Eurotrip 1 Day 16 . Nice

Today we went to the Matisse Gallery, which didn't allow photography, the monastary gardens and Marc Chagall's Gallery...which allowed photos...didn't know Chagall had such spiritual inclinations...and we did have the duck in the evening before we left for Paris on the overnight train...on which we got to know an interesting french guy who was from Paris and had gone to Nice for an interview...we will meet Meiyi's uncle at the train station later...

Eurotrip 1 Day 15 . Nice

Today we rushed like we never had to Lyon Part Dieu, the train station, 'cause we had miscalculated the time needed to get there, and plus the mistakes that go along when one gets tense, like getting off at the wrong stop or getting out at the wrong exit when every minute counted just made it worse...there I was running with two huge haversacks with a scaled down version tagging along behind(Meiyi)...it must surely have made for a pretty hilarious episode under normal circumstances...but then again no one in his right mind would run with 30kg of luggage under normal circumstances, would he?? Maybe not...anyway...we managed to catch the train as it was late...Thank God!...and we were off to Nice! Remember it is always a good idea to reserve seats, especially when the trip is long and it's to a touristic place like Nice...cos even with seats, it took us almost half an hour just getting there, whilst in the train, jostling through the crowded cabins...The view of the Loire Valley and other wine making regions along the way was qutie breath taking...plus there was this interesting and cute mother and son duo sitting just across from us...the son was always sneaking away to play at some corner and his mother would wake up from her nap to go get him back...
When we arrived at the Nice train station, after having taken in some pretty good views of the see and beach since we had passed by Cannes, we could immediately feel the difference as the weather was markedly better, having nice cool sea breeze and all...After checking with the helpful tourist information agent, we decided to get a room for 40 euro that didn't come with air-conditioning...but the weather was good so there wasn't a need...so after checking in, we went walking around, but found that most shops had closed by then...we also bought 2 days of daily tickets...dinner was round the corner and so we took up an offer to have sets for 9 euros each...not bad...but after that we found that the restaurant next door served duck!...we will go there tomorrow...



sleeping was not so good...the street below was used as some sort of waiting area for buses, so I was irritated to no end by the incessant roar of the blasted buses...which was augmented by the architecture of the street, what with its intimate scale, resulting in an echo effect along the street...

Eurotrip 1 Day 14 . Lyon

Today we went to visit Couvent La Tourette, but not before taking a train...and...another long walk up the hill...why are they always on hills??!! As usual...hot and tired by the time we got there...seemingly a prerequisite for any authentic pilgrimage eh?


and after the pilgrimage we had lunch at a local cafe where we ordered salad for me and pate for Meiyi, plus a cup of beer...not bad...and after that we headed back to Lyon, where we went to look at the Cathedral of St Jean and the Roman Theatre, but the theatre was closed due to a performance.
Before we knew it, it was dinner time already!...plus nafnaf was closed in preparation for the sale that starts tomorrow...so to dinner at Le Machonnarie(or so i think it is spelt)...as recommended by the nice Jap french cook we met at Ronchamp...I was initially impressed by the restaurant, but as most fancy french restaurants would have it, they wouldn't be complete without an obnoxious waitress or two...always thinking that they are the guardians of the french cuisine, and they were doing us a favour by allowing us to sample their 'rich' gastronomic culture...the waitress promptly plonked down a rather think menu of wines...i must say i had not seen such a wide variety...there were wines from almost every major wine making town in France! After careful consideration, Meiyi decided to have the duck while I was to have the pork set so we could share the side dishes...she recommended a corduron for the duck and a beaujoulais for the pork...fine, so far so good...then she returned with a plate of toast and something else that had meat bits in it...and introduced them one at a time in terms we could not catch...not wanting to seem ignorant, we nodded in agreement...haha...and so we happily started spreading cheese on the toast...the salad came...and this time it was accompanied with bread, not toast...having finished the toasts by now, we started to spread the bread with the cheese pretty generously...and before long the waitress came back and took the cheese away...while I was still spreading it on the bread!...I told her that I was still not done with it...guess what she said...she said she needed it!!!??? I was stunned...I had never encountered such rude behaviour!!! Goodness...what could she have needed the cheese for??? The nerve of some waitresses!!! and of all places a fancy restaurant at that!!! Guess she was insulted that we were eating the cheese spread wrongly...it was only supposed to be spread on the toast, not the bread??!! I must say my dinner was ruined from that point on...the cherry in cherry liquor for dessert, though good, couldn't alleviate the situation...let's not talk about the price...i had half a mind to ask her what she did with the cheese spread...but thought better...Lyon food is good indeed, but not the service...

Eurotrip 1 Day 13 . Lyon

Today we made our way to Lyon, hot and stuffy Lyon. I remember trudging in the baking heat with almost 30kg on my back(mine and meiyi's haversacks) and no breeze was in sight. I had to stop for a cold ice tea on the way to the hotel. The rest of my day was plagued with a heat induced headache. But it was fine...

We rested in the hotel for a little before heading out to explore the shopping and book tickets for the trip to La Tourette tomorrow. Some of the tourist information agents were not very helpful...when we asked how to get there, they could only offer a brief answer...thank goodness there are nice ones too... We were contemplating between a cheaper room that didn't have aircon but had a kitchen and one with didnt have amenities but had air con...the heat shifted our favour to the latter...interesting mural of workers taking down a window...a walk in the city...

Because of the heat, we decided to return to the hotel earlier, and had Mac's for dinner...after that we watched an interesting french/italian movie that spans 3 generations including the war phase and the german resistance.

Eurotrip 1 Day 12 . Belfort(Ronchamp)

Yes this was the route we took to go to the Chapel at Ronchamp...we wanted to take the short cut...yes and and hour and many shrub scratches after, we managed to emerge from the 'forest' only to find that the official way up was much easier to walk even though it looked much further than the one we took. Im thankful Meiyi found it interesting.

After taking loads of pictures and doing a sketch, we descended the hill with a couple of koreans and a jap lady. It's worth noting that one of the koreans had medium height heels..!!!And she descended much faster than the girls who had normal walking shoes!

That nice Jap lady was touring France to get a taste of authentic French cuisine before going back to Japan where a job as a French Cuisine chef was awaiting her. Talk about taking her job seriously...she spent a month tasting food all over France and came to the conclusion that the food at Lyon was the best, and recommended us to go to Le Machonnerie, near the St Jean Cathedral. Our dinner this night was a huge ham, olive and artichoke pizza, shared with a couple of flies, while Meiyi had a huge salmon tagliatelle which she couldn't finish. The folks at the little restaurant were friendly and quite cheeky sometimes, joking at times at our expense...

Eurotrip 1 Day 11 . Basel

Today we went to Vitra. We took number 2 to the German side and took 55 from the German train station. I had taken for granted that the bus would stop at the Vitra Museum, and realized otherwise too late, so we had to walk back a bus stop. Gehry's Museum, Meiyi sitting on steps in the museum, a model from the on-going art exhibition, Ando's piece(atrium space), and a room, followed by Hadid's Fire Station with various perspectives.

Following the Vitra Museum visit, we returned to Basel, had a spaghetti dinner out of a plastic container in the hostel, then went to watch the volleyball match in the city centre and eat bratworsts, which were really expensive...imagine 6euro for a hotdog...

Eurotrip 1 Day 10 . Basel

Today we travelled to Basel, long trip through the un-scenic parts of Switzerland...and ended up at the Basel train station really hot...boy I had to get me some berms...

After check-in at the really expensive youth hostel which then only had a double room for around 60 euro( ya but at a youth hostel?!), we went a look-see look-see... and I did get me a pair of berms for 30euros...the cheapest I could find, believe me...they sell a small plastic cup of salad at a Marche like eatery for 4euros...living here cant be cheap...but i must say I had never seen such a high concentration of expensive mountain bikes anywhere else...they just leave them lying around...locked no less but still...they didnt look terribly tough...

We wanted to settle our dinner by getting some stuff from the supermarket, but lo and behold, they were closing by the time we reached there...and as expected, they weren't especially helpful when I didn't seem to know how to operate the weighing machine...they attribute their nonchalance to ignorance of the English language...ya...had it not been for Meiyi, I would have given them some English lessons alright...and so we decided to settle for an Italian restaurant near our hostel...I had risotto while Meiyi had some spaghetti pesto I think... the most expensive risotto I ever had...22euros...o well that's Switzerland for you...we had actually looked at the wrong price column...starters ...bah...

Eurotrip 1 Day 9 . Munich / Fussen

Today was the day we did a day trip to Fussen, the site of the famed inspiration for Walt Disney's castle.


Remember, don't stay there, take a day trip from Munich instead...much cheaper and not so boring as well..

After the Fussen trip, we returned to Munich and I went to H&deM's famous alley renovation project while Meiyi went back to freshen up before dinner at the grilled meat place...er...forgot the name...she ate veal with balls of glutinous stuff while I had grilled pork knuckles...crispy fat...saurkraut and mashed potatoes...couldnt have made it without the beer...should've ordered only 1 portion...and lastly, our amiable waiter...funny guy...took a knife when some customers started getting rowdy...in jest of course...
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