Today was bliss, the campsite was clean, showers nice, toilets with toilet seats. Bliss I can tell you, not only that we got a sleep in, we didn't have to be at the bus till 9am. This mean't no alarm. Everyone got up relatively early and had breakfast, poor Jelly thought she was running late, but we were just early. Got breakfast, Row was a dishy so he had to do the dishes, they started late, therefore we were running late. Not really a problem, we are on holiday after all.
1st stop the french perfumery. We were told how perfum was made, something like 2 tons of flowers to make 1 litre of essense. No wonder it is so expensive. Row let me buy 5 bottles for E175 and then he brought a face cream and some smelles for him, very cheap. After walking through we walked back to the bus with an awesome view down to the water.
Back onto the bus and into Nice, about 10 mins away. We got dropped off and had a free afternoon. Its right next to the water, so it was nice to think we could just relax close to the water.
Row and I decided to get some lunch, so we walked off the beaten track a bit and had fun trying to order lunch. We got it to takeaway, and walked back to a waterfall with a walkway that had some nice shade and sat down to eat lunch.
Today is our last day in France, tomorrow we leave for Italy. After we finished lunch we walked up the main street, which has a tram-train, but the tracks were under repair so we didn't see it running. We decided to find an internet cafe and catch up on emails etc and write on the blog for an hour. The cafe was a bit doggy, the keys on the keyboard hardly worked, but we got there.
After this, we walked down to the beach and got an ice cream. We didn't give them enough money, it was funny trying to understand what they were asking. I looked at the price and suddenly realised what she was saying and gave her extra money.
It was so hot that we headed for the beach, we were just going to walk along the beach, but when we got down the stairs and saw some of the guys on our tour so we sat and chatted with them. I put my togs on and went for a swim. It was really cold when you first got in, then it was beautiful. The only problem was that there was alot of rubbish in the water. When some thing came towards us, (lots of dirty water) I decided to get out, I'm really pleased I didn't put my head under. Incredible to think that they don't care about their environment as much as we do. It will hit them sooner or later.
After the swim we thought we would go and see the old town markets. The old town was very similar to the gothic area in Barcelona. In that everything was very close together. The look of the buildings weren't the same, but the market was in a square and all the little tiny avenues leasing off were similar.
The market wasn't really a market it was fully of antiques. If you had wanted to find silverware and other antiques, it would have been the perfect place, but for campers not a good market.
Tonight its off to Monaco - I'll write more on this soon.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Day 7 - Antibes French Riveria - France
Today started at sparrows... about 6am (not that early really, but we're on holiday). Breakfast, tents down, bus packed.....and......then we waited. The bus driver had gone over on his hours the day before, so we had to wait till he'd had enough time off before we could hit the road, but when we finally did, it was get comfortable and wait some more... it was going to be a long day in the bus.
During the start of the trip we did introductions. Everyone got up and jumped on the bus microphone and told everybody who they were, where they came from, and tell an emparrising story. It was quite good to put names to faces, or though i still can't name everybody on the tour, but i'm getting there. Megan told the story of how we got together, which went down a treat. but once that was over, most of us had alittle sleep.
After a couple of hours we had our first "Service stop". Services are areas off the side of the main drag where you can park up, get gas, coffee use toilets and things like that. Most are well setup and you see the every 30min or so along the roads. Anyway, when we got to this one it was stinking hot... which was nice cos thats why we came at this time of year... so we had a coffee and did the usual stuff and jumped back on the bus, and went to sleep before the next stop.
The next stop was a little gypsy town called Aigues Mortes. This was a cool little town that is completely walled in. The whole town is within the walls and at the moment they are celebrating the Festival of Louis IX. Everyone was dressed up in gypsy clothing, there were horses rides, shows (that we didn't see), all the shop attendants were dressed up. (How they could handle being dressed up in the heat I've got no idea), we had fun ordering lunch, well i did, Row didn't feel very well. We were a bit worried that he was going to get sick, but turned out in the end to just be a bit of dehydration.
We walked around the town and had to pay for the toilets (bit of a foreign concept, although the superloos are starting to pop up everywhere at home). We got some photos and then just as we were leaving we brought a bottle of local wine.
Both Row and I were sad to leave Aigues Morte, we could have spent a day or two looking around. Its definitely a place Ian and June should visit when they come over to France again.
Back on the bus, my gosh we truely are going to live in this thing. Bound for the French Riveria, not sure if we had to stop again, but if we did, it would have only been a services stop. It was late in the day when we made camp about 7pm, it was everyone hands in to get things done.
Once we had dinner it was free time. I was going to go to the theme park, but ended up going to the bar for a quiet beer. Then off to bed, its been a long day. I was looking forward to tomorrow, as we're going to Nice and a french perfumery. For now its a good night sleep.
R&M
During the start of the trip we did introductions. Everyone got up and jumped on the bus microphone and told everybody who they were, where they came from, and tell an emparrising story. It was quite good to put names to faces, or though i still can't name everybody on the tour, but i'm getting there. Megan told the story of how we got together, which went down a treat. but once that was over, most of us had alittle sleep.
After a couple of hours we had our first "Service stop". Services are areas off the side of the main drag where you can park up, get gas, coffee use toilets and things like that. Most are well setup and you see the every 30min or so along the roads. Anyway, when we got to this one it was stinking hot... which was nice cos thats why we came at this time of year... so we had a coffee and did the usual stuff and jumped back on the bus, and went to sleep before the next stop.
The next stop was a little gypsy town called Aigues Mortes. This was a cool little town that is completely walled in. The whole town is within the walls and at the moment they are celebrating the Festival of Louis IX. Everyone was dressed up in gypsy clothing, there were horses rides, shows (that we didn't see), all the shop attendants were dressed up. (How they could handle being dressed up in the heat I've got no idea), we had fun ordering lunch, well i did, Row didn't feel very well. We were a bit worried that he was going to get sick, but turned out in the end to just be a bit of dehydration.
We walked around the town and had to pay for the toilets (bit of a foreign concept, although the superloos are starting to pop up everywhere at home). We got some photos and then just as we were leaving we brought a bottle of local wine.
Both Row and I were sad to leave Aigues Morte, we could have spent a day or two looking around. Its definitely a place Ian and June should visit when they come over to France again.
Back on the bus, my gosh we truely are going to live in this thing. Bound for the French Riveria, not sure if we had to stop again, but if we did, it would have only been a services stop. It was late in the day when we made camp about 7pm, it was everyone hands in to get things done.
Once we had dinner it was free time. I was going to go to the theme park, but ended up going to the bar for a quiet beer. Then off to bed, its been a long day. I was looking forward to tomorrow, as we're going to Nice and a french perfumery. For now its a good night sleep.
R&M
Day 6 - Barcelona Spain
Well today we woke up in Bacelona, and it wasn't raining :D
It was a normal morning, up and about fair early, and onto the bus for a trip into town. We did driving tour of the city and learnt abit about Spain's history. Seems it was a big place back in the day, but in more recent time its been abit of a nothing country, they weren't involved in either of the two world wars, but did have a rather bloody civil war between the two world wars...
The city itself is quite modern to look at, a big change from London and Paris. It was the sight of the 92 olympic games, and that can been seen through the city in the form of sporting arenas everywhere. There was one big church that we had a good look at, but I can't remember (he can't but i can Sangra Familia - Gaudi was one of the architects) the name of it... its still under construction, even though they started building it back before 1910... things go a little slower on spanish time. They are meant to finish in the year 2040, but aparently the date changes everytime Contiki go there... so who knows when it will be finally finished.
After the driving tour, we did abit of a walking tour through the old gothic part of the city. it was like stepping back in time. Old stone walls, and cobble pathways, narrow streets, wood and wrought iron doors and gateways. We went through to the old town square where Columbus was meet back, and then down some more narrow allys to an area that was used as an execution area for anybody that didn't agree with the king during the 1930 spainish civil war. From there our tour manager lead us out of the gothic town (which is almost a maze) and into the new town, where we had the day to ourselves. Because Megan and I are heading back to Barcelona by ourselves at the end of the Contiki trip, we decided to just take it easy and have a look around. We walked up and down the main street, got some lunch at a little local place (which cost heaps about 50 Euro, we normal spend about 15 Euro), and just generally took in the sights of the area.
At around 5pm, we meet back up with the bus and headed out to watch a Flaminco Dancing show. It was realy good to watch, and at the end we did some "latin dancing" as a group for abit of fun, it was a real laugh and well worth it. Its not something easy to describe, but it was very interesting to watch. They served us sangrea which is a red wine with something added to it, its quite sweet with a hint of spice to it. i didn't think it was to bad, but Megan wasn't impressed with it.
After the the show we headed down to Port Olympic for dinner. This seems to be the pary area of Barcelona and there where people everywhere. We had dinner in quite a large restaurant with most of the others off our tour, then headed home on the bus. On the way back we went past some water fountains that had been built for the 1929 world expo.... it was AMAZING. and awsome sight, was lights and sound, it was well worth missing the night out on the town to see it.
And that was barccelona :D
R&M
Day 5 - Barcelona Spain
Well today was a quite day.... two reasons for that, the first was that it was a travel day which ment we spent most of the day sitting on our bums in the coach, the other was that about 15 people on the bus where throwing up and had the runs because of a stomach bug that is going around Paris (or at least the camp site we stayed at).
It all started at 6am... well for Megan and I any way, as we didn´t get the bug, but for those that did, first call was 4am. Those that got the bug weren´t alot of use as you can imagine, but we have a really good group of people on the tour so every one that was fine pulled together to pull the camp down and pack the bus. Packing the bus was interesting as the bus driver was on the dunny as he got sick to... but we got under way on time. We had to stop evey hour or so for the driver and others to us the bathroom, after the second stop, our tour manager organised another driver for us, which sped up the trip....
Not much to say about the trip really, just driving across the country side. we did stop at an old Roman Aquaduct... still standing and still in pretty good condition given that its been standing for about 1950 years give or take... really amazing to see what they could accomplish way back then, and makes me wonder where we would be if there had been no darkage...
Finally made it into Barcelona, it was fine when we pulled up, but as we where putting up the tents it started to rain, seems to be the way things work on our trip... but it cleared up pretty soon after, so it wasn´t to bad...
That was about it for the day... mostly just travelling really....
R&M
It all started at 6am... well for Megan and I any way, as we didn´t get the bug, but for those that did, first call was 4am. Those that got the bug weren´t alot of use as you can imagine, but we have a really good group of people on the tour so every one that was fine pulled together to pull the camp down and pack the bus. Packing the bus was interesting as the bus driver was on the dunny as he got sick to... but we got under way on time. We had to stop evey hour or so for the driver and others to us the bathroom, after the second stop, our tour manager organised another driver for us, which sped up the trip....
Not much to say about the trip really, just driving across the country side. we did stop at an old Roman Aquaduct... still standing and still in pretty good condition given that its been standing for about 1950 years give or take... really amazing to see what they could accomplish way back then, and makes me wonder where we would be if there had been no darkage...
Finally made it into Barcelona, it was fine when we pulled up, but as we where putting up the tents it started to rain, seems to be the way things work on our trip... but it cleared up pretty soon after, so it wasn´t to bad...
That was about it for the day... mostly just travelling really....
R&M
Day 4 - Lyon France
Today is a travel day. One of the many to come were we spend the entire day on the coach. I didn't want to pack up, I had got use to Paris and could definitely have spent more time here. This is definitely somewhere I would like to come back too.
The countryside goes past, sometimes I look out and sometimes I read, lots of people sleep. It becomes a long day, although I expect we'll all get use to it, if not well, I don't know.
We shop about every three hours for toliets, drinks and food which I imagine could be quite expensive, so we're trying to only have a coffee at none lunch stops. We also stopped at a supermarket, so we brought some wine, very cheap (E0.97) (Don't know how good it will be). Also brought some cheese.
We stopped at a Chateau that Contiki owns, and was taken through the wine process. Its still very manual here, even the picking is done by hand. The grape vines are very low to the ground. And there are paddocks and paddocks of them. It makes the countryside look so beautiful.
The wine was very interesting, not really one would drink, but the bottle is etched, so we brought one. It will be nice to have that with dinner, it might be nicer with a meal.
It was nice to walk along a french country road, and look around. We didn't have very much time here, but the vinter's family have lived here in the same house for close to 400 years, that quite a legacy.
We then moved onto the campsite near Lyon unpacked and set up camp. We're only here for one night, this is really a pain, but that's life.
The cooks cooked dinner (Rowan was a cook) and then basically Row and I went to bed. I was tired after the long trip and we had to get up early this morning. Its time for sleep tomorrow we move onto Barcelona Spain.
R&M
The countryside goes past, sometimes I look out and sometimes I read, lots of people sleep. It becomes a long day, although I expect we'll all get use to it, if not well, I don't know.
We shop about every three hours for toliets, drinks and food which I imagine could be quite expensive, so we're trying to only have a coffee at none lunch stops. We also stopped at a supermarket, so we brought some wine, very cheap (E0.97) (Don't know how good it will be). Also brought some cheese.
We stopped at a Chateau that Contiki owns, and was taken through the wine process. Its still very manual here, even the picking is done by hand. The grape vines are very low to the ground. And there are paddocks and paddocks of them. It makes the countryside look so beautiful.
The wine was very interesting, not really one would drink, but the bottle is etched, so we brought one. It will be nice to have that with dinner, it might be nicer with a meal.
It was nice to walk along a french country road, and look around. We didn't have very much time here, but the vinter's family have lived here in the same house for close to 400 years, that quite a legacy.
We then moved onto the campsite near Lyon unpacked and set up camp. We're only here for one night, this is really a pain, but that's life.
The cooks cooked dinner (Rowan was a cook) and then basically Row and I went to bed. I was tired after the long trip and we had to get up early this morning. Its time for sleep tomorrow we move onto Barcelona Spain.
R&M
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