Dont Stop Movin........

Welcome to another amazing edition of my blog...okay thtats enough flower throwing for one day.

I'm writing this from the lobby of the HOTEL PALYM on rue du Port Vieux in Biarritz.
We came here today from Bordeaux on the TGV (i think the fastest train in europe)

We are 30 seconds walk right now away from the Atlantic Ocean/Bay of Biscay
Its cloudy but really hot again.

Now back to what we have been up to since the last update

Brussels:
Spent 2 nights there, hotel was ok but the whole place is overpriced and smells like P**S
Even the famous Belgian Chocolate didn't live up to the standards expected
we tried a few different chocolates from a few different establishments.
One good tip; stick with the pralines

Next on the list in brussels was this statue thing called Mannikan Pis: its exactly what it sounds like. its a statue of a little boy pis*ing. Every few weeks they dress him in different outfits and the you can see all the outfits he has worn in the museum in the Grand Place square.


The last picture there is the view of the night sky from our window in Brussels.

Next we went by train from Brussels to Bordeaux with a changeover in Paris.

Our train arrived in Paris and we had about an hour to get from Paris Nord Station to Paris Montparnasse station in about an hour to get our connection to Bordeaux (in rush hour)


With me thinking the only way was by taxi, Lisa's idea of the metro was the best one and we arrived at the station well in time when a taxi might not have made it.

We arrived there without booking anywhere thinking we will find somewhere easy enough.

Unfortuately there is a Food and Drink festival happening in Bordeaux at the time so most places were booked out.
The first four hotels were booked out ( even some had told us its not too cold to sleep on the street at night)

Walking up the road we noticed a small place and went in sweatinbg and tired from our heavy bags. Hotel Clemenceau was the name of the place and i would highly recommend it.

Right beside all the restaurants and 5 mins walk away from anything important.



Thats moi with my cardboard cut out mate (cartoon by artist, Chaval)in the musee des beaux arts.

On our last nite there was a full orchestra playing front of the buildings along the Garonne River (below)

Now today, we trekked and trekked through Bordeaux looking for a taxi but to no avail, finally after 2km walking with these HUGE bags and scorching heat, we found a tram that went to the train station.

Now as i said above, we have arrived in Biarritz, 2 hours on the train, 5 mins in a Taxi. First hotel we come to has room for us.

50 euro for the room per night....not bad at all from South of France

Looks like we'll be here about a week

Until Next time.......Keep in touch

A Trip to Haarlem

One of the adventures i forgot to mention is our Day-Trip to Haarlem.
Haarlem is the capital of North Holland and is 20km west of Amsterdam.
20 mins on the Double Decker Trains (brilliant idea) and we arrive in this "city"
After a few questions in the Tourist Information we were on our way through the cobblestone streets.
Plenty of churches and museums about the place but the place ze both wanted to see was the wndmill.....

THE WINDMILL

The tour of the Windmill was quite interesting, a typical dutchman (seen below sand bagging Lisa) acting as tour guide. 3 euro for the tour, he explained all about windmills and their history and the history of holland and even the history of the spanish army bringing their whores to battle.



The next pic is me standing on the "wing" of the windmill, the tourguide told me to do it :-)
You dont realise how high up it actually is til your up there, now im not afraid of heights but it would make anyone queasy....


The next one is a pic of the local prison, this one is reserved for people doing long stretches,
Another thing the tour guide told us is, the people in that prison, have their rooms their tv their radio usual things but they can also apply to the warden to have his wife in a conjugal visit ( which is not uncommon in USA) but they can alos request the company of a prostitute.
Talk about having your cake and eating it.....



More from me when i get move on............

Amsterdam Review

The entrance to the famous Red Light District, now that we have left amsterdam, its hard not to miss it. So much to do, best transport system ive ever seen. Now we are in brussels and its a whole new story. Personally its not to my taste. Went to a place for dinner last nite and tried to find our way back to the hotel. 2 hours later and we finally find the place exhausted and blistered.

Anyways, had a stroll through the red light district and some of it is just shops like the condomerie and tattoos and video shops, but then you hit the windows, Sleazy is too mild a word for it.

Now i know im no angel but jesus its just turned 1pm put some clothes on theres kids about:

A quick comment on the Local Crops, well worth a trip into the local "coffee shop"

Moving on.......

This lovely photo was from the view from the window in the hostel, just a room with a bed thats it. Shared Toilets and showers that were cleaned every day but were still in need of a scrub afterward, sandals in the shower was a must ;)

But at least we had a TV in the room which kept me sane for a while, with BBC 1 and 2 it was ok.

If i have any spelling mistakes its because of this belgian/french keyboard, typing 1 word a minute at this stage, i think they do it on purpose to get more money from you in internet cafes

Last but not least, to keep up with my photos go to this link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27843612@N04/

I will be uploading all of them here

See ya soon

The Long way

I've just found an Internet cafe after nearly 90 mins looking
I walked up and down streets i dont think tourists should be walking
but eventually found one on the way back feeling defeated.
I just happened to pass this place every day and its on the same street as where we are staying.
Residential area not many tourists.
To add to it, its pissing rain today and clever here never brought a rain coat :D
Anyway, we are still in amsterdam, leaving here on saturday. More than likely heading to brussels after this and then into france.
You see it wont be that long til im home :D
More updates before i leave the Dam with pics etc if i can.

Pat