Le Grand Hotel Clichy

We woke up really late again today, but decided it was a good day for a trip to Versailles. Its about a 30 minute journey outside of the city, but a pretty cheap and fast train ride. We again met up with the two girls that Matt's friend was traveling with (the hissy fit girls), but they were a little more tolerable today. Upon reaching the Versailles train station, the first two things we saw were a Starbucks and a McDonalds. Somehow I had always imagined Versailles ...

... at night, especially when on the hour it transforms from a French blue Eifel to a massive white blinking Eifel. A visit to Paris is not complete unless you have visited some of its famous museums. Of the 20 - 30 museums available to visit we picked the Impressionist museum (Musee d' Orsay) or as I call it the finger painting museum which we thoroughly enjoyed and the enormous Louvre Museum which one its own will consume the better part of a months to explore. The biggest attraction ...

... the fantastic food (which was well worth the price), and the nice staff. It was the best bistro we went to on the trip. From there we walked around some more. We stopped into Musee Carnavalet to show DH, but he was just too tired (so were we) to see more than the first room. So we walked back to the apartment. We had quiet time while DH took a nap. Then we went out again. We went to the Monoprix to get ...

If you have been silently hating me because I am in Paris and you are not, well it is important to realise that the weather here is often far from ideal. I wish I had realised this myself, as I would have been more appreciative of the fantastic weather we had on our first day. More recently it has been just as cold, and ...

<Brian's brief chronological list of "highlights" (and of whinging)> - Musee D'Orsay - Catacombs - Champs Elysees - Latin Quarter <Lang's Extended Version> After yesterday's big day, we decided to take it a bit easier today by visiting one of the other galleries Paris was famous for - the Musee D'Orsay. The masterpieces of this gallery were the impressionist works done by Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh, not to mention the building itself, which was ...

... be the one closest to the hostel. Also no escalator at this station, going up or down, so now I lugged the two suitcases up several flights of stairs. There was a Macca's at the top of the stairs so we decided to determine if John Travolta's character in Pulp Fiction, Vincent Vega, had been telling the truth about a Quarter Pounder with Cheese being called a Royal with cheese in France. Turns out he was almost right, there is no 'the' in the name, it is simply a ...

... This is a food lovers delight. The area is alive and vibrant with recent immigrants from North Africa. Its loud bright and full of energy. There also seems to be long time French as well as Eastern European peoples. There are so many restaurants, cafe's and bistro's that I wonder how they all survive but survice they do and they all seem packed. There are two or three hair salons and nail shops on every street and the sounds of laughter and heated discussion spill out through the ...

... meaningul endeavor. The museum was the former home of Moise de Camondo, a banker of Turkish-Sephardic decent whose family had founded the most important bank in the Ottoman Empire. His grandfather was named a count by Victor Emmanuel as thanks for helping to fund the reunification of Italy. His father Nissim and uncle Abraham moved to Paris in 1869 and were known for their philanthropic work and banking prowess. Issac and Moise, sons ...

... Notre Dam but fail to understand the concept of ceiling fans or A/C, we found the time to go on, yes you guessed it, Another bike tour. This time it was with Fat Tire Tours. They're a spinoff from Mikes out of Munich but don't tell them that. It's touchy. Must be a French thing... We also walked all over the city while Rachel left a trail of drool from fashion store to fashion ...

... to start collecting junk from other countries!** Alright, so we refuled our bodies with a little Starbucks in the Chatalet area and head back to Passy with just enough time to get ready and go to Cedrick's. I straightened my hair, cooked and ate dinner, dressed, make-uped, and showered within an hour and a half-for any woman that has to be a record, especially since I was freaking out the whole time about everything. In addition, I also made time for a purchase of a little Bacardi ...