So we're getting everything ready for this big trip and figured we'd re-purpose this old blog for our US 2011 trip.
Bookmark this and we'll be sure to add more info as we leave!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Monday, September 24, 2007
We're Home!
Well we're both back safely in Perth - we arrived just after midnight last night after 20 or so hours of flight, and then spent an hour or so in Customs queues before we were able to go home.
Final trip counter:
Final trip counter:
- Jesse - 56 days in Europe
- Yumi - 45 days in Europe
Friday, September 21, 2007
Stonehenge
Only two days left in London before we head back home. We've been really busy exploring England since we got here and been getting up so early and getting back so late that we haven't had time to sit down and go through photos and upload much.
Here's a quick summary of the things we've done since we got here:
* Walked through the west end and saw 10 Downing Street, Westminster Abbey, the Horse Guards changing, Big Ben, Scotland Yard
* Went up on Tower Bridge and got an awesome view and heard the history about it
* Had a Yeoman tour of London Tower and got to hear some of the history of the Castle.
* Walking tour of the London Square Mile - where the old city of London once stood and heard about the Great Fire of London, the Black Plague and the Blitz
* Exclusive shopping in Knightsbridge - Harrods, Harvey Nichols and all the expensive shops here.
* Visited Camden Markets - HUGE markets and spent ages browsing the stalls and buying nick-nacks.
* Got half price tickets and got to see a couple of theatre shows - Boeing Boeing and Stomp! - Both were great shows!
* Spent an entire day in the National History Museum
* Saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace
* Day Tour to Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, Bath (and the ancient Roman Baths)
* Day Tour to Oxford, including Christchurch - the place where sections of Harry Potter's Hogwarts were filmed and based on, Stratford-upon-Avon - the birthplace of Shakespeare, and Warrick Castle.
* Visited Greenwich Royal Observatory, saw the Greenwich Meridian Line, and visited the Planetarium.
Today we plan to do some shopping on Oxford Street and then tomorrow we'll be spending with my cousins and family before we head back to Perth!
Here's a quick summary of the things we've done since we got here:
* Walked through the west end and saw 10 Downing Street, Westminster Abbey, the Horse Guards changing, Big Ben, Scotland Yard
* Went up on Tower Bridge and got an awesome view and heard the history about it
* Had a Yeoman tour of London Tower and got to hear some of the history of the Castle.
* Walking tour of the London Square Mile - where the old city of London once stood and heard about the Great Fire of London, the Black Plague and the Blitz
* Exclusive shopping in Knightsbridge - Harrods, Harvey Nichols and all the expensive shops here.
* Visited Camden Markets - HUGE markets and spent ages browsing the stalls and buying nick-nacks.
* Got half price tickets and got to see a couple of theatre shows - Boeing Boeing and Stomp! - Both were great shows!
* Spent an entire day in the National History Museum
* Saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace
* Day Tour to Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, Bath (and the ancient Roman Baths)
* Day Tour to Oxford, including Christchurch - the place where sections of Harry Potter's Hogwarts were filmed and based on, Stratford-upon-Avon - the birthplace of Shakespeare, and Warrick Castle.
* Visited Greenwich Royal Observatory, saw the Greenwich Meridian Line, and visited the Planetarium.
Today we plan to do some shopping on Oxford Street and then tomorrow we'll be spending with my cousins and family before we head back to Perth!
Friday, September 14, 2007
We're in London!
So here's a quick catch up as we haven't had time to write up anything about our lovely trip in Bagneres-de-Biggore yet or sort out the photos (of which I got some awesome ones too).
But in order to keep you guys up to date of where we are - yes, we're in London. We arrived late Tuesday night, and we've spent the last couple of days exploring the city of London as much as we could - so much so that our feet are sore and I'm far too tired to write up much more than this for the moment.
We're here until next Saturday - so we have about 8 days left of our trip before we start heading back home!
Rest assured - we will be posting more photos soon - so stay tuned!
But in order to keep you guys up to date of where we are - yes, we're in London. We arrived late Tuesday night, and we've spent the last couple of days exploring the city of London as much as we could - so much so that our feet are sore and I'm far too tired to write up much more than this for the moment.
We're here until next Saturday - so we have about 8 days left of our trip before we start heading back home!
Rest assured - we will be posting more photos soon - so stay tuned!
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Cognac
We arrived in Angouleme yesterday and wandered around the city a bit the first night. We came here with the intention of taking a day trip to Cognac and doing a visit to one of the distilleries and seeing the Angouleme comics museum (which is what Angouleme is well known for)
We couldn't find any guided tours at the hotel, or any information about Cognac - so armed with very little knowledge we simply caught the train to this town and figured we'd walk around and see what we could find.
It took about 40 minutes to get there from Angouleme - and with our Eurail pass we didn't have to worry about tickets at all.
We had fun finding the city centre initially, but once we did we were able to find the Centre de Tourism and she their was an English tour of the Hennessy Distillery due to start in about 15 minutes.
The tour started off with a very brief boat ride - as the main Hennessy buildings were on the other side of the river. Our guide then showed us through the whole grape growing, distilling, cooperage, and aging process.
Fascinating to think that some of the barrels there have been aging for over two hundred years and still haven't aged enough according to the guys in charge - you can see the barrels in a couple of shots there from 1800.
After the tour we were given a chance to taste the different types of Cognac - and Yumi and I got to try all three types on offer:
VS - Very Special - is the youngest of them all, 3-4 years old and suitable for long drinks, cocktails and mixes.
Fine de Cognac - similar to VSOP in age (5-6 years), but a little sweeter and smoother - quite popular among the ladies apparently.
XO - Extra Old - aged more than 10 years - is the oldest and richest of the lot - sweeter and stronger, but also somewhat smoother.
We enjoyed the tastings, but I think both of us decided that Cognac wasn't really our thing - still nice to try though!
After that we wandered around the city of Cognac a bit more - checked out the markets and shops and had a nice lunch before catching the train back to Angouleme.
Tomorrow we're going to spend wandering around Angouleme a bit more, and then we head further south to Patrick's place in Bagneres-de-Biggore (about 30 minutes from Lourdes).
We couldn't find any guided tours at the hotel, or any information about Cognac - so armed with very little knowledge we simply caught the train to this town and figured we'd walk around and see what we could find.
It took about 40 minutes to get there from Angouleme - and with our Eurail pass we didn't have to worry about tickets at all.
We had fun finding the city centre initially, but once we did we were able to find the Centre de Tourism and she their was an English tour of the Hennessy Distillery due to start in about 15 minutes.
The tour started off with a very brief boat ride - as the main Hennessy buildings were on the other side of the river. Our guide then showed us through the whole grape growing, distilling, cooperage, and aging process.
Fascinating to think that some of the barrels there have been aging for over two hundred years and still haven't aged enough according to the guys in charge - you can see the barrels in a couple of shots there from 1800.
After the tour we were given a chance to taste the different types of Cognac - and Yumi and I got to try all three types on offer:
VS - Very Special - is the youngest of them all, 3-4 years old and suitable for long drinks, cocktails and mixes.
Fine de Cognac - similar to VSOP in age (5-6 years), but a little sweeter and smoother - quite popular among the ladies apparently.
XO - Extra Old - aged more than 10 years - is the oldest and richest of the lot - sweeter and stronger, but also somewhat smoother.
We enjoyed the tastings, but I think both of us decided that Cognac wasn't really our thing - still nice to try though!
After that we wandered around the city of Cognac a bit more - checked out the markets and shops and had a nice lunch before catching the train back to Angouleme.
Tomorrow we're going to spend wandering around Angouleme a bit more, and then we head further south to Patrick's place in Bagneres-de-Biggore (about 30 minutes from Lourdes).
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Brussels, Belgium
Next stop Brussels!
From Berlin we took the ICE trains ( intercity express ) to Brussels. They go at speeds of up to 250km/hr, pretty fast! And comfortable too. We were fortunate enough to be in one of the front cabins, and got to see through the train driver's window of the landscape zooming past in a blur.
Brussels is famous for chocolates, beer and Belgian lace. It is also the EU headquarters and the centre of Europe. It is a multicultural city, evident as soon as you step foot in it, with a strong African influence thrown in. What was unexpected was how grimy and dirty the city looked. Lots of graffiti everywhere, streets are dirty, watch out for the very frequent dog poo, lots of chewing gum stains, in short irst impressions are not very good. Granted we were in the older part of the city, but still... Anyhow, we did the usual touristy things and visited the famous Grote Market ( Grand Place ) with its square of beautiful old 17th century buildings on all four sides, and artists peddling their wares in the centre with restaurants on the sides, perfect for sitting down and enjoying the famous Belgian beers and people-watching.
Wandered through the streets to the Royal Palace, with its well manicured gardens, and of course the Grand Sablon area which is the yuppie area with cafes and antique stores. Must not forget the chocolates too! Heaps of shops selling chocolates in all sorts of combination deals, and the handmade ones too. Tried some champagne truffles, which were delicious! Didn't really get into the beer testing, although Jesse did try the Leffe Blonde and Hooegarten. There is just simply too many beers to sample. A couple of the streets are similar to the Latin Quarter in Paris, with restaurants lining the streets, all competing for customers, and some pretty decent meal deals. We had dinner in Le Petit Brussels, which was very nice, and a glass of complementary Grappa was thrown in at the end of our meal. Grappa is a liquor made from grapes, smells like vodka but tastes much better. Apparently it aids digestion! :)
Next we're off to Angouleme, in the South-West of France.
- YM
From Berlin we took the ICE trains ( intercity express ) to Brussels. They go at speeds of up to 250km/hr, pretty fast! And comfortable too. We were fortunate enough to be in one of the front cabins, and got to see through the train driver's window of the landscape zooming past in a blur.
Brussels is famous for chocolates, beer and Belgian lace. It is also the EU headquarters and the centre of Europe. It is a multicultural city, evident as soon as you step foot in it, with a strong African influence thrown in. What was unexpected was how grimy and dirty the city looked. Lots of graffiti everywhere, streets are dirty, watch out for the very frequent dog poo, lots of chewing gum stains, in short irst impressions are not very good. Granted we were in the older part of the city, but still... Anyhow, we did the usual touristy things and visited the famous Grote Market ( Grand Place ) with its square of beautiful old 17th century buildings on all four sides, and artists peddling their wares in the centre with restaurants on the sides, perfect for sitting down and enjoying the famous Belgian beers and people-watching.
Wandered through the streets to the Royal Palace, with its well manicured gardens, and of course the Grand Sablon area which is the yuppie area with cafes and antique stores. Must not forget the chocolates too! Heaps of shops selling chocolates in all sorts of combination deals, and the handmade ones too. Tried some champagne truffles, which were delicious! Didn't really get into the beer testing, although Jesse did try the Leffe Blonde and Hooegarten. There is just simply too many beers to sample. A couple of the streets are similar to the Latin Quarter in Paris, with restaurants lining the streets, all competing for customers, and some pretty decent meal deals. We had dinner in Le Petit Brussels, which was very nice, and a glass of complementary Grappa was thrown in at the end of our meal. Grappa is a liquor made from grapes, smells like vodka but tastes much better. Apparently it aids digestion! :)
Next we're off to Angouleme, in the South-West of France.
- YM
Friday, September 7, 2007
No Stilettos in Europe!!
This is for the ladies... all over Europe, lots of the places, especially the older historical sites all have cobblestones, big ones, little ones, square ones, round ones... It is all UNEVEN cobblestones, which would made it so very hard to walk around in stilettos or even really high heels! So, remember to pack that pair of flat shoes or joggers if you do not want to ruin that pair of lovely stilettos or an ankle! :P
- YM
- YM
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