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Published: August 13th 2007
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Rather large pizzas in Lyon
Part of our gastronomic "Tour de Lyon". First of all, apologies if anyone received a travelblog email containing a blank entry entitled Berlin, and for my general lack of contact/continuity - the reason being that TravelBlog recently had a massive system failure for about a week. They lost entries, found entries, sent out random entries and basically stuffed every blogger around. Anyway, we appear to be back in business again, so I return with the next stage of my European travels.
I left you - and, to my delight, an outrageously long semester - at the end of Geneva. From Geneva, I hitched a ride with Fish and Wardy to Lyon, stopping on our way to see the Tour de France riders pass through Bonneville in the SE of France. Watching the TdF seemed to me like a lot of effort to go to for not much reward: you find a position by the roadside, wait there for two hours, then watch the riders whizz past you quicker than you can say "human growth hormones". OK so it takes more like 15 seconds, but my point remains. For Wardy and Fish, this was merely the first stop on their one month tour following the TdF - their
Some of Paris' lesser known wonders
A sample of what is on offer to the transit-tourist around Norde Station. A great way to see Paris whilst avoiding the queues at the more famous locations. "Tour de Tour de France", perhaps. Each to their own. For me, this was simply a great way to get a glimpse of the TdF without actually making any effort. Trapsing across France to watch sporadic packs of doped-up male cyclists glide past me for 15 seconds once a day was not really how I wanted to spend my Summer, so the boys kindly dropped me in Lyon before continuing on their great bicycle jaunt.
We arrived in Lyon literally as the fireworks were erupting in celebration of Bastille Day. Though we missed half of them trying to find a carpark in the jam-packed city centre, the ones we did see were most spectacular. Once there, we met up with Bec Hughes, with whom I spent the next couple of days seeing the sights and sampling the gastronomic delights of Lyon. Highlights included a traditional (very large) Sunday lunch with a Lyonese family (friends of Bec), followed by a scrumptious 3 course evening meal of Lyonese cuisine (we were pretty full after that day!), and lots of walks through the old town, up the big hill for stunning views, through parks and along rivers. In fact, I may have
Beer Tasting in Nijmegen
... You're beginning to get a sense of my priorities. even walked off all the food I had eaten.
Next stop on my schedule was to be Nijmegen, Netherlands. Getting there by rail required changing at Paris and then Amsterdam, so I planned to leave enough time for a bit of a look around Paris. As the trains worked out I was only going to get a couple of hours, but I figured that would be enough to get a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower and maybe something else important. That assumption, however, proved to be rather misguided. Nonetheless, after arriving at one of Paris' railway stations (confusingly called Lyon Station), figuring out how to get to Norde Station (from where my train to Amsterdam was leaving), and then actually getting to Norde Station, I had 20 minutes in which to explore the glut of cultural and architectural wonders which line the streets surrounding Norde Station. OK, so I may not have had time to see the Eiffel, the Arc' or the Louvre, but I enjoyed my twenty minutes exploring some of Paris' lesser-known back streets, notwithstanding their mysterious absence from the Paris section of my Lonely Planet. hhmmmmm
So, onwards to Nijmegen, where I spent a relaxing
The Peace Palace, The Hague
Having read far too many words generated by the judges in this building, it had to be seen! and party-filled few days with my friend Koen (from my year in China) and his partner Els. I timed my visit to coincide with Nijmegen's "Four Day Marches" Festival and the beginning of Koen's and Els' Summer holidays. The Marches festival can best be summed up as follows: for four days, thousands of crazy people get up at 4am every day and spend 12 hours walking in beating sun through the Dutch countryside, while tens of thousands of other people spend 4 days partying (well, four nights partying and four days recovering). You shouldn't have too much difficulty guessing which group I joined... The whole town of Nijmegen was turned into massive party ground, with live music venues, hordes of people, food stands and, of course, endless beer stands. I also managed to see my second fireworks display in one week. As well as being thoroughly enjoyable, my Nijmegen visit served as a great introduction to Dutch culture (read: Dutch food and Dutch beer), of which I was to sample more in the following few days.
Before I travelled SW to the Hague, Koen and I spent an afternoon in Amsterdam. We took a canal tour by boat, which
Sailing in the Netherlands
Getting some tips from the Master Skipper himself on a delightful cruise in central Netherlands. was a relaxing way to see Amsterdam's gorgeous canal-lined streets and unique architecture. Naturally, we also took a walk through the red light district, which was one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen. The hordes of British bogans on what can only be described as weekend pub/hash/sex tours made the atmosphere all the more unattractive, if not depressing. Definitely not one of the Netherlands' finer social experiments...
Thankfully, The Netherlands has much else to be proud of. The country runs like clockwork. Everything is supremely organised - from the clean and super-efficient train network to the street signs telling you which way to go around the round about (more useful than you might think if you are an Australian or a Brit!). These guys know how to run a country!
Nowhere was this fact more obvious than in The Hague, my next port of call and the nation's seat of government and diplomatic hub. Here I was treated to the kind hospoitality of the Lewin family for 3 days. During that time we did a whistle-stop tour of the city, including its vibrant beachfront area, went on a day-long sailing trip on an inland lake, visited the gorgeous University town of Leiden, and drank at a bar which Chris used to frequent as a 12 year old. On a more sobering note, I also continued my international law tour, visiting the Peace Palace (home of the International Court of Justice - but unfortunately I was not there on a day it was open to the public) and attending a case at the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia). Well, I thought it was cool...
And so ended this leg of my travels, along with the comforts (and savings) that came with hopping between friend-provided accommodation for almost two weeks. Next, it was time for some "real" backpacking. First stop, Berlin...
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Dixon
non-member comment
still in EU?
good on ya mate. when will you go to Washington DC?