Gassin, France

Little Hilltop Village, I adore you
Little Hilltop Streets, I wander you
Little Hilltop Buildings, I admire you
Little Hilltop People I envy you
Roads the width of a small car
Cobblestones so far apart
Vines creeping up and up
Hazy Horizon, the morning has yet to break
A far-off bark from a Gassin chien
Little Hilltop Village, if only the world were like you
Peaceful, Pretty, relaxed
Excitment arising only for the sweet taste of a simple croissant and the thought of lolling about on the beaches of La Croix Valmer
Lazy, tanned and french

St Tropez

The Azur water glimmers and sparkles under the Hot Hazy sun.
The water does not discriminate
Be it a lowly fisherman who wades in it’s waves
Or a Billionaire’s yacht afloat, majestic and enviable
We are all here to enjoy it’s rhythm
To and fro
Here and there
It moves, licking at the shores like a child licks his melting ice-cream
The sand, with his accomplice, the sun, has no mercy for bare-feet
The water proves an only sanctuary in this heat
But it is welcome, for in St Tropez
On est tout content, toute est bien
Le soleil brille, l'odeur de dejeuner est dans l’air et l’après-midi vient avec le promis d’une petite sieste.
Sun-kissed Tans
Topless French women
Spades and Buckets
Goggle-marked faces
Sand in my Sandals
Sunscreen
Strolling through the port de Grimaud is strolling through Venice
2 scoops, cornet, napkins and camera at the ready
A picture taken here is no comaprison
To the ecstacy experienced by the senses
All is beautiful, toute est jolie
St Tropez, St Maxime
Merci, tu m'as donné une réve

Just touched down in London Town

Wednesday, July 14^th

Easyjet ticket in hand, backpack already causing strain and Purse full of Pounds, I board the train to Geneva airport.

I am travelling to London. The London I have been dreaming about since I was 10. The city of queens, tea and scones, jack the ripper and infamous accents riddled with “Oh I do Say” and “Oh how Awfully Jolly”. This is the trip I have been waiting for…

I’m in Geneva airport with my friend, Cherie, and there ain’t nothing that can bring us down. Oh but alas, it is almost 10 o clock and our dear old airplane hasn’t even left Gatwick.

Still smiling though.

Even when, upon sitting in the waiting room for almost 3 hours with constant promises of flight details, we are informed of the dreaded cancellation. Kind of inconvenient, but still smiling as we have just been rescheduled for 10 o clock the next day.

Thursday, July 15^th

We are taken on a bus ride, across the border into France to find our little run down hotel, most courteously payed for by Easyjet. By this time it is 1 in the morning and we are politely informed the bus will come and pick us up at 4:45 – giving us 3 hours to sleep. Oh Bother. We all wake up to find that reception is closed leaving us to pile our room keys in front of the main entrance. As I said pretty run down.

Although a teeny bit EXHAUSTED, I’m still all smiles, because either way we are still getting to London. Cherie and I have most certainly pissed off the other irate passengers with our cheery dispositions and loud laughing.

After waiting in Geneva airport, AGAIN, for 4 hours we finally board our easyjet flight to Luton. SUCCESS!

We get to London St Pacras International via the first Capital connect, pull out the Hostel directions and head out on our way.

Walk Walk Walk Walk….OOOOH Red bus!!!!

Walk Walk Walk Walk….OOOOH Red telephone Box!!!!

Walk Walk Walk Walk….OOOOH London Taxi!!!!

Walk Walk Walk Walk….OOOOH Our Hostel!!!!!

Our Hostel is called Clink Hostel and is one of the best hostels I have ever stayed at! Not too expensive, free breakfast and home to some of the most awesome staff!! Set in an old courthouse, the funky vibe contrasts so nicely with it’s original atmosphere of austerity. And the Internet room is wicked cool!!!

We drop our bags and head out for our afternoon exploration. We head down to the Thames and walk along Victoria embankment, eventually finding ourselves in Covent Garden watching a street performance with a Cornish pasty in hand. Sweet way to begin our trip J

Friday, July 16^th

Okay so today is the day: We apologize to our feet for what they are about to experience. First we head to Tower bridge and Tower of London. Of course being cheap Au pairs we admire 90% of things from the outside, paying minimal entrance fee.

We had decided to skip the queues of the London eye and head to St Paul’s Cathedral instead. May I just say, the stairs: CRIKEY MOSES!!!!! You do not the meaning of an incline by stairs if you have not experienced St Pauls! By the time we got to the top, our legs had turned to a jelly-like substance. But oh the view!!!!

After our descent, we headed to Westminster to meet up with a friend of Cherie’s. He showed us Big Ben, nicknamed after Sir Benjamin Hall. It first chimed in 1859!!!!

We then saw Westminster Abbey and headed to Buckingham Palace. The biggest disappointment was that those funny red guards with the fluffy hats weren’t there. Tossers!!! Apparently the regiment changes and it doesn’t always mean that it’ll be the same regiment all the time.

So Buckingham palace saw us posing with this burly policeman instead

Trafalgar square then saw me mounting one of its giant lions, with great difficulty I may add.

And Picadilly circus found us with mighty cranky stomachs. We decided to hunt down the nearest KFC. Boy oh boy, We most certainly felt the effects of KFC on our stomachs after not having it for almost a year- ew!

After our tiresome day we headed back to the hostel for a nap. We stopped at King's Cross station to be complete nerds and find Platform 9 and 3 quarters.

Lol You see we were going to paint the town red with my brother’s friend Lliam that night. IN HEELS!!!! Once again we apologized to our poor feet and after our dinner of fish and chips we headed out. We all went to this high-end club called Amika – with a guest list and all!! We got in for free and had free drinks all night. We danced and made fools of ourselves: two poor au pairs amidst the coiffed rich. What a blast!!

Saturday July, 17^th

After getting home at 3 in the morning we managed to collapse quietly onto our beds so as to not wake our 10 roomates. We woke up, ate our free breakfast and checked out. We were going to stay with my friend from South Africa, Jess, who is working as an au pair in Richmond. We left our bags in the hostel and headed to the British museum to see the Rosetta Stone. We then walked around Oxford street and Cherie nearly had a hernia when she saw a Mexican food chain called Chipoltle. Hmm I wonder where we had lunch?

We then went to meet up with Jess at the Science Museum. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing science games until closing time. Yes NERDS, I know.

We headed to Harrods, bought Krispy Kream doughnuts and sat outside people watching. Harrods was packed, it seemed like a museum the way people were milling around looking at things.

We then headed to Richmond, where Jess lives with her Host Family. We stopped at the grocery store and boy did I get schooled!!!!! There were no longer cashiers!!! Instead people scanned the goods themselves and payed the machine. It was weird, almost sad to see machines replacing people L Oh but what a joy it was to be shopping in London because compared to Switzerland, things were sooooo cheap!!!! We got to jess’ house, which was a typical squashed double storey British house and after a lot of catching up we finally dozed off

Sunday July 18^th

Today we decided to head to Greenwich to the Royal Observatory. We stood on both the western and eastern hemispheres at the same time which, if I do say so myself, was pretty darn cool! We then browsed the royal observatory after which Jess went home to work and we went antique shopping in Greenwich.

We found a typical English pub where we had lunch, and then headed back to Richmond. Jess showed us her local haunt where we enjoyed cocktails and regular middle-class people - compared to the hoity toity of the last club we went to ;)

Monday July 19^th

Today was shopping day. We rose and shined mighty early so we could head out to Camden Market – which may I recommend to dedicate more than 1 day for because we were in no way satisfied with the amount of time we were there.

We bargained and shopped and shopped and bargained. Cherie bought a I love London shirt. LOL LOL LOL

I bought a rubix cube LOL LOL LOL

We consumed the most disgustingly greasy Chinese food and headed to Oxford Circus to end our day with tea and scones In John Smiths Department store.

Heading back to Richmond, Jess and her friend had prepared a picnic on the side of the river and we bade farewell to our last night in London.

Tuesday July 20^th

Back to reality, we headed to Gatwick airport via the first Capital Connect and boarded our flight for Geneva. Slept the entire flight home!! Getting to Switzerland was surreal: The prices, the language and the people: Expensive and unfriendly.

London was absolutely magical and I loved every minute of it. But the fun, tis’ not over: we now have a week long concert, Paleo, to party hard at.

Oh woe is me ;P

Before I Expire...

Things I NEED to get done before I pass my sell-by date :)

1. Go Bungee-Jumping
2.Go Skinny-dipping
3.Go sky diving
4.Become Fluent in at LEAST 2 other languages
5.Go skiing
6.Swim with dolphins
7.Donate Blood
8.Ride a Camel
9.Ride an Elephant
10.Travel to all continents
11.Go on a cruise
12.Kiss in the Rain
13.Kiss underwater
14.Go on a hot-air balloon ride
15.Learn to play the Piano
16.Run a Marathon
17.Scuba Dive
18.Buy myself my own laptop
19.Go camping for at least a week
20.Have an enormous library
21.Learn Latin
22.Go on a Helicopter Ride
23.Go paragliding
24.Go cliff-diving
25.Experience La Tomatina - Spain
26.Experience Disney world
27.Ride the Cobra, Ratanga Junction, Cape Town
28.Dance in the Rain
29.Have a snowball fight
30.Go to College/University
31.Make a difference in at least one person's life
32.Become Financially independent
33.Stay Silly
34.Live on my Own
35.Ride a horse across a plain or a beach (corny huh?)
36.Do a trolley-run
37.Win Something
38.Thank my mom in the most awesome way for everything she has done for me
39.Wear my Matric Dance Dress again
40.Go to an Opera
41.Go to a New York Broadway Show
42.Go on a Gondola Ride Venice
43.Go on an epic roadtrip with a bunch of friends

To be continued

Boobies, Casino's and big yachts

NICE

The weekend of the 11th of June saw 3 friends and I embarking on the most epic roadtrip of all. A glorious 7 hours in a little green car. The boot (or should I say Trunk to please my American friends?) was like Santa's black bag: things either spewing out or forced to take on irregular shapes. And Roadtrip food. Oh the roadtrip food. What is it with roadtrip food and it's seductive voice which forces one to eat almost everything in the first hour? Hmmmm now that I've finished all 3 sandwiches, what else can I eat?
To get to Nice, France from Lausanne, Switzerland we took the
Motorway to Martigny after we which we branched off to enter the St Bernard tunnel which connects Switzerland and Italy. If you are returning to Switzerland buy the Aller-Retour (valid 30 days) as there is a plus/minus 17 franc difference which will save you almost 20CHF on the way back (seeing as entering the tunnel via the Italian side costs more)
The glorious 7 hours consisted of one peebreak, old school music, loud girly singing and toothpicks to hold up our eyelids as we were forbidden to sleep.
Arriving in Nice at 2 in the morning and out comes Tom (our GPS Friend, who gets us lost most of the time anyway as he cannot seem to understand french roads) We EVENTUALLY found our Helvetique hotel - 24 hour book-in thank god. 18€ for parking!!! The price was cheaper than that of a regular hostel: this of course means one hell of a stinky room but a freindly night-concierge and of course being in Nice, we were oblivious. Warning: Morning staff are Douchebags!!

Clever Budget food: Long life milk, cereal, giant bowls of pre-made pasta salad, yoghurt.

SATURDAY:

Hello million dollar yachts, Hello grand Casino, Hello Mediterranean beaches.
After a not too late wake-up despite our 2AM bedtime, we walked to the train station bustop to catch the number 100 bus to Monaco. It was packed and stuffy and took almost 40 minutes of standing and swaying to and fro as our bus maneuvered the winding mountain roads on it's way to the second smallest country in the world.
Oh the glamour of the rich and the famous! I would give not even a penny to have to keep up with this snotty bunch. Excuuse me, but your yacht is bigger than mine - WA WA CRY CRY Anyone for some salmon sandwiches with a dollop of caviar. Bleh
But oh the buildings! Absolute beauty! Absolute Symmetry! Standing in front of the Monte Carlo Casino, I was quite shocked at how quaint and petite it was. Of course Size does not count right?
A quick run up the Kill-me steps to the Palais Royale sure was worth the view. There before you lies the cute little harbour that harbours the not quite so cute nor little yachts.
Monaco's Royal Palace, founded in the 12th century, is no Fancy Schmancy Castle with all them towering turrets. It looks more so like a little sandcastle built by giggling children, with extra odds and bits added on and of course a flag propped atop it's tallest bit. Of course being built by giggly children should in no way demean it's status as top-notch fortress. I wasn't able to check out the changing of the guard but if you're ever in Monaco before 11:55 get your bum over there and tell me if missed out. P.s the cannonballs are pretty cool!!
Heading back to Nice, we hit the cobbled streets for a bit o' shopping, during which blue slush-puppies were consumed resulting in horrific blue tongues which surely scared away the french boys that were supposed to fall maddly in love with us ;P Ha ha Of course we happened upon a bachelor party with a bachelor dressed up as a hooker for whom I had to put a condom on a cucumber - oh the French!!!
We got ourselves back to the hostel, only to change into our swimming suits and grab our Mailibu and coke. The sun only sets at like 9 in late spring so swimming was a totally normal thing to do; the only thing that made us look ridiculously "touristy" was our mad and loud totally conspicuous presence as we bounded into the waves like puppies.
The locals seem to like to hit the beach after work with a few drinks so the atmosphere was wonderful as well as the weather. There was a random display of fireworks which came from the "Private Opera Beach" which we Public beach-goers had the advantage of seeing from it's best viewpoint. Silly Rich people.
SUNDAY:
Okay last day, what to do? Of course we had limited time as we had to restart our beautiful 7 fooking hours in the car! So we spoilt ourselves and had Crépes at a side-street café and then hit the beach again and let's just say we got daring and tops were no longer existent. Hey, we were in the south of France - we couldn't NOT do it!!! The water was wonderfully warm and we, once again being the tourists that we were, not conspicuously at all(Sarcasm much?), waved our bathing suits in the air at one of our friends sitting on the beach cringing in shame. Good times
On our way out of nice we went for a quick look at the Russian Orthodox cathedral with it's candy coloured onion domes. Wonderfully different from all other western European cathedrals.

Commence 7 hour trip which turned into an even more attractive 9 hour trip due to intense bumper to bumper traffic heading towards Genova.
C'etait une trés bon week-end :)

Back to the Beginning...

So back to the beginning.
The beginning saw me arriving in Zurich Airport, Switzerland. It was the 14th of June 2009. There stood an ignorant, naive 19 year old with her bags packed to the brim; not knowing what to expect. Equipped only with the knowledge 12 years on school had given her. I think about that girl today and I'm so excited for her because she is about to embark on the most Epic adventure that is the rest of her life.
It is now Mid 2010 and I have been an Au Pair in Switzerland for the past year. I have visited the most amazing places and have only decided now to document my legendary adventures. Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Barcelona, the south of France, Monaco, Switzerland... Cruising through Europe has taught me so many things: How to plan ahead, How to budget, the in's and out's of hostels, the in's and out's of museums, trains, planes, cars, metros, new cultural experiences, New languages, How to be spontaneous and how to live life to it's fullest.
I will be recounting past travels and diarising new ones. I feel that no one can decide what they want from the world until they have seen it, tasted it, felt it, heard it or smelt it. I know myself now more than I ever did before. If I am in one place for more than 3 months I get restless, my feet begin to itch and my soul yearns to feel the world once again. Don't get me wrong I'm not unstable. I pay my own way. I work before I can play. I have worked myself to where I am, I am not using Daddy's money and this has made for the most creative traveling experiences. I am a Mover, always on the go.
This is the life, this is my life and I'm loving it.