OFII office

I've had real dramas with getting my Visa de Long Sejour. Last month, I went for my appointment - they give you a time and you have to be there no matter what. It happened to fall on my first day of classes so managed to skip my first class. Had the medical exam, with a topless X-ray and lots of prodding and poking. Passed that and then went to get my visa approved, but I had moved departements (I did live in 94and now I live in 92) so they couldn't process it for some reason. I don't understand how Immigration can be the responsibility of a department and not a national system.
I went to my second apppointment in departement 92 which took 45minutes to get to on the bus (over public transport). I was there for 5 minutes while they stuck a sticker in my passport and guess what it has my old address on it anyway and is the exact same sticker they were going to stick in my passport at the first appointment before they realised I had moved and were 'unable' to do it. ARGGG, what a waste of time!

Normandie

Yay, we had a Friday off and were off to Normandie.We found a gorgeous holiday apartment in Cabourg close to Caen. It was 100m from the beach, had an awesome terrace that got the morning sun and had a kitchen and a bathroom. Living in student residence really makes you appreciate having a bathroom and kitchen! As it was out of holiday season it was super cheap especially when it was split between 5.We took off on Thursday after our class finished in Veronika's little Golf (she drove it from Germany)...bit of a squash but it added to the excitment! It only took about 2 1/2 hours to get there, so perfect for a weekend getaway.
Friday morning dawned nice and late for us and after a trip to the supermarket to buy food we could actually cook nicely we had a lovely lazy brunch on the terrace in the sun at midday! We were so lucky with the weather the whole weekend was sunny, still a bit shilly with in the wind but not as cold as it could have been.
Cabourg is a lovely seaside village and was very quiet but I cna imagine it buzzing during the summer. The only people we saw on the streets were old couples and it would be a lovely place to retire.
The architecture is pretty unique, it feels like you are in a fairytale with the 'tudor like' designs.
After a few hours reading in the sun, we went for a long long walk along the beach, it was so pretty and was nice to search for shells on the beach.
Cabourg has a big racecourse and a Casino right on the beach (gives the oldies something to do I think!), there were hoof prints in the sand and I was desperate to go horseriding on the beach but didn't end up organizing to do it. They train the trotters on the beach, its a nice life for some isn't it...
A group shot thanks to my shoe..>
We returned to the apartment to feast on Foie Gras (Goose liver pate- very french) and Fig jam which was absolutely delicious and nice to sit round a rable and eat and chat like normal people!
We then went off to the beach to watch the sunset over the water, which was spectacular.
Being children and making a sandcastle
There are some pretty good photos of us on the posts with the sunset behind us, will have to get them off the others and put them up!
The spectacular sunset. I love the jetstreams glinting in the sunj, I'm obsessed with jet streams and have taken so many photos of them all over the place.
After another lazy morning and big breakfast, we set off to Mont St Michel, on the border between Normandie and Bretagne. It's a monastery that was built on a granite outcrop in the sea, at high tide it is completely cut off (or was), now there is a road. A little village built up on the sides. It is very pretty and very unique in that it is built around the granite, when you go inside you can see the granite popping through some of the walls. There were a lot of people there, a lot of tour groups in buses, mainly Asian and American school children. It was the Day of Patrimony, so all government buildings had free entry in the whole of France. I heard some people waited in a line for 6 hours to get into City Hall in Paris... absolutely crazy but apparently worth it!


The view from the top is amazing and well worth the climb, overloaded with pictures but it was pretty I couldn't help myself!


After walking through the monastery, we went for a walk on the mud flats that surround the island as it was low tide. We were in search of quicksand which the signs warned us about. We did find some, but wasn't as awesome as I though it would be, but you could hear the water coming up through the sand.

Not very good at holding my camera straight am I?
After saying a sad farewell to our wonderful apartment on Sunday, we headed to Etretat to see the cliffs. We had never heard of them but they were in all the postcards so though we had better go have a look. I'm so glad we did, it was so pretty. My first encounter with a rock beach, little bit weird but the stones are so smooth that you could still lie on the beach without too much damage.

Who says french women don't get fat?
The hole in the cliff.
Scaring oursleves silly on the edge of the cliffs, you wouldn't be able to get this close in Australia, pretty amazing to look straight down though!
After lunch in Etretat, we drove all the way back to Paris, there was a lot of traffic and we got a little lost, ended up in the North of Paris after going the wrong way through a tunnel - there is no where to turn around, but it was fun. Very sad to go home but a really nice weekend away, thanks girls!

Piscine de la Grenoillére

I am pretty sure I have just expereinced the last midly warm day for a while (got all the way up to 20degrees today!), looking at the weather report, temperatures are just keep going donwhill :( I'm very scared! To celebrate, I got our my togs and went to the swimming pool near-by to meet up with a friend from my old french class (luckily as today was the last day it would be open until Spring next year!).
The water was warm enough but it was bit chilly outside. They had diving boards which were great fun, I felt like a little kid and was racing them out of the pool to dive in again! It was really nice doing a few laps as well, I think I may try find an indoor pool so that I can swim in winter. Probably more likely to go for a swim inside than go for a run outside in the cold and french people don't seem to do gyms.

Goodbye Summer :(

Living in the suburbs

So there are good an bad things about living all the way out here. Number one is how long it takes to get home from Paris, especially if you miss the last RER (which is at 12.30pm) and need to catch the Noctelien (night bus). When I lived at Cachan this was relatively easy as the correct bus left from the 'party' area and we had a choice of 2 that could take us within walking distance, which means we were normally home within the hour. Now that I live in Chatenay-Malabry, there is only one bus that takes us near here and it leaves from Montparnasse, which although does have some clubs is not where we generally go out. This means we need to catch the Metro (if it is still before 2am) to Montparnasse and then the bus. Last Friday we went into Paris for a friend's birthday - her sister lives in Paris in a gorgeous apartment in the 12th. But being rookie's we stayed until just past 12.30pm so we missed our last train and therefore needed to take the night bus, got to Montparnasse and had to wait 25mins for the next bus which then took about another 30 mins to get home. We left at about 12.30 and were tucked up in bed 2hrs later...definitely worth just staying out until 5.30am when the trains start running again :) Here is pic of the gorgeous cake we bought her, it was like cheesecake inside with fresh berries.. pretty and delicious!

The last time we went out in Paris (a few weeks ago)we took the Noctelien home, but it was stopped by the RATP Police (basically ticket checkers), we were absolutely crammed into the bus, after they were done, we each had our own seat :) They make you pay the fine right then and there, they have one of those portable eftpos machines. I'm not sure how much the fines were, but I am sure they made a pretty penny that night :) I have a few photos from that night. We had a picnic on the Pont des Arts, if you don't get there early enough you tend to get a spot right next to the 'poubelle' (rubbish bin) but they get emptied very often (at least whenever we go there!)
Pont des Arts has the most locks on the bridge, mainly due the heart that is created by the lights reflecting off the river through the next bridge. I've tried to capture it here but failed, you can almost see it in the middle (the arches of the heart are made by the arches of the next bridge. One of those things you have to be there to see I think!Click on the photo to make it bigger and you might be able to see it!

The good thing is that my classmates are stuck out here too, which makes it so nice to have a meal together and walk to and from school with company. We're trying to have regular 'Chatenay family' dinners at the local Chinese restaurant which is just around the corner. We have crepe & icecream nights on Wednesdays as one of the boys has a crepe maker- yummy! We speak a weird combination of french/english/italian and german! It makes for interesting conversation...Here's a pic of us in Frida's room enjoying dinner together.

Le Cordon Bleau

On Saturday a few of us 'Chatenay' girls went into Paris for a cooking class with l'atlier chefs which is at Galleries Lafayette (a very very chic department store!), there was a student discout for the month of September. We signed up for 'La pause gouter' - taste of teabreak. It was good fun but I was expecting to have our own little workstation but we all made the same things together. We made little pistachio financiers, ferrer coco (in the pic) and an orange and mint salad with mint & almond crumble. Everything was delicious! the whole class was in French, I didn't do too badly, although there were some bits I missed completely, but I have few new words to add to my vocabulary so learnt both french and cooking! Here's a quick clip showing how to make financiers (in french of course!).
In our sexy aprons!
Making the financiers...
We searched for a park but only found this gorgeous enclosed square to eat our goodies. Pretty amazing to be eating under a statue, it was so peaceful compared to the mayhem that is around Galleries Lafayette with all the tourists...although I am not sure that I could find it again!

As we were at Galleries Lafayette, we decided to check out the shoe 'section', it was a whole floor of shoes, I was in heaven, ofcourse they are ridiculously expensive but so nice to look at and dream. So many people though!
After finishing drooling over shoes, we went to Chatelet (a big shopping and restaraunt district) which was more in our price range. We went past the Centre Pompidou(an art culture museum) and decided to take a quick break from shopping.

I love the street performers, they are really good quality and seem to be able to get past my langugae barrier! It is such an easy way to pass half an hour sitting watching and takign a break from all the hustle and bussle, the Centre Pompidou is the best place to watch them (after the steps of Sacre Coeur ofcourse)as it creates a natural ammphitheatre and spectacular backdrop.
J'adore les bulles...as do the kids!
After a long afternoon exploring the area, we went for a lovley meal in a little cafe in Chatelet before catching the train home for an early night finally

Afternoon Delight

Yay, one of our classes was cancelled - yippee an afternoon of mid-week freedom - we were off to Paris for lunch! I must say Paris is so much nicer now that the majority of tourists have gone home, the roads and restaurants were so much quieter, amdittedly it was raining. You could feel the city breathing a sigh of relief. We went to St. Michel for a bite to eat, there are streets full of little restaurants here and it is always a hard decision to decide where to eat, with the restaurant owners selling thier various meals. Lunch time here is so much cheaper to eat, we got a 3 course meal for 9Euro is a quirky little 'tourist' french cafe and it was all delicious I have been really slack at taking pictures recently so some of these are old ones from times I have gone before! I' getting complacent with 'normal' life here in Paris so I don't feel the need to take photos the whole time like I used to!
After lunch, it poured down with rain (it really storms here, I was expecting drizzly rain!). I was in desperate need of some books to read, with no TV it is quite hard to just chill at night, there is a famous english bookstore (mainly 2nd hand) in Paris called Shakespeare & Company. It is gorgeous, they have an upstairs loft area where you cna sit and read your new purchases over a hot coffee. They have walls and walls of books and while I think they are expensive for 2nd hand books, english literature is very hard to come by in France! I bought 3, you cna actually come and sell them back to the bookstore once you read them although I am sure they cut you down on the price! (once agian a pic stolen from the net...will get a real one on the weekend!)
After our purchases, we went in search of a recommended (Lonely Planet Paris) chocolate shop where we could get a warm drink as it was still miserable and rainy. The hot chocolate was exactly that, it was so rich, you needed muscles to stir it and the spoon came out with more chocolate on it than in the mug, I could feel it going straight to my thighs! After meandering slowly back to the RER, we were off home, if only we had more afternoons off....
A little picture of a 'monkey's wedding', you can barely see the rain, but look at all the acorns on my acorn tree!