Italy

Hi all long time no post, but internet access is very hard when travelling. Thanks to sammi for the amazing blog background she made for me using my Paris photos. It looks much better than my plain one. So Italy, what can I say yum, pasta, pizza, coffee and red wine who could ask for anything more. I am in Florence for my last night and have been here for three days tommorrow I go to Rome for four nights and will then be making my way back to paris and my new appartment.

An apartment finally and a trip to Italy.

Yay I finally have an apartment thanks to mum for finding it on the Net. I saw it today and by Paris standards it is amazing. Ok so there is no washing machine, dryer, bathtub, oven or much cupboard space but as I said by Paris standards it is amazing. There is a huge couch and above the couch is a mezzanine sleeping level and it has a toilet and shower and little kitchen. It is on the ground floor so no climbing a million stairs with bags of shopping. So it is great but i can't move in until the 21st of november at the earliest. So I have two weeks to fill, what better way to fill a spare two weeks than a trip to Italy Land of great food and beautiful Art I leave in the morning and will keep you all posted.
Aurevoir A Bientot

Sunday and all is closed.

Before coming to Paris I had read that most things shut on Sunday, but I don't think I really comprehended the fact that yes everything is shut on Sunday in Paris. That is except for the odd boulangerie around the place and the fast food vans that cater for the tourist trades. So there isn't a lot to do unless you want to battle the crowds of other people who are lookign for something to do and go to an art museum. I decided I would wait for another day to do this and instead spent a leisurely few hours walking along the Seine and taking in the general beauty of strolling through Paris on a quiet Sunday.

Notre Dame!

Yesterday I went to look at another apartment in the area of Notre Dame and while I was in the area I decided to check out the inside of the cathedral. While I was there a Mass started and you couldn't go further than the church ground level. I was still able to take lots of Pictures though. Below is a small sample.

A Gate.

Stained glass window and patterned roof.

"Not another chandelier"

Stained glass window.

Pere Lachaise!

Ok I know this is going to sound a bit strange, but I have always loved cemeteries so when I was looking at an apartment near the famous Pere Lachaise i just had to go awandering, here are some photos I took. There is just something majestic and beautiful about the history of really old cemeteries that intrigues me and this is a particularly beautiful one.

House hunting and a day of being a tourist in Paris!

Bonjour, who would have thought that there was a place more difficult than Sydney to find a place to rent and that mostly it would all be three times as much. I have been having great fun over the last few days attempting to get an apartment dans Paris. It has to be a furnished place, because for unfurnished you have to sign a three year lease. Also, you have to provide all kinds of documentation and don't expect anyone to ever call you back, instead you have to ring about six times and even then are lucky to be talking to the right person. So enough of the rant, today i decided to take myself away from it all and go and be a tourist in Paris. I found myself at the arc de triomphe and for the first time since coming to Paris found myself surrounded by people speaking english. Which was actually quite a shock after five days hearing lilting french tones surrounding me, I was suddenly engulfed by louder tones of English and Americans. After looking around at the Arc and deciding not to go up inside I set out for the Tour Eiffel. This time I did decide to plunge on into the que for going up. I decided to go right to the top it was just a shame that today Paris was blanketed in a haze of smog but still It really was a fantastic view way up there in the sky. Also it gave me a different view of Paris from the beureacratic, frustrating side of apartment searching. After coming back from the Tour Eiffel I once again hopped on the net to search for apartments a search that is still ongoing.

Anyway I will leave you now with a couple of shots that I have taken around Paris.

This was the view from my hotel window

The Arc de Triumph

Merry go rounds Paris has many

This ones for Guy

And this one is for Hayley

Paris J'taime

It's official I'm in love with Paris. I have spent the last three days wandering aimlessly around Paris getting lost and just generally discovering the city sans guidebooks. The verdict, I'm in Love. Coming in from the airport on the bus my first impressions of Paris were pale creamy stone/brick buildings, terracotta tile roofs and black wrought iron. An impression that has only been strengthened from my wanderings of Paris. Now however, I have to knuckle down to work and find myself a place to live a task that is not going to be easy but hay I'm in Paris so who's complaining right. Well stay tuned because I hope to be posting some of my photos very soon. So Aurevoir and from Paris with love.......