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.