Turkey - Aug 2009 - Part 2: Gallipoli and Istanbul

Altinkum to Gallipoli
Whilst in Altinkum, we arranged a bus, a company called Metro, up the west coast to Canakkale. Can't say we were really looking forward to the 10-hour bus ride but in the end we were pleasantly surprised. There were 4 staff on the bus... 2 drivers, a bag packer AND a waiter! Within the first hour we'd been served tea/coffee, cake, freshening wipes... couldn't believe the service! The bus did stop every couple of hours so we were able to stretch our legs... though I do believe that Kebab I had at the bus station in Izmir was my downfall!!

One thing that was quite interesting was the rearranging that had to take place in terms of who was sitting where, a solo female traveller couldn't travel next to a male, so a few couples had to split up along the way to accommodate that.

We arrived in Canakkale about 7pm, our hotel was only 100m from where the bus stopped which was great... weren't really in the mood for having to walk to far... and the bellies weren't too crash hot! It was a really busy seaside town though with a completely different atmosphere to Altinkum, menus were still written in a couple of languages, but had a much more cosmopolitan feel.

We had a wander round the town in the evening, noticing lots of reference to "18 Mart 1915" - when 3 English and French navy ships entered the Dardanelles, but were sunk by mines. 3 more were destroyed by guns from the 2 castles on either side of the passage, Canakkale being at the narrowest part of the Dardanelles. So while in Australia we recognise Anzac Day, the 18th of March is a cause for celebration in Turkey, being the start of a successful campain to defend the country from the Allies.

Gallipoli
Next day we joined a tour of the Gallipoli peninsula, visting all the main sites, Anzac Cove, Lone Pine, Chunuk Bair and the memorials. Our guide was great, giving insight from both sides of the battle. It was a really moving day, and I could have spent a lot longer there. I think I'm glad I visited outside of the Anzac Day services, it would be a different, though I'm sure just as special, experience.

That evening we had probably the best Turkish meal we had on our whole trip... at a little Pide and Kebap shop about 500m back from the main seafront... Great location too... the open window next to our table was straight onto a petrol station forecourt... Saw 2 lots of women ask the station attendant to use a dash of petrol to clean a mark off their leather hanbags... does that really work?!!

Canakkale to Istanbul
We tried to find some alternative transport to Istanbul... figured there must be a ferry... but the only one available was about a 5hr drive away. Glad we didn't take that option, some people who were on our Anzac Tour tried to do that, but once they got to the port, the ferry was fully booked... so ended up taking them a few days to get to Istanbul. In the end we just took another Metrobus straight from Canakkale to Istanbul.

Same deal as from Altinkum, though even fewer tourists on this route (it's a lot quicker to take a plane from Canakkale, and if you were to book in advance probably wouldn't be too much dearer than the bus)... watched a couple of Turkish movies... the acting was very poor, though apparently it was a comedy... the whole bus was in stitches a lot of the time!

We got a bit confused when the bus stopped at a random bus station on the outskirts of Istanbul... weren't quite sure how were meant to actually get into town... but after finding some people who spoke a little english, we soon found our way to the metro station. All the shop keepers try to barter for your business... I never felt hassled in Istanbul, though it's very different from everywhere else we went in Turkey where you are really left alone.

Couple of trams later we were at Sultanahment... the map I had was pretty terrible, and we weren't 100% sure we were going in the right direct so we stopped and asked a bus driver for directions... so glad I didn't listen to him... he tried to send us in the complete opposite direction! The hotel, though v basic and tiny rooms, was in an excellent location, the rooftop breakfast bar overlooked the Blue Mosque and out to the Marmara Sea - absolutely stunning!

Istanbul
Given we only had a short time in Istanbul after checking in we were straight back out and off to see Topkapi Palace - again, glad we didn't listen to some of the stall holders along the way who tried to tell us it was closed. The Palace was really amazing - particularly due to it's location at the point where the Golden Horn, the Bosphorus and the Marmara Sea all meet.

From there we just started to wander, down to Sirkeci and Eminonu and stumbled across a 10TL cruise which took us along the Bosphorus, under the suspension bridge and back again. It was quite a rocky ride, though we had timed it right on sunset so had magnificent views. We noticed that all the cargo ships had stopped coming through... maybe cause it was peak hour and there were lots of passenger ferries criss-crossing?

Day 2 in Istanbul we tried to squish as much sight-seeing in as possible... Blue Mosque.... Grand Bazaar... but from there we ended up wandering into the local markets where the Bazaar stall holders have mini auctions for goods and the locals are shopping for head scarves etc... found that area a lot more exciting that inside the actual bazaar itself, which was so stifling hot!... Aquaduct... and many stops for drinks and ice-creams along the way.

For dinner we went to an area our hotel recommended, Kumkapi, where there's a whole strip of restaurants overlooking a marina. It's predominantly seafood... pick your fish off a tray... all really really tasty and great to have a change from all the Pide we'd been eating... only problem was the damn cats... they were abolsutely everywhere... wandering around the tables. At one point I dropped my cardigan down next to my legs and jumped a mile cause I thought a cat was walking in between my legs!.... aah... hate cats!

After a couple of very quick days in Istanbul... Matt and I went separate ways... Matt back to the UK for work.. hehe... and I went on to Scandinavia for a bit of a whirlwind tour.

Turkey - August 2009 - Part 1: Altinkum

With Morocco ‘shelved’ for now, we made a last minute change to our holiday plans and headed to Turkey. We were lucky enough to be able to stay with some of Matt’s family in Altinkum, near Bodrum on Turkey’s Aegean Coast.

Most would probably cringe at the thought of travelling to a place in Turkey where there is a ‘Little Britain’ café, prices are advertised in Pounds, all the pubs are decorated in Football memorabilia and chip butties are more the norm than pide or kebap… and I have to say, I have been one of those people who have criticised the way English people have effectively ‘taken over’ parts of the Spanish, Portugese, Turkish and other Southern European coastlines. But having now lived in the UK for a while and spent some time in what felt like a “English-fide” town in Turkey, I have come round a bit.

England isn’t like Australia where only a relatively short drive from any of the capital cities will get you to beachside towns with large resorts and generally good weather, and still be in the same country, same language, same food. I mean I love to get out and experience new cultures and cuisine, but that’s a very different holiday. Not the same as being able to spend a week catching up on the sun, sleep and relaxation that you’ve missed out on by being couped up in the office for the past 6 months.

We landed in Turkey, pasty white and exhausted… 5 days in Altinkum was exactly what we needed. The time flew, even though we really didn’t do too much! The apartment was walking distance from the beach and the shops and markets so generally we had lazy mornings, eventually get to the beach have wander round and then dinner in the evenings. Very nice and chilled out!

We did hire a car and take a day trip out to Pamukkale – couple of hours inland from Altinkum. An area of white cascading terraces, made of terratine which is deposited by the spring water that cascades down the side of the mountain. The area surrounding this was very brown, not a lot of vegetation, so it made the area even more of a contrast.
There was an area where you could swim in the hot springs, but it was SO packed and you had to pay extra for a wristband that allowed you into the water… Just sitting in the water on the terraces was great!

We had lunch in a village nearby. It was our first ‘proper’ Turkish meal… Kofte and Gozmele (savoury pancakes)… yum! And so cheap! It was also great to just sit there for a while and watch people go about their day. One group were having fun weighing themselves on scales used for weighing seeds/herbs. Some of them would have been worth quite a lot!

We also visited a circus while in Altinkum. A bit random, but well worth the £3 or so entrance fee. It was surprisingly fun (despite bad backs from the plastic stools!), particularly the girl doing the acrobatics hanging from ribbons off the roof.

In the end our time at Altinkum ended all too quickly, though we were ready to move on to the next leg of our Turkish holiday.

Croatia!! Sailing, Plitvice Lakes and a day trip to Mostar, Bosnia

I know you probably don’t REALLY want to hear it, but we have recently arrived back in the UK from an amazing 12 days in Croatia… Lots of sun, food and beer… but also some beautiful cities and bays for swimming… not to mention the many new friends we made along the way!




Matt and I started off with a couple of chilled out days in Split.
We stayed in a private apartment I booked off the internet (clicksplit.com). I was a little sceptical… the apartment had only had one review, and that was in Croatian, so I really had no idea what to expect – cept it looked alright in the pictures! I had further doubts when I saw the entrance! It looked a little rundown and the first floor entry to the block was really shabby…
but all fears disappeared when we saw the flat itself. The whole top floor (split into 3 – 1 for Mum, 1 for brother, 1 for tourists) looked newly renovated and we couldn’t really fault the apartment we were staying in – particularly for the price (50 Euro a night) and the location (100m from the seafront and lots of restaurants, bakery, supermarket etc all within 30m).


Food in Croatia is really a combination of Italian – Pizza/Pasta etc, Grills, Schnitzel and seafood. Then a few traditional things like čavapi (bread roll filled with long meatballs, tomato and roast capsicum relish and some other thing I’m not sure what it was!.. but yum). Most menus wherever you went were pretty much the same.

We really didn’t do a lot these 2 nights in Split – we wandered around the city, through all the cobbled and limestone lined streets… around Diocletian’s Palace… went for a walk up a hill – towards a lookout, but got waylaid by a bar with an amazing view across Split… dabbed our feet in the water at the ‘Beach’, ate some gelato…

Diocletian's Palace

We first caught sight of our boat (the Novi Dan) at that Terrace Bar halfway up a hill just to the North of the old town of Split. We were enjoying the view and lemonade and beer when we saw the old ships start to arrive into the harbour. We didn’t know it at the time, but we did actually take a photo as it came through.

There were about 18 boats for Katarina Lines (which is the company that runs all the tours for Busabout/Sail Croatia etc) in the harbour Sat morning– all pretty similar, though some cabins had ensuites, some were share showers etc. There was a bit of confusion with our boat. We were allocated a room and Matt had completely unpacked when we and the rest of our group were told to change boats. But I think in the end we ended up with a better room as we didn’t have to share a bathroom… but the stairs down to the lower deck were a little ridiculous! Well they were probably closer to a ladder than being stairs to be honest! What I did quickly notice was that the beers were 5 Kn (About 8Kn to a £) cheaper on the new boat!... Score!

From then on it was all ‘smooth sailing’! I could write for hours on everything we got up to on our cruise… but instead I’ll just give you an idea of what our itinerary was!!.... these blogs sometimes start to feel like a chore, specially when I’ve been at work on a computer all day!
Day 1 – Board at Split Harbour
Lunch – on boat – food on the boat was WAY better than expected. Breakfast (bread, cereal etc) and lunch (3 course meal, with lots of traditional type food) were all included.
Swim in the Adriatic Sea
Walk around Hvar
DrinkDinner on boatSunset Drinks and dancing in Hvar – Our first stop was the Carpe Diem bar, parently a hotspot for celebrities, but I didn’t see any. Then again, I was enjoying my cocktail!. We spent some time at a ‘Foam Party’ and what we called the ‘Monastery of Sound’ – a night club that was out in the open set up with bars, food outlets, dancefloor… and a pool?!! We kind of ended up taking over the dancefloor – except for the 2 or 3 token “princesses” kind of dancing on the sideline… We think they were paid to be there… As soon as we got off, all the locals all of a sudden came streaming on to dance… We would like to think they were in awe of our dance ability, but to be honest they did look slightly more sophisticated and dressed up compared to our lot!... then... Crash

Day 2BreakfastSwimSunLunch (getting the picture that there was lots of relaxation?!!)Miljet National Park – we visited a Monastery on an island on a lake on an Island… which is how they liked to explain the location. It was a really pretty national park and it was nice to get out for a walk! We had a quick squizz around the Monastery and had a swim before heading back to the boat for our BBQ on the boat. Captains BBQ (was an additional charge though a bit better value than the couple of restaurants that were there) – complete with Pyjama partySunset – gorgeousBack to boat for after dinner drinks… they were included with the meal so some of us may have had a few too many?!! Matt definitely enjoyed the red wine! I ended up crashing out pretty early which was probably a good thing. Matt did make it down the stairs at some point, but apparently he spent most of the night sleeping on the deck… “under the starrrrrrrrrsss” Day 3Breakfast (though one of us didn’t quite make it)SwimLunchDUBROVNIK!!! – Loved Dubrovnik. The whole setting of the walled city is just stunning, and it was great just wandering around all the little laneways. I had definitely lost my land legs by this stage. My legs felt really wobbly when we were walking around the wall. We did go to a few bars in the evening. My favourite was the first one we went to just off the main street with 3L and buckets of cocktails…mmmm yum. I loved how the bars spilled out into the laneways. It would have been way too hot to stay inside the bar. Needed the fresh air. Was fun just sitting/dancing/drinking there… but then, we headed to a karaoke bar… which, surprisingly was way too popular.. and probably the worst karaoke we’d ever heard… we were there about 3 songs when we decided to leave… and at least 50 people had the same thought all at the same time… mass exodus! Decision had to be made then… grab the last bus back to the boat or find another bar… probably surprising to most… we took the bus!

Day 4. Chill out day todayBreakfastSwimLunchSwimKorcula – allegedly the birth place of Marco Polo. This was another walled town, but on an Island. Was again really pretty, but not a lot to explore. One of the highlights was drinks on top of one of the towers. The drinks had to be pulled up by a pulley system. The ladder to get to the roof was almost straight up… so skirts are definitely a bad idea! Luckily I had been prewarned! Day 5BreakfastLunchMakarska – a really nice, pretty town. Was a great place to relax. For a change, we actually had a swim at a ‘beach’ rather than off the boat. At most of the beaches off the coast it’s actually quite hard to get into the water. But at Makarska, if it had had sand rather than round rocks, it would have been a proper beach! After dinner, a few of us headed round to a point where our guide had heard there was a bar. I think the guy was just closing up as we arrived, but he did open up and serve drinks and put some music on! Was quite cool sitting out there, was nice and chilled out. But then the mozzies started biting and I called it a night! Day 6BreakfastChilled out in Makarska for a couple of hoursLunchSwimOMIS – was kind of pitched as the Pirate capital of the Dalmatia… there was a pirate fortress at the top of what looked to me like an almost sheer cliff… and when they said, we’re walking up, anyone want to follow… I was like ‘yeah right’… but I went, thought I’d give it a shot, plus needed the exercise really! After about 10 or 15 mins my calves had had it, but after a few just 5 more mins… we eventually made it to the top of the ridge! Was an absolutely awesome view… the fortress itself wasn’t anything amazing and the ladder to the top of the tower didn’t feel very safe! Didn’t stay on the top of that for very long.. my legs were well and truly shaking!!!

Topped the day off with a 'pirate' party on the Novi Dan

Day 7 – Our last day on the boat… didn’t do a lot today really, specially given we had already spent a coupla days in Split. But we spent the afternoon organising our trip to Mostar and Plitvice

Day 8 - We left the boat around 8am and picked up our hire car. We started heading towards Bosnia, though the Motorway that google maps said was finished, wasn’t actually finished… so using our dodgy little map we eventually made our way to the border, though we were running out of petrol and felt like we were in quite remote area which wasn’t the nicest feeling! But we did make it. Surprisingly, the Bosnia-Croatian border was sooooo relaxed. On the way in they glanced at 2 of the 4 passports, but on the way out we didn’t even have to wind down the window! They just waved us through! Driving through Bosnia was quite interesting… some areas still looked quite devastated with no one around, while in others, there was heaps of redevelopment going on. Mostar was quite nice. It all centres round the bridge across the Neretva river, the Stari Most.

The original bridge was destroyed during the Bosnian war, but it has recently been rebuilt. There were heaps of markets, selling everything from war memorabilia, including bullets, to cards with the worlds 52 most wanted people on it. Other than that there wasn’t that much around so we had some lunch – we weren’t quite sure what we were ordering – then started heading up to Plitvice Lakes, back in Croatia. After all the driving, Matt was starting to feel a little tired, so we swapped over driving at a servo on the motorway just north of split. I reckon I would have been driving maybe 5 minutes tops before all of a sudden the clouds rolled over and it started to absolutely bucket down. The wind was amazing and the Motorway had so many big spanning bridges it was really freaky driving! I lasted about 20 minutes before I had to pull over. What a great experience for my first ever time driving on the wrong side of the road! By the time we had made it to Plitvice, the temperature had dropped about 22 degrees… was only 9 degrees when we pulled up at our accommodation.. and there’s all of us in shorts and singlets! Found a random restaurant for dinner and an even more random bar… we were the only one’s there and I think they thought we were just a bit strange!

Plitvice, for our last day in Croatia, was amazing, albeit a little cold! Waterfall upon lake upon waterfall etc etc…. soooo picturesque… it’s hard for the photos to do it justice!

Our "Summer" of Cricket

Twenty20 Cricket - NZ v Scotland; AUS v WI - The Oval

Was cold, wet day at the Oval with a delayed start to the first game between NZ and Scotland... I was going for Scotland... they had a McLeod in the team afterall! Ended up being a 7 over a side match... so a bit of a free for all! In the end it was an NZ win...

Given the late start to the game and how cold it was... we had all managed to have quite a few drinks before the Aussie match even started! (The poor kid sitting next to us who had made a trek over from the Isle of Wight to see his first ever international cricket match!!)

But that was probably a blessing given the result! Took the edge off the hurt of all Gayle's 6s!!

The Ashes!! - 4th Test - Headingley

Paid a fortune for tickets through Thomas Cook Sport for days 2 and 3 of the 4th test in Leeds - but we definitely picked the right test and the right days to attend! We had absolutely glorious weather, and of course the right result! A win on day 3! The atmosphere at Headingley is fantastic... most seats are so close to the action, I'm not sure that there is a bad place to sit!

One Day International - Australia v England - Lords

After the atmosphere of Leeds, Lords was very ... subdued... very 'proper'. I'm glad to be able to say that I've watched Australia play (and win!) at Lords and it's cool that you can bring a bottle of wine in (hehe!) but I think I would go back to Headingley before Lords just cause of the atmosphere.

Managed to get the tickets to the one dayer by joining the ECB's "Twelfth Man" (shshsh don't tell them an Aussie became a member!) for 12 months. They have allocated tickets to all the big matches and members enter a ballot to get tickets. I was hoping to get tickets to the Ashes through this but was happy with the 1-day tiks!

May Bank Holiday Weekend - Champagne Tasting!

We made a relatively late decision re what we were going to do for the first May Bank Holiday… in the end we decided on taking the Cruiser on its first European adventure and headed across to Epernay France for a weekend of Champagne tasting. It was a fantastic, albeit tiring weekend.

We headed out on the 6am Dover-Dunkirk ferry, meaning we had to leave Billericay just before 4am… aah! Managed to get a bit of sleep on the ferry which was a blessing though! … on the return trip on Monday we found a great spot under the stairs and had a great sleep!

Our first stop was Reims, though put centre of Reims in the satnav and it wont take you through the prettiest parts of town that’s for sure! We were seriously wondering what all the fuss was about, the area we first drove through was really rundown. Couple of blocks away from the train station though and the whole area opened up into nice wide squares and cobbled streets, really pretty! Ended up finding a really nice bistro out of the main shopping area which had tables and chairs set up in the middle of a square, with grape vines bordering the area. With the sun out, it was certainly a great spot to grab some lunch! Noticed lots of champagne and champagne cocktails on the menu, but it just felt a bit early to be starting on that!

We drove past the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Reims which was also amazing. While we didn’t go inside, some say it is just as good if not better than Paris’ Notre Dame. There were quite a few churches in this part of France actually that had the same feel about them with the gargoyles and the flying buttresses. It was quite surprising to just see them scattered in the French countryside, when there’s huge queues to get inside the Paris cathedral.

We arrived in Epernay around 4pm and had a quick drive around town to get our bearings. It wasn’t quite what I expected… The Champagne houses like Mercier and Moet & Chandon were huge mansions and really ornate. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting, but they were all really ostentatious… just smells of money!... I guess I kind of expected it to be a bit like the Hunter Valley where the cellar doors are surrounded by the vineyards. Here all the big ‘boutiques’ with the champagne cellars underground were pretty much all in one street. Mercier had a small vineyard attached to it, but the majority of vineyards were out of town.

We stayed at a Caravan Park just out of town, on the river. They had bikes for hire which was great. Meant we could set the car/tent up and not have to pack it up each day. The one downside was you have to bring your own loo paper. Shame we’d just set up and already done our shopping by the stage… but the park owners told us the ‘short-cut’ to the Carrefour supermarket… 10min walk she says… at least ½ hr later… we finally got there!... As I say… glad we could hire bikes the next day to get into town!

Got a huge surprise when we saw a 4WD with QLD plates drive in… turns out though the guy (and the car) lives in Europe, just has a mate in Oz looking after the rego… dodgy but clever… so much cheaper than rego over here. Both nights we ended up having Aussies camping next to us though … actually there were Aussies pretty much everywhere around Epernay… in Moet… where we had lunch in town… Never too far away from the accent. Given the size of the population compared to Europe/America… it is amazing just how many there are traveling around!

Found a great spot while riding on our bicycles, for a quick coffee on the first morning… in a little open square where vegetable and flower markets were set up… and at least 60-70% of people had baguettes sticking out of the bags! Was a great spot to just watch people go by.

While in Epernay we visited Mercier, Moet and Castellane… our favourite, surprisingly for me, was Mercier… even I really thought it was going to be Moet!... The Mercier tour was really good, the guide was very informative and we went on a little laser guided train around the cellars… rows upon rows of cellars chock full of champas! Approx 17million bottles, just for Mercier in those cellars! The one thing better about the Moet tour was that you could walk around the cellars… meaning you could touch and get some great photos of the bottles… including Dom Perignon!

We picked up a coupla baguettes on the way “home” and had a great meal at the caravan park… loved grocery shopping in France.. we walked into the huge Leclerc just outside of Reims and there was just fresh food everywhere (not tucked into one little area like it is at Tescos!) .. bread…croissants… pastries… miles and miles of veg and cheese and deli meats… yum!! Hard to eat badly really!

Unfortunately quite a few motorhomes in the caravan park got broken into overnight… stealing ipods and wallets and things like that. Luckily we didn’t lose anything, but we think they went through our annex… shame really… but the knowledge of that means we will be more aware now…

Highlight of the trip came on Monday when we grabbed a map and decided to do a tour around the smaller villages. Most looked closed and/or deserted… but we came up to one (will have to look up the name), and although it looked shut, decided to give it a go. Matt knocked on the door of this big old farmhouse… no one answered for ages and we were about to give up when this little French woman came to the door… she didn’t speak a word of English.. but she yelled out for her husband… the winemaker who spoke broken English… he sat us down at this huge dining table and opened a bottle of their Reserve champagne for us to taste! Yum! And he told us about the history of the family and, surprisingly, that he was surprised that we, as Australians, were in the area tasting, cause he said we have such great wines back home! Was expecting more of a spiel about how there’s just nothing like sparkling from the Champagne region! He also took us on a tour of his vineyard, showed us the different grape varieties and then took us through his cellars. Was great to see a small scale producer. Really exactly the same as the big guys in terms of machinery etc, but just on a smaller scale.

It was a great way to end our champagne tasting. From there we programmed the sat nav to avoid motorways and started to leisurely make it back towards the ferry… driving through lots of really quaint villages and past mass British and French graves from the war… all the things you miss when you fly past on the toll roads…

Easter weekend in Brussels

Bier, Chocolate & Waffles......

Thursday

Having a train to catch is a fantastic incentive to get off work on time! It was a bit of a mad rush day at work, but once I'd left work on time and made the train at Billericay, I definitely felt relaxed and ready for a great weekend. We took the Eurostar again having got a pretty good fare, had our packed picnic of chicken sandwiches and a coupla beers... yum!... and were in Brussels before we knew it.

The train arrived in at Midi Zuid, so we needed to work out the Metro in order to get to our hotel... We didn't have too much trouble though it would have been a bit easier if we weren't so tired!. Little things like looking at a map and working out line we had to go on... getting down to the platform and realising that neither of us had remembered which station we needed to change at! Still, after a couple of very helpful directions we were on our way!

The transport system itself is a mixture of undergound tram network, metro and buses... Services are really frequent though I found most of the stations felt dirty and smelt a bit...

Our hotel, The Royal Windsor, was in a fantastic location, right between Grand Place and Centraal station. There are heaps of restaurants, bars etc right round the corner. The casino was across the road, but we didn't venture in there.

I would say there was about a 10min turnaround between check-in and sitting down for our first bier!. Even though by this stage it was about 11pm, most things were still open and there were still heaps of people about. The little street that we had headed down had heaps of Greek cafes and the pubs advertised the prices of their biers in their windows... Where was the cheapest Stella?,,, that's where we headed! After I had had a coupla Duvels (one of my favourite beers), & Matt had 1L of Stella (!) ... we were both practically sleeping sitting up!

Friday

Early (well, not really but it felt like it) wake up call at 9:30 when housekeeping banged on the door! ... Still glad they did otherwise I think I could still be sleeping!

We headed out for breakfast (no way were we paying the 29 Euros... each... for the hotel breakfast!!) mmm pancakes!!!.... then just wandered around for a bit ... through the Gallerie St Hubert (a glass roofed arcade), through the Tin Tin Boutique... and, of course, lots of chocolate shops... so so so many! And they all offer you a taste! mmmm... though by 12 I think I'd had enough!

We went through a little chocolate museum that was just off the Grand Place, which had a history of how chocolate came to Europe, where the cocoa bean is grown and the process from bean to chocolate bar... and, of course..., some free samples! It was quite a good little museum actually, I think it cost about 5 Euro each to get in...

After a walk past the Manneken Pis (yep, as it sounds, it's a statue of a little boy emptying his bladder.. have since tried to find the history of the statue... but there seem to be quite a few different stories....).. we then decided to head away from the main square and jumped on the Metro out to the Atomium.

The Atomium is a huge sculpture (height 102m) that was built for the World Expo in 1958... kinda strange really. Though you can get a lift to the top and get great 360 degree views around brussels. They had a flying fox set up from the top of the Atomium... for one thing, I'm not that into heights... but it also really didn't look all that safe which is my main reason for not giving it a go!... It was hooked up to the front of a truck.. and the only thing stopping you from hitting either the front of the truck or slamming into the ground was the reliance on a couple of guys who "at the right time" would pull on a rope connected to a stopper thing and run in the opposite direction... No thanks!

I would not call the Atomium itself a 'must do', but it was a great way to spend the afternoon. Some of the spheres are set up as exhibition halls - the more interesting ones were the ones on the expo itself. There was one bit on 'interesting expo facts'.. how many visitors, how many beers etc.. but also that 20 people gave birth and about 4 people died... was a strange mix of facts!

We had a late lunch nearby at a pub 'La Leon'. I had a lovely Flemish Carbonade (like a goulash i guess) and matt had some snails and crayfish. Was a great, sunny and warm day and it was great to just sit with a couple of beers and watch everyone go by (there were some strange ones!)

We decided to have a walk past the European Parliament and the Royal Palace before heading back to Grand Place... the Royal Palace was not guarded at all... which I would have realised had I done any research before heading off... The Royal family don't use it as a residence anymore, it's mostly used for large receptions and to accommodate any Heads of State...

Had a late dinner tonight, at a pub off the main square... Matt had a huge pot full of Mussells (I had a couple, just to say I'd had some Mussells in Brussels... though I just don't get the fascination in them)... I thoroughly enjoyed my Schnitzel and Hoegaarden.... what was even morrree yummy were the waffles we had from a little kiosk... mmmm...

Saturday

Another pretty relaxing day today... went to Autoworld, which is a museum housing, well, cars! The collection was quite extensive, though I have to say, I didn't get as much out of it as Matt did. Specially the Citroens... I still think the way the lowered the back and covered the rear wheels is fairly ugly.... still Matt seemed to think they were quite well... oh well, the world would be a boring place if we all liked the same things!

The actual building and the parks surrounding the museum where really quite nice though!

From there we headed somewhere more my style... the Cantillon Brewery, apparently the last functioning brewery in Brussels. The beer has a very distinctive taste - quite acidic and more like wine than a traditional 'lager'. Quite refreshing though not something I could see myself drinking regularly. The brewery is still run by the same family that established it, and you actually meet the family, including the brewer which is quite unique.

The area the brewery is in is definitely not the nicest part of Brussels... and when we decided to walk back to our hotel, we definitely saw another side to Brussels! still we stumbled across a really nice little piazza which had a cool little pub serving really nice burgers (and frites in little terracotta garden pots)... I noticed across the road was Comme shez soi.. or something like that... which is one of Brussels' best restaurants.. well outside our price range!

We had a mini pub crawl for the rest of the afternoon / evening trying lots of different biers. (Affligem, Judas, Jupiler, Kwiek, Kwak, Maredsous, Chimay, etc etc!).. sat at a bar on one corner for a while, watching the little community of buskers and beggars operate... quite amazing what you see when you just sit and watch for a while! ... quite the little operation!

Sunday

- Quick breakfast and last wander round the shops before heading for our Eurostar back to London... damn!

Monday

- diet starts !! ... and we saw Fast and the Furious 4 - a welcome return to the good ol FF (but still plenty of those cheesy lines)!

Greensted Church - Essex

Oldest wooden church in the world (though only in part cause a lot of it has been restored - though things like Leper holes still remain)

Day out in London

Brick Lane...

Boundary Restaurant... Really nice! Combination of French and British Food

Spittalfields Market

The Alwyne - Islington - Last Catch up with Sal

Paris - Day 3

Lazy morning again today though were very conscious that we made it down for breakfast before 10! Today we had a ‘culture day’ first stop Notre Dame… The spires and the stain glass were really impressive… It was Sunday, so there was a service on which was really nice as well…

Outside there was this guy walkin round with an ‘ugly’ mask on. He just kinda sidled up to people and took their hand or put his arm on their shoulder – was quite funny watching the reactions – specially when they screamed… I was wondering how often he got punched though!

From there we wandered through the Latin Quarter and had a light lunch in a Patisserie. There was a bike stand on the corner, so from there we rode along the bank of the Seine to the Musee de D’Orsey. Not being huge art fans, we knew we didn’t want to go in both the Louvre and the D’Orsey, so we took the advice of the majority of people we asked and went to D’Orsey. The collection is really nicely laid out, and the huge ceilings in the centre let in lots of light. The building itself used to be a railway station. Lots of Renoir and Monet… an also a room of Vincent Van Gogh which I like. Matt’s favourite was “Whistler”… cause of Mr Bean.   

It was quite tiring walking around… plus the legs were a little sore from all the riding… Least I felt I was working off a little of the good food we’d been having! Didn’t have a lot of time left before we had to be back at the hotel for the bus to the train station. Plus we had to get our train supplies… ie cake from the Patisserie.. YUM! and some beers… for some reason Matt bought some Amsterdam… horrible! Took about an hour to finish a can… good thing I spose… and had to give away the 2^nd one… that’s how bad it was!

Train ride back was quite fun… few of the group were getting quite drunk… luckily I think our tour was taking up most of the carriage so I don’t think we annoyed anyone too much. 

Paris Day 2

As expected, we were up late this morning! Made it down for breakfast 2 mins before 10 (parently breakfast shut at 10, we thought it was 10:30) The lady looking after the breakfast started yelling at us in French – no idea what she was saying… then a couple more people came in after us and she just started yelling at everyone and turned the lights off! Twas quite funny… but we got some croissants and coffee which was the main thing!

Spent most of today just wandering around… took the Metro over to Galleries Laffeyette… planned to do some shopping but with the Euro : Pound exchange rate… it was really too expensive… above the shopping centre was Tour Montparnasse – a 200m tall tower with a viewing platform on the roof. We went up, but unfortunately the cloud was quite low so it was quite difficult to make a lot of things out… but Matt managed to make out a bike stand just round the corner…

Can’t remember the last time I rode a bike… cept in the gym… but they just stay still… but after an extremely wobbly first 50m I was alright… First thing we had to do was cross 4 lanes of traffic! The bike system in Paris is excellent. You pay 1 Euro for a 24hr pass and you can pick up a bike from one stand (there are stands everywhere) and drop it off wherever you end up. Don’t have to worry about locking it up or anything. It just automatically locks itself on the stand… Really handy and a great way to see the city.

From Montparnasse, we rode up near the Champs Elysees and had a coffee (should have had a hot chocolate) and a yummy choc brownie from a Chocalatier.. spensive but had to be done! Had a wander up to the Arc de Triomphe and went to the top…. Great view from up there… don’t know if it was cause the weather had lifted, but it was a much better view from there than Montparnasse.. It was right on 6 o’clock too so we were up there for the sunset. They also stopped the traffic for a procession to walk up to the Arc de Triomphe…. It was quite funny to watch the traffic once they let everyone go… the policemen had to run for their lives! Everyone was going everywhere….

But still no accidents… we were up there for quite a while and didn’t see one – but apparently there’s an accident every 15 mins on average…

We were heading down to the Seine for our River cruise… but stopped off for dinner at one of the bistros… food was quite yummy.. and the service surprisingly good! Matt had some escargot (I don’t get the fuss really!). So with full stomachs we went on the cruise – the view was great, pity it was FREEZING!!