Blog by jo

One of the squares in Frankfurt

We had a 5am start on May 4 to catch the train from Paris to Frankfurt. Although we were pretty tired when we arrived, we went out for a couple of hours in the afternoon to take a look at Frankfurt before we flew out for the U.S. the next morning.

Mikey tried some apple wine, that wasn’t really to his liking, while I tucked in to some delicious dark chocolate covered strawberries.

Mikey with apple wine

Me and my chocolate strawberries

It seemed that the river was the pseudo beach in Frankfurt, with people sunbaking on the grass beside it. I guess it is one way to avoid getting sand everywhere. We had a beer by the river and relaxed in the sun before heading back to our hotel, although Mikey was disappointed to find his beer spiked with lemonade… sometimes I’m the one with all the luck.

Sun baking by the river

Paris was the perfect end to our Europe tour. We had been there before, so we knew our way around and could spend our time visiting our favourite sights. The sun was out, the flowers were in bloom and we could do nothing but have a good time.

We arrived in Paris on the afternoon of 1 May. After a bit of a rest in our strange hotel room, we headed to one of the most famous streets in the world, the Champs-Élysées. It would have to be one of my favourite spots, and it was looking particularly stunning on that Thursday afternoon. Maybe one day I’ll get to see it filled with cyclists on the last day of the Tour de France…here’s hoping.

Champs-Élysées

We went to the Place de la Concorde, at the end of the Champs-Élysées, a couple of times during our stay and wandered the gardens in front of the Louvre. I particularly loved the artwork that was dotted around, although unfortunately our photo of the big spider is a bit blurry.

Gardens near Musée du Louvre

Gardens by the Louvre

Another one of my favourite spots in Europe is the Arc de Triomphe. I am not completely sure why, but it looks amazing and I love how the name sounds. Walking from the Arc, down the Champs-Élysées to the Place de la Concorde and the Louvre…I’m not sure it gets any better than that.

Arc de Triomphe

Musée du Louvre

We spent some time by the River Seine, which – along with wandering around the Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis islands – provides the quintessential Parisian experience. We had divine baguettes by Notre Dame, and were really glad that we had been inside the cathedral before because the line to get in was extraordinarily long. I particularly loved Île Saint-Louis, it is so picturesque, so french.

Île de la Cité

The back of Notre Dame

We had fun mucking around by the Eiffel tower, although we were careful to behave ourselves around the guys with guns on patrol under the tower.

‘Touching’ the Eiffel Tower

The Basilique du Sacré-Cœur is located at the highest point in the city and is simply spectacular. We climbed the hill and spent some time inside the Basilique before heading out to view the magnificent Paris skyline.

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur

We appreciated Paris so much more the second time around. It was the perfect end to a wonderful 4 week holiday.

As the Lonely Planet suggests, Avignon is the belle of the Provencal ball, the picture of French elegance and charm.

We arrived on the afternoon of April 28 and, as it was only a 40 minute train ride from Marseille, we had plenty of time to explore Avignon that afternoon. The tree-lined, cobblestoned streets brought surprises around every corner as we found cute shops and delicious eateries. Mikey and I decided we are definitely quite partial to small towns… and Avignon is definitely one of the best.

One of the many places in Avignon to sit outside and enjoy the French wine and cuisine

One of the main sights is the Palais de Papes (Palace of the Popes), one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings in Europe. The construction of the palace started in 1335 and lasted for nearly 20 years. It is the size of approximately 4 Gothic cathedrals, with a floor space of 15,000m². Mikey and I hired audio guides and toured over 20 huge rooms, including the pope’s private chambers decorated with Italian frescoes.

Palais de Papes

There were some beautiful gardens that extended behind the palace, and they provided wonderful views over Avignon.

View of Avignon

There was a bit of rain during our stay in Avignon, but it cleared enough for us to sit outside and enjoy a beer – that was a little larger and more expensive than we expected It gave us plenty of time to enjoy the wall that appeared to be growing…

Mikey and a large beer

The wall of plants…or something

We left Avignon mid-morning on 1 May – May Day. There was some sort of celebration or demonstration (it was hard to tell) down the main street, with everyone gathering outside the Palais de Papes. We don’t really know what it was about, but there it seemed to be a lot of unions represented. Very exciting. If only I knew French….all I could recognise was “Sarkozy” being shouted in less than reverent tones.

What we took to be a demonstration on May Day

Of all I did in Avignon, nothing was more enjoyable than sitting with Mikey beside the Rhone river with a view of the Pont St-Bénézet (aka the Pont d’Avignon).

P.S. Auntie Kay – add Avignon to the ‘must see’ list.

My favourite spot in Avignon – The Rhone river, Pont d’Avignon and the Palais de Papes

Marseille – Vieux Port

I know! I haven’t told you about the last country we explored on our Europe tour…France.

Well, after the ‘madness in Milan’, we took the train on 25 April over the border to France, entranced by the shimmering views of the Mediterranean and awe struck by the look of Monte Carlo, Cannes and Nice. It was a long day of traveling, but we finally reached Marseille.

Marseille is like a carefully layered cocktail. There is the unmistakable French culture as a base, with an eclectic/earthy/arty layer on top. Add a hint of African influence and a shot of ‘fishing village’ and, strangely enough, you have something that works.

We only had two full days to enjoy Marseille. Initially, I was a bit worried that two days might be too long when we got off the subway in the heart of Marseille only to be hit with the overwhelming odor of fish. It is one of those smells I have a strong dislike for. However, I was relieved to find that, once in the open air of the Vieux Port, the smell was not too bad.

Fish market at Vieux Port (source of fishy smell). The fisher men and women dock their boats just behind their market stalls.

The port was the most touristy part of Marseille, and was usually full of people. There were lots of restaurants around the edge offering views of the water with your meal. Nearby was a really great market, where we purchased some African style statues that I completely fell in love with.

The main street of Marseille is La Canebière, which was nice to wander down, and leads to the Cours Julien, where all the interesting and authentic French restaurants are. Marseille feels like a small city, but it is actually the third largest in France.

La Canebière

We visited the Palais de Longchamps, which is a water tower that was built to commemorate the building of the Durance Canal in the late 1800s. It was a lovely spot, surrounding by gardens, of which the locals seemed to make good use.

Palais de Longchamps

The Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde is a beautiful church that was built in 1864 and is located on Marseille’s highest natural point (162m). It was a bit of a long walk to the top of the hill in the warm weather, but the views from the church’s terrace of the Vieux Port and the bay were spectacular.

Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde

View from the Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde over Marseille bay. One of the bay’s four islands is the location for the fortress, Chateau d’If, made famous by the Dumas novel, The Count of Monte Cristo.

Given the size of Marseille, and the little time we had, I convinced Mikey to see ‘historic’ Marseille by train…a very little train.

Our train

There was an English commentary provided over a speaker as we zipped past the pyjama church and through the old town. It was a lot more fun than I expected, and it was nice to see parts of Marseille we otherwise would not have seen. Oh and it was nice to be off our feet.

A church (not sure of its actual name) nicknamed the pyjama church because of its stripes.

The food in Marseille did not disappoint. While it was difficult to negotiate the restaurant scene without any expertise in the language, we had some great and interesting meals. A highlight for me was a simple chicken fillet, that – I kid you not – was cooked in such a way that I never knew chicken could taste so good. Mikey was a little more adventurous with the raw meat meal pictured below.

Mikey’s meat meal with cheese

While not as easy to visit as other more touristy places in France, and not as clean, Marseille was a splendid mix of tastes and cultures. A great place to visit if you want to skip the Louis Vuitton stores and experience something different.

Vieux Port at sunset, with the Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde in the background

One of the ‘Golden shopping streets’

Narrow, weaving streets. Crazy drivers. Sidewalks clogged with scooters. Pedestrians gesticulating wildly while talking on mobile phones. Yelling and honking. With most of the city dominated by this, Milan initially seems quite chaotic. It does not have the tourist-friendly atmosphere of Rome or the Tuscany region. It is a business and fashion capital that moves with great pace. But once you get used to it, and see some of its treasures, Milan is a city that really grows on you.

We arrived on Monday night, 21 April via the budget airline, Niki, from Vienna. Having seen a lot of the great Italian works of art on a previous trip, we spent our time in Milan soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the food.

Mikey enjoying a piadina with prosciutto and bocconcini

We walked through some good markets, which primarily sold cheap clothes and shoes. This was the first and only time I saw inexpensive clothing. We later went to the ‘Golden Quad’ shopping district, where four streets of shops intersect, and here there are multiple stores of Louis Vuitton, Prada, Versace, Armani, MaxMara, D&G…you get the picture. It was the greatest concentration of high fashion that I have ever seen, quite staggering. It was also pretty amazing to see some of this stuff on girls half my age! While some of the clothing and accessories were really good, it is also quite clear that money does not guarantee good taste.

Inside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping arcade

The centre square in Milan is home to the Duomo cathedral, an ornate gothic church that towers above the city. It is dark and musty inside because little light penetrates the deeply coloured stained glass windows. For 5 euros you can climb the stairs to the roof and get a closer look at the ornate steeples and walk along the roof tiles. I’m not sure what was more amazing, the roof or the view.

Duomo

The Duomo roof

One museum we did venture into was the ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ Science and Technology museum, which displayed some of da Vinci’s engineering feats as well as exhibitions about Italy’s water and air transport.

Mikey enjoyed the air transport exhibit

The Lonely Planet did not give Milan a glowing review, and I wonder if that is because they did not encounter Milan’s glorious gardens. While their article mentioned the dramatic 15th Century Castello Sforzesco (previously the residence of the Sforza dynasty and now used as a museum), they did not mention the massive garden behind it. The trees were flowering, the water crystal clear and the grass green and lush.

Castello Sforzesco gardens

There was also a stunning park near our hotel, which had a carousel and food vendor in the centre. We spent a couple of afternoons at dusk having a beer in this garden and – in the lovely spring weather – it was the best place to be in Milan.

Pt Venezia park near our hotel