Onwards and Upwards

After San Sebastian and the sun coming out we headed along the Pyrennes to Toulouse to see the last of the All Black Pool games against Romania. We arrived early to ensure that we could meet up with friends, Chris and his brother Tim, and Greg and Amanda to watch the England v Tonga game which England disappointingly won. The French barman was astounded that these white guys speaking English were supporting Tonga. The next day, being game day, turned out to be a large win for the All Blacks. Words like Job Done were echoed and to our neighbours at the game who we had sat next to at every game so far we said see you at the semi in Paris. We randomly met up with Andy Ebbett and Matt Peachey from School and a host of others for a large night out drinking and watching the Fijians surprise the Welsh and make it to the Quarter Final against Sth Africa. We left Shaun at 4 in the morning with Ebbs and Ben (a huge Samoan prop who plays 1st division rugby in France and who looked a little like Jonah Lomu) searching for another bar as the French kept giving Ben free drinks.

After a massive hangover we left Toulouse late at night and headed to Roquelare, near Auch with talk about the quarter final against France and then who would be the All Blacks semi finals opponents.

The next day we headed into Bordeaux and visited the town of Condom, according to Mark it has the lowest teen pregnancy rate in France and is extremely safe. The French word for condom is however "preservative" but still a lovely little town. That night we stayed at a deserted camping ground in Le Teich just outside of Bordeaux where Mark and Shaun went for a swim in a pool that was artic with both turning blue before checking to see that they were still men and confirming winter was on its way. Chance to do washing as well so with the washing hung we headed to bed to be awakened by howling winds lightning and torrential rain. Sarah and Shaun could hear Mark laughing in his tent as they rounded up their clothes at 1 in the morning soaked.

Bordeaux is an extremely pretty place with vineyards everywhere and some amazing Chateaus. After visiting the information centre and finding that all the tours (80 euros per person) were sold out the lady found us a chateau which did very good vines whose owner loved the All Blacks and New Zealanders and would therefore give us a free tour so we headed off with 3 other kiwi boys who were surviving on a budget of Nutella and french bread each day and driving round in a van that was rough to say the least with a protable radio as their stereo. We were shown around the Chateau given free tastings, learnt about the sorting of the grapes, the harvest, the barrels and how they only hold the barrels for one year and bought a few bottles.

The next couple of days we headed through Bordeaux up to La Rochelle stopping off at Cognac to do a tour of the Hennessey distillery. Made recently famous by the gangster rapper Snoop Doggy Dog (Sarah being from South Auckland gave us the full run down on this). One of the best tours we have done and we learnt how they only use certain grapes, learnt about the barrells and the angels share (evaporation of the cognac) and again tasting where we could actually tell the difference between the two cognacs. Any more cognac and we would not have been seeing straight. We declined a bottle of the stuff with the most expensive costing 3,500 euros

We spent a few days at La Rochelle looking around the town and visiting the island of Ile de Re. To get to it you can take a ferry or drive across a 4 km long bridge. The island would be beautiful in summer as really nice beaches and lots of cool places to go and visit by bike. We visited a few of them and Shaun managed to get distracted by Mark looking over the wall at a sorting plant before putting his bike in a ditch and jumping over the handle bars to avoid a complete catasatrophe. There was a quick visit to the Casino in the afternoon with Mark returning that night to lose a little of the money he made in Monaco.

After La Rochelle we decided to head to the rugby town Nantes to watch the ABs v France. After a fierce battle of mini golf won by Shaun, Mark and Shaun headed to Ten Pin to bowl the night away with Puss cleaning up. Puss thinking that they had rented the lane by the hour discovered when they went to pay that it was by the game so an expensive night.

Next day being game day, Mark and Shaun wearing All Blacks jerseys and Sarah in black headed into town to watch England v Australia followed by the All Blacks game. Supporting Australia we watched as the most boring side in world rugby beat them.

In shock at Australia losing we came back to that bar which the owner told us would be the best bar to watch the game at because it would be packed with french for the game and was the rugby bar. We told him about how we had been travelling around watching the games and loving France and he was very happy to have an international flavour at his bar. Needless to say that the bar was packed with about 250 French with people blocking up the street to watch the game on outside screens. The French were quiet as the NZ anthem started and continued to remain silent until we 3 lone kiwis started to sing the national anthem (very badly according to the people around us) at the top of our lungs to the surprise of the French. At the end of it and with the hairs on the back of our neck standing on end every one of the French started applauding and then turned to give us their anthem. Best anthem in the world!!

Throughout the game we were told about how we were going to win how the ABs were the best team in the world but then the tide turned and the ABs choked and blew out. As the French scored the place erupted and we were kissed left right and centre as they were so happy. Then when they went ahead and won the place went completely crazy. People came up and apologized to us for the French winning and offered to swap their French jerseys for the ABs jersey. We declined which in hindsight we regretted as it would have been a good souvenir but at the time it was just to hard to give up that jersey. So with heads bowed we headed out to see people running along every street with French flags, hugging and kissing each other, cars beeping their horns and the French anthem been sung everywhere. The emotion that they displayed was like nothing we had ever seen before or will see from kiwis. There was no handshakes or pats on the backs here or comments like job done. They were deliriously happy and while very humble towards us, wanted everyone to see how happy the were. One word summed up our feelings "gutted" or 2 words and the first one beginning with "F" and the second been gutted. Once again the "best rugby team in the world" had let us down at a world cup.

The next day in shock we left Nantes and didnt even bother to watch the other 2 quarters as our world cup was over. We headed up to St Malo and St Michel which are amazing castles set out on the coast with St Michel been out in an estuary and is very breath taking. Shaun went overboard with the photos and from there we headed across to the Normandy beaches and stayed a night almost on Utah Beach. We visited the museum there and then headed to Bayeux where we saw the 71 m long tapestry which recounted the Battle of Hastings and William the Conquerors entry into England. The tapestry was created so the illiterate could follow the story by looking at the pictures. Amazing to think how old it is and the condition it is in.

We then headed to Omaha beach and saw the difference between the beaches of Utah with a gentle rise up the beach and Omaha where it is almost cliff like. Reminded us of Gallipoli but with Gallipoli been worse. We visited the Americans cemetery where there are 9300 Americans buried. We did a tour and saw the grave of the Captain on who the captain played by Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan was based on and told the story of the brothers on who the film was based although their names were changed. We also saw the graves of the Roosevelt brothers. The place is so different from the simple graves which the Australians and NZers have in Turkey. We also saw the Mulberry Harbour remnants at Aramanche which are huge. The Harbour was towed over from England to create a harbour so they could off load the troops and supplies as the one at Cherbourg was destroyed by the Germans.

We then started to headed up to Le Havre which was competely destroyed in WW11 and rebuilt. It was then time to make our way back to Paris for the semi final in Paris but before that we spent 2 days in Jumieres which is a little national park and very scenic and relaxing andd took LB on a ride over a river by a small car ferry.

We arrived in Versailles and saw the Palace of Versailles and the estate of Marie Antionette. Unbelievable the amount of money that must have been spent to create a place like that and understandable that the French revolted. We then watched the game of France v England in the rugby bar in Versailles which the English again won! Unbelievable. The difference in the way that the French acted when they won the week before and the way the English acted when they won were worlds apart. The English were rude and obnoxious towards the French and just yobbish. The two cultures couldnt be more different. Enough said as all of us have english blood in us even though we were supporting the French.

The next day we headed to Champagne and picked up Chris in Reims. We had a few drinks that night as we watched Sth Africa beat the Argentinians to set up the worst possible final we could think of Sth Africa v England. We also had a look at the cathedral which was also amazing. The next day we headed to the Mumm Champagne house and its 25 kms of cellars with the longest tunnell been 400m. We asked the lady how they stopped the cellars been raided by the Germans in WWII and she said the French just bricked up the entrances to the cellars and therefore the champagne was safe. That night we had a number of wines from around France and set off the next day to pick up Chris's brothere from Epernay and visited the Moet & Chandon house which was a very good tour and whose champage we thought was better than Mumms. We also visted an excellent smaller champagne house where alot of tasting buying was done. Chris' brother Tim is a chef at one of Toronto's top restaurants so along with the wine we were given a lesson in food which was so interesting and so good as well including the duck pate and duck fat on bread. A large number of champagne was consumed that night with the highlight of the night to be the vintage champagne that Chris bought that day. As Chris went to open the bottle his hands were shaking with excitement which lead to him dropping the bottle just as the cork popped and thus drenching LB and us in vintage champagne. Epernay was by far the prettier of the champagne towns and the champagne houses themselves were immaculately presented.

The next day we dropped Chris off in a champagne smelling campervan and headed to Euro Disney. The hotels were ridiculously expensive but Puss took one to ensure showers for everyone the next day while Sarah and Shaun slept in the campervan on the main street of the Disney village. Up and early we hit Euro disney. Sarah was a little dissappointed not to see Mickey and Miney waiting for her. We headed straight for all the main rides to do them before the queues got to long which was the right move. We were also lucky that we went on a Thursday, the sun came out and the train drivers went on strike so people couldnt get out to Euro Disney unless they had a car :-) We went on every ride that Euro Disney and Walt Disney Studios had to offer with the favourite been Its a small world. We saw the parade, bought souvenirs and then refelcted on been kids for a day again. Always sunny at disney land and always a great chance to be a kid.

We then headed into Paris for the final and Shaun's 30th. Shaun was not a happy camper on the morning of his 30th but then after an amazing lunch, wine and a few more drinks he livened up and we went to an English pub, The Frog and Roastbeef to watch the final in which we supported Sth Africa much to everyone's amazement when they found out that we were kiwis. A huge night was had and we finished up about 5 in the morning. 30 isn't so bad after all!! Sarah can now put another tick in the box as has now gone out with a 30 year old......

We then left Paris to head up and see Dunkurque and the beach where they had the evacuations and after travelling 5000 miles in LB who was beyond expectations we headed back to grey rainy and miserable old England and London. Sad that this leg was over. Some might say Job Done but it was more than that and hugs were definitely in order. Beautiful country, friendly and hospitable people, fantastic experience and the trip of a lifetime.