A Wedding in Paris - Honeymoon in Venice, Croatia, Bosnia and Hungary

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"Are you ready to see Paris" I asked my wife as the we alighted at St Denis metro and walked to the escalator to the street. She hadn't been that over awed with the ride in from Charles de Gaulle, so this was to be the moment when Paris had to hit home. I went up first with the camera ready to catch the look on her face as she entered the City of Light for the first time. The expression on her face told it all. Paris in all its inherent charm greeted her in St Denis - stylishly dressed coffee sippers bathed in morning sunshine, historic architecture, cast iron Metro signage, people hurrying, car horns sounding, energy abounding - we are in Paris.

Sitting at the cafe, ordering a 1664 (for me) and an cafe au lait (for her), we soak up the ambiance and think about where to find a hotel. After some wandering around, we settle on a small place down a side street with the smallest lift I have ever seen - room only for one person + bag at a time. Not the best choice, as we moved up around Chateau d'Eau the next day where the scene is ever so much more vibrant and cheaper - lots of Africans, halal food, Cafe Napoleon - how can you go past a place with that name. Chateau d'Eau became our base as we explored Paris. I had been a number of times but had a list of places I definitely wanted to see on this trip. Top of the list was Sacre Couer and Montmartre; followed by Marais, Bois de Boulogne, Galerie la Fayette, Montparnasse, Pompidou Centre, Canal St Martin, La Defense and last but not least - the Ritz in Place Vendome

But first, we had something special to organize. Although, already married, my wife had come up with this clever idea to take wedding photos in front of Notre Dame. I wasn't too sure about it but went along with her plan and we had packed wedding dress and suit just for the occasion. So if you can imagine, two people, clad in their wedding gear, catching the early morning metro along with the rush hour crowd - that was us. We got to Notre Dame just after 7am and had the forecourt pretty much to ourselves. Set up the tripod and took the photo you see - it worked ha - have to forever give her total credit for her harebrained idea - lol

After a few days of being Parisienne, it was time for Europe's next major attraction - well next major attraction on this trip - Venice. Instead of hiring a car in France, we were putting that off till we got to Croatia - thinking it to be cheaper there. So getting to Venice entailed catching the night train from Gare de Lyon (Bercy). As any accomplished traveler to Venice will attest, the best way to arrive in this fabulous city is by train. the reason being is that when you walk out of the station - the grand canal in all its glory is before you. For Majenah it was like her St Denis moment all over again.

Being budget conscious, we only allowed the day in Venice - but what a day. Walking through the laneways to St Marks for morning coffee, lunch at a canal side cafe - pasta and wine of course; then catching a ferry along the Grand Canal back to the station for late afternoon train to Trieste. I had always wanted to get to Trieste ever since I read that the people from there are a little crazy. Must be something to do with living in the far reaches of Italy, out of the mainstream culture and on the fringe of eastern Europe. Trieste lived up to my expectations - grand architecture, expansive plaza on the Adriatic, relaxed and free of tourist hordes. Found a quaint boutique hotel in the old section of town just along the waterfront within easy walk of the main retail and commercial hub. From Trieste, our journey down the Dalmatian coast begian to take shape as we took a bus next day trough Slovenia and into Croatia and Opatija (no hire car available) and onto Rijeka where we scored a car and found the only accommodation left which was an old Russian style resort hotel (now catering to truckies) way out of town on main road south. But we were now set up and ready for the adventure to begin.

Its strange when you get a car to go driving down an unknown road - you naturally want to go exploring, especially when you see a cute little fishing town in a sheltered bay that the highway sweeps past - you have to turn off and go for a wander along the waterfront, sit in a cafe, enjoy a beer or wine - even if its only 10am ha. After a few such stops and being pulled over by the Police for not having lights on - in broad daylight!!!!!!!, we were settling into our drive down the Dalmatian coast. Hugging the coast between the barren mountains we cruised south past Senj, Karlobag and Zadar to Sibenik - that was enough for Day 1. Checked into another Russian style resort hotel, full of what looked to be Russians - all dancing the night away as they flirted with each others wives and got plastered on vodka - funny scene.

Continuing on the next day, we stopped for a grand lunch in the delightful historic town of Trogir. This place is definitely worth a visit, more so even than the major tourist drawcards of Split and Dubrovnik. It has the lot - quaint seafront port, walls, narrow cobblestones streets and even tourists - but not in huge numbers. After lunch and wine, could still drive and we made Split and spent several hours wandering the city, exploring the palace and soaking up the atmosphere. Not sure why Diocletian picked this location - maybe because of strategy - its a pleasant enough site, not that spectacular though, but he sure built a big hut to call home. So much wanted to catch the ferry out to Hvar but cost too high - problem when you have a car - damn. Headed off yet again and made nightfall at the small seaside resort town of Makarska. Checked into a family run pension, owned by Australians - they were originally from Croatia and had made their money working in Australia and came home to buy their own little hotel and had just opened - few teething problems but I'm sure they will do well as the town is very smooth and laidback.

Continuing down the coast from Makarska, we came to the Ston peninsular and thought well if catching a ferry to an island is to expensive, at least we can pretend this peninsular that juts out into the Adriatic is sort of an island. Its an interesting part of the coast as you drive through a wall into the peninsular and get right away from the tourist run. We didnt go right to the end, the temptation to get to Korcula may have been too much. Besides, the main city of interest in all of the coastline was not that far away - Dubrovnik.

I have been to a few walled cities but hard to really recall them - there was one in Wales that in a bit of a drunken charge, my mates and I decided to walk around atop the walls - they were only there in patches so it was a bit of a bush bash but seemed like grand fun at the time till one of us drove the car off the carpark, after we had done accomplished the challenge, which was a couple of feet above the roadway - ripped out the exhaust...... had to drive all the way back to London in freezing temps - it was either that or asphyxiation. The other walled city that comes to mind is Chester. But Dubrovnik really stands out - maybe its the location on the waters edge with mountains at the back. From the road on the escarpment, you look down into the old city bound by the walls - to the north of course, the new city spreads but to the south, east and west, its sea, sea and mountains and the walls command. The walls are huge, so are the tourist numbers and all the guides running around corralling their group behind coloured flags - a little bit too much. In a pique of non conformity, when we climbed up the wall, instead of following the "This Way" arrow, I went the reverse. Good choice really as you get to meet everyone doing the wall - ha.

Dubrovnik fulfilled my expectations and drove home my emotions when I saw on TV the Serbs firing shells against her mighty walls. How could anyone think to do that - the city is a monument of history.

So where to from here - time to leave the coast. As much as I wouldnt have minded continuing on through Montenegro and Albania to Macedonia, we turned inland into the Bosnian Serb area to Trebinje. This was a very lively town with a river side setting and a pretty outdoor cafe area teeming with people. It was so Europe but no English spoken and the alphabet all Cryillic which made for rather difficult navigation ha. However after a pleasant morning coffee stop, we found the road I was looking for that heads back parallel with the coast but through mountains and valleys in the general direction of Mostar. To leave the very European ambiance of Trabinje and drive into this very barren and distinctly un-European countryside was daunting. The signs of the Yugoslav war were everywhere, in particular at one small deserted outpost atop a treeless mountain range. We stopped for lunch because the vista was wide, though quite desolate. There was a ruined house beside the road and we sat on the steps and ate local bread and cheese washed down with a local red - perfect. But the house was eerie, it was as if the occupants had fled in an enormous rush - even left his boots behind - right in the doorstep. Looters had ripped out anything that was useable - toilet bowl, taps etc so house was bare and bullet holes evident on all the walls. Not a soul in sight and no passing traffic - best to head off - lol.

So down the hill into a valley that showed more signs of life and we pulled into a very small but well populated muslim village called Stolac. It was very poor but ran along a rushing, bubbling stream and people came out to chat to us. An old guy and his son who could speak English were quite inquisitive - doubt they get many travelers passing through. When they learned my wife was Malay, the father broke into tears - it seems Malaysia was very supportive of the muslim Bosnians during the war and he appreciated Malaysia's help greatly. It was a tender moment but we had to continue as the next destination was of equal historical importance to me as Dubrovnik.

Approaching Mostar across the flat river plane, Majenah remarked "why are all those people on that bridge?" I reached across to the back seat and held the Lonely Planet guide to Bosnia before her. The front cover is the bridge at Mostar. So much for a wife paying attention to where we are going and doing her own research. We drove up to the bridge and it was crowded as people watched the local daredevils jumping into the fast flowing river. Its not the original bridge but its identical, just that it has too much of a newness about it at the moment which doesn't really blend into the aged and well worn buildings on either side of the river. Mostar is drawing the tourists in - new pensions opening up, lots of restaurants and the people are very welcoming. But away from the bridge and the immediate vicinity, the city shows the scars of war - ruined commercial buildings, bullet holes everywhere - you can only imagine what it must have been like at the height of the conflict.

From Mostar, we headed up the main road to Sarajevo. Its a nice mountain drive through tree laden ranges dropping down to the Neretva River. At Jablanica, the road forks, to Sarajevo or Banja Luka. The junction is well known as a food stop for travelers - many roadside restaurants catering to truckies and passing tourists - excellent spit roasted food. We continued on with a quick look around at Konjic where Tito and his partisans blew up a bridge over a fast flowing river - everything is as it happened, the ruins of the bridge lying in the river. A new bridge has been built - don't worry.

As you near Sarajevo, the countryside changes from distinctly rural to urban. Sarajevo is a lively little city with a good cafe scene along the main drag - its not too big, not too small and you get the impression, that it is bouncing back into life. Took a photo of Majenah on the famous bridge where WW2 had its beginnings but we didnt get out to the tunnel entrance. In fact didnt even stay the night in Sarajevo - hotels in town werent set up for car parking so we headed back into the Bosnian countryside. Besides the countryside in Bosnia is peaceful - so green, lots of trees and hills, small towns - very pleasant with a rough hewn edge.

We took the main road out of town heading to Zenica - its a bit of an industrial highway with factories all along the way but we overnighted at a small town called Visoko. It has some claim to fame at the moment as the pointy hill at back of town is rumoured to be an ancient pyramid. Not sure about this but we did drive/walk to the top and its a pleasant excursion into farmland and a great pastoral view from the top. Next day, we continued onto the industrial city of Zenica, before backtracking and taking highway to Banja Luka. Next stop was the castle town of Travnik - pretty neat. Also took a small diversion along a narrow winding road following one of the ever so many fast flowing rivers, through a steep ravine with tunnels to an old medieval castle way of the tourist track - impressive but bit scary.

Made it to Banja Luka, the capital of the Serbian part of Bosnia and close to Croatia. Its a well laid out city but lacks a bit of charm - too functional and organised. From Banja Luka, headed up to the freeway in Croatia that was running east to Belgrade. We flew along it into the setting sun but as Majenah needed a visa to get into Serbia and also the car needed approval, had to turn off just before the Serbian border and bunk down for the night in Brcko, just over the border back in Bosnia. Very comfortable hotel for the evening, even a pretty receptionist - this place gets a lot of passing trade from the freeway but our reason for coming here was to check out Arizona Market.

During the war, Arizona Market was where you went to trade just about anything - even women so I had read, but especially guns. Today, it is still a major trading post but gone are all the illicit activities - how boring - now they sell clothes and goods ha. I couldnt find an AK47 anywhere, not to mention a Moldovan peasant girl. But it was worth the trip. Now to get to the Danube

Back across the freeway but this time my adventurous spirit compelled me to take a small road north of the freeway heading to Otok. Well the road started off ok, then it became gravel and then any road signs disappeared so when you came to a fork, you tended to follow the most used track. Then, all road maintenance seemed to disappear and the road became less traveled with grass growing through the gravel and the only vehicles being farm ploughs and such. Started to get a bit worried so had to ask some farmers repairing their vehicle if indeed we were on the road to Otok. Apparently yes and very soon the small farm community of Otok came into view - phew. Fancy getting lost in the back roads of Europe. From Otok, it was only a short distance to the main road (the one we should have taken) from the expressway to Vinkovci and Vukovar on the Danube.

I had wanted to see Vukovar, this town on one of my favorite rivers, that had taken such a beating during the war. Its a humbling sight to cruise into Vukovar - the town is still almost deserted and so beaten up - bullet holes everywhere, deserted crumbling buildings, memorials to the conflict; Vukovar is definitely struggling to find its feet again. It hasnt been so lucky as Sarajevo and Mostar, the town is pretty much still a ruined shell - yet it sits on Europe's mightiest river - the Danube. After lunch on the river bank, we drove to Osijek, a thriving Croatian city - very ornate, really quite beautiful. From there, it was across the border into Hungary and an overnight stay in Pecs - the grand old city of southern Hungary.

Next day, I had to get back to the Danube as my idea was to follow the river into Budapest. As luck would have it, we reached the Danube at a quaint little place where you crossed the river on a punt. That's when the ferryman bothered to wake up and start the motor. But ahh, the cost - wow - expensive. Driving over a bridge would have been so much cheaper but nowhere near as memorable an experience. Because on the opposite bank was this expansive riverside restaurant with tables and chairs under the shade and on the riverbank. So popular, tour buses drove from Budapest to lunch here. Wellll, we had to join in - had to experience the Danube scene, had to get over Vukovar. After a wonderful lunch, followed the road along eastern side of river into Budapest

What a grand baroque city it is - pity the buildings are covered in soot though - they are in much the same condition the fine edifices of London were 40 yrs ago before they got cleaned up. A similar treatment in Budapest would have a magnificent effect as the city boasts so much grandiose architecture. Found a hotel right in the centre of town with a carpark in a nearby building - funky little carpark - bit like a mobile box compartment. But we were in town and so easy to wander around. Dined out at night in a basement restaurant on the pedestrian mall. The maitre d positively gushed over you to get you seated. Ordered typical Hungarian fare - goulash lol plus local wine in an elaborate pouring mechanism and settle in to enjoy the meal. Noticed a small hubbub of noise occurring at one table that was gradually getting louder and more vociferous - no doubt some argument over the bill. It seemed to get settled and we called for our bill. Well, so many extras - even the vegetables were extra and the wine pouring device. No way I was going to pay this; the next door table were arguing about their bill too and pretty soon, every occupied table in the restaurant were up in arms with their bills. Never seen anything like it, would have made a great movie scene, what with the maitre d running around between tables trying to calm an uprising. I point blank refused to pay anything until bill was adjusted to prices as stated on menu and was prepared to walk out. Next door table - a nice German couple on a Danube cruise asked us to join them and share the free bottle of local spirit offered as we continued to argue our case. Gradually the free spirits and timely adjustments quietened everyone down but blimey - do they go through this every night.

But unfortunately that wasn't the only scam we encountered in Budapest. Next day, we took a look at one of the large spas across the river. Nearby was a park on a hillside - very pleasant, but poor Majenah got hoodwinked into a game of Slippery Sam with dice and tumblers by a couple of very clever conmen - one playing the role of a casual gambler and the other being Mr Slippery. I tried to pull her away but she reckoned she definitely knew which tumbler the dice was under - ha - there went 50 Euro.

Well, what to do - just drive out of town - check out Lake Balaton. Getting out of Budapest on the freeway was easy, finding the freeway a bit more difficult but we managed and came across Lake Balaton at Siofok. Think I was expecting something a little more picturesque than what we got - a windswept choppy lake, reminded me a bit of Jindabyne Dam - ha. Took small roads along the shore past the tourist villages, none in full swing yet; bought supplies and the pre-requisite wine and had a Balaton picnic celebrating last day in Hungary. From Balaton we headed to the Croatian border, not on the Zagreb freeway though - not our style. We took scenic roads through rolling farmland, rustic villages and exited Hungary from a beautiful little town right on the border - Berzence.

As we had to drop off the car in Zagreb by 10am the next day, we stayed in first largish Croatian town - Koprivnica, so as to get an early start. Well the first part of the plan went to order, but we didnt count on getting lost on our last day. However we sorted things out and got on the right road to Kryzevci and then freeway into the big Z and made Avis by 10am - phew. Mission accomplished. Zagreb is an ok sort of town - not really big enough to be a grand European city but its easy to get around on foot visiting the ceremonial plazas, the markets and the shops. Stayed the night and caught the train the next morning, equipped with lunch supplies, heading to Austria. Well so we though but while pigging into our cheese, bread and wine lunch, the ticket collector came along and we got a rude awakening - we were on the train to Belgrade......... Packing up our packed lunch, we got off at first stop and waited and waited for next train back to Zagreb. So our best laid plans saw us on a very late afternoon train to Villach. Got there close to midnight but wandered into the extremely comfortable Hotel Mosser just down from the station and slept like logs in the mountain air. The sun was shining brilliantly the next morning as we wandered Villach - in the shadows it was cold, but in the suns rays - bliss - the coffee shops all had their tables placed accordingly.

From Villach, it was another train ride to Munich, past Salzburg (been there), more interested in getting to the Hofbrauhaus. Seems a lot of other people had same idea - the place was full and the steins a'flowing. From Munich, again a train - this time to Strasbourg. By now, we need a break from the constant train travel - also our plans to get to London and back before our return flight were being severely limited by remaining time. So we canned London - next time and decided to rest up a bit in Strasbourg. Its a beautiful city, historic buildings, canals, cobblestone streets and of course the Cathedral. We hired bicycles and rode around, drank red beer, ate at canalside cafes and relaxed. Would have liked to have hired a car and driven to Paris but we took a train and made it back for one last night and a remembrance 1664 at Cafe Napoleon. Our Europe trip was at an end but there was one surprise left. On checking in for the Air Asia flight back to KL, we were upgraded to 1st class - now you cant complain about that.

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