Vienna & Australia, what's the connection?....

Hi All

I have no idea what the connection is, but there seems to be an Aussie/Vienna connection somewhere. The first thing Kearie & i saw when we got into the city this morning was an Aussie Pub. we didn't go in, because it was way to early, but we are going back there sometime. I took her pic outside.


I took the pic and laughing to Kearie I said "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie' and this guy yells "Oi, Oi, Oi".. It was a scream.

We then walked around the city and came to some kind of event in a huge park, all kinds of food stalls and tables and a huge screen with lots of chairs. The screen was blank so whatever it is for wasn't happening today, but there were people everywhere and so we decided to have lunch there. We came across an Aussie food stall, it was hilarious. They had the menu up on the wall and one of the items was outback potatoes, they had the ingredients written underneath and although I couldn't read them all, I did notice that they came with avocado dip. I must tell my nephew Dalton, not to go out bush ever again without his avocado dip.... I just laughed, what do they think grows in the outback, avocados?? I took a pic


Check it out....

We then did a tour of the city in a vintage car, more like a vintage bus, but it was great. The city is beautiful and almost everyone speaks English, which is great because my German in worse than my French, if that is possible... We went to a small local restaurant for dinner tonight and the waitress hearing we spoke English gave us the English menu. I couldn't believe it, I have had heaps of English menu's and maps etc handed to me, on this trip and others, I have been to 26 countries and this is the first time I have been given an English menu with the Australia flag on the top.... Yep an Aussie flag, not an English one. Kearie was like, "So?". But I have never seen that, it is always and English flag and on the odd occasion an American one, never, ever Australian. I loved it, it was great. But I am wondering what the connection is, there must be something that I am not aware of in this city that links it in some way to us... Curiouser and curiouser!! I didn't take a photo of the menu as I didn't want the woman to think I was mental, but I was tempted. It was brilliant.

Tomorrow Kearie and I are planning on taking a train to Baden, we have been told it is a lovely village. I shall let you know how that turns out. Kearie want to use the computer so I will close now, I will leave you with some pics of Vienna, it really is lovely.

Cheers til Later

Lones


A Mozart Statue and a treble cleft of flowers in front


One of the horse and carts you can take to see Vienna. As you travel through the city you get whiffs of horse manure, they are the reason!!


Vienna has some incredible buildings


This statue is of the Empress who had 16 children, the youngest was Marie Antoinette, who married King Louis the 16th of France and was subsequently beheaded. See you can learn history on this blog, pity I can't remember the Empress's name!!


Where we had lunch


Our view from the table we were eating lunch at, the place was really lovely

Sad partings & Vienna.....

Hi All

Well We finally said goodbye to Learra, we saw her off at Charles De Gaulle airport yesterday lunch time. Kearie and I then had to fill in the rest of the day at the airport before flying to Vienna at about 9pm, lucky I brought my lap top to keep the children entertained, it was a long day.

It was sad saying goodbye to Learra, I won't see her again for 2 and a half months, and Kearie doesn't know how long she will be in Europe so we were a little emotional. Learra wasn't feeling brilliant, she had caught a cold a few days ago and was feeling pretty miserable already, without having to leave us behind, but she will be fine. The poor love is facing a huge flight, plus a 14 hour stopover in Singapore all by herself. I have no idea what our travel agent was thinking, 14 hours in Singapore alone?? Nutter!! But I didn't realise in time, I should have made her change that before I left Australia. Never mind, worse thing have happened..

Kearie and I arrived late last night, we ordered a transfer so we didn't have to try to find the hotel, it was about 27 Euro, and the little Guy was standing there with our name in huge letters, it was brilliant. That is only the second time I have had that, Sheonagh did it when I arrived in Scotland, it is excellent, makes you feel all important and everything, like a rock star, or royalty or something... I know it doesn't take much to impress me...

Kearie is still asleep, so I am writing this to get you all up to speed, we shall run out and explore as soon as she wakes up, I therefore have no pics of Vienna yet, so shall post some of the Palace of Versailles that I took on Thursday. Oh the girls loved Disneyland by the way, although they did not have enough time there, one day is just not long enough and the lines were huge to get on each ride. It is the middle of the school holidays in France, they have 2 months off over summer, just like the Yanks, so everything is really crowded now.

I hope you enjoy the pics and I shall post some of Austria and Vienna after we see some of it. My camera is pathetic, it is really playing up, so I have borrowed Learra's, hopefully the next pics I take will be better quality.

Cheers for now

Lones


The Palace from the front


All the rooms were amazing, the decadence was unbelievable.


Another wonderful room


The ceilings were amazing, really amazing, see....


One of the hallways, amazing...


The top of Marie Antonettes bedroom, I couldn't get it all in, there were people everywhere, but I brought postcards, I will try to photograph some for you to see properly


Then there were the gardens, this is only the start of them, a very small part... good grief, they liked to live well..

Paris, wow it's flown by....

Well it is almost the end of our Paris adventure, we all fly out tomorrow. Learra will fly home to Melbourne and Kearie and I are heading to Austria. We have a week to fill in before our Greek adventure starts, so we are starting in Vienna for a few days and will decide from there what is next. I will miss Learra when she leaves, but it will be nice to have Kearie for a few extra weeks. Kearie and I think we will head to Copenhagen after our tour, she will only have a day and a bit, but I can spend a week. Kearie is committed to be in England on the 23rd for her orientation.

We have packed a fair bit into our few days, the girls were here longer than me so they had done a lot before I arrived, but we managed to fill the time. We spend Sunday at the tour, Monday was a rest day, laundry and a bit of shopping. Tuesday was going to be the Louvre, but it is closed on Tuesday's so we went for a walk around Paris and did a bit more shopping, Tuesday night we went to the Eiffel tour to see it twinkle at 10 and 11 pm. It is really awesome. Wednesday we did the Louvre and some shopping, then Kearie and I did the night tour of all the sites, it was lovely. Today the girls have gone to Disneyland and I went to the Palace of Versailles, what an incredible place that is, no wonder the peasants revolted!!! Wow, what a lot of decadence, while the poor starved. It was beautiful though. The girls are not back yet so I do not know how their day went, I hope they enjoy it.

I will be sorry to seperate from Learra, but I will not be sorry to leave Paris, although it is really nice and the people have been really freindly and polite (yeah a bit of a change). I am just happy to continue my journey, I have so many places to see and I have been in France a long time, so happy to keep moving at present.

While we were at the Eiffel tower, sitting on the grass, a couple of young Frenchmen decide to have a go, they were screaming abuse at each other and one was trying to kick the other. We were quite taken aback and Learra turns to Kearie (our main French speaker) and says "well how come you don't know what they are saying?". Kearie replied "Well because, he hasn't mentioned stamps once, or asked for the bill." So there you go, she cracks me up.

It has been a great week, I have loved sharing this wonderful city with the girls. We dined out on our first night and we are going out again tonight. We have had a few meals here in the apartment, the girls were hanging out for Vegies and home cooked meals. So that is what we have done mostly.

I have some pics of the girls to post, but they are on Kearie's camera and it is at present at Disneyland, so shall share them with you later.

I shall post some pics of Paris for you to see in the meantime.

Cheers for now

Lones


The Louvre


Hi All
Taken from a bridge on the Seine, near where we are staying


Kearie in part of Luxomburg Gardens


The Palace at Luxomburg Gardens


The Eiffel Tower at night, really awesome..


The room at the Louvre that holds the Mona Lisa, that's her the little painting on the back wall, all by herself..


Another room in the Louvre, it is one hell of a big place..


Venus de Milo

The tour, Paris & the Girls.....

Hi Everyone

Well it's been a couple of fully packed days, I have seen 3 more stages of the tour, have arrived in Paris and have joined up with my girls. What an eventful time.

Firstly I wanted to watch the tour arrive in Bordeaux, so off I went to the place marked on the tour map in Bordeaux, about a 20 minute walk from my apartment..nothing there, hmmm. Back to the apartment re-check the Internet, try a different site, yep I was in the right place, so back I go, still nothing, no blocked roads, no press, no podium or finish line, nothing. Hmmm, so I think I will try the closest tourist information office, and off I set.... Well on the way to the tourist office, I find the tour arrival point, so I have no idea what was with that, but I got a good spot, next to some Americans and settled in to wait. I put up my flag and was thoroughly enjoying myself, then the French arrived, but luckily they were good French and although he had no English his daughter had a little and of course his cousin lives in Sydney and his brother in law in Brisbane, so we got along like a house on fire.. It was all good. The caravan of goodies started to arrive and I saw this van selling stuff, I paid no attention, I did hear a voice over the intercom say something about Australia, but wasn't paying any attention, then it repeated itself and I looked up and the young driver was waving a small Aussie flag at me, I waved back and then he got out of his car came over to me and kissed me on both cheeks, said "Australia, I was there one month ago, Awesome country!" Well I couldn't disagree with him, I have found out just how awesome it is, just by travelling to other less awesome countries!! The caravan arrived in earnest and this car was slowly going past when I realised a guy in a back seat was waving at me and holding another Aussie flag, we were both laughing, it was great. The riders finally arrived and as they fly by so fast I just snapped my camera a few times as they flew past. I was really fortunate as I managed to get Andy Schleck. Andy is one of my favourite riders and he is coming second, Contador is his main rival and he was coming first, only 8 seconds separated them. That was a big deal to me. I got lots of other snaps too though, so don't be disappointed, I can post them all if you like... he he he. After the race I was heading out for dinner when I came across a large mass of people, apparently they were waiting to see Cameron Diaz & Tom Cruise, who were in town to advertise their latest movie, well I wasn't bothered with any of that, the crowd where just a nuisance as they hindered my search for a restaurant.

The next day was the time trial, which means the riders leave one at at time and don't just rush past you in a big blur, so I had been waiting for that. I found a brilliant spot and settled down to wait. I was buggering around in my handbag, when I look up and Cadel is flying past, he was on a warm up run, bugger, no camera ready, but I got it out then and managed to get a pic of Fabian, Jens, Ivan and another dude as they went past on their warm up run. Excellent!! I had my flag out again and hear calling from across the street, it was the same little Frenchman from yesterday waving and gesturing, he was really friendly. I had so many people stop to chat, not all Aussies either, but some were. A lot of French people just pointed at my flag and put their thumb up, they couldn't speak English, but obviously like Australia, I had a great day. I found a place to buy a sandwich and drink, I had eaten half of it and had placed it on the step behind me to take some pics, I was wondering where to find a bin, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted this guy, he just bent down as he walked past, picked up the half eaten sandwich and one of my half empty coke bottles and kept walking. He solved my problem of finding a bin. Life is all good... I watched the riders until Cadel passed me, but then I had to meet my taxi to get to the airport, so I didn't see the last 18 or so riders. Then my flight was late, do I could have watched more riders, so that was bad luck, but I was happy to see what I did. I got some great pics, but they fly by so fast I also got lots of back wheels or empty street pics too, I need some practice on that.

I finally arrived at Orly airport, outside Paris, it was quite a job getting into the city, The French are hopeless at signs, but I finally made it. My girls had had a lot of trouble getting into the apartment, they had forgotten they had to call the manager and he was quite rude to them when they finally contacted him, he also overcharged them for the key, so they were not happy and neither was I. But never mind, we are here now. The apartment is just as quaint as it looks on the Internet, but not very practical. The girls cannot even get their luggage up the tiny spiral staircase, the mattress on the floor up there is tiny and uncomfortable. But we are managing, the bathroom light is on sensor so it keeps going out when you are in the shower, you have to shower and wave your arms at the same time, so that's a great look. The four flights of stairs and no lift is also a challenge, but we are still enjoying ourselves.

Yesterday was the final day of the tour, so Kearie and I set off early to find a good spot, and we did. Some other Aussies joined us and we had a great day waiting for the guys to arrive. After an hour or so Learra showed up, how she found us I will never know, but she did, she even waited with us for the race, she is not as into cycling as me or Kearie. The race was awesome, we had a really great day, flag waving and clapping and yelling, it was awesome!! After the finish, Learra and I decided to go and find a drink and somewhere to sit, but Kearie wanted pics & autographs if possible. I was a little concerned she would be disappointed, but left her to it and we agreed to meet at a restaurant they both knew. The girls had been in Paris for 2 days before I arrived, they had stayed at another hotel until the apartment was ready.

When Kearis met up with us she had has an awesome time, by accident she had come upon the Saxo Bank bus and riders, they are our favourite team, she got pics of our Stewie and Andy and even pics of Frank, who had broken his collarbone in the first week, but was there to support his brother at the final stage. It was brilliant for her, she has lots of pics, but no autographs yet. Kearie has decided to get some of her pics printed and to bring them back next year to get them signed by the riders. She loves cycling too. So we all had a great day, met some nice folk and then I shouted them dinner at a nice restaurant. We were all buggered by the time we got back to the apartment.

Today is a rest day for us, time to get our laundry done and just chill, we shall take a walk or something this afternoon. Then we have until Friday before Learra flys home and Kearie and I are still to work out where we want to spend the next week before out Greek tour starts. Life is great right about now.

I shall leave you with some pics.

Cheers

Lones


The cows are still going strong in Bordeaux


They get more and more ingenious....


Andy arriving in Bordeaux


Fabian & Matti arriving in Bordeaux


Fabian, Jens & Ivan warm up before the time trial in Bordeaux


At the side of the road, no big crowds here, the folk were spread out all over the city, it was brilliant.


This is how close they rode past in the time trial.


We had a big screen to watch the race on, until the riders arrived in the city, brilliant!!


The beginning of the Caravan (Parade)


The peloton flying by...


One of Kearie's pics of Andy, well done girl!!!

Bordeaux, still loving it!!...

Hi Everyone

Well yesterday I did catch up with the girls, we had lunch and it was great. They are loving their tour now, they were not that fussed on some countries, but totally loved the Riviera and Spain. So it was great to catch up, and it's only a few days until we all reach Paris.

I have done two different tours of the city, one on a small train, which bumped us all over the city. Not great, but we got to see some awesome buildings. The other was on a topless bus, and it was way more comfortable, and we also got to see some awesome buildings. I love the buildings in Bordeaux, they are so nice. They do have the usual modern building too, which look like boxes, but their old buildings are amazing, the detail on them is brilliant, I never get tired of looking at them, they are really wonderful. Some of the buildings are really modest, but they have wonderful carvings holding up the balcony's or under the windows, I really love finding new ones.

It really is a pretty city


Another part of the city


It is right on the river


One of the smaller churches, I love the detail on the outside


Some of that detail I was talking about. It's everywhere


See?

Shopping is still a nightmare. I wanted an egg flip, just to flip my eggs, should be easy, shouldn't it?? Well the two supermarkets I tries didn't have them, I asked the girl down at reception here at the hotel and she tells me there is a second floor at one supermarket where I should be able to get one. Well off I set, and there was a second floor, only trouble was it didn't belong to the supermarket, it was all designer shops and I could get an eggflip, if I wanted to pay 31.50 Euros, about $50... Well I thought I could get along without an egg flip just fine at that price. I later found the supermarket did have a plastic one for 2 Euros, yep, that'll do me.

I was trying to buy vegetables yesterday, how hard can that be? Well if you factor in the French and me, it can be quite difficult!! I have brought vegies before, just take them to the check out and there you are, well not in Bordeaux. In Bordeaux the checkout chick just looks at you and prattles on in French, I finally convinced her I had no idea what she was saying and she, in broken English tells me I have to weight them and put a sticker on or she can't scan them. Off I go to find the weighting machine. Well it was easier said than done, there is no instructions, not even in French, so obviously everyone knows what to do, it can't be that hard. I place my potatoes on the scales, then there are lots of little pictures of vegetables on the keypad, so I find what looks like potatoes, press the button and hope for the best. Well, out shoots the ticket for me to stick on my potatoes, only trouble is that my two potates weighted in as Apricots and the price was Euros 36.60... How expensive are their apricots??? Well I thought, Bugger that. So I looked around for somewhere to shove that sticker, yeah I know, I thought of that place too!! Anyway I noticed on the desktop there was quite a thick pile of the stickers stuck together, so obviously the French have trouble with the silly thing too. I left the vegetables beside the scale and went and grabbed a pack of M&Ms. It's okay they are made from cocoa and if you are playing Animal, mineral or Vegetable, cocoa is a vegetable, so there!! I did later try the other supermarket and although they have the same system, they only have about 5 vegetable to a table and a scale on each table, so I was only dealing with 5 big pictures and not 50 little ones. I managed alright and got my 3 potatoes and my 2 carrots. I am very proud!!

I am still watching the tour de France everyday and it is nice to be inside out of the eat, I love air conditioning!! I will head to the tourist office tomorrow when I decide what tour I want to do, they do not have any out to the countryside, which is disappointing, I so wanted to see the area and not just the city. Never mind I shall think of something.

Anyway, that's all the news I have for now. Take care all

Cheers

Lones

Some random pics for you to enjoy


Part of something, I can't remember what, it was built about 300AD..


If a guy turned up to work in this back home, he would never live it down. How cute is it though??


I tried to figure this out, but I got nothin'...No idea, but worth a pic just the same.


I told you, lots of cool buildings.

Bordeaux, prettiest city so far...

Hi All

Before I left home, I told many of you that when I wake up in Paris I want to know I am in Paris, remember? I did not want to wake up in some shitty little room and think I could be in Wodonga, right? Well today I woke up and thought "Good grief, am I in Shepparton?".. Not because I have a shitty apartment, it is very nice, no because of the cows... Yes that's right cows, full size cow statues, they are everywhere. I thought "Wow, Bordeaux is so impressed with Shepparton that they have copied the whole cow idea". But alas Shepparton folk, that is not the case. I later found out the their is some weird cow parade travelling Europe and they are in Bordeaux for several months. I remember my dear friend Wendy, Hi Wendy, telling me that they were in Paris when she was there several years ago, well it's taken them a long time to get to Bordeaux it seems, but they are here, large as life.

I have no idea why one is on stilts, or why some are allowed to sit...

I was amused to see a very young man this morning, more than a little inebriated, trying to work out how many bins he could hang on one of the said cows. By the time I arrived he had one on each ear/horn, and another in his hand and you could tell by the pained look on his face that he was in a conundrum about where else he could attach it. There are not that many protruding places on a cow. I was longing to take a picture, but thought he might get abusive if he noticed me, so I carried on along. Well after about 5 minutes it got the best of me and I retraced my steps. Peering around the corner, I was quite pleased to see he had added another 2 bins and was standing there admiring his work, well he was more swaying than standing, but you get my drift. I took a quick snap and bolted, it is a little blurry due to my haste, but you can get the affect. I had quite a feeling of maternal pride in the young lad, he was really taking his vandalism job seriously!!

As you can see, I didn't get too close, he was very drunk!! He also still had plenty of bins left, I have no idea if he found places for them all.

Bordeaux is really lovely, I have taken hundreds of photos already and have only been here 1 day. I arrived late yesterday and as the taxi was taking me to my hotel, I had serious doubts about Bordeaux, it did not look very nice at all. But this morning I headed in the other direction and found it is really a very pretty place. AND nobody has looked down there nose at me yet, I know early days yet, but so far they have treated me as a human being, so there is hope yet!!

My girls are arriving in town tomorrow so we shall see if I can meet up with them again. Last time was not very successful and I kind of knew where they would be. This time I really don't have a lot of idea, so am not expecting to actually catch up with them. so if I do it will be a bonus. I am amazed that their tour is visiting 2 of the places that I am staying as I had all my bookings done months before they decided to do their tour, how coincidental is that? It would be great if we could have lunch, my treat of course, I am the Mum!!

As I said, my apartment is really nice, very new and modern, but no washing machine, bugger!! I kind of preferred the one in Avignon, not as new, but more character and I loved looking out my window and seeing all the different people passing and singing etc. The morning I left I had a guy below on the violin, just like being serenaded, except his wife was standing beside him, but other than that, really quite pleasant. Although on the way to the hotel last night, the taxi had to stop at a red light and this guy just walks out in front of the cars, carrying a black hat full of orange balls and starts juggling, right there in front of the traffic. It was brilliant, I couldn't help laughing, he dropped his balls just as the traffic started so we had to give him time to collect them. I loved it, and he wasn't even asking for money, just entertaining people for fun.

I shall post some pics for you to enjoy

Cheers til later

Lones


The cathedral of someone or other. It was massive, I couldn't get it all in one shot. I have yet to go inside, maybe tomorrow..


Down near the water, beautiful spot...


Another near the river.


How beautiful is this Merry-go-round?? I love it...


This memorial is awesome, it has two fabulous fountains, one on each side at the bottom. Really excellent.


One of the fountains, they are really something..


One of the streets.