Shopping all day!

Well we spent about 7 hours out shopping today and all I got was a single pair of jeans! I guess I'm not very good at shopping. The girls on the other hand used my unencumbered hands to help carry the many bags of clothes that they purchased. As the afternoon wore on I was allowed to buy a duffel bag to help carry the purchases and then it will come in handy for travelling back home.

the girls relaxing after a long day shopping

Mona Lisa by Emma

We went to the Louvre with the intentions of seeing the Mona Lisa. This is what we had to go through to see it.The kids got to the front quite quickly but it took a little bit longer for dad. I can definetely see why the Mona Lisa is so famous. She is also very mysterious and the painting is very dark. The rest of the Louvre was interesting too and there were a few ones which our dad made us pose like the people in the picture and he took a picture with us like that. Lots of the paintings were very dark and there were some interesting statues in the room of statues. There was a very famous statue called "Winged Victory" which was of Nike, the goddess of victory. It had no arms and no head. I think that they probably fell off considering how old it was. There was also a few pictures of David defeating Goliath and him carrying his head around the town.

Paris Catacombes (and Bob the skull) By Natasha Bulowski

    If you are claustraphobic then you had better not venture into the Paris Catacombes. The Catacombes are old mine shafts where they used to mine limestone and clay, they run under the streets so as you go along you'll see inscriptions telling you  which street you're below. The whole walk is aproximately 2km long and 20 meters below street level (below the sewage and Metro even). For the first while you walk through the tunnels and you walk by a model of  the fortress of Port-Mahon (on the island of Minorca). A quarryman carved it in his spare time out of the limestone. It took 5 years for him to build! Now we are getting to the bones, in 1780 the Cemeteries  of Paris were getting too crowded and because of all the corpses it was very easy for disease to start and spread, so over 3 million peoples remains were moved to the limestone quarries (the quarries were no longer in use) and now there are the bones of aproximately 6 million people down there! As I walked by all the skulls at first it was kinda creepy and I thought "It seems a bit disrespectful to dump them in an old mine," but then I saw that they were all nicely arranged in crosses and hearts with the different bones in different places and the skulls all nicely arranged. This is the skull I nicknamed "Bob".

    As we progress further through this tunnel of bones we happen to pass a guided tour and the guide was talking about how the tunnels are like a maze, and apparently some of the French resistance, the French goverment and part of the German army were all using the tunnels during the Second World War and none of them ever met! Thats probably because there is aproximately 200 km of tunnels under paris!!! A bit off topic but another thing I found pretty cool was that in some places there was mini stalactites on the low ceilings.

Life in France

The girls certainly have adjusted to life here in France, with our daily morning outings to the local market for food including fresh bread, cheese, fruit and fine pastries, wine, etc... Then in the afternoons we will visit a museum or gallery all the while watching for dog "bombs" that cover the sidewalks here in Paris.

 
A quick lunch before we head out to Parc Monceau to enjoy the sunshine.




To see photos larger just click on them.

TGV to Paris

Just thought I would try and capture what it is like to the ride the TGV (train a grand vitesse or high speed train to us) on the journey from Marseille to Paris. The journey covers 783 kilometres and only takes 3 hours. The average speed of the train is 260 kmh and will reach 319 kmh. It is comfortable and quiet and you can even get half decent food on it. Try and count the power poles, or the number of cars on the train that is travelling in the opposite direction. Good Luck.

TGV train to Paris from chris bulowski on Vimeo.

Cassis

Well it has been very easy to not spend anytime indoors over the last week, let alone on the computer doing a blog post. We have been in the seaside town of Cassis, and it has been amazing, the weather has been hot, our accommadations have been fantastic and the food and wine superb. All of this we owe to Shirley who insisted that we need to take a family vacation and she wanted to come here. Thank you Shirley.

With beaches a short 15 minute walk away, as well as the town of Cassis, and our own swimming pool, ping pong table, as well as local walks  to the Calanques, we had lots to do. Including a boat ride along the coast, as well as hiking to some of the local cliffs, visiting the weekly market in town, or just going out for some good food.

boat tour of the Calanques

before the crowds at the local market

Did I mention the forest fire that came racing across the hills one night, driven by the local strong winds known as the "Mistral". It was very windy the first few days we were here but still beautiful sunny and warm.

The fire had us a little worried but by morning there was no sign of it and the winds had died down so all was back to normal. The kids barely had time to notice as they played with their cousin Russel and swam in the pool at least 3 times a day, as well as the usual visit to the beach. I must say the the water at the beach was cool, much cooler than it was in Barcelona, surprisingly.
 Every morning the local fisherman would arrive in port and sell their catch right off the back of the boat to eagerly waiting customers, with the fish often being carried off in a bag still whole and somewhat alive! Quite a production, live fish being thrown on a scale to be weighed and carried home for dinner.

Tomorrow we are heading back to Paris for the final two weeks of our Adventure.