Blogs from Île-de-France, France, Europe - page 467

Hey everyone... Well, I survived the Canibus Cup, toured some windmills, had a wonderful time eating cheese and waffles, hung out with some of Baller's colleagues in the red light district, and loved all of Amsterdam. Now I'm settling into Paris. So... Paris is a sexy, alluring, mysterious, and wonderful city. It is so big, it would be impossible to see it all... and I never really have any idea where I am, so I've inadvertently seen some parts over and over and over... But it's a fun city to get lost in. There are so many old, beautiful, gothic buildings crying out with history... everywhere I turn, I'm stumbling upon a grave or a tomb in memory of someone important... a story waiting to be told. How many Napolean's are buried here anyway??? It's incredible ... read more

Paris, "the city of love". It conjours images of wonderful and romantic goings-on... I don't know much about Paris. I went there to get some new climbing shoes and maybe have a bit of a look around. I will outline Paris in a nutshell and give a few key lessons to go with it. My arrival in Paris was a first introduction to an underground transport system. First Lesson: Keep hold of your ticket. If you don't have a ticket to leave at your end station, you may be unlucky enough to receive a 45 Euro fine! (Fortunately, it is a common enough error for first timers and if you go to the 'secret' underground office on Ligne 4 at the Les Halles station, they will happily refund your money...) Out of the underground and into ... read more

We got up at our usual time to eat breakfast, then we packed and checked out. It took us a long time to pack, but daylight’s saving time was on our side! We arrived at Disneyland a little bit after the park had opened, and we took Katherine shopping for a princess dress along main street. All week long, we had tried to get her to choose a costume for Halloween, but she hadn’t seemed the least bit interested. This was our last day, so Papa and I were really pushing the dress-up clothes. The shops aren’t very busy in the morning, so it was a nice time to shop. Katherine really got interested when we took her to the dressing room. She immediately fell in love with the Snow White dress. She wouldn’t try on ... read more

Yay! Shellynne and I are agreed on an apartment for next semester! What fun that will be! Now we need to work on finding furniture and signing papers and all that fun stuff! And thank you very much to my wonderful mommy for helping organize this and taking the time to take care of me once again!... read more

Well I suppose those of you who read the news deserve some word from this end of the world. I don’t really know what to say. If you really want to understand the underlying psychology and attitudes, I suggest you rent La Haine, or HATE. I’ve seen it in Blockbusters and independent movie stores. I couldn’t believe when I read this in the New York Times: "This is just the beginning," said Moussa Diallo, 22, a tall, unemployed French-African man in Clichy-sous-Bois, the working-class Parisian suburb where the violence started Oct. 27. "It's not going to end until there are two policemen dead." New York Times, Craig S. Smith, published: November 7, 2005 There seems to be a very tit-for-tat mentality that was represented very well in that film. I warn that the film is ... read more