A Walking Tour of Paris

Yes, I committed the cardinal fashion sin today of wearing skinny jeans with white sports sneakers! I'm not proud of it, but I do feel that I had a good reason - Paris is huge, we're only here for two days and there is so much to see and do. Most importantly, however, is the fact that we climbed the 668 stairs to the top of the Eiffel Tower today (and 668 back) and my ballet flats were just not up to it.

While initially I thought climbing the stairs was only for maniacs and cheapskates (Josh the former and me the latter), it was actually not too bad and worth it to avoid the massive crowds and save €10.

The views were fabulous, but we had to move on - going to the Gothic Notre Dame Cathedral just down the river. After an accidentally expensive but incredibly delicious lunch in a French restaurant, we made our way to the Musee D'Orsay. This former train station houses impressionist, postimpressionist and Art Nouveau works by the likes of Van Gough, Monet and Renoir - tres cool.

We pretty much collapsed after all that - but it's not over yet. Tonight we're visiting the Champs Elysee and the Arc d'Triumph - but don't worry, I've changed my shoes!

Ah, the European Spring!

It is often said that Australia is the poorer for a lack of defined seasons. And nowhere are the seasons more defined than in Europe. White winter snow, brown trees and grey skies give way to an abundance of spring greenery, flowers and a general explosion of life that is simply not experienced in Australia.

Since we've been here, we've had the pleasure of seeing fields full of flowers of various colours, storks precariously perched on power poles, young swallows being raised and various other trappings of a European spring. And although we got off to a somewhat cold start in Vienna, we consistently enjoyed 30-odd degree days in Hungary.



However, despite these many advantages, it would seem that the picture is not completely rosey. The abundance of flowers, pollen and flying seeds can bring on allergies previously unknown, which in some (unfortunate) people (who shall remain unnamed), are the cause of hives. We also recently discovered, to our great distress, that our expectation of a pleasant and indefinite continuation of 30-degree days was, to say the least, somewhat ill-conceived. This particular misconception was disposed of after our flight from from Vienna to Paris, where the local maximum has hovered around 12 degrees Celcius since we arrived.

The experience of the temperamental nature of northern European weather has brought to the fore previously-repressed memories of my year on exchange in Denmark. One such memory in particular stands out: me in Copenhagen on June 30 (which happened to be a warm - 15 degrees C - summer's day complete with strong winds and rain), desperately waiting for a bus to take me to (minimally) warmer Berlin, and pitying the Danes and other persons living in the far north of Europe who get to enjoy two winters (one white, one green) per year.

Despite all this, I know that although it is cold now, things will warm up (and on the bright side, it has been mostly sunny in Paris today - as you can see below, we are cold but happy) and we'll be heading steadily south in two day's time to soak up the Mediterranean sun.

I think they're called Euros

Overheard in a currency exchange office in Vienna:

American man speaking VERY loudly and VERY slowly: "Do you change Austrian money here?"

Josh's Secret Love Child

Her name is Kitti and she is one and a half years old. She was conceived when he was here last.

Just kidding! She's his little cousin and is totally adorable! We've just spent the last five days with Josh's lovely family in Györ, Hungary.

Köszéném to Viktor, Márti, Marianne, Judit, Gyulá, Kitti, Attila, Balázs, Fridá, Pipinini, Andreá, Laci Bácsi, Fanni, Bettina and Petra!

A Night Out on the Town in Regional Hungary

Pécs is a great little town in Southern Hungary, with what seems to be quite a good nightlife. We decided to get all hotted up on Sunday night and go down to Club Five.

Then we saw this:

Laziness won the night! But look at all the food we got for under $8.00!

That, plus cable TV, is all we needed for a great night in.

A trek through the Mécsek Hills

This afternoon we saw the Mosque-Church, which, as its name suggests, is a mosque that was turned into a church after the Turks were expelled from Hungary in the 17th Century. Afterwards, having eaten an ice-cream to cool off, we thought it would be an excellent idea to go for a hike through the Mécsek Hills surrounding Pécs so that we could look out over the city from a TV tower (which you can see in the photo behind the Mosque-Church).

Now when I say "hills", that is what the locals call them, but in fact we ended up hiking through the forest for a considerable distance and to a height of 535m!

Although it seemed all too much at about the 3 hour mark...








... it was well worth it in the end, because we ended up with some fantastic views of the city below and of the forested hills to the north. In the photo on the left, you can see the dome of the Mosque-Church to the left and the Pécs Cathedral to the right.

We hear it is raining in Sydney...

... and to celebrate the apparent breaking of the drought in wintery NSW, we thought we'd share this with you.

Just kidding... actually, the weather isn't quite as tropical as this picture makes out. The photo was taken yesterday at about 6.45 pm, at which time it was a balmy 24 degrees Celcius. However, the water temperature was (depending on which pool you were in) between 28 and 40 degrees Celcius. This was the outdoor part of the complex of thermal baths known as Széchenyi (found in Budapest's City Park). Here is a picture of the indoor part - as you can see, the architecture is art-deco:

We spent about 2 hours at the baths and ended up very relaxed, if smelling just ever-so-slightly of sulphur.

Walking Tour of Buda

Today we spent the day in Buda, mostly exploring the Castle District, also known as Castle Hill.


First, we made our way from Pest to Buda across the Elisabeth Bridge (one of the bridges spanning the Danube), which gave us some great views of the Castle District.

Along the way, we saw some typical Hungarian windowsills, like this one.

And once up inside the castle walls, we walked around and looked at all of the buildings. This one in particular caught my eye - it is still pockmarked by the bullets and shells fired during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

We also got a great view of Pest. This photo is of the Hungarian Parliament, which we're planning to visit tomorrow.

One of the places we visited on Castle Hill was St Mathias's Cathedral, which contains an exhibition of ecclesiatical objects and the Saint Crown of Hungary, which is apparently the supreme source of political power in Hungary. The church is an amazing piece of art, both inside and outside. This photo is of the paintings on one of the columns - similar painted

patterns cover every square inch of the church's interior walls and ceiling.

When we were finally worn out, we headed back to Pest over the Chain Bridge and ended the afternoon with a Dobos torte and coffee at Budapest's oldest kávéház (coffee house).

Six Tips for Travelling to Vienna

1. DON'T fly to Vienna via London. This trip is WAY too long - for God's sake fly direct!

2. DO remember to bring a map of the area in which your accomodation is located. Wandering round looking completely dishevelled asking shopkeepers for directions is a little awkward.

3. DON'T listen to your boyfriend when he tells you not to bring an umbrella to Europe because it doesn't rain properly there. Looking for your hostel without a map in the rain is hilarious, but quite unfortunate.

4. DO indulge in the delicious Austrian food - gulasch, wurst, apfelstrudel and schnitzels.

5. DON'T attend a Strauss concert after having slept 5 hours out of the past 36. Although fantastic, it's a little embarassing to be continually falling asleep - wait until at least your second night.

6. DO see the amazing Hapsburg palaces, filled with famous paintings, Roman statues and Egyptian mummies.

(Can you tell I've read one too many Glamour magazines?)

Conversation with American College Student at Vienna Airport

Student: So, is Australia part of the European Union?
Me: ... Um, no.
Student: Oh. I guess that was a pretty stupid question, huh?
Me: Um, yeah.

We arrive in Europe!

The novelty of being able to choose from 60 movies kind of wore off after the 4th movie. Despite this, the flight from Sydney to London was surprisingly comfortable, with (relatively) good food and enough entertainment to keep us occupied.

About 21 hours after we departed, we arrived at London Heathrow. The approach to the airport was marked by a bit of circling about London as we joined the queue of aircraft waiting to land. We got some great views of the Thames and the countryside surrounding London though, which was pretty exciting.

After landing and going through security again (you'd be forgiven for asking yourself where you could have picked up anything dangerous between boarding and disembarking from the airplane), we managed to spend £10 on a few slices of toasted white bread and a couple of hot chocolates.

We then boarded our flight to Vienna and arrived in no time (at least, compared to the previous 21 hours). We checked in to our pension, had a shower and set out to explore. Although we intended to go to sleep at about 8 pm, we were talked into buying some concert tickets by a particularly charismatic Austrian dressed up as Mozart. At 10 pm, we finally collapsed only to wake up the following morning at 5.45 am. Oh, the joys of jet lag!

Farewell Drinks

Thanks to everyone who made it to our farewell drinks last night! It was great to get an opportunity to say goodbye to everyone a final time. We look forward to catching up with you all (even you pikers who didn't come) when we get back on the 24th August.

We depart on Monday at 5pm, with 26 hours of flights and stop-overs until we arrive in Vienna where it's forecast to be a sunny 27°C. Obviously, we can't wait!

P.S. Regarding these photos (1) they were taken by Josh, so I disclaim all responsibility for their crappiness and (2) their quality in no way reflects upon the quality of any future photos or content of this blog!