Tour de France

  Paris, Île-de-France, France
Sunday, July 20, 2008

Bored gargoyle at ND

Long time no type!  And therefore, long blog post to catch up.  (Written from Jeremy Doutte's place in Paris - he says hello to everyone...except Wardle. (joke!))

Back to Biarritz...  Located in the south of France in the Basque region (an area that stretches down to include San Sebastian as well), Biarritz is a beautiful, if expensive, beach town.  It was completely crushed with French people from all around when we arrived - it was Bastille Day, as we found out later - but still a fun time.

Crowded beach in Biarritz

Highlight of the first day was the women's surfing longboard world championship and subsequent Bastille Day fireworks.  The surfing, frankly, wasn't anything crazy - no huge waves like you see on TV.  The fireworks were pretty good, though - although there wasn't any music, they were choreographed very well...small fireworks building to bigger ones.  A definite difference compared to US ones that tend to go big almost right from the start and indicate a finale with just a faster pace of explosions.

The next day was surfing.  Yes, this Boston boy did get up on a board (FYI, the Guiness Book of Records holder for most consequetive days of surfing did it in Maine.  GO EAST COAST!), as did Lisa.

Check out the Surfers!

We only had 1.5 hours to learn, including some stuff on land, but we both surfed (if you can call it that) in a bunch of times.  Tons of fun, although we found surfing requires a surprisingly large amount of flexibility (to get up on the board) and strength (to paddle back out to the waves every few minutes). 

Needless to say, we were bushed after, which helped us sleep on the overnight train despite our 4 compartment mates and their various snores. (I barely fit in the bunk.)  We arrived early in Paris and immediately woke up, though, when we were met at the train station by none-other-than Doutte.

Doutte - live and in person

After some incredible croissants (one of the best pastries here, even considering the crepes you can get everywhere), we headed to his place, regrouped, and started exploring the city.  Highlights of the first day include the Luxembourg gardens

Luxembourg Gardens, Paris

and some incredible dinner food (the french onion soup in Paris, which is incidentally Paris' only food creation...they just import and improve everything else from the Provinces...was beyond delicous). 

The following days were a mix of museums, monuments, cathedrals, palaces, and gardens (see pictures in the gallery of this entry).  Mixed in throughout was shopping (Lisa bought 3 purses...I bought 1 set of coasters...see any difference?) and plenty of sore feet.  Each night was also capped with some incredible food, although the huge swings in price really demonstrated that higher cost does not equal higher quality. 

"Frankfurter"...sheesh

(As a heads up, never confuse "frankfurter" in France with bratwurst or the equivalent.  It's literally 2 hotdogs on a bed of French fries.)



Perhaps the most impressive site of the city, though, was actually outside the city - Versailles. The palace itself was impressive - created for Louis XIV and open to the public, you can see how this palace would have awed nobles and peasants alike...as well as incite the French populace to revolt against such extravagance. 

Versailles Royal Chapel

Versailles Hall of Mirrors

The chapel and hall of mirrors, for instance, were mindblowingly beautiful and absolutely dripped gilt and royalty.



Even most impressive were the gardens.  Huge - they rent bikes and golf carts so you can easily see all of it - they contain over 20 "sitting rooms" (individual garden areas split by paths), almost an equal number of fountains

Versailles Fountain 1

, a fake lake, over 750 hectares of carefully manicured woods OUTSIDE of the "sitting rooms" area, and a grand canal (why go to Venice...just build your own canal!).

Versailles Grand Canal

Definitely worth the day trip for anyone coming to Paris.

But I've written long enough, so Lisa and I are off to see a few more sites before our final night.  We managed to sneak in the Eiffel Tower at a distance last night, so I'll leave you with that image.  Until next time (I head to Poland at 7 am on Tuesday, so will likely hold off posting for a few days), and thanks for reading! 

Eiffel Tower at night