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Bordeaux, France

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Épernay, France

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Paris, France

Ooh la la, PARIS:
Paris is one of the most visited cities on the planet. Why is it that most people have a fascination with Paris? Why is it nicknamed the ‘City if Love’? Is it because of the history, the art, the culture, the music, the monuments, the language or is it the perceived romance of it all? What fascinates me about this so called ‘city of love’, is people’s preconceived ideas about the place, whether it’s overrated or whether tourists come here purely to take those expected ‘seen it done it’ photos. This came to mind when we, like the 29,000 other tourists, visited the world’s most visited museum, the Louvre and spent the average 9 seconds taking a picture of the Mona Lisa before exiting. The majority of people just visit the world’s most well known painting, but the Louvre has so many pieces of art that if you were to spend 9 seconds at each it would take 3 months continuously to see it all. Why is it that one painting or a monument is so popular amongst click-happy tourists? I for one had no idea why I’d gone to see it, apart from a tourist’s obligation to do so. Mum said I was the same when I went to see it when I was 12.

As we wandered the streets of Paris and continued adding to a photo album of photos that aren’t unique and don’t mean anything to us apart from ‘seen it, done it’, we realised there has to be more depth to this city. Unfortunately the free walking tour of the city was pretty hopeless so we really had to uncover what is behind these these lifeless shots for ourselves.
We rented a beautiful French apartment in the city for the week in the hope that we could get amongst it all for a true Parisian experience. With live jazz streaming through our 4th floor windows, it certainly set the right tone. Little handbag sized dogs in pouch handbags, join their well dressed owners outside the many brasseries, on trains or in patisseries. 250,000 French yap yaps live in the city. To my amusement, 6,500 people are sent to hospital each year from slipping on dog poo.
Along the Seine River a whiff of India pollutes the air. A strong smell of urine lingers under these 1,000 year old bridges. It’s hard to believe that it is legal for males to “go” anywhere. But that doesn’t stop the couples kissing under these bridges or walking arm in arm along the Love Lock bridge. For 5 romantic Euro, love-struck sweethearts can purchase locks to padlock onto the chain link fence put through the bridge railing before tossing the keys into the river – a sign of their eternal devotion. It’s such an ‘expected thing’ to do that each April they replace the sides of the bridge as it’s at capacity. Although I sound like a romantic cynic, it’s actually a beautiful sight with thousands of gold locks shimmering in the afternoon sun over the river Seine.

The city is made up of 18th century Parisian houses (all designed by one architect) looking like an artistic masterpiece. However, they always say it’s what’s underneath that counts. Under the city’s buildings lay the underground metro and under that is the sewer system and under that is the Paris Catacombs. Back in the day, 6 million bodies from the city’s graveyards were extracted and reburied to stop the spread of disease. Many,many years ago the tours that ran down there were the city’s most popular. As people got lost and went missing that idea was scrapped, and it has become a museum for those who are bored with the Louvre. For those wanting a little more, (if you know which tunnels to climb through) you can find Paris’s mysterious underworld, supposedly with the world’s biggest absinthe bar and a 13 room cinema, completely illegal of course.
It’s not glitz and glam everywhere in Paris. On an afternoon outing to the outer suburbs, we stumbled across an extremely dodgy neighbourhood. Within 30 minutes our bags were unknowingly opened twice. A local approached us in the subway where druggies were playing chicken on the railway tracks, and said “why are you here? It’s not a place you want to be.” Needless to say we didn’t stay for long.
Of all the 20 odd countries we have visited over the last few months, the French have been, by far, the hardest to communicate with – that includes a conversation with the Click Click tribes in Namibia. It’s only those in the tourist industry who we can have a reasonably easy conversation with. The French really despise the English language. So much so they have an official website with the official banned English words. I’ve made a sentence of banned Franglish words: Last ‘weekend’ I was flying on a ‘low cost airline’ when I saw a ‘supermodel’ eating ‘chewing gum’. I wanted to ‘blog’ about it on ’email’ or ‘Facebook’ but I decided to ‘hashtag’ her on ‘Twitter’.

“All in good humour fact #57: At the Arc de Triomphe there’s an eternal flame representing fallen French soldiers. It’s been burning since 1948…. oh, apart from that time in 2003 when 3 Aussies cooked their frozen hot dog wieners on the internal flame and put it out.”

We didn’t visit the most visited monument in Paris. Can you believe it, we didn’t visit Euro Disney? With 7.2 million visitors a year less, the Eiffel Tower was the best option for us to visit. It has a stature about it that makes it so grand for photos. You only need to stand and watch for 30 minutes to see people dramatically posing for the perfect photo. It’s amusing to watch those in props or special clothing. I wonder why they like it so much. The Parisians certainly didn’t like it, nicknaming it ‘à la Iron Asparagus’. After it was built in 1919 by the same guy who designed the inside of the Statue of Liberty, they had approval to knock it down 26 years later. The only reason it stands today is that in the war it was used as a communication tower. Then of course came the bureau of tourism or common sense. Personally I think the Parisienne’s should be pleased, other monument designs submitted for the World Exhibition were a stone Cyclops or a giant guillotine to symbolise those who had their heads cut off.

As the end of our week draws to an end, we feel Paris has been uncovered. We’ve discovered the reasons that make this city sparkle and made it our own. Many imagine what Paris to be like; artists, narrow cobbled roads with French singers on corners, buskers, the sound of piano coming from inside creperies or brassieres. We found a place which actually represents all that and much more. On top of the only hill in Pairs is the beautiful ‘truly French’ suburb of Montmartre, proudly perched next to the beautiful Basilica church. Alleyways are filled with artists in berets and neckties creating masterpieces with the smell of fresh pastries and endless music in the air.
Other memorable moments were spent wandering aimlessly through the different suburbs, tasting all the pastries possible and spending hours searching for that perfect restaurant not far from the Latin Quarter to have our one and only French meal. French wine accompanied frogs legs, snails, beef bourguignon, duck leg, creme caramel and creme brulee. Into Saint Germain we headed, to see whether an afternoon snack at the Ralph Lauren restaurant would be up to standard ($54 for a Ralph burger) or Emporio Armani Cafee with their $25 tiramisu. By the looks the lady on the door gave us, it was ‘us’ who weren’t up to their standard. But of course no visit to Paris would be complete without viewing Paris from the 200,000-watt lighting system of the Eiffel Tower at dusk. As the sun set over a truly beautiful city, full of elegance, life and atmosphere, I can understand why this IS the City of Love.

Bottoms up in CHAMPAGNE:
Pour tous or, ‘To all’ in French – a toast to taking a free train to the region of Champagne instead of a $400 tour from Paris. The region of Champagne produces more bottles of champagne than any other wine producing region in the southern hemisphere combined. With 4 glasses of free champagne under our belt from Eperny Tourist Information Centre we were ready for our first cellar, Moët, pronounced moi et. I thought it was quite interesting that the founder M
r Moët passed down the family business to his son (surname Moët) and his daughter who when married became a Chandon, which created the brand Moët Chandon. For the first 100 years, the champagne was only consumed by the the family and prestigious people the likes of Napoleon. Three generations later, the Moët Chandon range produces 1 bottle every second of every day and night and holds 10% of the champagne market. To cater for such a demand their vineyards are over 1,150ha and their cellars are 3 levels, with over 28 km of tunnelled cellars. There are more bottles in these cellars than there are people in France! That is a flipping huge underground of tunnels, considering the facade of this rather ugly brick building (once the house of the Moët family) is rather dull. Walking through their cellars was like walking through cold winding tunnels of a Harry Potter movie.
I’ve always thought Moët is over priced, but with a better understanding of the production, the price is somewhat justified. 3,000 people hand pick the grapes each year. Ageing is anywhere between 3-12 years and all champagne except the Imperial label, the cheap $60 stuff, is rotated by hand. 50,000 bottles a day, every day for 6 weeks by a man with a sore wrist. His title is a riddler, not a ******!
After all that, I gave most of my free glass to Dave…. No orange juice you see.

From backpackers to wine connoisseurs in BORDEAUX:
We didn’t really know what to expect from Bordeaux. We really only came here to taste a few of the wines. Unbeknown to us, it’s actually the world’s major wine industry capital. The town, nicknamed Sleeping Beauty, certainly does feel like a sleepy little town. All of the buildings are in the same white sandstone and perfectly restored, with expensive restaurants and wine bars lining the cobbled streets.
Like any other Air bnb accommodation we checked into a room in our host’s house, however our host in Bordeaux, Mouna, greeted us with a French kiss. This professional French Moroccan young woman offered to take us around the city for a local’s tour, which is completely unheard of by a host. Having a local spend the whole afternoon with us, we thought we were the luckiest people out. That was of course until she said she had invite only tickets to an event at the Grand Theatre and thought we might be interested in attending with her. A successful local wine shop was celebrating 20 years by hosting a prestigious wine event. The top Bordeaux, French and some European vineyards were invited to showcase, not sell, their wines at this event by offering free wine tasting. And that we did. For 5 hours. In the terrace off the Grand Theatre. We sampled the regions most expensive wines, chatted with the owner, his friends and his customers over an endless supply of fancy hors d’oeuvres, from oysters to sashimi. Totally out of place in thongs and hiking boots, we were welcomed all the same to this fancy event, complete with a live jazz band. The French language filled the air but we appreciated that each description of the wine was translated in to English for us. To be able to sample so many wines in one of the world’s best wine regions really made our stay there. How fortunate we are to have been invited here by our host. Quite unbelievable in fact.

If the photos from Bordeaux show only us drinking wine, well that’s because that is all we did. On one of the laziest days we have had on the whole trip, we ventured out to buy wine to accompany our dinner with Mouna. To farewell our stay here in vin (wine) country, we went to the most exquisite wine bars with Mouna, who really knows her wine! The wine bar’s internal walls were sandstone brick, so old that the sandstone was flaking off. They had trees inside with fairy lights, candelabras and chandeliers. The extensive wine menu was presented on old 1930s newspapers. Specific nibbles were offered to complement the type of wine ordered. Very, very cool place.
These past two days of the trip have been one of our standouts. You couldn’t pay for an experience like this. Sometimes it just takes one individual to spare some time and a part of their life with you to make all the difference in your stay, a town or even a country.

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Brussels, Belgium

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Amsterdam, Netherlands

Loosely translating to dam on the Amstel, what a fascinating city Amsterdam is. It’s defined by the low lying areas, canals and architecturally houses designed to accommodate the landscape. It has its own culture, it’s a lifestyle and there’s a story to be told on every corner. Maybe it’s expected I should be writing about windmills and clogs but in the ‘Free Tour of the City’ it seemed that what was talked about most was the following two subjects. So, I suppose I should start with them.

It is common knowledge throughout the world, that in Amsterdam you may just enter a ‘coffee shop’ and buy marijuana legally. I really didn’t know much more than that, why would I? But it’s a fascinating trade even for one who doesn’t partake. Unbelievably, the Dutch are the second biggest coffee drinkers. They drink no less than 140 litres of coffee a year on average. That’s 3.2 cups a day and nearly double the beer they drink. Ironically there are 700 ‘coffee shops’ selling cannabis in the Netherlands, so if you want a straight coffee in a place that smells of warm cookies and hot coffee, you’re better off going to a cafe. It’s good to know this stuff before entering, otherwise instead of getting offered a lunch menu you will be handed a menu with weed of the day, and there might be even a special on the menu. Our guide says that for four joints you will pay the same amount as for twenty cigarettes.
In Amsterdam there are three off the record, golden rules to living here: you’re discreet, it’s good for business and it doesn’t hurt anyone. So why coffee shops…. It’s discreet (hence, they are called coffee shops), it’s obviously good for business and you’re not hurting anyone but yourself.
The Dutch government tried to formally make this illegal in 2012. To make a stand the Amsterdam mayor, who was opposed to the idea, posted on a website that “Amsterdam would not ban the use of drugs”. When that went viral it was too late for the federal government to say anything and change the law so it would be up to local government to decide if it was illegal or not. Understandably, Amsterdam and most major cities wanted to keep it. One third of six to eight million tourists arriving in Amsterdam each year visit the coffee shops. Like most, I would assume the locals would have lost most braincells with such a thing being legalised. Interestingly only 16% of young Dutch people, have smoked marijuana. The Dutch have the lowest use of hard and soft drugs in the whole of Europe.It seems that, when widely accessible, loses much of its appeal to the locals. It might seem odd the for someone that has no interest in drugs of any kind whatsoever to have written so much on it. That’s because, rightly or wrongly, it says a lot about the Amsterdamians. I find it amusing that you get heavily fined for drinking in the street but you can ask a cop to light a joint.

The second controversial topic is the prostitution, although here it’s just a way of life and not a taboo subject. There is so much to this topic that had to be explored what better way than by going on a nighttime Red Light District guided tour. The funniest thing I learnt was one of the reasons it started. In the ‘classier hooker area’ you will find a beautiful huge church. Prostitution was first legalised in 1417 and was made popular because of all the sailors passing through. One of the first rules written on paper was that prostitutes could not perform their services in grave yards. Back in the day, sailors would come to this area to have their needs fulfilled. Of course they didn’t want to go to hell so they would visit a confession box and buy a ‘get out of jail free card’ which would make them eligible for heaven. Sometimes they would have to leave for sea on days the church wasn’t open. The church catered for this dilemma by offering ‘cards’ in advance, prior to the sin being committed. These practices made the church the wealthiest in the area.
Nowadays, prostitution is again legal and for reasons I can understand. Having it monitored helps protect the women and puts a stop to pimps (who take all the money) and sex trafficking. Police actively protect the women through the use of panic buttons and take the ‘the woman is likely to be right’ approach – unsure how that would work down Tranny Alley…
These ladies are registered tax paying citizens who rent their glass windows for either a day or night shift. During the day their rent is about €60 and nighttime is between €130 – €180 depending on location. A 15 minute suck and fu*k is worth €50 (most of that is paperwork and cleaning I’m told) so on a good night they would be doing well for about 7 minutes work every 15 minutes. Similar to Trip Adviser, you can rate the experience on a website. Three categories: the girl friend experience, the porno experience and the wife experience. Like all businesses it keeps the good ones (suckers and fuc*kers) employed.
I liked our guide. He paid €50 for 15 minutes with these ladies (between the ages of 21-61!) just to chat and get their view on the topic and current events straight from the horses mouth.. By it being legal and having their own window, they are the boss and in control of their business. What they dislike is people who feel sorry them. These are clever business women that make a lot of money. Rightly or wrongly in the eyes of others, who are we to judge them on their lives?
To end, being informed before coming into any city is important, especially if you’re as innocent as my husband. Dave was looking at tickets for the Moulin Rouge in Amsterdam as they’re a 3rd of the price of the Paris show. As the reviews weren’t good he decided against it and to wait for Paris. After the Free Walking Tour we went out for a few beers with the tour leader who was also taking the Red Light District tour. Dave asked are there any other shows worth seeing in the area as Moulin Rouge didn’t have good reviews. His response was “oh no don’t go to Moulin Rouge. Go and get the real thing it’s much better value for money and I know of someone called Julia if you’re interested”. Well that just confused the living hell out of us and left us rather red faced. I’ll leave it to the imagination but by the sounds of it Amsterdam’s Moulin Rouge certainly isn’t can-can dancers but I bet they can can. I’d have never guessed Julia to be a stage name, maybe Lixy and Dixie were taken.

Amsterdam prides itself on its wholly liberal and tolerant attitude, embracing the fact that everyone has different wants and needs. So instead of criminalising everything, this very upfront city wears its heart on its sleeve. What you see is generally what you get. Although none of this stuff is my cup of tea and I can obviously see the disadvantages, I do admire them for not having a cotton wool or nanny-state approach. You travel because you want to see a place, not because you want to change it and make it like home.

Obviously there is so much more to this place but all good stories have a lure and *****s and drugs seemed to fit. On a more serious note, I for one didn’t know that a ¼ of the Netherlands is below the sea level. The lowest point is in Amsterdam at 6.7 meters below. The use of dykes, locks, windmills and pumping systems help control this which is why the 4,000km of navigable canals, lakes, and rivers in Netherlands is so important for this countries survival.

Amsterdam’s soil consists of a thick layer of fen and clay. All buildings are built on wooden poles that are fixed in a sandy layer that is 11 meters deep on average. The Royal Palace at Dam Square is built on 13,659 wooden poles. Often the brick apartment buildings are very narrow, the narrowest being 1.8m wide and 4 stories tall. There are hooks on the top of most buildings. They use a pulley system for all removals of furniture through the windows. I love the fact the buildings don’t stand straight. Building in every which way assists in the moving house process, among many other things.

No Dutch blog about the experiences here would be complete without a co
untryside tour. When I was 12 Mum and Dad took the family around Europe for 6 months. Moments like today I am forever grateful they gave us that experience. I remember that Yellow Bike Countryside Tour we did 14 years ago. I’m glad I remember it because although we really wanted to do it today, we just couldn’t afford to – nearly $100! Knowing what I know now about the cost of entrance fees, food and living in Europe it just astounds me how they did that with four people. Not to mention Dad driving around these cities or mum keeping us entertained (Dave can relate to that). Today, we opted for hiring bikes and trying to find the countryside ourselves. One would need a countryside map – lost it 10 mins after we bought it, or an expensive brand new Lonely Plant book – lost that on the train. Sigh. We took the second best option, the straight forward ride down the Amstel canal to a little place in the semi countryside – just an ok day out for a quarter of the price. That extra saving meant being able do the Heineken brewery tour which is like no other.It’s completely interactive. And yes it’s true, Heineken in the Netherlands tastes better. I learnt how to drink beer properly so now its drinkable.

“Amsterdam bike fact #479: there are 800,000 people here and 880,000 bicycles which is four times the number of cars. In the past 20years, travel by bike has grown by 40%. About 32% of all trips within the city are by bike, compared with 22% by car. 15,000 bicycles are fished out of the canals annually.

To end this fantastic stay, we got up very early to ensure we were the first in the queue, normally 100s long, for the Anne Frank museum. Such an amazing story from an incredible young woman and such a shame after 8 years in hiding she was caught and died, only a month away from freedom. It’s a moving experiencing walking through the few rooms hidden behind a bookshelf and listening to the stories told of Anne, by her surviving father and her friends.
To lighten the mood we went to the cheese museum and ate as much free cheese as we could before heading to the farmer’s markets for more food samples. With a bit of a saving made today, we spent the next 8 hours buying a few clothes from the two huge flea markets. I can’t tell you how sick of the 2 shorts and 2 shirts we have been wearing for 4 months. For a few euros and a lot of patience from Dave it was the best day out, for me anyway.

We have made a huge break through in the Eurail debacle and learnt a valuable lesson. In a week and half we have spent about $300 on unnecessary train reservations. The lesson is, don’t wait for the 5 different ticket offices to say there’s a free option after complaining about the cost. Never assume people who should know will tell you, always ask. So for example instead of going on a high speed, mandatory reservation train we took 4 slower free trains. We get there in three hours not one. Although sometimes we may have to pay, this is a huge breakthrough for us poor backpackers!
We are now in Brussels, Belgium. It’s amazing the difference between European countries. Amsterdam at 3am would be alive and kicking. Brussels middle of the day is dead and closed for Sunday trading. We’ve mistakingly booked our stay in the ‘Bronx’ of Brussels which really doesn’t help matters either. The ONLY things open in town are museums and churches, so we opted for a virtual Sunday. And would you believe it, it’s actually Sunday and Father’s Day. The best Skype conversation with my whole family this morning brightened my day.

Our Free Walking Tour guide, Senna summed up Belgium rather well. It’s a place to be discovered not just seen. When we walked through yesterday it really wasn’t anything special unless you’re into gothic architecture. Exploring the back streets and listening to the fascinating stories gave this place something to remember it by. There are many things people think of when they think of Belgium: Belgium beer, Belgium chocolates (a $50billion a year industry), and Belgium waffles. Comics isn’t one of the things that would come to mind but they have the highest density of comic book artists in the world. As the language spoken is primarily French (no Belgiumese here) they have a great relationship with France. Cartoons like the Asterix series is one of the most popular Franco- Belgian comics in the world, with the series being translated into over 100 languages. The Adventures of Tin Tin and The Smurfs are also by Belgium cartoonists. Cartoons are so popular here that no billboards are allowed in the city centre so they have cartoon comics to fill the blank spaces instead.
The other random but super popular hot spot is Manneken Pis, which literally translates to Little Man Pee – It is a small bronze fountain sculpture depicting a naked little boy peeing into the fountain’s basin. Since it was first put in place in 1618 its been stolen then replaced at least 8 times. There are many stories as to why it was put there. The most likely is that it was to represent the poor people who got paid for their urine which was used to make leather hides. If this story couldn’t get any more random, this little boy statue got made into a “Sir” so the French solders back in the day had to salute it when walking past. Nowadays a local committee, with its own tailor makes uniforms and outfits for this little boy, who is no more than 40cm tall. Over 700 outfits have been made and worn – of course it has a little hole at the front! Sometimes it’s hooked up to beer or milk machines and it pees that!
Supposedly Belgium is also famous for its chips, which are a cross between the English fat soggy chips and shoestring French fries. It’s so important to them that to become a Belgium citizen you need to know about their chips to pass the citizenship test. As it’s that important, I suppose writing down the recipe is required.
INGREDIENTS
Starch potatoes
Fried in beef lard or vegetable oil
Mayonnaise sauce to dip
METHOD
Cut .50cm potatoes
Par boil in deep fryer at 140deg for a few minutes
Pull out and re deep fry for a few minutes at 180 deg, until golden

“Useless Beer Facts #1&amp;2: Similar to no China Town in China, there is no Belgium Beer Cafes in Belgium. When an Aussie is holding two beers, it’s called double parked but when a Canadian is holding two beers its called double fisting….and they don’t seem to see the amusing side of that”

To finish our trip to Belgium, it would be only right to end on a beer appreciation tour to taste some of the varieties they are famous for and of course go to the Delirium Bar which has over 2600 beers from all over the world. There are 1000 different Belgium beers and 178 breweries in the country, ranging from international giants to microbreweries. Belgians prefer to drink boutique beers rather than main stream Leffe, Hoegaarden and Stella Artois. In fact the biggest Belgium beer festival of the year doesn’t even stock those beers.

A few different types of beer we tried, all were well worth a mention:
TRAPPIST MONASTERY BEER
Trappist beer is produced under the supervision of Trappist monks. Only 8 breweries are recognised in the 21st century as authentic producers of Trappist beer, six in Belgium one in the Netherlands and one in Austria. The practice of monasteries brewing alcohol is more than 1000 years old. Authentic versions of the beer must conform to several standards set by the International Trappist Association. The profits from these beers go to the Vatican or charities where they distribute funds accordingly. The main purpose is be able to feed the needy.
THE WORLD’S BEST BEER
According to a website which ranks the best beers in the world, that’s according to the beer connoisseurs not corporations, the best is ‘Trappist Westvleteren 12’. Its a Trappist bier made in a town 140miles from Brussels. It’s made by the monks purely for the purpose of fulfilling the monks monetary needs. For example, if they have plumbing issues they will brew more beer that year. Each car can only by 12 bottles from their br
ewery at any one time. You’d have to swap cars to get more and obviously they don’t export or sell anywhere except in the brewery. Overseas 12 bottles on the black market fetches $4000. As the brewery is so close, to here one bar in Brussels sells it under the table in unmarked bottles, apart from a labelled lid, for $15. I’d say it tastes ok – but I’m a cider drinker on a beer appreciation tour.
LAMBIC BEER
This would have to be the oldest way of brewing beer, 9,500 years old! Think of how you would normally brew beer, then this is the opposite. It’s flat like wine and sour not bitter. They age the hops for years to get the hop taste out so it only leaves the preservatives…and wait for it…. yeast is not added directly to the wort (mixture of wheat and barley). The vats are left open and wild yeast, which is unique to the Pajottenland region, just ‘flys’ right on into the vats naturally.
WHEAT BEER
Belgium is not solely famous for wheat beer but you’ll know one famous one. In about 1957 there were about 300 breweries in Belgium. Now there are half that amount. At around 1967 there were no wheat breweries left in Belgium. A milkman who had grown up next to one of the closed down wheat breweries and had sometimes helped with brewing, decided to try to revive the style. He started a new brewery in his loft then transformed a lemonade factory and created what we now know as the beer Hoegaarden, named after the Belgium town which helped him to his feet.

There is only one other thing left to do in Belgium and that’s to have chocolate, chips, waffles and beer for dinner – much better than prostitutes and drugs 🙂

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Copenhagen, Denmark

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Stockholm, Sweden

A new day, a new country and a new home. We have arrived into Stockholm, Sweden with a better understanding of Europe,a routine and a plan in place has made all the difference to ones mood. Our AirBnb home for the two nights is located in a leafy green affluent suburb about 10 minutes from the city. The self contained flat is under a swedish family’s house and only a short walk down to the Baltic Sea. For the first time since we left our real home it is wonderful to have a full house to ourselves.
As the hop on hop off buses aren’t the most economically savvy option every two days in a new city, we have found a far better option. The Free Walking Tour operates in most cities around Europe. A local guide walks around the city showing the sites and history for 2-3 hours. They survive on a tipping system, of how much you think it’s worth and can afford. This particular tour had 40 people on it but it was far more personable than a pair of ear phones on a red bus, plus you get to navigate a way around the city faster and she answers any direct questions you may have – about food of course! Swedish meatballs and Stromming (herring) for lunch it is! Stockholm city makes great use of its natural assets as it is built on 14 islands. Starting with our favourite, the Old Town (Gamla Stan), with a causeway across to the mainland. It emerged in the 13th century and grew with Sweden’s power until the 17th century. It has the world’s largest royal palace. Although there are 608 rooms, they couldn’t even host guests there for the last royal wedding as the designer (who is said to have burnt down the last palace so he could rebuild a new one) didn’t build enough bathrooms and of course royals don’t like to share such amenities. But what makes it simply amazing is these old terracotta coloured buildings They are maybe 6 stories tall and you walk between them on the cobble stone streets. The narrow alleyways, only a few metres wide, are lined with restaurants, bakeries and little shops.

“Interesting fact on Sweden # 04: In Sweden anyone can camp anywhere for a few days at a time for free as long as you aren’t in a place which causes a disturbance. So you’re allowed to put your tent on someone’s property, probably not at the front of the house but down the side out of the way is fine.”

We took the trip out to the world’s biggest Ikea for two reasons. Firstly to get out of the city to the burbs on a local bus to see something different and to try some more meatballs. Well worth the trip to taste an Ikea branded beer. In the four restaurants there was no Ikea jelly which was a disappointment but I guess that wouldn’t have gone with my glass of wine anyway. No matter which country you’re in, Ikea food is pretty good and cheap. Did you know that the furniture is named after Swedish areas, lakes etc whereas the rugs and floor coverings are named after Danish areas and lakes. The guide made a valid point about the Swedish being on top of the Danish.

Another country, another ****** off Eurail customer. The original train ticket was over 2,000 euro. I go to book 2 second class seats (mandatory to book) from Amsterdam to Brussels and there’s a mandatory reservation cost of $100. What about the Brussels to Paris leg in a few weeks – the ‘limited’ amount of Eurail seats available are sold out. 55 more days and 20 odd train trips to go. Oh well, if we didn’t do it we wouldn’t be here now. Our home for the next two days is with two beautiful Danish girls, a lawyer and stylist, in their funky 4th floor apartment in the heart of the Copenhagen city, just off one of the longest pedestrianised streets in Europe. Honestly I could continue travelling with airbnb. For the first time since leaving home we’ve been able to cook and it’s a much more homely environment than a sterile hotel.
We did try the Scandinavian open sandwich (the Danish call it smørrebrød, Norwegians smørbrød, and Swedish smörgås) It consists of one piece of buttered bread, often whole-grain rye bread topped with things like cold cuts, salmon and complemented with herbs. There are many varieties. Dave tried a burger one which is basically a patty on one piece of bread, but better than mine – a cheese wheel on a slice of bread. What I really wanted was Danish pastries, but no not the same as back home. They aren’t commonly filled with apples and apricots. There are yummy alternatives though.

Copenhagen, Denmark is a Scandinavian city that’s got charm, charisma and beauty. This 1,000 year old harbour town retains much of its historic charm with copper spires on the buildings, cobbled streets and pastel coloured gabled town houses. It really hasn’t had any luck with fire though. Most buildings pointed out in the city have been destroyed by fire with the town hall being rebuilt 4 times after 3 separate fires.
If you think bikes in Amsterdam, well think bikes in Copenhagen too. That is how 55% of the population travels so for every road there is a bike path. I love the endlessly long pedestrianised streets with colourful street performers. It’s got such a great feel to it, very laid back. So much so the Royal family’s houses are located in the city centre and basically accessible by the front door. The four royal residences aren’t even fenced off and kind of feel like a pedestrian roundabout in the centre. Speaking with the locals here, they said the Royals are just like ‘normal’ people therefore they weren’t surprised when I thought I saw Frederick and his daughter around town.
Over the two days in Copenhagen we discovered the city by canal boat, a free 3 hour walking tour and a pub crawl. All this for $16 (the canal trip). We turned up for another Free Walking Tour and they didn’t have a guide available. Although they rebooked for the next day, as an apology for the inconvenience ,they gave us a night out, a $40 pub crawl voucher with free shots and beer. Dave appreciated this immensely as beer prices have been upwards of $10. Amazingly and unexpectedly,I enjoyed my first pub crawl purely because it was great to speak with like minded travellers just wanting to see a city and meet people.
It’s funny the people you keep bumping into from city to city. We have seen the same people on these free tours in different cities or met people through AirBnB (some of these houses have two rooms available) then see them again on a inter-country train somewhere.
Just before leaving Copenhagen we wandered quickly through a random suburb just out of the city, named Christina. Copenhagen is a perfect little city, so you can imagine how Christina just doesn’t ‘fit’ into its surroundings. Back in the day it was a military area.After the housing crisis people forced their way into this uninhabited area and built their own houses here. You can tell this by the mismatched random houses and wooden shacks. They say it’s an arty hippy area with graffiti artwork everywhere but to me the best way to describe it is through the green light district. Although marijuana is illegal in Denmark it’s openly sold on the streets in this neighbourhood. The only thing illegal is taking photos or running – wish I was kidding. Worth a walk through just to see this odd little place put into a perfect city. And with that we farewell another city, board the 15 hour overnight train in second class and head to Amsterdam.

It’s hard to make a comparison as we haven’t yet embarked on the rest of Europe but I’d describe the Scandinavian countries we visited as wealthy and all very progressive countries. You can see it everywhere you look in these picture perfect cities or chatting to the locals where free tertiary education is part of life for many. The standouts were Norway’s beautiful landscapes, Sweden’s old town and Denmark’s easy way of life in a charming city.
Although only a week into Europe, I’m finding it harder to write about western countries and cultures and still sound somewhat fascinated as a city is a city is a city. The similarity in western countries throughout the world is money and often deriving from that is people’s behaviour
s and values. We have been fortunate enough to see and interact with the local people in three continents. I often wonder whether an African village person put into these wealthy cities would be happier and still humble. Is that the same reason that Asia and Africa offer more life experiences than a place that’s so similar to what you would get at home?

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Oslo, Norway

Ready steady go…. 22 countries in 60 days. This is the game we call Travelling, Morton Style. Basically the objective is to see, experience and taste as much as you possibly can in the shortest amount of time. The rules are that you are limited to: primarily utilising the 60 day Eurorail pass, a daily budget and to finish in either Turkey or Greece on the 23rd October. The flexibility of the starting point was purely determined by cost.

On the Monday (3days ago) we opened the Sky-tracker app which has all flights out of London on the Wednesday (today). A place called Bergen in Norway was one of the cheapest destinations in the right ‘corner of the map’ – at only 300 flipping dollars for a two hour flight. Although expensive, It was quite liberating knowing the flexibility you have when choosing which country you’ll end up in. It was only after we booked the flight that we realised the whole, yes whole town was booked out for the night. All hotels, motels, b&amp;bs and hostels within a 1hr radius of Bergen city were booked. One room was available on Air BnB (where you rent a room in a stranger’s house for the night) at only $120! It’s lovely but slightly odd making breakfast in a stranger’s kitchen.
Bergen is a beautiful little town that I am glad we have come , if only for 1 night. It’s nestled in between seven hills and seven fjords with a buzzing harbour as its centrepiece. The small city climbs the hillside between the pine trees and coloured timber clad houses. Back in the 12th &amp;13th century Bergen used to be Norway’s capital. We spent time wandering through the active fishing market. It’s post card beautiful, just like the locals. They are taller than the average Jo and have the beautiful Scandinavian features.

So what do I think of this game to date, let’s see…
$36 for a public bus from airport to accommodation
$58 for three trips on a 10 minuite public bus ride to the city
$0 for the amount spent on the boat trip around the Fjords that I really wanted to do but couldn’t justify selling my kidney for
$35 for 2 deli bought microwave dinners as restaurants are too expensive
$8 for two 600ml bottles of water
$25 train reservations
Our first day of being on our own in a foreign land: priceless. We have nearly doubled our daily budget and not done a thing…. We’re not in Vietnam now Toto…

Side note: I very much wanted to visit Finland. They have very good berries there so the website told me and if we met a Finnish man named Ed, he’d be FinnishEd! Dave agreed to booking a flight &amp; ferry if it was cheap… Guess I’m not going to meet Finished 😦
However, Odd is actually a first name in Norway. A boy’s name. Who knows, we may meet an Odd Norwegian or have an Odd Finnish!

Day 1, our adventure begins today: the first train trip from Bergen to Oslo. Prior to leaving we bought the 2 months Unlimited Global Eurail Pass which means throughout the two months we will see us much of Europe by rail as we possibly can. As we are ‘older’ than 26, we were eligible to pay a bit more for the first class carriages. There’s heaps of leg room, free tea and coffee, fewer people and comfortable, bigger seats. The only disadvantage is we haven’t seen any backpackers to pick their brains. The trains even have canteens (but we are the only ones in 1st class with our jam sams).
{I have added this part in later: we just found out a lot of the trains require mandatory reservations. There is a mandatory booking fee of between $20 – $100. Although second class have fees also, it’s less, so we will be doing that even though our tickets say 1st class. How nice it would have been to have known that before leaving. This prepaid rail ticket is going to cost us a lot of money. I wouldn’t recommend it that’s for sure.}

Throughout this particular trip (8hours) we are 1,100m above sea level at points. There’s snow on some of the mountain tops and deep green pine trees coming right down to the edge of the dark blue lakes. Each country uses their own trains for the Eurail. My thought on the Norwegian trains is the free hot chocolate machine is a winner. The toilet facilities are also substantially better then those in India…
Anywho, we have arrived into the worlds 4th most expensive city so it’s 2 basic Burger King hamburgers each for dinner, no drink, chips or dining in. Their taxis are even Mercedes! It is depressing being poor but when the cheapest accommodation in town is more than the days budget there aren’t any options.
The next day our (my) mood didn’t brighten either. The Hop on Hop off bus which is normally the cheapest and best way to really understand a city in the shortest amount of time was twice as expensive as anywhere else we’ve been. I tell ya, attempting to stay within a budget and knowing you’re going to fail for at least a few weeks is depressing. We have 259 days to go in this year abroad. If I don’t sound upbeat, trust me I’m not. This way of travelling sucks, feeling like a turtle with a heavy backpack and dirty clothes. Unlike in Asia, South America or Africa, we are not on an arranged tour or like in America where we will we have our own car to base ourself. Europe is the first and only time we will feel like we a truly alone and backpacking, and it’s the most expensive time of the year. Dave is loving the flexibility, trying something new and backpacking. He’s a great person to bring the spirits up. As it’s school holidays, even though they’re coming to an end, most places are booked out – as we are finding out fast. Prior to leaving we booked 125 days of the year and left the rest to booking a few days ahead, so that we had flexibility. Unfortunately that’s not going to fly this time of year. Trying to find any reasonability priced accommodation this short out is taking 4 hours out of a day when we only have 1 full day in each city. As Oslo is too expensive for us to actually do ANYTHING we opted for staying in and booking a few weeks in advance. I would have even given into the worst thing ever and done mixed dorms of 12 which you’d think would be the cheapest. They are between $40-$60 each x 2 people in Northern Europe. The private rooms in hostels are exy too. I’m sure as we get closer to Spain the prices will decrease and it will be less busy. For the time being it looks as though our only option is AirBnB. With most places $120pn, it’s still over the budget. Although they are strangers to us, they have good reviews, central locations and at least we have a local to interact with.

What better way to turn a mood around than have a plan and an Anne! We need a routine too but that didn’t rhyme. Starting from tomorrow we (meaning me) need to try and make the most of being a turtle. (The analogy with the pack on back, not the speed). A good routine will help us get into swing of things. For the next two months we will leave the departure point, catch the train to the next city in the morning and see the city either in half a day or in one and a half days, then repeat in a new country the following day.
It’s very difficult orientating your way around a new city with a new language and having to immerse your self in it, and it’s food and culture in a short amount of time. That’s where we need a PLAN! On the train to each city we will read the Lonely Planet Guide, ‘Europe on a shoe string’ and go for it.

As for the Anne, well she is half the reason my mood drastically improved and am not on a plane home (Dave’s the other half). We met Anne on our African trip, therefore we only saw her last week. She talked to us about Norway and planted the seed in our head, and we’re so glad we did. Throughout the last few days I haven’t really spoken about Norway, but more how I’m feeling and how I am handling this new way of travel. Anne met us on our last afternoon in Norway. She took us around Oslo showing us the sights. We saw so much more through the eyes of a local. The city is truly magnificent and obviously wealthy, yet the locals are the friendliest people we’ve come across. Not much is translated into En
glish but it’s very easy to navigate around. In the 1960’s oil was discovered in Norway’s offshore waters and transformed it from one of the poorest countries in Europe to one of the richest. As mentioned before, Oslo is the 4th most expensive city in the world, but more importantly it’s one of the most beautiful we have been to. Norway has a population of 4.7 million, one of Europe’s lowest population densities.
Oslo has a great feel to it and is surrounded by forests, hills and lakes. What I love about summer in Oslo is that it’s perfectly light until 10pm (further north it doesn’t get dark at all, whereas the winter there’s only a few hours of sun light).
Anne took us for the fanciest meal on the waterfront. We sat in the sun on chairs with fur, drank wine and ate the world renowned Norwegian salmon. It was great to feel like a tourist again rather than a traveller. The great company and atmosphere was the pick me up I needed.

It’s all about your attitude.

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Coventry, United Kingdom

We both were excited and a little nervous but as soon as Margaret and Mike met us with a huge hug at the Coventry Coach station we were at ease. We are spending the weekend with the Morton side of the family, Dave’s Dad’s side. Margaret was Roger’s (Dave’s Dad’s), twin. There are many questions we both have about his late dad but more than anything we are looking forward to getting to know them and listen to stories of his Dad’s childhood. These are the memories we have wanted to uncover and enjoy for such a long time. We spent the afternoon chatting over coffee and delicious English bacon sandwiches before Dave went out for a few beers at the local pub with Mike, Margaret’s husband, in his convertible. It was a priceless experience finding out about the similarities between father and son. Dave’s love of music, he’s great at maths and his thoughtful placid personality were characteristics from his Dad. More stories were shared over the evening meal with Dave’s uncle John and Glynis and cousin Andy’s family. We were spoilt by an amazing dinner at this very English pub, built in 1250 AD, with low ceilings and the best English food we had ever had.

It’s reunion day! What a truly amazing day. Dave, particularly, has waited many, many years to finally meet his Dad’s family and find out more about the Mortons. It was quite a surreal experience walking into a room full of 40 family members, after coming from only a few. There was only 3/4 of the family there too. Immediately they all made us at ease. Such a friendly, kind and caring group of people. Dave’s dad Rodger was one of two sets of twins. Of the 8 original brothers and sisters, 5 were there today, Peter, Ron, John, Joan and Margaret. As for cousins, well there were thousands. At 27 Dave’s the youngest and, in his 50s, Gary is the eldest. Margaret’s son is very, very similar in looks to Dave. The majority of the Mortons share Dave’s olive skin and huge blue eyes. We heard so many stories about Roger and filled in many of the gaps with all our questions answered. One day it will be great to share those stories with our kids. So much effort went into organising the day, Margaret, Joan and Glynis did an amazing job. They even got us a wedding cake to cut! A truly special day, and weekend, that neither of us will ever forget. Dave is very lucky to have these wonderful people as his immediate family.

After a sad farewell to Dave’s amazing aunt and uncle, Margaret and Mike, we arrived at Dave’s mums family. We are staying the night at his uncle Simon’s beautifully designed Art Deco house, which was where the Hillocks grew up. Simon is the one who taught Dave how to play pool back in the day. It was nice to see someone who could beat Dave in a game even on a championship table. The town of Coventry is bigger than I’d expected. Back in the war the whole city was bombed. We climbed to the top of the cathedral, visited the art gallery and transport museum before heading back for dinner with Paul, Dave’s other uncle. Without fail I am always asleep on the couch by 9, but Dave, Simon and Paul consumed beer and shared stories till the early hours of the morning.

The National Express coaches have been valuable in trekking us across the countryside from Coventry and back again to London for 1 night. Although I was devastated and ****** off we didn’t book weeks ago to get tickets for the inside the Buckingham Palace tour (happens in August and Sept only), we found a suitable alternative – a picnic hamper in the sun in Hyde Park. It was such a beautiful afternoon. We both very much love London and are looking forward to spending another 22 hours here after Europe.

My tiny family is also from England but they are away on holidays so we cannot visit, however my cousin Nic (Linda and Peters son), his wife Paula and daughter Isabella are on holiday from Qatar. I was excited about seeing more family. Little Isabella has grown so much since I saw her 5 years ago, a beautiful little girl. Nic and Paula took us out for a wonderful meal on the River Thames. It was such a great way to end the 4 days of our family holiday.

What I love about family, is that it doesn’t matter if you haven’t met them, met them once or haven’t seen them in many years, they are always there for a catch up and will help you out when ever they can and you for them. We have met some amazing family members, who from now on will be a part of our lives forever.

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Cape Town, South Africa

So, it’s 11pm and 10 of us are lined up a metre away from a picturesque bar on the Orange River. A local is teaching us how to do a proper Springbok shot, also known as a springbok trying to get water from the watering hole. “Springboks have horns” he says, we all point our fingers above our heads like horns, with a slight bend in the back ready to pounce. Springboks look for lions he says, we all look to the left then to the right for leopards. Springboks bounce, we all bounce forward still with our horns pointed. Right before the springboks have ‘white bums’ came we attempted to have a delicious shot from ‘the water hole’ with no hands. Another S.A shot came Dave said, but it was past my bedtime and by the sounds of the lightening of shots on nipples I’m glad it was!

“A Random Thought #32: All of us have been downing the exorbitantly priced malaria tablets for the last month, yet there has been not one mosquito seen. I think mosquitos have shares in the malaria tablet company”

One day to go – 1 last day of tent up tent down, 1 more day of mattress on the floor, 1 more day of awesome food and company and the last day of an epic road trip from “Victoria Falls to Cape Town”:
This morning we had our first good bye. Our Kenyan driver Ben, who can change a truck’s suspension over lunch on the side of the road, cannot drive us to Cape Town. The South African government requires us to hire locals therefore our very awesome Kenyan chef Dan can’t cook for us either. He cooked about 21 soups for us ear with a different flavour every night! We hope next year Ben and Dan visit us all around Aussie. Dan could give me cooking lessons and Ben driving lessons in exchange for surf lessons – kidding. These two are so hard working and really fantastic guys. I hope they get a well deserved holiday.

With a new truck (literally, it’s a month old) and driver we cross the border into South Africa, it’s a normal border crossing but also a police record check. Immediately the vegetation has changed, still mountain ranges and vast land, but we see green shrubs everywhere. A colour that we have not seen anywhere for weeks. Just after the town of Springbok we pass the area of Namaqualand which is well known for flowers. Yip we have changed countries, quite obviously. Even the towns are far more developed than Namibia or Botswana. It was 6 hours into our drive before we saw any trees: heaps of greenery and mountains but no trees. When we stopped at the campground for the final night in the tent, we were all a little peeved that we couldn’t just keep driving for 3 more hours until we reached Cape Town. After we put tents up for the final time and headed up to the bar, at that moment we were all thankful we had stopped. The campground was smack bang in the middle of a vineyard. For $7 we did wine tasting around the fire, although it was pour your own wine I can still remember it was the best wine we have ever tasted. The beautiful wine cellar, turned bar certainly set a picturesque and perfect place for a dance floor. Another tour group was staying there also. For the five minutes we saw them it was so obvious that they were on day one. You can tell this by the way one dresses. They were clean and had handbags. Anyone that puts makeup on on an overland trip I’m sure is laughed at by the lions and hippos, who just don’t care. This came to mind as our group, who are at the end of either 45 days (from Nairobi) or 21 days (from Vic Falls), were dancing away in the wine cellar to the best of 70s &amp; 80s music in our trekking boots and dirty trakkie daks. I had the absolute best time of my life. They even played Run To Paradise! On a side note, I was telling Hailey that back home I have enough clothes to wear for 4 months straight, countless pearl necklaces and 50 pairs of heels. Her response to “Julia on an overland trip” was priceless. “Really I wouldn’t see you as that type of person”. And that’s what I love about these types of trips!

ARRIVAL DAY – a bed – a shower – clean clothes – I may even look like a lady for the first time in a month:
I remember writing yesterday that South Africa is so green…. Well that’s because it rains! 4am in the tent the rain started, and it was still raining at 7am when we were putting down the tent. For the last 3 weeks in Botswana and Namibia there hasn’t even been one cloud in the sky. In fact we haven’t had rain since Hong Kong. Super thankful the breakfast is included up in the restaurant – so no flapping in the rain. After 3 hours under sleeping bags, hung up in the truck we arrive into Cape Town.

So the question is, would we have done it any other way? No way, those experiences and things we have seen far,far out way the inconveniences of living without modern comforts. In the mirror I look unrecognisable, yet I feel completely myself. Plus, you don’t realise what you miss until it’s gone – I will miss sitting around campfires each night over a posh restaurant any day.

Now the tour is over, we are on our own. We have 3 full days to explore Cape Town before we farewell Africa. So here goes:

Im unsure how words can describe a day like today.Whether right or wrong or anything in between all I can write is the world through my eyes.
As in most towns, we jumped on the Red Hop On Hop Off bus. Except, as per always we had no time to hop off. So very much from the eyes of the roof of this bus we saw the most beautiful city we have ever been in. I was worried about the safety side of Cape Town but it is not JoBerg! Cape Town is a town which has it all. It has the Sydney Harbour or Auckland Viaduct at the V&amp;A Waterfront but with so much more beauty and personality and the size of 180 rugby fields. It’s no wonder its South Africa’s number one most visited destination (over Kruger N.P) with 23 million visitors annually. Its got the beaches at the city’s doorstep. All four beaches, one for each personality: for the locals, for the younger generation, for the pretty people buff body builders, and one for the families. It’s got the millionaires coastline of stunning, restaurants bars and mansions. It’s got the small town feel yet it’s big enough to spend hours wandering and boutique coffee shops. It’s got the amazing mountain range secluding the city, Table Mountain, Lions Head and Devils Peak. Right in the heart of the city, ‘the guide coming from our ear phones’ shocks me when she says the Strand used to be waterfront, now it’s in the middle of the city. Similar to Holland, the town was built on reclaimed land from the ocean, 400ha in fact. With a city this perfect it’s nearly possible to miss the signs of a dark past. The racially separated amenities, District 6 and the slave lodge are pointed out. On face value of what you can see and where you choose to look, it’s not hard to see why it’s ranked one of the most beautiful cities in the world and has been ranked number one city to visit.

As contrasting as black and white or the flipping of a coin, we started the afternoon tour. A tour of the Township, Langa. There are some townships in outer Cape Town that I’m told police won’t go into, let alone tourists, but this one, Langa, with a local guide was fine to walk around openly. To gain an appreciation of the situation first hand we started at the start. District Six is an area in the heart of the city. Prior to 1901 District Six was a community situated in prime real estate. It was made up largely of coloured residents who included a substantial number of coloured Muslims, black Xhosa residents and a smaller numbers of Afrikaans, whites, and Indians. From my understanding the government used the outbreak of the bubonic plague in 1901 as an excuse to forcibly remove the first people from District Six. As the City and population of District Six continued to grow, the municipality did not provide adequate water and refuse facilities. Roads were left to deteriorate and landlords took little interest in the maintenance and upkeep of their houses. The government used this neglect to refer to District Six as a slum to justify the removal
s based on race.
In 1950 the Apartheid government passed a law which forced people into racial grouping. They also passed a law, the Group Areas Act, which made it illegal for people of different races to live in the same area. In 1966 District Six was declared a “whites only” area. Between 1966 and 1980 60,000 people who lived in District Six were forcibly removed and the houses and shops bulldozed to the ground. The government wanted to remove all evidence of District Six, except for a few religious symbols. District Six was one of many areas around Cape Town which had settlements split up. Family and friends were split up by a pencil on their head test to determine if you’re black or coloured. If the pencil rolled off your hair it would determine your colour / race (this was one of many ways). You would then be given your ID pass with your race identified accordingly. So these people were sent to one of 50 odd townships which were created as living areas for non-whites. The Langa township is one of the townships we visited today that sticks with me the most. My first feeling was one of invading these people’s privacy. Driving through, taking pictures as if they are animals in a cage. When he stopped and said “get out we’re now walking”, I then went to being scared, but at ease when I knew these people where ok with us for three reasons: they are happy we want to learn about them by talking to them not just through a lens and the other reason is 30% of our tour price goes into community projects which is run by one of their own who lives inside. Although it’s been many years since the law was abolished and people can live wherever they like, the reality is they cannot change their life overnight or their living conditions or culture. It will take many years of education, knowledge and money and even then there will be problems along the way. We got dropped off outside a place where they were cutting up sheep’s heads for food. You can tell that we have been travelling a while when you don’t even notice the sheep’s head is being steam cleaned but Mr Louis Vuitton shoes who was on our tour certainly did!
There are many hostels or flats in the townships throughout Cape Town. They were originally for the black or coloured workers, then for their families as well. The one we visited had 5 rooms, one bathroom, one kitchen for 16 families. So each room, the size of a normal bedroom, has 3 families, each with 3-4 people on one single bed. This is an unbelievable fact, until we sat on the bed and talked to a man who is living there, on one single bed with his wife and two kids. I will never forget that. Slowly, over many years on the waiting list they will get relocated to a slightly bigger house. He has been in that room for 19 years….
We saw what many have done in a desperate hope for privacy and that is living in homemade slums. Still 14sqm but it’s their own. The problem with this is the threat of fire and flooding. No floors, leaky wood or tin roofs with non legal electricity. There are millions of people living this way. When handing out apples to the kids, I couldn’t help but think of the children back home. I have never seen kids run for a free apple or patiently waiting their turn in a line, desperate for food. 81% of a survey reported insufficient food and 70% reported hunger.
On to the visit to the kindy, another place that touched my heart. To sit and be cuddled by these beautiful little children who sang us a song about education and how it will provide them with a future. Schooling and food while at school is free for South African kids, however there is a 29% drop out rate and something like another 30% will have aids or teenage pregnancy by the time they are 16 – so why is this the case? Why is it that 98% of people with HIV have been educated about it and free comdoms are everywhere? Why? There is also free accommodation for those at their poorest in S.A, even though it’s in a shoe box. No monetary pension is given to the unemployed. Our local guide said the problem is if you give money to some people, they may spend the kid’s food money on booze, you give them a job it will last a week before they quit.There’s gangs, drugs and family violence so what is the way to fix this? He seemed to think it was fixing the morals. I can obviously see the issues they are facing but at least it’s in harmony with equal rights now. Maybe the answer lies with a non corrupt government, who I’m told are the one stuffing their pockets.
For locals that I have spoken to, I can tell the past is the past and they have well and truly moved on. Every person has a different story and perspective to tell. I have not lived in this country or experienced these difficulties, therefore it’s not my right to judge or make assumptions. All I can do is write what I observe and hope for a happier future from a dark past. I will never categorise. Those children I met don’t deserve that. My observations of the day and deep thoughts were summed up by one: Dave and I went on a date tonight to one of the most exquisite tapas bars in Cape Town. As we sat there drinking a fine bottle of red around the fire place I couldn’t help but look around and notice people enjoying finer things in life, yet in the townships today, this very day, people are living in squalor. There seems to be the very wealthy and the very poor. That says to me, there is some way to go for a better, happier future for the kids of tomorrow.

Our next venture out was to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. The two Simons and us hired a private driver for the day to take us out to the peninsula and out to the penguin colony. The drive out past Cork Bay and Simons Town reminded me Port Charmers Dunedin. On the way back driving along the coast line was like the Great Ocean Road Melbourne. I loved the little fishing villages with seals swimming around through the moored fishing boats. There are hundreds of bays around the coastline of Cape Town and even more mansions with pristine views lining the hills. I have actually never been to a city with that many large beautiful houses. I found it hard to appreciate its beauty after seeing how the other half live. 12 people in one bedroom is not uncommon for hundreds of thousands – yet hundreds of thousands have mansions with many bedrooms that could house so many. I’m on my high horse again.Back to today. We walked up to Cape Point which is where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic. Some say you can see where exactly, but the only thing we saw was whales. My body the following day (today) tells me we also did the hike across to Cape of Good Hope, the southwestern tip of Africa and famous for its wind. With no hand rails and one hell of a strong wind we made it to the look out point.
What better way to end our trip to Africa than a night out dancing with the people from our trip who still remain in Cape Town. A fantastic night out and I’m ok with the fact that all tours today, our last day, have been canceled. It’s Day 99 today for us and we have had only two ‘Virtual Sundays’ of no sightseeing since we started this, although it’s only half a day as we fly to London this afternoon for an overnight flight. Due to the weather conditions I can’t get to Robin Island (Mandela’s former Prison) and Dave’s shark diving is cancelled and the cable car at Table Mountain is closed for maintenance.

Africa is a place we have made a promise to come back to. South Africa is a must. There is this amazing lady who manages the hotel we are staying in. I have spent hours chatting with this woman. Warm and mum like, she reminds me so much of Carol Taylor. She even has the same mannerisms that I love about Carol. The locals have the same characteristics and values as so many of our South African friends. They are ridiculously helpful, go out of their way to lend a hand, that’s our friend Adriaan to a tee. They are intelligent, kind and caring like our friend Brad. We love these friends of ours and it’s amazing to see a country full of people like this.

Travelling is like a Pandora’s box, once you start you want to see more, find
out more and experience more. I haven’t felt as if I have fully understood South Africa and it’s people yet and it’s one of those places that will stay with me for a long time to come.

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