04-30 Homeward bound

Wheather: Fine, warm, avg temp 23c

The flight is at 17:45 but we plan to leave for the airport at 12:30. Wow, its over, this time next week it will be pushing buttons behind a desk. The last day is like eating sweat and sour pork. To see all our friends and family again; see our pets; our home; to not have to think about how to say something in a foreign language; to use your own toilet; to get a good meal; breakfast; driving; to watch tv (other than cnn) in English; to just sit and veg in the hammock; breakfast again... All the little things that make Australia home and at the same time there will be no more adventures and spiral stairs and towers and churches and momuments and baguets and sunsets and aching feet and each day will be much like the last except for weekends...

So happy to be heading home and sad that it is over we packed but first headed to the Cemetary next to Pere Lachaise metro station. James Morrison and Chopin are there but it is a large confusing area and we get separated (Jas stops to take photos - he is my person photo diarist) and I amble ahead... Anyway I ambled a bit too far ahead and he is gone but I found James M (follow the the crowd of people with cameras) and then after many wrong turns andgetting completely lost I found Chopin.

Still with time to spare we headed down to the art markets at the end of our street, keen to find something a little special to remember Paris. (I found a gorious silver handcrafted ring- very unique) and a print of a water colour by a very charming frenchman who chatted me up - surprising since I was not wearing any makeup. :)

Anyway, at last we caught the metro to Gare de Nord, then the RER train to Charles De Gaul which has to the quietest international airport I have ever been too (which would be 4 so probably not much to go on....) There was hardly anyone about - I was actually relieved to glance out a window and see a plane parked I thought we were still at a train station, even the number of shops were few. anyway, on a half full plane to Tokyo - we have the emergency exit seats which means lots of leg room and the personal tv sets so quite content... Jas watched "Meet the fockers" (bof bof) and I got to see "Bridget Jones Diary"(mon par).

04-29 "Arhhh Paris"

04-29 "Arhhh Paris"

Wheather: Fine, warm, avg temp 23

A fine warm day which began at the Photography Museum where we viewed a collection of black and white photos from the 1940's, a couple of contempory artists - one who took photos of office buildings (like a water cooler or a group of chairs) - very boring. There was an exhibition of Andy Warholes poloroides with a fewfamous faces amoungst them and some strange ones as well...

We then returned to Notre Dame because Iwas keen to climb it - Jas twisted his knee in a minor way earlier and it was bugging him a bit so declined (ok for walking, not ok for stairs). I waited in line for about 40min since they were only letting up groups of 20 or so every 10mins (it was about 1300hr) and cost E7 but well worth itto see the gargoles and Paris on such a fine day. All the bladers and cyclists were out and about it was such a beautiful day.

We then grab some lunch shamefully at KFC (not many around) but it did not taste the same as Australia - fries were terrible. By mid afternoon we were at the contemporary art museum again and watched the street performers and the people before stopping for a coffee in the complex. Keen to make the day last longer we then walked back over the Seine to the Latin Quarter until we ended up in the Luxemburg gardens. At last we walked back to Pont de Alexandra III and watch the sun set and the Eiffle tower light up - it was about 2200hr then finally returned to the hotel for the last time...

04-28 Versailles, France (outside Paris)

"This is the Viccaci palace" said one American to another, and I thought our pronouciation was bad...

Ok so today we braved crowdes to see Versailles Palace, one of the most visited locations by tourists and locals of France.

History
The chateau started construction in 1664 and continued until 1715. It was built during the time of Louis XIV. After his death Louis teh XV moved in in 1722. It remained the residence of the royal faimly until the revolution of 1789. In 1871 it became the seat of the nationalist government.

Getting There
There are two train stations to Versailles, we caught the Gare de Nord (SNCF) which puts you about 15 min walk from the entrance, and on the way home we caught a closer RER C (by only about 5 mins) local line which put us back on the Met in Paris.

About
Versailles consists of a few key areas:
Le Chateau, where the royals and gentlemen hung out, is the main 'exhibit' today.

The State Apartments (Grand Apartments) and the Hall of Mirrors. The rooms here are littered with artwork, statues possibly to adorn the King of the time.
We were unable to see the hall of mirrors as they are currently undergoing reconstruction and will reopen in 2006.

In the aparetments in the Queen's (Marie-Antoinette's) bed chamber. Many of the rooms have ceiling paintings and minute details in areas such as the door handles and fireplaces.

The King's Suite includes the Guard room, the Antechamber for the Grand Couvert, the King's bedchamber and the Council Cabinet. Including many fine paintings the rooms are also laced with marble walls, carved statues and gold lined furniture.

The Chapel Royal I think was attached to the aparments. Having gothic tendancies as part of its construction the chapel stands over 25 meters high.

I dont remember visiting it but there is also an Opera theatre inside the massive structure....

After a while the many fine paintings, rich carvings, gold laced everything, copious amount of tourists begins to blur into a dejavu style feeling as you begin entering room upon room... We had an audio tour for certain parts of the tour but we were just too damn fast for the annoucer (mayby he was just too damn slow talking!) . In some locations they had run out of audio tours and we didn't bother to grab em, so we lost the history lesson of some parts of the Palas.

The Trianon
The trianon consists of the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon and the Hameau de la Reine. Trianon is the name of a village Louis XIV purchased and then demolished in order to build house for partaking of light meals. Aparently the king would retreat to this area to avoid the oppressive protocol of Versailles and still be close to his family. The trianon is a 15 minute walk from the Chateau and is surround in lavish gardens and flowerbeds. Surrounding the grand trianon are also many garden scluptures and fountains, perfect for a garden stroll.

The Petit Trianon.

Liking the grand trianon so much the king decided to build a new chateau, finished in 1768, the Petit Trianon was done. With similarly fashionable gardens and foutains lining its expanse this location was about 5-10 minutes from the Grand Trianon.

The Queen's Hamlet
Part of the Trianon grounds consists of the small lakeside village, the location chosen by Marie-Antoinette, a pictureseque location that the queen used to escape to and play at being a shepherdess. The area consists of a large pond, surronded by small village housing, the Queen's house and a small Farm (used to supply the queen with eggs, butter cream and chese.)


The Gardens
The gardens consist of about 1/2 dozen designated named areas. Of which the main areas are: the Le Parc which adjuts the The Chateau and surrounds the Le grand Canal, a cross shaped canal where you can hire row boats.

Planning your Visit
We arrived around 1000 or 1100 on the day to enter what was already a crowded attraction (obvious by the 40 odd tourist busses in the car park). We followed the lonely planets guide and began to line up at Entrance B, while most people were queued at Entrance A. Heres a tip, go and ask at the information office what would be the best way to start the day, the Lady here advised that I should actually go to the gardens entrance to purchase the ticket, unfortunatly they would only take cash not credit so we stayed at Entrance B. Once you have obtained your ticket for this and the other attractions you can bypass the initial queues and move through the place a bit quicker.

A little gripe with the place, after forking out euro20 for a day pass we still had to pay euro 0.50 for a toilet stop. I had the unfortunate timing of requring the ameneties the same time as 50 odd kinder boys who were busily practising there light sabre urinating techniques (unbeknown to them the urgency of some mere Australians just wanting to go behind them) What can you do get mean at them in English... to French kids? I think not. Patience is a virtue so you wait..

Overall if you're into the exceeisivly rich, pompous lifestyle of Aristocrats you will probably enjoy your time at Versailles. Take a packed lunch and go into the gardens to enjoy your cusine! It's a lovely maintained area outside of the Chataue.

04-27 Paris, France Musee d'Orsay

04-27 Paris, France
Weather: 17 and fine.

Today we ventured back to the Musee d'Orsay. We got there at 9.00, unfortunatly it opens at 9.00 in Summer, 10.00 in Winter. Amazingly the queue grew at 9.00 and was 4 lanes deep by 1000. So I guess it was good we waited out the hour anyhow.

Upon entry we gazed upon the impressionist paintings from Renoir, Monet and Pissarro. Other works from Van Gogh and Matisse.Also there were 2 works from Burne-Jones which delighted Clare. Also there were a vast amount of sculptures including works from Rodin.

This filled up most of our day. After that we headed for home.