Champs-Élysées shopping, Grand Palais, Petit Palais

Today again ROCKED.

I hung out with some new friends, I have a new Canadian in my room now who is originally from Calgary but sounded totally British. He is traveling with his girlfriend and she is British and he has lived in the UK for the past 3 years or so. So I hung out with them and the guys from London, Ontario and my new friend, who is a self-proclaimed "tall Asian-looking German guy" - haha he is hilarious and this is certainly the best description I can imagine, so he was right to call himself this name!!

Anyway today was sweet, I took a very long breakfast and talked to some girls from the Czech Republic. I then took the Metro to the Arc-de-Trioumph and walked all the way down the Champs-Élysées, a HUGE street with tons of super expensive stores. Also I finally got a photo of the fact that McDonald's serves Beer as a drink choice and that the Quarter Pounder with Cheese is called a "Royale With Cheese" a la Pulp Fiction fame. Good times!!

I then got a bad ass bagette for lunch, a Sesame Camembert roll!! Maaaaaan it was good... and then I slept with my head on my backpack for an hour, listening to Dave Matthews Band on my iPod. Um.... AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

I then trekked across a bit more to the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais which are HUGE and were built in 1900 for the Paris Exhibition. That was nice and then I walked past the Hotel des Invalides to try to get to the Rodin outdoor park and art gallery, but it was closed once I got there. It looked cooooool though. He made the famous sculpture called "The Thinker." Awwessooome!! I might go back another day if I have time.

Ok. Then back home and just chillin' for a bit. I saw a Ratatouille poster, en Francais and almost passed out with excitement. Yes, I took a photo and it's posted below. Enjoy!


Last night I went out to Sacre-Coeur with the guys from London Ontario and my new Asian German friend


Le Chat Noir at night


Moulin Rouge at night!!


Me workin' it near Moulin Rouge


Cartier store on Champs-Élysées, it looked insane


Hahaha!!! 28,700 Euro watch, that's like $40,000 Canadian dollars!!


McCafe?!?! They had these in Australia too... weird.


Haha


Ok this was freakin' hilarious. There is a "McOriental" burger!! Also, aparantely "Super Size" here is about the size of the Small drink in North America!! Look closely at the menu on the left, it lists "Boissons", i.e. drinks you can choose with your meal. Coke, Coke Light (i.e. Diet Coke), Fanta... and 1664. That is a BEER!!!!!! You can choose a BEER with your Extra Value Meal!!


This is sooooo cool. "It's called a Royale with Cheese!!"


H20 Car at the Puegot dealership.


Another cool car


This rocked, and I got to sit in it.


Louis Vuitton store had a line up!!


Cool Lacoste store, I went into it and it was cool


I looked up, and saw this sign... it took me a second to realize it wasn't a random French sign as usual... and I was like... wait a sec, that says "Chabad!!"


Sweet car at Toyota place


Whhaa??!!


This was SWEET, a freakin' reflective Silver Toyota!! You can see me taking the photo in the reflection. Also I think this is the European Yaris, cause it's called the "Auris!" haha!!


This was freakin' funny too. "Quick" is like a French McDonalds. They have a Spider-Man 3 promotion for the movie that is coming out next week, and they have a Spider-Man burger and they are saying that the cheese is like the spiderwebs!! Check out the pattern on the bun!!


Yes folks, that says "Les Simpson"


The big Virgin Music Megastore


Cool Political satire comics


Disney Store!!!!!! They actually had a lot of Cars die-cast toys available!! I guess people in Europe are not insane about them like people in the USA are... sweet.


Awesome Sesame Camembert bagette I got for lunch. I also got a freakin' awesome "Grille Pomme" - kindof like an Apple Turnover. It was so good I ate it before I took the photo of my lunch.


Where I had lunch today. The flowers smelled freakin' awesome.


Where I slept in the park for an hour listening to Dave Matthews


Now this... is the life!!!!! Chillin' in Paris!!!


Sculptures on Le Grand Palais


More sculptures on Le Grand Palais


Le Petit Palais


Le Grand Palais


Le Grand Palais


Le Petit Palais


Cool trees along the street


Sculpture on the Pont Alexandre III bridge


Even the streetlights in Paris are amazing


Haha a Police city bus?!?! I guess the Police also need to go on bus trips to Disneyland to?!!


Hotel des Invalides with a Smart Car driving by, lots of those cars here


Ratatouille poster, en Francais!!

L'Orangerie Monet art gallery, Eiffel Tower, Lunch

Today was freakin' sweet... again!!! No surprises there.

I started off the day with hostel breakfast again, it's free and just bread and coffee essentially but it saves a couple of Euros and the coffee rocks so it's gotta be done. After that I said bye to my German friends who were leaving and then headed to the Métro station, and took the Métro all the way to Concorde again, that's where the Obelisk is, and also the location of L'Orangerie, the art gallery with some of Monet's Waterlillies.

I had some coffee in the park and wrote some postcards back home first. Then I went to see the artwork and the Monet painting were aawessome. There were also some works by Picasso and others. I then walked along the Seine river to the Eiffel Tower, walking through random sidestreets until I found a nice place to eat lunch. After that I got to the Eiffel Tower but it looked like rain so I decided to go up the tower another day, and just took photos from the bottom. After that it did in fact start raining, pretty hard too, but only for about 10 minutes!! I talked to some nice people who helped me find the nearest Métro stop and I think they were Italian. I don't know Italian and they didn't know English, so we sort of "met in the middle" and spoke in French. :)

In the rain I jogged with my stuff to some sort of memorial at a place called Place des martyrs Juifs du Vélodrome d'Hiver. From my rough translation of the sign there it looks like
this is a memorial to the French soldiers who faught in the Battle of Bir Hakeim.

I just Wikipedia-ed this to find out some more info.

The station was called Quai de la Grenelle until 1949, when it was renamed to commemorate the Battle of Bir Hakeim. A commemorative panel is situated at the entrance of the platform for trains traveling towards Nation.

It is the station closest to the Eiffel Tower; the signs on the station walls say "Bir-Hakeim — Tour Eiffel".

Near the station is the site of the former Vélodrome d'hiver (Winter Velodrome or "Vel'd'Hiv"), which was famous for its cycling competitions but infamous as having been the first place of detention for thousands of Parisian Jews who were rounded up by the police on July 16, 1942 before their deportation to concentration camps. The velodrome was destroyed in 1960 in the course of work done on the bank of the Seine (Front de Seine). A commemorative monument has been raised near the south side of the station, above the tracks of the RER C.

So I saw this memorial right near the Bir-Hakeim Métro station.

Also I looked into the sign that said that Emile Reynaud lived on the street where my hostel is. Turns out that this is Charles-Émile Reynaud, creator of some of the first animated films! (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emile_Reynaud)

Ok, onto the photos!


Cheese at the supermarket!!


Mmm... fromage!!


Probably more yoghurt than I have ever seen, it was 2 full aisles of yoghurt!!


Some really crazy "Apple Litchi" Tropicana


My new American friend from Seattle


Breakfast at the hostel


Italian Ice Cream!!


At the Jardin des Tuileries


Really nice trees at Jardin des Tuileries


Swweeeet


Cappucino and writing postcards at Jardin des Tuileries


Monet's Waterlillies!!


Awesome


More Waterlillies


Word!!!!


Sooooooooo amazing!!!!


Monet is awesome


Cool Picasso painting


A court jesters painting


Very cool clouds and sun rays today in Paris


Walk from the Jardin des Tuileries to Tour Eiffel


Bridge at Pont Alexandre III


Hehe this was cool, a reaaaally hot model was being photographed by a whole crew of fashion magazine people at Pont Alexandre III


The sign on the bridge across the Seine


Me chillin', Tour Eiffel in the background


Haha the drink I got for lunch was called "Pschitt!"


Haha, check out the website, http://www.pschitt.fr, haha


I got a crazy club sandwich, smoked salmon, egg, mayonaise, cheese, tomatos and also a salad


Word


Me at the Eiffel Tower!!


Sweet Eiffel Tower picture


Eiffel Tower from underneath


Sweet


Haha weird sign, "New Safe Ice Cream Heat Treatment"?!?! Lost In Translation I reckon...


Sweet pic just before it rained


Merry-Go-Round


Bridge across the Seine as it was raining


Place des martyrs Juifs du Vélodrome d'Hiver sign


Place des martyrs Juifs du Vélodrome d'Hiver memorial


Bir-Hakeim station


Haha, this is funny, it says en anglais, that "Between 2007 and 2008, Bir-Hakeim station will be changing" and it has a wooden screen up as if the station is "changing clothing" haha


This was nuts, some of Ans's mechanical engineering friends from UWO showed up at my hostel, and Otto is staying in my room!!


The cat at the hostel