PARIS blog

Finally writing a blog about my trip to Paris. Sorry about the lateness... computer troubles.

Ready yourself for excitingness.

Cecile (my host sister) and I took the train to Paris on Thursday morning. Good old train trips. As long as you have an iPod, a phone, at least two books and two different kinds of biscuits, you’re right. So I was fine. We were picked up at the Gare de Montparnasse by her uncle Pierre who showed me the Eiffel Tower (bigger and browner than I’d imagined) then drove us to his apartment on the Seine where we met Cecile’s aunt Catherine and had lunch. As this lunch took place in France, we didn’t finish the coffee course until five o’clock, when we took a walk along the river to see Notre Dame cathedral and Paris in general.

They then introduced me to Paris’s best ice cream, Berthillon. Pretty amazingly delicious, even if two euros only gets you a tablespoon of ice cream. La vie est chere a Paris. That night after dinner we had a two hour long argument about school uniforms. Pierre has a very strong opinion about uniforms. ‘Us French could never wear a uniform. It’s just not in our culture. Imagine... everyone dressed the same’. I couldn’t quite see the point of this argument, but we didn’t get to bed until well after midnight.

Friday morning we decided it was necessary to climb the Eiffel Tower. Cecile and I made our way there on the Metro, waited an hour or two, then eventually caught the lift to the top. I wanted to take the stairs up, but considering all the walking and stairs that we did in Paris, it’s probably a good thing that we only took the stairs down the tower.

After lunch we went to the Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs-Elysees. I decided not to buy the 49,000 euro watch. That evening we went out to eat with Pierre and Catherine. They’re on first name terms with all the cafe owners in the 12th arrondisment, so it was pretty cool getting to talk with the proprietaire. I ate my first crème brulee, and it was awesome.
Saturday we started with the Louvre, where everyone is a tourist and nobody speaks French. Saw the Mona Lisa... at the same time as about 341 other people. It was still cool. The Louvre is a gorgeous building, just like every building in Paris. Seriously, everywhere you turn your head there’s another cool apartment or church or statue or obelisk or tower...

Saturday afternoon we met up with some of my awesome Aussie friends in Montmartre. They also happened to be hanging out with some Mexicans who are on exchange in Switzerland but were on holiday in Paris. So we looked around the Sacre Coeur church with our large group of assorted foreigners, then wandered through Montmartre (home of Amelie) which is gorgeous. Everyone wants to sketch your portrait for large amounts of money. After Montmartre we headed to Notre Dame again, then an Australian themed pub called Cafe Oz where we enjoyed such delicacies as the ‘Oz Splice’ cocktail and a pint of Foster’s. Australians are awesome.

Saturday night we went with Cecile’s aunt and uncle to see Fame. Yeah, the musical. Totally translated into French! It was extremely amusing. They didn’t translate the famous ‘Fame! I’m gonna live forever’ song, which was probably a good thing. It gets stuck in your head though, we were singing it all of Sunday when we went to see the castle at Versailles. Versailles! Really really giant one that Louis XIV built as a show off piece. It was a very nice castle, but we did get rather sunburnt spending an hour queuing outside in the sun to get in. It was really hot the whole time we were in Paris! Hot! Like, it made it to 29 degrees. I was impressed. The gardens of the castle were also amazing. There are over 300 fountains. One of them had dragons in it. All the French people I’ve talked to a very proud of this castle... the most beautiful in the world, they call it. OK... I haven’t seen a better castle, it’s true.

After walking around Versailles we realised it was 3.30 and we hadn’t eaten. We hunted for quite a while to find food, considering it’s a tourist hub. One place we went to was out of sandwiches. What is that? We did eventually find food, don’t worry. Food and ice cream.

That afternoon in Paris we went to see a movie with Cecile’s aunt and uncle. I can almost understand movies in French now... not everything but I’m pretty amazed. Wish I could speak better French though. After dinner that evening, Pierre took us for his ‘Paris by night’ tour. The city really is even prettier at night! We watched the Eiffel Tower do its light display at 11o’clock, drove around to see the sights, then watched the tower sparkle again at midnight from outside the apartment. Didn’t really appreciate it the second time, the tip of a tall glittery structure isn’t that exciting when you just want to go to bed.

Monday morning was nice and tranquil... after quite a sleep in, we headed for a walk around the gardens of the Tuileries, where I was privileged enough to see a crow EAT a sparrow. That was extreme. For lunch we met up with Cecile’s grandmother and great grandmother, who are 70 and 95 respectively, and both rather cool. Great grandmother ate nine oysters. The restaurant was one of those fancy ones where the waiters hover around in yellow ties, pouring you more water when your glass is empty. We had a lot of conversation about Australain cuisine.
‘So what’s your national drink?’
‘Um... beer?’
‘Not tea, like the English?’
‘Well, no, not really... we don’t have a national drink in Australia’
‘How about vegetables? What kind of vegetables do you have?’
This is where I tried to explain the concept of snow peas in French. ‘
Peas... that are flat and long... well actually it’s not the pea itself that’s flat and long, but a... thing... with little peas inside...’ I think they might have understood...So it was a good lunch.

That afternoon after the world’s best blood orange sorbet and a water fight on the streets of Paris, we took the train home. The End.