Versailles, Arcimboldi, Lost in Le Pré-Saint-Gervais

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Château de Versailles

If you are in Paris make sure you make the effort to get to Versailles - the former home of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. This is our second visit and we still have not managed to take it all in. Al and Melissa had to get back to Gare du Nord for their train to London so we did not get to explore as much as we may have liked, but that just leaves us more to look at next visit.

22nd October 2007 - Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Together with Jean and Beatrice, we went to an exhibition at the Musée de Luxembourg. The exhibition of paintings by a 16th century Italian artist - Giuseppe Arcimboldo. His work was amazing, his portraits use vegetables and plants painted in such a way as to make up the various parts of his subjects faces. Things like green peas for teeth, or carrots for noses, weird and wonderful stuff. One of his most famous works is a series called “the Four Seasons” which we had seen a few years back at the Louvre. Lorenza really loved that series so we were really pleased to be able to see some more of his work on display. Very unique

Took a night time cruise on the Seine, it was bloody cold but worth seeing all the monuments and buildings light up at night. I was suffering from a bit of a cold, but was not going to let that stop me enjoying Paris. It really is arguably the world’s most beautiful city and anyone who says they don't find a visit here interesting must already be dead!

23rd October 2007 - Lost in Le Pré Saint-Gervais

Back in March, we had met a French couple on a train in Vietnam (Alexander and Catherine). We shared a few glasses of wine with them and found that their daughter was in Australia and they were in their way to Ho Chi Minh City to meet up with her. Considering that Lorenza and I were dressed at that time to celebrate the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gra we wondered what impression they had initially formed of us. This blog entry may help explain the story ... The night train to Hue

We exchanged contact details on the train and they suggested we contact them if we are in Paris. They may not have expected us to follow this up, but be warned, if you ever give me your contact details chances are we will follow it up at some point. So, I gave Alexander and Catherine a call and they very kindly invited us to join them for dinner. They also extended the invitation to Jean and Beatrice as well. They told us their daughter would also be their, plus some other friends. I was really interested in visiting with them because Alexander had told me that he grew grapes and made his own wine and I was intrigued by this considering he lived in Paris.

We took the metro to what was almost the last stop on the outskirts of Paris. Then we set out on foot and managed to get ourselves lost. Lorenza was carrying a bunch of roses we had bought as a gift for our hosts and had almost poked a guys eye out with them on the metro. In the windy streets she was having a bit of a hard time keeping a hold of them (yes I did offer to carry them). So, after asking for directions a number of times and then calling Alexander we finally found their house about 40 minutes after our expected time of arrival.

Alexander and Catherine gave us a tour of their garden and we discovered that Alexander had a few rows of grape vines growing. He told us that a number of their friends in the area also had some vines growing and that they pooled the harvest and produced the wine together as a group. Not a bad effort in the middle of a city! Alexander presented us with a bottle of their wine, which had a really nice label designed by an artist friend. We will have to open it and share it with some friends back home and report our findings.

We had a really enjoyable evening, topped off by the fact that it was Catherine's birthday. So, we sang the French and English versions of "Happy Birthday" simultaneously and wished her well with some champagne. We hope we can meet them again at some stage because they are a very friendly couple and we enjoyed their company very much. Plus, Alexander certainly has good taste in wine and we enjoyed some lovely reds with our meal. He is also a great cook. Viva the Paris Winemakers Club!

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Photos

Summer
An example of Arcimboldi's work