PARIS

Dear devoted followers,

First of all, I hope that everyone currently living on the east coast of America has successfully weathered the SandStorm. Good luck to you all!

Well, while you guys were enjoying your vacation, I was enjoying mine as well--in the lovely city of Paris!!



SO, let me give you the breakdown, interspersed with some of the pictures I took. We arrived midafternoon on Sunday, and the first stop was the Palais de Sport at the Port de Versailles, where we saw the musical 1789: Les Amants de la Bastille. I didn't understand a lot of it, but it was still really fun! The French way of handling musicals is a lot different from ours. They only play one or two at a time, and each one is a really big affair with elaborate sets and costumes. Also, they run two or three songs from the musical on the radio for a few months before hand, and you can buy the album, so my host sister already knew lots of the songs from the musical.





Day two--main event: L'arc de Triomphe.



And I remembered my goal of a family photo.



For lunch, we had pizza in a restaurant on the Champs Elysees.



And after lunch, my family took me to see some of the big Paris sites.





In the evening they took me to discover the Bon Marche, where I was forced to concede that maybe a gold-tipped fountain pen at 8,000 euros was a bit out of my price range.



The next morning it was time for SHOPPING with Alice and Benedicte. I found the choices at the Gallerie Lafayette-- Prada, Dior, etc. a bit out of my price range. When we moved on to other more budget-friendly options, I found a scarf--very important here, as it happens.



In the afternoon, we took a tour of the breathtaking and fascinating Opera Garnier--commissioned by Napoleon III and designed with incredible attention to detail. As a bonus, our tour guide was awesome.





In the evening we waited for 45 minutes to get into the only Abercrombie and Fitch in France. I didn't buy anything--once again the price tags turned me away--but I did take a picture with a shirtless model, so I suppose that counts for something.

Our Wednesday agenda: Versailles. We took a guided tour of the palace--the biggest in France--including the reception rooms and bedrooms of the king and queen.





After lunch we took a short walk through the closest part of the very expansive gardens.



And I didn't forget to get some Australians to take our photo!