Paris: C'est Tout

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... And that's it really. I had three awesome, albeit very tiring, days walking the streets of Paris. I shall be returning in July when I travel around Europe with all the exchange students, so until then. ^.^ I've edited the messages per page to 15, just temporary so that you can see all the Paris photographs without flicking backwards (actually, I think you may still have to flip backwards). Enjoy!

Paris: La Seine

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Paris: Champs-Élysées

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"I entered this world on the Champs-Elysees, 1959. La trottoir du Champs Elysees. And do you know what my very first words were? New York Herald Tribune! New York Herald Tribune!"

~ The Dreamers, referencing Godard's À Bout de Souffle

Paris: Various

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Paris: Assemblée Nationale

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Paris: 02.23 Hotel de Ville

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Paris: 02.23

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This was the most amazing window display I think I've ever seen.

Paris: 02.23

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Orangina!

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Sarah and I said our goodbyes, and we parted with our families. Hopefully she can come stay with me for a few days in the Avril holidays. My family and I then had a quick break and a drink at Galleries Lafayettes, where I discovered the awesomeness of Orangina.

Paris: 02.23

Paris: 02.23 Street Chic

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It was in Starbucks that I found another very cute Parisien fille. Complete with Amelié haircut and everything! My broken french again prevailed (after Sarah and I spent about 20minutes deciding how to best ask in French, in which I have a feeling she overheard and therefore was expecting to be asked...)

Paris: 02.23 Starbucks avec Sarah

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After the Musée Arts de Metiers, I met up (again) with my good friend Sarah from Perth. She's also on an exchange, however she's placed way up in the north (as i'm in the south!) We just happened to be in Paris at the same time though, which was awesome! You have no idea how tiring it is speaking another language all day. Even when I speak English to people, it has to be simplified and slowed down. So it was nice being able to speak fluent english again, have a few laughs, share exchange stories and SHOP! In a previous blog post, I mentioned that I was dissapointed with H&M and Zara. Well, I have no idea what I was talking about to be honest. Half the stuff that I've bought here has been from those two very stores, including the MOST French chic black dress that I bought on sale from Zara for 6euros. I'll have to start taking more pictures, it's diffilcult and very frustrating with timer though. There's not really many nice places to take pictures in my room aswell, and I don't have my photography buddy here to take decent photographs of me, so i've ended up deleting most of the ones i've taken. Anyways, Sarah and I went to the absolutly massive Galleries Lafayette where she bought some gorgeous suede shoes. I'm really finicky about shoes, and can NEVER seem to find any that I like. And if you saw how freaking massive the shoe level was, well the fact that I still couldn't find any shocks even me. I bought a million and one different colored tights from H&M and then we settled down for a drink in Starbucks.

Paris: 02.23 Metro Station

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Day Three. In the morning we caught the metro and headed to the Musée Arts de Metiers where unfortunatly I wasn't allowed to take photographs inside the Musée (sorry Liana!) It was awesome, and released my inner physics nerd. They had all the first instruments used to weigh objects, and how they first determined time. However, the section on communications was my favorite. They had the very first Camera Obscura, and the very first camera used by Nicéphore Niépce. They also displayed the evolution of cameras, up to the modern day SLR camera. They had film camera's too, and had a little section on how the very first films were produced.

Paris: 02.22 Street Chic

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After this, we went shopping in a really cool district that is tailored more for the younger crowd. Sarah and I parted from our families and managed to have some alone shopping time. I bought plenty of tacky souvenirs that I'm sure all of you back in Perth are going to LOVE. Plus plenty of postcards, that you can look forward to recieving in the mail within the coming weeks. It was here that I ran into this Parisien girl, I think I kinda fell in love with her. Ah, she is gorgeous! She didn't speak any English, so I asked in my best french accent to take a picture of her, which she happily accepted. Everything, the oversized blazer, the biker boots and that hair! Ah, she was just perfect. She looks half-asian too!

Paris: 02.22 Notre Dame

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After the Lourve, Sarah, her host dad and my host family then walked over to the Notre Dame. The Notre Dame was beautiful, I wish the weather had been nicer so that the lighting in the pictures came out and complimented the beauty of the place. I guess most of you have seen professsional pictures of all the Parisien monuments though, so these are just for kicks really :P.

Paris: 02.22 Lourve

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"Arthur said they'd wait for night to do the job, out of respect for second-rate thrillers. How do we kill all that time? asked Odile. Franz had read about an American who'd done the Louvre in nine minutes 45 seconds. They'd do better. Arthur, Franz and Odile beat Jimmy Johnson by two seconds."

~ Bande à Part

Anyone recognise where the last three pictures are from? Yup, the infamous scene in Godard's Bande à Part where Arthur, Franz and Odile run through the Lourve in nine minutes and 43 seconds. As soon as I walked into the room, I immediatly recognised it. I had completely forgotten about the scene, and it was so surreal standing in a place where Godard himself had filmed that scene! The Lourve was so incredibly massive, and I trawled the building with my good friend Sarah from Perth. We didn't get around to seeing everything that needed to be seen. Next time, next time. I did however see the Mona Lisa, just for kicks. The amount of people with SLR's taking pictures is amazing, I think I was more amazed by that then the actual painting. It's really just amazing how many paintings, sculptures and pieces of art are housed in this one museum.

Paris: 02.21

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Ofcourse, I had to take a photograph of my workplace in Paris. It was closed, I felt like going in though and seeing how similar it was to the Perth store. We walked from the Academie Nationale de Musique around Paris for a while, and then settled and had a picnic lunch in the park. We then walked the Champs-Élysées. All the pictures I took though were fairly stock-standard, so I deleted them. And ofcourse, landed at the Arc de triumph. We then headed over to the Eiffel Tower, after stopping at a small café. My photo's of the Eiffel Tower, again, were pretty conventional so I don't really feel like publishing. About 15km later, we were absolutely buggered and headed home for the day. And that was Day One in Paris.