Monthly Archives: October 2013

It’s a beautiful day

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Mercury & me

Mercury & me

A visit to Montreux was almost inevitable given my former, possibly still latent, obsession with Queen. In fact, it was pretty much the only reason for going – cue obligatory pic of me & Freddie. A conveniently placed tourist shop lured me in with all the Queen paraphernalia in the window and then I was in a little Queen wonderland. Now really, who doesn’t need a set of Queen coasters? Though I did draw the line at the Freddie earings.

But Montreux is more than just a place where Freddie lived for a point in time and I actually discovered an old town that was worth the heart attack inducing climb to get there. If that wasn’t enough, it also served as the entrance point to a gorge (Gorges duCalderon) which I hiked deep into the mountains until I realized I was going to miss my train and had to scramble back. I’m starting to realize that it’s the wild places, the quiet places that give me the most satisfaction. That and shopping ’til I drop.

Water tastes better from a Queen glass

Water tastes better from a Queen glass

Best of all, I finally cracked level 434 of Candy Crush on the train on the way home – been stuck on that stage for close to two weeks. It was indeed a beautiful day…

Lunch: La Rouvenaz (restaurant lunch perhaps not the best idea before a gut busting hike).

La plus heureuse

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This is as close as we got to culture in Paris...

This is as close as we got to culture in Paris…

I’m borrowing from Anne Boleyn’s motto here because a) I’m in France, b) have spent an obscene amount of money shopping and c) have finally had a meal where bacon “bien cuit(e)” was indeed well done! As you can see, it doesn’t take much to make me happy.

I know my plan was to see as many *different* countries as possible but one simply cannot come to Europe without visiting Paris. Our plan to see Versailles was swiftly ditched in favour of shopping in the Marais district on Sunday (Chris actually agreed to this – I kid you not!). We’ll get there one day but there’s a shopping inferno underway here and culture just doesn’t get a look in. After a few weeks of moping around being homesick, I’ve finally remembered the advantages of foreign climes and, shallow as I may be, they revolve around drinking and shopping. I’m still firmly set against living here permanently but the embargo on future travel this direction has definitely been lifted in my mind. Not only do I have a whole new outlook on life, I have a whole new wardrobe… or maybe the new wardrobe has led to the different outlook – who knows? That aside, I still haven’t had enough of Paris and probably never will.

Coming back through customs we obviously looked suspicious as we were stopped and asked if we had anything to declare. I promptly declared my two boxes of porridge in a bid to divert them from the national debt’s worth of clothing in my bag. Fortunately I was under the 20kg limit of oats so crisis averted. As Chris informed me after, they weren’t actually looking for shopping so it was just my general paranoia and guilt over spending my entire holiday savings in one day kicking in 🙂

Places we’ll go back to:

  • La Cafeotheque: THE place to go for coffee in Paris.
  • Lizard Lounge: Happy hour is good value for money and burgers were tasty. Cheap night out.
  • La Mangerie: Yummy cocktails and tapas – get there early!

There’s no place like home

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So it’s time for round three of Sam’s European Adventures. This time my resolve is to see as many different countries as possible, even if I quite literally step over the border and back again. I had hoped that my visa would have come through but alas we’re still waiting so I’m just here on another three month visit. I think I’m kinda over the whole living in Geneva thing by now – and do I like those long haul flights? Oh no I don’t!

My arrival in Geneva almost got off to a disastrous start when I was pickpocketed, rather clumsily, on the bus from the airport. My makeup bag I can live without, but my passport was a different story. Fortunately a friendly native told me that a woman had taken something out of my bag and pointed her out. Acting instinctively I made a grab for my things which I could see under her arm… whereupon she promptly dropped them on the floor and pretended they were there all along. I called her a thief and made my indignation known to all and sundry, but she calmly stayed on the bus until the next stop where she got off. What can you do really? More lessons learned and I will be maintaining a vice like grip on my bag from here on out 🙂

And finally… Go Wildcats! Beat those 36ers tomorrow night while I’ll be cheering you on from my computer 😦  Ah it’s a sad, sad thing to miss half a basketball season. Really should have timed this vacation better.