!Yo Diggity!

Fortunately, I was NOT in Paris for the recent bombings/riots.

… just to curb the questions

Simone had a friend who lives in a subberb of Paris so we met up with her on Monday. She was really cool - showed us around a bit and told us what life in Paris is like. We had brunch at a little cafe up on a hill on the north side of Paris.

We also visited the Sacred Heart church on the same hill.

The church was just georgeous, as you can see, and you could also see all of Paris from here. The surrounding area was actually real cool too ‘cause it was all artsy - lots of little street vendors selling their paintings… and really good ones at that!

After that I was off to the train back to Brussels…. bye bye Paris! I’ll be back!

ps. One night Simone and I were walking along and all of a suddent the Eiffel Tower just totally lights up in these sparkling lights!! It was so incredible. It only continued for like 5 minutes - we were so blessed to catch a glimpse!

I really have sooooo many pictures of Paris. I can’t reiterate how cool Paris is. For example, this church:

I have no idea what it is… probably just ’some church’. Just gorgeous though, isn’t it?

So on Sunday, we wanted to go see Versaille. This is a castle on the outside of Paris. We took the metro out there which was a pleasant trip. This Italian women helped us find our way. I’m tellin’ ya - there are really nice folks everywhere. We got off the metro into the little town… were walking down the street and I asked Simone, “Well, where now, do we take another bus?” As I said this and turned to look at her and BAM! There it was.

Now this was a cool place!! The castle was SO huge and the gardens in the back…. MAN! I really cannot imagine actually having been there in the times when it was occupied. Amazing.

And these are just a very few of the many many pictures I got. Marie Anoinnette once lived here and she had her own special ‘house’ in the back of the garden. I was expecting a little house… but no… it was like a whole other plantation (do they use that word in Europe? I don’t think so). Anyway, this was a beautiful place too - so serene and peaceful.

We were there until sunset… soooooo pretty!

Still more to come! Stay tuned - please!

The handling of bread here is a little different than it is in the US. There is no such thing as bread in a bag… well, there is, but no one buys it. When you go into a store, the bread just sits there on a shelf. No bag, no paper, nothing. Just grab the loaf you want. Made a wrong decision? Put it back. Pick another! haha - wow. But everyone does it. I guess if you didn’t know any different, then that is okay.

So once you’ve selected your special loaf, you put it in a bag… ok, so the bad doesn’t necessarily fit the bread but never-the-less you put it in there. Then cart it home… in whatever is handy. Like this fellow:

hahahaha - Oh yeah. This was actually taken when I was at Versaille. I guess he was savin’ his bread for later.

Option #3
Apparently, there was another strong runner I ruled out by ‘mistake’. Please consider option #3
Example of option #3