The Versailles Palace is located pretty far off from Paris itself, not to mention our hostel. Halfway we got confused with the platform signs and nearly got to the point of complete panic. The moment we figured our metro map out, our train flew past us. Took us a good run to the other end of the platform. I think this was the point where I hurt my right knee.
After all that chaos, we still did not manage to go in the palace (closed on Mondays). By the way, the gardens are HUGE, maybe 3-4 kilometres long !!
Within seconds, he was doing this Muppet performance that was really really good. When he finished, he collected basking tips using the same Muppet sock!!
Wish I could tape more but we needed the memory for the rest of the day …
June 16, 2005 at 12:19 pm · Filed under Food, France
This is a special blog entry to show what I normally eat in the hostel.
There’s no way I can afford to eat out the whole time. To start with, in Paris we didn’t come across any supermarkets as we travelled between the landmarks. By the time we got back, the only thing open is an “Oriental” across the road. Or we think it’s one as the sign only says “Exotiques”, which judging from what they offered means pretty much anything non-Occidental.
My dinner bowl consisted of instant Vietnamese beef noodle soup, Moroccan baked beans, Turkish beef + poultry sausage of some sort, and Yeo’s soya bean milk. How’s that for variety in your diet !!
I can finally see why Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers were pioneers. A lot of experimental work in the 70s, like Kisho Kuragawa’s Metabolist movement, was about celebrating and being upfront about architectural technology. The structure is clearly exposed, the building services like electricity, ventilation, water are outside and marked with bright colours. The thing is, he did it with such finesse and skill, it gives so much merit to this type of architecture and makes those ideas very convincing.
This such a magical place, built entirely from white stone. I have wondered if this is the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien’s Minas Tirith. If you look closely at the beginning of Moulin Rouge (the 2001 film), you’ll notice this church on the backdrop!!
Love how you can get free water from water fountains that appear out of nowhere in Paris.
Mmmm… I’ve ordered it so many times I can do it in French now, “Boujour madame, crêpes Nutella du coco, sil vous plait!” They cost roughly €2.40 each, so I’ll go broke if I don’t break the addiction.
There’s just too much to see, I now understand the need for monthly membership. We went to the famous ones, like the Aphrodite (Venus de Milo), Winged Victory of Samothrace (Nike), Slave Boy by Michaelangelo, Code of Hammmurabi…
a young capricious bloke with a penchant for the strange, unknown, and exotic. Here lies the journals of my worldly travels, as I trot around the globe in search of adventure!
