France...Paris, Verseille, Tours and the Chateau region

As impressed as I was with the train into Lisbon hitting 224km/h...I felt like Mario Andretti when the TGV train to Paris hit an impressive 320km/h. Now that's moving!

But even with that, I was quite skeptical that Paris could match the high expectations I had set for the City of Lights and the romance capital of the world.



Boy...was I wrong!

I was quickly overpowered by everything Paris had to offer. Even though I roamed the city during November in which most of the cafes had people huddled inside for warmth and the gardens and parks were devoid of colour...it was spectacular.



It is a definite that I will be in Paris again...this time during the warmer months to see it at it's prime.



Like Rome...I'll let the pictures do most of the talking for Paris, but Oliver (a good Aussie boy) and I were both extremely disappointed in the quality of the Parisienne women. We both expected to see runway models walking down the street in every direction...boy were we misinformed.



I guess Paris didn't have everything, but it sure did have a lot.


Oliver and I hopped on a train to Verseille, only to find out that we were on the wrong train, but managed to hop off at the first stop and were able to catch a second train. Another mishap averted.

Verseille has a beautiful palace that the tourists flock to like seagulls and even in the off season it was pretty busy. Neither of us could be bothered to enter as the price tag was a bit steep so we both decided that the money could be better spent at the bar...so off we went.


Trying to get into the Verseille train station had security coming over to me as I was trying to insert an old ticket. I pulled the wrong one from my pocket, but then eventually found the right one as the security guard was ready to slap a fine on me. So to make sure I didn't make the same mistake, I made sure I threw out my old ticket...unfortuately when trying to leave Verseille...I quickly realized I had thrown out my valid return ticket instead. Back to the ticket booth to buy another ticket.
Stupid is...stupid does!

And then it was on to the Louvre. Now I had seen plenty of art galleries and museums, so I wasn't too excited to go in, but due to the DaVinci Code...I figured it had some allure.

And WOW!! I was blown away by the Louvre. We spent a very short three hours in the place and can easily see why people spend days in the joint. The amount of rare pieces of art they had in each room was beyond belief. Another definite must see for you guys.

I was on my own the next day and thought it would be cool to get out of Paris again and head to the Chateau region in the middle of France.

Unfortunately, by the time I arrived in Tours...a focal point for the chateaus...I only had enough time to visit one of the chateaus as they are kind of off the beaten path and public transit doesn't cut it.

Therefore, if you want to see the chateaus...rent yourself a car.

But I was able to see the very interesting Chateau Chanonceaux and it was worth the painful day of travel. The two things I remember the most about it...first the doorways and beds were definitely made for short people. Although the ceilings were anywhere from 14-20ft high...most doorways were under six feet.

Second...the chateau had a hedge maze. I had always wanted to try my luck at hedge maze...don't ask me why.

But I found it a little anticlimatic since the maze wasn't overly large and the hedge was only about 5ft high...so I could always see where I needed to go. Even Pam could have found her way out of the maze so you know it wasn't much of a challenge.

I had no idea about this phenomenon, but I was informed that for five minutes on each hour after sunset...the Eiffel tour sparkles with light. It was very cool and I managed to see it twice.

Unfortunately...as you all know...my camera sucks at taking night pictures so the picture to the left is a little fuzzy. Oh well...at least I got to see it clearly...I guess that's really all the counts. Sorry!



I hate to admit this, but I drank more beer than wine while in France. I know...very sad. I wasn't able to see France as I wanted to due to me time constrictions, so I also have to go back to see the Bordeaux region as well as the line from Grenoble to Dijon.

So I hope to see you all in France in the near future.

And now it's on to London to really get the reunions going. I can't wait to see the Groovy Grape and Magic Bus gang again.

I'm sure my liver won't like it, but I've convinced it to last at least one more month of travelling...and then maybe the Christmas season before it shuts down forever. I hope it obliges.