France
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Paris by the riverside
Looking at the map: “well, we are here, we want to go there, it’s 3 little squares… it’s fine to walk!” And after walking by the Seine river for 2hours with a few stops for photographs, we understand that every little square is equivalent to 2km! I lost count on how many bridges we passed, but the following one is special: it’s a footbridge, it is not the famous Pont des Arts – known for the lovers padlocks. It is the Passerelle Solférino, which also has some padlocks. Lovers come here to lock their padlock and throw the key in the river as a symbol of eternal love. One looking-old padlock has written: Sophie…
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Moulin Rouge
It’s getting dark and after another adventure in the underground of Paris, we come out to the streets to be welcomed with fluorescent colors, appealing, twinkling slogans in the shops that we can read: SEX STORE, CRAZY SEXY TOYS, FANTASY…
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Eiffel Tower
It’s a new day and I walk out to the street and scream, literally scream: – GOOD MORNING PARIS! They laugh and one or another head turns to see “that crazy girl screaming”. My friend’s flat is within walking distance from the famous EiffelTower. We are so excited that we walk very fast, as if there wasn’t going to be time enough to visit it.
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Et voilá, Je suis a Paris!
While I’m waiting for Aga and Marie, I observe the street and after about 15 minutes I realized that the walking zebra for pedestrians is not understood as such: for the drivers it’s like they have a sign saying “let’s see who goes faster!” Because the drivers DON’T stop at all! It’s a marathon departing from different places, going in different directions! What do they all have in common? Everybody wants to go first! It’s madness!
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Anthem of Bayonne
Heading to the city center… people are already celebrating, promising another night of dancing and singing, drinking and cheering! There are several stages with different performances across the city center and we are heading to one. But it is very busy in here and through the crowds we make our way to the main stage. In order not to lose anyone, we hold the red scarf attached to the waist of the person in front of us and off we go following each other. As we walk along, we greet the people passing by “OLÉÉÉ!” and we get back another greeting with a lifting of the hat or a glass half full!…
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Fêtes de Bayonne
I open my bag… What am I going to wear?! The colors don’t change much: white or… white! So white will be! I tie the red scarf on my waist and on my neck I put the small scarf that Aurelien gave me. Well, now I’m properly dressed to the party, let’s go!
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Arrived in Bayonne!
After 16h on the bus, without eating anything (I feel travel sick easily), I arrived in BAYONNE, south of France! The driver told me there was a change to the bus stop, as they had to close some streets because of the festivities in the city center. That’s ok, I thought, but I wasn’t expecting to be left on my own in the middle of a big roundabout, where I could only see big warehouses, well pretty much in the middle of nowhere, at 1:20am! The driver explains to me the way to my destiny – the train station in the city center where my friend is expecting me: “… It’s about 2km…