Blogs from France, Europe - page 1565

san seb - seems so long ago now!!! what happened.... not much. a lot of relaxing, eating and (window) shopping. had a few fun nights out, of course. then moved on to bordeaux. bordeaux was quite lovely. i had to share a bed with a girl i met at check in!!! strange experience. went out to saint emilion, a really cute little town about a half hour train ride away. did a wine tour the 2nd day. tours is gorgeous. slight contrast in that i had a double room all to myself!!! yay!!!! so nice. i went out to a chateau yesterday. chenenceau. it was amazing. built over a river and massive, with gorgeous gardens. i want t be a princess and live there!!!! i'm off to paris this arvo then london tomorrow. got to love ... read more

"Oh shit! Sorry mate!" I mean "Pardon monsieur!" This is me on the metro in rush hour in Paris with my huge pack on my back knocking French lads left right & center! We stayed 3 nights in Pari (the french don't like to say the letters at the end of words) and it was great, so many famous things to see. Mum booked a heap of stuff back in AUS before she came, which was great. So for 2 days we had a bus tour but u could get on & off when ever you want and catch the next bus when your done lookin. The buses went everywhere & there where heaps of them (if your in Pari do it for sure, only 25€). Day 1 was Notre Dame, we climbed 20 million stairs ... read more

Tuesday we were “stuck” in their house because the train and busses were on strike so we took the day to catch up on reading and went for a walk down to the beach and wandered about the area. Actually it was really nice to just take a forced breather. The transportation issue was counterbalanced on Wednesday when we were really spoiled rotten because Cindy said she was willing to drive us some place we couldn’t get by train so we went to St. Paul de Vence to see the Foundation Maeght which is a museum that has a very small permanent collection of works but when we were there the focus was on prints, it was really interesting and some of the works were fantastic. We then walked around the perched city, which is really ... read more

8/10/05 - Fête anniversaire - 30 ans mon petite cousine Caroline and her family invited a wonderful group of friends to celebrate her 30th birthday. Lucky for us, most could speak very good English and they were also very mindful that we could understand some french if they spoke “lentement” (slowly) and did not go beyond kindergarten level! Again, Beatrice excelled herself with the preparations and the food. Jean did what he is very good at, which is entertaining people in his cellar. It is a wonderful place to have a drink and talk. In fact, it is a magnet for the men; much like standing around the BBQ is for men in Australia. We gave Caroline the first installment of the Australian sponsorship for her Savate World Championship bid, a pair of 8oz boxing gloves. ... read more

This weekend was one of the excursions sponsored by CEA, who arranged my housing and enrollment in Paris. The trip was to the Champagne region, with main stops in the cities of Reims, Épernay, and Meaux with a night being spent in the small town of Montmort. First we visited Reims. The Cathedral at Reims (Notre-Dame de Reims) is where the Clovis was baptized on Christmas Eve in the year 496 by Saint Remi, thus establishing a Christian tradition for the Kingdom of the Franks. Clovis wanted to be baptized and a huge crowd had gathered because it was a huge deal for the monarch to become Christian. The story goes that there were so many people present and it was so crowded that the person bringing the chrism (holy oil) to Saint Remi couldn’t get ... read more