Eagle's Nest

The "Eagle's Nest" or Kehlsteinhaus, present from Hitler's party on his 50th birthday.

Who would want to take over the world from here? I'd just chill out in the mountains ...

Vienna at Night

Haha ... Wiener

My sister and I went to a classical music concert in Vienna. I'd been to one a few years ago during my last visit, so I knew that the 20 Euro tickets didn't get you VIP seats in the State Opera - it was a small concert in a small room. You don't always get the best view past the (fellow) scruffy backpackers with hand-held video cmaeras, but you get to see classical music performed in Vienna, and that's what makes it fun.

The well-travelled Canadian family behind us didn't share that view - they had actually expected to be watching a 20-million-piece orchestra in the State Opera. When their little girl started giggling at Johann Strauss' "Wiener Blut" on the list, the father announced, "the chances of us being around for the wiener dance, are zero!" And they weren't ... their loss.

Sleeps on a Plane

Sleeping on the plane is an excellent way to avoid jetlag, fight boredom, escape from conversations with your fellow passengers and make use of those blankets and little pillows you find on your seat.

I informed my little sister of the many benefits of sleeping on the plane before she boarded her flight to Paris, and she was eager to try it out for herself.

Despite having a middle seat, and therefore no window upon which to prop her pillow, she managed to fall asleep during her 13-hour flight. She might have slept the whole way too if her neighbour, a middle-aged Asian businessman, hadn't felt awkward about her sleeping on his shoulder and woken her up.

By poking her.

With a fork.

Roma

Rome was a whirlwind tour of ruined buildings, large monuments, much walking, blistered feet, pizza, cheap wine, fat tourists, dodging tour groups led by rags on sticks, dodging cars and dodging souvenir-sellers.

That's the short version - skip to the pictures if you're pressed for time.

We only booked two nights' accommodation because that was all that was available. It's a shame - Rome is a lovely city for tourists. It covers a surprisingly small area and everything is within walking distance, although it is possible to be over-ambitious and develop aforementioned blisters.

We spent most of our days walking. It seems you don't have to walk more than 5 minutes before stumbling (over a cobblestone) upon a large and impressive looking building or monument. Although, most will only be labelled in Italian if at all, so sometimes you will stand there admiring it and wondering what it's all about. They are all most pleasing to look at even if you can't figure out what they are.

The Colluseum has to be my favourite, and one of the few that my sister and I recognised immediately. It is actually massive, and it's awe-inspiring to stand there and imagine what it must have looked like in its hey-day, with its sand-covered arena dotted with trapdoors through which wild animals and gladiators would appear, its roof (a giant sail controlled by navy sailors) and its segregated seating areas. I stood staring over the arena wondering where I'd be watching from - the podium with the senators, the second tier with the equestrians or way up in the cheap seats?

I was however, incredibly disappointed with the modern infrastructure. Whilst in the top bunk in my dorm room I leaned heavily on the handrail, breaking it, and had to cling to the mattress until my sister pushed me back up. Could do better.

Couscous

On our last day in Paris, my sister and I realised that we had eaten neither crepes nor couscous, and set out to rectify the situation.

For brunch we went for crepes - I ordered in French, and although my "cafe au lait" turned into a "large black coffee", the crepes were everything we'd dreamed of.

We then found a restaurant specialising in couscous and went there for lunch - the menu was in French, English and another language, so we ordered by pointing at the menu and saying "merci" a lot, because we didn't want to make a muddle of the order by accidentally attempting the other mystery language.

Having never eaten couscous before I asked my sophisticated little sister how it was done and she motioned that one should use the fork to put the food in one's mouth. Seemed easy enough, and when the food arrived I put some on my plate and began to do just that.

Maybe two mouthfuls in, the French waiter came over, took my fork from my hand and dished the food up for me properly, whilst giving me a patronisingly patronising look of patronisation.

And NOW we've experienced Paris.

We did what? Where?

Yes, it seems like a strange thing to do.

And yes, we got a few strange looks at the time.

On Tuesday we bought some bread and cheese, and took a little picnic to the cemetary. Not because we're weirdos who want to raise the dead, but because we wanted to see Jim Morrison's grave and hadn't eaten lunch yet.

Unfortunately the boys took too long eating their cheese and the cemetary closed before we found what we were looking for, but it was a nice picnic ... apart from the ominous thunder and closing darkness.

Paris in Monochrome

Because Paris makes monochrome look good.

Dog-walking

Rules concerning dogs in Paris: No self-walking dogs, and no walking your dog in a jaunty fasion. That is all.

Graffiti Vans

I'm not sure what the deal is with vans and trucks - do the flat surfaces just attract graffiti artists? I'm not sure if I've seen a van without graffiti yet ...

Graffiti #2

More graffiti ...

Graffiti # 1

One of the first things I noticed about Paris, apart from the fact that it looks like a perfect model city from the air, was the graffiti. It's everywhere! And actually kind of cool.

Bonjour!

I hear the drums echoing tonight, but she hears only whispers of some French conversation ...

Um, Toto? I don't think we're in Africa anymore.

I landed in Paris 6.30am on Monday morning, spent 3 hours making my way to Gare de Lyon by bus, and then realised I had no idea how to find the hostel from there. By chance, my sister and her friends had gone to that very station looking for Internet access and as I dragged my luggage up the steps she bouced up to me, looking glamorous in a little black dress. What chance! Once I'd offloaded my bags we began exploring Paris together.

This new adventure is so completely different to Africa that I'm still not quite sure what to make of it.

At least the coffee's good!