All good things must come to and end... apparently

So, after an insane two weeks, which has felt like two months in some ways (a good thing of course), we're now about to head home. All our bags are packed, we're ready to go (kinda), and it's almost time to go hunt down a Parisian cab and head to CDG. Spending two weeks in two of the world's biggest museums has been nothing short of brilliant, but alas we must depart this fantasyland and commence the long journey home.

We're still behind on a few blog posts from Paris, which we'll hopefully squeeze in along the way - but now, onwards to a taxi!

Pareeee (Paris)

Paris

Remember how we told you that we spent 10 hours walking around Versailles, day 1 Paris? Well, we were pretty tired after that night and ended up sleeping in the following day till midday. After getting up rather slowly and eating crepes prepared by our host (MMMMM) we followed another stereotype and went to the boulangerie (bakery) for baguettes, quiches and pastries.

After coming back home, eating said baguettes and lounging around some more, we decided to venture out.

Out we went, armed with a guide, lots of cameras and some questionable energy. We walked a trail that normally takes 40 minutes at a slow pace however, on account of the cameras we took almost 3 hours.

We saw (in no particular order)

• The Eiffel Tower
• The Champ de Mars
• The Paris military school
• Invalides (where Bonny Napoleon is buried)
• Musee d’Orsay (Newer art)
• The Louvre (really old art and the Mona Lisa)
• An obelisk “gifted” to Napoleon during his invasion of Egypt
• The Arc de Triumph
• The Grand Palais
• Pont Neuf
• Some other bridge whose name escapes me
• Hotel d’ville ( Paris town hall)
• Notre Dame

I can’t describe each of these in detail because it would take too long but all of these are within a 5km radius. Does that give you an idea of just how beautiful Paris is? They are also ornate, carved from stone (generally speaking, thought the Eiffel tower is a notable exception), and generally pretty spectacular to look at.

After this surprisingly relaxing walk we headed into the Latin quarter of Paris. Not called Latin because of its population but because it was once the home of all the Paris universities where Latin was studied.

The Latin Quarter is a vibrant tourist mecca. It is filled with dozens of restaurants that all serve fabulous 3 course set menus and cuisine from traditional French to Moroccan to Greek and even Italian.

For about 15 Euro you can eat in style.

Here’s what I had

• Onion Soup
• Roast Pork with a Bernaise sauce
• Crème Brulee

Nuwan had

• Mussels in white wine sauce
• Beef Bourgonion
• Crème Brulee

For the 30 bucks, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Sometimes, the journey can be as important as the destination

This has been a holiday of trains – trams in Hong Kong and Paris (both the normal and mountain-climbing types), a metro system in every city, overground trains in London and Hong Kong, and finally the Eurostar to whisk us through the Chunnel. We’ve also now added what I think is the jewel in the crown for this trip – the fabled TGV.

Most of you know that I’m a bit of a geek. What you may not know is that I had a small train set when I was younger (much younger, primary school), and it was a fully functioning model of a TGV. In real life, the Train à Grande Vitesse is one of the pride and joys of the French transport system – it’s a train that has hit a top speed of over 570km/h during testing, and can average close to 300km/h over a journey. Make no mistake, this is one seriously quick mode of transport; think Sydney-Melbourne in three hours. By train. In business-class comfort. Riding on the TGV was once upon a time a childhood dream, which was slowly buried under the weight of reality, and the small fact that France was on the other side of the planet...

Once we got to Paris, we made a decision to go to Reims for the day, and explore the Champagne region (I’ll make Chath blog about that later). After having battled the bookings website and various printers to get tickets, we finally turned up at the station, to be greeted by a sleek, aerodynamic engine, attached to 14 carriages to transport its passengers and cargo to Luxembourg via Reims. On we got, kicking people out of our seats (for some reason they thought they could freeload on our tickets, grrr...) then settled in for the ride. Reims is only 127km away, which in TGV terms would take us under 40 minutes. Suddenly, my boyhood dreams were reawakened, as I realised – I was finally going on a TGV!

The trip started off pretty inauspiciously – we rolled out of the station exactly as promised, then stopped, 100m from the station, Cityrail-style. There was an incomprehensible French announcement, then we started rolling again. Gradually the train built up speed, and after a while we were cracking along at a decent pace across the French countryside. Admittedly we were going quickly, but compared to the Eurostar it didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. It was starting to look like my TGV dream would remain unfulfilled.

And then.

And then the engines started to whine just a little bit louder. And then the countryside started to become indistinguishable. And then the TGV girded its loins, bellowed almighty and catapulted its carriages into hyperspace (and yes I’m exaggerating just a little bit here). But it was seriously, insanely fast – this was much quicker than the Eurostar, and the sense of tearing through the countryside at an obscene rate was palpable. And you couldn’t rip the smile off my face for the world, as one of my childhood dreams came true.

Once we’d finished at Reims (itself a lovely town), we were waiting for the return train to take us back to Paris. While waiting at the station, a few other TGVs tore through without stopping – one of them flew through at what must have been top speed; it sounded like the end of the world. And once again, you couldn’t have wiped the smile off my face for the world.

Goes to show – sometimes, the journey is as important as the destination.

Versailles by day and night

Once upon a time there lived a king called Louis XIV who became king when he was four. Louis hated two things; the system of feudalism that was prevalent throughout France whereby dukes rules their “duke-doms” and pledged some loyalty to the king, and he hated Paris.

On account of this Louis centralized government in a small country town called Versailles and turned what was a country chateau into a palace. Thus, this village 20km out of France became the French seat of parliament and also the home of Louis.

Some interesting facts about Versailles:

• The hall of mirrors within Versailles is where the peace treaty that ended WWII was signed
• It is decorated with gold gilding, plush velvet and miles and miles of marble
• It’s opulent
• It’s over the top
• It’s no wonder the French people revolted
• The gardens are for walking in and viewing they are strictly not for sitting in, even when there is grass!

We took a walking tour around the castle armed with audio guides. They are like phones that you plug in the location and it gives you a little snippet about where you are.

Did you know that Louis XVI had eight daughters all situated in rooms adjacent to one another. Louis would often wander down in the morning with his coffee to see his eldest daughter who would then notify his younger daughters in turn. Sometimes the youngest only got to say a brief hello before papa went off to go hunting.

He also kept track of his daughters by giving them names based on their attributes:

e.g. Daughter 1 – I dub thee bosom

Daughter 2 – I dub thee thighs etc

After a brief tour of the truly amazing garden we split for a meal. We headed to Maccas first to satisfy Matt’s craving for French fries (when in France right…). At Maccas here (Pabs take note) there are little ATM-like machines where you can order and pay, then you line up at the counter to pick up your meal. Tres awesome, especially as you can do the whole transaction in your language of choice.

We then headed to a typical French restaurant for dinner. We shared some snails over an aperitif and ate a selection of traditionally French things like duck (confit du canard) and scallops with a provencale sauce.

At 9pm we headed back to the gardens where they had undergone a bit of a transformation. All the fountains had a unique light display. There were colourful fountains, fountains that had what looked like the Death Mark hanging over them and even fountains with dry ice to give it that hazy effect.

There were also people who had dressed up for the occasion in period costumes. There were rumours of a ball afterwards but no-one could ever get a straight answer from them.

We walked around for another couple of hours taking in the sights, eating delicious sorbet and finally catching some fireworks at 11:05.

Exhausted and thoroughly awed by Versailles we headed back to Chez Rudd for a well earned sleep in!

Cambridge

So we’re massively behind in our blogging, so our apologies for that. We’ve been so busy trying to cram stuff into what little time we have, that there’s barely enough time to stop and think sometimes! Our aim is to have caught up before we get back home, so there’s some serious blogging to be done...

Our last full day in England saw us catch early train out to Cambridge, to visit the university, and in particular poke around the town where I was born. Cambridge greeted us in typical England fashion – cold, gloomy, and a persistent drizzle that is the signature of English weather. Nonetheless, we powered on from the station, and were soon greeted by an awesome sight – the Kings College, Cambridge University. The college is inspiring on so many levels – its age, architectural grandeur, its sheer size. Words of mine shall never do it justice, so hopefully some of my pictures will! At the back of Kings College was, funnily enough, The Backs, which is a vast expanse of green bordering the river running through the colleges. As odd as it sounds, it was open day at the University, which meant that all of the colleges were actually closed to the general public – so unfortunately we could only admire from afar, without being able to delve further into the colleges themselves.

After taking numerous photographs of people punting along the river (inclement weather and all, some people are just hardier than us I think), we then began the mission of finding Churchill College. Churchill College is where dad undertook his PhD at the time I was born, and as such was my home for over two years. Some people never move far away from their towns of birth, or visit regularly as a matter of course, and those places end up being just another town or city in the world. Given that this was the first time I’d returned to England since leaving, 25 years ago, this was something a bit more meaningful, a bit more special.

But first – we had to find the college. Of course, the tourist map we had concentrated on the prime Cambridge University colleges (Kings, Trinity, Magadelene etc), but not the newer colleges like Churchill, we were off on quite a mission to find it, since no one seemed to really know where it was. We walked halfway around Cambridge, because that’s what the map told us to do, and arrived at Clare College, where the guard told us to walk all the way back to find it... by this time we had been trudging around in the rain for close to an hour, with no signs or indications of the existence of Churchill College. Disheartened, we started wandering back, and happened on, of all things, a hop-on hop-off bus tour map, which had the name of the street on which Churchill College was located! Refreshed by this discovery, we marched off in completely the wrong direction, before realising and turning around, this time in the right direction (it was still raining mind you). Finally, after what felt like close to two hours of walking around in the rain, we came across the promised land – Churchill College.

Now, on to the next challenge – finding our old flat, Flat 25. Thankfully, this wasn’t as bad a challenge as the first one, I simply asked the security office! They were incredibly understanding as to my mission, welcomed me back to the college, and directed me to Wolfson Flats. At this point, the sun had come out, so we headed off in the right direction... and there it was, finally – Flat 25, Wolfson Flats, Churchill College, Cambridge. The place I spent my first years, and the first time I’d ever been back since leaving for Brunei and Australia. It was strangely nostalgic (strange because I couldn’t remember anything from that period), but a nice feeling nonetheless. There was a stroller out the front of the flat, which seemed to indicate that someone was home, so we didn’t get too close, but we did take stalker photos of the front of the unit. Looks like someone is going to be starting life off there too... that’s a nice thought.

Anyways, the rest of the Cambridge is stunning – the old architecture is awe-inspiring (once you’ve navigated around all the loud, obnoxious tourists who take photos of absolutely everything... and no I’m not that bad!) and the university really inspires you to want to study there. Makes UNSW and USyd seem a little lame by comparison, but I guess they don’t have over 800 years of history to fall back on. There are cobblestone streets everywhere, and the main centre is blocked off from traffic between 10am and 4pm, creating a fantastic village atmosphere, even in the rain. And the food isn’t too bad either J

So all in all, a successful day – lots of Cambridge discovered, and the all important Wolfson Flats. Almost makes me want to go back to university...

Versailles by day and night

Once upon a time there lived a king called Louis XIV who became king when he was four. Louis hated two things; the system of feudalism that was prevalent throughout France whereby dukes rules their “duke-doms” and pledged some loyalty to the king, and he hated Paris.

On account of this Louis centralized government in a small country town called Versailles and turned what was a country chateau into a palace. Thus, this village 20km out of France became the French seat of parliament and also the home of Louis.

Some interesting facts about Versailles:

· The hall of mirrors within Versailles is where the peace treaty that ended WWII was signed

· It is decorated with gold gilding, plush velvet and miles and miles of marble

· It’s opulent

· It’s over the top

· It’s no wonder the French people revolted

· The gardens are for walking in and viewing they are strictly not for sitting in, even when there is grass!

We took a walking tour around the castle armed with audio guides. They are like phones that you plug in the location and it gives you a little snippet about where you are.

Did you know that Louis XVI had eight daughters all situated in rooms adjacent to one another. Louis would often wander down in the morning with his coffee to see his eldest daughter who would then notify his younger daughters in turn. Sometimes the youngest only got to say a brief hello before papa went off to go hunting.

He also kept track of his daughters by giving them names based on their attributes:

e.g. Daughter 1 – I dub thee bosom

Daughter 2 – I dub thee thighs etc

After a brief tour of the truly amazing garden we split for a meal. We headed to Maccas first to satisfy Matt’s craving for French fries (when in France right…). At Maccas here (Pabs take note) there are little ATM-like machines where you can order and pay, then you line up at the counter to pick up your meal. Tres awesome, especially as you can do the whole transaction in your language of choice.

We then headed to a typical French restaurant for dinner. We shared some snails over an aperitif and ate a selection of traditionally French things like duck (confit du canard) and scallops with a provencale sauce.

At 9pm we headed back to the gardens where they had undergone a bit of a transformation. All the fountains had a unique light display. There were colourful fountains, fountains that had what looked like the Death Mark hanging over them and even fountains with dry ice to give it that hazy effect.

There were also people who had dressed up for the occasion in period costumes. There were rumours of a ball afterwards but no-one could ever get a straight answer from them.

We walked around for another couple of hours taking in the sights, eating delicious sorbet and finally catching some fireworks at 11:05.

Exhausted and thoroughly awed by Versailles we headed back to Chez Rudd for a well earned sleep in!

fifteen

If you know me, then you know that Jamie Oliver is my food hero. I own everything he's ever written and I love cooking his food.

Going to his restaurant was just the icing on the cake.

We caught the train to Olde Street station and clomped down the cobblestone streets to his little place on the corner. It's a down a small street and quite unassuming.

You walk straight into the brasserie which is a more casual dining setting and head downstairs to the more formal sit-down restaurant.

I could see tourists everywhere and people who'd obviously come because fifteen was very much what Jamie was all about.

The food was very typically Jamie. Italian with a bit of English pub thrown in. He's always been particular about higher welfare and organic produce and this is reflected in the menu.

It's laid out in four sections

Antipasto

Pasta

Mains

Desserts

As soon as we ordered our drinks, mine a summer fruit punch (mocktail) and Mr Firhouse's a more alcoholic gooseberry cocktail the very attentive waiter bought out warm foccaccia and olive oil. It was made inhouse we were told and tasted lovely and herby.

We decided to share a main of crab bruschetta with chickpeas and chilli oil. It was divine and the crab was fresh and juicy with none of that overly fishy taste you get in poorly stored shell fish.

We opted to have a pasta and a main rather than one of each and Mr Firehouse went for the veal ragu with tagliatelle and me the duck. Sadly the duck was out of stock and I was given a chicken. Don't despair, everything served to us was a testament to the difference great cooking can make to simple food. The chicken was perfectly seasoned and caramelised (though the waiter was at pains to tell us it wasn't burned) and served with delicious roast veges. The tagliatelle was easily the best pasta I've had. Hot and perfectly al dente. None of the sliminess or over-softness of store-bought fresh pasta.

The food was generously portioned by not overwhelming which left plenty of room in our dessert pouch. Me, I went for the 15 chocolate tart with guava sorbet and passionfruit sauce. Nuwan went for a rasperry semifreddo with an almond tuille. Yummalicious! The pastry was short and thin (just the way I like it) and the chocolate rich and just a tiny bit bitter. The passionfruit and guava were a great way to balance out the richness of that deep chocolatiness.

Nuwan's semifreddo was also wonderful light and icy it went perfectly with the almond biscuit and we both enjoyed every drop.

I almost forgot that I ordered a lovely margarita with chilli. While the ladyboy cocktail at kuletos is still number one, this did do itself a great service by being beautifully citrusy with just a hint of chilli at the end. I was disappointed that my glass did not have the obligatory salt rim.

I left truly satisfied with a rolled up copy of the menu in my bag to prove it.