Down South - Languedoc-Rousillion/Provence

20.12.2001 -2 °C

20 December 2001

Bonjour

Am now back in France. At present I'm in Languedoc-Rousillion in the city of Nimes. It is quite a nice place but the hostel is a little quiet at the moment... the guy at reception told me a group of schoolies are arriving ce soir so thankfully i am leaving tomorrow. Apart from about 3 people, everyone speaks French and not much English! I think my French is slowly improving though. A lady on the train today informed me that I spoke French very well. Hmmm...very kind she was.

I left Switzerland on Saturday and it was something crazy like -15!! All of Western Europe seems to be suffering from a cold snap at the moment though - it has even been snowing in Provence!One of the girls I am staying with said that on Friday the whole town basically closed down because of the cold and snow. It is getting a little warmer though and i am optimistic that Spain will be HOT - ok well relatively so.

I woke up Saturday with virtually no voice......a combination of aphonia, diplophonia, pitch and phonation breaks (for all you speechies out there)...mum is certain I'm borderline pneumoniac but it's not that bad. Hey but if I do get really sick, I will make sure you all have my address so you can send lots of flowers. Everyone at the hostel has been laughing at me cause i sound like a frog... but I am in France so that suits! I learnt a new word too.... gorge (throat). It's kinda hard to get assistance in the pharmacy when you can a) not speak much French, and b) not actually use your voice at all!

I spent Sunday exploring the city of Nimes...... quite a nice place...one of the girls from the hostel, Josephine showed me around. We visited the Jardins de la Fontaines, Arena (old Roman arena where they used to have bull fights), the archaeological museum, natural history museum (it was bloody cold outside!), and a couple other things.

On Monday, I went toArlés.....visited the archaeological museum on the site of the old Circus Maximus and next to a gypsy camp. Also went to the Roman Arena, amphiteatre and forum, Roman baths, an art gallery with a couple of Picassos, and chased the feral cats around the town!

Yesterday I went to La Pont du Gard. Very impressive......it used to be an aqueduct back when the area was settled nearly 2000 years ago - maybe longer even....it is quite huge and is in the middle of nowhere. I had planned to go to the village of Uzès in the afternoon but ended up hiking around the bush near Pont du Gard in the fresh air.

Today I went to Avignon. I had wanted to go here since I was about 9 when my piano teacher told me about the people dancing on the bridge........it turned out to be quite an ordinary bridge but the city itself was really beautiful. I visited the old Holy See, the Palais du Papes, visited another archaeological museum, natural history museum, the gardens on the top of the hill (great view of the river), and Villeneuve dez Avignon, across the river, which was home to a colony of noisy geese, nice sculptures and fountains that had icicles dripping from them because of the cold. I found a fantastic pizza place for lunch.....mmm....

Tomorrow i am off to Montpellier on the coast. I had hoped to base myself in Narbonne and do a trip to Carcassone from there; but i don't have a list of places to stay in Narbonne and there is no hostel there. I am booked in to stay in a guesthouse in Montpellier which is full of foreign students studying French. You get a room with private bathroom, breakfast and a hugggggggge dinner for FF150 - about $AUD40! good value..... not sure what there is to do there but it is on the coast so maybe it will be warmer

Am meeting Denise in Barcelona on Sunday and will be in Spain and Portugal for 4-5 weeks. Depends on how accessible some places are we are hoping to go. May head back to Suisse and Paris for a couple days if time. I had tried to change my flight to come back earlier but am still going via Thailand and wil be home Jan 30. Just in time for end of cricket ODIs!

The French are obsessed with their animals and take them everywhere....this afternoon on the way back from Avignon; my seatmate was a scruffy looking dog and across the aisle was a gorgeous chinchilla, just like caesar! People take their dogs into restaurants, on public transport. They actually put signs up outside museums to inform people that their petit chiens are not allowed in the building! Its nice having all the cute animals around but unlike the Parisiens, the folks down here don't carry their doggie bags to clean up the mess so you have to watch your step.

A bien tot

Belinda x

Gruzie, Bonjour and Ciao!

14.12.2001 -15 °C

December 12 and 14, 2001

Boudevilliers, Switzerland

I have made my way to Switzerland for a few days where I am staying with my cousin, Kraig. He lives in a village called Boudevilliers, not far from Neuchatel (get out those maps!), and the Jura Mountains. La Chaux de Fonds is 5 mins drive from here and is the highest city in Europe. Cold too!! I think the local weather tonight predicted a top of -3 for tomorrow! All this cold and yet no snow! grrrr....

Since last time I wrote, I visited Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and went to a concert at La Madeline. It was free so that was great . It's strange. In many places you can go to free concerts, but you have to pay to use the toilet!

And I spent my last day visiting Centre Pompidou, (window) shopping along the Champs Elysées, and wound up heading to La Bastille in the evening with some girls from the hostel. It was pretty spectacular at night. I hadn´t made it there all week, and as Christmas is approaching the whole area was beautifully lit up and there was a Luna Park type funfair there with acrobats and markets etc.

I had a nice train ride from Paris to Neuchatel. Being a Sunday morning, the train was virtually empty. I had a seat next to a Swiss Orthopaedic surgeon who gave me a crash course in Swiss Geography, Sociology and Politics. He enjoyed learning all about Aussie slang and native animals - I told him that only 5 000 people per year get taken by sharks in Australia, but some 10 000 die from spider bites. I also warned him about drop bears that may attack suddenly whilst one is on walkabout...

It's been great catching up with Kraig (my cousin) - haven´t seen him since about 1993 when we went to Movie World, Queensland - and he is still a tops bloke. Still got a great Aussie accent and great sense of humour. He has an adorable cat called Coca, who has adopted me - cats the world over seem to gravitate towards cat lovers and Coca is no exception. It's great having my own queen sized futon, a real bath (as opposed to push button hostel showers), and being able to leave my bag unpacked every day!

On Monday, I spent a couple of hours in the village of Merton, across the lake. It's a medieval village that still has its original wall around it. Very charming place, but rather like a ghost town when I was there. Europe all over has the habit of shutting down everything on Monday so there was basically no-one walking around anywhere. I was certainly the only tourist, but then, it is the middle of winter. Merton was exactly how I imagine Provençe will be - lots of little gardens, cobble-stone streets, and town water fountains - with icicles!

Yesterday I went to Montreux and Lausanne. Montreux is like a lakeside resort on Lake Genevé. The water there was this transluscent turquoise colour.....and lots of tiny fish swimming all over the place. There were lots of Christmas markets there selling Glühwein and waffles and stuff like that. I visited the Chateau de Chillon, a castle built on the edge of the lake in (I think) the 1300s. Probably the most charming castle I have visited in Europe. Not full of all that ostentacious cacophony you find in Hofburg, Schönbrunn or Versailles. As I was walking around the lake, I came across a statue of Freddie Mercury! Apparently Montreux was his second home and he died there in 1991.

Later in the day I caught the train to Lausanne to visit the Olympic Museum. That was fantastic. It was kinda small but very interesting. It runs through the history of the ancient and modern Olympics, and has lots of memorabilia from both modern and ancient games on display - including Eric Mossambini's Speedos!! haha..... Lots of clips of Aussies there too from 2000 and other Olympic games.

Today was a lazy day as I'm coming down with bronchitis or something similarly nasty and I wound up sleeping most of the day. I didn´t even leave the house today except to walk to the busstop to check the times for tomorrow. I actually had to scrape the glass with my fingernails to get the ice off!

Tomorrow I'm off to Genevé to see the International Red Cross Museum and the headquarters of the UN HQ.

From there it's off to Lucerne, possibly for just a day, maybe for a few days. I'll decide tomorrow. Then to Provençe/Languedoc-Rousillon for a week.

At this stage, I'm hoping to head back to Paris or Amsterdam for a couple of days. There is so much to see, especially in Paris, that I didn't get time to do, and I don't know how long before I will come back. So if there is time, I'll probably head back that way for 4-5 days in a month's time. Who knows? Too many options, but the flexibility is great.

continued........14 December 2001.......Schnee!!

Ok......Well yesterday I wound up in Lucerne. I woke up at the crack of dawn.....well actually even earlier as the sun sleeps in til 8ish and thought I may as well just do a day trip there. It was snowing when I got off the train - extremely cold so i had to go shopping for some more clothes. Nothing exciting, though, just another scarf and ear warmers.

It is incredibly lovely in Lucerne. Lots of natural beauty from the mountains and lakes and the old cobble stone streets. Churches I am almost sick of, but cobble-stoned streets, especially with markets and the smell of waffles or croissants.....mmmmm. Speaking of croissants, I don't understand why there are no people with excess adipose tissue here. There are the most incredible patisseries, bakeries and chocolateries everywhere - but hardly any fat people. I guess in the Netherlands, it is because they all cycle everywhere......and perhaps because the French smoke so much (and by this I'm certainly not advocating smoking!!) Not sure about the Swiss...But still, all the cold makes me want to run into the nearest café and have hot chocolate and crépes or something sweet.

Ok...back to Lucerne. I visited a glacier museum there which was kinda interesting but without the ice sculpture garden I had read about. Also visited a Picasso museum there, which was fantastic! There was a series of photos taken by some of his colleagues that feature him at home with his family and at work on his paintings and sculptures. It's a nice change to see the artist for who he is (or at least how appears to be in moments of time), than just to see some weird and wonderful representation. He was certainly a runt of a fellow though......and he always wore really dodgy boxers when he painted! at least in these photos. I was hoping to head up Mt Pilatus (after Sus' recommendation) but the clouds were covering the peaks and I thought it may not be worth the SF80 ($AUD90) to get up there, especially if nothing could be seen.

Switzerland is incredibly expensive....just as everyone says. Using the McEconomic scale, Switzerland tops the UK for the most expensive Maccas....SF9.90 for a meal......(about $AUD11). Ouch.....and it´s all the same crap anyway! Apparently in South Africa you can get a meal for about $AUD2.50, but I guess it´s all relative.

Today I spent in Geneva.....almost contemplated not going when I got outside though as it was -10!! Didn't warm up much during the daz either which made checking out the old town challenging! Quite windyand the chill factor makes the cold very nasty.....Anyway, I really wanted to visit the UN and International Red Cross Museum and that was indoors so that was great! There was a conference on at the UN for the International Disarmament Tribunal so there were people everywhere. The Jet d'eau is switched off in the winter so I didn´t see that, and the flower clock was extremely disappointing - I guess frozen flowers don´t quite work!

We had some raclette for dinner last night- delicious! You melt cheese under this grill on the table, add onion and herbs or whatever to the top) and when it is all gooey, pour it over new potatoes.....hmmmmmm not the healthiest meal but it was delightful. All cheese is good cheese and Switzerland has a lot of it!

Tomorrow I'm heading to south to spend time in Nimes, Avignon, Arles, Aix-en-Provence and possibly Lyon. Hopefully it will be a little warmer there. The paper today said it was -2 in Nice and -1 in Marseille which is crazy for Mediterranean cities! Hopefully it warms up for me. Apparently there is also a foot of snow in Barcelona at the moment - fingers crossed it sticks around til Xmas!

Am still not 100% well. I have all but lost my voice for like the 5th time this year! But at least it isn't accompanying a cold or fever or anything...i just sound a bit daft...

Anyway, must head off to get some sleep.

Ciao

Belinda
xx

J'adore Paris en l'hiver

06.12.2001 14 °C

Since I last wrote I spent a day in The Hague, and spent a few delightful days in rainy Bruges. Bruges is lauded as one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe, and deserves all the superlatives that are laid upon it. It is a sheer delight - the passage ways, canals, Gothic spires...the grandeur of the Grote Markt juxtaposed by its many solemn alley-ways. And the cafes...even if they are a little smoky, well there's little more enjoyable than ducking inside a cosy cafe on a drizzly winter's day to sip hot dark chocolate!!

The main town square, Grote Markt had an ice skating rink set up in it and with the wafting aromas of the Glühwein, waffles and smoke of the Christmas markets blended together, made for a wonderful place to spend the evening - even in the drizzly cold.

From Bruges, I continued on to Paris. I had visited 4 years ago, but it was such a whirlwind visit that it was but a blur. Last time, we had met some Aussies at the Gare du Nord and spent our time travelling around with them - but it was a manic 3 days - enjoyable but a little too hectic to really appreciate the city properly.

After the short journey from Bruges, and checking into my grungy hostel in the Latin Quarter, I headed to the Louvre for the afternoon. Visit the Louvre is as exhilirating as it is exasperating. It has more than 30 000 pieces in its collection spanning from BC times to the 19th century. I decided to focus on the sculpture wing, before heading out for an evening walk along the Seine.

The following day I went to the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris - It has an interesting range of Cubist, Fauvist, Dadaist etc. works in a wonderful exhibition space - and it's free. The views over the Champ de Mars are glorious from there too! I also walked along the Champs Elysees, visited the resting place of Napoleon at Hotel Des Invalides, ducked into Le Saint Eustache Eglise and strolled through the Tuilleries. I had dinner that night with an American guy from the hostel - we went specifically in search of l'escargots, which, I have to say, were not nearly as bad as one might expect. They were heavily soaked in salty garlic and had the texture of ludicrously over-microwaved mushrooms! I am delighted to say that I was able to eat the whole side-plate without shooting any snails out of their shells and across the floor.

I picked up a friend from the airport yesterday - Sam - he was flying in at about 5.30am so the early morning start was a bit of a killer. After a quick kip, we headed to the Arc de Triomphe. I neglected to tell Sam about the subterranean passage to the Arc de Triomphe...mostly for the amusement of getting to run across the road to it...it's a little like running the gauntlet, but it's pretty fun :) It's one thing to look at the insanity of the cars from atop the Arc, but it's rivetting to be amidst it all. From there we visited the Opera Garnier, had a quick look in Galeries Lafayette department store, and wandered through the passages, i.e. the 19th century arcades that run across several streets on the Right Bank. With their exquisite interiors, antique shops and chic cafes, they are a good place to amble on a rainy day. In the late evening we hit the Musee d'Orsay, before heading back to a lovely Greek restaurant in the Latin Quarter, with an overly attendant waiter.

We visited the Pantheon this morning and are just shortly heading to Notre Dame and then to Monmartre to check out the Sacre Couer and Salvador Dali museum and have a general amble about. Tonight we are going to have dinner with some people from the hostel and head to the Champs Elysees for late night shopping. It is a nice sunny day - I don't even have a coat on!! Fingers crossed it stays this lovely for good tower views.

I am in Paris for a few more days and then I head to Switzerland to visit my cousin, Kraig. I haven't seen him for years, so it'll be great to catch up.

A bien tot

Belinda

Inside the Louvre

Notre Dame

Up the Eiffel Tower

Arc de Triomphe

Sacre Couer

Inside the Palais Garnier