Madrid and Gibraltar

Its been a long couple of days of bus travelling from northern France to southern Spain that borders Gibraltar.

But in the trip our first stop over for bus transfer was in Madrid, now we had about 9 hours to kill, so we had decided that we would go explore the city the best we could, starting by hopping on the metro, listening to a local, playing some musical instrument on the train.

We got off at the centre of town, walked around a bit checking out some shops and nearby building, water fountain and a newly engaged couple doing some "save the date" type photos around the fountain and roping in randoms to hold the sign up for them, it was entertaining to say the least.
After this we paid for the hop on hop off bus and its a great way to see the basics and get the snap shot of the city without having to get off the bus and read things. By the time we got back to the centre and lunch, another protest was going through the city, same staff different country?

But once that left the town filled with people again and you can feel the energy of the place, all the Disney mascots walking around, street acts, random alien vs predator thing happening, its the first city that actually felt busy and packed with people it was awesome. Its buildings, cobbleroads, history, many water features and statues, its a very pretty city, and one of the main parks is great to walk through, it has a small lake in the middle where you can row a boat on it, or sit and watch people row into each other.

But as said before it was killing time till the next bus for La linea, Spain that borders the UK, Gibraltar.

Getting off the bus at 530am in a city you don't know, can't check in till 1pm, nothing is open, so what do you do?

Watch the luner eclipse, wait abit till a cafe opens then have an amazing cappuccino and watch the sun rise over the incredibly large Rock of Gibraltar, and my first thought when seeing this rock is "that rock looks really familiar", turns out is was used in a scene for a james bond movie and throw a jeep off of it.

La linea was pretty cool when things actually open, things buzzing with activity, cafes open, bars, and street stalls, was nice.
After checking in to the hotel, we were to cross the border into Gibraltar and meet a fackbook friend for the first time and be shown around the small island.

Now you'll think crossing borders would be long or hard, nope, just walk through the two checkpoints without really being stopped, sucks that we aren't collecting stamps on our passports.

We had a couple hours before meeting up, we'd taken the bus around town, seen a couple of the main streets, lunch, then checking out the old fort walls, gates, few info bays, its amazing for the small island it is, its packed with history.

Meeting my friend we were driven to the top of the Rock itself and my god its a unique sight, and the day we had, blue clear skys ( still only less then 15 degrees ) you could see Morocco in north Africa, Spain and Gibraltar, it was an incredible sight and many photos were taken, afterwards taken around to see the monkeys that live on the rock, you could get up close with them to take photos, even seen a baby one running around, on the rock itself it has the army training base, old fort elements, the old jail, and just spectacular views across the board, i thank my friend for taking us and showing us your beautiful city and telling us some of the histroy of Gibraltar and taking the time to meet us and drive us around, thank you.

Now we are on our way back to Madrid on the night bus, short stop over and we fly to Rome...

Beaches of wartime

The last couple days have been incredible, going to a couple of places of history that i have wanted to go to ever since hearing about them, Northern france in dunkirk and the mass evacuation, Normandy and the famous battles here, the Dday landings and a few of the towns i know of and always wanted to see.

Starting in northern France in the city of Dunkirk, near the Belgium border.
In 1940 the British, french and Belgium forces had been pushed back to the coastlines, some 330,000 men, all on Dunkirks beach, what i didn't expect to see was nooone else around but a few dog walkers and a couple of other people on this massively long open beach.

With the tide out and the beach clear of tourists you could see how you can have so many people on it, waiting for rescue, how the boats had the problem of low tides and nowhere to land, how flat the beach is and how much of it is underwater in high tide.

We had walked along the beach for a while just taking in the sights, couple of landmark areas and a few information points throughout town and the beachfront describing the events that happened through the mass evacuation, a day here learning and walking the beach with nice weather in winter time, what more could you ask for?

Dunkirk itself is a nice place to visit, free transport on all buses, runs well and on time, the centre of town is nice and has a few museums but all are pretty much closed in winter, couple of historical ships, walking trails with information along the way and what the places looked like during the war, in contrast today its hard to imagine...

And we had almost walked into Belgium, only 10k's more along the beach :p

The second but most important to me to see was the Normandy area, we had travelled from Dunkirk to paris, stayed the night, then early morning to Caen.

Spent that day mapping out all the places i wanted to see, and the next morning, we had got our hire car, thanks France, a country that doesn't care if we are Australian and upgraded to a SUV auto instead of the tiny 2 door manual i booked.

Now you might think, driving a left hand side car on the right side road, in a city I've never driven before in a country whos language i can't read but the basics, might be hard. But honestly it was a great experience in itself, taken all of 2 minutes to get the hang of things.

Anyways, our first stop along the way was a place called Pointe Du hoc, a complex of bunkers, shore gun batterys and the story of US forces climbing the Cliffsides, taken over the area and held in for days against counterattacks.
the point itself is fully explorable, going into the bunkers, the impact craters from shore bombardment even just a wonder around the sides of the cliffs and the speechless views from here, understanding why the Germans had that point fortified in the first place.

One other beach i have wanted to see, is Omaha beach, nowdays it has a road along it, the beach has golden sand, a few monuments for different reasons are along the way, a few photos of before and afters are along the way too, but go back to June 6 1944, this had anything and everything on the beach to block the Allied forces from landing here, Stroming the beach over a 6 km stretch. It truly hard to imagine the sight of this place and what happened here, lives lost, and what now is a empty open beach, how far that seemed for someone getting over the boat and having to run from the water to the cliff, underfire, artillery and all the obstacles in the way.

And if you can't understand the impact of the war just on the beachs and towns alone, then head over to the nearby US cemetery where that alone has over 9000 marked crosses in uniformed lines, it was a heavy emotional day to understand how what happened so long ago, changed the course of history for so many, and the effect of these places had to so many countries and only after 11 months since Dday WW2 was over.

Sadly we didnt have time to fully explore everything, it would take days to see it all, visiting the other 4 beaches, towns, museums and the several other cemeteries of allied forces, but its still an amazing experience and sight to see everything we had.

City of tough lovin Paris...

Bonjour everyone.

Welcome to Paris.

Home to the Riot police, some 80 thousand personal, Armored Personal Carriers, water cannons, helicopters landing on the street, the sounds of sirens going off, locked down areas, checkpoints and bag searches, and not a single protest we haven't come across thankfully.

But the protests are still very much real in parts of the city and the damage done in the last several weeks is visible, even on the high end of town, smashed windows,  shops boarded up, more security guards and roadblocks with heavily armed police and barricades, controlling the flow of areas with no go zones, really show the reality of whats been happening and the need to maintain control of national icons and buildings.

But in saying all of that, Paris is beautiful, with its incredible roads, architecture, history, the Eiffel tower and its views, the Louvre and the most famous pieces of art and well the hours you can spend just walkig around and finding different things to see along the way.

Thanks to the lockdown areas for traffic, we were able to walk around the state office buildings, the parks in front, and even the famous Champs-Elysees road that leads to the Arc de Triomphe and high street area, and sit on it with no traffic and get some great photo shoots.

After all that and up to the Arc de Triomphe itself, well across the steet, we walked towards the Eiffel tower, you really could spend a few hours on the Eiffel tower and area around itself with the beautiful parks at the base to climbing up the tower because first of all, you have to walk up over 600 steps to get to the second floor and that kills after all the walking and stairs we did in London. Never the less, we made it and what a sight it was to be there, 360 views of the whole city.

If you get the chance, come back to it or at least be in sight of it nearer to 6pm for a light show of it we didn't expect. She's just as much beautiful when its dark, got its makeup, got on its favorite lights on and when shes ready, she'll give you a light show.

( yes i know i just said that for a tower)

Anyways back on point, Paris is one of the only citys we have been to that actually feels large, and it looks it from the tower, but its great to sit down on one of the several benches, eat lunch and just look at it all, it is worth to take your own food with you unless you want to blow money on incredibly over priced food, but hey thats me. That slice of pizza may look incredible after so much work to get there, but at the several euro for it, you'll feel empty both your tummy and your wallet, so make some sandwichs.

Enough about the Tower, Lady Library is a short walk down river, its much smaller then the US one but hey, size doesn't matter, its still cool to see.

The Louvre is up and across the river from Eiffel Tower, and is well worth exploring the many levels and rooms for many many MANY years of history, and dont feel bad if you don't see everything, that would take days if you were interested in every little thing, but from the basement floor to the top and even paintworks on the roof, you'll be sure to find something, including the Mona Lisa in its own section, but it is surrounded by groups of teen girls doing sefies, Asian groups and the one guy who's just too damn tall to see past ( lucky that was me this time ).
But you can't get close, nor see, and all it really is, its just Mona lisa, go to one in Liverpool i mentioned before.

We have had own first real language problems in Paris, from talking to people and reading signs, if you at least know how to say hello and thank you, its a good start, figure out interpretations, and be patient, people will help out, otherwise, just find someone that speak English to help out, but most things are pretty easy to figure out, and the metro system is easy to understand.

Other things like that red sign with a danger sign near a river says "go for a swim in the river its lovely this time of year".
The fenced off road with a riot officer waving at you, pointing at you then behind you and saying something in french, he's  says " Sir, i invite you to turn around and take a selfie with me and my batton"

Its not hard to understand whats being said and if your unsure, just ask. Don't have to know a language fully to know whats going on.

But all jokes aside, i do hope the protests stop soon, and Paris can really look its best, be able to see more, actually look under the Arc de Triomphe, instead of parked APC's in front of it and fenced off, or less armed police at every corner.
But i do understand the importance for it all, with everything thats happened in the last few years, from shootings, terrorism and even today with protests on a mass scale.

I'm sure someone will say im being overly dramatic about it all but this is my impression of Paris.

Maybe one day we will come back to experience the true beauty, but till then, you have been amazing where you could be Paris and given us a fun time where we could, eaten several croissants, taken many photos, walked many streets, seen some of what you have to offer and just loved much of what we have seen.

Now we are on the bus to see a very historic town  and start of the WW2 tour list for me on this side of the channel...... Dunkirk....

Bye for now.

"Mind the gap" london calling

A week in London ( Condensed version )

For the second from getting off of the bus that song has been in my head, London calling...
And after a short adventure, buying our oyster cards ( transport cards ) riding the subway for only one stop, to then realise that i don't even have my backpack on and that it is still at the bus depot.
So quickly rushing back and having to find the driver, got it back thankfully but after having to wait a couple hours for the driver before he left for the next town.

But thats how it starts in the big city, heart racing, having to learn a map in a short amount of time and minding the gap at subways.

First full day here we had taken the Big City bus ( Hop on Hop Off) on its several routes throughout the city, mapping out what we wanted to see during the week and making a couple stops along the way for the must sees.

After the day at night we ride the subways for a bit and going to stations on the Monopoly game, Paddington Station and seen the bear and chair itself on where paddington starts, and just riding the lines popping out of different stops to see whats around including Harry Potter 9 3/4 but that had a massive line up so not really worth waiting just the hold the cart in the wall.

Sadly this time of year, and for the next couple as well, it is the time for repairs and maintaining of some of the most iconic landmarks, things like Big Ben and Parliament Houses and the londen eye, lucky we got to go on the eye before it shut down, and if you do get a chance ride it the sights are great over the river.

But what wasn't covered up, Buckingham Palace and the whole changing of the guard which takes place several times a week, and if you can, get there early and off to the side for one of the closer better views as they walk past, and have a laugh and bro highfive with a couple of the police directing and stopping people at the gates. Or at least i did anyways.

We had gone to many different places, Chruchhills war rooms, the Calvary Museum guarded with horses and swordsmen, Wellington arch and even go inside it to learn the history of it, as we were there, we'd watched the horseback guard ride through the archway and down constitutional hill road towards Buckingham Palace, many great photos too.

Other things we'd done is walked ALOT, walked up the Monument for the great fire in london, which had over 300 steps up, then right after St Pauls cathedral which has over 1000 steps up, i don't recommend doing both in the same day unless you want to be really fit. But the trade off is the amazing sights on top of both The Monument, and the massive and impressive St pauls Cathedral with its incredible design, painting and artworks on the archs and roof, viewing platforms all the way to top on the Cathedral itself.

We had walked on the tower bridge which was awesome to go even with its glass floor to the road and water below, learn how the bridge was built and even got the amazing photo of the one thats first on display on this post :o

Checked out the Tower of London and surrounding grounds, which you can spend a few hours looking at all the history, the royal mint and how coins where made in the day, the crown jewels on display but cant take any photos of them, thats a BIG no no. 

Lots of other places we had gone to with all were great and filled with history and wonder but can't write about them all or this post with go all week. 

HMS Belfast Ship tour.

London Bridge experience which talks about the history of all 4 bridges and the rest is a horror walkthrough experience ( fun but not if you dont like jumpscares )

Had dinner in Trafalgar square on the Nelson Monument, watching some dance act that was happening. 

Also other places we had been too, Cutty sark ship, Westminster Abby, Kensington Palace, Royal albert hall, Hyde park, Green park, MnM world and the largest wall of chocolate.

And many other sights, famous buildings, streets, shops and all, packed into a week of being here in London.

But to end our time and last day / night here, we set off on a river cruise on the River Thames, at night went up and seen the incredible View from the Shard with a glass of champagn, then walk along the Riverside looking off to the city and end up the Namco fun scape till late and won ourself a pair of shotglasses. 

Now we are on our way to France / Paris, almost missed our bus by a minute but now we can kick back, relax, and stay in Paris for the weekend...

Bath recap...

Well.... we made it to london.

But first i do have to talk about our brief stop over in Bath city for a couple nights.

Bath has some beautiful sights in and around the city and a tour start point for the Stonehenge with a couple of different operators there.

You can find yourself just walking around the small centre area, just seeing the different types of buildings, the Roman baths, spa's, old streets and small park areas to sit and eat, all the different and unique shops and found a neat book / cafe shop with was 3 floors packed with stuff, and a couple different bars around the town with all its different styles.
We even found a indoor market just by walking around the river area, now Im normally not one to really enjoy indoor markets, but we had gone to one which had half price great condition books with many many options to choose from, why does travelling have to suck when you can't buy more things, because you have to carry it all afterwards, oh well.

Outside the market area the main river is near and on a cold winters day, you can see the fog over the hillsides and the river running quietly, its actually a nice sight really, would have been nice to just see the hillsides a little longer. It has the Abbey Chruch which stands at 8 stories high, and is the reason that no other building is more then 8 fllors high,as at the time the building where the market is based, was to be taller then the Abbey but the Chruch didn't want then to outshine them and for everyone to be able to see the Abbey. Good knowledge that.

The place we stayed at was cool, called the Z hotel, reason why its cool? it hosts a wine and cheese hour every day from 5 till 8, glad we have been having wine and cheese for the last several months planning this trip, its like we have been training for that very moment.

Outside the hotel and immediately left of it, is a small exclusive Casino, requires for you be signed up with your ID and a card, and if you're Australian, dont use your drivers license, you'll need your passport to sign up properly to enter, but if you're lucky like us, have a mix up at the desk, because the first two guys say its fine, sign you up, but the super comes down and says no, but still let us in with a VIP pass for the one time only to see the casino, and come out with £60 in pocket from blackjack after only 20 minutes, had 3 blackjacks in a row :o

But the main highlight from bath is yes, the Stonehenge, it really is a wonder just how it was made, how some of the stones came from over 100kms away, and how even today, Noone really know why it was built in the first place, ideas have been thrown around ( no not aliens ) but still no soild reason, the area around the Stonehenge is packed with people, even in winter, and it takes you two hours minimum to see the stones and listen to the audio guide (if you get one), the expo centre, but if you really want to walk the rest of the site which is several miles in total, you will need half a day to really see it all, you can't go through the stones themselves, only about 30 meters, but if you go to Esperance, there is a full scale replica there which you can walk around and with all stones in place, unlike the actual Stonehenge were many years of wear and tear, people stealing the stones from building and graffiti, and well its been there for thousands of years....

But now we are as stated, in London city, probably our LAST place to see in the UK before moving onwards..... to the French. But thats in a weeks time....