Madrid is Super Cool - Part 2

I had to switch hotels in Madrid, but they they were both very very cool. In a W kinda way without the W attitude and the W price tag.

Like I said before - Madrid rocks.

Managed to catch up and have drinks and dinner with Estefan before he started working on his new video, and became the world´s busiest dude. Waiting to see the results though - should be released any day now.

Will keep you guys posted.

Madrid is Super Cool

Just thought I´d say it.

Super cool.

Doesn't get much cooler. Really.

Out of everywhere I ever been to- I think Madrid has to be the most underrated of cities, which is probably a good thing. Keeps things cheap and people fun.

A Comment About Airports

I don't think there's really agreement about what's the best airport in the world. Some are new and flashy, some are cute and handy, some are really easy to get to, some are just cool.
There is (or at least should be) wall-to-wall agreement about the worst airport. That has to be, without doubt, and with a huge margim, CDG airport in Paris.
It is crap in every single aspect – absolutely nothing about it is even remotely acceptable, let alone cool. No other city could possibly get away with that disgrace, but Paris has so many good things about it - they can afford a crappy one...
It's the only airport I have ever seen in the shape of a huge skinny bagel. I guess the idea was to make sure you ill get to where you need to be no matter what direction you go in (signage sucks) but because it's so big – one wrong turn and you'll be walking for the next hour (and signs will keep promising you, you are on your way).
Because it is so skinny, you can't really form proper lines, and given airports are all about queuing, the whole thing is annoying annoying annoying.
Waiting for my flight to Madrid to start boarding. Spain- here I come!!!!!!

Moisture Moisture Moisture

We were walking down the street (actually, I think it may have been the Champs Elysees) and decide to walk into a Sephora shop.

No real reason, just breath some perfumed aircon before heading back into the sweaty Parisian street...

And there, in the middle of the shop were two girls, Next-Top-Model material, both of them, doing some over-choreographed dance routine.

While it was very (very!) camp, it was also pretty cool. One of them seemed to be the playing the good girl (all in white, obviously, and blonde) while the other was more of a party girl... With some seriously bitchy attitude.

Well, apparently some brand just released some day&night cream thing (or something similar) and decided to take the spend-spend-spend approach to marketing. To quote the banner - the dancing girls were much more then dancing girls. They were interpreting the day and night moisturising routines through the medium of dannnnce.

Hot Pink

The hotel in Paris is one of those old basic hotels, that have just been transformed by some interior design student (well, that's my theory) with an obsession for soft furnishings, wallpapers and newly upholstered furniture.
Surprisingly it looks pretty damn cool.
Even Will said so (Will is the one with good taste)

My room, on the other hand, was pink. Very pink. Floor to ceiling. Almost to a point where you can't get any sleep because your brain is buzzzing pink.

The super cool thing about the room was that instead of a TV it had a Mac computer. So you could obviously use it to watch tv if you wanted, but it could also play dvds, cds, play music. Not to mention the getting-online benefits. Good thinking I say!

Cheap and Cheerful

Will and I decided to have a picnic on Saturday, which we both agree would be a cool idea.
Some french bread, some french cheese, a few bits and pieces. Something cheap and cheerful.

So there we are walking down the street, minding our own business, when we see a ham shop claiming to sell the best ham in the world. That's a pretty ambitious claim, but we thought, why not...
We go in and ask for a little bit of ham, go through the ceremony of less, even less than that, about half of that one, and end up with a pretty tiny heap of the world's best ham.
Which ends up costing us 17 Euros.
So just consider yourselves warned- world's best ham comes at a price. Two hundred and sixty Euros a kilo to be exact. That's about $500 Aussie Dollars a kilo. Maybe $250 US a lb.
We continued to buy what could quite possible be the world's yummiest, and freshest bread, one of the world's most mature cheeses, a couple of the world's richest cupcakes. And a couple of the world's top artery blocking pates.
And then we had it all on the stairs of the French Academy, by the river.
Was really good, and quite cheerful, although the cheap bit we failed on dismally.


PS. When we finished we threw all the leftovers in the bin, together with my brand new, never-been-used-before picnic knife. Arggggghhhhhhhh

Another Myth Broken

So Will and I are walking up the street one morning, having what can only be described as idle talk. In a good way of course. I can't think of many people I'd rather have idle talk with.
And we talk about the little cafe on the corner where we have our morning coffees. Which is a pretty unremarkable cafe, probably made special by the fact that it is so unremarkable in a city where every cafe is remarkable in some way.
And then this French lady walks towards us, says hi to me and hello to Will and goes on asking what our plans are for the day and how happy she is, having a day off and that kinda stuff.
You guessed it. The lady from the cafe.
I'm not sure if there were byebye kisses or not (probably there were) but I think Will fell in love. Just a tiny bit. And maybe me too.

The French have somehow managed to earn a reputation for being nasty, arrogant and unfriendly to tourists. And to that I have to say no, no and no.
I can't really think of a single person I came across in France that was anything other than lovely and full of smiles and sunshine.

Catchin Up with Yannick in Lyon

Met up with Yannick on both nights and had some really nice dinners.As well as old fashioned good times.

First night we went to this place called “Le Trois Cochons” (the three pigs), and while I am not sure who the third one was, I think Yannick and I definitely qualified as the first two. They actually enjoyed giving us more food than we coould possibly finish, accompanied with a look saying “and you call yourself PIGS? you? pffffffft”. It was nice though. And now I know what Queue de Vache means in French! Who would have thought oxtail (well, cow tail) go so well with a shepard's pie??

Second night we went to some obscure place on some obscure street by the river (but then again, all streets seem to be by the river). We were greeted by a fairly old guy, who looked like the last thing he was expecting that night was diners. Not in a bad way, he was all smiles etc, just seemed a tad surprised.

Well, it appears that said old guy was not really working at the restaurant. He actually WAS the restaurant. He seemed to be the cook, the bar person, the guy bringing out the food and clearing the tables.
Only time he got stuck was when he ran out of ice, at which point he called his daughter (granddaughter? much younger girlfreind? mail-order bride?) who ran down the stairs with an ice tray from the fridge.


Lyon rocks.

Quenelle

For those who don't know what Gefilte Fish is (aka “Fish in Jar”) - you can skip this entry. Unless of course you want to expend those horizons.
For the rest of us, GF's estranged brother lives in France (in Lyon actually) and is called Quenelle. The French version is roughly the same thing: you mince some fish, make a ball (well, the French thing is more of a dumpling) and cook it. But that's where the similarities end.
I don't know if it's the fish the French use (they wouldn't use carp, carp is to fertilise the fields. Never understood the Jewish obsession with that fish... A bit like the RAT of the sea) or the excessive amounts of butter and cream than go into it, but the French version is awesome. And for those who haven't tried the Jewish version, I suggest you think twice before you do. It's not a love-at-first-bite thing.

Lyon

I'm not going to do the whole "Lonely planet" thing here, but because I do
think Lyon doesn't get the appreciation it deserves, I will stop here and just say:

1. It's very pretty city, with hills around it and a very medieval feel.
It actually got a UNESCO thingy for being the most medieval/renaissance/something city. In plain English: it's very pretty.

2. People in Lyon are super friendly. Even friendlier than in Paris!

3. Lyon is (apparently) the gastronomic capital of France. I don't even think there's much of a dispute about it. Something to do with it being on a crossroad in the olden days... From everything I tasted, I would have to say that it's probably true.

And it's way cheaper than Paris, so everything feels like a bargain!

There you go. Lyon rocks.

Oh... Almost forgot.

4. Yannick came down to see me, so I also had top notch company while in Lyon!

French Trains

While on the subject of trains.


French trains (the super fast TGV ones) are the coolest thing ever.
Now they made it even cooler.
They have two types of cabins: ZAP cabins are where you go if you're young and funky, and you can listen to your iPod, chat to your mates, even rent DVDs.
ZEN cabins are where you go if you like your peace and quite. No mobile phones, no noisy kids..
God bless the French Trains.

Why Lyon?

Lyon wasn't part of the plan. So I should take the opportunity to thank Chen for making me go.
It wasn't his intention though. Chen was trying to convince me to stay a few more days in Berlin until he gets there, so that we can party together. His way of doing it was to explain to me how overrated Paris was, even in France, and how other cities (like Lyon) are way more exciting.
So I thought to myself... He may have a point and decided to check for myself.
That's how I found myself on the fast, clean and ever so punctual train to Lyon.

So yeah – here goes: Thanks Chen! You're a legend!

Berlin to Paris

Didn't feel like and more crap European flights and decided to take the train to Paris instead. The night train I mean.
You board it after dinner, go to sleep and wake up in Paris just in time for breakfast. Pretty neat, eh?

I had visions of the Orient Express, drinks with aging silent movie starlets in the restaurant car... Maybe a fling with the would-be Tzar (or Tzaress) of Russia... Then asking the butler (how do you say Jeeves in German?) to set up the bed before retiring for the night.
In real life it was not quite as glamorous. The cabins were less Orient Express, more like the set for prison porn (not that I ever watched any, but so I'm told).

Still – serves a purpose.
They say you get a really good night sleep on the sleeper train and they ain't lying. Before I knew it, it was France all over again and we were in Paris.I had a long (very long) breakfast at a nice cafe before getting on the train to Lyon.

One Thing the Germans Got Right

No need to go back to all the wrong things. Here's one good thing.
If you need to go to the bathroom in Berlin, you just walk into the closest restaurant/bar/cafe and do your thing. And they can't tell you to get outta there and that the bathrooms are for paying customers only. They must let you in. That's the law. Toilets to the people.
Anyone who's ever been wandering the streets of a big city knows what a huge relief this is.
Also if you feel like a glass of water, they must give you one. That too is the law.
See – when they try, the Germans can actually play well with others.

Rainbow in a Bottle

So Absolut Rainbow is all the rage in Berlin bottleshops this summer. It's like San Francisco all over again, just with a different accent.

Charlie

Hotel is a two minute walk from where Checkpoint Charlie used to be in the days of the Berlin Wall. Today, the little shed is still there, and for one Euro you can even have your photo taken in front of it with two dudes wearing American and French uniforms and holding American and French flags (Turkish. Of course they're Turkish).