Wednesday the 29th of December; delayed ...but in Paris.

It took some time and patience to get here, with a delay of half a day I was there; Paris! My couch surf address was waiting for me. It's hard to get lost in the metro system here. So first some meetings with the other flat mates and why do I only meet teachers all the time?! A lonely discovery of Paris followed. Damn this city is impressive. The biggest and most historical so far. The annoying thing is the thousands of tourists everywhere. This time of year the lines are long, at least 2 - 3 hours of waiting before you could get into things like Eifel Tower or Grand Palace. Funny chasings by the police that try to follow the African tower sellers...they sell a lot of crap here. And the snow of last weeks made the Seine flood, a romantic walk along the river?? Haha, if you like to get wet :-) It was a long day, little bit boring on your own, maybe better when you know some French language. Finally after months I hear Dutch again, a few students that I meet on the street in front of their house. Unfortunately Dutch are not that social that they invite you for a bottle of wine after knowing you for maybe 2 minutes. So after a stroll on the overcrowded Champs ELyses (Christmas Madness and way too many tourists) it was time for the bottles of wine in the flat with my hosts. And it was a night! First everyone was laughing at me when I was eating, I didn't see that they gave me Penis-Pasta...very funny girls. Of course our favorite card game from New Zealand and finishing 5 bottles with 3 people, some other stuff and French delicatessen. All the wine glasses were broken at the end, maybe that says enough... I told them that I don't like IKEA and guess what? Finally I have to sleep on a real couch and the manufacturer? IKEA!!! I slept well, don't worry.

Thursday the 30th of December; the long city walks and local bar life of Paris.

My hosts wanted to show me a few things today; Montmartre, again ridiculous how many tourists. And their famous red light district and Moulin Rouge. I was not impressed if you know Amsterdam. Maybe better to visit this area during the night. I love the area though, small streets, cozy cafe's, old French folks, cheese shops and boulangeries. A meal at Les 2 Moulins (the restaurant from the movie 'Amelie'); it's a famous place, that doesn't mean good... My hosts had to work again and I tried to see as much as possible; everything along the seine, University, Pompidou, Hotel de Ville, Notre Dame, Patheon, Luxemburg Area etc... Another long walk in Paris, all of a sudden I was in front of the flat already. No cheap food this time, Sushi to order. It were not the best cooks my hosts, still thinking that they could use me as their slave...this is not NZ anymore ;-) Although I can't remember what kind of slave actions I have done. It was local bar night, 5 minutes of walking and there are loads of bars, loaded and open every day of the week. Beers are expensive and the music? It's like taking foreigners to 'De Skihut' in The Netherlands maybe. The girls gave me a few missions today, the last one I didn't want to finish and they were a little bit disappointed. And of course they thought I was gay :-)

Friday the 31st of December; My first NYE without fireworks, but with some funny French.

TGV to Lyon, better train system than Germany though. Adrien was also there, almost the whole team reunited. It took 2 hours before Sebastien joined us to make the team complete. A trip/tour/race through Lyon, pedestrians were not safe on the streets today. A tasty tartare for lunch, some beers. And almost everything seems to be 'free' in Lyon, even the Zoo. The park is funny, to see really old women jogging with their small dogs...the French way. The weather was not that good (no snow, but misty). We visited and terrorized the flat of Seb's best friend. A good start of a crazy night. Ready to leave and go to a small village between Lyon and St. Etienne. A villa for a big private party. Around 20 French and besides Adrien and Seb there was only 1 that could speak English. A massive dinner with lots of French dishes. Followed by loads of wine, punch and Champagne. No fireworks and no countdown?! Different but fun though. Although it was hard to miss my other friends sometimes, hard to communicate and hard to understand all the French songs they did the whole night. Some people were just hilarious...(Hen Ry) Cochet for example; way to old and drunk for this party. Finding him completely wasted on the toilet. Didier, another dirty old bastrd LOL (crazy stuff when you're 52!). A long long night, almost nobody knew each other, some issues who sleeps with who...uhm where. No couch 2night, sharing an Aerobed with Seb. BONNE ANNEE! Adrien, thanks for the pics during the emergency pit-stop! :D

Saturday the 1st of January; A special start of the year! This will set the tone...

2 hours of sleep on the floor and the madness started again. All the survivors had another big meal/brunch in the villa. French cheese, baguettes and Jus d'Orange or Champagne. The sisters started a concert in the living room with 2 violins and an accordion. How French can it get? Adrien, Seb and Didier went to some other friends of Seb in the ski area of La Clusaz. SNOW! And even better, the huge authentic chalet of Elody! This chalet was sick, worth around 3 million euro's, many stylish rooms, big bath in your room, pumping sound system in the house, DJ, finally some good party music, unlimited wine/Champagne, more French that speak English whohooo, nice warm and cozy place. The party started quite good. And what a location, just at the bottom of 2 big slopes! A private family chalet, so no way that you could rent this place. Definitely, the friends here were still in the party mood of NYE. Some dinner? Uhm, some chicken and 2 huge rib-eye steaks ready to go to into the fireplace. Never seen such a fantastic meal cooked in the chimney. The rest was authentic French pasta with cheese and more delicious stuff. Santé, chin-chin! After dinner a crazy house party went on and on. Dancing outside on the veranda, waving to the big truck that prepares the pistes, offering them some beer in exchange for some disco lights of the truck. Deep in the night some of us went out in La Clusaz, happy I didn't go, because it was not as good as in the chalet. I stumbled through the amazing warm high carpet into my wooden apple...sweet dreams...

Sunday the 2nd of January; Sunday sessions of La Clusaz...the party never stops!

Around noon the pumping tunes of Compagnie Creole banged on the wooden walls. Time to wake up, no hangover. French lunch (baguettes, cheese and heaps of Champagne). A stroll through La Clusaz. Learning how to ski by watching the debutants through the window. Yeah, actually the windows in this chalet are like 2 huge wide screen TV screens. OMG, Didier the old dirty bastard had some more stunts ready to be recorded :-) The plan was to leave today. Was yeah... After the saucisses and the mobile vineyard of Didier plans changed; we stay another night! The French taught me a new card game UNO. New Year starts different, normally I'm the loser. Today I kicked everyone's ass BIGTIME! A part of the group left, we went out for dinner at another restaurant in the snowy mountains around La Clusaz. After some funny Picard-jokes about the frozen balls the atmosphere changed a little bit. David was not that happy, like the crew of the restaurant. LOL, some French are too grumpy, where is their sense of humor?! It was fun that it was all about balls again :-) Another party night? I stopped, need some sleep zzzZ...

Monday the 3rd of January; A break in the madness.

Wake up slowly, everything went slowly today. Goodbye La CLusaz, bye bye Seb. Never expected to have such a good time here, the crazy crew was reunited for a while and it was epic. Of course we ended up in one the most exclusive places owned by one of Seb's old friends; the daughter of the most famous chef in France. Huge hot chocolate (also the most expensive one I ever saw on a menu) and some gratuit cake and bread. Ow I looked like a famous Argentinan person this time; Gauchos. It was more the owner that was flirting with me. Hm, the French seem to like me LOL. Adrien and I had some time to kill in Annecy before we could take our train. The mall didn't want to take our bags in the lockers because of the terrorist alarm, WTF?! We look a bit different maybe, but not like terrorists. In Thonon I met part of Adrien's family and later the rest in Allinger. A place close to beautiful Lac Leman (Better known as the lake of Geneva). We picked up Kate and Kathelyn, 2 Ozzies that also stayed at Edit's house (Adrien's Grandma). The Grandma was flattered when I told her 'Je voudrais dormir avec toi' Not the best translation for 'I appreciate I can sleep here'. She is so funny and always in for a laugh. A warm welcome in the family with of course...I don't have to tell it anymore.

Tuesday the 4th of January; Cruising the vineyards and cities of Suisse.

A misty view at the chateaux on top of the hill, no lake view today. It was a day full of cruising in the car with Adrien and the Ozzies. Beautiful mysterious mountain scenery, especially after crossing the Swiss border. Crossing Evian, heading to Lausanne. It looked like Machu Picchu sometimes with the vineyard terraces, so pretty. Lausanne was a cool town where we had lunch. Adrien was getting excited because some special accents and signs. Let's hit the road to Geneva. Everything is so posh here; all the exclusive and expensive brands that you can imagine. Luxury cars everywhere. A sky-high fountain, swans following you for a piece of baguette, Pacman is still alive here, beautiful historic buildings, a free bath, slippery streets, big chess-pieces, Christmas atmosphere and many Russians. Oh yeah, this is why Adrien is so excited, he loves Russian girls. We had to make a lot of jokes about this. A long drive back to the family. A great day in Suisse. Everyone seems to be tired. After trying all the ski-gear for the next day it was bedtime?! Inception kept me awake, although Adrien was couch surfing instead of watching the movie.

Wednesday the 5th of January; Skiing Morzine, fan-fuckin-tastic!

Black Eyed Peas 'Dirty Bitch!' Whohooooo Grandma was dancing around the table. Everybody grab his baguette 'Dirty bitch!' Hilarious woman, 72 years old and just crazy, so nice. Feeding 15 cats around us, it's like a cat zoo here. Time to grab our skis and boots and get to Morzine/Les Gets. A huge ski area and perfect weather. First good action of the day, helping a small crying girl that was lost, it was good to speak Dutch again. For the first time it was a wonderful sunny hot day in France. The snow was perfect. I never tried skiing before but why did nobody told me before that it is so much easier than snowboarding. The whole day if felt 6 times, half of the time out of the lift :-) I'm not professional yet, but I can avoid some trees. After all the Glog au Rhum I was exhausted and not capable of standing up straight anymore. So I became a danger and had to leave the piste, enjoying the oldies at the bar. The view from the cabins was great, seeing many people fall and crash into each other on the steep piste below us. The day was not over yet, grandma pushed me on the chair and gave me some disgusting glass of Suze and chips. Later a big family meal; cheese fondue. OMG how nice, the family is fantastic. Everyone was there, Isabelle, Patric, Edit, all the sitters and brothers, uncles and aunts, the Ozzies. But I think they try to kill me with all that food and alcohol. I'm becoming a character here, they have so much fun making jokes about me. I don't care, I like the attention guys ;-) Thanks for crowning me as a King.

Thursday the 6th of January; Chamonix, Glacier de Mer, Mont Blanc BRRRRRilliant!

The 'Dirty Bitch'-tune set the tone for the day again. Another day cruising through the mountains. Destination Chamonix; the big English town at the bottom of the Mont Blanc mountain range. Too cloudy for a ride to the Mt Blanc, so a slow train to the Mer de Glace. A huge Glacier, moving 1cm every hour. We went inside this glacier, big caves. Cooooool and some spectacular views when the sun tried hard to come through. It started snowing, no more views today. In Chamonix it was all about shopping French stuff. And of course; Take me to the candy shop! No 50 Cent clip, but some bodies in candy lingerie. Further in town a lot of sausicces and wine. Trying to eat cheap in this huge touristy town is a challenge but not impossible. Poco Loco was a really small cozy place with some tasty panini burgers and Vin du Chaud. We were pretty slow today so no other towns today. The night at the family became epic again; Patrick let everyone try all the home brew stuff. Shot after shot made the Ozzies pretty tipsy and the mum make funny faces. But guys, stop giving me all this food!!! Vin the garbage bin hahahahaaa, very funny Adrien. Everybody only remembers that Latino-Dutch guy that was always hungry.

Friday the 7th of January; Apres Ski in Chamonix, Russian Christmas.

The Ozzies left today. We stopped many times for drinks at family and friends of Adrien. Everyone offers you more and more drinks. Guys I have to go out tonight, we start way to early :-) In Chamonix we stayed at another couch surfing address, an old classmate of Adrien; Nicolai. Well not a couch, there was a big bed hanging on cables (a sleep swing) and what do I smell? The studied gardening, but these were special plants in the room :-) More people joined us for a long night out. Starting in Chambre Neuf, a Swedish Apres Ski Bar. And a long pub crawl followed that night. It was the end of Russian Christmas, we tried to find some Russian prostitutes for Adrien LOL. It was a funny night, started even before Apres Ski. Good hosts here, see you guys next time!

Saturday the 8th of January; Partytime in Lausanne

Adriens friend offered half-price tickets for going on the Mont Blanc. Well, he did first. But when he showed up after hours the message was NO. So we waited half the day for nothing. So let's take a ride to Lausanne. It was a very picturesque scenery through the mountains. Not a bad alternative and it cost? Nothing. Another couch surfing address, this time one of the persons I met during my travels. In the middle of the city, good healthy food, some wine, some snacks. Perfect you might think. Lausanne is a good party place and you need a wallet that is filled with loads of Swiss Francs; around 16 euro's for 3 beers?! 20 euro's to get into a random discotheque?! WTF welcome in Europe. They had some nice Kingsize bars, homebrew bars and more cool places to hang out. Damn it feels hot, it feels like summer. Last week your balls froze off in Lausanne, tonight you can walk in a T-shirt on the streets...13 degrees in midwinter in Suisse. Was is the heat or the alcohol that made my couch surfing host annoying? :-) This person was getting aggressive, started to hit, bit, pushing it way too far. After several warning it was enough...I left everyone. Uhm, no mobile, no keys, no place to go. Not the smartest thing huh Vince. I discovered nightlife in Lausanne on my own, full of dickheads on the streets. But everything better than with Miss Loca Loca Loca. Hours later I arrived at the address, the other ones were back home, I choose the couch instead of the bedroom. But it was a night full of surprises Adrien :P

Sunday the 9th of January; boring wet rainy day, a great French family dinner.

The morning seemed like nothing happened last night, maybe it was just a funny nightmare :-) After some breakfast we left Lausanne for a long ride to Thonon. Nothing to do today, it is the shittiest weather in a long time. Just when you think the day is useless there it is; a nice French family dinner. Rackletts melted French cheese and meat. With Adriens aunt, uncle, sister and some new faces; some cousins. A great evening with again loads of Champagne and wine. I'm started to love this country, big diners, nice people and Champagne.

Monday the 10th of January; Crossing the edges of my health conditions.

Since Lausanne I'm having a strong fever. Of course I don't wanna disappoint Patrick and Adrien so I join them to the Morzine Alpine area for some hiking in the snow with the special snow shoes; rackets. Till a certain height all the snow melted because of the crazy high temperatures. But high in the mountains there was a lot of fresh snow. Trying to reach the col just in time. Clear sky for just a short time today. Doing this with a strong fever is not a good idea. Breathing problems, bad offing, muscle pain everywhere, knees that gave up, shoes 2 sizes too small. Just 20 minutes before the top I had to give up. The first time in my life that I couldn't finish a hike on a mountain. We were the only ones out there and some wild animals running away from the many avalanches. Yes, it was getting a bit more dangerous. The next day 4 people died here because of the avalanches. Patrick and Adrien had so much fun seeing me struggle today. The bastards offered me more wine, even when we hiked. No for me it was time to rest, stop drinking alcohol, eat fruit and more sleep.

Tuesday the 11th of January; Sickness stopped the adventure :-(

After 12 hours of sleep I still don't feel better. To be honest I become sicker and sicker. The weather is not helping. No good things to do. Just dancing with grandma on the house beats in the kitchen, drinking tea and watch movies with the heater on. It's different, I would prefer to do some skiing today...

Wednesday the 12tth of January; It's over, done, 15 months of craziness...

Waking up with a weird feeling, flying back to hometown Roffa. Sad? Yes. But I won't stop living the dream life and having crazy adventures.