BORING!!!

i meant to get out to the coast for the remainder of my days in france but apparently the public transportation staff would rather spend the last three days of my trip marching through the streets of paris, hanging off each other while yelling vive la france and drinking one and a half times their body weight in expensive french booze. however, because of the strike i was able to spend some actually time around the great monuments i had rushed over the past few days. and instead of viewing paris through the lense of my camera, i enjoyed them the way most of the people around me weren't ... sober.

that image is the arc de triumph. i didn't take it, but it is pretty much the same image that i would have taken a picture of. i found this image through a search engine. i took a lot of pictures, or at least i started to take a lot of pictures of buildings. However pictures of buildings are boring and I quickly stopped. i realized that i could do exactly what i just did, that is search online, and i'll come up with enough pictures to create a 3d model of most monuments in paris.

of course, i don't know what most of that last sentence means either, nor do i have the time to learn what it means, explain it and then carry out the task that it likely instructs me to do. instead, we can discuss how many pictures exist of any given tourist attraction.

take Notre Dame for example. as i walked around the building i admired every bit of it, and took a few pictures too. it has flying buttruses, which is both cool and complicated and explaining either would take up too much time and use too much of your valuble attention. instead, watch disney's hunchback and search flying buttruses on your favourite search engine or encylopedia series for the proper spelling and meaning. it'll save us all a lot of time.

as i took my pictures i came to the realization that i wasn't alone. a quick count told me fifteen others were doing the same. then i looked back at the shot i had composed and wondered ... why? what makes this shot i'm taking so much more interesting? why am i bothering to take it. it is hardly worth €0.25 in developing to see a picture a few clicks can find for me. so i took a picture of another person taking the same picture and put my camera down. i could have run through eight rolls in an hour with all the action around the cathedral. so i started to wonder ... is it possible to know how many pictures of Notre Damn there are?

i got bored and didn't want to finish this thought. paris was great. and i can't wait to go back because then i'll get to see the coast.

and now for something work related

waiting on an employer to get their schedule together so that i can know if they want me to trial is currently the biggest annoyance known to this man.

in other news, i revieved a phone call from another company who is interested in an interview. i had applied online just this morning and the call came this afternoon via my new mobile phone (they call them mobiles ... that is mo-bye-ul ... not cell's) through the head set i was listening to irish radio on. what a concept eh!: make the phone a radio.

none of them are job offers yet, but they are a start.

... in other news i'm back on face book. please forgive me.

Disney will bring us together

the one thing that all the travellers around the pub table had last night was their memory of childhood cartoon movies, and the ability to regurgitate mass amounts of useless knowledge that can only be used in situations like the one we all found ourselves in last night.

i didn't notice when it began but once it got going it was hard not to. we were in the pub that i'll be trialing (having a try out) at next monday, enjoying a pint of Beamish (a knock-off version of Guinness that the locals drink because it's cheap and brewed in the city) when i heard a familiar tune. i put my conversation on hold and turned my attention to the rest of the party. there were two girls singing a song that i had heard before ... in french ... ... or at least i thought it was french. as it turns out one was singing in french and the other was in spanish.

the german girl i was speaking with before the musical number broke out joined in ... in german. the three of them were singing as much as they could between laughs ... ...

and then it hit me. the tune that was so familiar was originally performed by Baloo the Bear in The Jungle Book. So matty and i joined in too. we only knew the chorus so we kept singing that over and over again. after it was all said and done there were five languages layered together one of which i knew was a language and no bit of the song could anyone not at the table make out. french, spanish, german, english and swedish. all together. all singing our hearts out and laughing our throats dry.

love, and now disney, will bring us together.

landed

we've arrived in Cork after a grueling four and a half hour ride from Dublin, we enjoyed a pint of Murphy's stout (b/c the locals don't drink the Guinness) and shared a pint with a new friend from BC. Angie, our new friend, is the first Canadian we've met who speaks more than English. in fact she speaks Spanish and Japanese too! our party grew as the night wore and soon included a few Swed's, Spaniards, French and I think an Auzzie, but I never got talking to him.

today is the first day of job hunting, and that means getting together a CV, or resume as we call it at home.

wish me luck,

cheers,

godfather me

the weekend before i departed my parents and sisters and i visited my dad's brothers house, mark, and his family ... as well as gran and pop murray, aunt mary, aunt marilyn and cousin devin (dad's brother allen's son) and we had one of the first murray family jamm sessions. i was quite proud to be able to teach my cousin carolyn the first few notes of John Lennon's Blackbird (the only song i know completely) but proceeded to be humiliated by my goddaughter, and cousin (showed in the image to the right) Josie, who turn six that weekend, on the drums. t'was all in good fun and proved to be a wonderful warmup to my trip to come. we may have to look into getting that kickdrum loaded ... into the backseat folded down.

the pub crawl i spoke of earlier showcased the type of jam sessions, simly called sessions, that can be found in small pubs around ireland. i haven't found one yet that did appear to be packaged for the tourist gaze, (i'll explain the significance of the bolded words in a later post if i can remember it ... thanks prof hennebry and cs 403), perhaps Cork will have more to share.

matt and i head for Cork City this afternoon.

there are a few pictures up on my flicker (link found in the side bar), they come care of Nat, my french friend, and aunt mary from the north.

cheers,

--(bb)b

serendipitous

last night we went on a musical pub crawl, which was awesome, and we found out a bout it from two girls from ten minutes outside paris, which is also awesome because not only will we have a place to stay in paris when we go we might also have some visitors to ontario too. they are pretty excited to speak to my four sisters who are fluent(ish) in french!

but enough about the girls, back to the story of the pub crawl. the group, about 40 tourists, gathered at a pub called oliver st johns something something, met our guides, a fiddler and guitar/drum/singer player, and set out around the city stopping at traditional irish pubs. well, we learned that the second pub we stopped at, and the pubs that followed, were traditional and the first one, olivanders (or whatever), was not at all. it is the kind of pub we (the tourist group) would find in our home countries. it seems that "traditional" irish pubs do not have fiddles on the walls, guinness posters on the walls or sells shirts that say the leprechauns made me do it.

at oliver's we got to chatting with a few of the folks with us, a couple from texas who wanted their picture taken and i was happy to oblige. another girl, who i was happy to realize soon into our conversation that she was from Mississauga and we had a common acquaintance from laurier brantford, a couple from a little town outside new mexico called Los Alamos of which he said, and i kid you not, "you might know us from when we bombed japan".

matt and i laughed for a good fifteen minutes about that. "who says that?" was all matty could say.

the crawl came to a close around 10:30 and then headed to another pub where some real trad music session was happening. it was great fun, grand as they say here.

today we had lunch with matt's dads bishop connection who paid for it all too. it was nice to speak with irish natives, and what's more he gave us some connections in Cork to call when we get there (which is set for monday). and of course, being as this is dublin, pop. 1.5 million, who shows up at the same second story restaurant at the same time as us?... but the texan couple from the night before! i went to their table, they hadn't seen us yet, and started speaking ... she looked up with the expression of a woman who was getting prepared to speak to a waiter ... i told her i'd be happy to take their picture again if they'd like.

we had a good chuckle over the whole situation, and then i wished them a happy lunch.

matt's party for tomorrow night is growing in numbers. the two kiwi's i met a day ago are coming, norm from edmonton, and jaka from italy ... the two french girls can't make it cause they travel tomorrow morning which is especially disappointing seeing as the one has the exact same birthday as matty - day and year!.

that's all for now, cheers!

--b

kiwi and other fruit

matty and i meant to get to the guinness brewery today, but we slept to late and as it turns out they don't let people through the doors past 5 pm. we had our orientation in the morning (wihch we did make it to, but only b/c our american friend woke us up). i lost matty last night, but as luck would have it he found some locals irish and they took care of him. he turned the wrong way coming out of the bar and walked the distance to the hostel we were staying at, ... just in the wrong way. luckily at the spot he expected the hostel to be there was a mcdonalds, and where his bed was to be there was a bathroom. all ended up well!

tonight we're going for a few pints with a couple of girls from seattle, matty is packing a map to ensure he gets home.

matty made dinner tonight, and it was grand. our first home cooked meal since we got here - that is, the closest we can get. we cooked beside a Kiwi who was really full of energy and gave me hell for giving her cooking secretes away to a bunch of other girls. (you may have noticed by now that there are very few boys in my stories .. but that's just cause there are very few boys here!) The Kiwi's buddy, Tresa (TREES-ARE-GREEN ... but leave off the RE-GREEN) offered us some of the cheese because, and i quote, "we have a f*** load of it".

oh, and i lost my voice last night singing at the pub. it's back just in time to be lost again.

cheers,

--b

day one

matt sleeps like a bear. he doesn't move. and just sleeps there. i can move the metal drawer from under our bunk, of which he has the lower bunk, which lifts the bunk considerably, without him so much as moving.

this does allow me to leave a beer cradled in his arms for when he wakes up.

in other news, dublin is grand. everyone walks fast. very fast. and there are pubs everywhere. apparently, a radio station was giving €100 to anyone who could plot a path that avoided passing by a pub. the winner said that any path would do, simply enter everyone along the way.

we had a pint of stout this morning at some pub, i don't remember the name but that hardly matters, we had our pint anyways. our new american friend, TJ, whom we met in the terminal at Newark, who heading off to Belfast tomorrow to coach basketball, enjoyed a pint with us. we were all very tired after that, and rightly so ... stout is heavy on a tired stomach.

that was three hours ago. matt is still napping with his beer.

oh, and we're in a 16 bed dorm room tonight. HA. and better yet, in three days we'll be in a 24 bed dorm room. anything to save a buck.

cheers,

--b

t minus five days

over the past week i have been forced to arrive at a startling reality: everything in the world does not revolve around me.

let me explain.

I leave on the seventeenth, only five days, 23 hrs, 34 mins, 33 seconds ... approximately. Yet despite this fact, which is common knowledge to everyone everywhere, some of these people still find need in scheduling events that will occur after my departure. Until recently I had thought that I was somehow being unclear to the rest of Ontario that they needn't worry about things like that becuase i wasn't going to be here.

then it hit me. even after i am gone the rest of you will continue to function quite normally, barely pausing while i fly overhead. this is a very tough idea to grasp. i wish it was easier for me.

i was just called for supper. i'd better go. because there is only five more like these left for me until a year from now. tonight will be the best supper i've ever had ... until tomorrow.

and introducing ...

... brad.

Hi Mom and Dad! and thank you mandy for letting me share this space with you. i don't know if i'll be able to be as witty with my writing as you are ... you're one heck of an act to follow: like hearing John Lennon sing Imagine followed by a live performance from Art Alexikas of Everclear.

perhaps that is a little esoteric. so, onward and upward.

Irlenad is quickly approaching, nearing the one week count down. Matt and I depart on Sept 17th to arrive in Dublin the morning of the 18th. I beleive our first act of buisness will be to find where in the world it is five o'clock and toast a Guinness to them.

Matt is the brains behind this opperation, has been a friend of mine for over four years and a roommate for three. I jokingly made a remark about my wanting to go to ireland after school back in Dec of '06, and when we came back from Christmas Holidays in January he asked how serious I was. Matty has been the one to get the ball rolling with the trip with his constant badgering (that I beleive has been fueled by his mother's constant badgering) and unrelenting drive to get to ireland to celebrate his birthday (on sept 21st). Thank you Matty, we'd still be in the planning stage if you didn't step up.

The realization hasn't completely set in that we are going to be in Dublin, Ireland within a fortnight, and I am told that it won't until the plane is in the air, but what has set in is excitment and fear, occasionally knocking me over for the dog to pee on me.

Unregardless, thanks for tuning in.

cheers,

--b

edinburgh to belfast, ireland

so, we had a great time in edinburgh because it was such a student town and the night life was out of this world.. there were tons of things to do during the day and it was awesome..

we took a flight from edinburgh, scotland to belfast, ireland that lasted 15mins.. we were up most of the night before partying and whatnot and i was planning on catching up on some sleep on the flight and i only slept for about 5 mins when the pilot said we were landing. my ears didnt even pop.. we didnt get up very high before we had to come back down.. no wonder it was such a cheap flight. haha..

so, we arrived in belfast, ireland (still on the pound which was 2.5 times the canadian dollar and 1.5 times the euro) and it was STILL cheaper than living in paris and buying things in paris. we were shocked that drinks were cheaper in scotland even with the conversion than they were in Paris..

we were planning on renting a car in belfast so that we could drive around Ireland. we got to the car renting place and they told us that they cant rent a car to anyone under the age of 22 and the driver (jordanna) was 22.. so, we walked around to the different stations to see if anyone would rent the car to us. we found one but it was going to be almost 6 times more expensive for us to rent this car than we had thought.. we had a huge discussion about it in the airport trying to decide if it was worth still getting the car.. and we decided that it was. so, Vivian (our car's name) was to be ours for the next week.. and I'm SOO glad we got the car because there were so many things we wouldnt have been able to do had we not had the car..

highlands and Nelly

we went on a tour of the highlands and the loch ness area on our last day in edinburgh. it was absolutely breathtaking. the highlands is a huge area in the south of scotlands where they have millions of mountains and lakes. it was gorgeous. we drove around in a bus and stopped at a few places throughout the day to take pictures. Everywhere you turned, you felt like you were looking at a painting. If you turned in a circle the scenery changed so much. you would have mountains on one side, a valley and then a huge lake on another side. it was gorgeous.

we went to where the loch ness monster was supposed to have been seen a billion years ago. Unfortunatly, we didnt see nelly (or nessie, eh!??!?).. i really thought i was going to get to see her so i stood watching the lake for a while assuming that the monster would appear. it didnt. and i was crushed.

so, anyways, the tour was fantastic. i didnt realize that scotland was so beautiful. i had always heard that ireland was gorgeous but scotland is as well.

edinburgh

we got off the train in edinburgh and got to our hostel were we met 4 canadians who went to trent and were on their spring break and were doing a super fast tour of the UK... we went on a ghost walk with them (which was super freaky.. they talked about the history of the town, all the ghosts they have there and they took us through a cemetary..) we went out to the bar with them that night and had a wicked time. in edinburgh, you had to show ID at every bar.. i dont even know what the drinking age is there but you had to show your ID anyways.. well, Maria hadn't brought any with her.. so, as a joke, after i had shown the bouncer my ID, i handed it over to Maria right in front of him. i was expecting the bouncer to laugh at us and then tell maria to get her ID.. but, he didnt.. he didnt even notice me give it to her (even though we were standing RIGHT in front of him) and he thought the ID was maria and let her in. It was ridiculous.

we stayed in edinburgh for 3 nights.. this was my favorite city for sure. everyone was so super nice and it was such a student town (kind of like london..) and there were always tons of young people around and the night life was amazing. we bar hopped like crazy.. one night Maria and I went to 5 different bars. It was great.. and we'd meet cool people along the way and then we'd change bars. this one bar we went to was called espionage and we went there the second night and then again on the third night and it was great. there were about 6 different levels and it was built into a hill so you went in at the bottom of the hill and at the end of the night you exited at the top of the hill, on level 6.. so, each level was a different type of atmosphere.. they had a club level, a chill level, a pub level and others.. it was great..

on the second day, we went on a bus tour of edinburgh which was really cool.. we got to see the castle, some old buildings, some museums (were Dolly was cloned..) the castle in edinburgh is the main thing there and its in the center of the town on this huge hill.. its odd because the rest of the city is pretty flat except for this huge hilll with the castle on it..

glasgow-edinburgh

the next day, we went on a very cold bus tour of glasgow.. most of which i forget about now.. it was cool to see the city and its history. we went to the pub again to eat and met some more scots. UK's and irish people are so nice. we stayed another night in glasgow and then went to edinburgh the next day via train. the country side was beautiful on the way to edinburgh.. it was constantly changing with really nice mountains, churchs, old abandoned castles and whatnot... it was really nice.

Paris- Glasgow

so, we took a flight from paris to glasgow, scotland and had no trouble getting into the country. we got to our hostel with no problems. our hostel was a really huge room for about 8 people but the 4 of us were the only ones in it, so that was nice. Maria, who was still jet legged from just returning from Canada, slept for a few hrs while Dominique, Jo and I walked around the city a little bit. we found a nice bar and went back to wake Maria up to go and eat at this pub. There were tons of scots there watching a rubgy game and it reminded me of being at Molly's at home, hanging out. it was a really relaxed atmosphere and lots of fun. we met a few scots at the bar and turns out scots love Canadians so we were the hit of the bar. our hostel had a bar as well so as soon as the pub closed, we went back to the bar where there were tons of irish people there celebrating after the celtic win. the irish are crazy. it was one huge party with everyone laughing and singing and having fun. we started talking to these irish guys from dublin who came to glasgow to see the celtic rugby game and they were telling us about the history of the celtic (most of which i forget..) we ended off the night by staying up way too late as usual.. so late in fact that we slept through most of the next day..

internet/phone

alright, so I got back from Ireland and Scotland safely. I dont have internet or phone right now at my place and so it's going to take me longer than I thought to get my posts up to date but I will get there. basically, to sum up everything, I loved Ireland and Scotland. the car we rented in ireland was the best and we all returned safely to Paris. best kind. there will be more posts to come later on when i have a day off.

caught up

So, i'm finally caught up in my posts. finally.

I'm going to Ireland/Scotland tomorrow for about 2 weeks so I probably won't be posting for a while and when I get back I'll be behind again in my posts. Great. So, today, i'm hanging low, playing housewife, doing my laundry, groveries, cleaning. One of the girls i work with is taking over my room while I'm gone so i have to get ready for her.

a bientot. Guinness here I come. I hate Guinness

The Weather

I know that in Canada, you guys are getting some crazy weather and so I thought I would write a post about how nice it actually is here. Ha.

I had a tshirt on yesterday. I didnt even need a sweater or anything. It was actually sunny for the whole weekend with no rain. Which, I'm sure is some kind of record or something. Of course since i had to work the whole weekend, I couldnt enjoy it really. But now, I have a day off.. and its overcast. but, still not rain so its a great day!

now, when it gets nice out, French people love sitting outside on patios of restaurants for hours on end. And, since our restaurant faces the seine and Notre Dame, we get a lot of people who like to sit outside. Working the terrasse is awful. you have to keep walking back and forth getting things, bringing things in, getting people change. It's annoying.

The other day (this is seriously the funniest thing Ive seen since I got here) there was a group of people who wanted to sit outside so they took it upon themselves (before I even saw them outside) to take all the remaining chairs that werent being used from the other talbes to use for themselves. Now, since there wasnt a table, they set the chairs up in a circle on the cement. By goodness, I came outside and i saw a group of about 9 people sitting in a circle without a table and i lost it. I had to walk inside again because it was so funny. one of the girls came in and asked if they could have a table outside and it took all of inner energy to not laugh in her face. I wanted to tell her that her and her group of friends looked ridiculous sitting there without a table. it was seriously the funniest thing ever. Another man found an available chair and was just sitting there facing the street, watching the people, no company and was leaning his arm of a plant (also no table) man, it was funny.

Rouen

I went to Rouen last Monday just for the day. I went by myself. It was nice to get out of Paris. I think that no matter what city you're in, sometimes you need a change. So, I decided that particular day was as good as any to go to Rouen. I took the train which took about an hour to get there. Rouen is the place where Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake. and since i've done a few essays/projects of her, I thought it would be really cool. So, I got off the train and went to the "accueil" which is the information booth. I asked for a map (une carte) and the lady (who acted like it was a huge inconvienence for her to actually answer me) told me they didnt have any. Gee, thanks lady.

So, I went out and started exploring. As soon as I stepped out of the train station, it started to rain. big surprise. Right then, I was not happy I was in Rouen. So far, I had been fined, the info desk was of no help and it was raining. So, I started walking down the street and saw a sign for a tourist office. Excellent. Information. There, they gave me a map and advised me of some places to visit. They told me that the huge cathedrale that is in Rouen (one that Monet painted quite a few times..) was going to be open at 2pm (it was 11am) I thanked them for being helpful and went on my way. I was seriously the only tourist in Rouen that day. I dont know why they had three nicely dressed ladies working in the tourist office because I was clearly the only etrangere in the city.

The first place I went to was where Joan of Arc was burnt and they have a huge cross there, as well as a little chapel and a museum. So, I toured all of these things. I was the first person that day in the museum (the man hadnt even turned on the lights yet) and it was sort of dungeon-y in there so I left as soon as I could.

I went to the river (which is pretty much identical to the one in Paris except that Paris' is nicer. I sat there and ate my packed lunch. (oh, its still raining/misting by the way) and then I decided to tour some more. I walked around the little streets, looked at the buildings, the people, the shops.

At 2pm, I was standing outside of the cathedrale starring at a note that said that the cathedrale wasnt opening today because of the prefecture, which is like a government office or something. I went into the tourist office and advised them that the cathedrale wasnt open and she said (as if it made so much sense) that it was because it was too windy today and she went back to work. this seems to happen quite often. I was left standing there dumb-founded trying to decide if she had said wind or maybe something else that would actually make sense. I ran the whole convo through my mind again and yes, she definitely said wind. I left the office actually laughing. only in france.

So, since there was nothing left for me to do in rouen except go up the tower that Joan of Arc stayed in until she died, I decided that I would catch an earlier train home. (the tower was super cool. Joan of Arc only had little peep wholes that she could see out of, otherwise the tower was completely dark)

I caught an earlier train home and had dinner at the girls place and went out to the bar.

a bientot,

being fined

I have been fined twice since I've been in France.

The first time I went shoppping in zone 5. Paris is set up in zones and so if you're taking the metro, you have to make sure that you have the proper ticket for the proper zone and that time, i didnt. I knew very well that I didnt have the right ticket but i was being cheap and i didnt want to buy one. turns out, as I stepped off of the metro, there were about 20 officers checking tickets and i got caught. i had to pay a 25 euro fine. (the ticket would have cost me 3) and so i was really mad. I was fighting with the guy saying that i didnt know and that this was my first week in Paris and he wasnt buying it. I got fined.

The second time was the other day when I went to a little town north of Paris called Rouen (more about that trip later..) and i forgot to compost my ticket. Now, composting your ticket means that you have to stick it in this thing that makes the date on it. It has no purpose whatsoever because they still have train guys checking the tickets anyways when you get on the train. Its completely useless. and i was fined 10 euros. I was also fighting with this man, trying to be nice but firm at the same time telling him I didnt know you had to compost your ticket which is a complete lie and he also wasnt buying it.

now, had of i been in Canada and the police or someone stopped me because i didnt have the right ticket or because i forgot to do something so ridiculous, i would have gotten away with it with a warning and no fine. but here, they have no mercy. they get you where ever and whenever they can.

Vimy Ridge

I went to Lille, which is a little town just north of Paris a little while ago to visit these teaching assistants that I met while in Paris. I stayed over at their place one night and then we went to Vimy Ridge the next day to see the trenches from WW1. This is where the Canadians helped the French regain their ground. The Germans where occupying Vimy and no other troops where able to help the French except the Canadians and the Australians. They have a huge monument there as well as a museum. It was really cool being there because you were on Canadian ground and there were lots of Canadian flags around. It was nice because I felt at home there.

So, we take the train to Arras, which is also a little town north of Paris and then we have to take a taxi from Arras to Vimy Ridge which isnt very far. I was surprised that they didnt have some kind of a transportation system set up for people who want to visit the monument. You would think that in the summer time, there would be tons of tourists who would want to come and see the monument and that they should have some kind of shuttle, but they dont. So, we got to the site, and we were the only ones there. It was really weird. So, we walked around a little bit (if you get the chance.. check out my pics from Vimy on photos.yahoo.com/mandylynnmurray) we saw the trenches, saw the museum, had a guided tour, saw the cemetary, saw the monument and it was overwhelming being there. I was so proud to say I was Canadian. It was incredible.

Marie Antoinette

We went to see the movie Marie Antoinette here in English with French subtitles. It was really cool because the movie is set at the Chateau de Versailles which is just outside of Paris and I've been there twice, once with Paul and once the first week I got here. This is the first time I've actually recognized a place in a movie and it was really cool because I was able to say that I was there. I was in the room where the queen used to sleep, where a lot of the movie was based, and I was walking through the grounds of the Chateau. It was very cool. The movie itself was very bad but I wasnt really paying attention to the plot because I was watching the setting.

The Great Canadian

Every day I go to work, I walk past Notre Dame de Paris and I see the Louvre. This is just sinking in. In the summer, when I went to work, I got to bike by the Ceeps bar in London. How things change.

bars

lately, I've been going out quite a bit.. which, i guess would make me somewhat of a bar star. It's weird working in a bar because you see all of these people out for a good time and it makes you want to go to out and have a good time. So, we've been trying all of these English bars that people have been telling me about and they are tons of fun. It's weird because you see a lot of the same people at the different Enlgish speaking bars that you go to so it makes it pretty fun€ because you start recognizing people.. (like last night I met this girl at a bar and i ended up knowing her friends because i had met them another night..) now, knowing people can be really fun unless of course you make a fool out of yourself one night..(which I NEVER do..) For example, I made a fool out of myself ONCE (jsut this once..) at an Irish bar and the next week, the bartendar that was working at that particular bar that night came into my bar to eat. Man, it was very embarrassing because I made quite a spectacle of myself. so then i had to apologize. talk about embarrassing. haha..

so, most of the time, we will start out at the apartment drinking wine then we'll go to the Latin Quarter where all the English bars are and then end up at the Highlander which is a Scottish bar near my bar. It closes at 5am but you have to get there before 3am because they wont let you into the bar anytime after 3am. They have neighbours that complain about the noise all the time so they have these strict rules. The bouncers are these crazy scary scary black men that dont mess around and so you have to be really quiet going up to the bar and you cannot appear tipsy at all or else they wont let you in. ha- its crazy and SO fun.

so, most nights when I'm not working (and after work as well,) we end up at the highlander and stay out all night, getting home at about 6am. man, its so fun.

J'aime Paris. I feel like Im living in some surreal world that doesnt actually exist because the bars are open so late and you can pretty much do whatever you want. you can drink in the metro or on the street, no one cares. you would NEVER find a bar in Canada that serves alcohol after 2am but here, they sell it all hours of the night.

January

well, now that I'm done telling you about Christmas/New Years/travelling/Paul, I can talk about January. (Im over a month behind- this is ridiculous)

So, the day after Paul left, I started my new job. I work at the Great Canadian Pub in Paris, France. It had the best location of any bar in Paris. It's right on the seine, right near Notre Dame and not far from the Louvre. Most of the tourist spots are close to the bar and so we obviously get a lot of tourists. There are tons of Americans, Canadians, Australias and English tourists who come in. Its great. I absolutely love working there. Being a bartendar is so easy (most of the time..) and tons of fun. My job consists of pouring beers and talking to people. Its awesome. my first 2 days working, I worked 25 hours in 36 hours. It was nuts. I hardly slept at all. And, since I live pretty far away from the bar, it takes me about an hour or so to get home at night and about a half hour to get there in the morning, so that also adds onto my night. But, I wouldnt trade it. Its great. I've met so many young people. I really enjoy the girls that I work with as well. They are all Canadians and are mostly from Toronto area.

my carte louvre jeune

At the Louvre, you can get a yearly pass if you are under 26 years old that costs 15 euros. now, considering it costs 8 euros to go into the louvre for one day, this is a pretty good deal. The only thing about this, is that you have to go when the office is open to get this card because they take your picture and everything.. its like standing in line to get your health card or your passport or something.. so, Paul and i went the one day and with a bit of luck, there were only 2 people in front of us. This was awesome. We both sat down together and got ready to fill out these forms and the lady asked us for a piece of ID to prove we were under 26. Paul pulls out his and I go to get mine and realize that I had left them all at home. This is because when Paul and I were in Munich I had to leave a few pieces of ID at the desk at the hostel and I had put them in a different wallet that I didnt have on me at the Louvre. clearly.

so, on day one of me trying to get my carte louvre jeune I forgot my ID. on day two of me trying to get my carte louvre jeune (the next day) the louvre was having an evacuation for whatever reason. (who knows.. France gives no answers..) on day three of me trying to get my carte louvre jeune the office was closed (i'm not sure why this surprised me because everything in France closes for no reason at some point or another) So, i went to the information desk and starting speaking to the guy in english, telling him that the office was closed, that i wanted to get my carte louvre jeune, that i had already tried to do this twice before and wasnt able to (i didnt mention that one of those times was my fault. clearly..) and that i wanted to get my carte louvre jeune today because i wasnt going to pay the admission again (i had done it on day one) the man said there was nothing he could do, that the office was separate from him. I then responded in french and almost immediately, he called his supervisor to see what the problem was with the office. I couldnt believe how quickly he was able to help me when i started speaking french. he got off the phone with his supervisor and they said that they didnt have enough people to work in the office and thats why they closed it. he said he was sorry and that i could fill out a complaint form and explain the situation and that i wanted reimbursed for my admission into the louvre on day three. i filled out the form totally convinced that they would reimburse me ( i got a letter in the mail the other day telling me that they were glad i took interest in the louvre but unfortunuatly it says on the back of my ticket that they can't reimburse me. thanks) so, so far, ive paid the admission twice which is 16 euros. and in case you forget the price of the carte louvre jeune, it was 15 euros. gr- was i mad.
so, on day four of me trying to get my carte louvre jeune (this is still all while Paul was here..) i succeeded. i went to the office about 45 mins before it was scheduled to close ( i dont even know why they have schedules here because they clearly dont follow them..) I walked up to the entrance and the man was just about to lock the doors because they were closing early again. In france, all the doors are locked at the bottom. So, he was down on his knees and he didnt really see me sneak in the other door that he hadnt locked yet until i was in the door. he told me that they were closing the office and that i would have to come back again another time. I said no, i wasnt coming back and that i was getting my card today. he looked at me and said that the office was closed. I said i realized it was closed but the one door was open and i was getting my carte louvre jeune today. and he left me alone. ha. finally, i won. so, i finally got my card and i havent used it since.

Christmas and New Years

For Christmas, Paul and I had bought some chicken and cooked it. It wasnt quite as good as my home cooked turkey and homemade dressing that Im used to but it was the best we could do. Paul did an excellent job. We didnt really do too much else that day. It was pretty quiet day and Im glad that Paul was here.

For New Years, we went to this dinner party with Tracy (one of the Canadian girls here) and her boyfriend Mike. We didnt so much have a good time there because by the time we got there, they had already eaten and they were getting ready to go out (it was 8:30pm). I didnt think this was a good idea because a) if you go out that early, you'll be home before it turns nidnight and b) its very expensive to be buying drinks for that long. I suggested that we go back to Tracy's house after the really really bad dinner party (they didnt even have music on...) and drink a little and then meet them at the bar. So, we did that. well, we kind of did that. We ended up just staying at Tracy's apartment for the whole night. At midnight, we were up on the roof of her apartment (which was awesome and extremely daangerous.) It was a really good night. Paul and I took the metro home to my place because my house was also having a party. We got there at about 3am and the party was still going strong. I didnt go to bed until about 5am and Paul didnt go to bed until about 8am. It was a great night.

I had wanted to be under the eiffel tower at midnight but it was raining and gross and so we decided not to do that.. it ended up being a really fun night.

I also tried escargo that night at my house which is something I never would have done at home. I was actually proud of myself because normally I do not try new things. I actually liked it. That's the crazy part.

train ride

Paul and I took an overnight train from Munchen to Paris. We got to the train station WAY before our train was going to leave so that we wouldn't miss it. We got on the train and found our compartment. I had been told that these compartments were small but that is a huge misunderestimation. The rooms are SO small. They are about the size of a small compact vehicle. and they sleep 6 people. There are 2 bunk beds with three beds each. and basically no room between the two sets of beds. oh, and there are 6 people who all arrive basically at the same time who want to get their stuff organized so that they can go to sleep. oh, and there's two men who snore all night and dont allow anyone else to get any sleep. Our train left at 10pm but obviously, I wasnt ready to sleep yet. there isnt anything else you could really do except sleep because you didnt have an actual seat. You had to lie in your bed. Paul was too big for the bed so you can imagine how small these beds where. Paul isnt really that tall. I dont know how the men slept in the beds. but they did, because they snored the whole night. I hardly slept because of the snoring but when I finally got to sleep, I had a great sleep. and it sure beat taking the bus.

We arrived back in Paris at about 6:30am and it was still dark out. We got on the metro and came back to my place.

Munchen cont'd

Paul, Graham and I went back to our hostel for happy hour where (of course) they had really really cheap beer. We hung out there for a while then started booking our stuff for Berlin because we were taking a flight there the next day.

We went to bed and got up early the next day to catch our flight. Our flight was at 8:25am. I'm not sure if any of you have checked out my pictures yet but there is a picture of a clock in the airport that says 8:30am. We missed our flight. We got to the airport about 10 mins before the flight was scheduled to leave and they wouldnt let us check in. The only reason (well, there were two reasons) why we didnt get on our flight was because 1) we had drank too much the night before and didnt allow ourselves enough time in the morning- we had both agreed that an hour and a half is tons of time to get up, get ready, take the metro 45mins, check in and get on our flight. Turns out in wasnt and 2) we were in the metro station trying to get on our metro that only left every 20mins and the doors wouldnt open. had of we made that metro, we would have been able to go to Berlin.

So, after we missed our flight we were trying to decide what to do. There was a germanwings counter (we were supposed to fly with germanwings) near by and so we went there. The man told us that we could just switch our flight to a later one that day. Great. That sounds easy and promising. Oh no. of course not. Because it was so close to Christmas, all the flights going from Munchen to Berlin (there were 4) that day were full. Oh, and all the flights going the next day were also full. Great. Thanks. So, we took the metro back to the hostel and decided what to do. We booked an overnight train back to Paris leaving that night and so it ended up that we had another day in Munchen (which was alright considering we both really liked Munchen) so we walked around, saw some more sights, ate out (kabob..) and then got to the train station in PLENTLY of time for our overnight train.

ridiculous.

a bientot

Haufbrauhouse

This beer garden was incredible. When you walk in, you are all of a sudden overtaking by everything that is going on inside. All of your senses are trying to take everything in and its impossible. There are huge men (german men) who are all sitting along these long benches drinking, laughing and drinking. Some are singing, some are having serious discussions and others are just having an after work drink or two... or three. You smell the pretzels that they serve, you hear the band that is playing crazy crazy german music. Oh, and I should mention that the band members have shorts with suspenders on. They are playing the coolest instruments that I had never seen before. You see all the people moving around, looking for spots, trying to find friends. There is so much comotion it takes a while to adjust to where you are and it was exhausting taking everything in. Graham (the guy from BC) and Paul and I found a spot in the non-smoking, family section which was a lot quieter and we ordered a beer. They only serve beer in 1L jugs. wow. That's a lot of beer for me. Im not normally in a beer drinker (except in Quebec) so I wasnt sure if I was going to be able to finish it. I managed quite fine.

I spent most of the time people watching. Germans are crazy. They are loud and obnoxious but then I guess most people who have a few drinks in them are the same way.

Prost

bonne soiree

more on Munchen

Munich in German in called Munchen. Now, Paul and I decided that people who were from Munchen were probably called............ munchkins.

The beer in Munich is so cheap. So, naturally, one (not me.. but one) would take advantage of this cheapness especially if she/her were living in the most expensive city in Europe. right? naturally. The beer at the hostel was so cheap. the beer and this amazing restaurant that Paul and I went to was fairly cheap and even at the Haufbrauhouse (which is the biggest beer garden in Munich) the beer was pretty cheap.
Paul and I also ate quite a bit of kabobs. They actually have part of a cow in a turny thing that is being heated and they shave off the meat anytime someone wants a kabob. Man, are they ever good.

We went on a guided tour our second day in Munich and it was great. We walked all around the city, learning how it was all destroyed during the war and how they built it up to what it used to be like. We learned how Hitler started a riot in Munich. We walked down the most expensive street (with the best shopping- which I sadly cant afford) we also saw Pope Benedict's old church which is the cathedral in Munich.

After the tour, Paul and I split up. Paul went to a museum (which I thankfully got out of going to) with a guy we had met from BC and I went off by myself to do some shoppping and sight seeing. We were going to meet up later at the Haufbrauhouse for some beers. I went to the church were our guide told us we could climp up the stairs. There were 310 stairs. The view was amazing. I was up right at sunset and it was gorgeous. You could see the mountains and then the city.

Dauchau- Concentration camp

Paul and I went to Dauchau, the concentration camp in Munich. It was very emotional. When we first got there, they gave us a audio guide to show us around the camp and they were explaining the different buildings, different memories of some of the prisoners and what the prisoners had to do while in specific spots around the camp. For example, the entrance to the camp is the same one the prisoners used when they were being admitted into the camp. It was a very overwhelming feeling walking through the gate and to realize that you were walking in in safety but that there were so many others who were terrified for their lives while walking through those same gates.

We walked around a bit, went through the museum and saw a movie on the concentration camp. It was a working camp not a gas chamber camp so we didnt see any gas chambers or anything like that but there were a lot of footage of bodies being deposited. It was a lot to handle. I found it very interesting and considering it was a huge part of our history, I thought it would be good to go. I'm not sure if I would recommend others to go there or not. There were quite a few kids there walking around with their parents and I know I wouldnt take my kids there but its good for others to see.

Paul's visit- Germany (Munich)

Paul and i went to Germany for a few days between Christmas and New Years. We took an overnight bus from Paris to Munich which was like 14 hours or something. Turns out this wasnt the smartest idea ever. We thought we were really going to be saving money but its not worth it. You have to basically sleep sitting and you have no where to rest your head aside from straight back.. there isnt enough leg room so you cant stretch out your legs and people around you are talking and laughing anyways so even if you were completely comfortable, it was loud. Paul and I were huge geeks on the bus because we were the only ones with our lights on and reading. Once again (surprise surprise) we didnt really talk to each other. So, we arrived in Munich early in the morning. Turns out the bus station, unlike in Canada, is in the middle of nowhere. We had to somehow manage to get ourselves to the touristy part of Munich which was pretty easy for anyone who could speak German. Neither Paul or I could (just to say yes-ja, no-nein, cheers-prost) so it was fairly difficult. We had to figure out the metro ticket machine which of course was all in German. We actually didnt even really need a ticket anyways because the metro runs basically on the honor system as no one really goes around and checks tickets. So, we got to downtown Munich and went to the tourist office and they told us there was a hostel around the corner so we went there. We stayed at Wombats. Now, this hostel was amazing. It was fairly cheap, had a bar, a pool table, nice rooms, lockers and tons of people. It was fantastic.

Paul's visit- South of France (Lourdes)

We arrived in Lourdes fairly early in the morning and as soon as we stepped off the train we realized how cold it was. In France, it doesnt' really get below minus 3 or 4 but the cold here is so much different than that of Canada. In France, its a bitter cold becuase there is so much moisture. Its the cold that chills you immediately to the bone. So, actually minus 1 feels more like minus 25. So anyways- it was cold in Lourdes. Plus, in Lourdes you are closer to the mountains and so that automatically makes it really cold.

So, we left our bags at the little coffee shop across from the train station and started walking towards the grotto where Mary appeared to Bernadette 16 times in 1858. Now, at the grotto there is a very large church, a museum, a water hole where you can bath in water from the grotto as well as the grotto itself. Neither Paul or I really knew what the grotto was going to look like and it was like a cave with a stream of water going through it. There, Mary had appeared to Bernadette. Apparently, the church has pronounced 66 miracles that have happened at the grotto. Miracles such as people walking away from their wheelchairs and things like that. So, it was actually very holy being there.

So, we walked around there for a long time freezing our butts off. It was a very different tourist experience. I felt like I was walking on holy ground. Paul went into the pool of grotto water where they wash you with the grotto water (which is freezing cold as well) and then they pray with you but I couldnt do it. I wasnt comfortable enough but Paul said it was a really good experience.

We walked around the town a little bit more but it was mostly dead because winter (because its so cold) is the off season there and there werent that many people. The museum was actually closed as where other things so there were a few things that I would have liked to see that we werent able to.

We ate at a little dinner that wasnt very good and then we decided to go for a cafe (which we always did) and we played cards in the cafe for about 5 hours because it was way too cold outside to do anything. our train back to Paris was at 11:30pm and we sat in the cafe from 6pm to about 11pm.

Our train ended up being 45mins late and we realized we werent going to make the connection we needed to at another town to get back to Paris. I was talking with the train guards and they said there was another train going back to Paris later on that night that we could ride on for a whlie but that it was actually pronounced as full so we might have to stand. We were supposed to get off at a particular town where the train that we were supposed to be on and the one we were going to go on, met. Talk about confusing. So, we got on the train and looked around for seats which actually werent hard to find (thank goodness.) we sat down but then at each stop we had to keep getting up just in case we were sitting in people's seats but no one came to claim them the whole time we were on the train so we were lucky. We made our connection at this random town and made it back to Paris.

Paul's visit-South of France (Marseilles)

So we arrived at Marseilles pretty early in the morning. The night before, when we were still in Lyon, we were talking to this American who was in Marseilles the day before with her friend who had her purse stolen right out of her arm at the train station. Of course, this is the only thing I can think about when we arrive at the station the next day. I was holding onto my purse so tight my knuckles were turning white. While we were at the train station, we thought that because it was so close to Christmas that we should book our trains from Marseilles to Lourdes and then from Lourdes to Paris that day because the trains are already busy on a regular day and around Christmas it might be all full if we were try to book later. So, we did. Now, my mind could rest because I knew we were getting back to Paris for Christmas.

The weather in Marseilles was really nice although Paul and I were both expecting it to be warmer, I think. At least the sun was shinning which was a nice change. We got out of the train station (which wasnt really a nice area-it smelt like urine.) and went to the tourism office to get a map and to find out what we can do in one day. The lady was super helpful. She told us where to stay/what to see/how to get there. We decided to check into our hostel and then we went to a huge church up on a hill. It was gorgeous. The bus we took was on an incline the whole time because this hill (more of a mountain) was massive. You should check out my pictures of the view from the church on my photo page www.photos.yahoo.com/mandylynnmurray

From the church you could see the bay, the mountains and the city. It was gorgeous. I hadnt seen a mountain since I was in Jasper in Grade 9 so I was super excited.
After the church, we went to a Christmas market. It was a really cute market selling the coolest little knick knacks and Christmas things. We went down by the water to grab a coffee (I had a hot chocolate) and both of us couldnt get over how expensive Paris actually was. Paris is seriously twice the price of Marseilles. I appreciated getting a break on my bank account for the day.

We then went on a boat tour around Marseilles. It was gorgeous and pretty cold. We wanted to get off and stay on one of the islands and then wait for the next boat to come pick us up but both of us were afraid that we would miss the other boat (which was the last one for the day) and we would be stuck on the island. So, needless to say, we didnt get off the boat. After the boat ride, we went out for a drink and window shopped and just walked around Marseilles and then went back to the hostel.

We had to catch the train to Lourdes at 6am so we went to bed pretty early.

We got up the next day, checked out, got on the trains and didnt speak to each other for another 4 hours until we got to Lourdes. It was great.

Paul's visit- South of France (Lyon)

Paul and I went travelling for a few days to the south of France right before Christmas. We went to Lyon first, then Marsailles, then Lourdes. We were travelling by train and so we both bought a carte 12-25 which acts somewhat like a ISIC card where you get a percentage off of your train fare because you are under the age of 26. So, we both bought this card and went on our way. We went to Lyon via train that took about 6hrs. I dont think we actually talked to each other the whole time we were on the train. It was nice to be with someone else but then at the same time, we were both reading our books (well-actually, I was mostly sleeping) We arrived at Lyon without a clue on really what we should do next. We knew we had to find a hostel, hope they werent full, book a few nights and then figure out the city. So, we started with step one, we went to the tourism office which are normally in trains stations and we got a map as well as a list of the hostels in Lyon. We went to the first one on the list (there were only 2) and we each booked into a room. First, let me tell you about Lyon. The city is gorgeous and half of it is built on/in a hill. Now, Im not talking about a Huron-Perth county hill, Im pretty much talking about the side of a mountain (a small mountain but a mountain nonetheless). So, the train station is on the flat part of Lyon but (of course) the hostel wasnt. Boy, it was quite the climb. When we finally got to the top, we were both SO exhausted. We booked beds and signed up for a walking tour (of course we both knew the walking tour was going to be up the mountain) for the next day and then we went out to explore the city. We went on a ferris wheel which was very pretty. Like, the ferris wheel in Paris, you could see all the city sites. We ate out at a little Italien restaurant (which was lovely) and Paul will tell the story about how we were sitting in the restaurant in Lyon, listening to the radio (which plays mostly english music that would NEVER get air time in North America) and Nickleback came on the radio. Paul says "man, no matter where you are in the world, you can never escape Nickleback." He's probably right. So, after dinner and after our cafe (people in France always go out for dinner and then usually go to a different cafe for a coffee and so Paul and I had gotten into the habit of doing that as well) we walked around Lyon some more. We found this really nice church that has a time clock in it that shows the time until 2019. I didn't really understand the whole thing but basically, this thing will show the time, the month, the date, the year, the day of the week until 2019 and it has different hands to point to the month, the date, the year and the day of the week. I'm still not quite sure what will happen in 2019 to make this thing incorrect but I decided not to think about it because its way too over my heard. Anyways, the time clock was really cool..

We didnt really do too much the first night because were both tired. We played a bit of Pay Me (which is a card game that I always beat Paul at) and then hit the sack.

The next day we went on out walking tour with this man who had THE BEST combover Ive never seen. Seriously, it was amazing. Also, he had dyed his hair so many times that part of it was actually yellow (the rest was white) and the whole left side was combed over to his right side. It was incredible. He was a very nice man who wanted you to know,love and appreciate the history (renaissance vs. middle ages buildings and what the differences are- we saw about 15 examples) of Lyon. We walked up the mountain to a cathedrale and then around the city and its two rivers. It was an excellent tour. Afterwards, Paul and I, this other Canadian who was on our tour as well as this guy from Quebec and this girl from the states went out for lunch. We had kabobs. This started Paul's love for kabobs. It was all down hill from there. So, basically the only thing we all had in common was that we were about the same age, all traveling, and all from North America and that, at that moment, made us all best friends.

Paul and I spent the rest of the afternoon in an art museum. Art is finally growing on me and I have Paul and his love for art to thank. We went for dinner and then for coffee and went back to the hostel to see what the other people were up to. We ended up talking in a huge group of travelers for a while and Paul and some other guys (including a crazy Irelander) went out for a couple drinks. I ended up talking to this girl who hadnt seen her fiance in over 2 yrs and was going to see him in 2 days. Apparently, they mostly talk via internet and they are finally meeting up in Paris to make sure they still want to marry each other. It was actually a very weird conversation. I was thankful when Paul came back although, I did really enjoy this girl. She was also talking about all of the work she has done in other countries and where she's lived. Her and her family picked up and came to France for 3 weeks and she might stay longer or she might go back to the US.. talk about having your life in mid air. wow.

Paul and I had to get up pretty early the next day because we were catching the train to Marseilles (and we got to walk down the hill to the train station this time). When we got to the train station, we went to our platform and it said that the train was just about to leave and (of course, me, not being able to remain calm) I start freaking out because the train was going to leave and we werent on it. We get on the right cart and start looking for our seats and find out that our seat numbers dont exist on this train. We were confused until we realized that the train we were on was not going to Marsailles but it was a train that was en retard and hadnt even left yet (and that was going to another completely different city). Not only that, but we were in first class looking for our seats. You can imagine how funny this was for people who are already on the train because clearly they have money, they're all settled in their seats because the train was supposed to leave a half hour earlier and here we are, getting on the train, speaking english, clearly we're backpacking as we both have backpacks on and then to top it all off, we cant even find out numbers on the cart and it took us a while to realize that a) this train was about to leave and b) it wasnt even the right train. Haha, it was halarious.

So, our train to Marseilles finally came, we got on and once again, didnt speak to each other the whole train ride (which was about 6 hrs)

Alright, thats enough for today. Ill write more about the rest of our trip a little while later.

Paul's visit- Paris

so, we did pretty much all of the touristy things in Paris while Paul was here. We did some touring when he first got here and then around Christmas and then after New Years. We spent Christmas and New Years in Paris and then we went to the south of France the week before Christmas and then to Germany the week between Christmas and New Years.

While in Paris, we went up the eiffel tower which, of course, was awesome. We went up to the top level at night and it was incredible seeing all the sights that we had toured and to see all the lights around the city as well. It was really pretty. There is a skating rink up there on the first level but we didnt go skating. It actually didnt take us that long to get up there-I thought we were going to be in line for a long time, but we werent.

One day we went to the Moulin Rouge and the red light district. We walked into the Moulin Rouge but didnt see a show. Apparently the shows are very expensive and just a money grab so we werent planning on doing that. We also went to Sacre Coeur which is a really nice church on a huge hill in Paris where you can see all of Paris. It was nice.. but, not as impressive as Notre Dame. While we were at Sacre Coeur, two guys came up to us and started making bracelets on our wrists and then convinced Paul to pay for them. What a sucker.

We went to the louvre a few times, which, Im sure was Paul's favorite. Ill tell you about my louve experience in a later post. We saw the Monna Lisa and other famous paintings. We saw a collection from Hogarth as well at the Louvre and that was really interesting. We also went to another museum called Musee d'Orsay that has a great collection of Van Gogh, Monet and tons of other painters in it. Very impressive.

We walked around Paris a lot and saw a few parks like the Luxembourg Gardens. We also went to the Pantheon where Victor Hugo and others are burried. Paul really enjoyed this because he got to hang out with Victor for a little while. It was interesting because they had a write-up about each person that was burried there so you could read a little bit about what they did and why they have the privledge of being burried there. I found the cript a little creepy because you're in a cave-like almost way under ground and you're walking around looking at coffins. I didnt want to be left alone down there and I kept following Paul around everywhere he went. There were a lot of other people down there looking at the coffins but it was really creeping me out.

We ate out a lot in the Latin Quarter. You can get a pretty good meal for about 10 euro and they were in pretty nice restaurants. I pretty much just ate French Onion Soup. I now LOVE french onion soup oh, and french fries and mayonnaise. Oh wow- that is SO good.. you dont even have to ask for mayo.. they automatically give you mayo with your french fries and you dont pay any extra for it. At home, I know Leanne always gets mayo with her fries (which I always thought was gross) but it would always cost her a little bit extra but here, they give it to you. I dont know why french people arent really fat.

We also went to Versailles which is a castle just outside of Paris where Louis XIV and Louis XVI lived (and I think other royalty..) we took a tour inside the castle and saw where Marie Antoinette slept and where the kings did all of their entertaining and also their chapel and their theatre.. we also saw the hallways of mirrors which was really cool. The tour was expensive but I think it was well worth it. We also toured the grounds (the back yard) that has a pool in it and tons of trees. Apparently the grounds are 3K long or something like that. It was incredible.

We went on a ferris wheel one day in Paris. It was awesome. We could see all of Paris and we were up there right at 5pm so the eiffel tower was sparkling. It was really cool. We could see Champs Elysees, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, the eiffel tower and the Louvre. It was great.

We went to the market one day to buy some souvenirs. Paul bought a blanket and I dont think I bought anything. It was funny seeing Paul barder.

We went on a boat ride around Paris which was really fun but very cold and rainy. In Paris it rains quite a bit but not for very long at a time. It rains at least once a day but only for about 10 mins at a time unless its a huge downpour. But, you can pretty much count on at least one rain a day. And, of course, the rain that day happened while we were on the boat, sitting out on the front of the boat trying to keep warm. We saw all of the sights from the water and they taught us about the different bridges (there are tons!).

We went to Christmas eve midnight mass at Notre Dame. What a mess. We got there at about 11pm to stand in line to get into the church. I have never had to stand in line to go to church and Im sure most people would say they have never stood in line to go to church. Well, now I have.. We waited for about a half hour and we finally got in. Now, just because we got into the church doesnt mean we had a seat. The church was already packed when we got there. This church is huge. To this day, I still cant believe it was as full as it was when we got there. There were SO many people. They had tvs set up on the sides of the church because they had set up extra chairs and from those extra chairs you couldnt see the altar, so they had tvs. It was nuts. There were people talking, laughing, taking pictures and not paying attention to the mass at all. We ended up standing off to one side and watching a screen. A guy passed out while he was walking by Paul and Paul had to catch him before he fell. We were getting in line to receive the host at communion time and then all of a sudden, the priests walked back up to the front of the church and communion time was over. We missed it. The whole experience was really crazy and nuts. Im glad I was there on Christmas Eve but I wouldnt do it again. It was too nuts for the both of us.

Paris

so, we did pretty much all of the touristy things in Paris while Paul was here. We did some touring when he first got here and then around Christmas and then after New Years. We spent Christmas and New Years in Paris and then we went to the south of France the week before Christmas and then to Germany the week between Christmas and New Years.

While in Paris, we went up the eiffel tower which, of course, was awesome. We went up to the top level at night and it was incredible seeing all the sights that we had toured and to see all the lights around the city as well. It was really pretty. There is a skating rink up there on the first level but we didnt go skating. It actually didnt take us that long to get up there-I thought we were going to be in line for a long time, but we werent.

One day we went to the Moulin Rouge and the red light district. We walked into the Moulin Rouge but didnt see a show. Apparently the shows are very expensive and just a money grab so we werent planning on doing that. We also went to Sacre Coeur which is a really nice church on a huge hill in Paris where you can see all of Paris. It was nice.. but, not as impressive as Notre Dame. While we were at Sacre Coeur, two guys came up to us and started making bracelets on our wrists and then convinced Paul to pay for them. What a sucker.

We went to the louvre a few times, which, Im sure was Paul's favorite. Ill tell you about my louve experience in a later post. We saw the Monna Lisa and other famous paintings. We saw a collection from Hogarth as well at the Louvre and that was really interesting. We also went to another museum called Musee d'Orsay that has a great collection of Van Gogh, Monet and tons of other painters in it. Very impressive.

We walked around Paris a lot and saw a few parks like the Luxembourg Gardens. We also went to the Pantheon where Victor Hugo and others are burried. Paul really enjoyed this because he got to hang out with Victor for a little while. It was interesting because they had a write-up about each person that was burried there so you could read a little bit about what they did and why they have the privledge of being burried there. I found the cript a little creepy because you're in a cave-like almost way under ground and you're walking around looking at coffins. I didnt want to be left alone down there and I kept following Paul around everywhere he went. There were a lot of other people down there looking at the coffins but it was really creeping me out.

We ate out a lot in the Latin Quarter. You can get a pretty good meal for about 10 euro and they were in pretty nice restaurants. I pretty much just ate French Onion Soup. I now LOVE french onion soup oh, and french fries and mayonnaise. Oh wow- that is SO good.. you dont even have to ask for mayo.. they automatically give you mayo with your french fries and you dont pay any extra for it. At home, I know Leanne always gets mayo with her fries (which I always thought was gross) but it would always cost her a little bit extra but here, they give it to you. I dont know why french people arent really fat.

We also went to Versailles which is a castle just outside of Paris where Louis XIV and Louis XVI lived (and I think other royalty..) we took a tour inside the castle and saw where Marie Antoinette slept and where the kings did all of their entertaining and also their chapel and their theatre.. we also saw the hallways of mirrors which was really cool. The tour was expensive but I think it was well worth it. We also toured the grounds (the back yard) that has a pool in it and tons of trees. Apparently the grounds are 3K long or something like that. It was incredible.

We went on a ferris wheel one day in Paris. It was awesome. We could see all of Paris and we were up there right at 5pm so the eiffel tower was sparkling. It was really cool. We could see Champs Elysees, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, the eiffel tower and the Louvre. It was great.

We went to the market one day to buy some souvenirs. Paul bought a blanket and I dont think I bought anything. It was funny seeing Paul barder.

We went on a boat ride around Paris which was really fun but very cold and rainy. In Paris it rains quite a bit but not for very long at a time. It rains at least once a day but only for about 10 mins at a time unless its a huge downpour. But, you can pretty much count on at least one rain a day. And, of course, the rain that day happened while we were on the boat, sitting out on the front of the boat trying to keep warm. We saw all of the sights from the water and they taught us about the different bridges (there are tons!).

We went to Christmas eve midnight mass at Notre Dame. What a mess. We got there at about 11pm to stand in line to get into the church. I have never had to stand in line to go to church and Im sure most people would say they have never stood in line to go to church. Well, now I have.. We waited for about a half hour and we finally got in. Now, just because we got into the church doesnt mean we had a seat. The church was already packed when we got there. This church is huge. To this day, I still cant believe it was as full as it was when we got there. There were SO many people. They had tvs set up on the sides of the church because they had set up extra chairs and from those extra chairs you couldnt see the altar, so they had tvs. It was nuts. There were people talking, laughing, taking pictures and not paying attention to the mass at all. We ended up standing off to one side and watching a screen. A guy passed out while he was walking by Paul and Paul had to catch him before he fell. We were getting in line to receive the host at communion time and then all of a sudden, the priests walked back up to the front of the church and communion time was over. We missed it. The whole experience was really crazy and nuts. Im glad I was there on Christmas Eve but I wouldnt do it again. It was too nuts for the both of us.

update

I know I havent written in a while and for that I apologize. Every time I go to write a post, something comes up or I realize how much I actually have to write that I just dont do it.

So, what Im going to do with my blogs while Paul was here is sum up the whole trip instead of writing about each day. So, Ill tell you what we did, where we went and the funny things that happened while he was here and then Ill go back to writing my normal posts.

So, first things first. I have an address. Its:

Mandy Murray
26, rue de l'avenir
Vanves, 92170

"rue de l'avenir" actually means road of the the future. Thats kind of cool.

Dec 15 & 16

well, now that Paul is gone, I will update you on our last 3 weeks.

So, like I said last time, I picked Paul up at the airport and he looked very parisien. It was great to see him. We left the airport and he got a taste of bringing his luggage through the airport. The whole time, like I did with Leanne, I was explaining the steps I had taken after getting off the plane and of course, I kept reminding him how I had twice as much luggage as he had in the metro.

He pretty much slept the whole day and we walked around Paris a bit. He was very jet legged because he had a really long flight with a layover in the states.

The next day, we went to the Arc de Triomphe were Napolean burried one dead soldier to represent all those who lost their lives in the war. There is a traffic circle around the arc de triomphe that is just nuts. There are no lines in the circle and there are about 6 different lanes of cars. Oh, and the cars also don't believe in signaling before switching "lanes." So, I thought it would be a great idea to try to cross this traffic circle instead of going underground like normal people. Paul (being somewhat of a grandpa) did not want to cross the circle. Naturally, I started going anyways and Paul had no choice but to follow me. We almost got killed. We then climbed to the top of the Arc where we had a great view of Paris. It was actually raining (surprise, surprise) so we didnt stay up there that long.

We then went over to the Canadian girls apartment because we were doing our secret santa exchange. We did our exchange and then we went out to the bar downtown. We took the last metro at 1am and went downtown and then stayed at the bar until about 3am. The girls went home and Paul and I stayed in a cafe and people watched until about 5:30am and then went home.

Paul's sleeping patterns were all messed up because he was travelling the day before and then slept for a long time and then stayed up all night and was sleeping during the day. It took a while for his sleeping patterns to straighten themselves out after staying up all night.

Paul

I picked Paul up at the airport and it took me just as long to get to the airport here in Paris as it does to get to Pearson from my home in Canada. It took me an hour and a half. So, i get to the airport and finally find the right terminal after having to take a little bus to get there and I realize the only thing I know about Paul's flight is the time it was supposed to arrive and the terminal number. He flew from TO to the states and then from there to Paris. I forgot what city in the US he was coming from so I was completely useless standing at the airport. A lady asked me(in french) what city the person I was waiting for came from and I couldnt even answer her because I had no idea.. she must have thought I was nuts. Not only that, but I got there a little late (because of this extra surprise bus) and I wasnt sure if he had already come out. And finally, an hour after his flight landed and me standing at the terminal not knowing if he was already out or if his flight had even landed because I was too afraid to move to check the screen just in case I missed him coming out, he finally came out.

He looked Parisien.

house

so, over the next few days before Paul came, I was getting to know my roommates. I met them all at the same time on the 2nd day I was in the house and I came home and they were all sitting at the table and probably wondering who this random girl is that has moved in. I came in and announced that I was Mandy and I was living upstairs and immediately, everyone was really friendly. They were great. One guy is from Germany, one girl from the US and one guy from the US and the other 3 girls are from France. We speak mostly french in the house which is great for me and frusterating at the same time because there are so many words I still don't know so often times, they'll have to explain words to me or teach me words. Now, dont get me wrong, I actually think this is really great but its very frusterating at the same time because I feel like I cant express myself properly and I have to stick to words I know. But, in time, Im sure it'll get better.

I promise

I promise to give an update soon- Paul is here and we are traveling a lot.

I have finally set up a website where you can view my pics..

www.photos.yahoo.com/mandylynnmurray

check out my pics.. they're pretty cool..

your francophone,

update

so, i moved into my new house. let me tell you about my first night here.

I got in late because I was hanging out with the Canadian girls. There is a dog in the house and as soon as I opened the door, because he doesnt know me yet, he started growling like crazy. Right beside the front door, is a girl's room. Now, she is a nurse and has to get up at 5:15am every morning to go to work. I walked in the door at about 1:30am. Im sure she and everyone else in the house woke up because the dog was growling SO loudly.

I finally got the dog to be quiet and I walked upstairs to my room. Everything was still all over the floor because i had just dropped my suitcases and left again and so, as you can imagine, my room was a disaster. I was stepping around everything trying to get myself organized for bed. I have a bunkbed in my room, but its just a top bunk and then a desk underneath it. I havent been in a bunkbed since i was about 10 (leanne and i used to share.. but, i forget.. did you have the top bunk, Lee??)
So anyways, with bunkbeds, you need to make sure you have everything organized by the time you get to the top rung of the ladder because you dont really want to climb down once you're up there. Of course, i kept forgetting things. One time i forgot my lamp then my cell phone and finally i thought i had everything and i was under the covers when i realized i had left the light on. Man, was I getting frusterated and then i was cursing the bunkbed. Plus, the ladder on the bed is not actually attached so you have to be very careful when you're climbing up and down so that you dont fall. I havent fallen yet.

Then, i was leaning on the night stand that i have above my bed and it fell and SMASHED on the floor. by that time, i hadnt actually met any of my roommates yet and im sure they all hated me because i was being SO loud.

the next morning, i was getting ready to have a shower and i actually couldn't figure out how to turn the shower on. Its one of those bath/shower combos. now, normally the tricky part is getting the shower head to turn on but i couldnt even get the water on. So, what did I do? I just didnt shower. Im getting used to not showering and its not really bothering me.

milk

They do not refrigerate their milk here. yes, i know. Its so weird. I bought milk for the first time yesterday because before this, i wasnt really sure if i should. I decided that i wanted cereal really bad, so i broke down and bought the non-refridgerated milk. I think my cereal expires before my milk does. Gross.

So, i tried the milk and aside from the fact that its not at all refreshing, it wasnt too bad. Im still alive and i havent had any stomach problems, so thats good!

update

so, i havent written in a while and i have a lot to talk about. here we go.

We did secret santa between me and the 4 Canadian girls (Dom, Jordanna, Maria, Tracy) and we opened the gifts last night. You know how sometimes when you're doing secret santa, someone always gets the shaft because they dont get a very thoughtful girl or something? well, that didnt happen at all. Everyone got really really thoughtful girls. It turned out really well. The girls have a Christmas tree in their apartment that they have named Steve (everything object in their apartment has a human name, for whatever reason..) so we decorated the tree and had some cake and opened presents. Good times had by all. I finally feel like Im in the Christmas spirit.

Maria, Dom, Jordanna and I went to a Christmas market in Paris. It was absolutely gorgeous. We walked around and they have the coolest knick knacks there. We bought Christmas presents and some things for ourselves. We tasted hot wine (it was alright, really sweet though..) we then went out for dinner in the Latin Quarter and had french onion soup (dad, you would love it!) It was fantastic.

We went outdoor skating right outside of the Hotel de Ville (which is their city hall and like every other building in Paris, is amazing) we could see the Notre Dame rom where we were and it was awesome. I havent been skating for about 3 years, and (cough) and Im sure to everyones surprise, I wasnt very good. Apparently, I dont bend my knees enough. It was a really good workout and not to mention, the best place Ive skated yet. It was great. It sure beats the Seaforth arena (although, dad, i had to tie my skates on by myself.. tear..)

it was all in all, a great day.

update

So today I had to take my deposit of an ungodly amount of cash over to my landlord. I dont even want to talk about how much money in Canadian dollars this was because it was SO depressing. So, I took the money over and handed it to her in twenties. I also had to hold it in two days, it was so much money. She gladly accepted it, as I cried because I was giving away a lot of money.

Im really excited to move tomorrow. Its going to be really nice to unpack my suitcase and set up camp somewhere. I really enjoyed living at Dom's because the girls are super fun but it'll be nice to have my own space. I havent met any of my roommates yet (there are 4 others) so I guess Ill show up tomorrow and Ill be the random person that no one knows. Its going to be weird.

The other day Jordanna, Dom and I walked around the jewish and gay area (and yes, they share the same area for whatever reason.) Jordanna is Jewish and so she was really excited to go into all the stores. We got pickles out of a huge barrel in one store and it was way too cool. We watched the lady as she took a laddle and put it into this HUGE barrel (like the size of me) to get pickles out of it.

We went out for coffee in a little bar by La Bastille (remember Lee, finding La Bastille and we were SO excited) One night, Leanne and I were walking home from the bar and I was totally convinced in my I-know-where-we-are-going-dont-tell-me-otherwise way that we were going in the right direction and that I knew EXACTLY where we were. I had no idea. All of a sudden, we came across La Bastille which is exactly where we wanted to be. It was too funny. So, we went out for coffee and then came back to the apartment and played a card game. Good times in Paris,

your francophone,

the walk

In Paris, there is this great walk where you start at the Arc de Triomphe (something to do with Napolean) and then walk down Champs Elysees (the famous street I had a job on for 1 day and then got fired) walk to Place de La Concorde (once again, something to do with Napolean) and walk thru a really nice park, walk to the Lourvre, (this is not the time to go in the louvre because it is SO overwhelming) then walk to Notre Dame (famous church) and finish off by walking about the Latin Quarter (which is a really nice Quarter in Paris. Paris is divided up into quarters and this is the best one, in my opinion.) The Latin quarter is where they have all the crepes so you can see why I would like it so much. If you start this walk at about 3pm you will end up at the Louvre just as dark and its SO pretty. You get to see the sun set behind the Eiffel Tower as well. There is one part of the walk, at Place de la Concorde, where you can see the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees and the Louvre. It is too cool.

So Jordanna, Dom and I did that walk yesterday and it was fantastic. We ended up getting paninis and nutella crepes in the Latin Quarter and sitting outside (yes, outside- we have no snow here) and people watched.

We played Oh Shit yesterday, which I think Ive already explained that it is like Euchre and Lost Air. It was great. It gets very intense in the apartment when the 5 of us play because everyone wants to win. Great Times.

We then went out for food and drinks with Laundry mat Jeff. We ended up going to a Hippopotamus (not the one I just quit) and it was really good. It was odd being a client at that restaurant because its obviously the same as the one I worked at. When I worked there, you had to say hello/good bye to every client you see no matter you were doing. It was actually really annoying and if I was the client, I wouldnt like it because you have to say hello/good bye to like 8 people before you actually sit down to eat or before you're out the door. But being a client at the restaurant is definitely better than working there.

update

I decided not to go to Normandy. I was really tired from being up late for no reason the night before.

I signed a lease yesterday. I move on Tuesday. I am living in an "international house" which will be really fun once I get settled again. Its not very far away from Dom's, so thats nice. I know Ill meet lots of really cool people but its just the thought of having to get settled again that isnt very appealing.

I also had a problem with my bank to get enough money in one day to give to the landlord. I have to give her a deposit which isnt a big deal because I have the money in my Canadian bank account (my french one is still at 0) but with TD, I can only take out so much money in one day. I called TD to see if I could get that limit changed and they said I could up it to an amount that still wasnt going to be enough. I was very frusterated. I wanted to take the money out of Canadian account, put it in my French account (so that its not at 0!) and then write a cheque for the landlord. She needs all of this on Monday because she's leaving for the US on Tuesday. Talk about last minute. Oh, and this is another great thing about France: their banks are closed on Mondays. So, ideally, I could have been able to take out enough cash over a few days and then put it all in my account on Monday and write a cheque but the banks arent open on Monday. So, Im going to have to give the landlord SO much cash, its ridiculous. But theres actually nothing else I can do..

Im excited and once again nervous to move. I know Ill like it but now I have to figure out the metro, the bus, the night bus, where it comes, where it drops off, how often it comes and all that all over again.

Yesterday was the Murray family Christmas where my whole family gets together and celebrates Christmas. Clearly I wasnt there. I hope they are having a good time without me, although I doubt it. Today is my mom's side's Family Christmas, Im sure they will miss me there as well.

the polish

One of the girls that I work with is from Poland and she's been in Paris for 5 mths now. She speaks fluent french. Granted, she lives with her french boyfriend. But still, I thought that was awesome. We went out for dessert in between our split shifts (we always work the same shifts) and it was great. We were discussing words in English and French. She was teaching me french expressions and i was teaching her english expressions. This is the first time ive actually been able to carry on a conversation in french in paris and it was super hard but a lot of fun. Its great to have to work your mind and it was great when i actually said things correctly.

I was sad to quit work today because that means that I wont see her on a regular basis.. but, we exchanged emails and phone numbers so we are going to get together to learn english/french.

work

so basically my life in the past few days has been work. I worked a split shift yesterday as well as today. Im going to Normandy tomorrow until Monday so I actually quit my job today. Alicia Dalton (a family friend) is traveling through Europe and is going to Normandy tomorrow so me and two other girls Im living with right now are going to go too. I was planning on quiting my job anyways but I just did it earlier than planned.

I found an apartment. Im really excited. Its an international house, which apparently means that a lot of countries are represented in the house. This lady has slowly started renting out the rooms in her house and tries to get some countries represented. So, there are people from France, Germany, Canada, the states and other countries. I think it'll be pretty cool because then Ill get to learn about other countries and then maybe other languages.

So, Im going to Normandy until Monday and then I move on Tuesday and Paul comes on Friday. Its going to be a busy week.

bar

last night, we went out to the bar. One of Dom's rommmates had two friends that are staying with us for a couple of days so we went out last night. We started at the Moose, which is a Canadian Bar in Paris that has Ladies Night on Tues were you can get regular priced drinks till midnight. We stayed there until about 1am and then we went to a pub near Notre Dame that is opened until 6am. While we were at the Moose, the bartendar gave us all free shots and a hat (like a sun hat) because they were having some kind of promo. So, we all had hats on for the rest of the night.

We stayed at Pub St Michel till about 4am and then me and another girl came home and the rest of them went out to a club.

It was a great night full of drinks and laughing. We slept in way too late today. What else is new.

In other news, I get to pick up my bank card today for the account that is still at 0. In France, they get paid once a month so I have to wait forever for my account to have money in it.

your francophone,

work

Split shifts are great when you have nothing else to do that day. I enjoy working them because you're busy the whole time you're at work but then if you want to plan something else for the day you're supposed to work, its not good to work split shifts because its pretty much impossible.

I worked a split shift on Saturday and Sunday and then I also work split shifts this Thurs/Fri/Sat. I'm not sure how Im going to feel about split shifts after I do a bunch in a row but I guess we will see.

Work is going really well. Its very difficult and I always come home with a splitting headache because I have to concentrate so hard while at work to understand what people are saying that it actually hurts. Its really nice to be immersed in a french environment but its extremely difficult. I realized the other day that I havent worked in a month and so its also nice to to actually get my mind working again.

Monique

My cousin Monique was in Paris yesterday for one night. We met at the Notre Dame and then walked around Paris for a while, went out for coffee, went for a crepe and then saw the Christmas lights on Champs Elysees. It was great to see her because I havent seen her for about 4 years. It was weird meeting up with her in Paris (of all places) because normally Im at my house when I see her and this time I was in France.

Friday

Today, I started work. Now, let me tell you about this job that i have. Its working at a restaurant, much like kelseys at home. They specialize in meat (every restaurant here pretty much specializes in meat).

I got there at 9:30 this morning. The first 10 minutes were awful. After I am done explaining my first 10mins, I hope you all feel sorry for me. The lady gave me a tour which included teaching me how to use their crazy lockers that they have. She gave me a name tag with Amanda on it. Im going by Amanda here because parisians (for whatever reason..) have a hard time saying Mandy. This is funny because Im not used to answering when people say Amanda. So, my boss would be calling my name and I wouldnt really answer because I wouldnt realize she was talking to me. So anyways, she then gives me an outfit. The skirt is the largest size that they have as is the shirt. She then leaves me alone to get ready. I tried to unlock my locker and cant.. turns out I didnt shut it right or something so then I have to get my boss to unlock it for me. I then manage to lose my name tag and have to get them to make me a new one. My boss then tells me that Im supposed to have a necklace and earrings on. She is shocked when I tell her I dont have a necklace and earrings with me. She then tells me I have to wear makeup and is once again shocked when I tell her I dont have any on. She takes me down to the changeroom and puts makeup on me (awkward) then gives me her crazy bling bling to wear. This includes a crazy necklace and earrings and a bracelet. I felt so awkward all day because I just didnt feel like myself. Oh, and I bought the wrong color of nylons and jeepers, that was the end of the world at Hippopotamus (thats the name of the restaurant).. It was so awful.

After the first 10 mins from hell, the job went very well. Turns out its not hard being a hostest. Im pretty good at smiling and asking how many people there are and if they want smoking or non smoking (fumeur ou non fumeur).

I have to work a split shift tomorrow (11-2:30 and 6-midnight). Its going to be awful and I cant wait. We are also going out to the bar tomorrow so whats going to happen is that im going to work tomorrow pretty much all day and then go out all night and work the same shift on Sunday. Its going to be great. I'm in Paris.

your francophone,

Thurs

On Thurs, I went to my work for a little orientation that ended up being a huge waste of time. I didnt actually do anything AND I had to wake up early. They asked me if I wanted to start work today but then told me I couldnt because I didnt have the rights shoes on)

I went to the Pantheon yesterday with the International Club that I joined. I didnt really meet anyone (there were lots of other people there but they were snobby parisians.) It was really cool. This is the place where Voltaire and Victor Hugo are burried. We went on a guided tour and learned all about the scultures and the paintings around the Pantheon. It was great.

We watched the Titanic yesterday in the apartment. It was awesome. Just in case you didnt know, my fav movie is Titanic and I hadnt seen it in a really long time.

We also went to Champs Elysees last night to see the Christmas lights. They were amazing. They have the whole street (which is SO long and at the end of the street is the Arc de Triomphe) lit up with Christmas lights on the trees. It was incredible. This is the street where I originally had my job (which I got fired from, in case you forgot.. but dont worry, im over it). I found the place where I should have been working and threw eggs at it. Ha, no I didnt.. like, i said.. im over it.

We missed the metro last night by one minute so we had to take the noctobus (nocturnal bus.) Now, this bus runs all night and like the metro, you can pretty much get anywhere in the city. However, unlike the metro, it TAKES FOREVER. The ride which would have taken us 30 mins took us an hour and a half. We may or may not have stopped for crepes (yum, crepes..)