Part 48 : Croatian Fish Banquet

The trip away to Paris was great as I got away from the drain and drag of the London work lifestyle. It was great and I was feeling a lot better since I got even though I spent most of the time working to pay for Croatia. This trip came up because greg was over for his better halfs' English sides of his pre-wedding commitments. I think Nell was off to Europe somewhere for a Bridesmaids get away so me and Greg went off to Croatia. 

I didn't really get involved in the whole planning of the trip and both me and greg do like to follow a chase the wind type of mentality when it comes to planning stuff like accommodation etc. So when we arrived in Zadar it was quite late around 10pm and we found ourselves in the old town trying to find any kind of hostel at all. After a pretty decent walk and finding a few places that were shut or full I managed to spot a light on and someone closing a door and I thought it was a hostel. We made out way over to the door and saw a hostel sign. We called the number and there were 2 beds free!!! yes. Lucky buggers as you'd say back home. That night we managed to find a local karaoke bar in croatian and tried the local beer. It was a quiet night in the end and we needed a bit of rest after travelling all day. 

The second night we checked out a few places and eventually ended up in a local night club bar which was quite small. The Dj was blasting his tunes and we were downing some Gin and Tonics with a surprising number of beautiful croatian girls kicking about. The language barrier was definitely not a bonus and much more a hinder. After a song or two a band made up of 1 accordion, a guitar and a singer came through, the DJ stopped and in the middle of the dance floor the kicked into traditional folk songs and the whole bar lit up and started singing. Great times. We made a few friends who were a group of locals who then took us to a nightclub / rave. This place was packed. I would estimate the place had about 1000 people dancing, but the most interesting thing about the club was the music. 

I could almost imagine the Red Lion DJ being up there and playing all the late 90's club tracks and pop music. From memory they played "Scooter", "Blue", "Barbie girl" and "Baby, One more time". 

We did go for a swim on the beach which was freezing and stopped by for a Fish banquet which you can see in the vid :D 

Song: Not original music of my creation.

"The Logic Song" by "Scooter"

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Part 47 : Tour Eiffel

Saturday was the big day. Being a tourist in Paris and checking out all the things that you would normally do to tick off the list of things to do and see in Paris. First we went to a local cafe and ordered a Croque-Monsieur which is a local French breakfast which is pretty much a ham and cheese toasty but with the cheese grated on top. It was actually really nice with a feminine variant called Croque-Madame which is pretty much the same but with a egg fried on top.

After breakfast we trekked it over to Notre Dame. There was a massive long line to get in to the Cathedral which snaked its way in a awkward fashion through the gardens but some how it made sense. We walked through and checked out the old gothic cathedral and same the mass in progress. The weird thing was hearing mass in French, but other then that it was a fine old building but was very touristy. Out the back however there are bridges crossing the river where there are locks that have been attached to the fencing of the bridge that lovers place on their to show their love. Its was quite nice seeing couples placing theirs on the bridge. I did wonder at the time though if the bridge got filled up whether the people that worked that area just cut the locks away to make space for new ones. 

From then on we trekked around the city for quite a while. We walked along the river, over to the Louvre and got photos at the pyramid, doing the jump and the touching the top kind of pictures that you see everyone do. It was nice. We didnt go inside because that would have been a day in its own right. Next we moved along to the Champs-Elysees shopping district and up to the Arc De Triomphe. The Arc I was keen on seeing but once I got to the top I was quite impressed about firstly the size of the arc, and secondly the view from the top. I usually try to go to a city and steer clear of the tourist trap locations but for some reason in Paris I decided to go full tourist. The view was amazing since its the centre point of all the boulevards throughout the city. The arc is actually quite high up and you get a great view of the tower from there. One of the amazing things I saw was a photo taken of the Arc at Napoleons coronation (or the arcs opening, not sure exactly) where there was a stone chariot on the top of the arc which was massive, almost as high as the inside archway. Its not there now of course and I cant seem to find any photos but it was impressive to see especially after being up on top and seeing how big it actually is. 

Next up was The eiffel tower which is by far the Icon of the city. The line to get up took forever, around 2 hours and by the time I went up it was right on sunset. I went up to the highest point of the tower and was amazed and the night view. The city looks soo small from up there and I felt a slight tinge of vertigo in the lift. Having seen the view I decided it was well worth the wait and the fee to get up there and wished at that point I had a better camera. The crowds on the way down from there were quite annoying and really the only bad part of the whole day. A few small groups were simply rude and seemed to not be able to follow common courtesy when it comes to massively popular tourist sites and the whole be patient and don't line cut. Yes we can see that you can do it but don't, your just being a dick.

By the time we were done with the tower it was getting late and it had been a long day. I managed to collect 3 of the coins for the 3 locations I went to, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and The Eiffel tower. There not a complete set but will be a great reminder of an awesome weekend away.

Song: Not original music of my creation.

"1941 Swing in Paris" by "Ray Ventura - Menilmontant"

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Part 46 : Midnight In Paris with Rain

To celebrate surviving London for 1 year, Iax invited me to go with him to Paris after a quiet drink out one rainy saturday night after I told him I hadn't left the island yet. Yeah I had travelled to Scotland and Wales but I hadn't left British culture, so he said why not go to Amsterdam. Amsterdam was a bit to far to go so we settled for Paris. 

We chose the road trip option and first drove from London to Dover, also a good chance for me to see the white cliffs while I'm here. The the ferry took us over the channel car and all, while we sat upstairs, had a beer and chilled out for an hour and a half. The ferry ride is quite good with eating facilities and a bar, even a small game zone with arcade games like time crisis 2 and 3. No Daytona though :(

Once on french soil in Calais we drove south battling the setting sun as we tried to get in to Paris as soon as we could. The problem was that 1, we didnt have GPS on our phone, and our maps we a little suggestive about small details in rural areas, not to mention the sign posts only really make sense if you know the region slightly. So we got lost and ended up in Paris about 10 hence the last drinks video. 

The one this I did think the whole time we were driving through northern france was that at some point 60+ years ago these farms were being over run by nazi soldiers and the open fields being massive battlefronts for tank skirmishes. I dreamed about a modern version of this and how different the battles would be If they were battling farm vs freeways. I figured it would be much the same, bloody. The other thing I felt was a familiarity of the entire region. Like I had been here before and considering my previous thought its probably because I had, or indeed my eyes had. The entire place was a map from Call of Duty or Medal of Honour. Like all the games I had played before was educating me on what northern france looked like. It was quite a nice nostalgia.

We made it to Paris and it was raining, quite funnily in a almost exact manner as when we came up with the whole idea one week before. As we had little time we were heading out regardless. We made our way to a bar close to the Egyptian monolith that Napoleon stole, located near the American embassy to a bar called Buddha Bar. The bar was pretty fancy and the people were very well dressed. The top section is a small strip around the edge of the building which is fairly crowded and looks down over people eating their meals. The place seemed very posh. not because it was amazingly nice, but because fancy posh people went there. There is a large buddha as the venues figure piece and frankly a bit insulting, but thats not my place to make a scene. 

Our first round was 3 shots of tequila since we figured we were on a bit of a catch up, and followed by 2 beers and a wine. The 6 drinks in total cost 75 Euro which was just astounding. The next round, 2 beers and a wine was 35 Euro and then 3 beers was 30 Euro. The Shots however were Patron and decent sized shot cups made from bamboo, but the beers were half-pints. So all in all a very expensive venue. They also had a DJ upstairs that ranged from french club to electro and dub-step. We enjoyed him but I don't see how it would be nice if you came for dinner. 

Once we were kicked out we met Ellia and his sister who were really nice and we did plan on partying with them at the next venue. In the end we took separate cabs, got lost, couldn't find the venue and we decided on heading home and sleeping as tomorrow was a big day full of lots of touristy things to see and do. 

Song: Not original music of my creation.

"Bistra Fada" From the motion picture Midnight In Paris

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cheers

Part 45 : 120 Boat Party

After a long time away from blogging travelling and partying, well thats not completely true but partying involving a camera, Iax pulls a gig down in Vauxhall to celebrate 4 x 30th birthdays all at once. The first thing I though was sweet! another Iax gig and a good chance to catch up with Darius who came down to visit. The second was that it was a boat party and that wed be cruising around the Thames and being generally cool while getting drunk and listening to some good tunes. Something similar to boat parties I've gone to in Sydney where you cruise around the harbour in the sun, but on a river in London and at night. 

In reality the boat was more like a shabby restaurant but it was docked on the side of the river. In a way a cooler kind of restaurant and night club, something a little different but the uneven floors made dancing quite hilarious which is always good. In the end Iax played a pumping set and I had a great time. My only problem was having to leave at 3am to get back home and be up for work at 9am. Work fyi was a long shift with a lot of problems, so a little bit of punishment for going out and partying all night.

Song: Not original music of my creation.

"Promises" By Nero (Remixed on MOS Annual 2012)

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cheers