The second-last tango in Paris

Howdy all

Just a very quick update on my travels so far. No pics, no precis.

Be aware that I am writing this on an AZERTY keyboard that actually responds to QWERTY, so forgive me if these sentences are a even more garbled than usual.

Said goodbye to mates over the weekend and to the house on Monday night, before leaving London early on Tues morning. I had planned to get the 5.22 train to St Pancras for the Eurostar, but the London transport system had one more surprise for me - the train was cancelled at the last minute, leaving me out of bed half an hour earlier than I needed to be. I still made the Eurostar easily with the 5.52.

So since getting in to Paris I have knocked off a Fat Tyre Bike Tour (run by some sort of Texan Mafia - in a tourist outlet in Paris they had postcards and stickers proudly proclaiming Texas as larger than France - you get the idea). The tour itself was well worth it - a good introduction to the city and orientation, and for me a re-introduction to riding a bike. It had been about 12 years I think. But you know how it is, its like riding a bike. Sorry.

Also taken care of the Arc de Triomphe, which sits above the world's largest roundabout apparently. Either way its pretty chaotic. Walked the Champs Elysee through the Jardin de Tuileries to the Louvre (havent visited the Musee de Louvre itself yet though), toured the catacombes, following a loud female Aussie voice as I decended the stairs. She was being quite vulgar actually, but when I got to the bottom I found out why: I knew her! It was Lauren Brunovs, a total coincidence! Great to see her.

Then headed to the Jardin Du Luxemborg, which is a lovely old school master-planned garden, then to Notre Dame which to my surprise was free entry (and not being Catholic its not like they can condemn me for not donating to them).

On Saturday I walked to La Defence and back, with a few other detours, which totalled about 21km for the day (and 38km in two), This is the area where some of the more modern and decidedly un-Paris buildings can be found. But the Parisians even do this well! Their public art in general is really superb.

Sunday I headed to Versailles for the day after Sacre Coeur for dawn, thanks to the expert guidance and local knowledge (and somewhat sleepy driving) of Ines, who was over for the weekend. It was a real highlight. She'll be back on Sunday and having not driven I'll have to pull my weight this time. I won't drive, but I might give her a piggy-back or something.

Yesterday I went to the Pompidou which was another real highlight. Some incredible art, but what stood out was the huge number of school kids in there, all lead by expert guides. And today was the Sewer Tour, which I had been looking forward to maybe a bit too much, as it didint lead up to the hype really.

I moved today from the 3 Ducks hostel in the 15th Arrondissement to Friends Hostel near Monmartre. The former was in a brilliant location with a fantastic village atmosphere (near Rue Commerce if anyone knows the area, an easy walk to the Eiffel Tower), but was a RUBBISH hostel. Cheap but they treat you like absolute rubbish (unlike the vast majority of Parisians I've met). I'll save that rant for later.

So still to do in Paris is (at least) the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Musee d'Orsay, Les Invalides, Musee Rodin, and whatever else I can fit in! Then it's off to Bern to catch up with Greg and Silvia before heading for Italy!

While here I've taken an opportunity to try to learn a bit of French. I bought books and stuff. I've always wanted to learn a new language and thought this would be a good opportunity. It's coming along, albeit slowly! I'll continue when back in Australia though.

For the last 18 months I've been telling anyone who'd listen, and plenty who wouldn't, that Berlin is my favourite city to visit in the world. But I gotta say that Paris has impressed me, I'm really loving it.

Heaps of pics already (about 350) and will be glad to share them with you soon.

Miss you all heaps, see you soon