Paris Highlights, Galette des Rois

Currently, I'm sitting by a fireplace with the snow falling outside. I've been a bit sick since we were in Paris, a few days now, so I'm having a break from everything. Sitting here with an inhaler thing full of hot water, eucalyptus and tea tree oils. Strange, how many Australian things we've been coming across over here. Europeans have a facination with the antipodes, it seems.

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Bergamo to Milan then Paris, via Geneva

A long day spent travelling on the trains. First train was pretty good: saw a lot of countryside and Swiss mountains. The lake was really cool cos we went past it at about sunset. Then took a TGV train to Paris. Wasn't too bad, but I don't like fast trains that much. Had to take the Paris metro, where A and S fell over with their luggage. Met up with our friend who S and I stayed with. After dinner and a chat we took the others to their hostel and then took a walk around Montmartre, near where we were staying.

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Paris

New Years Eve: Crazy local market in the morning after a late breakfast, really crowded and full of North African French people. Fresh produce was pretty cheap there. Bought things for our New Years Eve dinner. Went to a free film exhibition in the Grand Palais, and visited the Invalides. The film installations were really cool - some of the screens were massive, a few were slightly disturbing. It was a huge space though and unheated (except the toilets) so it was really
cold.
Dinner was raclette - melted cheese on potato and ham and anything else with champagne and French wine. Tried fois gras too - it's superb. We went to our friend's friend's friend's apartment (!) where there was a party on. After the countdown there was more champagne - some of the real, expensive stuff (incomparable really; don't know how I'll drink the other stuff anymore) and dancing until the wee hours.

Next few days involved lots of walking around. Saw the Notre-Dame - way too long a queue so we found a smaller church to look at - it was pretty too with lots of interesting abstract stained glass windows. Walked along the Seine, Pantheon was closed, but saw a part of the Sorbonne University as we passed, and spent some time with the free internet access we found catching up with the rest of the world.

Went to Parc Asterix. If you haven't read the comics, you're missing out. Lots of puns and beating up of Romans. Great fun. Theme park was snow covered and iced water bodies. Pretty cold but they had braziers to keep you warm. Went on a few rides, but a lot were closed due to the weather. Very Gallic. Very cool. I got a photo with Obelix too - highlight of the day. =D

Friday evenings is free at the Louvre for under 26s, so we joined the queue for a few hours in a massive complex and a massive collection straight after returning from the park. Saw some of the famous stuff, but I was more interested the Near Eastern collection and many of the exhibitions were closed, which was disappointing. Like the huge French paintings though.

A long of walking followed during which I probably spent too much. Saw the Centre Pompidou but only to see the building (pretty cool with pipes everywhere) and visit the shop. Found a few places on my way to the massive department store Galleries LaFayette. Then along a short section during the peak traffic period on the Champs Elysees to see the Arc de Triomphe. Took another walk to see the Eiffel Tower by which time it had gotten dark so it was lit up. Shame I didn't see it when it was blue though - France has just handed the presidency of the EU over this year.

The first Sunday of month is free entry to a lot of the museums and galleries in Paris including the Louvre and the D'Orsay. I went to the Musee National du Moyen Age (Musee de Cluny) though - full of stuff from the Middle Ages. There was a special exhibition about Celtic and Scandivanian archaeological stuff - from the period of transition from paganism to Christianity - the art styles are interesting. I was fascinated by the way they made chains for necklaces back then - they don't look much different to now. Saw The Lady and the Unicorns tapestries too, which I had no idea was there when I went.

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Angers

Staying at our friend's parents place, a house built in the traditional style of the region, Angevine. Lots of really nifty stuff and am sleeping in the attic. Had a really nice dinner last night.

On Epiphany, the French traditionally have galette des Rois - a type of cake which differs in different regions. The one here is a brioche type. The almond type is from the northeast and in the south is a heavier butter laden one. See here for an explanation of the tradition, http://www.askoxford.com/languages/culturevulture/france/galette/
It was tasty too.

It's snowing quite a bit here, lightly then heavily. It rained a bit earlier, so the streets are a bit iced over. I haven't been out, but that's what my friends told me. Probably take it fairly easy over the next few days.