derniers jours à Paris...last days in Paris

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Ah and so my holiday comes to an end...I'm sitting at Heathrow 9.15pm Thursday night waiting for my flight, not really looking forward to the next 20 something hours of flying but I am looking forward to my own bed and my apartment in what I just saw is a balmy 29 degrees in Brisvegas!

This week in Paris has been strange, quite humid today and no rain but yesterday it absolutely bucketed down the day before. Can't make up its mind what it wants to do. I was just re reading my last blog to see where I got up to and I'm pretty glad I warned you about the terrible keyboard I had as there was some strange things in there! I got to the airport quite early tonight so thank goodness for Qantas Club here, has kept me well fed to the point I may need to unbutton my jeans! I just washed down an anti biotic with a vodka so hopefully I will get some sleep on the plane!

What have I done since the weekend? Well I have been pretty much all over Paris either walking or on the metro. I really do wish I could read a map, it would help my frustration levels somewhat but then half the fun is ending up in places you never meant to be! On Monday I went to Sacre Couer and wandered all up around Montmarte and the dodgy area which is excellent people watching. All the street vendors getting harassed by the police to make sure they have a permit to sell on the street. The police look pretty darn good in their uniforms here although the standard uniform does look a lot better than the full on cammo hear and big a** guns they carry around the train stations and under the eiffel tower. Actually that was Tuesday I did that so I relaly can't remember what I did Monday, I think that's when I went all over eventually ending up at Champs Elysse. Tuesday I went to the Doctor in the morning who gave me some awesome drugs that have done wonders and then I ventured to Sacre Couer. That night Melissa's mum & dad babysat and her and James and her brother and I all went to a semi famous chef's restaurant and the food was unreal.Very yummy and a very popular place as you cant book and there was a massive line up as we were leaving. It was a reasonable night so we walked back under the Eiffel Tower which has a united buddy bears exhibition on at the moment, these big statue bears representing countries from around the world, there would have to be close to 100 of them each painted by someone from that country to represent them best. Australia's was done by Ken Done...tragic...it looked terrible! Then we walked back to the apartment along the Seine, it was really nice.

Wednesday I got on the train and went to Versailles in the rain but it was worth the trip as the Chateau was amazing. Massive, opulant and you could really spend ages there if you wanted to. It was pretty darn cool and you could almost imagine the way they lived there. You get free audio with your ticket and it was a very interesting history lesson! Shame about the weather as I couldnt walk around the gardens, too wet but I had a lovely time. I came back and wandered around town. Picked up a yummy citris tart for dessert from our favourite bakery and then headed back out to walk over the river to Passy. However I think with my map reading skills I managed to somehow avoid most of Passy and ended up in the burbs wandering some lovely chocolate shops and it was still very nice even though I wasnt where I was meant to be! I had walked so far the metro I eventually found to come back on wasnt even on the map and of course I got on it going in the wrong direction and so had to go to the end of the line and come back again!!

Melissa cooked duck for dinner last night and it was yummy, I didn't think I particularly liked duck but I may have changed my mind. Then again the food here is just so much better. I'm kind of looking forward to going back to our average food so I can take of the few kg's I've put on, my middle is looking a little rounder than when I arrived! Baguette's will never be forgotten!

The 2 storey trains here are pretty cool, I'm not sure I remember seeing those before. Oh and did I tell you all the French men smell so good! Apart from the ones scrounging through the bins of course...

I was just chatting with an English family heading off on holidays and they like everyone else said how lucky I was to get such a long time off to travel but as I said to her it takes so long to get anywhere you need to make it worth your while!

I had booked the Paris shuttle to take me to the airport today after my experience getting to Melissa's in a taxi and half hour after it was meant to be there and wasnt we rung and she said he was there 15 minutes before the time they emailed me, didnt buzz the apartment or ring and left! So I ended up getting a taxi anyway but traffic was great and there was pretty much no one at the airport in Paris and same with here, maybe my timing has just been really good in missing the crowds! Mind you, I did leave my bottle of water in my carry on when I got here and had to wait 15min for a bag searcher to be available and then he had to go through everything...I had stashed all my dirty clothes there so that was a bit embarassing but he was quite nice and we had a laugh about it. he offered to help repack but I said that's ok and quickly stuffed them all back in!

Well I see my flight is about to board so I should go brush my teeth and prepare for my flight.

All in all I have had a wonderful four and a half weeks away, it has gone so quickly. America seems like a life time ago and my normal life will resume without a look back no doubt! I can't upload photos from here so will do that when I get home as the Chateau Versailles photos are pretty cool.

L xx

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