Bern, Switzerland

Having stayed an extra night in Lyon as opposed to spending it in Geneva, we were up early to try and make it to Geneva in the morning to have a quick look around before heading further on to Bern in the afternoon. As nice as Geneva was, we got the feeling pretty quickly that we'd made the right decision, as we passed by government buildings, headquarters, plenty of 'suits'. Lake Geneva was stunning, and whilst I'm sure we could have found a lot more amazing things to do had we scratched the surface, we were quite eager to get back on the train and onto Bern.

Geneva

Geneva

Bern is a small city, but even still, our location on the outskirts of the old town was ideal. Not only did it work out to be a perfect starting point for a couple of introductory pints with our host Nik, but we didn't have far to walk on the way home after feeling a bit lightheaded... after noticing how expensive meals in Switzerland are these days.

We were, very lucky, for the culinary experience side of things in itself to have not one, but two, Swiss Fondue experiences during our time in Bern. The 'standard' cheese fondue was as expected (amazing), but as enjoyable as it was, the meat fondue the following night was nothing less than a feast. Neither Abby or I had encountered a meat fondue before, and we were in for a treat as copious amounts of different cuts of meat (uncooked) were cooked in a fondue set filled with broth, and accompanied with a plethora of sauces and salads. A condiment lovers heaven.

Moving on from food for a change - the old town, with its cobbled streets, large plazas, fountains, and bomb-shelters turned retail spaces were nice to walk through, but the real jewel in the crown from Bern, much like lots of Switzerland I feel, is its natural beauty, and the way the landscape and the towns, cities and villages combine for some amazing scenery.

Bern

Bern

Bern

The river Aarte winds through Bern, with a steep rise and eventually mountains on one side, and the old town on the other. In summer, many locals will swim, drift or raft along the turquoise river. From the Nydeggbrucke bridge, there are splendid views of the old town and river, and also of the  Barenpark (Bear Park). The bear, is the symbol of Bern, and for many years, until very recently I found out (only 3 years ago!) bears have been kept in a small circular, depressing enclosure (Barengraben, or bear pit), but have since moved to a more a natural, larger, and less depressing enclosure, right on the edge of the river, not too far from their previous home.

Bear Park

Bear Park

Old Bear Pit

Bear Park

Bear Park

The river, which in summer is host to many local swimmers (despite the strength of its current) borders many other attractions and sights, including the Tierpark (zoo), historical bridges, as well as the aforementioned bear park and old town. A plethora of wet eaves of many hues littered the path from the zoo to back to the old town, providing a sight as slippery underfoot as it was scenic.

Tierpark (Zoo)

Aare River

Once reaching the junction of the bear park, river, old town - at the end of the Nydeggbrucke, a short walk up an incredibly steep cobbled path leads to a rose garden, but more importantly, an amazing panoramic view over the city, and a great place to sit and relax while you wait for the aching in your legs to subside.

Bern

Lyon, France

The overnight bus from Barcelona to Lyon was one of the more uncomfortable and annoying trips thus far. A packed out bus, crying kids, and someone in front of us that found it necessary to put his seat as far back as possible, in addition to our general inability to sleep on any form of car/bus/plane/train, meant we arrived at 7am extremely dreary eyed. Thankfully, we were able to get a few hours sleep not soon after, as we arrived at the home of Laurence and Lucas, a young couple who'd graciously agreed to host us for a few days.

It was quite clear that we were well and truly into Autumn as we set out in Lyon. The skies were more grey than blue, but the absence of colour above was more than made up for by the plentiful and wonderful shades of greens, browns and reds in all the trees and and plantlife that were spread across the city. This was no more evident than in Parc De La Tete D'Or, a comparatively small park towards the northern end of town. With a pristine lake its centerpiece, the park was almost empty given the cloudy weather overhead; perfect conditions to test out a plentiful amount of stupid poses in front of signs.

Whilst far from being the visually stunning city like it's big brother, Lyon was not without its charm; Vieux Lyon abounded with quaint cobbled narrow streets, full of book shops and cafes, while the Rhone and Soane Rivers winded through the city and were especially pretty when the many bridges that join their banks were lit up at night.

Fourviere could be called Lyon's Montmarte, Notre Dame De Fourviere its Sacre Couer, and whilst not as impressive as the their Parisian counterparts, the views were great, as were those from Pentes de la Croix Rousses, though my appreciation of them was probably dimmed by the hard-to-avoid comparisons, and memories of Montjuic only days earlier.

Much like our last night in Barcelona, we spent our last night in Lyon indulging in some regional Lyonnaise cuisine - saute de boeuf sausage  with St Marcellin cheese (similar to a stroganoff if I could like it to anything) in addition to the best crème brulee I've had in my life perfectly finished my French culinary extravaganza.

Barcelona

An indirect train route from Perigiueux via Irun had us arriving in Barcelona quite late at night, before being greeted by a friend of mine I met during my last time in Spain, Ainara, who had kindly offered to let us stay with her during our time in Barcelona.

The weather was great, perhaps too great, as a decision to wear jeans backfired, especially during the not so casual amble up to and through Parc Guell the following day, the Mediterranean sun beaming down upon us. A surprisingly cheap purchase of some FC Barcelona shorts brought a wave of relief as I ventured to the other main touristic landmark, the Sagrada Familia, a church designed by famed Catalan architect Anton Gaudi which, more than 130 years since construction started, is due for completion in 2026. Given the level of detail and intricate design, though, it is no surprise it's taken this long.

Parc Guell

Sagrada Familia

After meeting upwith Ainara in Parc Ciutadella , we wandered through the alleyways of Born, the old Jewish quarter, and then Barra Gotic, the Latin quarter, before heading up Las Ramblas via Placa Catalunya and Placa Reial to Gracia, where we picked up some amazing tapas and pizza for dinner. The whole city was ridiculously busy, even for a Tuesday night, reminding me of the good old days of late night shopping.

Church of Santa Maria del Pi, Gothic Quarter

Placa Reial

Las Ramblas

Learning from my mistake the previous day, in suitably more comfortable attire, we ventured to Placa Catalunya again, before heading up Passage de Gracias by foot, passing by some more renowned Gaudi works, notably Casa Milà and Casa Batlló. A sample of the local snack food and confectionery cuisine (seriously, one of the most enjoyable aspects of heading to a country is trying all their junk food), and we were ready to head up to Montjuic.

Whilst the funicular to the lower half, including the Olympic Stadium was all well and good, the carbs I'd filled up on earlier were definitely burnt off on the ascent towards Castel Montjuic, right at the top of the mountain overlooking the city and the sea. Throughout the trip I've seen a lot of amazing scenic views from high up on mountains and whatnot so to still be awestruck by the scenery gives an idea of how amazing the 360 degree panoramic views of the sea,  port, mountains and city were.  They were just as wonderful on the way down, as we caught the Telerific (cable car) down to the lower parts of Montjuic, which had the added bonus of resting our now rock-hard calves and thighs.

Estadi Olympic

Montjuic

Telerific

View from the Telerific

With Ainara, we headed out to a Catalan restaurant (regional Spanish cuisine - though the Catalan's will viciously oppose being called Spanish) and more tapas (Russian salad is an interesting one, whilst   Patatas Bravas is my new favourite international food of the week) and drinks. An off the beaten track restaurant down a variety of side streets and alleys, it was good to eat at a place not targeted toward a 'guiris' (tourists), with Catalan people in a Catalan timeslot (we didn't arrive at the restaurant, which was packed, until about 10:45pm).

In booking a night bus to Lyon the following night, we allowed ourselves an extra day to explore the La Boquiera markets, just off the Ramblas, a market teeming with a vast array of sights, smells and the usual market happenings. After consuming a mouth watering selection of fruit, we had a casual stroll along the vibrant Barceloneta beach. With palm trees, rollerbladers, volleyball players and music it was reminiscent of a cleaner Venice Beach, really highlighting that Barcelona is the city that has it all. Architecture, culture, mountains, beaches, history, parks, food... it's hard not to fall in love with the city, and I can't wait to go back again, and again.

La Boqueria Markets

La Boqueria Markets

Barceloneta

Barceloneta

Exploring Southern France

We left Paris quite early in the morning, heading south to Perigueux in the Dordogne region of France, to stay with the family of Alexis, a French friend of mine from America. After Alexis' father Armand picked us up from the train station, and upon our introductory drive throughout Perigueux, and the following welcome into his home, it was already clear that the next few days would be quite enjoyable as we shared a few jokes and listened to many of Armand's amusing anecdotes, including those from his time as a backpacker in Australia 20 years ago.

The hospitality, helpfulness, kindness from Armand, Joelle and their young daughter Hannah continued throughout our time in Perigueux, as we were well and truly spoilt, experiencing French cuisine both new; salade de gesiers (chicken gizzards with salad) confit de canard (duck confit) and some old (croissants, pain au chocolat, copious amounts of cheese) but all amazing. I'm positive we would have had an amazing time in Perigueux just eating and drinking every night (which we did), but there was much more to enjoy.

Perigueux Backyard View

Our journey throughout the part of France that many celebrities enjoy visiting for a casual getaway started the next morning as we visited the middle aged and small villages of Bourdeille and Brantome. Narrow cobbled streets, quaint little bridges and cafes contrasted against the grandiose churches and castles that would often tower over the rest of the town.

Brantome

Brantome

Bourdeille

The wonderfully tranquil landscapes continued the following day as we drove up, down and through winding valleys (slightly nauseating, I will admit), before walking through the surrounding villages of two major castles in the area – the French Château Beynac and the English Château de Castelnaud  The villages were as charming and a sight to behold as much as the castles themselves, and were very much reminiscent of those from Monty Python, Robin Hood, or even Game of Thrones. In fact, the region as a whole was hard to look at without imagining horses, knights and catapults abound.

View towards Château de Castelnaud

Our final night in Perigueux finished as our time in Perigueux begun, with more amazing French food and wine, reflecting upon our time in France, our time ahead, and with more amusing ancedotes from Armand's Australian adventures.

Paris

Given a relaxed attitude about the pace of our travel, we opted to take a low cost, albeit much longer (7 hours) bus to Paris, as opposed to the 2 or 3 hour train. The ride was a lengthy one, through rolling green pastures and the like, and the scenery made it a tad more bearable, as did the surprisingly comfortable seats which much to my annoyance, were sans drink holders.

We arrived at a bus terminus fairly central in Paris, and made our way to St Denis, a suburb on the outskirts of Paris where we'd be staying with a Couchsurfing host for the next few days. With some local information on lesser known sights, local cuisine and other Parisian tidbits, we were set for a busy couple of days.

Thankfully a lot of the 'main' tourist attractions are within a (long) walk of each other. After a long first day, we worked out we had clocked up over 20 kilometres seeing the usual Parisian monuments, from the Eiffel Tower, to the Louvre, to Arc De Triomphe, Champs Elysee, and so on. We ended up the Eiffel Tower in the late afternoon/early evening, and spent a little while braving the chilly winds as the sun set over the city.

Louvre

Eiffel Tower

View from the Eiffel Tower

View from the Eiffel Tower

Pont de l’Archevêché

A house warming party in outer Paris was a pleasant but unexpected way to spend our night, as we joined our hosts Pierre and Connie in a party in their friends new apartment. I really don't know what I expected, but for some reason it was a little surprising to find EVERYTHING exactly the same, from the music (which I've seen noticed, no matter where we go, American music dominates, even though no-one has any idea what they're singing), party customs, it's hard to describe, other than there was nothing really different at all... although, this was a new take on a familiar house party experience, perhaps the most notable being the views of the Eiffel Tower out of the windows, inclusive of a light show on the hour, every hour.

The following day we had a bit more time in Paris, and got to enjoy everything at a much more relaxed pace, which was necessary given the 5am wake up to stream the AFL Grand Final over the internet. Our morning started in Montmartre, on the steps below the Sacre Coeur, overlooking the city of Paris with wonderful panorama views. Buskers and performers kept us entertained as we took in the scenery, before heading down to Abbesses to grab some lunch from the nearest boulangerie/patisserie. Needless to say, our diet consisted heavily of a variety of baguettes, pastries and coffees throughout most of our time in Paris and throughout France in the coming couple of weeks.

Montmartre

Montmartre

Canal Saint Martin near Stalingrad Station provided us with a view of a dfferent side of Paris, and was a recommendation from Pierre. Besides the Canal itself, the area was a lot less polished than what we had seen the previous day, and much less of a tourist attraction (if it could even be called that), which resulted in an ability to explore an interesting without hordes of other tourists around.

Canal St Martin

Canal St Martin

Canal St Martin

The same could not be said for Pere Lachaise cemetery, with an solid supply of tourists (not withstanding ourselves, of course) wandering around and through many of the the large and for most the part extremely extravagant burial sites, including those of Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde, the latter two of which were covered in a ridiculous amount of tributes, or graffiti, depending on how you want to look at it.

Pere Lachaise 

Pere Lachaise 

A final walk along the Seine in the evening, admiring the sights of the city once more topped off an amazing couple of days for us. I was a big fan of Paris after coming here a few years back, and whilst many people seem to find issues with the city, I couldn't be anything other than impressed with how wonderful it was. Maybe it was the picture perfect weather and a hassle free couple of days, but for meI still think Paris is right up there.