Blogs from Paris, Île-de-France, France, Europe - page 372

I have posted some pictures of my dorm, my high school, and various sites I've visited recently. Enjoy!... read more

24/9/05 Saturday - The flight from Singapore to London was marred by the bad attitude of the British Airways flight attendants. Did they ever smile? No. Do they have a chip on their shoulder because we think Qantas is better? Yes. On arrival at Heathrow, we had to take separate flights to Paris. This was due to Lorenza having booked her passage some months later than Uncle Robert and I. So, Lorenza had a two hour wait at Heathrow, while Uncle Robert and I did the same at Charles de Gaul. Uncle Robert and I passed the time tuning our ears and brains into French, talking with a guy from Senegal. He was waiting for a connecting flight to Algeria. He had a brother working as a chef in Sydney. We also got to observe two ... read more

So last week, after the return from Provence, I went to visit the Pere Lachaise cemetary, which is actually very close to where I live. It was a beautiful afternoon and I went with a couple of friends from the program. The goal for me was to see the tomb of Abelard and Heloise. It almost felt like a pilgrimage to the legendary lovers. But of course I got much more than that. The cemetary itself is more like a town than a cemetary. The only thing is instead of houses you have tombs. It's quite eerie, to be honest. I kept feeling like their ought to have been doorbells on those doors openning onto the cemetary street and leading in to infinite resting places. I had to keep reminding myself that the residents here ... read more

France ... info to come! Having left Billericay early morning to make it to Russell Square at 6:30am, we checked through the Contiki rigmorale, before boarding our blue bus for 30 days. Seated towards the rear I was joined by Craig T, a fellow Melburnian and we got along really well. Getting to know all the other kids around us as we continued on, before boarding the ferry at Dover and seeing the White Cliffs and crossing the English Channel to Calais. Continuing on into France was great. We chatted away but Kezza and Molly would make sure they kept their distance from us as they thought they were far too cool for us, being Californian girls and everything. Rather childish on their behalf. But as we got into our campsite for our time in Paris ... read more

Amanda The highlights from today for me were visiting the Catacombes, Sainte-Chapelle and the Dali Exhibition. We also did a whirlwind tour of a few other touristy places. The catacombes were really freaky. Walking through corridors piled high with the bones of millions of dead Parisians is the kind of experience that makes you realise how fragile we human beings are. There were many inscriptions (in French of course) throughout the quarry tunnels that told of how at any moment death could be upon any one of us. Sainte-Chapelle has been referred to as “a gateway to heaven” and it certainly was very beautiful. The photos can’t really compare to the experience of being there. The top floor of this church has 15m high stained-glass windows that depict biblical stories separated by very thin columns of ... read more