I'm coming home!
Trip Start
Aug 23, 2008
1
7
Trip End
Oct 22, 2008
Tokyo,
Kanto,
Japan
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
So anyway, you want to know about my adventures. I believe I updated you in just as I arrived in Nice. My first day I spent in Nice checking out the sights on the hop-on hop-off bus. Unfortunately there were bus and train strikes so traffic was a bit manic and it took most of my day to do both routes. We even had to wait for an hour on the bus as one protest ralley started and passed us. I got chatting to a group of four elderly English women on the bus and then got off at the Russian Orthodox chruch with them to check it out. It is a beautiful church but so crammed full of stuff!
The following day was going to be my trip to Monaco, but as I was walking to the bus depot I ran into my room mates, the crazy older Brazilian women. They were such hard cases. I was adopted by them that week. They were going to Cannes so I decided to join them as I had no idea what to do in Cannes and kinda wanted to visit it. I was actually disappointed by Cannes. We did the Petit Train and all the kept pointing out was this hotel is famous cause movie people stay here and so is this one and this star did this here and this is the street to be on if you want to be seen and this is the street where everyone shops but you can't afford it.... Cannes is all about the movie festival and that is it. Having said that I did see some sand sculptures being made on the beach there which were pretty cool. In the end the Brazilian ladies caught the 2 hour 1 Euro bus back to Nice while I hung around for a little longer. Oh and the Brazilian women cooked up a storm that night. Free dinner for me!
The next day was... you know I can't remember what day it was. But I went to Monaco that day. I enjoyed Monaco. It was a beautiful bus ride out there along the coast. I got off outside the Casino and walked around the gardens there. No I did not go into the casino. I did however go up to the palace for the changing of the gaurd and then visited the state apartments. It is a beautiful palace. I saw the throne room where the prince sits for formal affairs. There were portraits around about Princess Grace Kelly. They loved her. She was a beautiful woman. It sounds also like the Monaco people respect their monarch and he does good by them. After the palace, I went and had lunch in the middle of the Formula 1 race track, kind of by accident really. I hadn't realised that was where I was till I sat done at the cafe and tried to work out where the race track was and then went, oh that's what those red and white barriers are for! I then walked along the waterfront and the race track and under the casino and tried to work out how I can get onto one of those flash boats. I decided the easiest way was to have a rich friend. After Monaco I stopped off in Eze Village on my way back to Nice. It is a small castle up on the cliff. It has beautiful views. It is now two very expensive hotels. It was more expensive there I found than in Monaco.
My final morning I spent doing the last of the sights in Nice which included visitng and archeological site on the hill top with stunning views of the beach. Nice is a beautiful beach spot. Then it was onto a train to Marseille.
Marseille I didn't really like. I didn't feel comfortable there as I had been told not to go out at night on my own and I was staying out in the burbs. But I survived, even when the lady told me in French that you have to watch you bag around Marseille and the taxi driver also told me in French that there are a large number of arrests in Marseille as we drive past a van that has just been pulled overe with backup arriving and everyone one is jumping out of the police car with the guns drawn. I visited Ile d'If which is the prison on which Count of Monti Cristo is based on. The coolest part was that I met a woman from Lyon who was in Marseille babysitting her 13 and 17 year old nephews. Her sister had left her two tickets to the Marseille Philharmonic Orchestra performance at the opera house and she gave me one of the tickets for free. I had a great night. It was a Brhams and Beethoven piece with the Brhams being a piano concerto. The pianist had to do and encore and then the audiance kept demanding more and they had to give in and play one of the movements again to satisfy us. It was great. The next day I checked out the last of the sights in Marseille before catching a plane to London to overnight before heading to Ireland.
Then it was on to Ireland where it rained for the whole time I was there. I was assured that I was getting the real Irish experience. The worst part about Ireland is driving on the windy narrow very rough roads. They are worse than NZ roads. I flew into Kerry airport and then had to drive to Kenmare where I was visiting a good friend. I arrived earlier than he realised so had a coffee in one of the cafes while I waited for his pub to open. After a cuppa tea we headed out to Dingle and had a seafood lunch which was pretty good. Dingle is a fishing town. Everyone had raved about it but neither of us saw what they were raving about. We decided it was the weather. The next day after sleeping most of the day away (I was up at 4:30am the morning before and we didn't get to bed till 2am the next morning), and me learning how to play Backgammon, we headed out to Banane where we checked out stone circles, remains of houses and villages. It was an interesting site. And the rain was kind enough to stop for us. We then drove up to the top of the mountain and checked out the view and were nearly blown off the mountain at the same time. Wednesday morning we checked out the stone circle in Kenmare and came to the conclusion that it was built for the tourists and wasn't real. Wednesday I had to return to London. Getting back to the airport was an adventure. I took the wrond turn at Kilarney and went the long way to the airport, only just making it in time for my flight. But made it in one piece to Phil and Claudia's.
Thursday and Friday Phil and Claudia worked so I checked out the sights of London by myself. I took a ride up the London Eye, walked Southbank, saw the changing of the horse gaurd, walked to Covent Garden market, Traflagar square, through Hyde Park and visited the NZ war memorial. It is beautiful by the way, very Kiwi. So I did a lot of walking, covered a lot of miles. Thrusday night I caught up with Ryan for dinner. Ryan and I did our PhD's together. Friday night Aaron, Phil's brother arrived so after dinner we headed out to Southbank and had a good night taking photos and mucking around. Saturday we went to South Kensington and visited the Science museum, so cool, so many toys to paly with. It was funny it took two engineers and two technologist to solve some of the problems set up for kids! After the science museum we went to the V&A (Victoria and Albert) and checked out some of the exhibts. They were cool. Would definately go there again. Dinner that night was at Brick Lane with Phil's Aunt and cousin. Brick Lane is all Indian food that you haggle a price for. We got 30% off plus two free bottles of wine. Ended up being 10 pound each for dinner. Not bad eh! Sunday we hung around home and chilled. Aaron left in the morning. In the evening just Phil and I went to church as Claud wasn't feeling the best. And then Monday morning I snuck out of their room and left to come home very early. Yes Aaron and I were crashed on the floor in Phil and Claudia's bedroom. There were ten of us staying in their flat at one point.
So, what you really want to know is what was the best part of my trip. Of course I have to say that catching up with my friends was the best part. Apart from that, I really enjoyed Ireland, Tours and Zeeland. I have over 2000 photos which I need to whittle down into a sensible number of photos. Most are duplicates as I wasn't sure whether the exposure was right or whethere I have blur or not in the photos. You can't really tell on such a small screen.
And I have to admit I am looking forward to coming home. I have done a lot of soul searching and praying on this trip. It has been quite a journey, one I have totally enjoyed, but I need a holiday from travelling. AND that PhD is still a mill stone around my neck so it is home to finish it once and for all! Look forward to seeing you all soon.
