Sun, Snow and a whole lotta beer!! (Nice, Lauterbrunnen, Munich & Paris)

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***For those who don't know...Travelblog.org lost all of our blogs. 😞 Luckily we got them all back though - minus the photos from this last entry. So the photos I have put up are all I could recover without starting all over again. Enjoy...***

Hello again everyone...once again I'm on a crazy French keyboard, but I think I'm getting the hang of it slowly.

We are currently on our last day in Paris. Since our last update however, we have spent another lovely day in Nice, been on a cruise to St. Tropez to hang with all the rich and famous, went to gorgeous Switzerland and both of us flew over the alps, been to Munich and created some havoc in the beer halls and have now been roaming the Parisian streets and watching the Tour de France!! Phew...and that's only in under 2 weeks!!!

So our last day in the south of France we spent sunning ourselves on the pebble beaches of Nice and then boarding a cruise to the exclusive island of St Tropez. There was a hilarious Scottish guy giving the commentary on the cruise over and unlimited bar which is ALWAYS good. 😊 We cruised past Millionaires Bay and the guide pointed out houses owned by people such as Mohammed al Fayed, Bryan Adams, Brigid Bardot...oh, I can't remember the rest!! 😊 We also saw a couple of paparazzi helicopters flying over all the fancy boats and it was crazy, once they saw who was on the boat, if it was someone famous, they would hover above the boat for about 3-5 minutes taking photos. So now I know how they do those pictures on the boat for NW etc.!!! Not sure who it was they found, but apparently Eva Longoria and Tony Parker were there on their honeymoon, so maybe it was them?? Once on the island we didn't see any celebrities unlike one of the girls on Busabout the week before who had her picture taken with Owen Wilson...mind you some people on our cruise said they saw Dr Phil. I know...you wish you saw him too huh?!?! 😊 While we were there we just had a bit of a swim and a short walk around the island.

The next day we headed off to Lauterbrunnen, and...WOW!!! The scenery in Switzerland is absolutely gorgeous. It's exactly as you would probably imagine with the snow capped mountains in the backgrounds, massive lakes which are an ice blue colour and the cutest houses ever!! And the air and everything just seems so clean. Loved loved loved Switzerland!! Unfortunately though, we only spent our time in the one small town, and we got our first bit of rain on our European leg of the trip. But we still had a great time.

First day Jimmy did a skydive over the Swiss Alps...must've been amazing!! See pics!! And I...well I took my baby step towards a skydive and decided to go paragliding. Switzerland looked absolutely stunning from up in the air, I paraglided over another small town called Interlaken - so called because it is in the middle of two big lakes. Really pretty views...but I can't say there's much of an adrenalin rush or any thrill component whatsoever to paragliding. Next time might have to definitely be a skydive...aaaaaagghhh!!!

At our campsite we discovered thanks to the handy hints of those before us (thanks Trent!) that there was a BBQ on site. So our second night we had a BBQ with some other fellow Aussie Busabouters and it was delicious!!! Who knew one could miss a barbie so much?!

Next morning we went to 'The Top of Europe', the highest railway station in Europe; Jungfraujoch on the Jungfrau mountain. There was snow!!! And lots of it...well I guess that makes sense considering we were 4000m above sea level. It was great being able to play in the snow after just being in Italy and sunbaking every day! Seeing as we weren't really dressed for the ocassion however, it was a case of 'Oh, this is so much fun!' and 'Oh my god, I can't feel my toes!!' We went through the snow palace which was fun (and slippery...ask Jimmy!!), went on some snow disk runs, looked for the huskies which usually do sled rides (but it was too cold even for them...what the?!?!), had some snowball fights and then had a well deserved hot chocolate! The disappointing thing however was that when we first got there, we couldn't see two feet in front of us...it was almost a total whiteout (see pics). It did clear up a little every now and again so we could get some nice snow and mountain photos, but you are supposed to be able to see France, Germany and Italy from the lookout, and we couldn't even see Switzerland right below us!! Oh well...I'm still glad we went. We only caught the train halfway down the mountain on the way back and hiked from a small town called Kleine Scheidegg. It was 1500m in altitude back downhill to Lauterbrunnen and a 3hr hike. It was worth it though for the views, although an absolute killer on the knees...and bum for the next 2 days!!

The next day we went to some waterfalls in the area; Tummelbach Falls. Lauterbrunnen has something like 72 waterfalls - and it's not a very big place. 2 of these waterfalls were right by our campsite...so pretty!! Anyway, Tummelbach are 10 waterfalls in Lauterbrunnen which are inside a cave and pump 20,000 litres of water a second! The sound was amazing, and the amount of spray they give off...after seeing these I can't even try to comprehend what Niagra Falls must sound like. Our last day in Lauterbrunnen rained a fair bit and so we just lazed around and tried the local dish - a cheese fondue. Man are those things filling...and sickening!! Glad to have tried it, but probably wouldn't get another any time soon!!

Onto Germany!! On our way to Munich we had two stops; one was in another Swiss city called Lucerne. We had one hour here to see the sights, and Jimmy bought his second Swiss Army knife - he had a similar obsession with the knives as I did with the Venetian glass rings!! 😊 We also stopped in Liechtenstein, where there is really not much to see or do...but I did get another stamp on my passport, so that is always cool!

We arrived in Munich at about 7pm that night and after happy hour at the bar at the hostel, we made our way to the famous Hofbrauhaus. Wow, wow and triple wow...I LOVED this place with a capital L!! As soon as we opened the door I was in love...the band playing in their full lederhosen, the beermaids in their outfits (not sure what they're called?) carrying a ridiculous number of beers - beers which the average person struggles to lift one to their mouth - it's absolutely packed, and everyone is smashing their 1L masses of beer together saying 'Prost!' and generally just having an awesome time. It's been my favourite place we've visited on the trip...and that's before I even had a beer!!! So I guess you can all imagine how much fun I had after I'd downed a couple of litres worth of the best beer ever!! We spent two out of our three nights there.

It's true...German beer doesn't give you a hangover! They have (or always did have until the EU decided to get rid of it) a purity law in which their beer can only contain water, malt, barley and wheat; no preservatives at all! And yep...no hangover! Brilliant!! We went on a walking tour the next day and saw all the major sights and heard lots of stories about Hitler. We then walked to the Englischer Gartens and watched the surfers ride the wave on the river. It's pretty awesome; I could've watched them for hours!! Night time came, and yep...we went to the Hofbrauhaus again! This time we got a meal, and I think I can honestly say that it was one of the best meals I've ever eaten!! Even if it did take 2hrs to come out!! Jimmy got a pork knuckle which he raved about as well! When the people we were with decided to leave, we joined tables with a girl we met the night before and Jimmy befriended some German Military boys who have said they'll take us out when we get to Berlin??!!

The next day we visited Dachau, the first concentration camp set up by the Nazis and the model for all the others. It was quite an eye opening and sombering experience, even if you think you know a lot of what went on, there's always another horrible story of what they put these thousands/millions of people through. Very sad, but a good experience nonetheless. It really makes you think about it more and the fact it really was not that long ago...scary!!

Spent over half the day at Dachau and then went back to the city where we walked over 300 steps to the top of the bell tower at St Peters for a panoramic view of the city. Jimmy and I then went on a beer crawl of Munich. We got taken to Augustiner Keller, the biggest beer garden in Munich (it holds 5,000 people), Lowenbrau's beer garden and another bar at the end. I told you that German beer doesn't give you a hangover...but mixed with Jagermeister shots that the tour guide kept handing out, that rule no longer applies!! And the next day we had a 13hr bus ride...

To Paris!!

First opinions...can you hire a peg for your nose for the constant stench hanging over this city???? And where do I buy my cigarette butt souvenir to take home for mum and dad???? Seriously, most of the city smells like piss, and there is heaps of rubbish on the ground, especially cigarette butts!! Sounds very horrible and that I hate Paris but that's not true. I do think it's slightly overrated by some and I don't love it, but I'm not totally the other way either. Their monuments and buildings are beautiful and amazing, especially Notre Dame, Sacre Cour and the Eiffel Tower at night, and we haven't had a problem with the Parisians at all unlike some stories you hear...but yes, it does smell bad!!

So, what have we been up to in Paris? Our first morning we walked to the Sacre Cour where Jimmy almost got into a fight with the africans who try to sell cotton bracelets (like the old friendship bracelets we used to make). But they grab you and won't let go and if they get that damn bracelet on you, apparently they demand ridiculous sums like €20!! So Jimmy told them to leave us alone when they were trying to block our path and grab us and they started yelling at him to F@*! Off and go away...that was ok though because I saw some pushing this poor asian guy just in front of us so I think we got off lightly!!

Other than that...the Sacre Cour is a beautiful church. It looks gorgeous from the front, and is also just as nice inside. It really is a pity about those bracelet sellers who ruin it for all the tourists. Oh well...at least we made it out without a bracelet!!

We then went to meet a walking tour and were able to fit in a visit to the Notre Dame in between. Another beautiful place, but very dark. Our walking tour was great and we got to see a lot of the sights. We finished up half way down the Champs Elysees and so continued down to the Arc de Triomphe where we went to the top for a view of Paris. Now, I know the Eiffel Tower was right in my view, but I could not stop watching the crazy roundabout below the Arc de Triomphe!! Twelve streets run off this roundabout, it's also about 12 lanes wide with no markings, and apparently the only rule is to give way to people ENTERING the round about!! Seriously crazy stuff and the cars just end up facing each other, cutting from the middle lane to the outside to exit the roundabout...apparently no car insurance in the world will cover you for driving in that roundabout!!! But other than that, the view was great. Out to the Eiffel Tower, down the Champs Elysees to the Place de la Concorde, the Pantheon and even all the way to the Sacre Cour. We then had dinner on the Champs Elysees (at the only place we could afford to eat a meal on the pavement - Quick; the French McDonalds!) and made our way to the Louvre because it was free after 6pm for people under 26.

We did the most important thing first and went straight to the Mona Lisa. It says you're not allowed to take photos, but there wasn't anyone NOT taking a photo...so of course we got a few. We then had a quick wander around for a couple of hours before we'd had enough. That place is absolutely huge...if you wanted to see everything you would need a two week pass!! So then after that we went down to the Eiffel Tower to watch it sparkle after 10pm and then went by the Moulin Rouge on the way home to get some pictures of it at night in all it's glory. So all in all we got a fair bit done in one day!!

The next day we went to visit the Catacombes in Paris. Underground quarries where they ended up putting all of the bones of bodies exhumed from the overcrowded cemeteries. We walked through nearly 2km of skulls and bones...lovely! 😊 We then went and had a picnic behind the Notre Dame where I...oops, spilled all the salami we bought for our baguettes!! Jimmy was not impressed!! We then went on a World War II walking tour which was quite interesting as neither of us really knew that much about the Nazi occupation in Paris.

That night we braved the African bracelet men to go back up to the Sacre Cour at night for a picnic and wine dinner on the steps up there as it is just about the highest point in the city and you get a magnificent view of the whole city when it lights up. It was really nice and we got past all the bracelet men to listen to an excellent busker and get an amazing view of Paris by night.

Then - what awesome timing - yesterday we happened to be in town for the final leg of Le Tour de France!! So we headed down to the Champs Elysees at about 10am for a good spot to see them come in. We were told they'd get in any time between 1 and 4pm and told to arrive at 7am by one person, 10am by another, and 12pm by another. So we went in the middle and we probably could've left it another hour or so. While we were waiting it rained, and the riders didn't qrrive until 5pm!! It was all kind of like being at the Melbourne Cup...we brought our wine and sat and waited in the rain, and what...cyclists? Are there cyclists coming?? No, it was a fun day and great to be there for a world sporting event, but I certainly wouldn't travel specifically to see it!! Oh...it is so funny too, before the cyclists come, they have the caravane parade of all the sponsors.

It is absolute craziness!! There were sooooo many sponsors, and each of them had like 3 cars, 2 floats with dancing promo chicks harnessed to them, and, wait for it...semi trailers zig-zagging along the circuit. Don't worry about a cyclist coming off and injuring you, I was more concerned a semi-trailer was going to fall on us in this crazy parade!! And the entourage that comes around with the bikes as well...so funny! Surely for this part where they're only going 1km up and 1km back, the cars could wait at one end???? Anyway, we even made it right up near the podium at the end to see Cadel Evans get whatever he got for coming second!! 😊

Today we had a French lunch in the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank of the river Seine, and yep...we had escargot!! Snails!! They were actually pretty good once you get past the factthat they really do still look like slugs!! Was a very good meal. Other than that we just wandered around the city and will be having another baguette and wine picnic dinner in someother lovely garden of Paris tonight before we leave.

Tomorrow we are off to Bruges where we will spend two nights, and then to Amsterdam for 3 nights and Berlin for 5. It feels like we're getting so close to going back to London and having to find a job and a place to live!!! Aaaagggghhh!! No, actually, I think a bit of routine and a wardrobe to live out of instead of a backpack is getting more appealling as time goes on. Still don't want it to end though!! Well, until next time... xx

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