France
our first month in review
We have been away exactly a month now and we have enjoyed every moment and experience! We have seen some mind-blowing, spectacular and confronting things. And we have learnt soooo much more about European history from the countries that we have visited.
Here is our first month in a quick review:
Our first stop was Russia where we visited Moscow and St Petersburg. There we saw some amazingly opulent palaces and got a sneak peak into the lives of the past royals. Our standout moment from here would be setting eyes on St Basil’s in Red Square for the first time.
The Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were next on the agenda. We learnt about the Singing Revolution which we had no idea about and also learnt about the Baltic Way – 2 million people holding hands across the 3 countries to make a 600 km human chain to stand up for their independence. A few of our favourites in this area would be visiting the Hill of Crosses and experiencing the old towns of each capital city
Poland was definitely a little surprise package for us. We enjoyed what the country had to offer; its history, food, people and culture. Here we experienced awe as well as sadness. There were moments of joy and wonderment as we visited the Wieliczka Salt Mines, walked around the Old Town of Krakow and be impressed at the restoration efforts of Warsaw. Then there were moments of heart-break where we shed tears for those who lost their lives during World War II especially when we visited the concentrations camps.
We had a small taste of Czech Republic back in 2006 when we visited Prague for a few days. This time, we had an opportunity to visit Cesky Krumlov as well. One of our highlights in Cesky Krumlov was definitely getting a tour of the Zámecké Divadlo (Castle Theatre). One of the last few remaining wooden theatres still with costumes, props and stage sets. Prague was nothing like we remembered, probably because we came this time with “older” eyes and a different mindset to travel. A highlight would have to be seeing the Astronomical Clock again and really appreciating it for what it was this time.
Now we are in Bordeaux, France and we are loving France all over again. Despite common belief, the French people are very friendly and always willing to help. Two memorable experiences amongst the many so far (as we still have all up another 10 days or so) was watching Moulin Rouge and seeing Mont St Michel. Next stop Carcassonne 🙂
Have a great week ahead, folks!
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a night out in paris
We are going to trying something a little different to share with you about our night in Paris. So here goes:
This is the tale of how David and Le
Went out on a “date” in the city, “Paree”
The plan was to have a good decent feed,
With dessert as a want, more than a need.
Followed by watching the popular show,
The place with the windmill was where they would go!
All ready to go, stepping out of the door,
There came a light sprinkle that fell to the floor.
Which turned to a monster downpour of rain,
Opening their umbrellas was completely in vain.
The rain came down sideways, and soaked them right through
Drenched waist down, there was a flood in Le’s shoe!
But David and Le kept soldiering on,
Hoping it would blow through & soon be gone.
A romantic French dinner was not on the cards,
It was pizza instead, Italy sent her regards!
The first place they stopped to hide from the wet,
Was a pub that was dark and stinking of sweat!
And would you believe, when the pizza arrived,
The rain did clear, the sun once again thrived.
Off to dessert then, next door for crème caramel
And Nutella crepes which served their tummies so well!
It all became funny, when the waiter came by,
And offered them pepper. With dessert? Oh my!
And then it was Moulin Rouge, this was their highlight.
Definitely brightened up their wacky start to the night.
The dancing and music, it was really upbeat,
The 2-hour show was clearly a treat.
The lights and the costumes bedazzled the crowd,
All the performances were applauded real loud!
The couple that shined were the two in their skates,
The couple that daringly balanced did rate.
The man with the voices was clever and witty
The end of his jokes and these acts were a pity.
Never had David and Le seen such a show
It was money well spent, their 200 Euro!
Hope you enjoyed our attempt at poetry in the romantic city that is Paris 🙂
And if you cringed….. well, we achieved what we wanted!
Overall, the take home message:
Is Moulin Rouge worth it?
Definitely! It is a must-see! And we were so glad we did. We chose to attend the 9 pm show which we were happy with in terms of getting seated and heading back to the hotel at a decent hour. The 11 pm show had a line up to enter as we were leaving that extended to the end of the block and around the corner. Absolutely crazy!
Anyway, hope you all enjoy the week ahead!
Tell us what you think of our poem, click here
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travel memories on our tree
We LOVE this time of year because we LOVE Christmas! It’s 2 weeks from Christmas and our tree is now up – yes it is an artificial one 😉
As we added the different ornaments, we began reminiscing about our travels because some of our decoration are our “souvenirs” from our travels. It was only back in 2009, while we are at the Empire State Building did we think it would be a good tradition to start.
And since then, we have added several more to our tree. It’s not always easy to find Christmas ornaments, as it can depend not only the time of year but also the place you visit. But these are not the only things we pick up as our souvenirs 🙂
Our families are in Sydney so Christmas is great because we get to spend time with both sides – minor downside is that its always hot! Maybe one day, we get to experience a true white Christmas somewhere…
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
HOPE next year brings you all lots of joy and travels 🙂
Thanks to GlobalMouse @ GlobalMouseTravels for inspiring this post during our twitter conversation.
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paris on the cheap
An uncle with an unused apartment in Paris is extremely convenient! We set up base for two weeks to explore parts of France there. Accommodation prices in Paris were astronomical so for us to be able to save that much money, we were able to make our money go a little further!
Here we are in France in September and it is still hot. This heat wave that has hit Europe was giving us an extra long experience of summer. We spent our days in Paris walking the streets, exploring the touristy things as expected but also experiencing it as if we were a local. We caught the metro from the apartment, we shopped at the local supermarket to pick up breakfast, lunch and dinner, we tried using some high school French that we knew… not that J’ai douze ans (translation: I’m 12 years old) would EVER come in handy.
As with any other person’s holiday to France, we also visited Versailles to be wide-eyed at the Palace and its gardens. One word to describe it: “magnifique”. We spent most of our time in the gardens, exploring and wandering and if there is ONE tip that we can offer, it is this: Be prepared to pay 5 Euros for orange juice in a tiny plastic cup.
We also got a taste of the Loire Valley by catching a train to Tours. All the tours to the chateaus were fully booked so we resorted to having a taxi driver for the day to take us around for 80 Euros. He took us to Chateau de Chenonceau, apparently the most impressive. Impressive it was but now we want to see the others. Its now been slapped onto our to-do for future.
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wise monkeys abroad 