Opera Lafayette Paris

... vraiment beau, j'ai même une photo de moi assis en plein milieu d'une chute(l'eau coulait littéralement autour de moi). La foret était magnifique. Bon C'est juste sa... J'ai pas trop le temps de vous parler/écrire, désolé. Je vous redonne des nouvelles quand je vais etre a Oslo juste avant de partir visiter les fjords. Héhé!!

Salut

... luck on navigation here though..they are not quite as pompous as you may imagine but what I think I´ve finally pinpointed it to is the OBVIOUS lack of accomodation here. The metros or confusing..whether you speak french or not..the only way you would possibly know which turn to take is to have a map cemented to your hand or to grow up there. And the people.. well they´ll help ...

... her hand) The next year she went back and stepped up 2 rankings boosting her confidence. Her last year in highschool she was awarded the purple ribbon and also received a scholarship from the French Club, treating herself to her first ever trip to France accompanied by a fellow teacher and two friends. They toured the country, starting in Paris and working their way down the Loire valley, through the south all the way to Nice, Cannes, et ...

... prefer my family here picking me up from the train station, driving me to home just 5 minutes down the road, them feeding me pumpkin soup, having a nice chat over some hot chocolate, and then into a warm bed. "Ahh well, Taizé is only an hour and a bit away, and hopefully I will be able to feels at home enough there. They are going to give me dinner and a bed, so that's pretty nice. "But I a going to have that 2nd packet of chips..."

... of Notre Dame. Some more history that was very interesting: 5 of the 4 bells are rung regularly, the one only on special occasions and weighing 13 tons. The other 4 were removed during the Revolution in 1791 to be melted down to make weapons, and later replaced with 4 new ones in 1856!!! I thought that was really neat!! I loved the plaza out front of the cathedral, as well!! Plazas are great over here, something else you dont see much in the states ...

... et son cortège de fans qui apportent des offrandes pas toujours catholiques... Il y a aussi une classe venue faire un peu d'histoire, des ados d'une douzaine d'années, dont la majorité ne semble pas vouloir y être. Je suis impressionné par la quantité de tombes laissées à l'abandon. Probablement faute d'argent, ou faute de famille. Certaines sont complètement affaissées, tandis que d'autres sont illisibles. J'imagine qu'ils ont gardé des registres pour ...

... on the corner making it impossible for this guy to turn his truck into the street. Consequently all other traffic banked up behind the truck driver until the driver found the car owner, by walking into and calling out in the sourrounding shops. We found a cute little restuarant for Lunch and sat upstairs. I had the Poached Fish again, not as big as the day befores serve but still nice. They were out of beer (Not happy Jan) so i had to settle for a ...

... line was a lot shorter than for check in, but still a bit of a wait. For some reason they were just waving anybody with an immediate departure straight through without checking their passports. However they stopped one person and pushed him to the front of the line, just as Megan was going through, so I had to wait for him. However there was something wrong with his passport and he had a 10 minute argument with the Passport stamper. It was utter chaos. Finally I got ...

... an actual home to retire to in the evenings, rather than hostel.... This is the way to travel! =0) Hopefully I'll have some time to make another entry in a few days. I hope you're all doing well, and hope to upload some photos shortly (as soon as I can locate my USB connector - uh oh...) Jean (John in French, for those who didn't know) et Kris =0) P.S. Kris sends out a special hello to all of our mutual friends...

... by a Japanese tourist! Shortly after this, the twins fell asleep, so we raced off to the Louvre whilst things were quiet!

The Louvre is a large museum housing a wide collection of art of all types. Of course we had to see the famous Mona Lisa, but we didn't stop. I was much more taken with the statues, and particularly smitten by the statue of the Three Graces, which has long been a favourite. The children (once again awake) also enjoyed ...