Oct 30, 2012 - Rick Steves' Historical Tour

Today we had a sleep in day. Not that we slept in but we didn't head out until 9:00. Another cloudy day. We followed the historical tour in Rick Steve's Paris. We walked down to Point Zero, the spot in front of Notre Dame that is the center of France. Toured the inside of the cathedral and then went to wait in line to climb the tower only to find we were in the front of the line and not the back and we didn't want to go back and start over. Decided we would come another day. ( This was the first long line we have encountered and there was...

Oct 28, 2012 - Finally in Paris

We finally arrived in Paris. Of all the flights in Africa the flight to Amsterdam was late leaving, and the short stop in Dar Es Salaam was delayed do to technical difficulties with the video system. We arrived with less than an hour to get to our gate. We ran through the airport, got through the priority immigration line, had a very nice gentlemen in security find us a short line and made it to the gate only to be told we were being put on the next flight! The reason was so our luggage could make it. They wouldn't help us in trying to...

Oct 21, 2012 - Test 1

This is a test journal update: Condition of Internal Coating: There are a lot of corrosion nodules present at the base area of the walls where they join the floor seal - osmotic blisters are also present on majority of lower wall areas. The by-passing channel running across the floor will be causing significant short of circuiting of the tank as it directly connects the inlet nozzle to the outlet area.

Oct 12, 2012 - Train to Paris

Sadly, we must leave Lauterbrunnen this morning and start our 3-train day to Paris for the night. Paris is our overnight stop on our way to Southampton to board the Queen Mary 2 for our Transatlantic cruise to NYC, starting on Sunday. Our route would be: Lauterbrunnen to Interlaken Ost (20 min.) to Basel, Switzerland (2 hr.) to Paris de Lyon (3 hr.) We paid for our hotel room with the last of our Swiss Francs and our credit card; paid our Paris taxi driver with euros and tomorrow we'll need English pounds when we get to London. Whew! It has...

Oct 11, 2012 - Malta - with added pics

We arrived in Malta on Monday and after living in such a beautiful apartment in Paris, we were bitterly disappointed with where we were staying in Malta. The location was good, but the place itself was pretty ordinary - and that's being kind! Malta was great! Spent the first full day searching for where my family lived in Ponsonby street in Gzira. It was a bit of a walk to say the least but the scenery along the waterfront was pretty special. Took some photos of me in front of our old place and then took a walk around the corner to the...

Oct 8, 2012 - Au revoir Paris

Yesterday was delightful. We spent the day wandering around MontMatre, watching street performers in the Pompidou Centre and then watching Jon Dames chase them away. Apart from the many homeless around our abode, it is also a gay precinct. So there has been some really trendy and gorgeous shops to look at apart from bakery's that specialise in penis bread. Unfortunately, our last day is rainy and the museums are closed as it is Monday. We were pretty lucky though to get into the Louvre for free, which occurs only on the first Sunday of each...

Oct 7, 2012 - A day at the races

Hi All Set off today to Longchamps racecourse for the running of the Prix de L'Arc De Triomphe! It has nothing on our Melbourne Cup! Atmosphere not as good as our's! The only thing the same is that I lost! They don't seem to put as much effort into their fashion as we do in Melbourne. The catering is pretty ordinary too - not much variety in the food you can buy - baguettes, crepes, lollies and candied nuts! I asked for a salad baguette and they looked at me like I was an alien! We left after the main race and caught a bus to the train...

Oct 6, 2012 - Saturday 6th October

Hi Everyone We headed off today at about 11.30 and made our way by train to Montmartre, Sacre Coeur and walked past the Moulin Rouge. We had a bit of entertainment on the train - guy playing trumpet - but you don't get it for nothing - he was handing the cup around for donations. Suckers that we are, we gave him some change and he was very grateful. Probably headed off to his penthouse somewhere in Paris! Walked around Montmartre and up to the church of Sacre Coeur. We've been there before on our previous trip but it's worth another visit....

Oct 6, 2012 - Friday 5th October

Hi Everyone Yesterday was another day of walking, walking, walking.... Started at around 11 and got home at about 8pm! Marty, one of our landlords, dropped in for a chat and also to give us free passes to the races on Sunday - Paris' equivalent of the Melbourne Cup - we won't be dressing up though! He and his partner Philippe are so accommodating - if there's anything we need they are so helpful - would recommend this apartment to anyone who wishes to travel to Paris. Headed off to a travel booking office to see if we can hop on a tour to...

Oct 5, 2012 - Merci Paris

We have had two full days in Paris and today was particularly great. We caught three trains in the space of 30 mins to arrive just in time to go on a cruise of Canal St Martin. It started at Musee D'Orsay, went past Notre Dame cathedral and under the Bastille Tunnel. This tunnel is 1.7kms long and is over a hundred years old with natural lighting from shafts in the roads and bridges on the streets of Paris. We were supposed to go through two swing bridges and 9 lochs. As it happened the last swing bridge was not working today, so we stopped...

Oct 5, 2012 - Paris Thu 4th

HI everyone! A bit late with yesterday's blog - sorry - but was so tired when we arrived back at the apartment last night. Started off yesterday at about 9.30am and headed off to Chanel once again so that Anna could return her belated birthday present - earrings she bought the day before had a piece missing would you believe!! The sales woman was very apologetic - as you would hope to expect - so Anna told her to 'shove them' - not really - :) and decided that she wouldn't take the earrings and replaced them with a beautiful necklace and...

Oct 4, 2012 - Bonjour from Paris

Well we arrived in Paris at 23:20 and caught a taxi. It is fitting that I am writing this on James Bond's 50th anniversary because getting to our accommodation was very cloak and daggers. Firstly, I had emailed to advise the people who have the apartment that we would be arriving near midnight. On the website, they advertised that this could be accommodated and they sent me an email confirming the address of the unit. They advised me that they wouldn't be providing the address again as we would need to collect the keys from a different...