Versailles

Well Saturday dawned, in all its heat and four of us were off to Versailles for the day. We were to meet at 10.30am on the lawn outside the residence. By 11am we got the shits and knocked on the Americans door, he wasn’t awake – 5 minutes later we were off!
Getting the train there was pretty easy, but on arrival we realised how many tourists there were, it was so busy and there was a queue to get tickets and then another queue to get in to the palace. We decided to skip the palace and go straight to the gardens. Everything is normally free for students studying in France which is great! Except at Versailles on weekends when they have the Grand Eaux Musicals (musical fountains) so we had to pay 6 euro to get in. Totally worth it – the gardens are absolutely gorgeous and are on a scale that is so huge you can’t appreciate it in the photos, no wonder they bankrupted the country! Here are a few photos...





The best part of the whole day was sitting down on the grass near the Grand Canal eating lunch or ice-cream! There weren’t as many tourists and there were lots of French families sitting having picnics on the canal’s banks, hiring boats to paddle in the Grand Canal and going for bike rides and walks with their families



At 3.30pm the ‘fountain show’ was due to start. We got good seats really, dangling our feet into the water, ready for a great fountain show and were sorely disappointed. Basically all they did was turn the fountains on and play classical music through the speakers. If the gardens were not so impressive I would have been sorely dissatisfied. I am however very keen to return to the Grand Eaux Nocturne (fountains, music & lights), from the photos on display it looks spectacular. We bailed form Versailles at about 4pm, having spent about 4 hrs walking around and we didn’t even go into the Palace! You can see how tourists get overwhelmed with trying to fit it all in!

Movie Night!

During the summer months in Cachan, the city holds free open air movie nights in the park. It was on this Friday and our beginner class decided that it would be a good idea to go and absorb some French! As it gets dark really late the movie only started at about 10.30pm. So off we go to the park, thinking we’d be seeing a classic French film in black & white under the stars. Guess what was on? Transformers 2!


Attacker, attacker, attacker! Was the only French I got out of it!

It was lovely to watch a movie while lying on the grass under the stars with a bottle of wine! Very romantic, however no boy to snuggle up with, all I had was my army teddy...

Mmm cherries!

I'm eating sitting here eating a giant punnet of cherries for dinner, they were only 1Euro and are delicious! Everything in France at the moment is really fragrant, when I walk to the train in the morning the smells are amazing, I walk past the boulangerie (with its bready goodness!) and a fruit shop. On Wednesdays and Saturdays (I think) they have markets close to the station, the smell of off-fish in the afternoon isn't that great though!


Yesterday afternoone we had Fracaise orale et phonetique, it was pretty similiar to the session in the morning with the introductions AGAIN, but then we listened to this French song to practice our pronounciation, it's hilarious you need to watch it!


After class I was on a mission to orgnise my life, brave the rude receptionist at the college to ask for a card to do laundry and go and buy another sheet. I went looking for a sheet first with no luck even after walking past all the shops in Cachan. I found the most amazing shop though, its called Picards and all it sells is frozen goods .. it seemed really popular as well! No luck with the getting a laundry key either, so ended up just airing my jeans (how very european of me!) and washing everything in my hand basin, my room looked like a chinese laundry (which I wish I could find!).

During lunch today, (we get 1 and 3/4 hours for lunch - yay!) we went into Sceaux to buy some lunch before heading to the Parc de Sceuax. The Parc de Sceaux was designed by the same guy that designed the gardens of Versailles and although I have never been to Versailles (going this weekend) I think it will be a lot better and without the tourists. We only discovered a small portion of it but I will definately be back. When I move to the other residence, I will need to walk through the park everyday to get to uni which is going to be lovely I think! Here are a few photos...






I'm not doing very well with the roads here, I always look right, instead of left when crossing the road and get such a fright when I eventually look left and find a car or a scooter right next to me - need to start thinking LEFT before I get run over!

Hope you are all enjoying my blog, its the easiest way to keep everyone updated with what I am doing without having to repeat myself a million times :) One of the other benefits is keeping up my english, I am already finding myself using english words and french sentence structure especially with propositions so not sure how I will be after a year!
xoxo

C'est juste Mercredi!

I just realised I left Australia a week ago today, it feels like a month has gone by! Yesterday, we learnt all about ourselves in French, our name, our age, date of birth, nationality - very much over the vocab and hearing 16 people repeat where they are from again and again! But we all definatly know what we are saying and are unlikely to forget it very soon. Repitition is key! My classmates (Level 1) all went to Paris for the evening, here's a photo of us waiting for the train.

The RER B is a really good line for getting into the city quickly, the best stop is St Germain, which drops you off really close to Notre Dame. The other is Chatelet but it is a scary station there are tunnels everywhere and could be very easy to get lost if you weren't paying attention to the signs, I avoid it like the plague! After wondering around Notre Dame, getting the obligatory icecream from Ile-de-Cite (again!) we wondered along the Seine and through some of the back streets of Paris, although they couldn't be too back street as they still sold touristy objects - just not as gaudy as the ones along the main streets.

We decided to walk to the Louvre (we thought it was a lot closer!). On the way we passed the Hotel de Ville (City Hall & where the Mayor lives), there was a poster on the facade of the builing of Charles de Gaulle, the poster was made up of a lot of little posters of people who were aided in the liberation.

Walking to the Louvre, we passed through a shopping district with all the sales (Les soldes), definitly will be returning before they finish in a few weeks. In France, sales are only allowed twice a year, July and January so better make the most of it! My shop?

The Louvre was spectacular as usual!

I think I have found my favourite place in Paris, the view from just west of the Louvre, you can see the Eiffel Towere, all the way down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triumph, there is the Musee d'Orsay just on your left and the Louvre behind you - couldn't get much better that that!

On our return, we got a late dinner and then all sat outside on the picnic benches to do our homework together - at 10pm at night, it was lovely actually!
More to come but its very late & I have homework to do!
A demaine!

Le langue francais

Well on Sunday I made the big move to Cachan, just outside Paris in the suburbs. I was pretty disappointed with the room when I arrived but after I unpacked all my stuff it started to look like home and I wish I could stay here the whole year just so that I wouldn’t have to pack up and unpack again. Here are some photos of before & after. I haven’t got photos of the shower, it is pretty disgusting, thank god for Haviannas. There is hot water so it isn’t that bad but just not the same as having your own shower...





Didn’t do much on Sunday apart from try to find a super marche and une cybercafé for the all important emails and blog post!
So Monday hailed and off I went to my French class, managed to catch the right train and arrived 45 minutes early! Found a Russian guy who could talk English and we wondered around for about 20 minutes (it is really pretty is Sceaux) then returned to the campus where I met the rest of my classmates. I am honestly embarrassed that I only know 1 language. Most of my class mates know their language plus English plus a little bit of a third language plus they are learning French! Most in my beginner beginner class are from Russia, there is one Spanish guy, an Italian girl, a girl from Finland and an American guy, also two from Albania. The whole class is in French, no translation whatsoever so you really need to pay attention!
We started with a quick test to see what our level in French was, mine was very quick as you can imagine. Basically only covered the what is your name and how old you are before I flunked out! Hehe! We then had a 2 hour break to go to the Cite Universitaire for lunch, only 2.90 euro, for 3 courses, the cheese was delicious. After lunch we were very late back to class but it didn’t seem to matter too much as we were with teachers.
I think I learnt more French in 2 hours this afternoon than 2 weeks at Alliance Francais in Toowoomba! I even found myself helping the American guy buy his metro pass in French – very proud! I was one of the few who knew where the supre marche and cybercafé was so showed everyone there –once again very proud! We each bought a bottle of 1euro wine which we proceeded to drink with cheese and salami on the picnic benches outside our residence. The Russians had bought their Vodka with them so we had to have some that, best French picnic ever! (which could have been due to the alcohol!). A few photos...





We have tomorrow afternoon off so will definitely be heading into Paris to see the sights with my fellow classmates! Will post soon xoxo.

Day 2 in Paris

After my last post, the weather kind of cleared up, only cloudy and the occasional rain splatter! I decided to explore the area where I was staying, nearby was Notre Dame and it has free entry so thought that would be a good option! Had a lovely stroll along the river and onto the Ile-de-la-Cite, which is where Paris started from. There were heaps of tourist shops along the way which should have given me a hint but I honestly didn’t think there would be that many people, it was crawling with people and I made the decision to go back in winter rather than waiting in the line! It’s still pretty amazing from the outside though! As you can see in the photos...

I found ‘free’ internet in a park as well, which was great. Although I am having major issues with my phone, it eats credit! Honestly! I went through 50 Euro in 24 hrs (I thought it must have been data roaming or something). But, about an hour ago I put 15Euro on it, sent one message to the boy, checked the balance and it was about right 14.44Euro (sms cost about 28cents). Then I checked it an hour later and I only had 5.44Euro left... have no idea why. While I was turning everything on my phone off that would remotely use money it chewed through another Euro! So from now on my phone is in airplane mode and I’ll check it occasionally. Will have to venture into an Orange store to see what is happening...may need to find a French friend to translate first!
To waste some time while the weather was a bit shitty, I decided to go to the Musee de Photographie which was just across the road from where I was staying. Basically, all I confirmed was that I am not an arty person – this stuff was just weird. One of the exhibits was a movie of a guy walking down a railway beating a drum over and over again, the other was just random polaroids of a really ugly guy with stuff shoved up his nose – freaky! There was a really interesting photo-collage of Russia which was actually quite out of the ordinary – definitely didn’t promote it as a tourist destination though! It was half price (as under 26) and kept me out of the rain for a bit so not totally wasted time but not on the list of things to do in Paris!
I wrote a few postcards (they’re the mail!) and tried to have a nap with no luck. Then off I went to my night bike tour. It was amazing! There was a lot more cycling than the day tour and a lot more on the streets with cars hooting at us. We rode all the way through the Latin Quarter, into the Marais, the Ile-de-la-Cite, stopped for ice-cream on the Ile-St-Louis, a very exclusive island, where lots of famous people own houses. We then rode back through the Louvre (really beautiful and quiet at night even though it was still light), crossed the Champs Elysees (which was scary on a bike!) and rode past the Grand Palais and Petit Palais before we hopped on a boat for a boat cruise with FREE wine – yay! The boat cruise was really beautiful, with all the major sites lit up. The funniest was the statue of Henry IV, which at night they light up so his sword looks like a light sabre, this was hilarious after a few wines! The highlight of course was the Eiffel Tower, especially when it ‘sparkles’, cameras just don’t capture how beautiful it was! I have so many photos of the Eiffel tower already... About half the tour was Australians, half my parents age and then another 3 more my age. The rest of the tour was made up of a family from Lithuania, India and America. Two of those were living in London and travelling around Europe for a few weeks. Was nice to chat to other people and pick up travelling tips. It was a pity my hostel had a curfew of 1am otherwise could quite easily have made a night of it, after a few glasses of wine.
One of the places that I liked best was the Pont des Arts (the bridge of arts). It’s a pedestrian only bridge and there were people sitting having a picnic with wine and cheese, definitely on the to do list! On all the bridges in Paris, there are locks on the railings. Couples come to the bridges in Paris, they put a lock on the bridge and throw the keys into the river to symbolise ‘locking’ their love forever after. Such a lovely sentiment.

Je suis ici!

Bonjour mes amis! I have arrived in Paris, at the moment it is pouring down with rain, so instead of walking the streets I thought I would do a post of my adventures so far.
Well my first impression of Paris was not so good, courtesy of the RER (the regional express route) from the airport into the city. It was hot, smelly and overcrowded and all I could think about was how I could be doing this in any other city in the world and actually be able to understand the language! BUT then I popped out of the metro in Le Marais (after carrying my bags up a huge flight of stairs!). It was gorgeous, with beautiful old buildings and cobbled streets.



I arrived at my accommodation (MIJE) only to find that since I hadn’t rung to confirm (I had emailed) that they did not have a reservation for me. Luckily at one of their other residences Hotel de Fourcy there was a spare bed that I could have for 3 nights. I had to traipse my luggage a few blocks and then up 5 flights of stairs to my room. However, the view of the Eiffel tower from my window was exquisite.

I didn’t even bother getting dinner on my first night, just had a shower and went straight to bed. I woke up extremely early (thanks jetlag) and not wanting to sit around moping went for a walk around the district. It was so nice and quiet and cool in comparison to when I went out later with all the hustle and bustle.

After my free breakfast of a baguette and orange juice at the hotel (yes I know I shouldn’t eat bread (celiac) but there was nothing else!) I decided to head into the city to see the sights. I had booked a bike tour with Fat Tire Bike Tours while still in Asutralia and we were to meet at the Piliur Sud of the Eiffel Tower at 11am. So off I go on the metro at about 9am – bad idea! The ligne 1 that I needed to take, also goes out to Le Defence (where all the work is done!) so was really crowded, but as soon as I changed trains to go the Eiffel tower it was much better and I learnt and important lesson! Don’t travel during peak hour!
I had an hour and a bit to spare when I arrived so headed off to find an internet cafe or a free wireless spot – I didn’t find one . After walking through the heat I relaxed under one of the big trees near the Eiffel tower where I was harassed by women from Bosnia with a child with leukaemia... yeah right! There were heaps of street vendors around, but as I was going to the toilet, I walked past three soldiers with massive guns and apparently they just all scattered!
The bike tour collected about 40 tourists, mainly from America but there were a few Aussies there and a guy from New Zealand. Just about everyone was travelling with friends or partners so felt a bit left out, the guy from NZ was also travelling alone so ended up asking each other to take our photos. We went to all the main sights, the Ecole Militaire, Hotel des Invalide (with the tomb of Napolean), the Grand Palais, Place de la concorde. We then had lunch in the Jardin de Tuileries – I had cheese and a panche (beer shandy) – yum! After lunch, we rode past the Louvre and then back through the Champ de Mars to the Office. It was really great to see all the sights and get your bearings and you get so much further on a bike than walking, especially in the heat. Would recommend to anyone, it was a very easy pace and our tour guide Sadie told some fascinating stories about each of the monuments. I was meant to be doing the Night bike tour as well that evening, but was not feeling up to it so changed it to tonight, which I am looking forward to, it includes a cruise on the River Seine with wine! Here are some photos...



I finally found an internet cafe in the Marais, which was a relief, was feeling very far away. I also managed to buy a sim card for my phone – pretty much all in French which was good, so now I feel a bit connected to the world but still very far away from friends and family. I wish I was travelling with someone; I’m not brave enough to just go out to dinner by myself or walk into a pub. I hope I meet some fellow travellers on my bike tour tonight and I’m looking forward to French classes on Monday, where I will hopefully make some friends. I’m hoping this will cure the homesickness 
I’m still terribly jetlagged, after I got back from my bike tour, I thought I would just rest a little before I went to find something to eat – I passed out until about 11.30pm. So just had a shower and went back to bed without any dinner again. Woke up at 2.30am again, I’m not very good company at this time in the morning and the homesickness was really bad (helped by the boy sending me an email!), ended up taking some sleeping tablets and woke up feeling much better!
Not sure what I shall do for the rest of the day until I have my bike tour; will need to go to a museum or gallery to keep out of the rain I suppose.
Will keep you all updated on my adventures.
Au revoir!