Versailles

The palace, and just as beautiful as I hoped it would be.

We didn't actually go inside, it was 40 degrees in the shade and the there was a 2 hour line up first, so we walked around the grounds and had a nice picnic lunch?
One of my favourite places in France, that is for sure...

This was a Real French picnic, complete with a big block on Non-Cheddar, paté and a bottle of vin to wash it all down with!"

Tour de France

Well I am not much of a sports fan...I played rugby in Uni (translation – got the crap kicked out of me week to week), did karate in high school...Infact the most athletic activity I was doing of late, was the 5 floor marathon when the escalator was not working in my apartment building....

This aside, I was in France and for hell or high water, was NOT going to miss the Tour de France….I mean, what would al the die hard France fans at home think of me, if I missed it?!!Now here is the thing, even if you do go, you do not see that much…We went to Bastille to watch…You stand on the edge of the street for about 2 hours, waiting for the bikes to pass…About 5 minutes before, every rude bastard in Paris (this is French, and foreigners) pushes in front of you. Then when you manage to prop yourself up just high enough of the head in front of you to see the race, the bikes come and then pass you within the space of 10 seconds (give or take the poor slow buggers at the back).

And that is it…I mean, there is a pre-race parade with some of the cheesiest (no French cheese joke intended) marketing promotion I have ever seen – Including a 12 foot Arnold Schwazenegger torso stuck to the roof of a 4WD that was threatening to terminate the crowd…pics here

Hello Oztralia!

Tight Arse Tuesday

Ok so the beauty of the place is defintely worth a lifestyle of poverty. Who needs food when you can eat up the atmosphere and beauty of the city? Well, the hunger pangs soon set in, and so I set about early on adopting the lifestyle to which I was accustomed in Australia on the MC; overworked, underpaid and looking to scam all the free fun I can!

Now it is bloody cold, but arriving in the summer, I spent what little free time I had just walking the streets. If not for the weather, I would probably be doing that right now.

On the first Sunday of the month museums are open for free. So in the second week here I checked out the Rodin Museum, thinking to myself - Tight Arse Tuesday, on Sunday's for me once a month from here on in...Unfortunately, every first Sunday of the month I have had since going to Rodin, has been occuppied by AIESEC or I've missed it being out of the country!

During my third week, I was able to catch the 14 July parade. Absolutely amazed by how many different codes of public and armed forces they have in France.


In the pics online, you can check out the sculptures from Rodin aswell as pics from Montmarte, the Eiffel tower, the Arc and most of the other popular Paris attractions from my first four weeks in the country.Well that rounds out the first month. I hope it is an ok read and not too long winded.