London & Paris
Peter and I spent five nights in London and Paris. We arrived in London at 6am last Wednesday after flying in from LA. Not getting much sleep on the flight and arriving just as the Californians would be going to bed. One of the first things we noticed was how cold it was. Not just a little bit cold, but absolutely freezing, and wet and windy.
It was my second time in London in less than a year, but Peter has never been there before, so we went and did the tourist things – Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Parliament, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, etc, etc. We took one of the Hop On Hop Off tour buses which was quite informative and went past all the major sites. At 15 pounds a head it’s not exactly cheap when you convert it to Kiwi dollars, but oh well. It was also a convenient, if slow, way of getting around town and certainly beats walking in the rain and hail, both of which we got caught in while out walking.
Unfortunately jet lag finally caught up with us around 3 o’clock on Wednesday afternoon, and we found ourselves on the warm tour bus gently nodding off to sleep. But we did observe that we weren’t the only ones, and I suspect most tourists from the States end up doing the same thing.
Thursday was more of the same, and also included a visit to the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels. Have taken loads of photos.
In London we stayed with Rose Brandeis (ex Tranz Rail, now working for Network Rail (RailTrack) in London) in her Camden flat. Nice and close to town in that commuting doesn’t take too long, yet with all the pubs and cafs and shopping you don’t get in the city. We made sure to have both a café brekkie and a pub lunch during our two days in town.
Friday morning we had a very early start and caught the first tube of the day out to Heathrow. Surprisingly a lot of people around Kings Cross station at 5.30am.
We arrived in Paris during a strike and so the passport control had only two staff on, and two very long queues. Just as we almost got up to the counter, the Passport Officer got up from his counter and walked away. No explanation or nothing. So we and the people around us were wondering “is he coming back?”, “how long should we wait?”, “should we join the other queue?”. After five minutes we decided to merge with the other queue. C’est la vie.
We both experienced that kind of culture shock you get when you arrive somewhere and suddenly realize you haven’t got a clue what to do or where to go. Somehow we managed to bungle our way to the RER train and into the city. At Gare du Nord we got totally confused again and managed to get swindled by someone who we thought was helping us. But that’s another story and still too much of a raw nerve to go into right now.
We found a hotel in the Montmarte area more by luck than by design, as the hotel I had found on the internet three weeks before still hadn’t responded to my request. The building was old, the staircase was falling apart, and there was a communal toilet with no seat. But at least the room was clean, we had our own shower, and the place had plenty of character.
Staying at Montmarte we were right at the bottom of the hill below Sacre Coeur and practically around the corner from the Moulin Rouge and Pigalle district. So we had sightseeing right at our doorstep and no need to deal with the metro again, at least on day one. We were also in the area where I’d say most African immigrants end up, which actually meant that we had a great variety of different places to eat. Wandering through the streets of Paris at night, eating a kebab and chips was pretty cool.
Saturday we went out and did the tourist thing – Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Place de la Concorde, and one art gallery, the Musee d’Orsay. We did a lot of walking that day and got a good feel for Paris. It was nice to have the streets not crowded with tourists and it was pretty clean and attractive. It was still very cold though.
Sunday we started with the Eiffel Tower – walked up to the second floor and had great views over all of Paris. Then we spent the rest of the day at the Louvre – what little of the day was left. Somehow we managed to lose two hours which stuffed us up quite a bit – first we had our alarm set on NZ time instead of Paris time, so while we thought it went off at 8am it was really 8pm NZ time and 9am Paris time. Then daylight savings had kicked in that morning, so while we thought it was 9am it was really 10am. A bit of a waste of the day unfortunately.
We splashed out that night and had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the Seine and Notre Dame. A bit extravagant, but thoroughly worth it for the experience and the memories. The (French) onion soup came highly recommended and was very good. The meat dishes (veal and civet) were very tasty, filling and hearty.
And that was the end of our Paris and London experiences. We managed to cram a lot into five days. Too much really as it ended up feeling quite rushed. I would really recommend taking more time, however on this trip we have a lot of places we want to go, and not a lot of time to do them in. The weather was a *lot* colder than I’d expected and I hope it is better down south. If not then at least I am now the proud owner of a black London brolly and a pair of chenille gloves from Paris.
Huntington Beach, Los Angeles
The main purpose of our trip to Huntington Beach was to attend the first event in the 2004 US NPPL paintball tournament series. Peter has been playing competitive paintball for about five years now. His team, Saints, are the best in New Zealand and also do very well against the Australian teams. So it was time to move on to a higher level of competition by playing in the States.
I have attended most of the paintball tournaments in New Zealand that Peter has played at – not as a player but as either a spectator, photographer or support crew. I think all our events are pretty well run, and we are moving towards all our tournaments being held in proper sporting stadiums (most recently in Waikato Stadium, Hamilton). But the Huntington Beach event blew it all away.
Usually we get around 20 teams at our tournaments (of which I know most of the regular players). Huntington Beach had 160 teams. With an average of say eight people per team (seven players plus a reserve or support crew), that’s at least 1280 people there, not including spectators. And an average age of 16 (I’m not kidding), with 99.95% male. That’s a lot of testosterone. I quite enjoyed being the only chick on the team :)
There were five airball fields set up directly on the beach (with artificial grass playing surfaces). There was a grandstand to watch some of the games from, and other games could be watched from the pier.
Anyway I know most people reading this don’t care too much for paintball so I won’t go on too much. Suffice to say that it was far bigger than I could have imagined, and the standard of play was also a lot higher, faster and more competitive.
We arrived in LA on the Wednesday morning and were able to check out the fields while they were still being set up. Thursday consisted of hanging round the fields, deciding how to play them, and of course shopping for new paintball gear.
The competition was spread out over Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with the finals being held on the Sunday. Saints had three games on Friday morning and five on Saturday afternoon.
Unfortunately the team were very much out of their element, finding the style of play quite different to what they’re used to back home. We only managed to win one game on Friday, and two on Saturday. But they still did pretty well on all the games and all came away having learnt some new things. As well as having now put a foot in the door for attending future events. We met players from loads of other teams, and having the NZ flag on our shirt sleeves was quite a conversation opener.
Sunday we didn’t have any games to play since we didn’t make the finals, so we just watched the ball and the boys shopped. I’ve never seen men do so much shopping in all my life. They were like kids in a candy store. Mind you I can’t really blame them because at our tournaments at home we’d be lucky to get one vendor. Here there were dozens, selling things for much cheaper than we’d normally pay.
Monday was my birthday and I unfortunately spent it with a hangover :( But I still managed to have some fun and went to Disneyland with some of the boys on the team. Not a good idea to go there during Spring Break as the queues were really long. But we still had fun even if we only went on half a dozen rides.
I still think America is a pretty weird place. Southern California is different from the rest of the States though and I think I like it a little better. It is very false and fake, but it also has a bit more of a Pacific feel to it and I don’t feel too far away from home (I even found Maori bone carvings for sale at one of the beach stores – except they were made out of metal instead of bone).
The people stress out about the little things too much (like swearing and drinking). All the bars close at 2am which is really f’d up when all you want to do is go out and party. Driving, at least in Huntington Beach, was easier than I thought it would be. The other drivers are all very courteous and no one’s in a hurry. Which is the opposite of what I thought LA would be like. I think it might just be an HB thing. HB is full of surfers and girls in bikinis. But the sea is polluted and the sky was constantly grey and it wasn’t what I’d call warm. Oh and of course every girl you see has had implants. The boys I was with loved it of course. I have to wonder whether the silicone provides some kind of insulation because they didn’t seem to mind showing off in the cold, while I’m busy shivering inside my jeans, sweatshirt and jacket. All my slimming and tanning over the summer in NZ was a bit of a wasted effort because my bikini never even saw the light of day.
Food. Americans love their fast food and their family restaurants. I can’t comment on McDonalds et al because I never went to any, but Taco Bell at least had a salad on their menu. But Ann, you don’t have to worry about my diet any more, because there is no way you can diet in America. The portions they serve you are so huge. On our first day there we went to a diner and I ordered a Junior Cheeseburger. Lucky I did because the “Junior” cheeseburger was the size of a regular cheeseburger back home. Another restaurant we went to served soup and salad and potatoes and veges with your main, no matter what you ordered. By the time you get through the soup and salad, you’re not hungry for your main any more!
But of course as soon as you start getting used to one place, it’s time to leave again. And so on Tuesday afternoon we left LA and flew to London, where I am at the moment (but I’ll save that for another story). And so thus ends the paintball trip and now begins Peter and my trip round Europe. A trip which we’ve been talking about for 14 years and have both done separately but never together, and a trip which we’ve been planning and saving for, for at least 18 months. It’s hard to believe we’re finally here …
