Monday 31 December 2012

C'est facile!

Day 1-3: Paris

A 13 hour flight had us arriving at 7am and the rest of the day was a brutal battle between jetlag and excitement. Our first questie host Claire picked us up from the airport and introduced us to a typical french breakfast of cheese and bread.

















Claire took us up to the Sacre Couer to try to get a good view overlooking the city but were somewhat thwarted by some heavy clouds and fog. Still, it beats Mt Coottha.





A short trip through the strictly controlled church brought us some more opportunities for minor law breaking, testing out the new camera’s silent mode which performed admirably-

 We followed with trips to H&M and Cirque camera store to buy scarfs, coats and a new camera bag, meandering through old Paris en route. We stopped in a local park to eat a typical French lunch of baguettes and cakes, admiring the fat pigeons and exposed bin bags that would be immediately destroyed by possums and bush turkeys if they were in Australia.




 Jetlag was setting in but we made it through to dinner, meeting up with Claire’s friend Coco who had also been on exchange to Australia. He must now think we’re a pair of stoners after we only said about 3 words each over dinner, so eager to get to bed.
 Of course we had to try the snails and frogs legs, which were actually great. 

 The next morning brought some surprisingly good weather, blue skies and sun shining. We made the most of it, heading straight to the Louvre and surrounds.








We didn’t have the time or patience to battle through the 20 million tourists and actually go inside, but we still enjoyed the scenery and being asked by every couple in sight to take a photo of them on their camera. A lucky privilege us guys with ‘big cameras’ get to experience. We make sure to set their camera to the most complicated mode to show off our skills and ruin the rest of their holiday album.
Tal peeled off to catch a Tottenham soccer match at an Irish pub while Claire and Coppo visited the Notre Dame.




We met together again later to climb the Arc de Triomphe for some views of Paris over sunset.







We travelled onwards to the Eiffel Tower afterwards, catching it under lights. 





Later we met up with another questie Diane (pronounced DOY-anne in Australian, dee-an in French) for drinks in the university district. It was a great catch up, and quite enjoyable watching the two Parisian girls in their element, jabbering away in rapid French and sipping on cocktails.

 The next morning brought a late and hazy wake up, as we rushed to make it out to the brunch stop “le fumoir”, recommended by the ultimate French gourmand himself, Tanguy De Le Beau Chien Nasarvararvavrve. We sat amongst the rich mahogany and many leather bound books and imagined him in his natural habitat, snorting and pulling disgusted faces at the peasants milling about outside.
It was actually a great brunch, with glorious bread, eggs benedict, pancakes and chocolate cake on offer.


We didn’t have time for anything else, making sure we made it to the airport with about 15 hours to spare, lest we end up on some European reality TV show about hopeless tourists yelling at check in attendants after missing their low-cost flights.

It wasn’t a main part of our itinerary, but cheap flights booked 6 months in advance had sent us here, and we couldn't be happier. With steady weather and plenty of tourist fare and food to munch into, we had ourselves a perfect introduction to the continent. 
 Next Stop- New Years in BERLIN!






Friday 28 December 2012

Bon Voyage / Bonkers in Honkers

Day 0 – In Transit/Hong Kong

Our much welcomed and well-deserved departure has finally come. We started off in the very back row of our Cathay flight to Hong Kong, indulging in some feature films and soundly regretted corn beef sandwiches.

 We had 6 hours to kill in Hong Kong and tried to make the most of it, heading straight to Kowloon station and a trip up to the top of ICC tower. Although lacking in the expected attire of grillz and chains, we still managed to celebrate the yuletide in true classy Asian style:

Despite the well placed floodlights reflecting straight back at us off the glass, we still managed a few good shots overlooking the city. We had cancelled our original plan to get up to the peak lookout so it was good to get a nice view from the other side:

After this somewhat out of character burst of genuine tourist behaviour, the menacement began with a joint showing of disregard for local laws and perfect ATG squat form (take note Adam Uren)-

We smashed out 100 of these each and headed out into the shady streets of Kowloon. The area is great in being very decrepit and photographable without being dangerous to tourists at all. Basically, a perfect spot for 2 white boys with expensive cameras.

Menace #2 wasn’t to be outdone in the petty law breaking department, getting told off for this glorious display of male haute coutoure headwear in the markets. Looking forward to seeing this one in the Ralph Lauren 2013 collection!

 The stopover was something we had barely thought about in the grand scheme of the trip, and perhaps the surprise was what made it so enjoyable. We continue on to Paris ready for twice the trouble as we face up to the infamously snotty locals. OUH LE BEAU CHIEN!