Relais de Courlande Versailles

... was off my hands, we were free for the afternoon before getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner. In honor of the holiday, I finally made a Versailles purchase, a really nice winter jacket. I had first seen it in a store window a few weeks ago, then it had disappeared by the time I went back. So I naturally considered its presence on Thanksgiving a sign - I mean, I had to buy it. It is trés French, and it even has an oversized hood, meaning that it is proportioned ...

... br>13. football games- apparently were not doing very well this year, so there isn't much to miss.
14. kams- we have the equivalent- its called o'paris.

and what i kind of miss (but not enough to dwell on it for more than 2 minutes)
1. laundry machine at home- i haven't done laundry since i got here. possibly because i can't locate a laundry mat and it costs 12 dollars.
2. having an unlimited amount of sweatshirts- it gets chillier than i anticipated at night ...

... in. It is considered the most opulent of its time in the world. I suppose it could be, or the French are bragging. But it is massive with a huge number of sculptures and paintings which range from the small to the size of an entire wall. You are given an audioguide which explains everything but I still think it was far to overpriced like all the museums are in France. I ...

... stores there were along the road: IKEA (I know, that's not technically American), Samsung (I guess that's not either)...well, maybe not American, but you get the idea - a lot of stuff that I was familiar with.

We went directly to our school, which is literally across the street from the Palace of Versailles - you can look out the windows and see the Chateau. It's an incredible change of scenery after
Champaign! We are in the converted stables of Louis XIV's work ...

... coveted picture of the interior. After we explored Montmartre (including the cemetery - very interesting) we walked down toward Pigalle and Moulin Rouge, then hopped on the Metro to the financial district of Paris to go to a restaurant called Aux Lyonnais, which was started by Alain Ducasse. It was a really memorable meal, very hearty Lyonnaise cuisine in a quaint setting. After dinner, full and tired, it was back to the hotel!

... I mean, who is better at turning something that is seemingly worthless or ugly into something priceless than America? Anyways, she sucks, and she's behind about 4 inches of glass, so you can't really get close anyways. Lauren and I had a lot of the same tastes in the paintings. After we had been there for about 3 hours, we bailed for crepes. We had some at this little outdoor cafe right there in the gardens outside the Louvre. She had the equivalent of ...

We have finally arrived and we are all completely exhausted. Entry into the country was smooth, with no queues and no awkward questions from border control. Our bags were the first off the plan and thankfully not on the list of around 25 passengers' bags that had been left behind at LHR, so we proceeded quickly to find our taxi. The driver and I missed each other, but he found Carleen and the kids and we headed straight out of the airport and on to the hghway to ...

... picked up in a tour bus that took us around the city showcasing the major monuments under effective lighting. I started to fall asleep towards the end so we got dropped off as close to the hotel as possibe and walked the rest of the way back. We were starving hungry and were fortunate to have a restaurant next to the hotel which was open late - like 1am - where we had a quick meal before practically passing out in the hotel.

... Traum eines lächerlichen Menschen. The English title is: The Dream of a Ridiculous Man. The Russian Title: Сон смешн 86;го челов 77;ка. It literally translates to: The Dream of a Funny Man. Read more about Dostojewski and his work at: Wikipedia Entry on Dostojewski.

After spending two awesome weeks in London, I took the Eurotrain to go from Waterloo Station to Gare du Nord in Paris. I was supposed to meet my good friend Amanda but to my surprise she was not there to pick me up. That gave me enough time to sit down and have breakfast while I ...