing visit with great food than The Hard Rock Café, in Paris. As they were setting up for Halloween, the decorations around were all skeletons and cobwebs, and made it even cooler seeing Stevie Ray Vaughn’s guitar with a massive spider looming over it in the corner. I also saw a hat worn by Eminem on-stage, some drums used by Guns and Roses, a signed CD by the Foo Fighters, one of Eric Clapton’s Telecasters, and tons of other awesome memorabilia from some of the best musicians the world has seen. The food was awesome, and you could tell that the staff there just loved their job. Kinda made me want to really get a job there.

From here we took a quick bus ride to the ‘Sacre-Coeur de Montmartre’, which is a very well known cathedral that sports one of the best panoramic views over Paris. Here there were sketchers trying to get you to pay them to draw you, all kinda of weird arts and crafts, and cute little food shops. The highlight for me was the dual hang drum players, casually jamming in a corner outside the church. I must have sat there for half an hour just listening… After having a drink at this amazing place, and soaking up a bit of sun on the stairs just outside of the ‘Sacre-Coeur’, we headed off in the afternoon sun to the ‘Arc de Triomphe’. This is again one of the most famous monuments in France, and also is surrounded by the biggest and most chaotic roundabout in the world. Seriously, this thing has probably 9 or ten lanes, with cars and bikes cutting all over the place. Needless to say, getting a nice picture is tough work.

Having an hour or so before dinner, we headed around the ‘Champs-Elysees’, which is the most famous street in Paris, and for good reason. The scale of shops here is immense. At one end you have the Arc de Triomphe, and along this road is also the Grand Palais. It’s also where the “Tour de France” finishes every year (since 1975). We then continued to have a sweet as dinner at a diner on the Champs-Elysees, which was apparently quite a well-known one too. The rose wine that came with the meal was actually pretty nice, and the Crème Brulee was stunning. Loving this Parisian Cuisine to be honest. To conclude our last night in Paris, what could be better than to re-visit the Eiffel tower, and go right to the top at night ? So off we went in the light rain, to go cue up for a chance to get to the top. The wait again was well-worth it, and the panoramic pics we got were simply amazing. Despite the freezing outside temperatures, my Macpack puffer jacket kept my snugs, and we went and got a coffee at a restaurant-boat to pass the time, before we headed back on the underground back to our hotel, for our final night in Paris.

29/10/2012

Feeling a little hazy from last night, we wearily packed up our bags and headed down to the lobby for a quick petit-dejuner, and got on the bus to the biggest Museum in the world, la Louvre. This was where Nicholas Cage came during the film ‘The Da Vinci Code’ during one scene, and also where the world renowned ‘Mona Lisa’, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, is currently held. It wasn’t the first piece we saw, as the Museum literally has over 35,000 pieces it was hard not to be awe-struck by the gigantic marble carvings of all kinds of mythological creatures, men, and of course half-dressed women.

From here, getting a quick lunch at the on-site cafeterias, and scoping out an Apple store during our free time, we headed to the world-renound Notre-Dame cathedral to get a nice close up look. This was to be our last stop on our Paris Trip, so time was given to us to grab some food, grab some pics of the cathedral, and profite. After having a look inside, we retreated to a glacerie, and got some of the best Italian Gelato I’ve ever eaten. Anyways, from here all that passed was a long bus-ride, a few movies on the bus, and some attempted catch-up on missed sleep time.

30/10/2012

To be closer to the pick-up point of the 4-day London trip tomorrow, tonight I went to Florence’s flat with her parents to grab some dinner, have some drinks, and chill out before the hour of 6 came around.

1/11/2012

There I was, having somehow woken up, and lumbering down the road to the gare with my bag at 6am. I must be getting good at this early wake up thing. Although mum’s got dairy farmer genes, there’s maybe some kind of genetic-aid there. With a bus full of exchangers from all around Belgium, we set off for the port in France, where we’d take the ferry to England. First stop once having arrived in England was Canterbury, where we saw a massive cathedral that was the refuge of one of the last kings of England. He still lies there today, in an eerie public crypt. As we arrived late in the afternoon, we had a bit of time for a quick beer, but we were off pretty quickly to actually drive to London, to get to our hotel. Nevertheless, it was a solid 3 hour drive, and arriving around 12:30, we were all pretty shattered, and I for one found my room, my bed, and called it a night.

2/11/2012

These early mornings are seriously killing meee. Forget what I said before the trip about being good at waking up. Pure lies. First stop today was the immense “Chateau de Windsor”, which we spent the morning touring around. After a while, you forgot where abouts you were in the scheme of things, as this castle was so big, it took half an hour to traverse form one side on the interior to the other. There were evidentially too many things to see, and we ended up being really late, getting lost, and sprinting to the rotary bus. Getting there just in time, off we were to ‘Madam Tussaud’s’, which is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time. It’s basically a wax sculpture museum, that makes life sized EXACT replicas of celebrities. From Brad Pitt to Nadal to Shrek, they’ve meticuliously re-created almost every notable well-known celebrity. This was a photo-taking haven, and only photos tell the kind of intense detail they have.
Whilst walking through the wax museum, and being generally wowed by the detail, I spotted a chance to try something out. There, on a corner turning into the sports section of the museum, there was an empty spot, with what looked like a empty photo frame on the wall. Striking a dead-still pose, I stayed there for a few minutes before a young mum and her yuppie kids approached me.
“(in’a bloody thick English accent) Who’s that ?”
“I don’t know, but he looks so life-like..”

“nah, he’s fake”.

Seizing the opportunity, I shouted and turned to face the approaching pre-teen, raising my arms. I think the mum freaked out the most, but it was something that the sheer memory makes me laugh so much today..

Rounding off the afternoon, Rotex took us to the good ol’ Hard Rock Café. But this wasn’t like the other times, where you meander about taking pale photos of guitars, reading overly-summarised plaques. No, this time we had Brendan, a long-time employee of the Hard Rock Café London take us in small groups of the underground vault of the café. This was really the good stuff they kept out of reach of sticky burger fingers. In this little retreat of music history, there was the Jagmaster that Kurt Cobain famous ALWAYS used, along with those white glasses he wore in photo-shoots. BB King’s ‘Lucille’ made me catch my breath, as that is one danm well-used guitar. In fact, a lot of times at the hard rock café, sure there’s guitars of big groups there on the walls, but if read correctly, the plaque lets slip the embarrassing truth that it was once used on a tour, or it was maybe a backup bass or something. But Lucille is different. She’s been used for much of BB King’s working career. This was a well-used, well-loved guitar by one of my favourite musicians. Gene Symmonds (KISS) bass, John Frusciante’s strat (RHCP), Les Paul’s (inventor of the Gibson Les Paul) guitar, Jeff Becks beloved Telecaster he used on the Yardbirds records, they were all there. Trying not to drool was difficult, and before I got carried away and picked one up, we were out and heading into the actual café to grab dinner.

Tonight’s entertainment was going to one of London’s best theatres, and seeing a musical. Rotex chose “thriller”, which if you haven’t guessed was a Michael Jackson tribute-type piece. However, as most musicals have, it lacked a storyline. The songs did follow proper chronological order, but as some people were hoping for, there was no storyline or narrative. For me it didn’t matter, because the amazing dancers, the full live band, and the four young singers who collectively played out every year of Michael’s career did do in the most professional way. I was blown away. Not being the biggest Michael J fan at all, they were already at a disadvantage for my tastes, but by the end I was completely changed and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was an awesome way to spend a night in this amazing city.

3/11/2012

Being in London, how could you not have a stop at Buckingham palace ? Well, the bus pulled up outside the magnificent gates, just as the famous guard changing ceremony was taking place. This is a well over-played ceremony where they change the guards outside the palace (yes, the ones with the big tall black hats…) get played in by a massive band, marched into position, and left there to stand in the sun, without moving for a few hours. The attention to detail was pretty amazing, and really no one does it like the English in terms of that.

Continuing to walk into inner London, the Big Ben rose above all other contesting building, and made a really good reference point to steer yourself around the tall building surrounding the city center. As usual, we stopped for the photos, and had a bit of time to check out some more of the shops around the city center. It wasn’t especially different from NZ, just the accents and the fact everything is in pounds. I didn’t find my beloved mince and cheese pie, which kinda ruined my day. I’d been hanging out for one of those for 10 months, and in ENGLAND, I could not find any pies. I was not a happy chap that arvo.

Grabbing a quick lunch at a freaking delicious burrito shop, on we went to a science museum. This was where we spent a few hours checking out some stuff, and as usual, the metro was the way to go. Being there no public urinals at the station, there was a distinct scent of piss hanging in the air, and tarnished an otherwise fun and prompt way of getting from A to B. We were at our own disposition in London square tonight, so Jack and I took it upon ourselves to do some sweet shit. First we found the London Bridge, and saw some pretty amazing castle on the way, which we never found out the name of… Next up was the London eye. On our way there, we saw the crazy public gambling scene here in London. It went a little like this.
There was a man with three cups and a small ball. He would shuffle around the cups, and when he stopped, if you were game and thought you knew which cup the ball was under, you put your money where your mouth is – to the tune of however much you desired. If you were right, he doubled your money (your 40 pounds + 40 pounds prize), and if you were wrong, you lost the lot. It was mesmerising to watch, and he had all sorts of ways of tricking tourists. One way was that while they’d be getting out their money, he’d move the cup with his foot and therefore change the position. The tourist (not seeing the change) would triumphantly bend down to show the right cup, and alas he’d loose his money. Crafty men they were.

Continuing on from here Jack, myself and 5 or so other exchangers we met in the line, did the magnificent London eye. This is one of the best things I did in London, and the night view from the massively high view you get while at the top level capsule of the ride is breath-taking. It was hard taking photo’s because of the reflective glass, but we still got some anyways, and had an awesome time doing it too. Because no-one too the opportunity, I ended up proposing to Jack while at the top, as we all wanted to see someone do what we’d heard happens all the time during this specific ride. That being that, we got off and took the tram to go grab something to eat before we had to go meet up for the ridiculously long trip back home. Arriving at the bus at 10:00pm, we started the journey back to the ferry, which we caught at 1:30am. Going through border’s tired is even more dreadful, so having to not do it this time (for some reason ?..) we stayed nice and snug in the bus, and took the 9 hour bus ride back, when we arrived in Brussels at some time around 10am the following day. Awesome trip though, definitely one of my favourite places I’ve been to during this year.

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