Paris and into Irealand

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After leaving Canterbury, I decided a little adventure was in order. Instead of catching the eurostar from a station 5 minutes down the tracks from Canterbury, I decided to head down to Dover, and catch the ferry across to Callias. The weather was pretty poor, so visability wasn't fantastic, but it was nice to be on the ocean, and to see the beaches of France. From Callias I ended up catching the eurostar to Paris...a highspeed 200km/hrplus luxury train. I was super lucky to be meeting friends in Paris - they were able to show me all the best parts of the city, interpret menus, pick the "dity pickpockets" a mile off, and explain strange sites, and local jokes (sorry Fiona, I forgot to ask who owns the walls when buildings are built onto each other).

I arrived in town, and met with Amelie for a drink in one of the many cafes around her flat. She lives in the center of Paris, so everything was in walking distance for us. We had a night enjoying wine, cheese, and other fine french food (the pastries are sooooo good!). I spent the next day while she was at work at the Lourve. I had a whole day of activities planned, but never got any further than the lourve (especially after wasting heaps of time walking in circles trying to find the place...my sense of direction really has got a bit wacked). I've never been in one place with so many beautiful things (for those of you who don't know it is the museum where the mona lisa is kept, although there are so many other famous beautiful pieces of art as well). The museum is absolutely massive. I walked kilometers just inside the museum. Pedy and Johannes trained in for a old flat reunion, and we had a massive evening walking the whole of the Champs Elysees from the Arc monument thing, all the way back to Amelies. Another top thing about Paris is being able to get fantastic crepes even at 2am when everything else is shut.

We had a massive day in Paris, starting off with visiting Montmartre, visiting the church, the moulin rouge, monuments and more cafes, sampled some pretty fine french beer, and were joined by Vivienne, who is working in Paris. We then headed by bus to Notre Darm, a really fine cathredral. The place was really packed out iwth tourists, and all the gardens around were crowded with Parisians and tourists alike enjoying the sunshine. Amelie brought us a bottle of french champagne, and we had a picinic in a park overlooking the Seine. It was all pretty perfect. We then headed back to Montmartre for dinner, and rounded up the evening having a drink at "Les Deux Magots" one of Paris's most famous cafe's.

The next day we met Baptese at the markets (also working in Paris), as we brought lots of yummy cheese and other treats for our picnic at the effel tower. We decided against going up the tower after seeing the ques, but the picnic overlooking it was excllent. We rounded off the weekend with some drinks in a park, and a home cooked meal back in the flat which Lucas joined us for (also working in Paris). It was really great to catch up with everyone, especially the old flat, and re-discover everyones similar sense of humor.

The next day I headed to Ireland, flying into Dublin. I did some walking around the center of town, before heading off to do the compulsory Guinness brewery tour, and a historic jail tour, where a lot of Irelands political prisioners were executed or held. There was a load of history in the place, and our super enthusiastic guide ensured we all got into the spirit of Irish history. I enjoyed a meal and some traditional irish music at a local Temple bar pub.

Next I headed to Atholone where I have caught up with Jason (brother), Jada, Jemma (nieces), and Mary Helen. Jason, Jada and myself had a trip down to the cliffs of Morr area. The weather over here is a bit of a fright. Locals go on about the fantastic weather when it is overcast and gloomy, I've discovered why they were happy with overcast though, the last two days have been constant rain, as a trade off everything is super bright, green and lush, the product of all that rain.

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Comments

[Fiona]

Keeping in touch
Hey Adele, great to read up on your adventures. Didn't get what you meant about the walls being built into each other and who owns what...... whats that all about? Be safe, say hi to Jason regards Fiona

[anonymous]

Loved your travel story adele. we remember lots of those places in Paris on our 2 day stay there way back in 2004. it sounds great