Viva la Paris

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  Paris, Île-de-France, France
Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Oskar says ... Hello Everyone
 
We are in Paris. It is cool here. There are only French Shows on TV. They also always speak French. 2 days ago we went to Mont St Michel. It was cool. From near the top, you could see for miles. That night we let off fire works to say good bye to Antrain. They were Soooo coooooool. We each got to let off 6 fire works (rockets), 3 bundles of 30 Fire crackers each then we let off the Roman Candle at the end. A Roman Candle was a short dynamite stick looking thing that burns really bright like a Candle but 50 times brighter. We also went to Fougeres 3 days ago But Kas'll tell you about that ...
 
Last night in Paris now ... Eeeep, it has already been 6 days since we wrote last and it is our last night already

Oskar in Fougerers

. Ahh. We had a beautiful dinner. We bought 2 large wood oven pizza's and a large salad to share. It was Delish. On Monday we went on a night bike tour through Paris. It was fun. Tour guide, who's name is Adam, was really nice and funny. He made lots of funny jokes. We saw the Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur and L'arc De Triomph today. They were all awesome. Well cya'll later. Love you all. Miss Mum, friends and family. See you in 28 days. Bye. 
 
Kaspar says ... Well looks like I'll be having to talk about Fougeres. It was raining for quite a while when we were in Fougeres. But that didn't dampen our spirits (much) And soon we were walking along the road, following the path given to us by an English speaking French tourism agent. It took us into, out of and around a huge church to the back, where we saw the best view of my life (so far)--- but dad will tell you more about that. We then climbed, or walked, rather down the slope to the bottom where we passed a stream, and dad kept saying "this is so amazing" or some such thing. We kept walking down the street and were soon overtaken by a pack or cyclists. (I may have forgot to mention that there was a cycle race on at the time we were in Fougeres...) It was about at this time when my dad kept saying quietly "oooh, I am in loooooove with France, again" and so on. We stopped under a shelter and watched the cyclists go past once more, then walked up to catch the bus home, to see that we had to wait another hour... (which was not my fault *cough*) then we got home.
 
Last night in Paris now ...  Unluckily tonight is our last night here... and just as I got comfortable speaking French... Tonight we ate out, and I actually ordered!! (all I did was say what we wanted and did a little pointing)

Fougeres - breathtaking

. The food was really good. The night before last, we went on a big long bike tour of Paris, at night. We rode around and stopped here and there for various reasons (lights, sight seeing, photo taking, listening to the guides corny jokes, etc.) until we got to the dock. Sorry for not saying more about the bike trip, but I think the internet would run out of room if I said all that is in my mind. Well anyway, back to the dock. We got on a barge and went up and down the river, and saw the Eiffel tower. It was Awsome... it was all lit up blue, and had the ring of stars, just like the EU (European Union) Flag.
Now I am going to quote some of our bike tour guide guy's jokes...
"After the French revolution, the Notre Dame fell into disrepair. The walls and roof turned black, and people wanted it to be restored. And how do you think they cleaned the off the black stuff?? With a freakin' laser beam (does Dr. Evil pinkie on mouth thing)"  Before this, he had listened to the groups ideas "sand blasting" no "detergent" no "toothbrushes" no-----LASER BEAMS!!
He also had a true story that featured a guy dressed as superman, the river Seine, and the French police, but I think I can tell you that when (if) I see you.
Also, our tour guide was Adam from Wisconsin. "The ONLY place with cheese as good as France..." apparently..

Fougeres castle - biggest around (apparently)

.
 
Juri says ... Fougeres was a great experience. It was our first big 'outing' as a family, have having been laid low for a number of days. As mentioned, it rained, but it was not cold and it seemed to add to the overall atmosphere in a positive way. We had our rain coats on. This was also quite novel having come from Perth's dryness.
 
Seeing a cycle race from such close quarters gave me an insight into the addictive quality of the sport. Locals came out in big numbers to show their support. The sophistication of the support crews and their organisation was very impressive. This was a short three hour event yet the scale seemed huge. I could imagine what the 'Tour' must be like.
 
As the kids have mentioned, Mont St Michel was amazing. John, a friend of Paul's who lives near Antrain, lent us his car for the day and we had a great day driving up and exploring the area. The walls, the street and the Abbey were all breathtaking. The mind boggles at the stories embedded within those stones.
 
We had our last dinner in the Bretagne region in a neighbouring village called Pontorson

Fougeres again

. It was a lovely evening out. As Oskar mentioned, we capped off the night with our 'own' Skyshow. I had bought a small packet of fireworks in St Malo. We drove to a little park by the river in Antrain. It was relatively secluded, although we saw a man from a nearby house taking some photos of our shenanigans. The excitement generated for the boys was anything but small. The atmosphere was 'electric' as they lit each fuse, one at a time, then ran to a safe distance to watch the cracker go off!  So much fun from a small packet! For me it brought back memories of Guy Fawkes nights as a kid and the boys had to put up with my stories for a while.
 
Yesterday we made the journey to Paris. Elizabeth (John's wife) generously drove us to Fougeres. We then caught a connecting bus to Laval and then the fast train to Paris. By the time we got to our apartment, we were all very tired. It was our third 'big' day in a row. After a bout of illness, it was time for a rest. So today has been a mooching around the house day while we recharge our batteries a bit. Anyway, as Kas has mentioned, it is wet outside, so a lay day seems like a good idea.
 
Last night in Paris now ... the time has flown. The boys have touched on many of our highlights. It took us a little while to get used to the big city after village life. But now we don't want to go. The last few days have been magic. Eifel Tower on Sunday, bike tour on Monday night, fancy buffet dinner (Conference dinner) at the Paris V University Hall last night followed by a leisurely walk home through the Latin quarter, and a great dinner out tonight.
 
Tomorrow we fly to Riga. We are looking forward to the next leg of our journey with excitement and a just a little apprehension.   
 
Signing off for now, with much love to all - Juri  XXX     

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Where's Robin Hood?	Who took my spirit level!!	Young, strong, fit, fast ... just like us :-)	Mont St Michel
So why can't I have one of these dad???	Main street MSM	Making our way around Mt St Michel	Mont St Michel - city wall
Teeny weeny tap!	Abby of Mont St Michel	Sorry Matt - another best friend - St Michel	Last supper in Brittany - in Pontorson yum
On top of the world ... Eifel Tower	Guess where	Favourite Metro station - Arts de Metier - so cool	On the moon .. we are
Night riders - through Paris I	Night riders - through Paris II	Three hunchbacks from ...	The Louvre at night I
The Louvre at night II	Boat trip at night ... very niiice	Tower at midnight - after riding around all night	Scrubbed up OK for our fancy night out!
We saw the candles as our family and friends	Notre Dame	Sacre Coeur

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