Victoria Hotel Fontainebleau

... friend Amira, saying that her alarm went off. Luckily our resident director was cool, and we waited for her, and then we were off in our large, tour-sized bus. It's actually quite humorous when you think about it that 9 people get this huge bus to ourselves. It was definitely spacious. 
The first chateau we saw was Fontainebleau (pronounced FontainBlow. Not FontaineBlue). We got out of the bus, and of course it started ...

... plays and wine it still has that effect. Stairs and water features reveal themselves as you walk through and descend into the garden. Vaux le Vicomte was one of those that we had learned about in history but until you not only see it but you really experience it you have no idea how powerful it is. From the terrace right off the house it looks like a flat relatively short walk to a water feature at the end of the axis that sits in front of a slightly slopping ...

... the way there Romain's friend with benefits kept talking about 'Cite' and how it was dangerous, then they both laughed. I didn't get it, but when we were waiting for a bus I got it. There were two rival gangs who decided to lay down smack across the road. There were 5-6 guys on each side, and they had themselves some police batons and capsicum spray. It started with one guy getting smacked in the head with a baton and falling to the ground, then the others got ...

... Columbian America. The idea of showing art from these areas is not totally new. Most museums across the world have staged exhibition like these before. What is new is the concept to house these exhibits in a totally new museum all on its own, generating its own ambience and importance. And how well it works. It is definitely worth taking a trip to the city to see. The combination of excellent architecture, and imaginable staging, certainly make this museum a ...

... up, Finn and I made our way to the train station to book our tickets to Amsterdam. When we got there we were told that all trains to Amsterdam were sold out, which meant we would be spending another day on various trains to get there indirectly. We met up with Iza and Nick, then went to the Louvre. Obviously, there's some fantastic art in the Louvre, but there was far ...

... Guillermo. I plead my case to him as I throw my pack to the ground, nearly breaking the smuggled bottle of Cava from the ferry. The conversation was similar to, but nothing like this; ¨Guillermo, you awake?¨ (It was noon there) ¨**** you, what?¨ (He was hungover, but suprisingly sociable) ¨Need a favor, dear sir.¨ ¨**** you, what?¨ I then proceed to explain my predicament to the befuddled ...

... Originally the locals hated the look of it but after time they grew to love it and it never got torn down. The Eiffel Tower is painted a colour called Eiffel brown and that colour is not allowed to be used anywhere else in the world. Because we had a special group ticket we got to go straight to the front of the line. I would imagine that we would have been waiting for many hours otherwise. To get to the top you need to take a large elevator to the mid section ...

... couldn't really figure out how to get accross the main road cause the circle is extremely wide and VERY dangerous. There is NO WAY to J-walk that baby; it's the worst thing I've ever seen, including NY (which really isn't bad you whimps.) There is a passage underground that we are going to research before Missy gets here so we don't sweat beads the day of trying to figure it out. Down ...

... France. Remember the Louvre, the biggest of all, and then Versailles, which we won't be visiting this time. It just boggles the mind! The beautiful gardens are squelchy, so we leave Chateau Fontainebleau in the rain and depart to our last hotel. On the way we want to stop at a supermarket for our last purchases of cheese, wine, pate and all those good things that the French make better than anyone else. Prior to arriving at Fontainebleau, we had stopped at an ...

... fresh bread at your disposal for lunch and dinner!! :) And my french is getting plenty of practice - the ultimate good sign is when kids aged 9 - 13 feel comfortable enough to talk to you cause you're not wasting too much of their time - that barrier was broken yesterday! Anyway, I gotta go and catch my bus. If you have any questions, e-mail me. I can check my e- mail on Mondays and Thursdays. I'll add to this logue as I have other interesting things to share. Ciao Chech