Well, the journey is almost over as I am back in London after the European road trip. And yes, the most striking thing is that everybody here speaks English (albeit with a stupid accent). No one believed it could be done, but the van made it all the way round Europe, doing close to 14,000 kilometres in total (when you count Scotland). All that is left (‘all’ he says!) is Egypt, Syria and Jordan. The plane tickets for the tour arrived in the mail today so I am extra excited. If you’re really envious and have a lazy 4 or 5 grand lying around… there are still spaces on the tour.
I’m sitting comfortably at my aunty’s house and for the first time in a month or so have the luxury of sitting around in shorts and a t-shirt despite it being about 7 degrees outside. Even though we stayed in hostels for about half of the past three weeks and they were nice and warm etc… there’s nothing quite like lounging around in a familiar environment, sitting on the couch with a hot drink and watching a Judge Judy triple bill. Know what I mean? Course you do. However, this comfort (including internet access) means that I can no longer deprive you all of my zany stories with lame excuses like ‘internet is too expensive’… which is not to say that it wasn’t expensive. Some places were up to €8 an hour which is something like $15!
So, the last thing I mentioned was the nice French mechanic that helped us out near Paris. I had a photo taken with him at the end of it but I thought that I’d lost it when I lost my camera. As it turns out, I had used a different memory card (which I still have) for the time I was in Paris, so here’s the photo. I may look quite happy (and I like a complete goon) but the photo doesn't quite convey the amount of dirt and diesel on my shirt and in my hair. It took about 4 or 5 washes before the shirt stopped smelling like diesel.
Due to the minor setback we didn't get to Paris that night and instead we just parked by some little lake near a caravan park and went to bed. We hit Paris the next day without much of a clue as to where to leave the van. We ended up finding a good spot right near a Metro station. The day was spent ambling around Paris and just trying to take it all in. I still couldn’t get over the fact that I was actually in Paris. We started off at Notre Dame, which was pretty amazing. I especially liked the front, which is adorned with hundreds of sculptures and carvings. We were in two minds as to whether to go to the Louvre or not. I know it sounds crazy to be in two minds about going to the Louvre but you have to realise that I knew that I would be back in Paris within a couple of months and would have more time to see the Louvre then. As it turned out we were there on a Tuesday, the only day which the Louvre closes, so that decision was made for us. But fear not, I have since been to the Louvre and yeah, it was pretty insane.
With the Louvre closed, we took a walk down the Champs Elysees and through the Jardin des Tuileries. It is quite a long walk but very beautiful and interesting. We walked to the Arc de Triomph at the end of the Champs Elysees then caught the Metro the Eiffel Tower. We climbed the tower as far as we were allowed which was about halfway to the top. To get right to the top you had to get a lift and pay something like €10. I considered it but the lines were just way too long. After that we probably did something which I can't remember then headed back to the van and out towards the airport. The plan was to park somewhere near the airport for the night so that I could drop Rachel and David off in the morning without too much hassle. As it turned out, finding somewhere to park was hassle enough. After about an hour driving along long roads with virtually no shoulder and through numerous industrial estates we found a little dirt road and a nice spot in a deserted field. We awoke the next morning to find people tending the field nearby. It was not as deserted as we thought. A couple of times a car would drive past and park nearby, with the driver giving us a puzzled look.
The fun really began when I dropped Rachel and David off at the airport. I had to drive from Charles de Gaulle airport to a little town north of Bordeaux called Aulnay de Santogne where I was to meet my English friend Matt. The drive was god knows how long but I figured it would take me about seven hours. It ended up being about eleven hours in the end. First of all I somehow missed the Paris ring road and ended up right in the middle of the city. I drove across the Champs Elysees and only missed the Arc de Triomph with its twelve (count ‘em) intersection, six-lane roundabout. I more or less drove past the Eiffel Tower and along the Seine. I’m pretty good at reading a map (and have since gotten even better) but it was pretty hard to navigate alone in a foreign country. But folks, the fun didn't stop there. I proceeded to get lost in Versailles, Tours, and Chartres. Every time it was because of construction works and the resultant forced detours. The trouble with French roads (apart from being crap unless you get on the exorbitant toll ways) is that there are too many roundabouts even on major inter-city roads which slow you down and can quite easily put you on the wrong road if your not paying attention. Also, there are often signs pointing to obscure little towns but not to bigger towns which are closer by. Anyhow, if I’m gonna bag French roads this much I could go on about Spanish and Italian roads for days… so I’ll stop… and go on about how great German roads are. Nah, maybe later.
So I get to Aulnay, a sleepy little town in a beautiful area filled with far reaching plains and fields of sunflowers. I had no idea where Matt’s place was so I just parked near a biggish church and told him to meet me there. A little while later he showed up on a beaten up little pushbike and I thought ‘ooh, how provincial.’ Matt and his family have owned their property in France for quite a few years and it is an ongoing project to bring it back to it’s former glory. Think of it as ‘The Block’ in the French countryside. It was really quite idyllic. I spent the next week lazing by the pool, eating sandwiches and doing some sightseeing. The bread in France was really good especially the most simple kind, often called a flute. We would just call it a baguette but there is a distinction as baguettes are smaller and crustier while flutes are bigger and quite soft to the touch. It was pretty hard to find sliced bread as we are used to but with the quality on offer I wasn’t complaining. Aulnay is pretty much in the cognac making region so we naturally went to the town of Cognac and visited the Hennessy distillery. I was expecting to see at least one American gansta rapper there visiting the home of the beverage which has inspired so many lame rap lines. Unfortunately that wasn’t to be but we did get a good tour of the place and a taste at the end. I have to say that cognac really isn't my bag but they also make another spirit which they call Hennessy Pure White. Get into that I say.
I can't remember much else of my time in Aulnay but I do remember that it was great… really relaxing, hospitable and fun. Matt and I did get around to a couple of the local discotheques and in actual fact the two big nights we had were two of the strangest nights of the whole trip for me. I don't know if I can be bothered going into details now and it’s a bit weird to type about some of this stuff but ask me about it sometime. The code words are Hypermarche and Le Miami.
So, I’m gonna skip ahead to the part where I left Aulnay. The plan was to pick Adam up from nearby Poitiers about a week after getting to Aulnay. That same day, Matt was due to fly back to London. As it turned out, Adam had to delay his flight by about three weeks so I was left with the prospect of driving to Valencia (Spain) by myself to meet up with Jeremy (who I’d met once previously). It wasn’t a particularly exciting proposition but I figured it could be done. Fortunately, a better solution was arranged as Matt decided to come to Spain with me. We left Aulnay on I’m guessing the 19th of August and headed for Bordeaux. Bordeaux is a really beautiful city and it really took me by surprise, as I didn't have many expectations at all. When I think Bordeaux I just think wine, so apart from wine, I didn't know what to expect. We didn't do anything particularly cultured but instead wandered through the streets and along the trendy shopping strips. I bought a pair of jeans, which I badly needed, and we had dinner at nice little place in what seemed to be the restaurant district. That night we went to a Japanese bar which was again interesting and again too weird to write about.
The next day we headed for San Sebastian in Spain via Bayonne and Biarritz. We went to Biarritz, a touristy, upmarket beach town full of trendy people, because Matt couldn’t stop going on about some restaurant there. When we got there he wasn’t so sure that the restaurant was actually in that town. So, we sat by the beach and ate a croque monsieur (ham and cheese toastie… but it is so much more. I think it’s the cheese they use). As we neared the Spanish border I thought it might be a good idea to get all our documents ready for inspection. Spanish police have a mixed reputation but it is quite clear that aren’t particularly fond of the English given their tendency toward drunken hooliganism in resort towns all along the Spanish coast. Driving through the area where the Pyrenees meet the Atlantic I kept a keen eye out for any indication of the border but there really wasn’t one. I realised we were in Spain when we stopped at a roundabout and noticed that the signs on a nearby shop were all in Spanish. It was very strange but of course not the last time we were to experience that phenomenon. We made it to San Sebastian without any drama but the drama did indeed begin when we got there. The roads were really busy and it was almost impossible to find somewhere to park. By the time we did it was almost dark. The night in San Sebastian was stupid for reasons connected to Bordeaux. (intrigued?) It also suddenly started raining heavier than I had never experienced before although I think I have since experienced worse. We were dry one minute, the next minute we could see the rain rolling in from the sea and the next minute we were soaked to the bone. So, San Sebastian was lousy for several reasons despite the considerable praise that people heap on the place. I’m not saying I’ll never go back there again but yeah, it’s ‘tainted’.
I’m a bit sleepy now so I’ll stop. Next time the tour of Spain continues with Pamplona, Teruel, Valencia, Bunol (including tomatoes), Barcelona, Peniscola (my personal favourite), Vinaros, Tarragona, Salou and a bunch of other places I can't remember right now. Geez this is tiring. I’m still only two weeks into the tour. There’s about two and a half months to go. Do you really want to hear about it all?
Adam and Jeremy have photos up at the following sites. I’m sure I’m in some of em. I err… don’t really have any myself.