Gay Paree...Encore!

Bon Jour du Paris! I write this blog on the 28th of August, about a month after I was in Paris last. I am in Paris again, but this time it is just a stop over on my way to Dublin, and I found an internet cafe' with an English keyboard so I can blog until my fingers bleed and hopefully catch up on the last months adventures!

The second time around in Paris was, to say the very least, much better than the first time. I avoided any and all tango lessons this time, along with the Sacre Coeur which I just enjoyed from my hotel room. I decided to change hotels as the Andre Gill was not only a prison, but run by a women who calls herself "madame" and well, she is an absolute nightmare. She makes all Parisians seem happy and smiley in comparison. (in case you didn't know, Parisians are neither happy nor smiley.) I refused to give her my money and please if you are in Paris ever, do yourself a favor, avoid the Andre Gill and go straight to the Avenir, right next to the Metro "Anvers" in the Montemartre district by the Sacre Coeur. Okay, sure it's the red light district...but it is a great hotel, cheap and right down the street from the Moulin Rouge. The staff is very friendly and each room has a balcony that overlooks the street.

The first night I arrived back in Paris after being in Prague, Berlin and London for EVER, I decided to put on a sexy dress and head out to find some fun. Sort of a mistake, since you can't even walk down the street in a potato sack without every man, dog and tree shouting "bon soir!" If you make the mistake of saying "bon soir" back, you will be harassed and followed and thank goodness I am bold and say "piss off" but for those with less fortitude it could be daunting. So, I ducked into an Irish pub to get some relief and found out that it is one of the hippest placed to meet people in the neighborhood. People from all over drink there and if you can stand to pay $7 Euro for a pint ot Guinness, the conversations are well worth it. I met a bunch of Serbian kids from Australia, who in turn were meeting Serbs from Serbia and we all started chatting about the placement of kids during the Baltic wars and apparently, it was Australia and France who took the lot. One girl I met was about 22 and had been sent to Adelaide in 1992. Wow. So, we chatted and then I walked to the loo when I was accosted by a bunch of Bosnians and so we all started dancing and the next thing I know, I am in an apartment by the Stade du France with cousins, girls, boys, brothers, sisters...dancing to Bosnian music, drinking hot cocoa and smoking weird cigarettes until about 6 a.m. The apartment belongs to a guy named Naimi and his friend Bullim, both 20 and HYSTERICAL!

At this point, they turn to me and say "would you like to go to our cousins wedding in the country?" All this in French as they don't speak English and I say "sure...as long as I am back by tonight because I have a bus to catch in the morning!" So, off we go in a caravan, which included my ride in a blue Subaru driven by a crazy Albanian guy. Well, we get to said wedding about an hour later and I am still wearing my dress from the night before, and if you want a mind blowing wedding experience, I highly reccommend one in Kosovo! I ended up drinking Vodka, eating all kinds of weird food, mostly meat, dancing to insane Bosnian folk and techno music and I think I might have married a 90 year-old woman with a beard and a body to match! (She was about 4 foot 10, and 300 pounds!) Of course, they didn't let me go home and I missed my bus the next day, had to hang in Paris for 2 more days but it was worth it as this was one of those experiences you cannot buy in a gift store.

They got into thier side of the war a lot, I just listened and thought about the Serbs I had met a few nights before. A lot of these kids were also refugees accepted by France and ended up here. There are still a lot of wounds and bad blood, but apparently Bill Clinton is a national hero in Kosovo. Take that Anne Coultier and Bill O'Lielly! Ha!

Finally made my bus and was on my way to beautiful Switzerland...had to miss Bern but ended up in Lauterbrunnen for 3 nights and that story continues next. LATERS!

London...and Beyond

HOT SUMMER DAYS IN STREATHAM

I'm still in London, finishing up my packing and paperwork to continue on to the next leg of my journey! Been here about a week now, living with two adorable English girls, chilling at Bernie's house in Streatham Common. It's been a pretty relaxing week and considering the craziness of the last couple of months I think it was much needed R & R. I've tried to update my blog as much as possible, mostly just uploading photos, doing laundry and COOKING! Oh, how I miss preparing proper meals, which never happens on the road. I've been on a spinach and feta cheese kick, drinking proper English tea and have even managed to keep my beer intake to about 2 a day. (I know!) Mostly, because of the depressing fact that whenever I go to the ATM to withdraw cash, it gets doubled. I took out £50 the other day and my back docked me $96 US. Nice. So, I just putter around the yard, chat to the girls and watch telly. I did manage to find £40 that I had tucked away in my drawer here so that was fun, as I could actually go to the store and buy some food and a four-pack of Carlsberg for about £2.50. BRILLIANT! I have enough to kip up to the Pied Bull for a couple of pints, which has to be done to celebrate my impending departure. This time, I won't return, (knock wood, fingers-crossed) until around November.

THE GIRLS

I'm staying with Vicki and Charlotte, both just out of UNI and in their early 20's. Char works for Merril Lynch here in London and Vicks has just taken a job with a tech recruitment firm...she starts on Monday so we have been hanging out round the back garden chatting about life, ex-boyfriends (sniff sniff) and various beauty regimes. They are anxious to get started on thier careers...whilst I...the elder, am happy NOT to be working and find it highly overrated. Alas, I suppose I will have to return to it one day, but I can't bear the thought of it right now. CURSES!

CANTEBURY

On Monday, Vicki and I took a train to Cantebury with her ex Phil, the tri-athlete, and walked along a beautiful English country road before ducking into Phil's dad's pub for a pint. This is where we met 2 of Phil's 5 brothers, Alex the moody chef and Joe, the flirty 18-year old who is off to New Zealand to conquer as many Kiwi girls as he can in one year. Sounds a little blah, but I have never been out of London except to watch the countryside roll by on a train to Edinburgh. We then strolled through Cantebury, a lovely medeival town with cobblestone streets and the famous Cathedral where the Archbishop of England keeps his post. This is also the town upon which Chaucer wrote his famous "Tales." On the way home, the train was stalled due to an "unfortunate incident" involving the police and a person at the front of the train. So very English...apparently, someone tried to jump. Yikes.

The rest of the week I sat in the back talking to Char about life...Vick's about life, Char, Vicks, Vicks, Char. We can't seem to get together the three of us, but we did have a girls night out last Friday, which is why I have been sequestered at Chez Murphy, as I blew my whole week's budget on dinner, drinks, clubbing and a cab ride home.

OFF AGAIN...

Tomorrow I leave for Paris first thing out of Victoria Station in central London. We take the Busabout Bus to Dover, cross the channel and then head into Paris to arrive around 5 p.m. local time. I decided that I would change my tactics a little bit this time...I'm staying in a different hotel, I'm getting out of the Monmartre neighborhood and NO TANGO LESSONS AT THE SACRE COEUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm only there for 2 nights anyway, so I am going to lay low, drink some red wine, eat some cheese and get the hell outta there!

From there I head to the Swiss Alps, first to a sleepy college town called Bern and then onto Lauterbrunnen, which is alleged to be one of the extreme sports capitals of the world. I am staying at a place called "Camping Jungfrau" right near the Trummelbach Falls, which is stunning this time of year. After that, I head to Nice for 5 days, then to Avignon, in the South of France. Next, I go to Spain for about two weeks, splitting my time between Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid and San Sebastian. From there I spend four days in the wine regions, including Bordeaux and the Loir Valley and after that one more night in Gay Paree. I will then fly to Ireland, where I will spend a couple of night in Dublin before heading off to Kinvara, County Galway, where I will spend my 40th birthday weekend with Bernie, his family and UltanJohn, as they are playing a 3-day event called "Electric Fest." I can't think of a better way to spend it, he is just like family to me and if I can't be at home with friends and family, this is another home with friends and family. After that, I will visit Belfast and the North, before heading off to Munich, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, Greece, back to finish up Italy and then WHO KNOWS????? Maybe a bit more Southern Germany, maybe Budapest, London or back to Prague. Can't say, I have so many rivers to cross until then, anything can happen and I hope it does.

I'm not sure how the internet will be on this next leg, but I will try to post as much as I can. I finally figured out how to post multiple photos, but still can't upload. Maybe I will have luck in Ireland. Now, there's a thought!

Must spend the rest of the day grooming, packing, mud masking, hair conditioning and e-mailing. Will have a nice dinner tonight with Vicks (Char is out on the town) and then bed early for the ungodly call-time of 6 a.m. Tomorrow is a long travel day, so I have to juice up the I-Pod and prepare to grin and bear the ferry, bus ride and annoying service stops that will permeate the day. If you get a chance, please e-mail! I'll need the company for sure. LATERS!

Berlin Photos

These are the first round of photos I took in Berlin. These include the famous fan mile, which ran from Brandenburg Gate to the SiegeSoile, and other various photos I took around that time. A few random fans, the VERY thourough, yet polite special POLIZEI boys, a random dude assigned to clean up (I took the photo to show an example of the hard working German people...hehehe, okay I hid in the bushes and perved on this one, but can you Blame me! And, he is not gay, they assigned military volunteers for this...) Of course, a pic of a beer with the chicken, this is where I used to eat my doner kebap right by the TV tower in Alexanderplatz...kissing the cup and a few of my friends from OM, the Nepalese restaurant downstairs from the flat in Tiergarten. Oh, I can't forget just one of the hundreds of Romanian gypsies who play the same tune on their accordians ALL OVER TOWN! Can't get away from them. OYE!

Prague...The Return

Here are some of the photos I took from my second journey to Praha. Otto is in the yellow sweater, which I think he wore every day...Petr is the cute barman, there is my little bed from my hostel room at the A & O in Praha 7, a photo of the neighborhood hotdog stand (they are literally everywhere) a guard from Prague castle, Charles Bridge, Prague castle, the shrine to Chateau bar where I sat everyday, a view of the city from the highest peak and a bit of the footy madness from Old Town Square.

First Trip to Prague

These are photos from my first trip to Praha, when I was only able to hobble around, drinking beer and taking photos. These include, the Aussies I was hanging out with, Liverpool Sean (black spikey hair) drinking absynthe at midnight, Alex the gingerbearded Welsh barman and 2 teen agers that were trying to hit on me. (Actually, they were 20, I made them show me their ID, but they didn't speak a word of English, it was quite amusing! ENJOY!

AUSTRIA

Here is beautiful Austria! I spent my time divided between Vienna (Wein) and Salzburg. Both are equally as beautiful, but in totally different ways. Vienna has amazing regal architechture, opera and culture where as Salzburg has sensational vistas, an old fortress and a small town feel. And, I must say that it is truly VIENNA, and not Paris that is the city of lovers! I've never seen such a display of PDA in my life! (For those not in the know, it's publice display of affection!) Everyone, but everyone is making out! Wicked!

Scotland Photos

1-Scottish Tan
2-Saucy Mary's, Isle of Skye
3-Portree
4-Local Billy Bob and His Welly's, Isle of Skye
5-One of Many "Glen's" Where one of Many Battles Were Fought
6-Eileen Doonan Castle
7-Clan MacDonald Territory
8-View from Edinburgh Castle

Random Photos

Since I have had only slight moderate success with publishing photos, I have decided that I will just have to post them four at a time, but I will do so from each city and try to put them in cohesive order. Since this was just a test...

#1- Chicken with a beer from Salzburg
#2-With crazy Aussie Footy fans in Munchen Beergarten
#3-With the SWAT team "Polizei" in Berlin at Fan Fest
#4-Kissing the CUP!