Swedish Parker!

(Click here to see 60 more pics from the trip…) It’s hard to sum up just how much Amanda and I fitted into 10 days travelling through Spain, France and the Netherlands.

So I’ll do a quick run down of the highlights, then let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

1. Surfing in San Sebastian. Hadn’t been in the water for over a year, definitely THE highlight.

2. Wine tasting in Bordeaux. Close second. I bloody well love red wine, and Bordeaux is the most famous red wine region in the world, what more do I need to say?

3. Visiting Andorra. Yes, that’s right, I’ve been to ANDORRA. One of the most pointless countries in Europe. There was nothing to see and it took us five and a half hours off course, but it was all worth it for this pic:

4. Free upgrade to First Class on the Eurostar train from Paris to Amsterdam. Three-course meal and unlimited booze included. Yes please!

5. The whackiness of Gaudi’s Park Güell in Barcelona. Utterly boggling.

6. Patxaran! The addictively sweet, pink liquor from North-West Spain. Adding to it’s allure was the fact I discovered it at the coolest little out-of-the-way/locals-only surfers’ bar, which was nestled into a quiet little corner of San Sebastian.

7. Free drinks at that random bar in Paris. We accidentally befriended the bartender and got free shots all night. Including French Flags and Smurf Shots…

8. Finding a pub named after me in Amsterdam.

9. Absolutely EVERYTHING about San Sebastian.

10. Coffee and croissant for breakfast at that cute little café in Paris (while reading a book of clichés).

11. Tapas on the beach in Barcelona.

12. The Happy Lobster!!

13. Barcelona’s ridiculous heat and humidity, which in turn made a swim at the beach absolutely heavenly.

14. Our Mini Cooper. Our best friend during the 16 hour drive from Barcelona to San Sebastian (via Andorra).

Honourable Mentions

That f*#&ing GIANT door:

The Imaginarium:

The most colourful photo ever taken:

Four days in the land of cheese, wine, baguettes, croissants, berets and every other French cliché I can possibly think of (see the full photo album @ flickr)

A week and a half in Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam with Angelique, another Gold Coaster who couldn’t resiste the blondes and moved to Stockholm this year.

I was a little worried that the hype of being the #1 tourist city in the world would be too much for Paris, but thankfully it blew away all expectations. It really is a bloody awesome city.

Three things I love about it:

#1. The landmarks. As much as I love to be a travel snob (i.e. stay away from the tourists), seeing landmarks you’ve seen a million times in pictures/TV/movies is actually very cool.

#2. Photographer’s heaven. I really don’t care if I have a simple point-and-shoot digital camera, I’m claiming true photographer status after my efforts in Paris.

I was taking pictures of everything from famous landmarks to obscure street signs, all on the most ridiculously arty angles possible.

#3 French clichés. Apparently, they’re all true.

French cliché #1: Walking down the street with a baguette under your arm.

I couldn’t believe how true this really was. Especially on Sunday morning, it seems to be the norm to buy a baguette – and NOTHING else – and then wander home with it under your arm.

So I promptly did the same.

French cliché #2: French cheese.

Angelique bought a whole variety of cheeses back to the hotel, so that we could have something to eat while we polished off a bottle of Absolut.

One tasted like a well-used shoe, one tasted like a sweet dessert, and the rest fell somewhere in between.

French cliché #3: French red wine.

Ridiculously cheap.

I was buying the most awesome bottles of Bordeaux wine at the SUPERMARKET for about five dollars.

French cliché #4: Coffee and croissant.

It wouldn’t have been Paris without a coffee and croissant for breakfast at a café where the waiters refused to speak anything but French.

I may speak very little French (except for when I’m drunk) and absolutely despise coffee, but I managed to make this one of the most entertaining little adventures of my time in Paris.

French cliché #5: The French language.

From people refusing to speak English to me thinking (quite literally) that I could speak fluent French while drunk.

French cliché #6: Being a tourist and visiting every single major landmark I could think of.

And I still managed to miss quite a few, there’s too much to see in this city.

But the highlight of my landmark tour was randomly stumbling across the Arc de Triomphe in the early hours of the morning, while quite drunk.

Saturday morning, 4am. Finding it impossible to hail a cab home from the club, I take the desperate measure of hopping on a bus. I have no idea where it’s going, only that it’s headed West, the very rough direction of the hotel.

After five minutes I realise I’m on the Champs-Élysées.

I quickly hop off the bus and spend the next hour wandering up to the Arc de Triomphe and having my own private photo session.

During the day there are hoardes of tourists taking pics of this thing, but in the early hours I was literally the only person around.

The other landmarks weren’t too bad either…

And the rest of Paris…