Greetings from Interlaken, Switzerland! I have now left France with many fond memories, and am already looking forward to going back perhaps for a few days to have a look around before I go back to NZ in January, after David, Tim and my parents leave. France is truly a beautiful country, with so much to offer, and it has been amazing fun speaking and hearing French!

 

In my last blog I forgot to tell you about what happened when we tried to find our hotel in Tours! When we got off the train (about 10pm), we thought that we'd catch a taxi to the hotel, since we didn't know where it was and it was pouring with rain. So we waited for about 15 minutes in the freezing cold before calling a taxi. When the taxi got there, and we loaded our lugage, David said "Wouldn't it be funny if the hotel was just right opposite the train station", and arbitarily pointed a direction. I looked in that direction, and I realised that indeed, David was pointing directly at our hotel, only 2 minutes walk from the train! So embarassingly we had to get out of the cab, and let somebody else in- thank goodness he didn't charge us for the one minute sit down in his cab!

 

After leaving Tours, David and I travelled to the north of France (Brittany) to St. Malo, a quiet seaside town, which has a section of the town with its old town wall still intact (Intra Muros) The town was beautiful by day and night with awesome views of the sea. Our main aim here was to visit Mont St. Michel, an ancient abbey, built an a little fortress/mini island not far out from the beach on the border between Brittany and Normandy. The plan was to visit on Saturday, however because of our slackness in getting up, we missed the only bus of the day (9:50am!) to get there, and had to hang out in St. Malo for the day. We spent the rest of that day just exploring the town, and found some amazing sights and food (especially David with his Ker-y-Pom, a Brittany specialty!).The rest of the day we just spent relaxing and chilling in the room, watching a bit of tele, ready for our day excursion the next day to the Mont.

 

The next day we got up extra early to check out of the hotel and to catch the bus to Mont St. Michel. We got to the Mont around 11am. The Mont is truly a spectacular place from afar to look at, but perhaps has become too touristy for its own good, with the main street now full of tourist shops, tacky museums and very expensive restaurants! For lunch, we decided to eat at a restaurant, where I got a 15 Euro menu (that's nearly $30!), and David an 18 Euro menu. The food was truly horrible! ( Real terrible, unfresh Salmon for me!), and when the bill came, they charged us wrong! When I asked them to fix the bill, they again got the bill wrong- this time they undercharged us! So in the end we got a little discount off this truly horrible meal. The abbey itself is spectacular with its views, and all its history, but somehow, after seeing so many things in Europe, I expected to be overawed by great architecture and paintings, whilst however the Mont is mainly a well preserved, ancient abbey more spectacular for its role in history and its location. It was still a trip well worth it however.

 

After that, David and I rushed back to St. Malo to catch a night train to the tourist Mecca known as Paris. I had an awful bout of the hiccups for about 3 hrs non-stop however, and was feeling a bit under the weather however, so we got to Paris and I basically headed straight for bed. The taxi ride to the hotel was spectacular though, with our first views of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe!

 

Paris is truly a great tourist city! There is just so much to see. This is my 3rd trip to Paris, having last been about 5 years ago, and I enjoyed it just as much this time as last time I went. The first day there was a Monday, and after feeling a little sick the last night, both of us got up late and headed out around 11am to see some sights. We decided since that it was a cloudy day, it wouldn't be a good time to go see the Eiffel Tower or Arc the Triomphe first. We headed first to a few sights I hadn't seen, including the Musee d'Orsay, which was unfortunately, pass Invalides, and eventually decided to go to the Louvre, which during this time of the year, was pretty empty. We basically stayed there till it closed, seeing the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Hammurabi's Code and the other Highlights, before grabbing a bite to eat at the Carousel de Louvre (the shopping mall under the Louvre) food court. After dinner, we went for an evening stroll down the Champs Elysees, browsing some shops and taking photos of the Arc de Triomphe. David was feeling a little bit ill now, so we retired to the hotle and to bed.

 

On Tuesday, again we woke up late, but eventually set off for the Eiffel Tower first after catching some Brunch/ Lunch, after I bought a new suitcase in the Morning. David and I went our seperate ways for the day, since wantedto go see the Musee d'Orsay, and he had to do the Paris Must Dos of Notre Dame, and Sacre Coeur. I stayed at the Orsay till it closed, browsing at the impressive Impressionist painting collection of Monet, Renior, Degas and others, as well as some Van Gogh. After, I headed over to the Opera house to have a look at the Palais Garnier, before heading over to the massive Galeries Lafayette, 7 floor department store to have a browse. Tim was arriving that evening, and we had arranged to meet at 7 at the hotel, so I had to hurry back. Poor Tim however got a little lost on the the confusing RER and metro lines of Paris, so he didn't arrive till past 8, and due to jetlag and tiredness, we simply hung out and retired to bed.

 

Wednesday was supposed to be our last day in Paris, so we had grand plans of wandering Quatier Latin, where we visited the Sorbonne, the famous university in Paris, and the Pantheon, which is has become a national memorial for many a famous French-people, include the Marie Curie, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire to name a few. The last time I was in Paris, I didn't manage to get to the Centre Pompidou, and this was on my must see list, so the three of us headed over to this mecca for modern art. I visited the museum whilst the other two decided to return to the Sacre Coeur and Montmatre. The museum had an amazing collection, which was brilliantly organised in a thematic manner, which allowed even someone like me who knows nothing about modern art to have an insight to the abstract ideas presented by some artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Klee. I was sad that Í didn't have time to wander the museum properly, but would love to go back. After I once again met up with Tim and David, whereby we went for another wander round Galleries Lafayette and the other giant department store Printemps. Back to the hotel for a simple baguette and Camembert dinner, and then we went out for a drink after another night walk along the Champs!

 

Thursday was supposed to be the day we departed for Dijon, but since we found it too difficult to book accomodation there, we decided to stay in Paris another day. After getting up a little later than planned, the three of us headed out firstly to the Office du Tourisme to work out what we wanted to do on this unexpected 4th day in Paris. I had always intended to hear some concerts whilst I was in Europe, and saw this as a good chance. I found a concert in the Louvre auditorium by a young British cellist, Richard Harwood playing Beethoven, Shostakovich and Bridge for 6 Euros. The concert was basically completely packed out, and of excellent quality. The cellist was a most expressive player,with an awesome. open tone. His playing was full of passion, but at times lacked a little "edge"or bite to his articualtion. However, I loved the concert, and it was most impressive you could find something of this quality on a Thursday lunchtime! After the concert, I met up with Tim (David had gone to Versailles), and we walked from the Louvre to Place de la Concorde, Madeleine, and then took the metro outside the Moulin Rouge and around Pigalle (quite a seedy district!) We retired back to the hotel once again for a simple dinner with small bottles of wine. The other two were feeling quite tired, so they retired to bed whilst I watched some TV and eventually tucked in to bed around 11pm!

 

Today was a travel day between Paris and Interlaken. Caugh a TGV to Geneva (saw my first snowfall of the trip in the mountains just before Geneva), a train from Geneva to Bern, and then connected onto Interlaken. The streets are all convered in snow here, but its been raining this evening so it may melt in the evening. Here's hoping for a little snow tonight, and a clear day tomorrow so we can have a clear view of the Jung Frau, and have an awesome day up the mountain.

 

Bye for now!

 

Dickson