When the atheists turn to St Christopher you know you are in trouble!

(Skulls from the Catacombs, Montparnasse.)

So clearly there have been far too many photos of the happy smiling adventurers. Today we are coming to you live from Gare de Lyon Paris where we are having what can only be described as a truely French experience!

Yes we've been caught up in the French rail strikes and that means no romantic overnight train to Venice, no posh dinner on train and more importantly no clear deliniation between firsties and secondies.

We're not 100% certain but it would appear that the rail workers have gone on stike over retirement age and a system that privledges those who work for the government. In unrelated events students are also blockading universities over newly introduced education fees and in a day or two apparently the doctors are stopping work over conditions in the public health system.

Chaos? Or just the French being French? From watching the TV and talking to our landlord politics is second only to football and philosophy as topics of conversation. Even at the train station magazine racks there is a weekily magazine called "philosophie" and another called "Historical" though right next to those is Big Jugs Francois! (What would YOU read?!)

We have another 4.30 hours to go before we board the TGV to Milan where we will camp over night and then catch a train to Venice tommorrow morning. In 4.5 hours we could pack in a life time of Parisien experiences (vin rouge, entrecote de l'agneau, creme caramel), except the people who look after the luggage lockers are...on strike.

So we are with our baggage and unable to "faire comme un tourist". Instead we pray to the little St Christopher medal bought at Sacre Couer yesterday in a fine 8 degree sleet, we also thank god for computers, wifi connections and skype. Without which the unforseen mess we're in would not have been sorted.

Paris has been pretty good otherwise...though i think those stories are probably best saved for when we're not sitting in a brisk 6 degree train station re questioning wether we really DID confirm that booking for the hotel tonight.

Au revoir!

Belated...

A week spent in Paris...so a belated post about Granada.

We've decided not to bore you all with the details of how we missed the plane from Madrid to Granada, needless to say if candid camera had filmed Ally holding her head and screaming "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DOOOO?!?!" when faced with possibly missing the second flight we can assure you it would have been made for television.

It wasn't so much 5"1' ball of rage, rather 5"1 ball of panic. At the time what seemed a sudden and ridiculously expensive avalanche of "everything is doomed why hath we been forsaken?!", turned into really just the first hiccup of the trip...we can now but laugh (We'll most likely regale you with the full details in the future over a drink or three if you REALLY want to know...or not).

Fast forward to the three of us (Al's mum, Aileen, and your two intrepid travellers) with suitcases, backpacks and once again the BRAZEN idea that we really DON'T need a map. Because as we learned in Madrid not having a map is no impediment to finding our accomodation.

So we took off to locate a map just in case...and in the process we really couldn't have walked more directly to where we were to spend the next three days. A beautiful 17th century spanish villa tucked behind what seemed yet another maze of tiny alleyways and buildings.

But proving that using your third eye to find accomodation in a foreign city, getting stuck in Madrid airport for 4 hours, dealing with airline bureaucracy and incompetence really wasn't the purpose of our trip to Granada...no...it was the Alhambra.

Seeing the Alhambra meant another early morning start...a lazy 6:30 (Our Madrid airport funride start time was 5:00 and after supposedly missing our check in by less than 3 minutes we were not going to be anywhere near late for this one!).

So a quick breakfast, busride and forced march to the Nasreed Palace later. Time stopped. We were surrounded by sights and sounds all at once dramatic and serene. A Moorish palace built between the 12th and 16th centuries. One of the 10 wonders of the world(see photos below this post).

The Moors used algebra and mathematics to create an asthetically pleasing design that is incredibly hard to take a bad photo of. Surely then when they were putting this amazing series of palaces, baths, gardens and courtyards together they were saying to themselves "In 400 years time Douglas will be here with a camera...we can't dissapoint!"

It also made us remember those shrill, post 9/11 anti muslim questions of "What has the middle east ever contributed to the West?"
Well lets START with mathematics and algebra. And if you REALLY want to know the rest go here for more answers to possibly the most ridiculous of questions.

The fort of Alhambra is a massive triangle shaped building essentially built into the mountain with a sheer drop down to the city below. It was never taken by force when the Christian's led by Ferdinand and Isabella sacked Granada in 1492. Instead all hope lost and the surrounding cities of Toledo, Cordoba, and Seville retaken the Moors were forced to surrender.

The Christian flag of Spain was raised above the Alhambra as the last Muslim king, rode into exile with the bitter words from his aging mother, "Weep like a woman for the city you would not defend like a man!" following him.

MUMMY!!??

And with that...our trip to Spain comes to an end.
We have since jumped on a train and headed north across the Pyrenees into France to the city of ROMANCE, revolution and really great pastries!!

Paris.
An update of course...is in the works.

Douglas and Ally