Learning Italian: Lesson 1

How to say "I don't Know?"

White Plasticy Goodness

My modestly sized Macintosh empire... I asked for 4 new computers for the Lab back on my trip in May... It took over 6 months, and many meetings to get them, but it was worth it...

Our Trip to Paris

Our trip to paris was our first big trip, and the first outside Italy... We flew from Milan to Paris with Easyjet and managed to only pay 35 Euro's per person per flight... After airport taxes and stuff it was only 200 Euros total for 2 people, there and back... Anyway we arrived on Saturday afternoon, after traveling in a tram, a bus, a plane, a train, a subway, and walking... (Take that John Candy!)



After finding our Hotel we wondered Down Champs D'Elisée and ate some tasty Tartes Flambées for dinner which is a very thin piece of bread with creamy sauce, and any combination of onions, ham, and mushrooms on top. Also You can eat as many of them as you want... We managed to share 3... I thought we should eat 5.. But we weren't up to the challenge.. (quiet shame)

After stuffing ourselves we wondered the rest of the way down Champs D'Elisée until we reached L'Arc de Triomphe, which was built for Napoleons Troops to honour them... Anyway there is stuff for many differnt wars there, and a flame that veterans keep burning...

The Next Day we went for Lunch at a restaurant called
le Grand Colbert and had the best french onion soup ever! Go figure the French would know how to make the best french onion soup. Then we wandered through Le Palais Royale where there is a nice fountain, and at another part there are pillars of different heights sticking out of the ground...

At this point we walked to the Louvre, however we didn't go in because it was 3:30 and it closed at 5:30... So we decided to come back another day. However we checked out the giant glass pyramids, took some pictures of the building and strolled around in the park outside and had some coffee at a Café in the park... (The Italians have the french beat on making coffee... Also we paid 3x as much for the coffee in paris as we do in Italy) Also, also Nat's Coffee had lumps in it... Which gives it an interesting texture, and an unpleasant flavour.

Next we went to Notre Dame de Paris, which is on Ile de la Cité (an island) in the middle of La Seine (The Canal that runs through Paris). It was Sunday so there was a service going on, but people can still go through the church... We paid extra to go through the Treasury which had a collection of old robes, and things that had been encrusted with Diamonds... As we came out of the church the service was finishing and they started ringing the bells... It was pretty good timing for a visit... Here is a video of the bells ringing..

After Notre Dame, we walked along side La Seine (The Canal) all the way back to the Eiffel Tower, which it turns out is an hour and a half walk... (but nat informs me it was 2.5 *wink*) But it was nice! There were lots of tour boats going by and we enquired about hitching a ride on one, but they weren't sure if we could get off at the Eiffel tower, so we just walked...


When we got to the Eiffel Tower, we got some tickets to go up to the top, you can go up to one of three stops, the more you pay the higher you go... We figured it would be silly not to go to the top, so we did... The elevator to the first two floor is very quick however there is a 45 minute line to the third floor... But we got to hang out and see the view as we waited for that elevator so it wasn't bad. Here is a longer video for the elevator ride to the top.

The next day we had Brunch at a really small Mom and Pop restaurant run by a nice couple... We had some Tarte Salée, some salad, and Chocolate cake! Then we went to spend the day at the Louvre. We spent 5 hours in the Louvre and only managed to see maybe 1/3 of the museum... I think you'd have to spend a good few days there to see everything... We did manage to see The Mona Lisa, The Venus De Milo, Virgin of the Rocks, Winged Victory, and lots of other stuff...

On our last day in Paris we went out to the bakery and got ourselves some fresh baguette and jam for breakfast... Mmm... They do fine work! After that we headed to Le Musée Rodin which was quite close to our hotel, Rodin created the sculpture "The Thinker". We also saw the Gates of Hell, it was Oct 31st and we lived to tell the tale.. After that we headed back off to Milan, it was a pretty cool trip! Now I have to get my hair cut because I haven't had it cut since I was in Canada... So it's long.. I don't know how to explain how to have it cut because I don't speak italian... Taglia mean cut... But other than that I'm screwed... So I'll probably end up with a mullet...

Pictures of our Trip to Paris