Friday 17-10 - Carnavalet

Friday started with a packed lunch and an internet search. We searched for museums with cheap or free entry. We found Carnavalet: a museum of the history of Paris. So we set off with a backpack towards the river.

Walking past the museum, the streets were full of young, trendy types. We guessed maybe they were art students, seeing as there was an arts school next door. We found a park near by to at our lunch. Cheese pasta, cheese with bread, apple pudding and twix.



Our lunch time show was provided by the arts students. Young couples were scattered around the park. Two couples in particular were playing on a nearby playground. They were being loud and crazy as they courted. The sight had Jannelle and I reminiscing on our loud and crazy days. We talked about days gone by.

The museum covered the history of Paris mostly through the past four centuries. There were old paintings and street signs and furniture. There were also some excellent city models. All of these would have been interesting and informative if only we could understand the labels. We had no idea what was going on most of the time. So as interesting as everything was, it couldn´t hold our attention for very long.



We decided to try our luck on the more gruesome French Revolution section. Again, all in French. The Bastille room was pretty good. There were paintings of people being dragged through the street and stabbed. Then paintings of imprisoned monarchs. And miniature guillotines. The rooms had amazing wallpaper. It was brightly striped in primary colours, with matching curtains.





We reached the exit through the Henry 15th rooms, which had an large model of some historic event. It made me want to build models. I don´t think I had ever built a model like that. Most of the models I ever built were paper dioramas or dinosaurs. I like the idea of building a tiny city.





On the train we went to another free museum. The fashion museum was supposedly stocked with incredible couture and fashion from centuries past. I wanted to see the old dresses, complete with bustles. When we got there the museum was closed, for another 6 weeks. I was disappointed, especially since I wouldn´t even be in Europe by then.

Luckily the area was full of museums. We spotted the Museum of Contemporary Art which had been closed for renovation. Even more luck, it had picked this day to reopen. We went to the free permanent rooms that had just been redone.

First there was a photographer who put his works onto glass. Most of them were pictures of cereal boxes and photocopies of other peoples books. Then pictures of dirty street corners. There wasn´t anything in his work to be excited about. We moved on to more abstract works. We got through a few rooms of crumpled material with paint splotches. An attendant told us the museum was closing and we had to leave. I hadn´t realised how it was. We would have to come back another day.

On the way back I saw the Princess Di memorial.



We returned to the flat to clean ourselves up and headed off to meet Yoann´s friends for drinks. They were mostly guys, with one girl who didn´t say much. The bar was the second floor of an Irish themed place. We sat and talked with those who could speak English. Most could speak it quite well. It made me jealous.

We hadn´t eaten dinner yet and were getting peckish. The group had thought ahead. They had ordered traditional French pub fare. Bowls of bread and a board with meats and cheeses. All the hams and sausages were there,along with a selection of cheeses in various colours and flavours. I picked at the bread and cheeses. I wasn´t really full at the end.

We moved on to another bar two doors down, more of a club. The was music, lights and a dancefloor. The French guys bought two dozen shots with different rums and laid them all out on the counter. One was enough for me. The guys went on to down them all over the night. We didn´t stay too late.

Thursday 16-10 - Graves for music and pen

Attempt 2 to make the Luxembourg museum. But first a stop at Montparnnasse cemetery. It poured, but I got a nice call from Karen as got ourselves lost.



This graveyard was smaller, but more cheerful than the other cemetery we went to in Paris. The streets were more ordered and the graves newer. The clouds were grey, spitting drops of rain on us.



We found the combined graves of Simone De Beauvuoir and Jean Paul Satre. We lay a stone for them.



We saw Serge Gainsburg. We wanted to see Man Ray, but we couldn´t find him anywhere. Then we got hungry.



We passed an ornate stone labelled ¨Ricardo¨. We had no idea who he was. We would later find out that he was the assistant of the artist that made the stone.



After a few failed attempts to find crepes we got food from a supermarket. We walked to find a place to sit, except that everything was wet from the rain. Eventually we came upon a dry bench and ate lunch. Then half a baguette and cheese. I was stuffed.

The exhibit we wanted to see was finally open – De Miro A Warhol (from Miro to Warhol). Its a good thing they didn´t call it Miro AND Warhol. There was only one by each artist. In fact there were only 4 rooms all up. It was really tiny, especially considering the ticket price. They were nice pieces, but nothing special. There was also a good Tanguey and Litchenstein´s Mirror #1. They were my favourite pieces.

The gallery left us both feeling tired, sore and unfulfilled. The rain started again. We made our way home.

Then out again. Yoann joined us as we trained to the Latin quarter to have dinner. We picked a place with a set menu. Well, every restaurant on the street had a set menu or two. We picked a restaurant that looked decent.

The decor had a pretty traditional French set,although it felt like probably a tourist place. Apart from Yoann and the waiters, only one other person spoke French. Janelle and I started with salad while the boy had gizzards.

I had a confit duck plate for mains. I was still semi-full from lunch. But I ate still attempted most of the enormous plate. Yoann had tripe. The desserts were nice but I had trouble finishing it, I felt so full. I roll out the door as we strolled the streets a bit.

Wednesday 15-10 - Cake

Yoann was up at 7 for work, though I didn´t really notice him passing me by. Janelle and I only woke up later that morning. We ate cereal with dried strawberries in it. Then brioche. We watched French MTV off the computer as we ate. Mostly because it was the only channel we could get that we could understand. If we listened carefully we could pick up the original English under the dub. We watched all the classics, date my mom, sweet sixteen and parental control. I coudn´t get my Internet connected.

We set off to Luxembourg gardens to see the new De Miro A Warhol exhibit. We found the gardens easily, but it took time to find the museum. We wondered around the grounds.



We reached the gates of the museum only to find out we were a day early. A red carpet flowed to the door, topped with people dressed nicely. Today the VIPs got to see the exhibit. We wondered towards Notre Dame.



The street we walked down was the comic book street. Shop after shop of comics and manga. It as like a dream, except that everything was in French. All the arty comics that looked interesting. So many beautiful worlds, but I couldn´t get in to them. Maybe I should learn French. Afterwards I forgot the name of the street.

We found a bakery near the church. We sat down to eat lunch. They got were part of our order wrong except for the water. That was ok though, we were fed. We let the place to a street lined with Asian style grocery stores. Stir fry seemed like a good idea for the nights dinner, so we picked up noodles and dehydrated mushrooms.

We were in the mood for cake. A proper patisserie had a wonderful selection. I couldn´t chose from the cabinet of amazing cakes. I picked one with raspberry and gold dust. We ate the cakes at a park outside Notre Dame. We had to use some of the cardboard as a fork. But it as worth it, the cake was amazing.



We took a look around the outside of the church and at the stalls near the river. We looked through some English bookshops and a small gallery art shop. The rain stopped and started. We walked down main streets with high street shopping. The rain stuck around this time. It wasn´t the weather to be out and about.



Back near Jannelles we picked up wine. Then we started cooking up veggies for the stir fry. We soaked the dried mushrooms,causing them to explode to life. The revived mushrooms were so large we had nothing to hold them in. Except that they were still too tough to eat. We tried boiling them and frying them. They were still a bit tough. Everything else was great though.

Yoann came back and we ate. We had made enough for 5 people, there was just so much food. It was tasty though so everything went down well. We drank wine and watched more MTV before making our way to sleep.

Tuesday 14-10 - To Paris again

I woke up and went out with Karen. In the evening I was set to train to Paris for a week. I still hadn´t packed. But out we went anyway. For lunch we walked down to Lamb Conduit, to the family Italian. The walls were covered in retro music and Hollywood memorabilia. They make good pizza. We chatted away about bits and pieces into the afternoon.



I realised that time was passing and I hadn´t packed for Paris.

Back at the flat I ran around packing. Then spent some time with Aiden. Dani came over when her uni was finished. We had wine.

I watched the clock.

At 6-30 I once more picked up my backpack (now much lighter) and took the tube to the train station. Through the security and customs and sitting around until it was time to board. I took the time to refresh the French numbers. That's about the only French I knew anyway. The train was half empty so stretched out over 2 seats. It was after 11 when I arrived.

I got myself a ten pack of metro tickets and caught the metro. I was already running late to Janelle, who I would be staying with. She was there with her guy Yoann. He seemed nice. The three of us took the final leg to their flat in the South of Paris. We walked back and chatted.

The flat was nice, with a good view into a garden. Everyone was tired. Especially poor Yoann, who had been up at 5 for work. So we bid farewell until the morning.

Monday 13-10 - Live music and bagels

I brought my things back to Karen to begin to prepare. I went shopping for things I needed for Paris. These included shampoo bottles and a going out bag. This didn´t happen. Instead I walked around for an age getting lost. Then I bought chocolate and a cd. I didn´t really get anything don't that I had planned. Except for spending time with Aiden. I got a lot of that done. I was stocking up on Aiden time.

In the afternoon we set out for rough traders, a record store. There was an acoustic set of Of Montreal for free. We just needed a wristband. We were and hour and a half early to get near the front of queue. there we waited with Felicity and Maria.

We got our wrists bands at 6, then were told to come back at 7. The others kept our place while Dani and I went for dinner. We walked down looking for a healthy Indian style meal. What a pity we ended up with burgers.

Then got the call that everyone was lining up. Stuffed the food into our mouths and hurried back to jump the queue where our friends were. Slowly we were let in. We crowded around the small stage which was bare, except for the giant pink axolotl head on the speakers.



Of Montreal came out for their acoustic set. They weren´t dressed in crazy costumes and make up they sometimes do. Just regular clothes. Their set was good. Mostly new stuff, but they played a couple of older songs as well. No one really danced. There wasn´t room and we were to busy listening to the music. They played a short set, then thanked us for listening and left.



The crowd emptied quickly and we followed. We walked towards the house, passing the Jewish bagel place on the way. Everyone wanted bagels so we stopped to stock up. Then I parted ways with the group. I said my farewells to the girls. I made my way back to Karen, a bag of bagels in my hand.

Sunday 12-10 - Quidditch

Up at 1 o clock. Slowly the girls appeared, a little worse for wear. We were still feeling like doing girlie things. So we all cooked up brunch. Egg saturated with olive, mushroom, onion and zucchini. Toast, fruit salad, coffee and orange juice. We sat down and stuffed our faces.



Maria´s friend had found something very interesting on the internet. Some people were attempting a real life quidditch match at Reagants park. Just like in Harry Potter, except that I don´t think they could fly around on broomsticks. But it seemed so very interesting. It´s a pity we made the others so late. We only got out the house at the time it started and still needed to find the place.

Even so we had to stop into tescos for snacks. We picked up beer when we noticed the krispy kreme stand. We noticed the limited edition chocolate carnivale dozen. Chocolate fudge, biscuits crunch, mint twist and chocolate creme. There was no choice but to buy them.



The leaves were golden on all the trees.



At the park we walked around the football and lacrosse players. We kept asking people if they had seen group playing with brooms. Each group replied with ´they flew over those trees´.

We gave up on quidditch. Instead we found a nice place to sit and relax on the grass. We talked about boys and religion.





In the evening we had David Bowie night. We all put on Ziggy Stardust make up and watched Labyrinth. Great end to the weekend.

Saturday 11-10 - The Surprise and Girls Night

Dani headed of to work and I slow got out of bed. I showered and dressed. Then I got a call from Josh. The uni had organised a day trip down by bus to London. They had about 4 hours to see all of the city. Even a weekend isn´t enough time. There were a few guys and a girl. I think most were French.

I met them at St Paul´s cathedral. We had lunch at subway (the only shop that was open) then we planned a walking tour of London. We walked up to the British Museum to see the contemporary statues and the Egyptian exhibit. Josh popped out to see Karen and Aiden. So I was baby sitting again, only this time it was international students.

The Museum was having its ¨The Big Draw¨day, encouraged young and old alike to draw. My Perth friends Mara and Gemma were at the gallery, helping out with the Big Draw activities. It was nice running into them. I tried to persuade Josh´s classmates to have a draw while we waited for him. Except for the girl, none seemed interested, but even she took time to convince. I sat down and started to draw, but Josh got back before I could finish. So off we went again.

The next leg of the journey went through Covent Garden up to seven dials, the sun dial. We took one of the seven roads that meet there, though I can never remember which is which. Then all the way down to Piccadilly Circus. They had really wanted to go there to see the big bill boards. I realised that I hadn´t been down there for years. I couldn´t think of a reason I would want to be there. The area was full of tourists and Ripley's believe it or not. Souvenir shops and the like. But they enjoyed it. I had more enjoyed the museum, with its spontaneous events and happenings.

By then it as getting late, I had told Dani I would visit her at work. I got lost finding the right street and had to ask for directions at a police station. Then a long walk to her book shop. She closed, then we were joined by her housemates Felicity and Maria. Back at the house we made up dinner of stuffed capsicum with rice and zucchini.



Then we all sat around drinking wine and reading the timeout. We went through a number of plans for the night, but just couldn´t decide what to do. Maria, Dani and I set ourselves on an indie band night in Shoreditch.



At the club we caught the start of the support act, Tin Can Telephone. They were really sweet indie pop and nice to listen to.



In between we danced a little. Felicity arrived with some other friends. We danced a lot more.





The main act Fryers came on, surrounded in blue fairy lights. They were more upbeat than the previous act, which suited us perfectly. We took up half the floor jumping about. Most of the crowd just stood still.



The boys that arrived with Felicity were not happy. They wanted to go elsewhere. So on a bus we all hopped, singing loudly as we went. We got to The Russian Club, at which the boys knew the bouncer and helped us skip the line. Drum and bass blared over the packed dance floor. Everyone in the club was wearing tracksuits and hoodies. We thought they usually dressed like that and wear kind of nervous. It was intimidating. Until we found out it was only a ´tracksuit party´.



None of us girls were enjoying the club, so we hopped a bus back to our first club. We stopped on the way for a small bottle of vodka to hide in a bag.



By the time we got back the place had emptied out. Plus they took our vodka away. So we left, picked up our booze at the door and walked in the direction of home. Still we were singing every song we could think of that was loud and fun. We bought Kebabs and sat next to some guys outside a club to eat. The bouncers tried to move us on but we stayed and chatted. The group worked at a bar down the road and had just gotten off duty.



We found an empty laundromat.





Back in the house kitchen we chatted away and ended up in fits of laughter until early in the morning.