Bonsoir tous! Nous sommes desolees to realize that our time is running away rapidement… Laurel will probably cringe at my fractured french!! She sounds so fluent. We’re quite established now in our little home in Rue Bachelet, Montmartre. I’ve taken over a few of the domestic duties because Laurel is much more attuned to the map reading & planning directions than I.. Every morning I trot down the hill to buy le pain/ & croissants for breakfast. Discovered chocolate with almond croissant. ( Kirsty eat your heart out!) I’ve made a friend of the lady at the Boulange [View Full Entry]

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Well, there we were at the end of the our Canal du Midi trip in Carcassonne on Thursday. The boat didn't actually have to be returned until Saturday-which was great because we could live on it while we toured Carcassonne. So, some background (always feel free to skip to the pictures-really, we won't even know!!) If you have a bit of an interest in history in general, or medieval history in particular, Carcassonne has a bit of it all. It has weathered wars, seiges, famine, fortune and whatever else could be thrown at it since about the sixth century BC. It [View Full Entry]

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Extremely cute puppies! We walked by a pet store and there was this really playful puppy in the display window. So adorable. We decided to take a day off from vacationing and just be lazy in Nice. Got a late start, then walked around town doing some shopping. Because it's All Saints' Eve, most stores were closed, except in the tourist areas. Kids were dressed up in Halloween costumes but other than that I think it's more like a memorial day for the adults, visiting graves of ancestors, etc. I just managed to get the bug repellent (really looking forward to [View Full Entry]

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Happy Halloween all and Toussaint!! (All Saints Day, bigger holiday here). Sorry there wasn't a bunch of pictures yesterday but by the time I got to the pictures is was after 11pm and I was pooped. Today was a travel day for us and while it wasn't a long trip hauling ones luggage up and down metro stairs and the train station takes it out of you. But we made it, we are here in Versailles and we are going to spend the day at the Castle tomorrow. (Gives us a full day) We did go by the castle but I [View Full Entry]

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It was a very long day getting to Paris. We were up early for the mini bus drive to Casablanca then farewelled Mum and Dad at the airport. They were flying to Madrid, leaving an hour before us. Finally on our plane and arrived in Paris at 11pm and at our houseboat at nearly1am. We had a busy couple of days - but no early starts! We bought Sarah some new pointe shoes (ballet) from a shop just by the Opera house. I was rather nervous as we walked up because all of the other shops on the street were easily [View Full Entry]

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Happy Halloween everybody :) Watch oot the boogeys don't get you tonight. I'm safe enough, I sleep with a boogey every night anyway!!! [View Full Entry]

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Holidays! Finally :). After school on the Friday, I went out with Hélène, Matthieu and Emilie. We went to a local pub which was really fun. Got home around midnight and was up again at 6.30am to travel to the Ardéche region, in the south of France. It was a massive 10 hour drive to the middle of nowhere where I would spend the next week hiking. I was surrounded by water trees and rocks. Sort of cool, with amazing scenery! The next day I got to sleep in as we didnt start walking until 3pm. We met the other 11 [View Full Entry]

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Today - The town hall of the 15th stands on the edge of a large pedestrianised square and offers a peaceful respite to the very busy thoroughfares that act as conduits to the outer ring road of Paris, only about 1km away. Adjacent is the pretty secluded park called - square de la Place Adolphe Cherioux, a popular spot for just chilling out at lunch time. But, just a short walk in a SE direction from the town hall is an even more striking, much larger landscaped park, the square Saint-Lambert, with ornamental lake, fountain and bank of trees which were [View Full Entry]

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I talked about modern architecture in my last blog, so take a look at the apartment block just after Alex Lobrano's recommended restaurant, 'La Beurre Noisette' in rue Vasco da Gama. It's quite surprising and quite incongruous. Then, with the block in Rue du Feuclieres, I was transported to the Spanish Costa del Sol! Just before you cross the Seine on the #70 bus by the rue Linois, you see the most extraordinary glass office block, again quite surprising and incongruous. Oh, and there's that tower thing, again. As well, I've included some more pictures of probably Paris' newest park - [View Full Entry]

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Day 29 - 20/10/09 Last night was a very sad night. Whilst washing up after dinner Sarah called me into the lounge...on the floor in front of us was Chuck with a pool of blood around him. We could only assume that he had once again gone for a little nibble of Scamper's dinner, this time only to find himself not making it out alive...in the wrong place at the wrong time, one accident later, everything changes. I told Sarah I would take him down to the river and so I set off out in the dark. Only a few paces [View Full Entry]

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