Sorry I have been so slow to bring you each part of my holiday, this is the final part, which was probably my favourite. So here goes....
Dijon: Day Nine & Ten
After an 'I'm never doing this again' experience with the overnight train from Milan to Dijon, we arrived at about 8.30am, but were not able to check into our hotel until 2pm, so we stored our bags and set out to explore Dijon - slowly as we were both so tired as we the train ride wasn't the most comfortable and sleep was broken all night.
Dijon was a small town, obviously famous for the mustard, but we were also excited to do the 'Owl Tour' which we had read about online. The Owl Tour is a walking tour of the city which you can do without a guide and you are able to see all the sights as you just follow these bronze triangle stones that are set into the roads and footpaths with small owls engraved on them!
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| A bronze owl triange to follow |
We didnt actually do the actual owl tour until the following day as we were so exhausted the first day we just had a look around and then went back to the hotel to check in, rest up shower and head out for dinner. I think we were in bed by 9pm that night, but were up rested the next morning to start our owl tour.
It took us all day to complete the tour with 22 sights, stopping at the bakeries to admire the delicious foods on display, sampling all the delicious foods on display, looking into other little nick-nack shops and stopping for coffee breaks. It really was a great way to explore a city, especially because you were taken down streets which meant we discovered some really nice shops, cafes and bakeries!
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| A owl marking one of the sights (there were 22 in total) |
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| Touching the owl with your left hand is meant to be good luck |
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| A square/semi circle in Dijon surrounded by the council buildings |
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| Garden in Dijon |
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| At the bakery..... |
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| and More! |
Nancy: Day Eleven & Twelve
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| Place Stanislas Entrance |
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| Inside Place Stanislas |
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| Gate/Another Entrance to Place Stanislas |
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| In the botanical gardens |
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| At the park |
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| Waffles in the park |
After in arriving in Nancy the night before from Dijon, we spent the day sightseeing. We visited the Place Stanislas (Place means square I believe), it was a square in the middle of Nancy, which entrances were gates made of gold (probably painted gold now) and houses restuarants, museums, council buildings and the tourist centre. It was really beautiful and all the embellishments in gold made the square look expensive and high class. Afterwards we investigated a park and the botanical gardens. The gardens send seeds to all over the world and have thousands of different types of flowers and plants. In the park I had the most amazing waffle, made fresh in front of me and topped with melted chocolate and cream!
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| Cute Street with Pot Plants |
In the evening we went to this cute little restaurant in town (it had rave reviews on trip advisor) and we were not disappointed! The interior was incredible, every wall lined with vintage items in themes, like hats, cooking utensils, dolls (bit scary looking), vases, pictures and so much more. The food was equally as amazing, I went for the set menu as it was entirely in french and the options were overwhelming. My main was called a Raclette, which is a baked cheese with a mountain of sides (see picture below), it was delicious! Even going to the toilet was exciting to see the displays! Best Restaurant of the whole trip I think!
Display on the way to the bathroom:
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| Snack before heading off to Luxembourg! Food isn't done by halves in France |
Luxembourg: Day Thirteen and Fourteen
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| Castle tower |
Luxembourg was our last stop before heading back to Germany. We only had one night here, which was plenty to see the city and do a bit of window shopping (money was drying up by this point in the trip!!). We invited Jess to come stay with us as well as when we arrived our hotel room had three beds! So see took a short bus ride from Saarbruecken to join us in Luxembourg city. Luxembourg really is a mix of old and new, the city centre is split into two areas, seperated by a george and a few surrounding castles.
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| feasting on delicate chocolates! |
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| Decorated Elephants on display in Luxembourg |
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| One in the shop covered in |
Also while we were in Luxembourg it was just the end of an elephant awareness fundraiser, where artists paint life size statues of baby elephants and they go on display around cities then are auctioned off and the proceeds going to help endangered elephants. It was the last day when we were there, so all the elephants were conveniently in one place for us to look at and take pictures with. We also went to the shop and bought our own mini one to decorate. - Although didn't really think it through how I'll get it back to NZ as it is quite heavy....
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| My own to mini Elephant to decorate |
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| Another Elephant Display |
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| Still smiling after two weeks of travelling! |
Well after two weeks of travelling I was pleased to sleep in my own bed and have a half decent shower without wearing jandals. I am busy back in school now teaching and assisting in lessons, I will post an update soon from the last few weeks back in Mainz. Time really has flown and its only 35 days until Addison arrives!!
