Paris, France: Déjà Vu

After nearly 7 months of travelling I was back where I started, Paris, the city of love (well for me it's the city of getting robbed). I checked into a hostel and was put in a 6 bed dorm with 3 Brazilian girls and 2 Mexican girls. The Brazilian girls couldn't really speak English and one of them snored really loud... Not quite a man's dream.

After a much needed sleep I went to the Louvre with my new Mexican friends, Fab & Stephanie, from Juárez, a border city with a reputation for being one of the most dangerous in the world... So I knew I was safe with these girls. They were very friendly and happy girls.

The Louvre is huge and you do need an entire day to see it all. The entrance is like boarding a flight with your bags going through an x-ray machine. Surprisingly the girls from Juárez made it through with no alarms going off. The Louvre is split in to many sections (paintings, sculptures, etc) with each section being split by country. The paintings are either religious or of boobies and in many cases both. The interior of the building is just as impressive as the art on display.

The Louvre

I'm sure you know what this is

One Room of the Louvre

Venus de Milo - Not quite the same as The Simpsons

Checking whether it is bath time

Wet T-Shirt Competition

After a long day at the Louvre we were off to check out the bridge with the padlocks and Moulin Rouge... Déjà vu.

Lock your love and throw the key in the river

Dos Mexicanas y un Australiano en Moulin Rouge

After a long day I was off to see my old friend, Lea, for drinks and snacks at her place. Freakishly it happened to be exactly 2 years from the day she hopped on a plane to Brisbane to commence her Australian trip.

I returned to the hostel at midnight, right as Fab turned 21 so I kicked off singing Happy Birthday, loud and bad.

The next day I said good bye to the Mexicans, left my luggage in the luggage room and went off to explore the city in Winter and take a few photos this time.

Arc de Triomphe

After a day of walking around I collected my stuff from the hostel and met my new Couchsurfing host, Stephanie, at a station in the suburbs. At the end of a fun and relaxed night at her place I discovered my tablet had been stolen from the hostel... Robbed twice in Paris!

The next day I visited my old hostel which was incredibly uninterested in my stolen tablet. I decided to use the day to take the photos I didn't take during my last visit. I also met up with Miren, my host from Rennes who I also met in San Sebastian,  for some drinks in the evening... Small world!

Notre Dame de Paris

A King ready for battle

The French Senate in Jardin de Luxembourg

 I got incredibly lost in the suburbs on my way back to Stephanie's place. My phone also happened to die after trying to confirm directions. After 2 hours of walking around lost late at night in the freezing cold Stephanie pulled up next to me in her car. I apologised and we had a very good laugh about it.

The next night I checked into a hostel close to a major train station with a line straight to the airport. I decided to have one drink in the hostel bar. This turned into being shouted all night by a group of Brazilian guys and the bar continually giving free shots. I woke up 2.5 hours before my flight was due to leave still drunk. I had a quick shower and took off to the train station across the road. After seeing a screen full of delayed messages next to the airport trains and getting someone to translate the announcements coming over the speakers I established the trains weren't running on the airport line due to a power outage. And there was no ETA. I shared a cab to the airport with  US guy I had just met. We arrived at the airport 55 mins before my flight was due to leave and the taxi didn't take credit cards. I ran to check in and told the US guy to meet me at the desk so we could go to an ATM so I could give him my half. After checking in only 50 mins before my flight back to Australia was due to depart the American met back up with me and told me not to worry about the money... I made it!

After 7 months of travelling in 5 countries, meeting many new and old friends, eating amazing food, trying many different beverages and sleeping on 68 different beds, couches, floors, tents, overnight buses and a footpath it was finally time to return home.

Lessons Learnt:
Watch your stuff in Paris.
Travelling is awesome.
Don't drink the night before a big flight.
Make sure you know you way home if staying in the suburbs.
I will probably need a chiropractor one day.

Lyon, France: Tour de Lyon

After stepping off my second overnight bus ride I was back in France. Having experienced 6 straight months of travelling you might assume I have acquired some basic organisation skills but you would probably be wrong. Upon arrival in Lyon I only knew the metro stop and the address of my host. Lucky for me the bus station is attached to a metro station and the first Frenchie I asked knew the location of my host's street. I soon met my host, Lisa, a French girl that had only just returned from 3 months of travelling the US. She gave me a very friendly welcome and breakfast.

Lyon is the 2nd most populous city in France by metropolitan area. It has two large rivers that meet in the centre of the city separating the old town, the island city centre and the suburbs. It is also the headquarters of Interpol with their office being the only one located in the city's biggest park. Lyon is also very famous for Festival of the Lights.

Lyon with the French Alps behind

Like many French cities Lyon has a city run hire bicycle system. I used these in both Paris and London. You pay a small fee for a card that is valid for a set number of days which allows you to retrieve a bicycle from one of the many stations around the city. Your first 30 mins is free so the idea is to return the bike to another station within the 30 mins then retrieve the same bike or another one. Lyon is a city built for bikes with all the main streets containing bike lanes... this was my mode of transport in Lyon.

I spent my days touring the city on bicycle, getting back into fitness, sleeping in the park, eating quiches, trying the very unique Lyonese food and hanging out with Lisa in the evening. We cooked, drunk wine, went on a tour, went running and shared many stories together. I also checked out La Basilica de Notre-Dame de Fourvière. The interior would have to be the most impressive I've seen in a church/cathedral but I haven't been in very many.

Riding the Red Lyon

A little island with deers and ostriches in the middle of the main park

The Main Square

A very interesting statue!

Amazing art on the side of the building. Each person is a famous person that has something to do with Lyon.

An old Roman theatre that has had many renovations

An Australian rollerblading shop!

Lyon was really cool and I racked up many hours of cycling during my stay. After 3 days it was time to say good bye to Lyon and Lisa.

Next stop Paris via Covoiturage with a German girl and a French girl that speaks no English.

Montels, France: The Real French Christmas

After saying good bye to my ride from Marseille I was met on the side of the highway by Lucille, a very happy girl and a friend of my very first Couchsurfer. She drove me to her parent's home where they were waiting with an amazing French Christmas Eve dinner. The French open their Christmas presents right on midnight, and they even had had a couple for me.

The next day Lucille drove me around to some cool places in the countryside and a château.

The Sun

After the morning tour of the countryside, Roman ruins and a château we were off to Lucille's parent's house for a massive Christmas feast with friends and family. The meal was one of the best I've had. There were 6 very different courses served formally with a break for talking and drinking nice champagne and wine between each course. The food was very unique to me and amazing... a successful French Christmas.

In the evening Lucille and I trekked to one of her best friend's places, Claire's place, for some drinks. Claire is a girl I have mixed history with, both good and bad, we were both each other's first couchsurfing experience way back in 2011 and she is the catalyst to why I have so many awesome French friends. She was back in France to spend Christmas with her family.

The next day involved another French lunch with Lucille's parents followed by dinner with Claire's family. My stomach was made to do some serious work but you can't say no to great food.

My last day with Lucille involved loading snowboards into her car and driving through snow covered roads to the Pyrenees. Her family lent me all the equpment and gear. It was time for my 2nd try at snowboarding. Ski tracks are coded with 4 colours; green, blue, red and black (easy to difficult). There were no black runs on these slopes but we rode every red track in the park... I was pretty impressed with myself.

After an awesome day of snowboarding I relocated to Claire's place. I hosted her in 2011 and 2012 so it was time for her to return the favour. Claire's family were very friendly and took good care of me.  Claire's mum's heritage is from a Galician town so we could make some conversation with my limited Spanish. I ate like a king at this place. During my stay I toured the little village of Montels, Canal du Midi and visited the stunningly beautiful medieval castle of Carcassonne... I even did some Cuban salsa.

Montels, a hunter with a shotgun

Carcassonne

Sisters

Old Friends

The Castle

After 3 nights at Claire's it was time to leave, but not before cooking pesto fettuccine for the 12th time on my trip.

Following lunch I was dropped off near Perpignan where I attempted to hitchhike to Barcelona for NYE. This was my first experience staying with a French family and my third good bye to Claire, although this time the circumstances were different making it much easier... Favour repaid!

Au Revoir

Hitchhiking didn't quite go to plan. I ended up walking 10km into the city of  Perpignan with 3 French hitchhikers. I managed to pick this up along the way.

The Pyrenees

Next stop Barcelona!

Lessons Learnt:
French families could actually kill you by stomach explosion.
Carcassonne is a must see in France.
Many friendships/relationships have an expiry date and it's not a bad thing.
Not speaking the language of the people can be difficult at times.
Hitchhiking isn't as easy as I believed... but I can still give you many tips.
Galician girls!