After a whirlwind tour of some of the
major cities in north Western Europe, we headed down to the south of
France for some R and R.
Louisa and I arrived in Bordeaux
feeling exhuasted and not wanting to do much, as a result spent most
of our time sitting in the park eating pate and cheese with bread. Pretty nice!
Picnics in the park with pate and bread
The main tourist attraction in Bordeaux
is to take a wine tour with the grey haired tourists and sample wine
by spitting it out, at a huge expense. We decided it was far better
to buy the same wine from the supermaket around the corner for under
3 euros and drink it at the hostel with other backpackers – and we certainly did not spit it out!
Our Bordeaux wine
After two nights it was time to move on
again to the seaside town of Biarritz, right near the Spanish
boarder.
The sun was shinning and it was
actually warm enough for us to get in the water, something we hadn't
felt like doing since Asia. Most of the locals decided it was too
warm to even wear clothes. The beach was filled with elderly women,
the colour of tangerines, wearing noothing but a g-string.
After that sight, it was time to leave
France and cross the boarder into Spain. We headed to San Sebastian –
also a seaside resort. Unfortunately the good weather did not follow
and although we enjoyed some nice relaxing walks along the beach, we
didn't feel compelled to get in the water again.
We did, however, sample some of the
fine local cuisine. In the Basque part of Spain, instead of tapas
they serve pintxos. Basically you walk into a bar and there are
platters of food such as small open sandwiches, seafood skewers and
chorizo sausages. The barman gives you a plate and you fill it up
with as many goodies as you want then show him and he will charge
you. The idea is to have a few at a bar then head on to the next.
It
is also important to sample the local drinks. We really enjoyed the
kalimotzo – a mixture of coke and red wine, which sounds disgusting
but is actually delicious and tastes similar to sangria.
Pouring cider San Sebastian style
We also tried sangria and tapas a few
days later in Barcelona, as well as a yummy paella. Barcelona was a
fun city. We saw a couple of Gaudi's pieces of work, including la
Sagrada Famillia, which has been a work in progress for about 100
years and is still not expected to be completed till 2030. it was
impressive but i was left wondering whether it was all worth it.
La Sagrada Famillia
We
also had a walk along the fake beach, with sand imported from the
Sahara for the 1992 Olympics. We managed to make it up to the highest
point in Barcelona – it is 16.9 metres high!
But time was running out and we had to
meet Andy and Blake in Switzerland. Unfortunately the trains weren't
running as we planned – one was full, one late, one not running on
a sunday, etc... and we didn't arrive in Sion, our meeting place,
until 2am, by then the others had gone to bed. We had to find
accomodation for the night quickly and because we were not willing to
pay 100 euros for a hotel each, some taxi drivers agreed to take us
to a stadium, where we could camp in the car park, beside the horse
stables – an interesting night!
camping by the stadium
Luckily we found Andy and Blake first
thing the next morning and they took us in their car to a campsite in
Interlarken, where we had a luxurious night in comparision. We spent
just over a week driving through Switzerland, Liechtenstein and
Austria. We went to such places as Grindalwald, Lucern, Vaduz and
Salzburg.
We would have two nights free camping,
in a park, truck stop or forest, then one night in a campsite to
shower and do other important things. It was great to be out of the
city and have the freedom of the car. We had many excitements along
the way – mostly including food or supermarkets and freebies.
We discovered the joys of the Coop and
its version of Home Brand, Prix Garantie. Our proudest moments
included drinking Prix Garantie Hell Blonde beer and melting the Prix
Garantie chocolate down into a chocolate fondue. In Austria we tried
apple strudel, schnitzle sandwiches and both sweet and savoury
pretzels.
After all the camping we lived the life
of luxury for 3 nights in Munich. We had a hotel booked with a free
buffet breakfast. The four of us were in heaven and ate about 4
courses each and managed to pilfer bread rolls, tea bags and sachets
of Nutella for lunch. Jef came from Sheffield for the time and was
shocked by the amount of food we manage to fit in our stomachs and
bags.
The main reason we were in Munich was
not to eat, but rather drink. It was the last weekend of Oktoberfest
and we were ready to party.
We found a seat in the Hofbrau tent
early on the first day and had a lady carry over our steins and plop
them infront of us. it was a struggle to lift just one, but some of
these ladies were carrying about 10. We had 3 each as the crowd
around us got rowdier and rowdier. People were dancing on the tables
and chanting and cheering.
We went back agin in the evening of the
second night, which happened to be a public holiday in Germany and
the second last day of the festival. There were people everywhere and
spew all over the ground. We sat and had a beer on the grass and
watched people pass out.
Oktoberfest was amazing and I'd
recommend it to anyone who hasn't been. and it is a beautiful city We
all separated again after Munich. Jef went back to Sheffield, Andy
and Blake drove off into the night aiming for the Czech Republic and
Louisa and I are taking it easy in Cologne. We'll meet up with Andy
and Blake again in Berlin in a few days time.
