Euro Trip 2006

Another quick recap as I don´t have much time I´m afraid! Last post I mentioned that we had a couple of sights to see in and around Madrid, Spain...
Things I´ve done: Toledo on Tue 22 Aug (outside Madrid) - a local guide took us on a walking tour around the old town, famous for its old religious centre. The streets were extremely narrow and each time a van came through we had to squash against the walls of the surrounding buildings. The highlight for me was seeing the huge canvas painting by El Greco - its truly beautiful and it made me cry buckets (OK so that day I was suffering a little from sleep deprivation but it was still moving!)
In the afternoon we visited Valley of the Fallen which was built by former dictator Franco in memory of the Civil War last century. The scale of this site is bigger than you can imagine. There are two huge courtyards looking down on Madrid and ginormous covered patios which lead to the massive hall and basilica which were hewn inside the granite mountain. You would not believe how huge the statues are outside and inside. I will have to describe it all in detail later but believe me you will be impressed when you see the photos!
We also visited the same day the El Escorial palace which was inhabited by Spain´s famous Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. The Queen is most famous for sending Christopher Columbus off and we all know he found the Americas. There are a series of Royal burial chambers which are so beautiful again I will have to describe them in full later.
On Wednesday 23 Aug we saw Cordoba around lunchtime before our next overnight stop at Sevilla. We moved south from Madrid and the weather kept getting hotter as we went on. Next day Thu 24 Aug we went on a bus and walking orientation tour of Sevilla. Sevilla is famous for Flamenco - a style of dance and song introduced by the gypsy culture. As we walked down a road our guide introduced us to a flamenco guitarist and he gave us a little show as we walked. The guide chose me to demonstrate how the Spanish ladies would wear the mantilla (large comb) and veil which sits on top - embarassing but fun. I had to stand still for ages while the whole group took photos!! The guide also demonstrated the Spanish fan to us and explained the non verbal communication that was used to flirt with potential suitors. For example,if you see a man you like you move the opened fan towaeds you in a beckoning motion, if you run the closed fan under your eye it means the husband or father is watching so be discreet, an open fan held by side and waved towards you means follow me, beat against chest means I love you, run closed across lower lips means kiss me... and so on! I´ll give you a full demonstration when I get back as I have a fan to bring home!
In the afternoon I went shopping in the Sevilla city centre with a family from our group. In the evening we went to see a Flamenco show - it was really great and I took 3 short movies of the dancing so you can check out the moves when I get home! Bye for now.

Just a quick recap as the tour is quite busy and I have to be somewhere very soon!

We have been on the road quite a bit and have seen a little of Paris (more later at end of trip, then Bordeaux, on to Burgos and today we arrived in Madrid. We also stopped at some smaller towns, mostly brief lunch stops on the way to the larger towns e.g. Tours, Biarritz, Segovia.

We´ve seen lots of highways, pasturelands, cathedrals, town squares, city halls so far - I´ve taken several photos which I´ll download and try to post some time soon so you can see what you´re missing! Basically the architecture is very detailed and beautiful and exemplify feats of engineering which are incredible considering the era they were built. We´ve also seen many statues - either in the centre of fountains, town squares or stone figures mounted on buildings. The scales are enormous in comparison to New Zealand´s modest attempts.

I´m off to dinner soon - big day tomorrow. We are doing a day tour from Madrid to see Toledo and El Escorial.

I´ll try and post again soon with more detail.

PS: It was cool and rainy in Paris when I arrived but now we have reached the central plateau of Spain i.e. Madrid the temperatures are 30 degrees plus - cooler than the hottest part of their summer i.e. this part of the country can reach temperatures which make it the hottest place on the planet!

Hasta luego!

After a long arduous journey (over 24 hours non stop), arrived in Paris via Kuala Lumpur (only stopped 2 hrs in KL). I was picked up by our tour guide, Alain, at the set pick up time along with about a half dozen others that would be joining our tour.
Onboard were Kiwis and Aussies. Met two women about the same age as me and similar interests, Debbie and Wendy who later turned out to be my trip buddies!
After leaving Charles de Gaulle airport we rode in the coach headed for our hotel along a huge highway. We passed through the mostly industrial outer suburbs of Paris. I suspect that we followed the Boulevard Peripherique which encircles Paris´ city suburbs because Alain mentioned the Bois Vincennes. Everywhere you look there are ginormous apartment buildings (I didn´t count levels but must be over 20-30 storeys?) which are likely to be where some of the low income housing that many immigrant people reside. At one point we glimpsed the Seine but the overcast, drizzly weather kind of amplified the dinginess of the general area. We approached our hotel in the suburb of Ivry sur Seine, not far from the Omnisport Bercy. At checkin I was advised that I had a roommate assigned who would be arrving later. In the meantime I showered, napped and explored the nearby mall, Ivry sur Ciel (I think that´s right?). By this time it was about lunchtime and I plucked up the courage to order my first meal in French. Overall I did quite well and I tucked into my McDonald's "Royal Deluxe", "Frites petites" and Coca Cola. Yum! Way better than the NZ version!
Back at the hotel we met everyone for the France & Spain Highlights tour at 5pm.
My first day´s impressions of Paris are far removed from the images portrayed in movies and travel shows. I saw lots of modern buildings and suburban sprawl. I will have to wait until my tour is over to see the "pretty" Paris.

Classifieds
www.thecatseyes.com
Education
www.eduparis.net Lots of practical advice for anyone thinking of taking up study in Paris plus links to entertainment
Expats
www.expatica.com International expat community by country
www.fusac.fr/en FUSAC - Paris info for expats
www.paris-anglo,com Info in English on living in Paris
Festival
www.cite-musique.fr La Villette's annual week-long jazz festival in Sep
www.festival-automne.com Sep 14 - 25 Dec 2006
www.paris.fr
Internet
www.cybercafes.com
Maps
www.mappy.fr Street maps and plot itineraries for Paris and rest of France
Organised tours
www.gonomad.com
www.parisbalades.com Walking tours and website directory by theme / district
www.paris-tours-guides.com
www.parisvision.fr Tours by minibus
www.tourevasion.com
Shopping
www.fnac.com Books, DVDs, electronics, online ticketing for events
www.les-puces.com St Ouen / Clignancourt market
http://www.onlineconversion.com/clothing_shoes_womens.htm
www.euro.gouv.fr Official euro website with updated info as well as handy currency converter
Tourist Info
http://www.hec.fr/hec/eng/mba/paris_beyond.html Business school site. One of its pages describes arrondissements
www.culture.fr Current and forthcoming cultural events of al kinds in Paris and other big French cities
www.discover.france.net/france/paris Lots of listings but lots of scrolling!
www.eng.city.vox.es Cityvox entertainment guide
www.experiencetheperigord.co.nz
www.insecula.com Focus on art and culture with street photos. In french / english, good for navigating by street
www.meetingthefrench.com Dinner / lunch in host's home - prices range from 65-105 euros
www.paris.fr Festivals: La Nuit Blanche; Nocturnal events, early Oct.
www.paris.org OK museum guide by arrondissement
www.paris.webcity.fr Cultural calendar, small ads, info on shops, hotels, restaurants, traffic,etc.
www.paris-art.com Contemporary art exhibitions and galleries
www.parisdigest.com Paris listings, shopping tips and general info in English
www.parisfranceguide.com Not very good
www.parisinfo.com Tourist info-official site of the Office de Tourisme et des Congrès de Paris
www.parissi.com Films, concerts and a strong calendar of clubbing events
www.pidf.com Excellent events guide-official site of the Paris regional tourist board. Same site/diff name: www.paris-ile-de-france.com
www.rmn.fr 34 national museums
www.timeout.com/paris Timeout entertainment guide
www.tourisme.gouv.fr En français
www.franceguide.com In english
www.wfi.fr/metropole Metropole Paris: Updated weekly Metropole an online magazine offers the inside scoop on what's happening in Paris. Articles, posters, and keep you abreast of the latest news in the City of Lights.
http://www.francetourism.com/practicalinfo/regionsparis.htm
Time / Weather
www.meteo.fr Weather forecasts and stats from the state meteorology office
http://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_FR.aspx France local time
Paris Airports
http://www.aeroportsdeparis.fr/ADP/en-GB/Passagers
http://www.airwise.com/airports/europe/CDG
http://www.passportsupport.com Online passport document storage
Day Trips
http://www.fontainebleau-tourisme.com

Beginners
http://www.french-at-a-touch.com/Words-Phrases/basic_phrases_links.htm
Basic words and phrases to use in France
www.paris-on-line.com/eng/turisme/pracinfo_idioma.htm
Helpful summary of common French phrases and words

Intermediate->
http://french.about.com
http://french.about.com/library/weekly/bl-dailylesson7.htm
http://french-word-a-day.typepad.com/motdujour
http://wordreference.com
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:French_language
http://leconjugueur.com