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Europe and a little Asia

September - December 2015
A 92-day adventure by Off Duty Pharmacist Read more
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  • Off Duty PharmacistEurope and a little Asia
    Day 1

    It's in the planning

    September 1, 2015 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    After discussing where we wanted to go on our trip, I narrowed down cities between the bigger cities to visit, namely Lyon and Genoa. These places will have 2 nights each and 3 nights will be spent in Paris, Nice, Florence and Rome. We will then fly to Bristol (1 night) then on to Canterbury (2 nights) and finish on the continent in London (3 nights). Asia sees us visit Singapore for a relaxing 4 nights before arriving home. It's my biggest trip, B's biggest trip and our biggest trip together. B's mum has decided to do Italy with us and we'll meet up with my cousin in Bristol. He'll visit some London sights with us too.
    Cost wise, we're trying to save where we can but want to enjoy ourselves too. We have budgeted $AUD150 per night for accommodation. I'll do a cost breakdown in the next post for those interested. All accommodation, trains and flights are booked. We are t minus 61 days today but still need to look at things we want to do in the cities we visit, it'll hopefully go quickly!    Read more

  • Off Duty PharmacistEurope and a little Asia
    Day 48

    Countdown underway

    October 18, 2015 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Well today marks two weeks until we set off on our adventure! We've been looking into things to do in each of the cities and have booked a few things so far like a walking food tour in Paris and a tour under St Peters basilica in Rome. We're staying in hotels in France and using AirBNB in Italy and in London. Our accommodation budget was Aud$150 per night and we came in under budget by about $100! It was challenging but definitely achievable. If you wanted to use hostels for a trip you could definitely do it cheaper staying in larger dorms.Read more

  • Off Duty PharmacistEurope and a little Asia
    Day 63

    The journey...

    November 2, 2015 in England ⋅ 🌫 11 °C

    We were both not really looking forward to the travel to get us to our destination. This involved a 3 hour drive to Brisbane, an 8 hour flight to Singapore, a 3 hour stopover then a 14 hour flight to London. It's inevitable but arduous. We drove to Brisbane on Saturday morning ahead of our late Sunday night flight. We decided to have dinner at the airport (subway.. not available in Stanthorpe) to kill time. I got selected to do an explosives tesyt (yay...nasty piece of work she was too). We were buggered waiting for our flight. Finally we get on the plane at 11:15pm and start drifting off....BAM lights back on it's time for "refreshments". I'm not sure why people need those at 12:30am so we passed. I opted for a tea because I was awake then. B managed to sleep quite a bit on this leg, I drifted restlessly. Being three rows behind the toilet didn't help as the light constantly woke me. Breakfast was about 2 hours before landing, scrambled eggs for B, chicken noodles for me. A word to the wise: choose the Asian dish on an Asian airline...Singapore airlines did not disappoint. Soon we were off the plane wandering about Singapore airport. We used these foot massages (everywhere for free)...oh wow. Feeling revitalized we went for a stroll for some coffee (Kopi c) and some kaya toast. We have missed you Singapore! We also got some money from the ATM to change into euros and pounds. We wandered some more then got on our second leg to London. Noodles for me again and poached eggs for B this time. Writing this we are 4 hours down, 10 to go. Time to choose another movie.Read more

  • Off Duty PharmacistEurope and a little Asia
    Day 64

    A quick British visit

    November 3, 2015 in France ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Yes, the remaining 10 hours of that flight did eventually pass. We arrived at London Heathrow 20 minutes early...which was then spent in line at immigration (1.5 hours...they do say the Brits like to queue!). The immigration officer was quite interested to know what B's baking specialities were and then we were off to the tube to buy an Oyster card each and load them with credit to use when we come back at the end of November. We were soon at our one night stay in London before taking the Eurostar the next morning. Both exhausted we went to Pizza Express for dinner - the calzone for B and chicken salad for me. It came to £31 including a drink each. Pricey but we were happy. We were tucked in bed by 8pm and woke to no jetlag and an exciting day traveling to Paris.Read more

  • Off Duty PharmacistEurope and a little Asia
    Day 64

    Bonjour Paris

    November 3, 2015 in France ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    The Eurostar was quite simple to use with immigration and security and it ran with military presision. After sitting in carriage three for 3 minutes we realised we needed carriage 2 and swiftly changed. The journey to Paris was quick - 2 hours 20 minutes but the channel tunnel was almost a non event (sorry James). We arrived in Paris and after a quick ticket debacle (machine only taking card but not ours...we found a cash accepting machine) we were on the metro to Odeon near our hotel. We found the hotel and yes our room was ready! It's quaint and has everything we need plus a cute balcony to top it off. We wandered for a bit and had lunch - 3 course set menu for €15 plus some rose wine of course. It was really quite good and a great start to French food. The French seem pretty friendly and like our limited french. Off to see B's relative quasimodo next. The line was long so we just admired it for today. Now off to the Eiffel tower and another long line. It took us an hour to reach the top, not too bad really. We just went to the second floor as B was more than happy at that level (well not happy but could tolerate it). We had some hot chocolates while up there (€7 for two with cream....only it wasn't real cream it was delicious). Starting to become weary we headed for the hotel. We had planned to go out this evening but we are buggered. Paris will be waiting tomorrowRead more

  • Off Duty PharmacistEurope and a little Asia
    Day 65

    It's up and up in Paris

    November 4, 2015 in France ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    After an early night we made up for lost sleep and woke around 6:30am. After our lunch yesterday we didn't have dinner so needed some breakfast. We found a place that had 2 coffees, 2 orange juice, 2 crossaints and 2 half baguettes with jam for €15. Having filled a hole we set off for Notre Dame. Being around 8:30 there was no line in sight so we walked through then waited a bit for the towers to open and met some fellow brisbanites inline. €8.50 to climb and there was no lift like the Eiffel tower. Feeling the burn we enjoyed the view from the top before making our way down and off to the Arc De Triomphe. So firstly, I broke our Euro Trip 2010 golden rule: don't climb anything and secondly we decided to then climb the Arc? Well aren't we smart cookies. If you do decide to climb something in Paris the Arc is great. It's interesting to watch the traffic but it also gives great views over Paris. Lunch was a chicken and salad baguette for me and roll for B. Plus a chocolate éclair to share. Back to the hotel to relax before our Saint Germain food tour. Three hours well spent getting bread, meats, cheeses, salami, chocolate and learning about these things in French culture. We then enjoyed them all with wine at a small wine shop.Read more

  • Off Duty PharmacistEurope and a little Asia
    Day 66

    Paris strolling

    November 5, 2015 in France ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Today we had crossaints and coffees at Eric Kayser (quite a popular boulangerie) followed by a stroll to the Louvre and through the Jardin De Tuileries. We strolled back to the hotel to get ready for lunch. After a 15 minute walk we got to Les Bouquinistes restaurant. This was our "splurge" meal in Paris. The restaurant is owned by Guy Savoy who is very big in the restaurant industry in Paris. It must be famous people eating day! We chose this restaurant based on location and price (at the lower end of fancy.... Some three course lunches in Paris go for €500 a head. Let's just say this was not in that league...A measly € 45 each) We both had pumpkin soup and slow cooked beef. Fig dessert for me, rice pudding for B. The meals were really well done. Not the best meal I've ever had but you couldn't fault it. The champagne and wine also went down well. Another stroll lead us to a river cruise and after that Sainte Chapelle awed us for a while. As the day was getting on we opted for banana and Nutella crepes on our stroll back to the hotel. A nap for me and some reading for B followed by dinner at a French burger place €30 two burgers, two softdrinks and some hand cut chips. B thinks it's the best burger he's ever had. French meat is very high quality! Tomorrow sees us in a new town. Bonne Soirée (good evening)Read more

  • Off Duty PharmacistEurope and a little Asia
    Day 67

    Bonjour Lyon

    November 6, 2015 in France ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    We woke up to an almost sunny sky this morning. We have been lucky with weather, it's been very cloudy but it's only sprinkled twice. After breakfast at a cafe we went back to the hotel to pack. With some time to spare we grabbed our books and headed to the Luxembourg garden right near our hotel. In the sun we relaxed for a while. We checked out and made our way to the metro. After a dramatic journey (train lost power causing a very sharp stop.... we're lucky we didn't end up on the floor... The delay was only about 2 minutes) we arrived at the station. We bought some lunch for the train and waited for our platform announcement. Second floor is a bit novel for Australians and allowed us views over the French country side for the two hour journey. The sun welcomed us to Lyon. It's actually quite warm (20 degrees Celsius). We checked into Hotel Elysee which is in the high end shopping district of Lyon. Oh dear. We freshened up and set off to Les Halles Paul Bocuse which is a covered market of fine food and the workplace of a girl I went to school with, Adrienne. Adrienne talked to us about cheese and we just generally chatted as well. It was a bit surreal, as it's been seven years since we graduated school. Adrienne asked how we managed with our limited French...we stumble. But we give it a try and have never really had a problem so far. B managed to order us 100g of Rosette De Lyon (like salami but amazing) in French, we got a brioche De praline and some wine as recommended by Adrienne. Some sweets from the patisserie evened out a fabulous meal which we enjoyed picnic style in our room. Hello Lyon food capital of the world! Special thanks to Adrienne for helping us out and having a chat!Read more

  • Off Duty PharmacistEurope and a little Asia
    Day 69

    Walking Lyon

    November 8, 2015 in France ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C

    Today we woke early to get some washing done. After a 15 minute stroll in dark Lyon (the sun has been rising about 7:30am and setting at 5:30am) we reached the laundromat. Of course, it was all in French but not that hard to use. B's favorite sweater came out like a doll's! Haha. I'll try to fix it when we get to Nice. Then we grabbed some breakfast of cappuccinos and crossaints. Next up we walled to the old town to get the funicular to the top of the hill to see the Notre Dame basilica. Making our way down the hill we walked to find a cafe for lunch. €50 for a three course lunch and 500ml of pretty good wine! We could get used to eating at lunch and having small dinners! I had booked a Lyon City Greeter walk online before we came so we met with Karim who showed us lots of traboules (passageways through buildings that Lyon is famous for) and a few structures and monuments. We also saw this wall that has all the famous people born in Lyon painted on it. We finished the walk having a drink in a square. What a great atmosphere - people are really enjoying this warm weather. Karim left us but B and I stayed to try a "Monaco" - beer, lemonade and grenadine syrup. Yum! A bit too sweet for B but very drinkable.Read more

  • Off Duty PharmacistEurope and a little Asia
    Day 69

    Bonjour Nice

    November 8, 2015 in France ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

    After a much needed sleep in we had breakfast and packed our bags. We set off for the train station for our next city, Nice. After a short delay we were on the train. We were luckily on the right carriage as in Marseilles we said Au revoir to half of our train. The journey from here to nice was very picturesque along the coast. We checked in to our aparthotel which has an interesting set up - living room and bathroom downstairs and bed in the loft above, up a winding stair case. Oh fun! Had Italian for dinner as it's very popular here - two pizzas and 25ml of wine for €30. Pizzas were huge! Off to explore the coast tomorrow...travel days are tiring.Read more

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