Santa Monica, CA

Sittin' on the roof at work. San Mo', Cali.

Paris, France

October 29:
The plane flight from La to Paris was way too long and crowded, never mind the fact that we (my friend André and I) had to stop in Philadelphia to change planes. Finally we arrived inn Paris, there were huge lines for customs and of course we picked the wrong one to stand in at first
So we make it through customs and find out way over to the train station. The train station isn’t that easy to find when you have never been there before. But this is where I learned an important lesson that I used the rest of my trip, follow the crowd; it always leads you somewhere good. Any way we go onto the train and headed into paris. Then to make our connection to the metro. The metro train that we needed was all the way across the station as far away as possible. The metro wasn’t too bad and we were at our hotel in no time.
The guy at the front desk of the hotel didn’t speak English very well(wich I guess I cant complain too much about I am in France) we checked in to Hotel Montmarte. The hotel was very clean and fairly quiet. The breakfast was good too.
After we showered we headed out to see Paris, we needed to eat so we ended up getting a falafel and fries, witch wasn’t my ideal first day in paris lunch. We walked around montramarte and headed to the cemetery. The cemetery was really cool. There were a lot of statues and little houses as monuments. It was great to see how elaborate it was. After the cemetery we headed out to see Moulin rouge. Nothing that spectacular but good to see.
So on our walk I really had to pee. I found a toilet in the middle of a park. It was really cool and I know you are thinking WHAT? It was a self sleaning bathroom. The whole thing got sprayed with water after every use so there was nothing icky left behind from the last person.
We continued to walk and went to sacre cour. It was a huge church on a hill. The church was elaborate and beautiful, but the best part of the church was the view from the front of it. There was a great view of Paris.
Panoramic views of city’s make me really appreciate the beauty and the magnificence of the city. It also makes me think about how luck I am to see something so amazing.
To end the day I got my first crepe. It was nutella and banana.







October 30
So on day 2 we decided to go to the louve. It was great. I cant believe how much art I saw there. I was in awe of it. The paintings were everything that I thought they would be and more. I was impressed by all of the renaissance painting. My only criticism is the fact that all of the art was religious. There were very few portraits or painting of landscapes. The thing that impressed me most about the louve and I guess all of Europe were the sculptures. I have never seen such a high quantity of awesome sculptures. They all were so amazing. I am not eve sure how to describe what it feels like to see those sculptures that were carved out of marble. The form so carefully crafted. Wow
After a good lunch at a little place across from the louve we went to the Eiffel tower at night. It was great to see the Eiffel tower, and I had a great waffle right across from the tower at a little place near the marry go round. The waffle was about 5 inches long by 3 wide and it was drizzled with nutella. Oh my god was it good.







October 31
We ventured out to the palace of Versailles. It was about a 40 min trip out. It was a little difficult to navigate but again we followed the crowd and got there. We had to wait in line for a long time but ended up getting in eventually. We got the audio guide witch was a good idea because I don’t think we would have known what anything was if we didn’t. The palace was amazingly decorated, but the thing that interested me the most about the palace was its story. It was great to think about the kings and queens and all of the controversy and fire and war that went on there. There was too much history to ever think about.
Here is my question for all of you who read this, why did Marie Antoinette have a separate palace for herself that through out the audio guide they mentioned was there when other kings were in power before she was there. So I am confused as to why it was first built. I know that she used it because she hated her husband.




November 1
This was probably my favorite museum day. I wen to the Musee De' orsay. It was fantastic. It was the journey from Renaissance to post impressionism. I love the impressionistic era. It was beautiful. i have a new found respect for the impressionism. even the stuff that i used to think why did they just throw the paint up there, i began to understand that it has its place in art history. it was an eye opening experience.
After the Day at the museum, we traveled to Notredame de Paris. It was during mass which was amazing.









November 2 2006
So today was a day of just trying to see a bunch of stuff. We started with the catacombs. It was very weird. I am not sure even now a few months later if I would ever want to go back. I understand why it was done but why it is a tourist attraction is weird to me. There was also a crap load of stairs and kilometers of pathways.
We then walked to the Pantheon of Paris. it had this weird art exhibit with these sacs filled with Styrofoam. the building was cool but i don't think i knew enough about it to really appreciate the history.
Then it was on to the Arc de triophe. It was neat. I didn't climb the stairs cause after a day of walking the last thing I wanted to do was climb more stairs.
we also did a bit of shopping on blvd Haussmann and there was a good pizza place on the way from the catacombs to the pantheon. It was on rue saint Jaques between Rue Gay Lussac and Rue De L'Abbe'. I forgot to get the name so if you want to go you will have to look for a tiny place. the guy was really nice which was odd for France, he was nice to Americans.





November 3 2006
Morning of shopping at La Belle and surrounding areas, lunch at the Grocierie La Grande, and then on to the Rodin Museum. Rodins house/ museum was neat. There were so many sculptures. But here is the thing, he hardly did any of them. he would make a small version and then give it to someone to make. But he never carved marble, He would cast sculptures but never carve so can you really put him in the same category as Michelangelo. I don't think so. i think he is a bit odd a hack, he has talent but when most of the show pieces are done by someone else how do you know if he can actually do it.
That night I met up with Gael and his girlfriend Candice. It was fantastic to see him again. We went to this art show and then to dinner at the Hotel Du Nord. it was a great evening with Gael and his friends. His friends were really nice to me even tough I couldn't speak french. The Waiter was hilarious. he was Spanish and kept trying to ask questions in Spanish. He also tryed to get my number which was funny cause I didn't have one. So all in all it was a crazy night. I really enjoyed it tough.

November 04 2006
The end of Paris the beginning of Madrid. I took 2 fabulous trains to Madrid. It was great. Paris to Irun and Irun to Madrid where i met with Jesus and his Girlfriend and met the room mates.

Kayacking

Rose Bay to Shark Island by Kayack



Everyone getting ready to go!


now at shark island















Group photot from left front : sam, andrew, melanie, me, vincent, bonnie, jeremy
back row: craig, gael