Day 42

Last night after the cyber cafe I walked back over to the hostel where I saw one of the Aussie guys who was in my room last night having a feed outside, so I walked up to him and we had a chat for a while, and about our days and stuff. I was gutted to find out the next room on pretty ,uch from where I turned around and called it a day in the lourve was his highlight, the Napoleon Apartments.. That was a bummer; but I think I may go back on Friday and finish off the stuff I didnt see and revisit my favourites too.

I asked him where he got his dinner coz it looked good and i was craving some COOKED meat, then headed off to get some. It was a doner kebab shop, but all the kebab shops here also sell chips, and sandwich style things (what the aussie guy was eating) I gestured my way to one of those with chips and tomato sauce and mayonaise, and then took it back to the hostel to eat it. YUM!!! it was soooo tasty ay!! And heapsa meat, ahh it was great! and only 4.50 euro which isnt too bad for paris too.. The only other thing that happened was I met a girl from Sweden which was cool, she was staying on the same floor as me and I met her in the lift. After all that I holed up in my room, and feel asleep during a sermon.. and it was a really good one too!! I felt pretty stink, but ill listen to it again tomorrow. I was totally wasted, so it was my fault for trying to listen to it in a state where I wasnt gonna take it in properly. Oh and I had the room to myself which was nice!!

Today I got up a bit later and had the normal brekky, took the normal rolls for lunch (altho I ended up giving them away) and had a shower before heading off again. First off I went to the Arc de Triomphe. This thing was bigger than I had visioned, and was really nice!! I didnt bother going up, but I spent some good time underneath it and looking at the madness of the traffic around it (there are no markings, about 6ish lanes though, and incoming vehicles have right of way!! MADNESS!! lots of horns blazing too ha ha. Qfter this I took a liesurely walk down to the Palais de Challiot that stands before the Eiffel tower.. Stopping on the way in a nice bakery for a snack. The Palais de Challiot wasnt any big shakes.. and a cool looking long water feature out front was empty being cleaned too.. but thats cool. i got offered some tacky souvineers about a million times, took photos, then walked down to the tower. This thing was pretty big too!! There were militqry dressed guys walking around with full automatics in groups of three which I found a little creepy, but I took a bunch more photos and called home for a bit. I got approached by like ( diffentent people wanting money who would use the sneaky line ' do you speak english' and when you thought, hey! i can actually help someone out in france with language, they give you the exact same note saying dear ladies and gentlemen, im from bosnia and blah di blah. I gave 2 or 3 euros to the first one, but after seeing it repeated over and over I wonder how authentic they were..

I was unsure whether I should pay 11 euro instead of 3 so I could go to the top.. although in the end this problem was solved for me by the huge lines to get to the top, and the fact that after being there about an hour the top was still closed because of overcrowding. The stairs up to the 1st and 2nd levels werent too bad, and you got some great views of Paris, especially from the 2nd. I dunno what to say.. it was the eiffel tower.. it was cool!! :).

After the tower I walked in the gardens infront of it; and then walked over to the big Hotel on the other side of that bridge I saw. it is called the Hotel des Invalides, and it ,ust have been a palace earlier as its surrounded by a moat, has connons on display, and is really ornate, with gold and a cool design. To the side of this Hotel is a little park and ?useum you can pay to get into with works by Rodin in it, of most note, 'The Thinker'. I went in here and it was really pleasant, hardly anyone there (nice to escape the tourist hoardes), and the park layout was really nice. I bought a ridiculously priced créme brullé icecream; then lay down for a while on some wooden lounging chqirs that were here and there.

After resting up a bit I carried on walking and went past the Assemblee Nationale Palais Bourbon, which looked pretty cool, big old building that looked like a town hall. From here I walked down along the river past the Museé D'Orsay which was a huge very impressive building with some huge clocks and massive sculptures on the outside. I kept walking along the river and got to the Institut de France which was also a cool building, I dunno what to say ha ha. I then turned in and walked past some classy as shops with ornaments, furniture and clothes; none of which had price tags, which is always a good sign ha ha! I then got to the St. Germain des prés church. This was ok, but I didnt find it anyhting special, and I knew nothing much about it so yeah.. it must be pretty old though.

But then I got to the St. Sulpice church which was a stunner! Up there with Notre Dame! Unfortunately one of the big turrets at the front was covered with scaffolds, but even so it was amazing to behold, and it had a great fountain outside too! Inside was even better!! The ceiling especially was great! And the church was laid out in the shape of a big cross, with heapsa art and stuff all over the place. It also had this astrological monument thingy that had something to do with the Da Vinci code, but I forgot what. Anyway.. I spent quite a while in here as it was totally great! And after that I headed out and to the Palais du Luxembourg.

I coulda spent ages here and itd be a fantastic picnic spot! There are some beautiful as flowers and gardens, a few cool fountains and water features including a big fountain in the middle, and of course i pretty impressive building. there is heaps of space to sit and enjoy the surroundings, and you can hire these cool sailing boats for the big fountain which is mainly flat with a squirter in the middle. they somehow recogine the little stick with tape at the end that are supplied with the ships, and you can therefore direct them around the place. very cool. I didnt do it though.

After this I walked over to the Pantheon which I had seen, but it was closed :(, i guess that makes sence as it was now past 5 oclock. I decided I would therefore come back tomorrow (gonna have alot to do!) and saw a kebqb shop and got me another one of those legendry sandwich type things for dinner (oops.. forgot to have lunch!), and then had this divine Nectarine and Peach crumble sundae from maccas.. Man was it good! The best takeaways dessert ive ever had by a long shot!! I wanted to go get another lol!

After that I saw this good looking intyernet cafe so decided id give it a shot, and it uploads my photos in a flash! Its 3 euros an hour, and ive had 3 hours so far.. but hopefully I wont need a 4th.. But I think Ill be able to get up all my photos (well.. There are tons, so a selection of my photos..) today. After Im done I plan to go around Paris at night a bit to see whats lit up and how it looks etc, then off for my last night at the hostel.

Again, Ill write about the experiences tonight in tomorrows blog ay?

Sweet, catcha later!!