France-tastic

A quickie post before dinner and an uphill slog out of Poland tomorrow. Yes, that's right, we made it all the way to Poland, bringing our distance covered to 980 km, and our border crossing tally to 2, not counting the 3 times we have crossed into Slovakia in the last week- once by boat, once by bus, and once on foot on top of a 2000 m high mountain! Hopefully by bike we'll manage to stay there a bit longer than a couple of hours!

Anyway, more details will have to wait, suffice for now that we're still having a great time but have decided to shorten the trip a bit in order to be able to spend more time really seeing the countries we are already in - so Hungary and Romania are out, and the Czech Republic will be getting a second visit from us.

Aloha from Prague! Where we arrived puffed and red-faced after cycling the 200-odd kilometres from Dresden to get here. For those of you who aren't aware of this crazy scheme, we decided some time ago (obviously over too many glasses of Bordeaux) to spend the summer cycling 1500 km (as the crow flies, and so far we've learnt to add at least a third in getting lost/ windy roads/ looking for campgrounds factors) between Prague and Bucharest, via Krakow. The starting in Dresden part was a late decision after we couldn't find a train willing to take our bikes to Prague! So we started a couple of hundred kms earlier than planned, crossed our first border by bike (goodbye Germany and a language we can at least pretend to decipher, hello super cheap beer and completely incomprehensible menus -except for here in Prague where everyone speaks perfect english and all the menus are in at least 5 languages!), and tried out our super-daggy padded bike pants! Not as bad as they sound, mine went under a pair of normal shorts and so my shame was covered, and Alex's actually have the shape of normal shorts anyway.

So, in the meantime, we've eaten lots of delicious pork products and dumplings, drank lots of ridiculously cheap beer, drank enough wine to warn us off doing that again, already had to repair the tent, and braved cold camp site showers.

But so far we're still ready for more! So tomorrow we head off for Stage 2- Prague to Krakow. A much bigger challenge so we'll see how chirpy we sound then!

Whew, things are heating up here in more ways than one! Summer seems to finally more or less have arrived, and it seems that as the sun comes out to play, so does everyone else. The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind of weekends away, dancing 'till dawn, the odd wedding and the even odder PACS party!

Actually, there were two weddings, one a colleague of mine, one a colleague of Alex's and both very lovely, and good opportunities to check out how things work wedding-wise here in France. A bit differently it turns out! First of all, one always has to have a civil service at the town hall, presided over by the Mayor, where there are not any religious or romantic overtones at all. Instead it is quite short, about 15 minutes, and very legal, like "By article 243, section 78, you must agree to ...". They do the old "do you take so-and-so", "yes, I do" etc, and they have a quick kiss and exchange of rings but not really with any of the pomp or ceremony around it that you'd find in Australia. Then after this service, you are legally married, but you can follow it with a religious ceremony at a church if you wish, however, the two weddings that we went to in the last couple of weeks, they didn't. Many of the people that do decide to have a church wedding as well, often don't have it on the same day, instead they have it like a year later! (This will be the case for another good friend who will be getting married here, civilly in September, and religiously next May!) Also interestingly, after the service, they have a Vin d'Honneur, to which lots of people are invited (neighbours, long-lost cousins, smelly old flatmates etc), and is basically pre-dinner drinks, and then comes the evening dinner reception to which only closer family and friends are invited to. So for example, for my colleague who got married, who only started at work a few weeks before her wedding, we were only invited to the vin d'honneur and not to the dinner and full reception.




The changing of rings here in the photo as an example, took place after the signing of the contract and the kiss, and after the whole thing was actually 'over'. You can also see the two different town halls, one in a gorgeous old building, and the other, in a suburb of Paris- just your average modern town hall. At the two weddings though, both of which had only the quickie town hall service, notice the full wedding dress!


Finally, illustrating the shortness of french people (except for the dark-haired girl on the end), these are my work friends!

To add to all the love, we've also been to two PACS parties in the last month or two- another thing that they have here, the PACS is basically a de facto-type thing legalised into a contract that was originally developed for gay people and is now signed by anyone wanting a tax break but not quite ready for a trip to the town hall (now, why didn't Alex and I think of that? We would have saved a bundle on that tax bill they'll hand us as we leave the country)!


The PACS party- a slightly less official affair. The "groom" is the one being carried!

After a day like today, it's incredible to think that just a month ago it was snowing. Happily, it looks as though spring has finally arrived here in Paris - whether to stay, who can say, but at least it looks like we have a good week in front of us, to continue on from a 4-day weekend that has been equally perfect, weather-wise. Check this forecast for the next week out:


(Hmm, I might have to rename this site "Weather-Tastic" if these posts continue along these directions! But please understand the excitement of being able to wear short sleeves after about 8 solid months of scarves and gloves.)

Anyway, this post is actually to show off our beautiful new bikes that were hinted about in the last post, not to brag about the weather (did I mention it was 25 degrees today?).





So these are our lovely steeds that will (hopefully) carry us halfway across Europe in a couple of months. (More to come about our half-baked ideas about braving the roads of Romania on bike later) The top photo is from the first real outing on the bikes following a canal that runs from Paris northwards, and the bottom one appears to be of Alex hiding behind the bikes, but is actually of Alex fixing or adjusting something or other.

Aren't they lovely? So far we've had them for about a month and they haven't been stolen (we have some pretty hard-core locks this time), nor have there been any falls or flat tyres or speeding tickets! There has, however, been plenty of zipping around the streets of Paris and surrounds and we love them very much! For those of you interested in knowing more about the bikes, click here (that means you Emily!).

While I'm thinking about bikes, I'm going to have a rave about the awesome Velib scheme now in place in Paris, that some of you might have heard about. Basically, this is a network of bikes for self-service rent all through Paris. There are apparently around 20 000 of them, scattered around at stations on average every 300 metres. You get a subscription for a year for 30 euros and then the first half hour rental is free! And the free half hour can be taken as often as you like: if you return your bike after 29 minutes, you can then take another one for another half hour, still for free! Even though we use the velibs a bit less now that we have our own beloved bikes, this is such a fantastic initiative that the council of Paris has paid for and put in. They made the bikes a bit ugly and clunky on purpose to discourage theft!



If only every city were as bike-friendly instead of forcing everybody to get a car and use it to get just about anywhere (hint hint Clover, if you're reading this - though I guess maybe you're not (is Clover Moore still the mayor?))!

This was taken yesterday morning from our window. A week into April and the year's first real snow fall. I'll point out to those of you in southern corners of the world that April is spring here. Supposedly. It is freezing! Admittedly the snow didn't stick around long (a couple of hours) as the temperatures aren't really that cold (still, hovering around 5 degrees!), but still! I know you can't see all that much snow on the photo, but trust me, all that cold looking sludgy stuff is snow. About 5 cm worth.

Blah for a winter that doesn't end, especially when Alex and I have just bought ourselves a couple of GORGEOUS bikes which we love and which we can't take out for lovely rides, because it is snowing! Or more usually, just raining and freezing cold. Anyway, we still love our bikes so much that they'll get their own post on here once I take a few photos of them (hopefully with some sun in the background!).

Right, I'm now just about recovered from yet another disappointing round of no upgrades to business class, even though this time I thought I was a shoe-in, with my new Qantas Frequent Flyer card with DOCTOR printed in big old capitals across the top. Didn't help. Nor did my shameless sucking up to the various check-in people. Probably a bribe would have worked better. I did get exit row seating on the last leg though. Or what should have been the last leg, if the striking Sydney baggage handlers didn't cause me to miss my connecting flight in Singapore, which meant that my direct flight to Paris turned into a direct flight to Frankfurt. Anyway, as I said, I'm now recovered so no more complaining about that!







Instead I'll complain about the busy schedule you all held me to over there which probably was even more responsible for the back-to-work difficulties. It's a tough call, fitting in the beach every day between power-lunches and manicures, dinners all over the town and (goat) baby barbecues. Oh, and the occasional wedding.

First was Emily and Andrew's mountain wedding at Evan's Lookout just outside of Blackheath, including a whole weekend in super-cosy mountain eco-lodges in the middle of the bush, and hence a whole weekend's worth of celebrating! Hurrah! The wedding itself was just perfect, a gorgeous setting over-looking the valleys with the rain and clouds of the night before long gone and the bridesmaids managing the bush-walking paths in stilettos! Emily looked amazing and did a good job at holding back her tears and Andrew looked suitably nervous, especially when his groomsmen had to abandon him to prevent the bridesmaids from breaking their ankles in said stilettos! A few beers were enjoyed before the ute whisked the new Mr and Mrs Goldy to the reception in true Aussie style!













Then came a busy week of playing the tourist a bit, lunching and dining all over town, meeting babies, meeting previously un-met boyfriends and girlfriends... Actually make that wife!

Because the trip was also the first time I met Rosilene, the wife(!!!) of my brother! The rest of the family has met her lots of times, but she only ever came to Australia after I had left. Luckily I now approve whole-heartedly, since this was of course the wedding that spurred the trip! The wedding was down in La Perouse, on the beach of Congwong Bay, and was beautiful. Both Johan and Rosie looked gorgeous and so happy, the weather was perfectly behaved for an outdoor wedding, and there is now another Waern in the family!

I've always been a firm believer of the idea that the best way to step onto an across-the-world-flight is in a state of utter exhaustion. So with twenty odd hours of flying looming in a couple of days time, what better way to prepare than by running in my first ever (and quite possibly last) half-marathon!

21.1 km across the streets of Paris, through a bit of rain, far far behind a gang of Kenyans, and waiting for us at the other end, a big pile of bananas and a medal. And then an enormous lunch and a long shower. And then the inaugral bath in our midget-sized bath-tub. And now, legs a bit tired and achy but surprisingly okay.

I placed 14152nd out of about 20 000 runners, which might not sound so impressive, but in the women's category, I placed 1083rd out of 2338, putting me in the top half with a record time (for me that is, obviously) of 2 hours, 5 minutes, and 40 seconds! Hurrah!




Gabin, a friend from work, and I looking brave beforehand!


The Kenyans at the starting line.


The mad dash for the nearest tree about a hundred meters after the start. I think these runners misunderstood which "go" the starter meant.


The winner, about an hour ahead of me!


At least we still got medals!