Christmas lights.

For what will probably be my last post until after Christmas (I'm going back to Canada on Sunday for two weeks), I thought I'd post some photos of the Christmas lights around town.

 

And, to finish the entry, a photo of my host family's Christmas tree.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone! Also, happy birthday to my sister; you're making me feel old.

Christmas market and a Ferris wheel.

Last weekend, I went into Paris again to see some friends and go to some Christmas markets. The markets were pretty neat, even if the prices were through the roof.

Some of the market stalls along the Champs-Élysées.

We wandered down both sides of the street, looking at all of the stalls and buying nothing. The thing that really caught our eye was at the end of the Champs-Élysées, at the entrance to the Tuileries.

Of course, we decided that we had to go on it. I mean, how could we not? The line was surprisingly short, and we got on about 10 minutes after we got in line.

As one could guess, the view from the wheel was absolutely amazing. You could see everything and, since it was dusk, the city was just beginning to light up.

All in all, it was totally worth the 10€ that it cost to get on.

My countdown to Christmas is now officially on! It's less than a month until I go back to Canada for two weeks over the holidays. I'm very excited to go home for a while. A real winter will be nice!

The Eiffel Tower.

Yesterday, I went to the Eiffel Tower with my friend, Mary. It was the perfect day for it; the sun was shining and it wasn't really cold out. The only downside to going yesterday, a Saturday, was that the top level was too busy and we therefore couldn't go all the way to the top.

The view from a park below.



One of the views from the second floor.



Looking up to the top from floor 2.



Mary and me on the second floor.



Perfect opportunity for a hockey jersey photo.

Hopefully, I'll go back and get up to the top level, although I don't think I'll get the same weather for quite a while.

L'Isle-Adam.

As I've been working this week, I haven't really had much of a chance to go out and take more photos. So, I thought I'd post some photos I took a couple of weeks ago around the town where I live.

Outside of the town hall.

Three shots of the Oise:

One of the main streets in town.

Château de Versailles.

On Wednesday, which was the last day of the Toussaint holidays, my friends and I went to the Château de Versailles for the afternoon. It's absolutely magnificent. It's unbelievable that people actually lived there once upon a time.

Back to school now, though. However, next weekend's a long weekend, as it's Remembrance/Armistice Day. Now that it's November, I'm really looking forward to Christmas. Not too long now!

Père Lachaise Cemetery.

As a somewhat Halloween-y activity, I went to Père Lachaise Cemetery yesterday with some of my friends. It is unlike any cemetery I've ever been to. Everything is so jam-packed together and all of monuments are huge and fancy.

Many famous people are buried there, so we set off to find the ones that interested us the most.

Molière, the playwright.

Édith Piaf, the singer.

Balzac, the author.

Jim Morrison from the Doors.

Disappointment: Oscar Wilde is currently undergoing restorations.

In all, it was a very interesting adventure. It is a very cool place to explore. Later in the evening, we ended up taking part in a pub quiz at a bar somewhere near Notre Dame. Amazingly enough, we didn't come in last! Our team, Les étrangères anglophones (the English-speaking foreigners), came in second-last. Thank God for the music category and the fact that I could recognize 'La Grange' by ZZ Top, although kudos for that should go to my parents for raising me in a classic rock-loving household. They would've been as shocked and appalled as I was that some of my friends don't know who the Doors are.

ATTENTION!

For the lovely people who've sent me emails/Facebook messages/etc. about how they want to leave comments on the blog but can't, I've changed the settings so that anonymous/people without Google accounts can leave comments. Hopefully it works, because I'd really love to hear people's thoughts!

Canadian pub and the Pompidou.

I spent good chunks of the last two days in Paris, doing stuff with some of the other English assistants. On Wednesday night, we went to the Irish Cultural Centre to an opera of The Diary of Anne Frank (very good, I thought). Yesterday, we decided to go to the Centre Georges Pompidou, which is the modern art museum. However, before we all met up, I went to The Great Canadian Pub near Notre Dame with two of the other assistants. It was very neat, even if they had run out of things I wanted (been craving a caesar, "sorry, we're out of Clamato"; wanted poutine, "sorry we're out of fries, would home fries be OK?" [they totally were]).

One of the banners outside of the pub.

A photo for the Habs fans in my family.

Only in a Canadian bar would you find a framed photo of a hockey fight, autographed by both players involved (Iginla and Lecavalier).

After a good but expensive meal, we head off to meet the others at the Pompidou. It's a very interesting builing from the outside.

Once in, we made our way to the musée levels, where they have more permanent exhibits.

On the escalator, which is that weird hamster tube-like structure on the outside of the building.

Next are some paintings, but, because I didn't take note of the artists or titles, I can't tell you anything about them.

And finally, the piece that I found odd. A table made by Francis Ford Coppola, complete with his name under the glass.

I have a lot more pictures, but it's just far too many to upload onto here. Maybe when I get back to Canada, I'll invest in one of those carousel projectors and do a marathon travelogue presentation... can you even still buy a carousel projector?

Day trip into Paris.

Yesterday (the first day of my Toussaint holidays), I went into Paris to meet up with some of the other English assistants that I met during training. We mostly stuck around the Notre Dame area, walking around a lot after having a lunch of delicious crêpes. Of course, I took a lot of photos of the area, so here are some of the more choice pictures.

Notre Dame Cathedral. There was some kind of event happening; not too sure what it was, as all of the signs were in Spanish.

A view of the Seine.

The glass pyramid outside of the Louvre.

The glass pyramid inside of the Louvre.

A small part of the Tuileries.

The Eiffel Tower twinkling at dusk.

Me outside of the Louvre, wearing the graduation present from my aunts and uncles.

All in all, it was a pretty great day. I'm planning on going back into the city later this week to actually go to the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, and spend a day in the Louvre.

Neuilly-sur-Seine

As promised, some photos of Neuilly-sur-Seine, a rather rich suburb of Paris.

Some apartments that look much more upscale than others.

A fancy-looking residence.

The school where the meetings were held. Insane, right? I mean, it had a fancier bell tower than some churches I've seen in Canada. This photo doesn't really do the school justice. It's much larger than what you can see here, as well.

Well, starting Saturday, I'm on holidays for a week and a half, so I'm really hoping to do some exploring and travelling. If all goes to plan (what few I have at the moment), I should have lots of photos and stories to share after the Toussaint break.