Our European Adventure

DAY 7: Clermont-Ferrand

We spent most of the day in train stations or on the train, arriving in Clermont-Ferrand late afternoon. Our accommodation was dodgy and we realised there was nowhere nearby to eat and not much to do. Our hotel (if you could call it that) looked out onto the Michelin tyre factory. The only reason we even bothered to go to Clermont-Ferrand was to climb the Puy de Dome but realised we didn’t leave ourselves enough time to do it. Would have cost heaps to get a ride up there and we had to be on a train at 10am. In the end, the only good thing about staying in Clermont-Ferrand was that Saphira got to flirt with the waiter at the Pizzeria where we had dinner! Oh, and the fact that we walked past an “Aussie” restaurant with boomerang and kangaroo pictures and akubra hats and a giant shark on the bar. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

DAY 8 and 9:

After a sleepless night in our shack (itchy sheets and noisy) we were happy to farewell Clermont-Ferrand for the beautiful shores of Marseille!

Marseille was AWESOME. I love the contrast between the grubby and grimy streets and the pristine shimmering ocean. The Vieux Port was such a prime example: dirty smelly fishies throwing scales and skeletons on the ground and dodgy buskers were all crammed together, right on the edge of the water… and behind them, prestigious yachts floated elegantly on the water!

We bought tickets for a boat to the Ile D’If (an island off the coast that was once a fortress, and then a jail, and now a tourist attraction. Alexandre Dumas made the Ile famous with his story, “The Count of Monte Cristo”). We cruised the port while we waited for our boat time and enjoyed looking at all the docked boats, the shimmering water, the white streaks from planes in the sky, the cliffs, rocks and fortresses at the port’s entrance, and of course, the locals. Loved the old fellas in their tiny shorts sunbaking along the shore. Brown and leathery, they looked like they’d been there a lifetime!

We were so lucky to have such divine weather, and we realised this again on the boat ride. Being somewhere so beautiful is so exhilarating! Even the seagulls seemed nice. Approaching the island was amazing, seeing the cliffs and rocky shoreline surrounded by the crystal clear Mediterranean ocean. We were all mesmerised by the views, both out towards the sea and looking back on the city of Marseille, with the French Alps as a backdrop.

Saphira loved the freedom of exploring the island and examining the natural environment up close. She collected flowers, grass, pebbles, feathers and other bits and pieces. She had her eye out for the elusive lizard that apparently roamed the island, but he never showed himself. Got some great photos of the bright white rocks against the lush green grass.

The jail itself was kind of creepy. We went into these awful cells and realised that people actually DIED in there. As usual, we had to climb stairs (only about a thousand!) and our butts must be looking good by now. Our eyes thanked our butts of course, because the views were breathtaking at the top. It was so peaceful out there, we stayed for hours just smelling the sea air and listening to the gentle ebb and flow of the water against the cliffs.

No time to stop for a long lazy lunch, we grabbed some paninis and got straight onto L’Petit Train. Which wasn’t a train at all! Actually L’Petit train is a crappy car dressed up as a train, pulling about 3 trailers behind it. The little engine that almost couldn’t. We struggled our way up the hill while the extra loud French commentary and annoying kids behind us screeched in our ears, and the fumes of the engine (why did we sit right behind the car?) filled our lungs.

Our journey took us to Notre Dame Basilique church on top of the hill. The church came fully equipped with its own bling: an enormous solid gold statue right on top, which you can see from pretty much anywhere in Marseille, and from the Ile D’If as well. This meant that the view up there was spectacular. It was nearing sunset and we watched as the sky turned yellow, then orange, then pink, then purple over the sea.

Inside the church itself were beautiful mosaics and stained glass windows. Strangely, there were also these weird mobiles hanging from the ceiling, and on them were boats and aeroplanes! Still not sure why… maybe the priest likes the nautical theme? But then why the aeroplanes?? WEIRD. If there was an explanation, it was probably in French, so no wonder we missed it.

L’Petit Train was worse on the way down, even sans annoying kids behind us! Here we were, skidding down this massive hill in the narrowest streets while cyclists and scooters zoomed along a few centimetres away beside us, and all I could think was, “where are the seatbelts?” My knees were smashing into the front of the carriage every time the breaks went on… oh, the pain! And Saphira kept trying to hang her head outside the carriage and look around!

Back on land I swore that none of us would ever be riding L’Petit Train again. Or L’Petit ANYTHING, for that matter.

Dinner was at Le Souk (because we’re a bunch of sooks). MMmmm Moroccan! It is so awkward trying to order Moroccan food in French! But it was all delish, except maybe the sardine. Mel refused to try the sardine, because she is the biggest sook of them all. She was almost throwing up at the smell!

We were all very sad to leave Marseille the next day… such a gorgeous place. But looking forward to Nice!

WASHING DAY! Snore! We slept in, slowly got ready then shopped for our brunch on rue Montorgueil. Yummo! Spent ages in the fruit shop checking out all the different legumes (vegies!) and trying to pronounce their names

. We bought raspberries, blueberries, mulberries, figs, teeny tiny bananas, huge green grapes and a bunch of delicious marinated olives. We bought a plate of French cheeses from the fromagerie, jambon from the boucherie (saphira scored some free salami which was yum) and croissants from the patisserie.

Spent the morning washing our clothes and making clotheslines out of random pieces of furniture. Oh joy. Well, Mel enjoyed herself.

It was such a gorgeous sunny day and we’d spent most of it inside so by mid-afternoon we decided to forget the washing and get out into the fresh air. We wandered down the street to explore a bit more of our local area and stumbled across this huge square surrounded by gardens and the amazing church of st Eustace! Whoa, anywhere you wander in paris you are likely to walk right into something beautiful.

Wandered in and were yet again amazed by the architecture, artwork and solemnity of the place. No Skeletor voice this time just Saphira whining about being bored and hungry (a VERY common theme lately).

We tried to get into the Jardin Les Enfants but the gates were locked and after a bit of a search we found another play area for Saffi. While she climbed on the equipment we hung out and found this random tiny vineyard… there were these tiny little gardens everywhere, most of them fenced and locked, but really pretty to look at.

In search of food, we wandered around to Forum Les Halle where Saphira went on the creepiest carousel in history. Oooh my gosh it was so gross. The guy collecting tickets from kids had crusty sores all over his hands and a ciggie dangling from his mouth constantly. And the horses and other random farm animals were scary and disgusting! Especially the PIG! SPEW! Right after the carousel ride we wanted to get the hell out of there and walked right into a gang of three guys beating the crap out of another guy! Far out! This place was getting worse and worse. We ran for the hills and returned to the safety of our comfortable neighbourhood.

That night we went out for dinner at L’Epicerie Restaurant. We all enjoyed our entrée of Escargot: Saphira said they tasted like olives, I said they tasted like rain and Mel said they tasted like the garden! We are all loving the French food. Mel and I are just a bit partial to the French wine as well.

Writing this in Nice… it’s been a while since I’ve had the patience to start blogging. Will try to start where I left off…

DISNEYLAND!!! Happy birthday Saphira! We woke up in the morning excited to see the weather was not too bad and jumped on the train with our SIX YEAR OLD to Disneyland Paris.

We certainly weren’t expecting the entire place to be done up for Halloween, but like everything on this trip so far, we got lucky. Pumpkin-heads lined the streets and frightened screams filled the air (interspersed with up-beat Mickey tunes) as we walked down the Main Street.

Took us a while to find our feet, we weren’t really sure what Disneyland was all about when we arrived. Realised we had all these little “lands” to choose from: Frontierland, Fantasyland, etc. Got very excited to see all the Nightmare Before Christmas stuff and watched the a dodgy Halloween show (all the songs were versions of Disney movie songs with new lyrics. Kinda weird hearing Hakuna Matata melody with spooky themed words.) We abandoned the show early, around the same time as this crazy mum started screaming blue murder because her toddler fell off her shoulders. Poor husband (“Tim”, if my memory serves) had to tell her to calm down while the toddler got in the pram and kept eating her fairy floss.

We cruised the park, checked out all the little attractions and stuff and to be honest it wasn’t that great. The constant perky music kept us in a good mood and was a distraction from the fact that everything was a bit shabby and boring, but saphira had a good time. By far, her favourite thing was the tiny kids playground where she made friends with a cute little French girl and played on the kind of equipment you can find in any good park in Brisbane… oh well.

The “it’s a small world” ride made us feel a bit sick. Such blatant stereotyping and so many cultures completely left out. Think I’ll be having nightmares about those soulless puppets for years to come. All to the worst soundtrack ever. Don’t think saphira noticed the sarcasm when I commented, “wasn’t that ride WONDERFUL?” She nodded in agreement.

Alice’s Labyrinth was pretty awesome. I assume if you’re reading this that you saw the video of saff’s impromptu dance. Nuts.

We almost missed the parade because we were lining up to get saphira’s face painted… but somehow we caught the end. Little mermaid float was the coolest. Caught the big show at the end of the night before training it home, all three of us asleep on our feet. Saphira unwrapped her pressies in the apartment when we got back (couldn’t believe she could keep her eyes open!) and is now equipped with a wicked bat girl Halloween costume among other treats.

That night, she commented “Disneyland wasn’t that great. I’d rather go to the train museum with Azman.” Suck it, Paris! Ipswich whips you in saphira’s book! WOOHOO!