For Justine’s birthday, we rented a small self-contained villa a few kilometres outside of Hepburn Springs. Even though her birthday had been a few weeks earlier, this was the first weekend since then we’d been able to get away.

Getting there was easy, even without a GPS (is it like we’re in the dark ages?) though we did drive past the driveway to the property as it was hard to spot. A quick U turn and we were sorted. After quickly investigating the place — quite nice; a canopy bed, spa bath, sauna, large shower and small kitchen — we headed back through Hepburn Springs and into Daylesford to buy some dinner to prepare later and returned.

The view from our villa was — for over 270 degrees — totally unspoiled with nothing in front of us but bushland. To the right was another villa but since it was difficult to see, it wasn’t a big deal.

After a great night of relaxing and burning myself trying to cook marshmallows in the open fire with a small pair of tongs, we headed out and about. We first checked out a big antique/collectibles place which had a lot of stuff but nothing which really took our fancy. We then made our way to visit a honey stall (where an asian couple were buying over $350 worth of honey!) and to a chocolate “mill” where Justine had a wonderful time ogling the chocolates.

We headed further into Castlemaine which was a ghost town compared to Daylesford, so turned immediately around and headed back. We stopped in at a second-hand bookstore which had so many books it was hard to know where to start. After a bit of looking Justine bought a couple of books she enjoyed as a kid and I bought first editions of “The Amtrak Wars” (paperback, from the 80s) and “A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur” (hardback, from 1935). Neither are in great condition or worth much, but it’s nice to have them anyway.

Dinner consisted of a wood-fired Calabrese pizza (me) and Spaghetti Puttanesca (Justine) and wasn’t too bad. We then retreated to the villa where I gave the sauna a whirl; we chucked a few potatoes wrapped in foil into the fire. And promptly forgot about them… until one exploded.

Next morning we checked out the local Daylesford market; not much worth checking but we did find a print of San Parco place in Venice, which the stallholder was selling for only five dollars. The frame is a little dirty but the picture itself is in good condition. We are interested in reframing it anyway, but the frame is probably worth more than the canvas print.

Justine wanted to take the steam train from Daylesford to Maldon but as we arrived at the station realised we had the information wrong — there’s one from Daylesford to somewhere, and Castlemaine to Maldon. Instead, we drove directly to Maldon where a food and wine festival was running for the day. I had a nice yabby bisque and Justine a vegetable pie — which was vegetables and pastry, nothing else — as well as buying some harissa paste which I’ve been wanting to try for a while.

Tired, we headed home and arrived at a reasonable hour before retiring for the night.

Day Eight
Amsterdam
15 August 2007 23:43

Three countries, one day. This morning we were in Paris; we woke later than intended and made our way to the Goncourt station and then to Nord. While reserving our tickets we were told we had to pay 50€ even though we had a Eurail Pass — how annoying!

Once our booking was complete we had to run to catch our train but just made it. Another tourist was no so lucky. Our tickets were in First Class, so we were given food (the young lady kept making us take more and more!) and the seats were very comfortable. The train was a Thalys train and during our trip to Brussels the majority of our time was spent at 250-300km/h.

On arriving at Brussels we headed the wrong way (as usual) but eventuallz found our way. After a long walk we came across the “Grand Square” which is even nicer than it sounds. Two ancient churches across from one another, and circled by buildings from the 1600s, all covered with gold.

We sat and shared some waffles with strawberries, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and ice cream. I also had a local beer which had a strong apricot flavour.

Eventually, we moved on and as we left the square we found a gold statue that people kept walking up to and touching. It was some kind of ritual; touch the statue (head first, to feet) then other small things around it. Weird.

Further on, the souvenir stores were all selling objects of a kid peeing. We saw why a few steps later — there is a statue of a kid peeing. I guess that’s important for some reason. Across the street a man was selling escargot so I had to buy some and try it for myself. They came with a spicy, salty broth. Escargot are quite chewy. The bit of the snail that touches the ground was quite hardso I didn’t eat that on any, but I did eat all ten.

We walked back to the station, collected our bags and managed to catch a train an hour earlier than intended. On to Amsterdam, then. The train trip this time was three hours and had a lot of stops — no 300km/h for us, and no more free food. What a gyp.

As we left the train station at Amsterdam it started raining hard. We donned our coats for the first time, so the train stopped; of course. This time going in the right direction (and through the Red Light District) we found our hotel, which has been standing since 1659 (at least the building has). Quite pricy but so is all accommodation here.

We strolled the streets a bit more and grabbed a reasonably cheap pizza which wasn’t too bad but could have been better. Retreating to our hotel we climbed the three flights of stairs that are so steep we felt like we needed sherpas and to make base camp for the night.

Now I can hear trams “dinging” every now and then, they are the same new trams that are being rolled out through Melbourne.

Day Six
Paris
August 13 2007 22:34

This morning we left for the Leuvre and after a brief stop at the slowest Starbucks ever, we entered the museum under the large pyramid which was such a point of contention.

The Leuvre is big. Really big. If you wanted to see everything properly you’d need an extremely long day or even two. We saw a huge amount of art from Rome, Greece, Etruscian art, French and more. Of course, we made sure we saw the Venus de Milo and the Monsa Lisa. The crowds around the Mona Lisa were crazy, with people 20 or more deep all shoving for a glimpse. You can’t even get more than around five metres away from the thing, and there are over a dozen guards!

Fighting the crowds I snapped a few photos and stole a look also. As we couldn’t get out the guards let us exit closer to the painting on the condition I didn’t take any photos. Of course I did (from the hip) anyway.

We toured the Louvre for about five hours (Napoleon’s apartment was also quite special) before walking to the Notre Dame.

In dire need of food, we ate a small cafe in Notre Dame’s shadow before going inside. The line to get in is long but fast and the interior is huge. To be honest, the cathedral is a lot nicer inside than out to me. A service started as we were looking around and we watched for a few minutes. As Catholic services go on for ever we left with the intention of climbing the 400+ stairs but had missed the last entrance by around five minutes.

So, we headed towards the smaller of the two islands along the Seine and wandered amongst the numerous small alleys there. The famous Berthillon Ice Cream was closed (they close for August, go figure) but plenty of places nearby sell it. We bought a cone each — it was alright but I’ve had better — and wandered back to the Metro station near the Notre Dame and caught the train back to our hotel.

We grabbed some food from a nearby supermarket and did some Internet-related stuff there (our accommodation is booked in Amsterdam but our train there isn’t!).

Even though my French is appaling, it seems that the locals are far more friendly if I attempt French rather than simply use English from the outset. One guy at a train station gave me a Paris Metro Map; it’s like a “Participation Model” — thanks for trying!

Day Four
Outskirts of London
August 12 2007 - 12:25

We are currently sitting on the Eurostar train travelling through the outskirts of London. As I forgot to write about yesterday I will do so now.

We had a little sleep-in until 8:30 or 9:00, before heading out to Buckingham Palace. I’m finding the London Underground system to be chaotic, but well organised. Without the good setup (frequent trains, coloured criss-crossing lines, etc) it would be impossible to navigate but as it is we’re having no problems whatsoever.

To buy tickets to the Palace took us around half an hour, at which point we had to wait in yet another line to get in. It was, however, totally worth it as the interior State Rooms of the palace are splendiferous in their magnificent opulence. Rooms are huge, with gold leaf everywhere, as well as works of art in all free spaces. We missed the changing of the guard but saw some of it from the “quadrangle” in the middle of the Palace. A unique viewing angle to be sure!

After, we sat in the Palace gardens and ate some extravagant ice cream which was 90% cream. Or at least it seemed to be.

I’d wanted to visit St Paul’s and climb to the top so we traveled there next. The price was an absurd £8.50 each (about $25) so we decided against it. Justine wanted to get more locations on her “Monopoly” tour so for the rest of the afternoon we walked or “tubed” the streets hunting for the locations. There are only seven of the twenty-six locations left and we know where most of them are. Mayfair has proved to be elusive as we aren’t sure whether it is a street or just the suburb. Either way we’ll find it next time we come back to London (in about six weeks).

During the walking tour (which ended up showing us a lot of the city we may have otherwise missed) we also visited 221b Baker St (Sherlock Holmes’ house). Technically there never was a 221b and there definitely isn’t one there now, but there is a Sherlock Holmes museum a few doors down which has a re-creation of the famed address. Even the Baker St station has images of Sherlock Holmes all over and seems to be a restored 19th century station.

The train is picking up pace now so I will sign off as I want to see the view!