Another great jazz bar

I don't have any photos of this so you'll just have to believe me on this one!

Last night I went out for dinner with Richard and Alex and we had Japonese (au francais, Japonais). So ordering Japanese in French is really hiliarious! Then we stopped past one of our favourite bars called The Tennessee Bar. They happened to be having a jazz jam session on downstairs which our favourite bartender told us about when we walked in. I love it: we walk in and he says 'bonsoir Jenny! Ca va?' so cool!

So we sit down and he gives us cocktails for 5 euro each (and he makes a mean mojito). The music was fantastic - these guys really know how to improvise. And then before I know it Richard is up singing the blues with the band! It was so funny - and he's good!

I'm off to London on Saturday, then I fly to Barcelona on Tuesday. I got one of those flights on Ryan Air that costs 79 pence plus taxes, so that was pretty cool. Not sure where I'm staying yet, but I'll work that out soon!

Must be off...

Keep the emails coming guys, I've been a little homesick for the last week so emails from home are great!

Love Jen

Paris - the quirks.

Ok, I thought I'd add a post in here about the little oddities of Paris that I've noticed so far. Alex is helping me on this one - there are so many little things.

Before I get into it I wanted to add these photos... some of the girls from my class went to the Champ de Mars for a picnic lunch the other day. It was so warm and the food from the boulangerie was amazing! I actually got a little sunburned and I now have a petit parisian tan!

Ok...

• Parisians walk their cats on a leash. Hmm... can't imagine buddy enjoying this at all.
• Watch those wet patches on the footpath - its not water. Little doggies love to leave their mark.
• Pedestrian crossings are for show only. Although if you take a step out and act like its your right of way ALL traffic (except bicycles), will stop. Cyclists will hurl abuse at you.
  
• The proportion of pregnant women is extremely high. Not sure what happened 7 months ago...
• Layering of clothes in the wierdest ways is the norm. As long as the colours don't clash, it was meant to be. Oh yeah and women don't wear heals - its ballet flats only.
• Parisians walk at an annoying rate (too slow, but too fast to pass) and they meander all over the road. Nothing here happens in a hurry. Alex has been here for a month and still has no key for her mail box.
  
• At the slightest mention of the word 'rain', out come the trench coats. Everyone has them. I feel left out...
• They drive on the wrong side of the road - but I realise that is an Australian and Brit quirk. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to step off the footpath and suddenly realised the traffic is on my left.
  
• Sliced bread is sliced so thinly you can almost see through it. Although the bagette is a much better option.
  
• On bagettes - I now understand why the french buy them every day - they only last for about 12 hours before they go stale. And they are so good that you don't let that thing sit around for more than that anyway. They are eaten in excess!
• 2 hour lunch breaks - all the parks and cafes fill up around 12.30 and are full until about 2.30. I don't understand how they get any work done when they start at 10?!
• All the dogs look like their owners - seriously.
• The french are so well behaved in public. There are vast areas of grass and most have signs that say not to walk or sit on it. So they don't. They line up neatly around the outside so as to enjoy it, yet keep it pristine.
  
• They are also extremely patient with tourists. So polite in general.
  

That's all for now. I know I've missed so many things - but this will do for a start.

I'll try for one more post before I leave Paris on Saturday.

A Bientot!

Technical Difficulties

So I'm having a few technical difficulties with the blog - uploading photos is painfully slow when it works at all for the last few days. So sit tight - there will be an update soon! There's so much to tell you!

Weeks Deux et Trois...

Ok, apologies for the long delay... Had numerous technical and time difficulties with this blog! I won't bore you with the details. Here are weeks 2 and 3. I'll do the most recent afterwards...

So something that Alex and I found in the local Monoprix (kind of like Woolies or Coles) is this... You can buy sangria by the brick in 2 litre boxes! We had to buy it and try - it was only 2 euros! Oh yeah, and you can also buy white wine by 3 pack of fruit boxes (that's poppers to you guys in NSW). We drew the line at that one.

And the promised next installment of the sign thing.... This is on all the doors in the metro. Yeah it has english on it too, but its much more fun to think about what it actually looks like. The general consensus here is that if you see an easter bunny wearing a yellow track suit, you should slam his hands in the doors immediately and don't let him on. There have been other suggestions involving him being a public menace as he has lightning bolts that zap from his hands, but that's a little more far fetched.

The Pantheon

The Latin Quarter

The Seine looking towards Hotel des Invalides

More Seine and looking towards Ile de Cite

College des Beaux Arts

More Seine - looking north from the left bank.

Alex and I went to Versailles last week and got up really early to try to avoid the crowds. We packed a lunch from the market at Saint Germain du Pres (right next to Alex's place), and jumped on the RER for Versailles. This was way more complicated than we had expected, so by the time we got there we were exhausted and the first thing we thought of was "I need a coffee". So we went to a little kiosk and after arguing with the woman in french over the finer points of cafe creme or cafe au lait (it seems these are different outside Paris proper??), we got our much needed coffees. However you can see how unimpressed we were at the size - especially Alex who is American!

The Gardens of Versailles from the chateau. I didn't take photos inside even though it is amazingly beautiful as it is forbidden. This didn't stop an annoying number of Japanese tourists from doing this even after being told off. Grrrr! The flashes were sooooo annoying! The inside is over the top and fascinating to say the least. You get an audioguide and it goes through the whole history of the place and how it all worked. The hall of mirrors and the sun king's rooms were amazing.

Petit Venice - this is where you can hire a boat and paddle about on the grand canals. This is looking towards the chateau in the distance.

Marie Antoinette's little chateau at the opposite end of the garden. Note the pink marble. Yes it is marble!

More gardens

I spent an afternoon wandering around Cimetiere Pere Lachaise. This is where there are many famous people buried, but I was more interested in the beauty of the place.

Paris - the first week

Its been a little while since I posted here cause I've been busy exploring and haven't had net access for a while. I've been having a great time though. So lets start from the beginning. Last Friday morning I left London on the Eurostar....

This is me organising myself for my 2 hour trip to Paris from Waterloo Station.

And this is my first look at the Eiffel Tower later that day! Yay! It was so hot and I walked into the 6th where the Alliance Francaise is. I had to register to start my 1 month course. It was such a shock to have to speak french all of a sudden and actually really hard. Every little exchange was such an effort at first, but now I'm getting a kick out of speaking to shop assistants and waiters in french. My course is helping a lot because its taught all in french, so you have to learn quickly. Also, the lady I am staying with doesn't really speak more than a few words in english, so I've really had to try hard.

The next day I went to Monmartre which is absolutely beautiful. It is quintessentially parisian. This is the Sacre Coeur right at the top of the hill. The area is surrounded in pretty little cobble-stoned streets lined with cafes and artists.

This is the view from the top.

And the Sacre Coeur again.

Ok, next installment of the sign thing. I love how Paris is so clean and nice, but its just like they say with the little dogs. They are everywhere and they are treated like children! I love how graphic all the signs are here. And there's one more on the Metro I have to take a photo of to show you. It involves the easter bunny - more on that to come!

This is Parc Monceau. The parks here are so green and pristine. And they have statues and beautiful fountains. A couple of days ago Alex and I sat in the Jardin du Luxembourg and ate a fresh baguette (and let me tell you, when its still warm from the oven it is amazing) and some cheeses we bought from the markets. Sensational!

This is the Arc de Triomphe. One of those things you just have to see. Quite amazing (and big) in real life.

And the memorial under it.

This is my bedroom. Not bad in central Paris. I have everything I could possibly need and its walking distance to most things. Although I have my carte orange which gives me unlimited metro use for a month and cost about $80 Australian dollars, so its pretty useful.

Yeah, so the Louvre is Awesome! So big you need a month to do it any kind of justice. This is one of the entrances. You can see the pyramid in the background. When I got into the main place there were military police with automatic weapons for security. It kind of freaked me out a bit there. They are also at the Eiffel Tower as well. Apparently the french are really scared of a terrist attack. But yeah, the Louvre... wow.

And more of the Louvre. What I didn't know is that about 20 years ago they excavated around the building that is there now and found that it was built on the sight of a grand chateau from about 1200. You can actually walk around the base of it in the basement of the louvre and there is a model they built to show what it looked like. Its like something from the Loire Valley. Unbelieveable!

I went for a wander out to Place du Vosges which is so beautiful. It was built around 1600 by Henri IV and Victor Hugo lived there and Madame de Sevigne was born there. There was a string section playing there which was gorgeous and sounded amazing under the 17th century arches.

On the opposite side of the square there was a little jazz quartet. So french! This is also in my new favourite part of Paris - the Marais. I just love the vibrancy and the mix of different cultures. There is a Jewish quartier which is great for 4 euro falafel and pastries, and then there's the fashion part, and then there are all the bars and restaurants. The buildings there are also older and have more character. They are just gorgeous.

So I made friends with an American girl in my class called Alex who is here with her husband for a year while he studies at Le Cordon Bleu. This is her husband Richard cooking us all dinner last Monday in their studio in St Germain des Pres. Such a good night!

And this is Richard's friend from Le Cordon Bleu, Rodolfo (he's brazillian). We bought 3 bottles of french wine to drink with dinner and have decided that due to our budgets we needed to find some decent low cost varieties. So this is Rodolfo trying to drink the cote du rhone that we paid 1.83 euros for! We did, however, have huge success with the 2.50 euro red from Cahors. It was really good!

This is Alex and I.

Then one night I went out at dusk and took photos of the Eiffel tower. This is right next to it on the Seine. Paris has so many statues and monuments!

And you know what this is!

For 10 minutes every hour it lights up with little lights and shimmers. Very pretty.

In the park next to my house, there is a hot air baloon that is tethered to the ground. You can go up in it and look around Paris for 15 minutes at a time. This particular day was really hot. All the children were running under the fountains in the park and people were lying on the grass til 8pm. They also rig up misting systems in the cafes so that thier patrons are kept cool. Its been really warm here most of the week. I've been living in my summer dresses.

This is the most beautiful bridge I've seen so far. Pont Alexandre III.

And the view from the bridge.

More bridge.

Near the bridge(!)

Alex and I having an afternoon glass of red in the Latin Quartier. Love it.

More of the Marais. I love it!

A Jewish gourmet food store. This shop was unlike anything I've ever seen before. It had everything you could want (and its tiny) and so may other things that I've never seen before. It has dates still on their stalk.

More Marais.

At the back of the Notre Dame. Check out the jet streams!

I love the back more than the front. And it doesn't have the tourists.

And the front of the Notre Dame.

Saint Michel fountain in the Latin Quartier.

This is a gorgeous little jazz club called Le Cameleon. It is not touristy at all and we made friends with the bartender. We are on a first name basis with him now! He reserves the front booth overlooking the road for us whenever we want it! This is the view from it.

The jazz was great. Its excellent to hear french jazz in a french accent. Beautiful.

Alex and I before it got crowded downstairs. I love this place. It feels like you are in a cave with the unfinished walls. Almost like a tiny wine cellar.

Until next time:)

Au Revoir!