Den Haag days number three

I've just woken the third day of my travels around Nederlands. There are still lots of "j"s and "oooo"s in their language, but I'm slowly getting used to it. It even sounds nice to listen to - never thought that day would come. I'll get back to the Nederlands later on, but I'll prattle on a bit about what I've done so far.

After a 26 or so trip on the plane I landed at Paris, and got to grips with the metro I headed on out to the Monmatre area to crash at a backpacker place there. Contrary to what I thought, the Monmatre area isn't the prostitue area. Instead it's a quiet area in the 18th Arronissement of Paris that goes to sleep early in the evening and wakes up late which has its charm. If you follow one of the roads in an upwards fashion, you get to the Sacre Coeur which is the highest point in Paris. There are a couple of photos from the Sacre Coeur on the gallery. A lot of photos show overcast weather, which hasn't been uncommon since I've been in Europe. But you get those days about a third of the time.

I was crashing in a backpackers while I was in Paris (7 person dorm) and you can guarantee that anyone who walks in your room will either have an American twang or an Aussie accent. Met an engineer from South Australia and we missioned it around on the second day all over the place. It was good having someone else around to have a yarn with. When I met up with some American people who had moved over either for holidays or preparing to study in Europe somewhere, I had discovered that what we call a bum bag, they call a fanny pack. Those of you from Asia Pacific will have a bit of a chuckle on this one.

After the new mates I had met moved on, I went back to wandering the city on my own and came across what I think was described to me in my French class as the boubourg district in the northeast area of Paris in the 19th Arrondissement. While I was taking photos of the large looking arch with the Latin inscriptions, some guy told me to be careful with the camera. After indcating to all the women down the street overloaded with lederhosen and makeup that I hadn't noticed, he said that the women don't like getting photos taken. He didn't belive me when I tried to convince him it was the arch that interested me. Pottering around the 19th I came across the Museum of the Modern arts, which was closed, but the dude said the next morning would be a good time to visit. So I propped myself down on a seat and noticed that one of the cafes was offering free wifi access so I figured I'd take the liberty of sitting on a bench somewhere and getting back up to date with the rest of the world.

The metro system is really efficient, and litterally you can find a station at every block, or two at the most. The trip is 1.40 euro for as far as you want. The stations are clean, and there are plenty of people asking me if I speak english and wanting my cash. I reply "non" in my best french accent then charge off. I don't exactly feel like the Dhali Lama, but I figure out a way of justifying it to myself then move on.

I got the details of Yo, Corrine and Alex who are in-law family living in the Massif Centrale region of France. After catching the three hour train jouney down there (which arrived within ten seconds of when it said it would) I stayed with them for a few days. Their place is in a town called Ludesse which is probably like something out of father ted. The population is around 200 and it certainly felt that way. For any banking you had to charge to the next door town and even then it's only open on Fridays. Most of the towns there are about 400 years or so old. Yo is really in to his hang gliding so did the bold out there and checked out the countryside. Pretty impressive, especially being about 800 metres up - clouds are pretty close.

I missioned it up on the following Thursday with Matt to Paris on the train, then across to London. I found the best part of Lodon was leaving, so needless to say that the city was everything I thought it would be. I won't dwell on it that much, but I will say a couple of things. The effluent from the trains drains straight on the tracks and the who place generally just feels like molasses.

After a couple of days I headed across to Amsterdam for a flight that cost 18 pound return. After taxes it worked out to be 60 GBP/150NZD. I didn't spend much time in Amsterdam since I was catching up with Emile in Dan Haag which is about 25 minutes south of Amsterdam by train. As expected things over in the mainland are efficient and reasonably clean. On the gallery there are a few photos of the beach and I'll try and get some more of the city itself. It's quite a nice city and definitely very lively at night. We didn't leave till around 11 for dinner and some night life. I'm almost typed out, so I'll whack some more stuff on in a few days' time.