Classic Europe

September - October 2018

A 27-day adventure by Billy Oaks Read more

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Billy Oaks Classic Europe
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- Sep 15, 2018, 2:14pm
- ⛅ 19 °C
- Altitude: 15 m
- England Hillingdon Heathrow Heathrow Central railway station 51.47003, -0.454351°28’12” N 0°27’15” W
Day 1
Arriving in London
September 15, 2018 in England ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
We finally arrived at Heathrow airport after another long flight 13 hours Brisbane to Dubai and another 7 Dubai to London. Plenty of time to catch up with some movies on the plane.
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- Sep 16, 2018, 3:00pm
- ☀️ 22 °C
- Altitude: 57 m
- England Greater London Bayswater The Long Water 51.51603, -0.1724251°30’58” N 0°10’21” W
Day 2
Along the Thames..
September 16, 2018 in England ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Day 2: A bit of jet lag, we were up at 4am but had to wait until 7 to have some brekky. I had my Oyster card and straight into the Metro, well the "Tube" as it is called here. Our first stop was the Tower of London" and the Crown Jewls. Being Sunday it was ok to catch the train early to beat the crowds. We first visited the jewels display and then spent a bit of time to look around this place, the audio guides came in handy, highly recommended. When we left the tower there were long queues to get to see the jewels.

After the tower we had some lunch and then headed for the Tower Bridge. Less considerably amount of people here, the place is definitely worth the visit and the glass floor on the upper deck is quite a show..

We grab the "clippers" and headed along the Thames to the Parliament house and big Ben. A bit disappointed that the big ben is covered but a jungle of scaffolding due to some must needed restoration, such is life. We skipped the London eye and just spent the rest of the evening checking out people strolling along the river.Read more
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- Sep 17, 2018
- ☀️ 22 °C
- Altitude: 17 m
- England London Horse Guards Parade 51.50539, -0.1272251°30’19” N 0°7’38” W
Day 3
Around London
September 17, 2018 in England ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Day 3. Started the day with a nice breakky. Today is Monday so we left at 9:30 to avoid London's rush hour. We caught the bus to Picadilly Circus, our first stop. Somehow I have to agree that travelling by bus is much better as we got to see the city, this especially true in London's double deckers. Ok now at Picadilly, not that many people around but nice to walk along, it is some sort of mini Times Square in NYC.

From here another quick bus trip to Green Park and then to Buckingham palace, just on time for the change of guards. Although from the distance as the place was really crowded.

We didn't get into the palace (we are not into royalty stuff) and the walk along the "Mall" to Trafalgar Square where we had lunch. We spent part of the afternoon here and then went back to the hotel for a quick

In the evening we took a bus tour to see the city at night. Quite entertaining but the jet lag was still playing with our heads...Read more
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- Sep 18, 2018, 11:06pm
- 🌬 18 °C
- Altitude: 104 m
- England Durrington Larkhill Stonehenge 51.17889, -1.8262151°10’44” N 1°49’34” W
Day 4
A step into the past..Stonehenge & Bath
September 18, 2018 in England ⋅ 🌬 18 °C
Day 4: a long one... we skipped breakfast at the hotel and went instead to Paddington Station, the reason we were picked up 7:30 am for a trip to Stonehenge and Bath.

After a 2 and a half trip our first stop was Stonehenge, not ao sure how long I 've been waiting to be here but this place was definitely in my to bucket list. The site is quite organised and the government has done a good job to preserve it.

After Stonehenge we heade for Bath, here we visited the old Roman baths and had a walk around town.Read more
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- Sep 19, 2018, 3:00pm
- ⛅ 24 °C
- Altitude: 33 m
- France Île-de-France Paris Paris 10 Ancien - Quartier Invalides Champ de Mars 48.85333, 2.3016748°51’12” N 2°18’6” E
Day 5
Rendez vous with the Eiffel Tower
September 19, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
We left London behind and travelled to Paris via Eurostar, I always wanted to use this train ever since it was built....

In London we grabbed a taxi to St Pancras station and after a short wait we were moving along the rails towards France. The trip was nice and comfy and voilà 2 and a half hours later we arrived at Gare du Nord, time to undust my French.

The taxi ride to the hotel was full of WoW at every corner, this is such a beutiful city...

A quick checking and a bit of French taking to the girl at the hotel reception and then some lunch at a Bistro next door...

Straight after lunch the vedette of this trip "La tour Eiffel" , such an amazing moment in our lives..

Later in the evening we had dinner at a Parisian Bistro and then went to check the Eiffel tower out, so beutiful at nightRead more
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- Sep 20, 2018
- ⛅ 20 °C
- Altitude: 76 m
- France Île-de-France Paris Paris 01 Ancien - Quartier Champs-Élysées Arc de Triomphe 48.8738, 2.2950348°52’26” N 2°17’42” E
Day 6
Iconic Paris
September 20, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Today we visited some of the, arguably, most iconic places on earth.

The day started with a nice breakfast at our hotel and then after buying the t++ tickets, off we went to the Louvre Museum, just the outside this time, we will visit the Mona Lisa tomorrow afternoon when the museum is opening till late and is less crowded.

Anyway, some good shots of the pyramid and then we left for "Le Grand Arche de la défense" a modern architecture building with some reminiscence to the arc de triomphe. We explore the nearby shopping centre, had lunch, mingled with locals and then left for the Arche de triomphe...

Lots of tourists awaited us, but that didn't stop us from having some good photos. We also had a stroll along Champs Elysées to do a bit of window shopping

We caught the 30 bus and arrived to our last destination for the day, the "place de Trocadero" which offers some magnificent views of thw Eiffel tower.

We were really tired at the end of the day and with some rain predicted we may just take it easy tomorrow..Read more
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- Sep 21, 2018
- 🌬 16 °C
- Altitude: 47 m
- France Île-de-France Paris Invalides 48.85428, 2.3074248°51’15” N 2°18’27” E
Day 7
At the louvre
September 21, 2018 in France ⋅ 🌬 16 °C
We started today with rain in the morning so we just decided to stay at the hotel in the morning. In the afternoon we had lunch in a little bistro off the tourists path where I have a chance to practice my French...

Later in the afternoon we visited the louvre, taking advantage of the friday extended hours. Still there were lots of people at the Mona Lisa...anyway just walking around and checking all these art masterpieces ws good, the further away from the Mona Lisa we were the less crowds we had.

To finish the visit we took some good photos with the pyramid at nightRead more
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- Sep 22, 2018, 6:26pm
- ☁️ 16 °C
- Altitude: 54 m
- France Île-de-France Paris Paris 09 Ancien - Quartier Cité Notre Dame de Paris 48.85298, 2.349948°51’11” N 2°20’60” E
Day 8
Notre dame
September 22, 2018 in France ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Late start this morning, we woke up at 11:00 am...

We caught bus 82 that took us to "Luxembourg gardens" a beutiful place to relax and just sightseee people.. we stayed here for an hour and then went to the "Pantheon"

A train ride later and we arrived to Notre Dame cathedral, just on time for the rain to start.. we had to buy some umbrellas.. we bought some paints, grabbed some good photos from the "pont de l'archevêche" and headed to "pont neuf" for our river cruise.

Luckily the rain stopped so we moved to the upper deck for good views of Paris. The boat went up to the Eiffel tower and back, along the river there was a noisy "techno parade"

The ride back to the hotel was on a really jumpack full train..Read more
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- Sep 23, 2018
- 🌧 21 °C
- Altitude: 139 m
- France Île-de-France Paris Paris 18 Buttes-Montmartre Sacré-Cœur Basilica 48.88671, 2.343148°53’12” N 2°20’35” E
Day 9
Sacre coeur & Montmartre
September 23, 2018 in France ⋅ 🌧 21 °C
There was some stormy weather forecasted for this afternoon. In the morning we visited Sacre-coeur and Montmartre district. We used the funicular om the way up but decided to walk down the streets as it was nice and pleasent to do so. The are is beautiful with some caffes a bit touristy.

The views of Paris are good however the Eiffel tower is not clearly visible, only downsideRead more
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- Sep 24, 2018, 5:06pm
- ☀️ 13 °C
- Altitude: 6 m
- Netherlands North Holland Gemeente Amsterdam De Wallen Amsterdam Centraal Railway Station 52.37965, 4.8968352°22’47” N 4°53’49” E
Day 10
Arriving in the Venice of the North
September 24, 2018 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C
Got up early this morning to catch a sunrise with the Eiffel tower. We booked a taxi to pick us up at 9:30 but it didn't show up until 9:50 with our train leaving at 10:25 and morning traffic we were already in trouble.

When we arrive at Gare du Nord the train was almost full so we didn't find anywhere to place our baggage, they eventually left us keep them at the door, which meant I had to get up at each stop just to check the bags were ok.

Despite this inconvenience the 3 hr + ride from Paris to Amsterdam was really smooth and went really quick. The WiFi at the train was great

The hotel I have booked was the Ibis, next to central station. I am still not impressed with the service, first they have us a key for a room that didn't existed, then the room we were assigned was not clean and had to chase reception up to get someone up to clean the room.

Anyway on the good side, this is a beautiful city and is funny to see how they sell cannabis everywhere although a bit of a tourist trap I think.

Tomorrow we got to the Anne Frank house in the morning and then explore the city..Read more
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