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Published: April 16th 2007
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Eiffel Tower by night
We saw this on our night tour of Paris Hola!
Today our update comes to you from La Rambla in the middle of Barcelona! We have been traveling lots in the last little while, so there is lots to update you all on.
We left London nice and early on Tuesday morning to start our TopDeck Tour, traveling to Dover and catching the ferry to Calais, arriving in Paris late in the afternoon. There are 34 people on our tour - 2 Americans, 1 Japanese guy, 2 Koreans and the rest Aussies and Kiwis, a nice healthy rivalry present between the latter! On our first night in Paris we all had dinner in our hotel restaurant, then went out on a night tour of the city, seeing the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees and all of the other sights lit up and sparkling. We were even able to watch the light show on the hour at the Eiffel Tower, which was beautiful. The next day we were up early for a French breakfast of baguettes, croissants and juice before all being dropped at the Champs de Mars near the Eiffel Tower to do as we pleased for the day. We lined straight up for the Eiffel
The view from the top!
Us at the top of the Eiffel Tower Tower, and didn´t have to wait long before we were climbing 700 steps to the second floor. What a view! After taking in Paris from here we took the elevator to the very top - took our breath away! When we finally dragged ourselves down we checked our trusty map and found the Metro station, taking the train to St Sulpice church (those of you who have read The DaVinci Code will appreciate this). We had a look around and grabbed a couple of yummy French baguettes for lunch, before catching the train to Notre Dame Cathedral. We had a good look around there and then strolled along the Seine to the Louvre. It was a beautiful day and we just wandered up the river, then sat and had a coffee at the Louvre. We took in the Mona Lisa and all of the other pieces (including the inverted pyramid for all of you DaVinci Code fans) and then strolled along the Rue de Rivoli checking out the French shopping. When our legs felt like they couldn´t go any further we walked back through the Place de la Concorde to the Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower
Mmm bubbles
Bubbles, bubbles...my bubbles for a champagne picnic there with everyone else on our tour. We had champagne from Champagne, fromage, quiche...and escargot! Yummy! Our day wasn´t finished yet, as after dinner some of us got on the bus and went on a cruise down the Seine, plenty of champagne and fun was had!
After a sleep that wasn´t long enough we were back on the bus, this time heading for Lauterbrunnen, a tiny village nestled in the Swiss Alps. It was a long day driving, about 10 hours to get there, but through some beautiful scenery. Everyone was glad to get out and stretch our legs when we got there, and the chilly weather certainly helped to wake us up! We all had an early night and were up ready to go to the Top of Europe the next day! This involved quite a few of us from the tour walking to the train station and catching a train up to the highest station in Europe, at Jungfraujoch. It took about 2 hours to get to the top of the mountain, through snow and in tunnels, and it was so worth it! There is a tourist centre at the top with restaurants
Escargot...
Mmm...garden slugs and information, so we looked all around here, then wandered through the Ice Palace, which is all ice sculptures and tunnels carved into the mountain - very cool. The highlight of the day was walking outside on the plateau, in very strong winds and subzero temperatures to really say that we had walked on top of Europe. We stopped at one of the little towns on the way down and had a hot chocolate, glad we were indoors out of the wind! That night we all had fondue, rosti and bratwurst for dinner, followed by apple strudel - we are going to look like whales when we come home.
On Saturday we got back on the bus and headed for Avignon in the south of France. It was quite a long day to get here, but when we arrived in the afternoon still had time to wander around the ancient walled city. Our campsite was just across the river from the Palace of the Popes, so we walked over and explored the little cobblestone streets. It was a very quaint little place, and we commented how nice it was that we could just wander and explore and not have
Lauterbrunnen
The mountain behind us is where they filmed Die Another Day, the James Bond movie to visit a particular attraction. Definitely the sort of place you could just chill out for a while.
Sunday morning we again got on the bus and left for Barcelona, in Spain. It wasn´t such a long day this time and we were here about 2pm, with our guides giving us abit of a driving tour to orient us to the city. We were both dying to stretch our legs and so spent the afternoon exploring the streets around our hostel. We also indulged in an apple that we had bought at a supermarket in Avignon - fruit is a bit of a luxury here, so we take advantage of it (including acquiring some extra bananas from the breakfast included at our hostel this morning...). Last night we all went out to dinner at a local restaurant here (called Restaurant Brasil funnily enough!) and indulged in tapas, paella and of course sangria! I think there must be some Spanish in us, cos it all went down very easily. Quite a few of us ended up at a little bar somewhere in the backstreets of Barcelona after dinner, where we managed to score free drinks as the bartender couldn´t be
Claire on top of Europe
And struggling a bit with the wind! bothered with the English translations!
Today, Monday, we began by walking to La Segrada Familia, Gaudi´s famous cathedral and taking it in. I think it looks like melting candle wax and Claire´s opinion is that it looks like a pile of dog poo. Cultured pair we are. It is interesting and unique though, different to lots of other churches we have seen. It was quite a walk, nice to strech the legs, then we walked all the way back here to the La Rambla, which is like the main street to see and be seen. We again indulged in baguettes for lunch and tonight are heading out to a Flamenco show, of course with tapas and sangria...see, life is good.
We will be leaving tomorrow for Nice, on the French Riviera, before heading to Italy later in the week. That´s about it for now, internet access has been harder to find than we expected, hence no updates, but rest assured that when we can, we will!
More adventures to come,
Claire and Sarah xxx
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Sue cos Barry's inSpain!
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Whirl wind.
Talk about whirl wind tour. You must be exhausted.,,,or as us Brits call it....knackered!! But then you're young!! Barry's out in Spain at the moment playing Golf, so he was about a 6 hour drive from you in Barcelona. Travelling is obviously in the family, Mum and Dad in Rome?? Nan and Pops in Shanghai?? What are we missing here?? Enjoy the rest of your europe tour, the best is yet to come,.. good ol' Norfolk. xx