So long, farewell...............

To quote from that well known Salzburg musical, " So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye "

Two happy travellers
We have had a wonderful time and hope to have even more laughter, happiness and joy with our lovely family and friends.

Alllora!

24 Oct - The Wrap by John. So what things really struck me, and how hard was my first blog?

The final wrap from John.

Because the blog was written on the run to a very tight and packed schedule, I could only use words when sometimes I wanted to use words and a photo(s) to try to describe what I saw and/or felt. This was because sometimes the shot was hard to find ( we took thousands!) or it didn't come out. Plus, despite the wonders of modern technology, sometimes it was hard to access Google Images for a good substitute photo or one to juxtapose against the one I had taken. 

So here now are "The Missing Entries!"

I hope you find the photos and comments in this blog, interesting in themselves, even if you never saw the original blog they related to.

MORROCCO.

The six things that struck me most about Morrocco were these.

1. How easily extreme affluence and extreme poverty can sit so closely together and are so visible.I think I actually pointed this out in one of the entries. I know we have these extremes in our western society yet we seem to "hide" them better. I must not condemn Morroccans for this as I will be falling into the trap some Western politicians have made in the past that The "The West is best" and all others are inferior. When really, "The West" and "The Others" are just different.

2. The omnipotence and omnipresence of T.V. and T.V. satellite dishes. The dishes were everywhere as were the T.V. sets. Even in the Medina. As we were trudging down the dark, cramped thousand year old alley ways, and where people still used a communal water tap, I passed a tiny cafe, and guess what?! The people inside were watching soccer from Europe, probably beamed directly from Britain, France, where the country from wherever the biggest game was being played. The young men of the Medina's  favourite teams seemed to be Barcelona or Manchester United judging by the team guernseys they wore. Oh the power of international marketing in the global village!

3. Women. Traditional and modern. Sometimes when older women saw a camera pointed in only their GENERAL direction they would cover their faces. Yet their were other ones who seemed to be at ease with having their photos taken. Now I am thinking about what effects the rapid increase in camera waving tourists (of which I was one) will have on the younger women and girls. I must have subconsciously be thinking this when I took the photos below. 

If you zoom in as much as you can, you will see some young high school girls standing on the top balcony of what appears to be an affluent high school. The boys were happy enough to be photographed, but these young girls, as soon as they saw a camera pointed in their direction, dived for cover to hide their faces. All except for one confused little soul who was brave enough to give me a nervous little smile and a wave. Perhaps I was wrong to take the photo and show such cultural insensitivity, but  as a Westerner I found this interesting. Of course to a Moroccan this is quite normal.

4. Westernization.

The photos taken above also near Casablanca, for me also seem to sum up Morocco and its ways, and how quickly westernisation (please note I did not say progress or modernisation) is taking place. The older lady in traditional dress has her face covered, strangely enough by a sunshade bearing the logo of a multinational fast food chain. Yet one table down, there are two people (perhaps Moroccans) of a younger generation in western dress completely at ease in "Macca's"

5. Diversity.

Another Casablanca photo. Here a group of young ladies more or less the same age, on the same street and more or less the same spot, at the same time. Look how differently they are dressed. What does this infer about the differences in their beliefs, values, and lives? For me, this was yet another snapshot of the diversity of this interesting country.

6. Generosity and Courteousness. 

As I said somewhere in the blog, being a tourist on the move doesn't give you much time to interact with the locals and spend a bit of time making friends, but I was both struck and impressed by the Morroccan's courtesy and sometimes unimaginable generosity. 

The incident I wrote about in the blog where one of my fellow travellers, Christina, was given a pair of multi Euro priced shoes by a total stranger was a good example. It was only when our highly educated Morroccan guide patiently explained why anyone would do such an unheard of thing in the west, that I gained some insight into the Morroccan mind, and why such a gesture was so natural. Because this is blog and open to the public we will call the generous lady Yasmina.

"You see John, in The West, you only think about the price of things, and sometimes the status that owning something brings. Here we think differently. Yasmina obviously likes the shoes very much and she is happy to own them, but they are not THAT  important to her. When she realised how much more pleasure and delight Chritina would receive in owning the shoes them it is seems "natural" that Christina should have them. So she gave them to her. This gave Yasmina much pleasure and happiness to do so because it made Chritina happy. The price of the shoes is unimportant."

Yet the trip to Morocco wasn't all serious and deep thought provoking stuff. Sometimes it was. Lot of fun! 

More photos that show the melting pot of different groups.

On the night that I danced with "the green ladies" - I think they may have been Beduins - and the belly dancer we were also entertained by some people of African descent who played Gnawa music and who used their dancing and metal castanets to generate a lot of heat, energy and noise!

GERMANY AND THE EAGLES NEST.

Despite its magnificence, this place will always be haunted by its sinister and terrible Nazi past. When I wrote the blog about this, I wanted to have the time and ease of access to the net to find some photos of that era and juxtapose them against a photo I took myself to show people hidden by the mist to represent the ghosts of the past. So that the reader of that blog, or any visitor to that place might experience how menacing it can feel. 

ITALY and THE WEDDING.

Ah Italy! ... Where style beats substance every time! Julie has included in her blog from Rome, photos of the steep, uneven, and well worn steps the bride and her guests had to walk up AND down to attend the wedding ceremony. I couldn't find the photo where Mama took of her shoes to do this, but I did find this one.

Imagine how difficult (as well as painful) it must have been to keep your cool, and remain stylish and elegant when attempting to negotiate these steps in six inch gold high heels! I saw it and it took courage. All I can say is Signora, I salute you!

SO THAT'S IT!

The end of the blog. I hope you enjoyed reading it, and you got some the flavour, joy, and  sense of wonder and discovery that we experienced on the trip. Would I do it again? Yes, but at a slower pace! What did I learn from it? Heaps. What about the next trip? Don't know when that will be, but I think the other J and I have gained a lot of experience and confidence and learnt enough about what we like and how we like to do things, to be a bit more Independent next time. 

Cheers, 

John (The other J).

13 Oct - Sunday. D day -Depart Paris

Oh dear.  We didn't really want this day to come.

Farewell to Emma 

Emma checked out of her room and we went off via the Metro to Paris city where all the shops were closed - as it was Sunday. We had been told this by our guide on the Discover Walk tour but it is still peculiar for a major city.

By pure persistence however, Emma found that the perfume place she wanted was open (basically for tour groups) so like daughter I had to sample their wares:

We did however look over this beautiful building:

Then, it was back onto the Metro for a quick trip to the Eiffel Tower to grace it with our presence with a photo or two.

Everyone was so pleased to see us at the Eiffel Tower that they timed the Paris marathon to finish just as we were leaving to get on the Metro. So there we were about 5 deep, the only ones not in Lycra (and smelling of perfume not sweat) trying to get on the Metro that was overflowing. 

Once again the voice of the experienced Metro traveller could be heard 'Keep going right the way up to the end of the platform Mum'.  This I did with head down and 'taking no prisioners' we were able to somehow squeeze onto the first train with all the stinky, fit bodies.  (I ended up standing next to a male runner who was easily in his 80s and had to put aside my initial thought of asking if he was okay standing!). In fact anyone would be okay standing as being packed in so tightly, no one would be able to fall over.

When we arrived at our 'change lines' station,  most of the Lycra crowd had dispersed into different areas. We were then on the Metro line to take us to the Eurostar departure station.  

However,our fame must have spread, because more people decided to join us on this leg of the journey. This time we were graced with the 'very close presence' of ice hockey players from Canada with all their gear.  Later when I saw them throwing their heavy kit bags around with ease, I was wondering if they would 'hang about' and carry our luggage later..........

Then we were at the Eurostar station and time to farewell Emma

We were so lucky to have this time with Emma. We had such fun and so sad leaving....................

Our departure
We made our way back on the Metro, finished packing and then went to our first cafe for a late lunch/ early dinner.

Jonathan asked the male waiter for a "meal that shows the French style of cooking".  We had two different courses and when mine arrived, I caused confusion to the poor man because my immediate reaction was "Holy Cow" - and it clearly was not a cow! It was a whole bird!

We were a bit more leisurely over this meal than we should have been so it was a mad rush to the hotel, shower and board the shuttle bus to the airport.

I had a huge sigh of relief when our suitcases checked in well under the 30kg limit for each.  I was so distracted, I forgot about going to the first class lounge and just went to the ordinary lounge. (Shock horror - I will only be able to do this until May 2014).

Our flight home was a bit eventful as my left ankle doubled in size.  (This was due I think, to my going over on my ankle during the Discover Walk tour and not having my boots on for the first time since this happened).  I therefore had the experience of going to the Dubai Medical Centre during our stop over where I was very well looked after by about 6 people and advised to get an X ray when I arrived in Australia. (X-ray showed no broken bones just a bad sprain; all okay now).

Kermy came with me to the "below ground" medical rooms.

Michael met us at the airport and ferried me around with medical appointments.
It is great to see him again and we were able to attend the fantastic performance of the latest UMMTA (Uni of Melb Musical Theatre Assoc) "Rent" with which he has had so much involvement.  (Emma founded UMMTA when she was a student).

In summary
With the blog, I have missed including a number of things and included some things that, in the scheme of things are not really highlights of the trip but it is a snapshot of our adventure.  I have met so many wonderful people, seen so many fantastic things and I can't believe that it has all happened to me/us. We will treasure every moment of our Magical Mystery Tour as it really has been an unbelievable journey:

• Beautiful, fabulous Barcelona;
• Tour 1 - Spain, Portugal and Morocco;
• London;
• Tour 2 - Highlights of Europe; and
•  Wonderful Paris.

Wow, wow and wow! I love Europe.

12 Oct Sat - Wow! Fantastic day at Palace of Versailles

We had our rail tickets, our wonderful guide for transport (Emma), consumed a hearty breakfast and were off and away to Versailles.
When we were just about to swap from Metro to the RER, Emma suggested we should check we were going to the correct line.  Would you believe the RER was closed for maintenance so we had to back track through the wave of stations and go on another line?  (No drama with our intrepid guide and fantastic interpreter(the other J!))

Then we arrived - not at the 'Pearly gates of Heaven' but at the 'Golden Gates'  of the Palace of Versailles'See link Chateau of Versailles

This was the start of our super wonderful day in probably the most lavish, opulent, extravagant and extensive area that we have ever sighted. We thought we were prepared for it but we severely underestimated what was there.

We thought we had even 'done our homework' before our trip by watching the DVD "The rise and fall of Versailles" Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI..............

Inside the Palace

It was 'just like home' - not ours - but the home of the Sun God.

Of course, we had to rest and have lunch - entree and desserts before leaving the Palace (the main Palace that is).  We had the pleasure of being served by this very amicable French waiter.

For some reason, I suggested that Emma and I pose here - the younger one far more successful than yours truly you was almost falling over:

Then we went out to the Gardens - and the 'smaller' Palaces.  As far as the eye could see - and then there was even more when you arrived there.  It was absolutely incredible!

And of course, we saw a couple more brides - in different places at the Palace of Versailles:

Last night in Paris

We had spent hours at Versailles ( and still hadn't seen everything!) and arrived back in Paris without mishap but really quite exhausted.

In the courtyard of our Hotel

 

No, I had not been drinking at this stage! It was the chair!

After a walk around our suburb we had a main course at a not so great place and then returned to the Acrobatic Cow for desserts - as you do on your last night in Paris!

Brioche in eggy bread style with maple syrup and pecan nuts ( I could have this any day!)

 Chocolate moelleux cake - too rich for Emma and I.  We had to get Jonathan to finish.

Speculoos mascarpone (Again; such a chore that I would undertake again - any time.)

It was a wonderful way to finish our last night in Paris and Emma took this lovely image: