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Europe Adventure

March - April 2023
A 33-day adventure by Simon Read more
  • 31footprints
  • 5countries
  • 33days
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  • 16videos
  • 14.2kkilometers
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  • TravelerEurope Adventure
    Day 1

    Singapore

    March 29, 2023 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Flew from Adelaide into Changi Airport and spent the afternoon exploring Singapore’s gardens and shops. Also stumbled onto a light show over the harbour in the evening.

    Shops here were stunning, but the prices were very high - for example a standard Adidas training t shirt from their store was $89 Singaporean dollars - which is circa $100 AUD. Clare found a Lululemon top she liked which was $220 Singaporean. 😬 (did not buy).

    1 night in a hotel here and then another long flight to Paris. Thankfully we look to have avoided the protests at this point and the marathon looks to be proceeding as planned.

    Ben managed to play 2 pianos today, one in Adelaide Airport and the other in Singapore’s gardens.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope Adventure
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    Day 2

    Singapore / Changi Airport

    March 30, 2023 in Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Planned to sleep in this morning and shift our sleep patterns closer to Paris time. Instead I woke up at 5am….

    Checked out of our hotel, grabbed breakfast and spent the morning at the Jewel in Changi Airport.

    Singapore is a beautiful city - very clean and well designed. Clare especially has enjoyed this stop over.

    We have a 13 hour flight ahead of us so doubt there is much else of note to report for today apart from movie reviews.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope Adventure
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    Day 3

    Paris Day One

    March 31, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    Landed at 10pm Thursday evening in Paris after a 13 hour flight. After being awake for nearly 24 hours we were all fairly delirious - which was made all the better when our Airbnb host outsourced the key handover / intro to a neighbour who I think was drunk - at least that would explain why he managed to partly open the wrong house for us. Lucky the real owners were home and had bolt locked the door.

    Finally got to bed at midnight and slept until 5am. Which is now 3 days straight in 3 different countries I’ve woken up at 5am and not been able to get back to sleep. But always 5am in the local Timezone. Bizarre. With only 2 nights until the mara I will definitely need a good night sleep soon.

    Today we started slowly, did some work and then headed by train into the mara expo. It wasn’t as slick as NY but still had a warehouse full of running merch. Managed to restrain ourselves and just get one t-shirt and a hoody each. The free gift was a running back pack.

    Then caught a bus from there to the Champs De Mars and picked up some baguettes - and onto the Eiffel Tower.
    Took a lot of photos of the tower, very original.

    Walked from there through to the Arc de Triumph which was spectacular- mostly for the random road rules everyone seems to use to navigate this massive roundabout. We sat by the Champs De Élysées and watched the chaos unfold. I hope there is a live YouTube channel of this - I’d watch it for hours.

    Caught another bus from there back to the house - and right now I’m trying not to fall asleep too early while Krissi is off shopping for supplies.

    Kids are cactus, but hopefully a quiet evening does the trick.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope Adventure
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    Day 4

    Paris Day Two

    April 1, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Ridiculous sleep - woke up every 2 hours. I hope that’s the end of the jet lag for this trip.

    Started the day with a 4km jog through the Batignolles park to remind my legs how to run. Good to get a cold run in after the summer of training in Adelaide.

    Picked up 2 baguettes from a bakery on the way home from the Batignolles and I’m proud to say I managed to complete the entire transaction in French …….while holding up two fingers and pointing at the baguettes I wanted. But I’m sure it was my French that got the job done!

    Caught a bus to the Gallery Lafayette which was actually recommended by an old work contact on an Instagram post.

    The Gallery is a 6 story shopping centre with a rooftop view of Paris. There is one building for menswear and another entire building dedicated to women’s clothes, perfume, souvenirs etc. This was high end shopping at its best - thankfully we only window shopped and I spent just as much time keeping an eye on the score in the Showdown. Go Crows.

    Stopped for lunch in a food court next door which was really a collection of quality mini restaurants and bakeries. Like Singapore, food court food in Paris rivals restaurant food in Australia.

    Then made our way to a Westfield shopping centre - so Ben could play a Piano he found online. We got there and 3-4 other random teenage French boys also had the same idea and Ben immediately struck up a friendship as they each took it in turns playing. He was buzzed afterwards.

    Finished the afternoon wandering the streets along with thousands of other tourists. Paris on Saturday is busy. Damn busy.

    Stopped for some photos at the Pyramid on top of the Louvre. Tickets are sold out for the Louvre museum for weeks - so we’ve missed out on that unfortunately.

    Finished the day prepping for the marathon tomorrow and finally resting our legs. I’ve done nearly 18000 steps today which wasn’t the plan.

    But we are in Paris - can’t waste the limited time we are here.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope Adventure
    1
    Day 5

    Paris Day Three - The Marathon

    April 2, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    What else is there to say about day three in Paris?

    We ran the Paris Marathon. And finished it, thankfully.

    That’s mara number 7 and they don’t seem to get any easier for me….

    Krissi and I are both still feeling jet-lagged, but 6 months of training kicked in.

    Why do marathon designers decide that there should be a climb near the end? This one had a 5km climb from 35-40km. Merde.

    Really wanted to walk at that point, but got a text messages from Nicole all the way back in Melbourne at JUST the right moment. Took her advice, gritted my teeth and pushed through.

    Also got lots of nice messages from family and friends who were tracking our runs on the app. Put the pressure on, but it had the end result of me pushing through the pain and self doubt.

    Anyway, happy to report I got a PB! I went quicker by about 1.5 minutes than my previous best. It’s still a PB!

    The journey back to our AirBNB was interesting - got so cold I was violently shaking and thought I was going to vomit on the train. A French guy also pushed past and stole my seat, thanks mate. Merde.

    Finally, I am SO proud of Kristine who finished the mara - she has now completed Paris, NY and Sydney Marathons.

    Wrapped up the day with a meal out at a French restaurant. Which seems to mean all the meat is raw and the chips are cold. But I’m tired so I won’t complain….🤣

    We missed Alex and the Campbells a lot today - I know Krissi would have loved to share the experience with her. Maybe they will have to train up together for London 2024…. 🤣    Read more

  • TravelerEurope Adventure
    Day 6

    Paris Day Four

    April 3, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Recovery day means a day on the couch - or maybe a show - right?

    Nah.

    We went to the hilliest place in Paris - Montmartre.

    Arrived and it was soon apparent that everyone else had the same idea. The lines for the Basilique de Sacre Couer were nuts. The laneways were completely over run by tourists - us included. Its a wonderful place and completely understand why it gets such rave reviews - but every third shop is a souvenir shop.

    Then we went to the Paris Zoo. The last thing our Uber driver said when we arrived was ‘don’t you have zoos in Australia?’
    Well yes, but this was a whole different set of animals and it was very cool. The Mozambique section was a genuine highlight. Clare came alive - for the first 2 hours - and then faded and it was time to find some hot chips.

    Finally stopped off at a little brasserie and had Wine, Cheese and Chips and rested the legs after 15000 steps.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope Adventure
    Day 7

    Paris Day Five : Disneyland Paris

    April 4, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    Ever since we started planning this trip, Clare hasn’t stopped talking about Disneyland Paris.

    I am pleased to say she had a great day - even Ben had a good time.

    Krissi and I couldn’t help but compare it to Disneyland in Anaheim- and it’s not as good, frankly.

    The Tea Cups and the Small World rides (2 Clare wanted to do) were both closed for maintenance. We also lined up 20 minutes for the Carousel and just as we got to the front it broke down and we all abandoned that idea. The lines for everything were nuts - but it’s Disneyland in the week near Easter - so yeah, no shock.
    They also don’t have the Star Wars exhibition / museum here, which I really wanted to see again. But these are small gripes on what was a fun day with the kids.

    We all did Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Orbitron and Buzz Lightyear. Krissi and Clare also did the Big Thunder Mountain while Ben and I did the train tour and walked the bridges.

    We finished the day with the parade and some gift shopping.

    Disney IS a great day out, even for the price ($600 for the day before spending another $ in the park) and I’m glad we did it - especially for Clare.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope Adventure
    Day 8

    Travel Day : Paris to Zurich

    April 5, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    Travel Day : Paris to Zurich by train, stops in Strasbourg and Basel.

    The countryside of northern France and Switzerland was spectacular - but not easy to take photos through the windows of a moving train.Read more

  • TravelerEurope Adventure
    1
    Day 9

    Zurich

    April 6, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    After the big city, hectic nature of Paris, Zurich has been a breath of fresh air.

    Literally.

    Everyone in Paris seems to smoke! 😳

    Asked chatGPT to write a 300 word tourist summary or Zurich. It did and I based all my decisions today on that! 🤷‍♂️

    Started today with breakfast on the run and an outdoor market by the river. Stopped past a music store where Ben played a $40,000 piano.

    Perfect weather for walking - max of 9 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.

    Enjoyed a 1.5 hour Boat Ride on Lake Zurich, back to the Outdoor Market for lunch (sausages in roll of course!), then off to the Fraumunster Church, explored the Laneways of Altstadt and then walked to the Viaduct Markets - which we had seen on YouTube - but I think we missed the cool part.

    Did a little op shopping and Ben bought some cool new glasses.

    Another 15000 steps so far today and I’ve taken to wearing my sneakers as my feet (specifically my plantar) are battered. Averaging 20000 steps a day the last week.

    Currently on my first aperol spritz and the feet are feeling better…..    Read more

  • TravelerEurope Adventure
    1
    Day 10

    Good Friday in Zurich

    April 7, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    Woke up early and enjoyed a slow 5km run around Zurich. Pretty much had the city to myself, everything was shut and no one else was up. Running with the Swiss alps in the background at 450 metre elevation will be one of the more notable slow 5kms I’ll do this trip.

    Today was bitterly cold - and we were all cooked from 9 days straight of 20k plus steps a day - so we got a 24 hour transport pass and caught public transport rather than walk the city as we did the previous days. Except no one checked our pass once - so possibly could have done it without forking out $50!

    Really enjoyed seeing the suburbs and surrounds from a mix of tram, train, bus and again by foot. Zurich is a stunning city with only 430k residents. Every building feels like it’s either from a grand designs episode OR out of a history book OR from a fairytale. Do recommend - and the architecture was a little wasted on us. I’m keen to learn about this more moving forward.

    Today was SO cold though and I’m run down - and our next stop will be colder again - so also enjoyed the respite of sitting on public transport.

    We did the Lindt Factory today which Clare freaking loved. There are sections where you can basically eat as many Lindt balls as you like from all the flavours they have. I ate three, Krissi filled up her handbag….😂

    We made our way out of the city for dinner. Clare had chicken nuggets in a Mexican restaurant in Switzerland. 🙄

    Finishing the day with an Aperol Spritz in the hotel before we make our way to Stalden tomorrow.    Read more

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