France

FRANCE (21st - 29th October)
A bit of background
France is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain.
France is linked to the United Kingdom via the Channel Tunnel, which passes underneath the English Channel (La Manche in French), which is how we arrived from London to Paris Gare De Nord Station.


PARIS - 21st-23rd October
Travelled with two awesome friends, Claire and Ben. We arrived in Paris via the Eurostar! After an exciting few hours on the train, learning some common phrases, we were soon in Paris putting them to the test.
We checked into our hotel, located in Bolougne Billancourt. A fair mission to find it but we were soon settled.
From here we headed into Paris city centre, catching the subway. We surfaced out front of the Louvre - the square was an amazing sight - just gorgeous!!!

We then tracked around to the major sights and then headed out that night to Montemarte which is never short on entertainment. We located the red-light district and Moulin Rouge (Nothing compared to Amsterdam, but was still lively). Ate at a restuarant, wasting no time to sample 'Escargot' (snails). I wasn't a big wrap on them, however Ben and Claire thought they weren't too bad! Ben described them best by saying 'Escargot are just a vehicle for carrying pesto and garlic!'

Summary of Major Attractions visited:
· The Eiffel Tower. Went to the famous Eiffel Tower. Took some snap shots and walked through the park, continually gazing back at it. At night when it was all lit up it was incredible to see!!!
· The Arc de Triomphe. A huge arc memorial monument, placed on the world's largest traffic roundabout. At the base of the arc is buried an Unknown Soldier from WW1 with a memorial flame lit each evening at around 6.30pm. We were there to witness a huge precession honouring this sight! They say the roundabout averages a crash every 7 minutes. Not hard to believe - The driving was crazy!!! No giving way to the right, no lines marks, cars 4 or 5 wide - just a free for all!
· The Louvre Museum. Went into the Louvre Museum and witness the Mona Lisa's following eyes!!! Huge museum! Would take 2 days to see it all!
· Moulin Rouge. Found in the area of Montmartre, we didn't go in (but have heard they put on an amazing show). The view from the front was a bit of a let down compared to the movie.
· Notre Dame. Beautiful huge church - French gothic architecture!

Overall, Paris was a very charming place where we had many laughs and covered many sights over the 3 days there. The people were great and couldn't have been more helpful (unlike what you may hear). They dress very classy and the restuarants and shopping were very glamorous - they really know how to enjoy the good things in life!

SOUTH of FRANCE- The French Riviera ~ 23rd-29th October
We hired a car and headed south from Paris, making our way to the French Riviera. I was the Designated Driver, Claire was the communicator and back seat entertainer and Ben was the part-time navigator and typical male on board with a female driver and communicator - you could imagine his frustration - At times warranted!
It took 12 hours to drive from Paris to Nice after getting lost several times in Paris. We stopped to ask for directions and when heading back into the car there was a very bad smell!!!! I had treaded dog pooh through the car!!! After smothering it with newspaper it was bareable until I could scrub it. Yuk! The french obviously don't believe in cleaning up there own pet poop! The tolls were expensive driving on the main highways, however I got the chance to drive at 130kph on the open roads - pretty exciting when I got my confidence up!!!

Finally arrived in Nice where we based ourselves at Saint Villa Exubery hostel (An old Monastry), then did day trips to Cannes and Monaco. The French Riviera is such a beautiful area of the world. Once again people were great. Very ritzy. On our travels home we broke up the trip and spent one night in Lyon (central France). Very enjoyable place. A little less pretentious than Paris or Nice which was a nice change. Total return trip home was 8 hours!! Something definately went wrong day one.

The French Riviera immediately conjures up images of glamour and wealth. We fitted in perfectly - ha, ha - NOT!!!!!

NICE
Main Attractions:
· The Beaches. Over 40 kilometers of beaches line the famed Cote d'Azur. Nice's main beach is pebble, while both Cannes and Monaco had sand on their beaches (however they are not a good as the Aussie beaches).
· The Old Town (Vioux Port). Charming cobblestone pedestrian walk ways with many retailers and great eateries. We ate at a great restuarant recommended by Murph's brother. It didn't dissapoint. Huge seafood dishes. Yum!

MONACO

Monaco, is located along the French Riviera between the Mediterranean Sea and France. Monaco is one of the five European microstates. It has more millionaires per capita than any other country in the world. This was very apparent when we walked around the Ritzy streets, mainly consiting of glamorous hotels and apartment highrises.



CANNES
Cannes is a shopper's paradise for chic and expensive items. It is famous for the International Film Festival and the glitzy hotels, cars, beaches and many visitors are attracted here. Well raved about and is worth seeing, however we all thought Nice was much better!

Summary of Highlights of the trip
- (Decided by Ben, Claire and I)

• Seeing all the sights in Paris. Won't go through them all as you will be bored senseless but there really is a lot to see.
• Nutella Crepes
• Having dinner in Montemarte. Ate Escargot (snails).
• Driving through the French Alps. This was truly beautiful!
• Couple of big nights at the hostel in Nice. One of these included Claire dancing on her own around the bar or begging local staff to join her for a waltz. Quite funny particularly because she actually thought the next day the she was at a night club.
• After meeting a famous maori Rugby union coach 'Dazza', Claire asked him to explain the difference between rugby and union. Also when filling out forms Claire had forgotten what "Christian Name" meant. - So Claire's comments were a definite highlight!
• Having dinner in Nice. Biggest seafood feed. Even Ben just managed to finish it.
• Walking along the promenade in Nice.
• Enjoying the great weather.
• Having lots of laughs with good friends.
• Seeing the Eiffel Tower at night.

Lowlights of the trip:

• Getting car and driving from Paris to Nice. Which was more expensive and took a lot longer. Ben made this decision and he didn't hear the end of it. Atleast we got to enjoy the great sights in the Alps with a car.
• Me forgetting to get car hire included in Eurostar deal.
• Bank balance at the end of the trip.