C'est l' Hallowe'en!!!!!

YAY!!!! Hallowe'en!!!!! We had some devilish fun.....WE WENT TO THE CATACOMBS ON HALLOWE'EN!!! Super erie, super COOL. For some reason I thought it would be a mass pile up of carnage; it is not. It makes it even creepier when ALL the bones and skull heads are neatly arranged in rows, and little designs. Someon actually took the time and effort to sort through all of these remains.


We're off to have some pumpkin soup!

HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY JAMES!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to the quarter century club Cuz!! I hope you have a great time celebrating your 25 years!

Feelin' It

Jessica and I had a good Saturday night. The type you feel in the morning; Jess is still sleeping it off in my new apartment. I have fabulous little apt. in the Marais, a great little neighbourhood quite central and about a 15mins walk to the Louvre, straight down the street. I love this apt, if I could I would live here forever!! Since I now have my own place Jessica is able to crash at it; and therefore we went out last night for some good girly mischief; and mischief we had! However since my parents read this not too many details will be revealed, but photos will one day be put up. The one downside to my great lil' apt: no internet.

Let's see.....Friday I spent moving from the hotel to my new apt (literally around the corner) then getting the rest of my things from Shefali's place and catching a cab to the new place with all of my things.....I have too many things.

Saturday I went to Le Musée Marmottan Monet. Sorry no pics from here, they don't allow it and they were watching you in every room! This place was great. It not only stored many of Monet's works, but it also carried an extensive illuminated manuscript section as well as a large collection of Berthe Morrisot's works; the sole female painter to intergrate herself into the Rat Pack of impressionists back in the day (it helped that her sister was married to Manet).

After that, Jess and I went shopping and got ready for a night on the town. We got a little lost at one point; and stumbled upon a bar: The Great Canadian Pub....a sign? We had to...um, relieve ourselves, is that a lady like way to describe the situation? Plus we wanted a drink, so why not take a chance. Again, all the boys were surrounding Jessica, she had tons of friends that night; and lots of free alcamahol (which is always nice when you're low on cash). I had one guy all to myself, I didn't mind my odds. The only drawback.....THEY WERE ALL HOCKEY PLAYERS!!!! I thought I had left the hockey driven fanatic boys in Canada. It was fun regardless, and on top of it; the Leafs kicked Montréal's derrière!

Thursday Trivia

Guess if you can what I did with my Thursday in Paris. My photo will be my only hint. I'll write more tomorrow!

I went to GIVERNY. The country house Monet lived in, the town where the impressionists hung out in, and where everyone went to paint! It is a beautiful little town. Even though it is flooded with tourists, they really haven't done too much to up keep the town (Monet's house and water lily garden yes). Even taking the train, from St Lazare station in Paris, to Vernon: blink and you will miss the faded sign that points you to Giverny. You have to cross under the tracks, and through the station to either get to the bus (3 euros round trip, just keep your ticket) or taxis, or rent a bike, at the bar across the street (10-12 euros, depending on who you ask, and who you are....hahaha) I had wanted to rent the bicycle for the day, that would have been cool, but I was a little confused, I thought you take the train to Vernon, then the bus to Giverny then rent a bike to his house.....nope the bus takes you directly to the town and his house really isn't that far. Next time, I will go on a beautiful spring/summer morning, and have all day if not two to spend there. I went mid afternoon and had to be back for the evening to meet some friends, plus it's the end of October, and it wasn't that bright and sunny, but it was warm enough to walk around and wander.

The town is very rustic and very much still alive and thriving, there's an elementary school, and tons of little art galleries everywhere you turn. Plus there's also the American Impressionist museum (where they were nice enough to let me in at a student fee, plus give me the headphones so that I could listen to the commentary on some of the works!)

Giverny is beautiful. The garden, the water lily pond, the Japanese inspired bridges.....it's all amazing to walk around in. Everyone must go. The house too is pretty fantastic to walk through, and even though they said no photos, I couldn't help myself, especially when no one is around to say no! I encourage everyone to go to Giverny at least once in their lifetime!

The town has a lot to offer, however be careful, the prices in the cafes are steep, they know they have the tourists trapped there. I went to the old hotel, which has been converted into a restaurant. They had pumpkin soup for only 6 euros, so A) it was the cheapest place to eat in all of Giverny, and B) I love pumpkin soup here and wanted something to warm me up! If you eat at the restaurant they allow you to go in thye back and check out the gardens. I LOVE THIS GARDEN. It used to be the hot spot for the painters to hang out in back in the day; there once was a tennis court and little ateliers, now it's just this overrun raw jungle! In the summer, they have beautiful rose bushes, but in October, it was a maze of branches, weeds and cobblesontes. I just kept walking up the steps, that then lead me to a dirt path, over a fallen log, down a little rock mountain and back to some steps leading me to the garden once again. It's worth the price for lunch just to play around in their backyard!

I moved out ( finally!)

I know I know, I should have been out of Shefali's place A LONG TIME AGO. Nevertheless, I'm out now. I have a room at the Hotel Rivoli, it coast me 40 euros a night, and at least the toilet is on the same floor. If I want to shower, IF, I have to ask for the key on the 1st floor, go to the 2nd floor, return it to the 1st when I'm done and return to my room on the 3rd....oh without elevators. You'd think that after living in Montmartre and having to climb the stairs there plus three more sets of steps in Shefali's apt one would get used to climbing, and yet I am still exasperated just at the last stair climb, gets you every time!

Today was a loner day for me, Jessica had to work. After booking my hotel, I went to the train station to go to Reims. I had gone here in '97 while on my exchange trip back at AHS (Aurora High School for those of you NOT in the know). I had taken one of my favourite pictures here, of a spiral staircase leading up into the sky. Maybe one shouldn't revisit, maybe memories are all that's needed.

The place wasn't the same. When I was 17, I thought it was this little country village. Compared to Paris, sure it is, however compare it to all the other little towns the train passes by, no it's a little metropolis. The building where my staircase used to be, yeah it's been torn down. The Joan of Arc statue is still standing tall, in the midst of construction. It ruined my memory of a great, beautiful place. Even the gift shops have changed, there more touristy. I found some really great things when I was there last, a beautiful bracelet, some goblets for my parents, now they sell the same gimmicky things that I can find anywhere else in Paris.

Came back, moved into my beautiful palace and had to go in search of shower shoes, and fast! It was close to 18:30 and most places close at 19h, plus where I am there's no cheap little shops, I have to go BACK to the Montmartre area to get shower shoes. Luckily I discovered the "semaine" metro pass. I found a cute pair (pink no less, for 2.50 euros (good, all I had on me was 3 euros! I needed to find a bank too!). It was a pretty interesting night to walk around, there was a flame thrower at Notre Dame, and the U2 singing man was at it again...Haha Jess ya missed it! There's this guy who was singing a U2 song one night when we came out of a metro stop; this is now Jessica's favourite area, Metro St Michel.
The Defender of Time

Yay Mom! You're retired!! Now what?

My mom IS in this pic!

I hope your last day at work was a good one, nice and easy and that you enjoyed the little sending off party. What did they get you? What did they get you?!?!!?

Now sit back, relax and watch some movies!

Thrifty Tuesday

Honestly we have no money to be always eating out! Jessica counted out her change purse today and our budget was whatever she could find: 13 euros (after a long search). We were hungry and hungry for something warm because it was cold outside, so we went back to Chez Clement, our lovely restaurant at the St. Michel metro stop, and had ourselves some pumpkin (potiron) soup in the blue room. It was exactly what we needed to warm our bellies, plus a Pepsi (no cokes! Yay!)and off we went to find free (preferably indoors) things to do. We might wait a whole week before going back there though because Jessica found that she had heaps of cents she hadn't counted before so we tried to leave our bill with the most amount of change imaginable (although not 2000 worth of pennies + tip). This meant we had 9 euros left for the day!

Musee Carnavalet is the museum on the history of Paris, the rise, the fall and the rise again. It has a beautiful courtyard with carved out shrubbury (can't you just see Alice running from the Queen of Hearts in this lawn?) The musee once used to be the Hotel Carnavalet, and it now houses numerous paintings of Paris through the ages. It had some great rooms, all the furniture set up to represent what it once was like.

Jessica felt very at home here in these rooms and hallways.
My favourite room was the Art Nouveau.

We then walked to the Bastille, and following the Bastille Opera continued along the Viaduct des Arts. This used to be a train line, now the street level area has been converted into shops, ateliers, selling furniture, flowers, and art.

Our budget allowed us some 2 scoops of ice cream and then off to Jessica's family's house for a free home cooked meal!