December 2010
21 posts
“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over...”
– Pat Conroy
notre sapin
Singing ‘shingle hells’ we all helped decorate the Christmas tree on my last chilly Sunday evening in France.
looking for the hunchback on a frosty morning
I awoke today, after yesterday’s 11cm dumping of snow, to an absolutely cloud-less beaming blue sky as far as the eye could see and knew instantly that it was the perfect day to do the final thing on my enormous To Do List that I started compiling and diligently completing since my March arrival- climb Notre Dame. Off I trotted through the snow but much to my horror the towers were closed...
bit out of place i'd say...
As soon as I finished French class I headed straight to the train station to catch an RER surburban train to Versailles to view renowned Japanese artist, Haruki Murakami’s, new sculpture exhibition within the palace. During the last few years the Palace has, rather controversially, held avant-garde modern art exhibitions during the winter months. Some of the famous ones has...
snowwwww
It snowed all day today, and not just the odd soft little snowflake, it was like flour through a seeve, thick and constant. This afternoon alone we got 11cm of snow, something that hasn’t happened in Paris since the 80s!
All these photos are the courtesy of others as I stayed nice and warm inside, viewing the snow from the comfort of the kitchen
did Papa Noel just hit on me?
After almost 6 months I finally got to see one of my favourite Frenchies Mathilde, and her hilarious family whom I stayed with all those months ago during my first week in Paris. This year Mathilde has studied for and (succesfully) passed her bac (final school exam) and now started a bachelor of Arts at the prestigious Sorbonne. Needless to say ,we had difficulty trying to find a time so meet up...
a castle in the snow
On Saturday I decided to go on a roadtrip, which means in France jumping on a direct train out of the city. Today we found ourselves heading towards the majestic Chateau de Fontainebleau. With got bargain 8 euro day tickets and after a little hiccup (yes, I mixed up the station and arrived at Gare d’Austerlitz rather than Gare de l’Est, fortunately all I had to do was cross the...
les deux magots
Anneliese and I decided to shelter from the cold winds of Paris one Friday morning so we ducked into the infamous Deux Magots, the renowned meeting spot of the world’s finest thinkers from Sartre and de Beauvoir, to Hemingway and even Picasso. Whilst you do pay an arm and a leg for a café or chocolat chaud at this St Germain des Près institution you can still today see reminents of,...
emu
Corinne came home last night and informed me that at Chez Picard, a French frozen food supermarket, she spotted ‘Australian ostrich’…..yes, apparently you can buy frozen pre-packaged emu in France. Hamburger anyone?
Only two weeks left in my magical adopted...
snow
It wasn’t even December yet when the snowflakes began to fall. I was caught off guard the first time as it wasn’t overly cold. I was walking home from the tram stop and initially was wondering what this gentle hail was. How odd, I thought.
Then it hit me…
SNOW
marché de Noel
The snow is falling, department stores windows decorated and the fairy lights are up, Christmas is almost here! Trading the famous Christmas markets in Lille for a weekend trip to Luxembourg with the Bulgarians meant Anneliese and I were still dying for a dose of Northern Hemisphere Christmas markets.
LUCKILY, the Paris Mayor decided to set some up on the Champs-Elysées, so on Sunday afternoon...
le match
I had been excited for weeks in the lead up to the Australia vs France rugby match to be played at Stade de France. Anneliese and I bought tickets as soon as they become available from Fnac and finally the day had come! After our dismal effort in the soccer, finally a chance has come for le pays des kangarous to prove themselves!
We started off our evening going to Café Oz, our favourite pub,...