Du Chateau Vincennes

By this day, our travels (not to mention the extensive walking and stair-climbing) were catching up to us. We slept in and got a bit of a late start leaving Mathilde and Xav's apartment. We got sandwiches and some pastries down the street from the apartment. We took the metro to Vincennes, a town just outside of Paris.

Mathilde works as a librarian in a public library in Vincennes. It is a very nice area ...

... still?) partially clad in scaffolding and under renovation - of course. I took a quick peek inside, and it did feel like the oldest church in Paris. Dark and a bit gloomy. Back outside, the temperatures were climbing, and I was sweating as I was walking and reached Au Bon Marché, via Rue Bonaparte. Ah, good old Nappy - that's not a big street named for you, there. But then again, you built yourself an entire Arc de Triomphe and a few notable monuments, so the fact that this ...

... I do that a lot, though, so it was all good. The cab ride was uneventful, except for my mom's laptop falling on the ground with a loud thud. That was fun! Luckily, it still worked later. St. Pancras wasn't interesting, but it was well decorated. Besides that, the security was almost as annoying as the airports. To make matters worse, our train was supposed to leave at 11:05 and we were supposed for board 20 minutes beforehand. Come 10:45 they told us it was ...

... was a group of about 5 roller bladers launching themselves into the air about 6-9 feet high. It was cool... they definately had the croud going. We soon passed this group and came upon a goup of fire dancers. We stood there taking pics of the cathedral and watched them do their thing. Unfortunately the bushes near our post were full of urine, so we didnt stay long. We did get some pretty cool pics though. Tomorrow we plan to check out the Louvre and hit up the night bike tour.

... seulement pour les hommes. Tu as des bonnes marques comme Prada, mais je n'ai pas shoppé sur ce plancher là. Je voulais me trouver un manteau parce que le mien était comme un sac de plastique et quand il faisait chaud, je venais tout trempe. Bon, bin, on a trouvé un manteau mais il n'était pas en vente et ...

It was difficult to get up this morning but the girls reluctantly crawled out of bed for coffee and a croissant. We spent the entire day at the Louvre. Again, much of it is as I remembered it but the new entry and the separation of the galleries was quite a challenge and a welcome change. The French have so much incredible art (some of which has been "acquired" under shady circumstances, in my opinion) but it was ...

... French man who sold them some very expensive Foi Gras, Duo de canard and some cured duck breast....we aptly named him Duck Man...na na na na na DUCK MAN!!! We tasted these little delicacies later tonight and we were happy to say that it was rather yummy!! We arrived at Cheverny and took in what is the regions most magnificently furnished chateau that was built in 1625 to 1634. This is something out of Sense and Sensibility and was just stunning, inside and out!! They also have ...

... and library. After a few hours we met up and had lunch in the gardens with the sculptured trees. Next stop was the Catacombs so we jumped on a metro and headed to the south of the city. The train was full of sweaty hot bodies as the temperature rose further and the breeze dropped to zero. When we reached the Catacombs we discovered, like many other museums and attractions, that they were closed on Mondays. We have been caught out by this ...

Sunshine in Paris! This morning we awoke to a bright blue sky and we were determined to spend the day outdoors. Paris has been cold, rainy and dreary most of this month, and it being Sunday, and with Abby visiting, we made plans to take in some new sites. We planned first to take a walk along the renovated Viaduct des Arts and the elevated garden walk above it, and then to visit the Chateau de Vincennes. The Viaduct, formerly part of a train viaduct that was ...

Hi Everyone Sorry we haven't written for a while the internet has been really expensive (still is so this is a short entry sorry!)- we haven't had much time either. We have been in Paris for 2 days now and have done heaps. Yesterday we had a look at the ground floor of the Notre Dame Cathedral (which was really big and impressive - it took something like 200years to build). We also went to the Arc de Triumphe and we went to the very top level which gave us great views of Paris and also ...