About halfway through our long drive from Pisa to Grenoble, just on the Italian side of the Alps, Cumu decided to pack it in. Disaster! Lewis pulled over into a small rest stop halfway up an Alp where the mechanic mimed that she was done. After our own careful inspection, much frustration and an hour of letting her cool off we discovered that the transmission fluid was empty and decided to top it off and try and make it to Grenoble where we might be able to find a mechanic we could communicate with. Limped on to Grenoble, where we arrived at the "Hotel Kyriad" (there being no hostels and this still being the considerably cheapest option) at about 10pm, had a quick kebab dinner and fell into bed.
Slept in until almost midday as it was Sunday and so, in true European fashion, absolutely nothing (particularly mechanics) would be open. Our intention was to spend the day by going for a hike but after consulting both the receptionist and our stomachs we decided that lunch should come first, and that Maccas was our only real option. This then lead the others to the conclusion that the 15 minute walk in the sun there and back was enough hiking for them and so the call was made to relax around the hotel instead.
Around 5, with Lewis working and Macky skyping, I went for a walk to end my boredom and explored around for about half an hour before I found a servo and bought us another bottle of transmission fluid for Cumu and a 500ml can of Jamiroqui brand beer for me, which I enjoyed while wandering around a park listening to dub (not dubstep, real dub, which the others had banned me from playing in Cumu).
For dinner, with no Cumu to transport us, I asked the lady in reception for information on whether there were any busses into the center of Grenoble, but the result was not good. However she then offered to give us a ride in when she finished work at 9. The condition being that 2 of us would have to ride in the back of the van, which contained only a mattress and no light. Being the gentleman that I am I immediately accepted and happily volunteered the others for those positions while I enjoyed the drive down the tree lined roads with the cool breeze of a window and the ability to foresee turns and breaking. Had a bit of a wander around Grenoble then grabbed ourselves some Indian, which was a very nice change of pace, and a cab back to the hotel.
Up the next morning bright and early (by our standards) in order to take Cumu to the Honda repair place we had discovered. Unfortunately this mechanic also had no English but we stumbled through and he took her for a quick drive and realised there was a problem. While Cumu was being thoroughly explored (dirty slut that she is) we grabbed some breakfast and more thongs for Lewis (who lost his in Corfu) and then went exploring properly in Grenoble.
After a quick jaunt through the backstreets we jumped in a cable car up to the Bastille on the hill, which was very impressive and commanded a fantastic view of the city and the Alps than enclose it. Had a coffee up on the top and took in both the views and the history of the Bastille and the city before descending back down to continue on. Our steps took us through a nice little park and past a couple of cool churches (after so many I feel we are starting to grow less impressed by them than we used to) before ending up at Place Notre-Dame where we acquired for ourselves a 3L tube of beer to wittle away the remaining time until Cumu was ready.
Half an hour later we got the call and, hearts in mouths, headed back to the garage, where the mechanic mimed and used broken English to confirm our suspicions, Cumu´s gearbox was terminal. Limped her back to the hotel where we made the plan to try and get her back to London, where we could either repair her or dump her, via Paris as it was on the way.
Checked out at 8:30 to begin our long, potentially ardous trek North to Paris. Stopped at a few servos before we found one that sold transmission fluid so we could keep Cumu topped up but otherwise she behaved herself remarkably well and we got to our hostel at about 6pm. The "Aloha Hostel" was a pretty nice place with decent atmosphere but sadly lacking in any aloha theme. Met our 3 aussie (seriously, we are like a plague on Europe, just all up in everywhere) roommates who invited us to join them on a pub crawl so after scrounging foods from Cumu and making chilli pasta for dinner we set out with them and a girl called Megan who had, from what we could discover, just spent 3 months in an American bible camp.
The pub crawl was based around the area with the infamous Moulin Rouge (which we didn´t sadly enter) and begun from (even more sadly) an Australian themed pub that served only Fosters. However the pub crawl had a "buy one beer, get one free shot" rule in place so we made do. Ended the night in a decent, packed but not over-crowded club after a succession of average pubs and headed back around 3,
Up around 11, had brunch from a bakery then I led us out on our expertly devised tour of Paris. The Eiffel tower was pretty much as advertised, big, Eiffely and surrounded by tourists. The most remarkable things being the large group of people trying to collect "donations" for being "deaf mutes" but who were often observed talking, and the pick pocket who started following Macky after he saw his camera until I spotted him and pulled us aside until he left.
The Arc de Triumphe was very impressive, lots of impressive statues and I had also not realised that it was the Parisian tomb of the unknown soldier (war memorial). The views down the Champs Elysees were also really awesome, its a pretty damn big boulevard (although Bucharest´s one is 1m wider, suck it France!). Got the metro down the Champs Elysees and came up into the remarkably decadent park that leads to the Louvre. The park itself was amazing, filled with little points of interest at the start and then turning into a huge collection of statues, fountains and flowers as one nears the Louvre itself, which is kind of just a big glass pyramid from the outside. We avoided the giant queue due to time constraints and moved on yet again to the cathedral of Notre Dame, which was huge and fantastic, if sadly lacking in hunchbacks. It did make up for it however by having what we dubbed the "birdmaster" outside, a man almost coated in swallows and with an army of pigeons at his feet.
After this I took us on a detour I wanted for myself, to a huge graveyard in the East of Paris to visit and pay my respects to the grave of Jim Morrison. The grave itself was comparably plain next to the huge ones around it but covered in flowers and gifts. We then also went to Oscar Wilde´s grave, which was larger and almost completely coated in red kiss marks left by fans. Our final stop was the catacombs but they were closed so, alas, we headed back to the hostel.
Made spur of the moment plans, after being invited by Steph & Jo from Corfu, to head to Leeds Festival the next day, made a giant spag bol and had an early night.
Got up at 6:30 to begin yet another epic voyage, this time to North England, and checked out by 7:15. The ferry was booked for 12 but traffic was appalling and we arrived 5 minutes after final check in and had to wait for the 2pm ferry. This at least afforded me the chance for a shower after driving for almost 5 straight hours, even if I had to sneak in as it was meant to be only for truckers. Also gave Macky his birthday present early. I had been carrying it since Download Festival but knew there would be more available at Leeds Fest so had to give it to him before he got himself one. A skull printed face mask which he wore more often than not the entire time we were in England.
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