amoureux de Paris

Bonjour tout le monde.

I am officially in love with Paris. I Arrived here safe and sound. No dramas like lost passports or luggage.

Thank goodness Herve came to greet me. It was much easier to make my way to the hotel without any fuss. The hotel i have been staying at is very central. Its a block away from the Louvre - Rivolli entrance. Its fantastically priced too.

Spent the first day with Herve while he showed me around beautiful Paris from a locals persepctive. Took a lot of photos. That night was meant to catch up with him but unfortunately i ran out of phone credit and could not reach him. A comedy of errors meant I spent most of the night walking around on my own. Thats not the funny part. The funny part is that I spent most of the night walking right past him and his friends.

Well not to worry. I got lucky the next night and met his friends again. Lovely people. I got to dine al fresco and go back and get rotten drunk on Champagne (real champagne worth hundreds of dollars back in Aus) and some green concoction called Jet 27. Its quite nice and I will try and find some when I get back to Australia. We went back to a friends apartment called Valrie. She is house sitting for her boss who is a rather well off agent for photo journalists here in Paris. Her apartment had award winning photos all over the place. Ive never seen so many nice black and white images in one place. This house was behind a gallery and near the richest area in Paris. I was most impressed. Everyone did tell me most parisians did not live this way.

As you can tell im a little excited still by the whole night.

The next day I braved the metro on my own and the intercity trains and took a journey to Versaille. It was mind blowingly big. Its impossible to describe the opulence of this place. I will post photos when I come back. I now understand why the people of france cut their heads off!! The grounds are rather large and if you do go to visit, i do recommend you spend the whole day taking it easy and taking regular breaks. Try doing the chateau then a break, then the grounds then a break. You can rent bikes if you want. Thats much easier except when you want to visit the smaller mansions inside which need you to hide the bike in the bushes. LOL

After a big night, I took my camera after a short break and some more white wine and went off to take photos of my surroundings and of the Eiffel Tower. They light it up at night. Everyone drinks wine and champagne in the grounds around it. Indian guys try to sell you knock off versions of the tower. Its just like thailand. Got some impressive photos that night and made it home by 1am. Mind you people were still up and about dinning.

Today went on my own to the Louvre and then on to the Eiffel Tower. You can take a lift up to the top and get an awesome view of Paris. You can climb down the old stairs if you wish. I recommend that. Tonight ill go to Moulain Rouge to take a photo and then get an early night as tomorrow I am off to visit privincial France. Bordeaux here I come.

Au Revoir