Château de Versailles

Jess and I got up early and made our way to Versailles.

The town itself reminded me of an 'Olympic Village' or 'Vacation Spot', in fact the Rugby world cup was being held there at the time. Even though it was only a quick train ride from Paris it was quite different.

Luckily the weather was good and we were able to walk through the gardens. It was incredible. All I could think was that this was someone's back yard!!! I didn't have a wide enough lens to get it all in... so here's me in the garden instead ;-)



Again because the Chateau was so big and crowded inside I couldn't get any pictures to do it justice. All I can say is you have to go there to see it. If I learned one thing about the French it's that they like things BIG! We brag now when we have 9 or 10 foot ceilings, who do we think we are royalty? Nope they had 40 or 50 foot ceilings, maybe more! This place was Gianormous!

Belle Pari!

Very early but not so bright on Monday morning the ladies and I bid farewell to each other again. We all had different destinations, Kristy - Exeter, Sponge - Sheffield, Guava - India and Me - Belle Pari. I made my way to Waterloo Station to take the Chunnel to Paris. The ride was quick and uneventful. Once in Paris I became immediately aware of the fact that I don't speak or understand French. I did manage to get on the right subway and find my hostel all by myself though, with NO ERRORS! I know I'm getting good at this. I didn't go South instead of North, right instead of left, I followed maps and written instructions and had an incident free morning. It was going to be a good day.

Once I checked in I didn't want to waste anytime so I went for a wander. The streets in Paris are winding and are lined with beautiful buildings. Below is a great representation of what they are like, it was the first thing I saw when I got out of the subway (and had to walk up with my luggage by the way); instantly I fell in love with yet another city. I know I did it backwards because they say that Buenos Aries is the Paris of South America, and now I see why. It was similar in a lot of ways, specifically the architecture that I love so much.


I wandered my way over to the area where the Moulin Rouge is. The way it was described to me was that it was similar to the 'Red Light' district of Amsterdam. It wasn't quite that bad, but it was a flashy, sex lined street full of temptation for debauchery.

Then for a quick break I went back to my hostel, met a girl, Jess, in my room and we decided to go to the Eiffel Tower together. We ventured on the subway and again we made it there without incident. After 5 years of traveling alone I am really getting good at it, less time lost means more to see. That and the fact that 2 heads are better then one. Jess and I seemed to balance each other well. She knew what to do and when, and I knew how to get us there. Great combination, oh and she spoke French!! So we made it to the top of the tower and back, saw some lovely views of Paris, although a bit rainy and overcast.


This is my favourite picture of the Tower.

Once we were tuckered out (both of us up very early) we went back to our hostel through the pouring rain. There may have been an issue with us going the wrong way on the subway, but to our credit we were tired.

A friend to the homeless

This is a story I'm not exactly proud of, but in my defense anything I did was with good intentions, or plain old stupidity. I had to share the story, because only I would do something as insensitive and stupid as this.

Whilst walking down Brick Lane in London the girls and I were approached by a homeless person asking for some money. He was actually pretty funny, he said "Can you spare 700 pounds for a flight to the Caribbean, or some change for some food". The girls and I giggled and I would have given him something, but I honestly didn't have anything other then a 20 pound note on me.... here's where I turn into an asshole. Rather then saying "No sorry" I chose to elaborate and said, "Sorry, I don't have any change right now, maybe after dinner." I KNOW!! Who does that. I was mortified, but I wasn't alone, as we walked away, me with my head down in shame, Spongey said "Get home safely". Seriously we aren't mean people, we don't like to kick you when you are down, we were trying to be sincere and nice and instead we were jerks, and that wasn't the end of it. Yes, hard to believe there is more.

On route home now walking down some street I can't remember I see a Starbucks Coffee cup sitting on the ground ahead. Being the silly fun person I am I ran at full speed toward the cup and gave it a swift kick. Nothing came out of the cup thankfully, but it did roll it's way to the homeless person nestled in the alley way. I can only assume that was his collection cup.

I have since donated all my savings to the homeless people of London out of guilt and shame. To support the cause please feel free to send donations :-)

London Calling

Well it looks as though I left off on Saturday... Again our main objective in London was to spend time with each other. A little Guava, a touch of Sponge, not enough Kirsty, a pinch of Crazy and we were bound to have some laughs and a story or two..


To start of the evening we met Sponge's sister joined by her friend and had some snacks accompanied wine at a restaurant overlooking the Thames. Once we emptied the bars wine rack we decided to head back to town and continue the fun. As we made our way back to the Fancy Hotel we somehow were followed by 3 handsome strangers pretending they were 'lost'. Of course being the polite girls we are we invited them to have a drink with us. When asked why they followed us they said it was because our friend (Sponge) Eye F*&k'd one of them on the Tube. Sponge claims she doesn't know how to do that... yet no one followed me off the Tube. Guava even tried to Eye F*$K but the boys said she just looked like she was having a seizure.. lol.. The remainder of the night was so much fun. We were laughing so much that our cute Dutch waiter cut us off, granted it was after 3 bottles of wine, a large number of Mojitos, some lemon drops and a hefty bill.. but still we weren't as drunk as he thought, we were just having a lot of fun as you can see by the picture below. The funny part was that Guava actually thanked the waiter for cutting us off. She apparently had NEVER been cut off before. Unfortunately, the night did have to end as we were cut off and Sponge was.. um.. full ;-) So we headed back up to our room, and you can say the three of us bonded in a whole new way.


Our final day after dragging Sponge out of bed, we did my version of sight seeing... you know the walk by. Walk was a lot of fun too. Asking random people to take our picture and then bitching that they took shitty pictures. Seriously, we are standing in front of Big Ben and we ask someone to take our picture, we even say to make sure you can see Big Ben, and what does she cut out... BIG BEN. Idiot. So then we had to ask someone else but far enough away that she wouldn't notice. Why are we being so concerned about being polite to her? No idea.. but anyhow we did get a few of us and Ben, the Eye and other London Icons. We ended our evening on Brick Lane (Little India) for some lovely Indian food, free wine and a run-in or two with the homeless. I actually have a story about that, but think I'll leave that for it's own entry.

I just wanted to say that I am thankful for the few days I had with my chicas but as always wish I had more time with them. Saying goodbye this time was not as hard as I am sure we will meet again. There are very few women in my life who see all the Crazy, and these two have seen more then most, even a Kinder Surprise if you will. I never thought 3 very different people could get on so well. We each bring something to the relationship and I feel very lucky to be a part of our Threesome... Definitely BEST Threesome I've ever had.



I love you ladies, until we meet again... XOXOXO

Jolly Ol'England

If you haven't guessed I went to London, England.

The flight here was unlike most and without incident... no one died, no one threw up constantly, nothing out of the ordinary. Well I guess no incidents is out of the ordinary for me, but I digress...

I was the first to arrive, followed by Sponge and Guava. If you didn't know I went to London to reunite with the girls I met (and fell in love with) in South America last year. The first hotel we stayed at was so luxurious, we had views of lovely brick layer work and a bathroom that actually converted into a shower! Amazing I know. All you had to do was drop the curtain and Viola! Shower. The beds were also interesting, they must have been Chinese as according to Guava she had acupuncture in her sleep from the springs. The second day we checked in to a much less elegant Hotel.. the Sheraton Park Hotel, with views of Hyde Park, porters, robes, oh and cleaning ladies!!


As for London, as we have all been here our main objective is to spend time together. So other then Camden Town (above) which I hadn't been to before, we aren't really doing anything touristy. Unless bar hoping is considered touristy. Seriously we've gone from cafe to bar, rinse... repeat.

Oh I almost forgot speaking of rinsing, the water pressure at the Sheraton was incredible. I swear I washed of the last 3 people who 'touched' me!! (Paraphrased that one) lol.