Europe, baby!

In three days we’re on our way, and tonight we’ll try planning a little for Paris and Bordeaux while having a beer We’re only staying in Paris for two days, two short days actually - as we’re leaving Paris by train around 4 PM on Wednesday and head for Bordeaux.

We want to see as much of Paris as we can during those two days, but at the same time we don’t want to run our feet off. We’re planning on seeing most of the main attractions, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Louvre, Sacré Cæur and Montmartre, Champs-Élysées and Arc de Triomphe. In addition we want to try and get a tour of the catacombes. Jaran has been to Paris several times, but never been in the catacombes - need something new for him as well And if there’s time we’re hoping to visit Père Lachaise Cemetery.

So most of the sights of Paris has been chosen, we just have to figure out when and where to be

When we get to Bordeaux the only two things we have on our list so far is Saint-Émilion, a small town about 30 km east of Bordeaux and Dunes de Pyla - the largest sand dune in Europe. We’ll have some more items on our list for Bordeaux after tonight I guess When we are in Bordeaux we have our own private tour guides, Arnaud and Isabelle, and we’re going to exploit them to the max!

We can’t promise detailed overviews of what we’re going to see in every location, but it’s a little slow at work right now - only two hours till holidays, so we figured it was time for a blog update

We’ve finally gotten our hands on the last piece of the puzzle: The tickets!

Now the only thing which really remains is to buy a few necessities and packing! Exactly one week from now we’re arriving at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurooooope, baby!

Now we just have to see if we can manage to reserve seats on the train from Paris to Bordeaux  to be in Bordeaux next Wednesday  evening to meet Arnaud and Isabelle who will be our tourist guides and kind hosts for a couple of days Boy, are they in for a challenge!

Hope this week at work goes by quickly and quietly - we’re starting to get real excited about getting out of here!

(Edit: For those of you wondering we’ve bought a 22-day continuous global pass which means we can travel as much as we want during those 22 days.)

San Fermin Festvial, Pamplona - by Eneko Alonso

The Running of the Bulls is a well known event during the San Fermín festival in Pamplona, Spain, from July 6th till July 14th. If all goes as planned we’re in Pamplona on the 14th, the last day of the festival, and we hope to get up early and catch a glimpse of these crazy people running for their lives from the mob of angry bulls chasing after them.

Should be a blast!

Last week we finally got ourselves onto Amazon.com and ordered the books we want for the trip (it’s amazing how Norwegian book stores can survive - many books are almost the double in prize, compared to Amazon!).

Europe by Eurail 2009: Touring Europe by Train

Lonely Planet - France (Country Guide)

Lonely Planet - Italy (Country Guide)

Lonely Planet - Spain (Country Guide)

The books have shipped and will hopefully be here in a week or two, in good time for our departure

Today it’s one month left until departure and I’ve started making a list of stuff I have to purchase before we leave. We have gotten some good suggestions from my friend Kjetil, who was on a similar trip in Eastern Europe last year, although I never really understood the use of metal chains and locks… What kind of trip were you on, really?

Anyways, this morning I started looking at sleeping bag liners, preferably silk, as they are claimed to be better in any temperature and dry by the time you get them out of the water and into your backpack. And they take up almost no space at all. So it seems perfect!

Some hostels have linen included in the price, but it’s always good to have this kind for the places that don’t, or if we should run into a place where the cleaning crew does not seem to take great pride in their work…

I also want to buy a new compact camera for the trip. I was considering buying a HD handycam, but have come to the conclusion, that the money is better spent on a compact camera for this trip. Most of the new compact cameras have decent video recording capabilities for shorter “hello mum internet” videos

Then there’s tourist literature. We’ve decided to bring along a few Lonely Planet Country guides for France, Spain and Italy, in addition to a few tourist guides we’ve found online. That way we hope to at least map up the most must-see sights, and hope to meet other travelers, or locals who would like to join us for a visit in their beautiful town I’ll be playing the foreigner-card for all it’s worth!

Another book that has been recommended is the European Rail Timetable, so we’ll probably try to get our hands on one of those as well.

All for now. Jaran, out!