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July 31, 2006
Montserrat
Located an hour train ride away from Barcelona, Montserrat is a mountain with a truly weird rock formations. It has an amazing view once you climbed up to the top of the mountain.
The Journey
It´s very eays. Just go to Plaza Espanya´s RENFE station (not the Metro) and they have a special booth, manned by an English guy, that sells combined ticket to Montserrat. There are a few options, some combining with museum entries etc.
I bought the only ticket that I can buy at that time because one of the furniculair was not working and he was authorised to sell that only combo ticket.
On the way to Montserrat, make sure you know which stop you´re supposed to got off. With my combo ticket I was supposed get off at Monistrol. In the train I sat around a group of very friendly and nice French people and feeling save and still tired from the night before I fell asleep. The nice French people woke me up at Montserrat Aeri stop. Without thinking just woke up I jumped off the train. Well yeah it was the wrong stop. It´s the right stop if you want to take the cable car to Montserrat but not if you have bought the cremallera ticket. The French group had the same problem with me :) I can´t really blame them to wake me up at the wrong station, they´ve decided to walk up the mountain while I did the sensible thing and paid the 1 way ticket by cable car to the monastery.
The Monastery
The main sight is the basilica where the "Black Virgin" is housed. Venerated by many, expect to queue to pay a visit to the "Black Virgin". The monastery and basilica are beautiful, but neither can match the view from the many lookout points provided. However the best view await a few hundred meters about at the peak of Sant Jeroni.
The Mountain
The mountain is criss-crossed by 5 bushwalking tracks. The most popular is track number 3, to the peak of Sant Jeroni. The highest peak in Montserrat. To go there you can take the furniculair or walked through the return path. I thought rather than taking the furniculair I'd rather take the return trip path and walk all the way up. Basically doing it in reverse than the tourist office reccomend. It wasn't that hard if you are reasonably fit. The climbed up took me about an hour.
The view from Sant Jeroni is "out of this world" according to the brochure. It doesn´t exagerate, it is breathtaking. You can see almost all of Catalonia all they way up to the Pyrenees.
Once I completed track number 3 in reverse I ended up in the furniculair station where most people start the bushwalk. Feeling energised I decided to do track number 4 to visit the cave where the Black Virgin was found. This track is obviously much less travelled than the other track. Ot one junction about 1km from the start the track narrowed considerably. Not sure that it was the right track I asked a local runner. He said yep that was the right one.
So I went down on the route and braced myself. This track can be unnerving to walk alone. For the next 2 hours I didn´t see a single soul while walking on a cliff edge of Montserrat mountain. Although unnerving it's not a hard trail and it gives you another breathaking view of the valley next to the mountain. I thouroughly enjoyed the walk. I had to push a bit harder than recommended pace because I need to catch the last train back to Barcelona. Near the end of the track was the Black Virgin cave, as my luck want it, it was closed. That´s fine the view from the mountain was well worth the walk. From the cave back to the monastery the path widen and paved. Obviously this is a well travelled path. Statues depicting the live of Christ lined the broad path (or should I say road) back to the monastery.
On the way back in Barcelona
My last night and we went out again. We a very friendly American couple in the hostel and we drank most of the night on a plaza just outside the hostel as we got kicked out from the hostel because we were making too much noise. It´s very quiet hostel, located in the middle of private apartment. I can understand the no noise rule. Despite the no noise rule, I really enjoy staying there, it gives me feeling like staying in a local apartment. The apartment is very old it´s definitely cool just hanging out in the courtyard hallway (early evening, before the no noise rule kicked in) having dinner.
Toward Valencia
I thought I'm pretty experienced train traveller in Europe after catching a few of them in France. But nothing prepare me for the chaos that is Barcelona train station. I wanted to buy the 9:33 ticket to Valencia because at EUR20 it's a bargain. It's even cheaper than the bus.
At the train station, the queue was 30 meter long. Maybe it´s just me or I feel that the train station in Barcelona (Estacio Sants) is just full of angry people. After queuing for over 40 minutes I was told that I queued at the wrong ticket booth, that ticket is availabe on the Rodalise ticket booth. What the hell, it´s just train ticket! Why do I have to queue at the other ticket office. Now I understand my I think Estacio Sants is full of angry people.
Of course I've wasted previous 40 minutes that I don´t have. By this time I only have less than 30 minutes to get my ticket and get my arse on that train. The train leaves at 9:33, I got my ticket at 9:31. I raced to platform 5 and right infront of the gate 2 young girls were arguing whether they should go to platform 5 or to wait until the tv display says that platform 5 was the train to Valencia. One of her friend is the one that has a brain as she told her to look at the big display that says the train to Valencia is on platform 5 (the tv display is showing the current and about to leave train). God how stupid can you be. Exasperated, I walked past them to the gate and sighed a big relief when I arrived at platform 5. Of course the train is 5 minutes late so all those running and puffing was a bit useless.
It's a 5 hour long trip to Valencia on this slow train. I was feeling really good about this trip having such a good time in Barcelona. Little does I know that in the next day this all will change when I my wallet was stolen.
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Barcelona Report
Lag
There has been some lag on my blog posting with my current location. Sometime it´s hard to find time to blog when you´re travelling. Time is precious and when you have time often you want to visit the local park to read or just chill out rather than stuck in an internet cafe writing your blog post. I don´t want to leave it to far behind otherwise I would forget some stuff that I should have written it down.
The Party Town
It's hard to balance the going out and the sight seeing time in Barcelona. Barcelona is such a party town. In last blog post I wrote that the it might be a quiet stay for me in Barcelona because there's no common room in the hostel. Fortunately I met a few people in the room which is quiet cool and we went out three nights in a row. The hard work is that during the day we always did another big day walking around the town.
Most people are in party mode while in Barcelona. One night we met a bunch of Italian and Belgium and we party until the wee hours in the morning. Another night we met a super nice American couple and I almost go over my alcohol limit for the whole night.
In Barcelona you don't have to look for party, it will come to you.
La Sagrada Familia
It's strange that for a city as old as Barcelona the top sight is an unfinished church. Built in 1882, La Sagrada Familia is only half-built. The Nativity Facade done by Gaudi is truly weird. Maybe it's just not my style. I prefer the Passion Facade by Joseph Subirach. The entry is a bit expensive, for EUR8 you can enter the church while paying EUR1 more you can get into Gaudi's home in Parc Guel, another Gaudi creation which is listed in UNESCO world heritage list. A bit of warning, Parc Guel is a bit far from La Sagrada Familia. If you go in the late afternoon you may not make it to Parc Guel. From the metro station you still have to walk about 1.2km (sign posted) to Parc Guel.
Montjuic
The next day started very late, however I did manage to visit Montjuic. The main reason was to visit Joan Miro musem. I saw some of his works earlier and liked it. There is another musem in Montjuic that worth visiting according to LP and it is housed in one of the finest building in Barcelona, the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. But having reached my museum budget for the day I didn´t go inside and just chilling out in the steps in fron to of the museum savouring the view of Barcelona.
Not far from MNAC, there´s a free museum (Ciaxa Forum) sponsored by Ciaxa, one of the big banks here in Spain. It´s pretty small museum but worth visiting since it´s free and when I was there they have a temporary exhibition about the history of animation. Spent a few hours there before heading back to the hostel.
Posted by vhadiant at 12:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 30, 2006
Wallet stolen in Valencia .. Wizard Home Loan is the worst company ever!
Right, long story cut short. I had my wallet stolen this morning. I lost my driver´s licence, HSBC debit card, Wizard Master Card and my HI Hostel card. But the worst 3 hours of my life was trying to cancel my Wizard Master Card.
This company is fucked! I just could not believe how bad Wizard is. Avoid avoid avoid. Once I get through them I´ll tell them that they are the worst company ever, just close my account and that´s it I don´t want to deal with them ever again. Anyway full report to follow. I´m behind on my blog posting. Barcelona was really good, Valencia is beautiful, wrecked with my stolen wallet. Which won´t be as bad if I don´t have to deal with Wizard. Grhhh I still couldn´t believe it.
Update: Read the full story here.
Posted by vhadiant at 03:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 25, 2006
Barcelona - The Beginning
Arrived in Barcelona last evening and checked-in to the hostel. You wouldn´t believe it, but it´s one of those quiet hostel. Not like Toulouse but there´s no common room in the hostel for socialising. The hostel itself (Pension Mari Luz) is very nice, clean and located inside a private apartment (level 3 no less). There is a kitchen but because of the lack of common room, God knows where we´re supposed to eat. And I booked here for 5 nights.
Ah well, lucky it has a good location close to Ramblas. There are plenty of things to do at night. I just walked around the whole night absorbing the atmosphere. There are plenty of remarkably talented buskers in the southern end of La Ramblas. These people certainly changed my view on buskings.
Explored Barri Gothic, mainly the Cathedral and the truly fascinating Museu d´Historia de la Ciutat, this morning and finally caught up with my blog posting during the siesta, where almost all sights are closed in Barcelona. The only thing open that I want to see is the Musee Picasso, but there were hundreds of people in the lineup just to get into the museum. That can wait until a bit later tonight. For now my Internet credit is almost run out.
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Toulouse
The friendly, funny, vibrant, multicultural, super tolerant and bustling metropolitanToulouse is a welcome change after Nimes and Carcassonne, both very typical France smal towns. Toulouse is one of those city that I wished I had stayed a day or two longer even after being here for 3 nights. Being a student town and a migrant centre, Toulouse is more tolerant to bad French than most other French towns. Like all other towns that I've visited it's just as if not even more friendly to foreigners.
The Pink City
Toulouse has a penchant of building with bricks, it's called the "Pink City" for this very same reason. Even all th eglise, cathedral and basilica are built using this bricks unlike other churches that I've seen so far. The Church of the Jacobins is definitely a must see and the Saint-Sernin basilica is no less impressive.
The weird hostel
Lonely Planet says that there's no hostel in Toulouse. Incorrect, actually there is ... sort of. There is a hostel, but it doubles as a residence for young people who work around Toulouse. So yeah not exactly your backpacker accomodation. It´s not listed in HIHostels.com website but it´s in the FUAJ guidebook. It´s a bit weird, the rooms have 2 beds only and have its own shower and toilet. I have my own room for the whole three nights I stayed there. My room was very clean and the hostel has an excellent breakfast. The best free breakfast so far.
But it does have one massive drawback. There's hardly any backpacker there. A lone backpacker from Quebec (again!) helped me found the hostel when I was looking for it in the suburb and he told me that there's no "gang" here, I will be doing it solo, and the French kids there don't like to talk to outsiders. Well if he who can speak French doesn't socialise what chance do I have to strike any conversation? Well no matter, I was dead tired from a string of long nights at Nimes and Carcassonne and welcome the change of pace a bit. The first day in Toulouse came and gone a bit uneventful and I was fast asleep by 10pm.
Airbus Factory Visit
I did need to early night because I need to catch the 8:30am bus from the city to visit the Airbus factory. I've been expecting for this. It's one of the main reason why I went to Toulouse. The visit was alright not as good as I expected, but that's because I went on Saturday I think. Since it's weekend the factory was quiet and we can't really see how these people work. It was still impressive, I really recommend it to anyone, but go during the weekdays. During weekdays with EUR4 extra you can also visit the Concorde. Again not during the weekend.
On the way home I met an Australian couple and a lone Austrian girl who was having a short break in Toulouse after her conference. They are all nice people and we ended up in a creperie for lunch. This is actually my very first proper French food. For the past 3 weeks I've been eating bad food or simply supermarket food :) I was lucky that the two girls both can speak French.
Lost in Translation
After lunch the Australians went their separate way, me and the Austrian decided to go watch a movie since we pretty much got nothing to do at night. It took a while to find the movie since there was nothing on, and almost all were dubbed in French! Even Superman Returns! So we asked the chick on the counter what movies are in English. There were only three. Vol 93, a movie about September 11, a horror movie that none of us were interested and Tsotsi a South African movie which won an Oscar for best foreign film. I was a bit sus with Tsotsi, I double check again and the chick assured me that it's in English. We tossed a coin and Tsotsi came ahead.
We then went our separate way while waiting for the movie. I hit the old Toulouse's churches, checked my emails then went back to the movies. The cinema is quite nice and modern, seats are very comfortable. After watching the obligatory advertisments Tsotsi came. And yes my doubt was confirmed. What they are speaking there definitely not English. It was "Version Originale" alright, but just not in English. What follow was my attempt to understand a movie in a foreign language with a subtitle which I didn't understand. Well after in France for 3 weeks I do know some French words, but it's probably one in 3 sentences.
Fortunately it is a very good movie and I do get the message quite clear. Over dinner my new friend filled in the of the bits and pieces that I missed out.
Cite de l'Espace
Cite de l'Espace is a science museum dedicated for space exploration. The rather high entry fee (EUR21 + EUR4 for the audioguide) give you a full day access to the exhibition, IMAX theatre and the planetarium. The audioguide is definitely worth getting, it gives automatic comentary depending your current location. It is the best audioguide that I´ve used so far. Started a bit late, I was here until the closing time of 7pm.
Later on that night I strolled along the beautiful Gerona river and I explored Toulouse´s deserted back roads and alleys. It was Sunday night and the city is almost empty.
Onward to Barcelona
The next day (24-07-2006 afternoon) I said goodbye to France (for now) and moved to Spain. Hola Barcelona!
Posted by vhadiant at 03:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 24, 2006
Carcassonne
At Carcassonne
The walled city of Carcassonne is one of the city highlights on my Tour de France. I've never seen a walled city before and Carcassonne is a remarkably preserved (no doubt for the tourist benefit, there are loads of them in Carcassonne) and on the UNESCO world heritage list. The city is most impressive from the outside on the way into Carcassonne, I pity all those people who arrive by bus/car right in front of the old city. The best view of the city is from the old bridge, you won't miss this bridge if you walk from the main Gare SNCF to the old city.
However once I got into the city at about 2pm, there was a massive tourist jam in the small roads of the walled city. I could not believe the amount of people inside the city, I should have guessed this by the number of tourist buses parked outside the walled city. I was mortified at the amount of souvenir shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, private museums and ... people. That was unbelievable, you couldn't possibly enjoy the old city at around this time.
After checking-in at the hostel I was informed that I can't check-in until 3:30pm. I left my bag in the hostel and went to explore Carcassonne old city with a million other tourists, this was not a pleasant experience. I was back at the hostel at 3:30pm exhausted by the tourists.
Back at the hostel I hang out with a bunch of other travellers at around my age for a change :) I am usually one of the oldest backpackers in the hostel, when there are a few of us at around late 20 - early 30 we tend to gravitate toward each other ha! Anyway that was a good evening, I left the group for a while around dusk to explore the city. At around this time I was finally able to enjoy the Carcassonne, less the tourists and when the souvenir shops are closed.
Back at the hostelm the group and I continued on drinking and talking about life in general. Another late night :)
The Accidental Travel Companion
The next day I went down to main town (Ville Basse) outside the walled city. It was a much better option rather than rubbing shoulders with ten of thousands tourists inside the walled city. One of the churches that attract my attention the most is located in the main shopping drag. It's so old and unlike the rest of churches in Europe it has wooden floor board. It creaks everytime you step on it adding the ancient feeling of the church. Not spectacular or no where near as ornate as other churches in Europe, this is definitely not to be missed in Carcassonne.
Arriving in the hostel I was greeted with my accidental travel companion. I first met her in the hostel in Paris, we were in the same room together. She left Paris for Orleans and I told her I want to go to Strasbourg. Of course my plan changed and I went to Lyon instead. Coincidentally she decided to go Lyon after Orleans. After Lyon I went to Marseille then Nimes while she went to Nimes, Sete and back to Nimes. This is where we once again stayed in the same hostel. I left Nimes a day earlier to Carcassonne although we kinda knew that we might bump into each other again in Carcassonne because this is apparently a common route. I met a Quebecois and and English dude at Nimes and again at Carcassone. While in Carcassonne I met yet another Quebecois on its way from Toulouse to Carcassonne then Nimes.
The Three Musketeers
I shared a room with four young Parisians (one is currently living in Sao Paulo) who couldn't get the hostel in Biarritz and ended up in Carcassonne. Bored to death (obviously not interested in Carcassonne many churches) they went out on day trips everyday. They are super friendly and very willing to speak English to me, once again dispelled the myth about French people's aloofness.
That night in the hostel, the Parisians invited me, the English dude that I met at Nimes and now in Carcassonne and an Irish chick to go to this "lake" about 10km outside Carcassonne to drink and to create some fire. Of course they only have a very small car, a Renault which is smaller than a Peugeot 206. I'm not exagerating here, but we did manage to put the six of us there. The security people around the parking area didn't seem to care about it.
At the like, it didn't matter how hard they tried, we couldn't get the fire started. Make sense since it was raining pretty heavily just a few hours before. I tried to tell them so many times that it's just not going to work but they kept trying. Ahh .. youth :)
Then come the incident that may well award this night as the most bizarre night ever in this travel. Actually no, that last night in Vietnam takes the cake, this night come close but. For reasons that I didn't know fully, three of them started fighting and walked to the hostel. This is a good 10km walk at 4 in the morning. The driver, which was the youngest of them all, and us three outsider managed to convince one of them to go back to the car but the the two who initially started fighting wouldn't budge. We did manage to talk to the guy at the front but he decided to wait to the second dude to make up and walk together to the hostel.
I never knew what time they got back to the hostel as when I woke up at about 10:30 they were already in their respective bunks.
Finishing Da Vinci Code
On my last day in Carcassonne I hang around in the hostel, walked down to the city to have lunch, went to a park along the river Aude to have my siesta and finished Da Vinci Code. I have to say I'm a bit dissapointed with the ending.
That night passed a lot less bizzare than the night before. A few of us talked about life until the wee hour in the morning. The next day I walked to the train stations with my accidental travel companion and the Quebecois chick that I met earlier at Nimes. Here I said goodbye to my accidental travel companion knowing that this probably it. She's on the way to Biarritz for a week before going back to London while I was on my way to Toulouse and then most likely (well I know now by the time I wrote this post) to Barcelona.
Posted by vhadiant at 10:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 22, 2006
Pont du Gard
Pont du Gard is a 40m bus ride from Nimes. To get there go the the main train station (Gare SNCF) and go to the back of the train station, not the boulevard where the suburban bus stops are. If you exit from the train station, hang right and find bus #3. To get the timetable ask the information for regional bus information desk. To find this information desk ask the main Accueil (Information) desk. Phew ... that should get you to Pont du Gard from Nimes. It took me a while to find the right bus with my broken French, the smaller the city the the less likely people can speak English. The return trip should cost you EUR10.50 (ask for Aller Retour ticket rather than Aller Simple).
I went to Pont du Gard on my second day at Nimes. I'm truly amazed on how did the Romans build this thing in 19BC without cranes. I've seen the photos on my LP guide, but not until seeing it with my own eyes I realise how big this structure is.
LP says that the best view is from upstream. This needs correction, the best view of Pont du Gard is from the river Gard (or Gardon) itself. I brought my cozzie as suggested by LP. The water is not that flash, but if I can survive the Mekong River I should be able to survive this river in France. I jumped into the river upstream, and only from that angle swimming toward the Pont du Gard downstream you have the best view of Pont du Gard. I swam underneath the arch and back, typical tourist thing to do I guess.
I took the 2pm bus back to Nimes and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the old city. Back in the hostel I once again met my accidental travel companion. We have stayed in in the same hostels at Paris, Lyon and now Nimes, none of this is planned. She and I will once again meet in Carcassonne.
Posted by vhadiant at 07:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 21, 2006
Nimes
Stayed for 2 nights in Nimes, which I think a bit rushed. This is the first time I stayed for 2 nights in a city instead of 3. It's doable but if you're doing it slow and easy like me, 3 should be minimum at any place. Three nights give you enough time to rest, recharge and enjoy the stay.
Nimes is a pretty little town and has some remarkably well preserved Roman ruins. Arrived at Nimes at about 1PM on Sunday afternoon, as expected the city in a shutdown mode. Everything is closed and the next bus to the hostel won't arrive until 2:45PM. Luckly while looking for the correct bus I saw 2 other backpackers, a Mexican and a Qubecquois. Since there is only 1 hostel in Nimes we knew that we all were going to the same hostel, we chatted and exchanged travel stories and it made the wait somewhat bearable.
Once we arrived at the hostel the Mexican dude and I went down to the city, him to have a look since he was leaving the next day and me to find a boulangerie so I can buy bread for my dinner. I've spent waay too much money in Paris and Lyon and expensive accomodation in Marseille, so it's time to put a stop on my spending. I've been eating a combination of bread, Nutella and canned fish for the past few days. Although it sounds horrible, I've been in a worse eating period than this, it's fine.
I found out that eating bread and Nutella somehow a good catalyst for other people to give food to you. French people are a lot nicer than their reputation and certainly fellow backpackers are the nicest people on earth. I've been given food at least 3 times if I remember correctly. In Marseille a bunch of local teenagers (16 - 19yo maybe) gave me their Mc Donalds cheesburger and chicken to me. Other backpackers have given me their spare bread, alcohol and even fruits!
Luckly there was one boulangerie that was open, I bet that shop made a killing on that day. Bought my baguette and walked to the beautiful Jardins de la Fointaine to have my late lunch and just enjoyed the garden. I paid the EUR2.70 fee to climb up to the Tour Magne. Up here there's an amazing view of Nimes and its surounding countryside.
The next day I went to Pont du Gard, a a UNESCO world heritage site 42 minutes bus ride from Nimes.
Posted by vhadiant at 05:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 19, 2006
Nimes then Carcassonne
Quick update on my whereabout. Spent 2 nights in Nimes and now I'm in Carcassonne. Internet is, as expected, super expensive in the hostel (and in Nimes) at EUR1/20 minutes. Once I get to a bigger city will write more about Nimes and Carcassonne.
Posted by vhadiant at 12:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 15, 2006
Marseille, Bastille Day, Aix-en-Provence and Belsunce Quarter
Marseille
Marseille is different, that's what everyone said. Some love it some hate it. Skip Marseille, or 1 day is enough some said while some vouch on Marseille's vibrant atmosphere. Marseille is indeed different, like Lonely Planet said it hasn't been prettified for the benefit of tourist.
I arrived in Marseille on the 13/7 afternoon, having been in France for over a week I no longer overwhelmed by the mass of people at the train station or trying to locate my hotel. I quickly read the metro map and navigate myself to the hotel. Yes because the hostel was fully booked in Marseille I had no choice but to stay in a budget hotel in the centre of Marseille. This is probably a better option since I met a few people who had stated in Marseille HI Hostel and they said that it's a bit far from the centre. I spent the day exploring the city, or actually the Vieux Port region. Feeling tired I went back to the hostel and the comfort of the air-con.
The next day of course is Bastille Day, which I unceremoniously overslept and missed the parade at Vieux Port. All the shops and museums were closed, which turned out to be a blessing since I really need to save money. I did the killer climb to the Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde basilica which provides a superb view over the city. This probably the best city lookout that I've visited so far. I continued to explore the Viex Port area and while Chateu d'IF is open today the cost (EUR10 ferry + EUR5) entry fee seems to be a bit excessive. I've been in a few chateu and this one at least I've seen it from the distance. Needing to put a brake on my spending I decided to pass the chateu.
Bastille Day Firework
Later that night I went out to see the firework at Vieux Port. Although there were a lot of people there, it certainly not as packed as I expected. Maybe I'm used to the number of crowd in Sydney. Greater Marseille is the third largest metropolitan in France (after Paris and Lyon) with 1.5 million people (a tad smaller than Brisbane with 1.8 million) while Marseille city itself only has around 850,000 people.
The main firework went for almost 30 minutes, it was certainly impressive and I was reminded how much I used to love firework and playing with those little firework. Since firework was banned in Australia, I haven't played with firework for ages. Last night I was reminded all the variety of fireworks that I used to play when I was a kid.
Aix-en-Provence
This morning I had a few options, keep exploring Marseille and hit the museum, visit the Calanques, visit Marseille swimming beaches or do a day trip to Aix-en-ProvenceM. I chose Aix-en-Provence and I'm glad I did it. Aix-en-Provence is a pretty and a very pedestrian friendly university town. I was lucky that since today is Saturday all the markets in Aix-en-Provence are open, from the fresh produce, spice, flower and even the flea market. According to Lonely Planet, Aix-en-Provence has the best market in Provence. With the markets open, Aix become one of the best city to just wander around, which I did for a long time. I wished I had stayed here for a couple of days.
A good way to explore Aix is to get a copy of Cezanne Steps and follow the guide to see the important building related to Aix most celebrated son. Although following the guide was a bit confusing, and the trail marker dissapear every now and then, I managed to see most of the important houses in the trail including the house where Cezanne was born, where he died, his art school etc.
There are two superb English language bookshops in Aix, not a surprise because of her high overseas student population. I sold my second hand copy of The Firm for EUR1.50 (arggh) and bought a new copy of The Da Vinci Code.
Belsunce Quarter
Back in Marseille by the train, I went to explore the Belsunce Quarter which is just next the train station. This is the area where Lonely Planet says to avoid walking alone at night. Belsunce is really interesting and certainly not dangerous. I never felt threatened and just conveniently strolled amongs its crazy markets. Coming from beautiful, clean and spotless Aix, I felt like I've been transported to a different dimension, a different France. Goods are overflowing to the streets, people are walking shoulder to shoulder and French is a minority language in this quarter. It was amazing and I love it.
Tomorrow I will say goodbye to Provence to visit Nimes in Languedoc-Roussillon.
Posted by vhadiant at 07:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 12, 2006
In Lyon
Leaving Paris
Zizou lost it, France lost the world cup and the party didn't happen. Because of my dodgy ankle, I opted to stay in the hostel and watched the game with a few people who for some reasons of their own avoided the crowd in Champs Elysees. After the game, Paris was eerily quiet, pubs were quickly abandoned and since there's no party to go to a few of us decided to climb the long steps to Sacre Cour. My ankle was feeling OK by this time, and since this is my last chance to climb up there I went with the crowd. Although closed, the view from the hill of Sacre Cour is breathtaking, and as we arrived up there they did the sparkling lights at the Eiffel Tower, perfect timing.
The next day I caught the first class TGV to Lyon.
Lyon
I love Lyon, more than Paris to be exact the "Old Lyon". While Paris is impressive and I do admit that I'm a bit overwhelmed by her, I won't live in Paris. Lyon on the other hand is a place that I could totally live here. Lyon, according to Lonely Planet, is the second largest conurbanation in France. So it's big enough to warrant a superb metro, tram and bus system, but doesn't lose old town charm. I certainly would love to live inside the old Lyon and catch the metro in the morning to work in the Lyon CBD.
The best way to enjoy Lyon is to buy the walking guides from the tourist office in Place Bellacour. Normally at EUR1.50 each, they are at sale now for only EUR0.50. At this price I snapped both the "Secret Street of Lyon" and the "Croix Rousse" guides. Both are equally as good and shows you all the good lookout point of Lyon and more importantly the best of the traboules, the secret passages of Lyon.
Apart from the two walking guides that I followed, I visited the beautiful Basilique Notre dame de Fourviere on top of the Fourviere hill, the cathedral, a rather good Musee de la Civilisation Gallo-Romaine, the Roman amphitheatre and the somewhat dissapointing Musee Lumiere. The local history museum, Musee Gadagne is unfortunately closed for renovation. I saw a big stage is being prepared in the amphitheatre, word on the grapevine says that there will be Franz Ferdinand concert tonight.
Internet Cafe in Lyon
The hostel internet service and a few places mentioned in the Lonely Planet are super expensive. For cheap and good internet service, take the metro to Guillotiere station and walk south of Rue de Marseille. The one across McDonalds has a very good rate of EUR1.50/hour, widescreen monitors, and most importantly, good keyboards.
Posted by vhadiant at 04:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 09, 2006
Paris - Day 5
A semi-full day since I had a late start this morning. A few people that I hang out with were leaving the hostel yesterday and this morning, some goodbyes were said and and pushed my start to late morning. I still managed to fit in two major sights today, first is the Panthéon then Musee d'Orsay. I love the Panthéon, the building is very beautiful and more importantly the crypt contains a few worthy men/women. I visited the crypt of Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, Louis Braille and several others. However the most popular of them all is Marie Curie. People left flowers, metro tickets, notes, personal items to thank Marie Curie as the source of their inspiration. I saw notes from all over the worlds, Japan, Korea, China, I was going to leave an Indonesian note only to realise that I had left my notebook in the hostel.
Musee d'Orsay is famous for the its impressionists and post-impressionists collection. I spent my afternoon admiring the works of Monet, Renoir, Manet, Cézanne, Van Gogh and several other really famous artists that I've never heard about. Lacking art knowledge, I didn't bother to rent the audioguide which would have set my back EUR5.
I visited two English bookshops today to find travel guidebook for Spain with no luck, hopefully there will be some in Lyon or cities closer to Spain. The bookshop that apparently have LP guidebook does not open on Sunday argggh, in fact half of Paris doesn't open on Sunday!
One last note, the final is on tonight a lot of people from the hostel went to Champs Elysee to join the crowd, I'd really want to go but I rolled my right ankle .... again! I just had an accident last month in front of Angkor Wat, I couldn't believe my luck and my inability to walk properly.
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July 08, 2006
Paris - Day 4 - Le château de Fontainebleau
Because my morning was spent on laundry and organing the next destination I only went to 1 place, Le château de Fontainebleau. When I got back to my hostel a friend told me that he's going to Fontainebleau, since that's has always been on the table for me I agreed to go. Fontainebleau in a way is better than Versailles. It's much older and less grand, but I think has a lot more charm in it. There are a lot less tourist in Fontainebleau making the visit much more pleasant and enjoyable.
Well there's only 1 day left for me to explore Paris and there are still loads of thing to see. I can understand now that some people stayed here for 10 days (yes initially I thought they're crazy too).
Posted by vhadiant at 08:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Laundry debacle, travel plan and TGV last minute saving
I've never used self service laundry, well until this morning that is. I've decided to do my laundry this morning and I figured that while waiting I can decide where to do after Paris. At the laundry, naturally the instruction is in French and French only. After a few days here my French has slightly improved from none to almost-none, so braving the unknown I read the through the instructions. After choosing my machine I went to the coin machine and enetered the EUR3.50 cost. Suddenly without any warning my chosen machine started itself, while in panic mode I tried to stop, cancel and even tried to open the front door without any success. Fortunately an old local seeing my distress decided to give me a hand. The problem is he doesn't speak any Engiish and I don't speak any French. What follow was a comical discussion, him speaking French and I replied in English while he was explaning how the world of self service laundry work.
Despite the communication issue, I managed to fully understand how this damn thing works. Yeah they're not that complicated! You have to put your clothes into the machine first - learn that lesson quickly - then you have to put the detergent cube in the right location - the good samaritan showed me how to get one out from the dispenser. Next you select machine options (cotton, wool, temperature etc. I've never done this at home, my machine does this automatically. I only need to press start and there she goes). Finally you paid the fee for the washing machine, that will automatically starts the washing cycle. Phew ... I'm sure the next city will have a totally different procedure :)
My original plan to go to Strasbourg after Paris has been thwarted the hostel room availability. Refusing to pay an extra EUR7/night for a budget hotel instead of hostel, I went back to the drawing board. Fine, I'll skip Strasbourg and go to Lyon directly. After doing a bit of research last night, i booked my hostel online this morning but cancel out on the train booking. From SNCF website I can only book Paris - Lyon on the TGV which cost EUR58.50. That's a bit pricey, I decided to go to the train station to find out if I can go to Lyon using normal train rather than TGV.
At the train station I was informed that the only way to go to Lyon by train is by TGV, a bit unfortunate but at least it'll be fast. BTW TGV is not always this expensive, you can book months in advance and SNCF will give you more than 50% discount, but since I only book a few days ahead, the discount is dysmal. Biting the bullet now I need to book the TGV to Lyon, so I was pleasently surprised that when searching on my fare they showed that they have last minute special Paris - Lyon 1st class for EUR5. That's cheaper than this morning's 2nd class quoted ticket. I just hope I can wake up in the morning to catch my train, that'll be the morning after the final world cup, and if France win it no doubt there will be party all night long. Apparently missing ones train is pretty normal for Woodstock Hostel residents, I know there are at least 2 people missed their train in the past 3 days :)
Posted by vhadiant at 08:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Paris - Day 3
Another day spent at mostly 1 place. I went to Versailles in the morning. A tip to everyone entering Versailles, to avoid the ultra long ticket queue at Entrace A go to the 'secret' Entrance D (Dauphin Entrance), a helpful British chap in the Information desk gave me this really usefull information. If you can't find Entrance D, just ask the Information desk which hopefully will have a much shorter queue than the ticket queue.
I recommend getting there early in the morning so you can get most value out of the EUR20 ticket price to see both the castle and Marie Antoinette's domain. Many people skip Marie Antoinette's domain and paid EUR13.5, but I think it's well worth the extra EUR6.5 - although it's just recently opened and thus the audioguide mentioned in the brochure is not yet available. A few sections of the castle are undergoing renovation work, but don't make this put your visit to Versailles, the renovation work will only finish in 2019.
At night a few of us went to the Eiffel Tower. This, like everyone said is a much better undertaking than going in the morning. Of course by the time we're about to go back to the hostel the Metro has already stopped and no one wanted to walk back to the hostel. Cabbing it back to the hostel (near Sacre Cour) cost us EUR14 and EUR15 for the other cab (including the extra surcharge EUR2.70 for 4 people in a cab).
Posted by vhadiant at 10:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 06, 2006
Paris - Day 2
Spent most of the day at the Louvre, that museum is massive. Lonely Planet said that if you just glance at every single object at the Louvre collection it will take you 9 months to finish it. Anyway like someone suggested at the hostel, do the Mona Lisa first then wander around. So went to see the Mona Lisa and a few other items that I want to see and then wander around the museum. I spent most of my time at the sculpture section, I'd certainly would love to go back to the Louvre one day.
After the Louvre closed, I went to Arc de Triomph and paid the exorbitant (but definitely worth it) EUR8 ticket to climb all the way up to the roof. The view from the top of Arc de Triomph is breathtaking, but more interesting is watching the Parisian causing total havoc at the roundabout below. This is the biggest traffic roundabout in the world and it has a peculiar rule, traffic already in the roundabout must give way to incoming traffic. I've seen so many near crashes just in a short time watching the traffic. No wonder they need so many police around this area :)
After Arc de Triomph I decided to give La Defense a visit, something a bit unusual. La Defense new high rises and broad modern boulevard is so different with ancient Paris. I suggest to take the Metro all the way to La Defense and walk the mall all the way to Esplanade La Defense metro station. It's about 1km and really nice if you do it in the early evening after the office hour.
I wasn't there but I wish I had gone to Champs Elysees with a few people from the hostel to join the France entry to World Cup final. I was totally knackered from the lack of sleep and the jetlag. Last night the Metro stopped selling tickets to people, not sure why but the rumour is that Paris "is full" :) So unless you already have a ticket you have to walk all the way to Paris if you want to join the party. I think the real reason was that everyone was watching the game. Allez Les Blues!
Posted by vhadiant at 10:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 05, 2006
In Paris, having problems with the keyboard!
Arggs French keyboard sucks! Well at least to us. They keyboard has a different layout and thank God I can touch type otherwise typing this will be impossible. I would imagine the French will have the same problem if they go to English speaking country or Asia.
So yeah as you should be able to guess easily I'm currently in Paris and I have been walking around the whole day I wish I'm back in Bangkok with those cheap Thai massages. The semi-final will be on soon and people expect massive party at Champs Elysees if France goes through the final. I've bit the bullet by buying France guidebook because although the Europe in Shoestring is good I found it woefully inadequate for my usage. The problem is finding a France guidebook in English. I finally found one at Virgin Megastore at inflated price of EUR29.50, I really need it so I blew my budget for the day by buying this guidebook. I've browsed for a while and already convinced I made the right decision. It list an English bookshops for each cities, I never know how usefull this list is until now!
I've whipped through several sites today, Notre Dame, Ste Chappel and Conciergire. Took the Metro to Arc de Triomphe only to find out that it's closed for the day. They seem to have some sort of military service there, tomorrow it will open the police assured me. So I walked along the grand Champs Elysees where I found the Virgin Megastore and finally France specific guidebook.
I'm pretty knackered right now, I only had 2 hours sleep last night (don't know, couldn't sleep) and couldn't sleep on Eurostar, I guess I haven't recovered fully from the jet lag.
Posted by vhadiant at 08:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 03, 2006
Victor in London
Here I am in London, tired and jet-lagged but very excited. I arrived in London this morning at about 8:30am, slightly late although my BA flight from Frankfurt was delayed for over half an hour (aparently BA has a pretty bad reputation keeping flights on-time), the pilot must have caught up in the air.
Sorted out my banking this afternoon and went to Covent Garden, apparently the tourist heart of London. Since it's only 2 stops from HSBC Woburn Place I decided to have a look. It was, as it turned out to be, a very optimistic undertaking. After just 5 minutes walking around the market, the tiredness suddenly hit me and I thought rather than pushing forward and not enjoying the sight-seeing I'd rather go back, rest and leave the sight-seeing tomorrow.
Posted by vhadiant at 05:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 02, 2006
Back in Singapore on the way to London
I'm back in Singapore, arrived pretty late last night since my Air Asia's flight from Bangkok was delayed for almost one half hour. Spent this morning repacking my stuff since I'm grossly overweight with my luggage. I threw out several t-shirt, one long sleeve shirt, almost all my socks, a fair few of stuff that I shouldn't have brought on the first place and the AUD 40 Reject Shop broken suitcase and I packed everything into my rucksack. I actually managed to put almost everything that I have into my rucksack and still under the 20kg limit, I'm pretty impressed with myself. I guess the 4 weeks of travelling taught me to be brutal with my belongings.
Of course I didn't know how much my rucksack actually weigh until I arrived in the check-in counter and weighed my rucksack. Seeing my excitment and my rather large carry-on luggage she told me that I can actually check-in 25kg ... darn ... shouldn't have thrown that many stuff :p Anyway it's all for a good cause, because I managed to put all my carry-on luggage and some stuff from my daypack into the rucksack and still comes under 25kg. That leaves me with only a rather-heavy-but-doesn't-look-stupid daypack.
I spent most of the afternoon visiting my grandma and other relatives. Dinner with Food Girl and Chewy and now back at the free internet counter in Changi Airport. For the first time in my life I will get out from this region (SE Asia & Australia), I'm very excited on the journey ahead :)
Posted by vhadiant at 09:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 01, 2006
All night party in Hanoi!
Well here I am at 8:30 in the morning in Hanoi. Since last night was our last night together for this group we went out partying and didn't come back until 4:30 in the morning. After my night ritual (must shower before going to bed ritual) it was 5:30 in the morning. My body naturally rejects this as normal sleeping time. After tossing around in the bed for a few hours in the bed I've decided that I won't be able to sleep and got up for breakfast and wrote this last two entries in my blog.
We went out last night to Bar Barracuda and met some interesting characters there. Apparently this place is the "pinnacle of night life in Hanoi" for expats. Bold claim but last night certainly was fun. We were back in the Hotel at about 3:30 in the morning but were pursuaded by a local (and creepy) Vietnamese guy for a soup. Totally hungry and not being sensible we went for a Pho a a local joint (well in the street really) and stayed up until 4:30 in the morning because the guy was becoming really creepy :)
All night party, Pho at local joint at 3:30 in the morning and no sleep until morning. That's a good way to end my Indochina tour. This has been very memorably and very enjoyable.
Now I can say good bye to SE Asia and hello Europe!
Posted by vhadiant at 08:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Halong Bay Cruise
Our fortune changed for the better. Yesterday morning at 7:30 AM we had the news that the storm has finished and now boats are allowed out to visit the islands. We left the hotel at 8AM and head straight to the islands.
Nothing can describe the beauty of Halong Bay, it was breathtaking even when the sky was overcast. Luckly, during our 4 hour cruise in Halong Bay the sun came out for about an hour giving us a chance to appreciate the beauty of Halong Bay. After cruising for about one half hour we anchor the boat in the middle of islands formation and everyone jumped into the water. That is the highlight of the day, or maybe my entire Indochina's tour. Being there in the middle of Halong Bay Islands, swimming in the sea and surrounded by cool people in our group, definitely experience that I won't forget anytime soon.
After spending about an hour or so of swimming the sky rain on us and leashed one of the heaviest torrential rain that I've ever seen in my life. Our guide says that this is the aftermath of the tropical storm, the entire North Vietnam will be raining for the next few days. We were lucky that we've reached the end of our trip.
Posted by vhadiant at 08:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
