Already before I left for Paris I had decided that I wanted to go to see one of Yael Naims concerts when she was to come in November and so I did on 15th. It was at Folies Bergere where Edith Piaf, among many others, used to perform. And I so regretted that I had not brought my camera. The hall of the theater is exceptionally beautiful. But on the positive side I now have a great excuse to go some other time. Yael Naim is an absolutely amazing artist. Very sweet voice, lovely poetic feel to the music and lyrics. And she has a presence on stage like no artist I have ever seen. She looks so genuinely happy that I’m convinced she is. She has fun entertaining the audience and dancing in crazy shoes and getting all of the audience up from their seats and singing along. It was definetely one of the best concerts I have ever been to. So charming and sweet. She has not left my ipod since the concert.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Weekend in Denmark
After our lovely holiday it was very nice to only be back at work for one week and then have a long weekend. It was a national holiday on the 11th of November so that was two days off! On Friday the 7th of November I went to the airport in the afternoon and got on a plane to Denmark. I didn’t arrive in Odense until half past ten in the evening, so I was very tired, but I arrived to a nice milkfree batter for pancakes prepared by my wonderful boyfriend and that’s always good for lifting your spirit!
On Saturday we picked up some photos from the photo store from our holiday because I wanted to get them back with me to Paris. We had ordered one enlargement and I think maybe 15 normal size photos and that’s what we paid for, however when we saw the photos on Sunday all of them were enlargements so we had made a great bargain! In the early afternoon we went to the Zoo to say hello to all the animals who have been missing me for these last couple of months, or at least I have been missing them!
Late in the afternoon we drove along with Jacobs parents to the birthday party venue (his moms 70th), which was really lovely. The food was alright – not usually so when I haven’t cooked myself. Eating has turned very complicated for me having discovered that I am lactose intolerant and can only ocassionally eat very small amounts of dairy products. This spring I ate 100 % vegan and now I have returned to eating a bit of egg and chicken. But I suspect it will only be a matter of time until I become 100 % vegan (for specific health reasons). The birthday party was lovely, however I’m just not that much into the formal-dinner-party-followed-by-dancing. On Sunday we had afternoon coffe at Jacobs parents’ place (her real birthday) and when his dad said that he hoped I had realised I wanted my future wedding celebration to be like that I thought to myself: there is no way I’m doing that. Ever! I want to go to Vegas! However, boyfriend is not buying into that plan!
On Monday I took the train to visit my parents and we had a late celebration of my moms 50th with a nice lunch and lots of gifts imported straight from Paris. Also nice to go for a walk in the forrest with the dogs. Tuesday I flew back to Paris and then had to go to work on Wednesday.
On Saturday we picked up some photos from the photo store from our holiday because I wanted to get them back with me to Paris. We had ordered one enlargement and I think maybe 15 normal size photos and that’s what we paid for, however when we saw the photos on Sunday all of them were enlargements so we had made a great bargain! In the early afternoon we went to the Zoo to say hello to all the animals who have been missing me for these last couple of months, or at least I have been missing them!
Late in the afternoon we drove along with Jacobs parents to the birthday party venue (his moms 70th), which was really lovely. The food was alright – not usually so when I haven’t cooked myself. Eating has turned very complicated for me having discovered that I am lactose intolerant and can only ocassionally eat very small amounts of dairy products. This spring I ate 100 % vegan and now I have returned to eating a bit of egg and chicken. But I suspect it will only be a matter of time until I become 100 % vegan (for specific health reasons). The birthday party was lovely, however I’m just not that much into the formal-dinner-party-followed-by-dancing. On Sunday we had afternoon coffe at Jacobs parents’ place (her real birthday) and when his dad said that he hoped I had realised I wanted my future wedding celebration to be like that I thought to myself: there is no way I’m doing that. Ever! I want to go to Vegas! However, boyfriend is not buying into that plan!
On Monday I took the train to visit my parents and we had a late celebration of my moms 50th with a nice lunch and lots of gifts imported straight from Paris. Also nice to go for a walk in the forrest with the dogs. Tuesday I flew back to Paris and then had to go to work on Wednesday.
African Footprint
On the 5th of November I was going to the Casino de Paris to watch African Footprint. The metro wasn’t running as it should, so I was the one who ended up (almost) running in order to catch the show. And in heels I might add! The intro to the show was a bit boring, however once the real show began it became anything but boring. In contrast to the show at the Moulin Rouge some of these guys did not have that much clothing on and that really revealed their impressive muscles. Lovely! I really recommend that you and see this show if you get the chance somewhere. It’s awesome!
The Casino is a lovely venue for a show like this. I’ve actually been to the Casino once before and eaten a nice lunch in their restaurant and I think doing a before-show or after-show dinner there would be lovely. They have a very beautiful mosaic window in the restaurant which really adds something special to the room.
The Casino is a lovely venue for a show like this. I’ve actually been to the Casino once before and eaten a nice lunch in their restaurant and I think doing a before-show or after-show dinner there would be lovely. They have a very beautiful mosaic window in the restaurant which really adds something special to the room.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Tour Eiffel
On Sunday (2nd of November) we headed for the Catacombs once more and once more we gave up! The lines were exceptionally long and since there can only be 200 people inside at any given time and there were already 175 in there at that point, we estimated that it would take at least a couple of hours of waiting – something we did not desire at all.
We decided to go to the Eiffel tower instead and walked up to the second floor from where you have to take the elevator to the third, which of course we did. However, I like the second floor more than the third because the third always seems so crowded due to its small size. Of course it’s fascinating being so high up and all, but I like to have some space around me!
We ended up going home already in the middle of the afternoon because I wanted to get a little downtime to get some energy for going back to work the next day. We watched the last episodes of the first season of Dirt on dvd and cooked at home. So the last day of our wonderful holiday was spent very leisurely.
We decided to go to the Eiffel tower instead and walked up to the second floor from where you have to take the elevator to the third, which of course we did. However, I like the second floor more than the third because the third always seems so crowded due to its small size. Of course it’s fascinating being so high up and all, but I like to have some space around me!
We ended up going home already in the middle of the afternoon because I wanted to get a little downtime to get some energy for going back to work the next day. We watched the last episodes of the first season of Dirt on dvd and cooked at home. So the last day of our wonderful holiday was spent very leisurely.
Sartre & Le Train Bleu
On Saturday (1st of November) we wanted to go and visit the Catacombs however they were closed (I had suspected this since it was a national holiday) but we decided to give it a shot anyway. It rained pretty much cats and dogs, however we decided to go to Cemetiere Montparnasse, which is very close. So we sort of got our sightseeing in the land of the dead anyway. How is that for weird? Well actually I don’t think that’s weird at all. At home we often cross the cemetery when we are out walking and in my mind I think it must be nice for the people buried there to hear actual living people speaking. I know it’s sort of stupid, but from an emotional point of view I find it comforting. From a realistic point of view I find it very comforting that when you’re dead you’re not the one who is sorry about it. You’re just gone and that’s it.
We found Sartres grave which was our goal, even though none of us are great fans of Sarte. To me he was one of these pretend-to-be-philosophers. Or maybe I’m just not smart enough to understand him. You decide what you think ;-) But I’ll prefer Descartes or Rousseau anytime when speaking of French philosophers.
We got take away food from a great eco bakery at the end of Rue Mouffetard and then headed over to the Museum of Natural History because we wanted to see the Musee d’Homme which has Descartes brain on display. However when we got there there was a huge line, since it was autumn holiday in France during that week, and a warning posted outside that there could be lines after the ticket office to get into the exhibition as well so we gave up on it and we’ll go another time. Actually we didn’t really do anymore during the day as it was raining so heavily, we just walked through the Jardin des Plantes and took the metro back and relaxed for a couple of hours before dressing up for dinner.
And dinner was just awesome. We had reservations for 8 o’clock at Le Train Bleu which is just the most beautiful restaurant I’ve ever dined in and the most expensive I think! But well worth it. Le Train Bleu is a historical monument. It opened in 1901 and was renamed Le Train Bleu in 1963 after the legendary train service that brought the Parisian upper class to the Riviera in summer. It has had guests such as Coco Chanel, Jean Cocteau, Dali, Brigitte Bardot and last but not least the lovely Jean Gabin (whom I just adore in La Grande Illusion from 1937). We ordered a great salad for entré, Jacob ordered the beef fillet and I ordered the grilled vegetables, both dishes were outstanding. For dessert I tried the rhum baba, which was very “rhummy” meaning that I think I would have gotten drunk had I eaten all of it (it was huge and they poored a lot of rum on it). Jacob got the profiteroles, which I think are a bit wrong when served with ice cream in them but apart from that I love profiteroles very much! All in all one more very lovely evening ending, with the short walk back in the crisp cold Parisian November night.
We found Sartres grave which was our goal, even though none of us are great fans of Sarte. To me he was one of these pretend-to-be-philosophers. Or maybe I’m just not smart enough to understand him. You decide what you think ;-) But I’ll prefer Descartes or Rousseau anytime when speaking of French philosophers.
We got take away food from a great eco bakery at the end of Rue Mouffetard and then headed over to the Museum of Natural History because we wanted to see the Musee d’Homme which has Descartes brain on display. However when we got there there was a huge line, since it was autumn holiday in France during that week, and a warning posted outside that there could be lines after the ticket office to get into the exhibition as well so we gave up on it and we’ll go another time. Actually we didn’t really do anymore during the day as it was raining so heavily, we just walked through the Jardin des Plantes and took the metro back and relaxed for a couple of hours before dressing up for dinner.
And dinner was just awesome. We had reservations for 8 o’clock at Le Train Bleu which is just the most beautiful restaurant I’ve ever dined in and the most expensive I think! But well worth it. Le Train Bleu is a historical monument. It opened in 1901 and was renamed Le Train Bleu in 1963 after the legendary train service that brought the Parisian upper class to the Riviera in summer. It has had guests such as Coco Chanel, Jean Cocteau, Dali, Brigitte Bardot and last but not least the lovely Jean Gabin (whom I just adore in La Grande Illusion from 1937). We ordered a great salad for entré, Jacob ordered the beef fillet and I ordered the grilled vegetables, both dishes were outstanding. For dessert I tried the rhum baba, which was very “rhummy” meaning that I think I would have gotten drunk had I eaten all of it (it was huge and they poored a lot of rum on it). Jacob got the profiteroles, which I think are a bit wrong when served with ice cream in them but apart from that I love profiteroles very much! All in all one more very lovely evening ending, with the short walk back in the crisp cold Parisian November night.
Montmartre & Moulin Rouge
PICTURE: The "I Love You-Wall" just behind Place des Abesses. A great place for kissing! Notice the Danish: Jeg elsker dig just above the German: Ich liebe Dich.
On Friday (31st of October) we headed for Montmartre and started out scouting the souvenir shops on the street going towards the hill from the Anvers metro station. Lots of kitsch yes, but I did find a couple of items I liked. Just didn’t want to buy them right there and then and have to drag them along all day. That’s the good thing about living here – I can return when it’s more convenient.
We took nice pictures of the carrousel beneath the stairs up to Sacre Cæur and lots more on our way up. We went inside the church, which is really one of the most beautiful churches ever. Afterwards we walked a bit in the area near the church were I found my new green hat in a nice little shop. It’s a bit big but at ten euros and in freezing weather I decided it would be a good deal anyway.
After that we did the obligatory stroll through the Place du Tertre, which looses some of its charm in the cold, but the advantage is that there is more space to actually look at the paintings and the artists who are drawing pictures of people. We then went down to the Rue Lepic and saw the Café les Deux Moulins were Amelie works in the Fabolous Life of Amelie Poulain. If you haven’t seen it yet, this is a movie you absolutely have to see. It’s a very intelligent and beautiful love story, modern but still with some of the adventure and beauty which is otherwise only seen in old movies.
The adventure we had next on our list was to go to Antoine et Lili in Rue des Martyrs to find a very special dress for an important birthday party. Browsing through the clothing racks in this store will improve your mood no matter what. Their clothing is very special and a lot of it comes in very intense colours. I think I gathered five different pieces and as soon as I had tried the first one on the sales assistant said that it wouldn’t work. Which I complely agreed with. It made me look like a hippopotamus. There was actually something really reassuring about his behaviour – I’m absolutely sure that he wouldn’t have let my buy a dress which didn’t look great on me. The second dress I tried on was great, but not fancy enough for the birthday party. I might go back another day to buy it but before I even entered the store I had said to myself that I would only be allowed to buy one item and one item only as their clothes are quite pricey.
The third dress was the dress! A lovely green Asian-inspired creation made of dark green heavy silk. There was no doubt about it. This was going to be my dress for the party. I just loved the way the sales assistant spoke to me as if I were actually a trendy person, I who usually just throw something on and then that’s just it! He sure knew how to make the customer feel good and make her return, which I absolutely will. They have so many great items there. And I loved that he gave suggestions for various ways to style the dress without trying to sell me more stuff. After buying the dress I was so happy that I made Jacob take some snapshots of me being genuinely happy! After that we visited a shop in the Rue des Trois Freres were I have bought a nice day dress on another occasion but this time there was absolutely nothing interesting. Which I guess was lucky for my wallet!
Now it was time to go to the lovely maison de thé in Rue des Abesses, where I have gotten nice crêpes earlier. This time I decided to have crêpes with honey and lemon. This was a great combination. The room is so lovely decorated and it’s just so nice to make a stop there. Before the visit we were actually panicking a bit about what to buy Jacobs mom, for whom the grand birthday party was to be. And things turned out to be as they always are. Once we had given up for the day and retired to the tea house we found a lovely shop just next door and went in just to look, not actually thinking about the present at all and then I found a nice red leather bag which would just be perfect for her. She has a really cool style, effortlesly stylish and trendy despite her age and even though this is a “young” shop I just knew she would like it. We then decided to also buy her the Moulin Rouge perfume and returned to their shop, which we had visited earlier in the day, and tested it. It’s great. I want it for myself as well!
Then it was time to go back home and change into fancier clothing. We returned to Montmartre for our 20 o’clock reservations at Chez Svetlana, which I just love and finished our meal just in time to go for a walk in the area before the grand event of the evening: the Moulin Rouge show. Walking in the Boulevard Clichy on a Friday night really is a bit different from walking on most streets. Every 25 meters someone offers you to go inside to see a live show. And you hear all over “ladies free, ladies free.” Well not this time for us anyway! Also there are a lot of sex shop with many items on display in their windows.
At 22.30 we went to stand in line outside the theater as the show began at 23.00. Standing in line I noticed this American couple of whom I thought “she’s only with him because he has a lot of money,” and “he is only with her because she is young and has had breast implants” and so forth. As it happened we were placed at the same table as them and got to talk with them before the show and I just loved the fact that they disproved all my prejudices about them. They were so lovely people both of them and really interesting to talk to. I just love it when that happens because the next time your thoughts about another person is based on prejudice you’ll say to yourself, it might not really be the way things seem.
The show was awesome and I even liked the champagne which came along with it – and I only like it when it’s very sweet. The girls were very sexy. All the guys were of course gays and I can say that with some certainty as I’m actually one of these people who realise that not all dancers are gay. My brother used to be a dancer and he is very straight! One of the male dancers however was a bit hot but the problem is that the guys wear too much clothing. That isn’t fair! ;-) Apart from the dance acts there were also acrobats, who were absolutely amazing, and a magician and lots of other acts. The show didn’t end until 1.30 and we hurried to the metro station as the metro ends at 2 o’clock. We returned home very happy about this day and we’re happy that we were lucky enough to get to see the show, as my mom and dad had given us the tickets as an early Christmas present as they’re so expensive. But they’re so worth it!
We took nice pictures of the carrousel beneath the stairs up to Sacre Cæur and lots more on our way up. We went inside the church, which is really one of the most beautiful churches ever. Afterwards we walked a bit in the area near the church were I found my new green hat in a nice little shop. It’s a bit big but at ten euros and in freezing weather I decided it would be a good deal anyway.
After that we did the obligatory stroll through the Place du Tertre, which looses some of its charm in the cold, but the advantage is that there is more space to actually look at the paintings and the artists who are drawing pictures of people. We then went down to the Rue Lepic and saw the Café les Deux Moulins were Amelie works in the Fabolous Life of Amelie Poulain. If you haven’t seen it yet, this is a movie you absolutely have to see. It’s a very intelligent and beautiful love story, modern but still with some of the adventure and beauty which is otherwise only seen in old movies.
The adventure we had next on our list was to go to Antoine et Lili in Rue des Martyrs to find a very special dress for an important birthday party. Browsing through the clothing racks in this store will improve your mood no matter what. Their clothing is very special and a lot of it comes in very intense colours. I think I gathered five different pieces and as soon as I had tried the first one on the sales assistant said that it wouldn’t work. Which I complely agreed with. It made me look like a hippopotamus. There was actually something really reassuring about his behaviour – I’m absolutely sure that he wouldn’t have let my buy a dress which didn’t look great on me. The second dress I tried on was great, but not fancy enough for the birthday party. I might go back another day to buy it but before I even entered the store I had said to myself that I would only be allowed to buy one item and one item only as their clothes are quite pricey.
The third dress was the dress! A lovely green Asian-inspired creation made of dark green heavy silk. There was no doubt about it. This was going to be my dress for the party. I just loved the way the sales assistant spoke to me as if I were actually a trendy person, I who usually just throw something on and then that’s just it! He sure knew how to make the customer feel good and make her return, which I absolutely will. They have so many great items there. And I loved that he gave suggestions for various ways to style the dress without trying to sell me more stuff. After buying the dress I was so happy that I made Jacob take some snapshots of me being genuinely happy! After that we visited a shop in the Rue des Trois Freres were I have bought a nice day dress on another occasion but this time there was absolutely nothing interesting. Which I guess was lucky for my wallet!
Now it was time to go to the lovely maison de thé in Rue des Abesses, where I have gotten nice crêpes earlier. This time I decided to have crêpes with honey and lemon. This was a great combination. The room is so lovely decorated and it’s just so nice to make a stop there. Before the visit we were actually panicking a bit about what to buy Jacobs mom, for whom the grand birthday party was to be. And things turned out to be as they always are. Once we had given up for the day and retired to the tea house we found a lovely shop just next door and went in just to look, not actually thinking about the present at all and then I found a nice red leather bag which would just be perfect for her. She has a really cool style, effortlesly stylish and trendy despite her age and even though this is a “young” shop I just knew she would like it. We then decided to also buy her the Moulin Rouge perfume and returned to their shop, which we had visited earlier in the day, and tested it. It’s great. I want it for myself as well!
Then it was time to go back home and change into fancier clothing. We returned to Montmartre for our 20 o’clock reservations at Chez Svetlana, which I just love and finished our meal just in time to go for a walk in the area before the grand event of the evening: the Moulin Rouge show. Walking in the Boulevard Clichy on a Friday night really is a bit different from walking on most streets. Every 25 meters someone offers you to go inside to see a live show. And you hear all over “ladies free, ladies free.” Well not this time for us anyway! Also there are a lot of sex shop with many items on display in their windows.
At 22.30 we went to stand in line outside the theater as the show began at 23.00. Standing in line I noticed this American couple of whom I thought “she’s only with him because he has a lot of money,” and “he is only with her because she is young and has had breast implants” and so forth. As it happened we were placed at the same table as them and got to talk with them before the show and I just loved the fact that they disproved all my prejudices about them. They were so lovely people both of them and really interesting to talk to. I just love it when that happens because the next time your thoughts about another person is based on prejudice you’ll say to yourself, it might not really be the way things seem.
The show was awesome and I even liked the champagne which came along with it – and I only like it when it’s very sweet. The girls were very sexy. All the guys were of course gays and I can say that with some certainty as I’m actually one of these people who realise that not all dancers are gay. My brother used to be a dancer and he is very straight! One of the male dancers however was a bit hot but the problem is that the guys wear too much clothing. That isn’t fair! ;-) Apart from the dance acts there were also acrobats, who were absolutely amazing, and a magician and lots of other acts. The show didn’t end until 1.30 and we hurried to the metro station as the metro ends at 2 o’clock. We returned home very happy about this day and we’re happy that we were lucky enough to get to see the show, as my mom and dad had given us the tickets as an early Christmas present as they’re so expensive. But they’re so worth it!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Château Versailles
On Thursday (30th of October) we went to the Château Versailles. It’s a little less than an hours trainride from Paris to Versailles, however we had to change trains because the traffic was irregular (as always!). When you arrive to Versailles it takes less than ten minutes to walk to the castle. I was actually a bit surprised that it is so near the rest of the city. We waited in line for more than an hour to buy tickets and it was freezing, so I would certainly recommend buying tickets in advance. For instance at the FNAC.
We did however finally make it to the front of the line and decided to have the castle tickets sans Marie Antoinettes estate, which proved to be the right decision because the weather was really against us in the afternoon! The castle is very impressive, but we had both thought that there would be a lot more to see. Maybe I will go back another time to do the 1½ hour guided tour that takes you into rooms that are otherwise not open to the public. It was really interesting to walk around these old rooms and imagine the lives of the people who lived here. I’ve been thinking a lot about a certain concept lately. Actually I think it’s something my brother said that started this line of thinking. He had read Homer’s Odyssey and he was surprised that the story – despite its age – was so sophisticated and portrayed reality with just as much accuracy and insight that we write today. That has made me think about the real people, who only live on in our minds as historical characters in books. They were real people too and had real emotions that were probably not so different from what the rest of us feel, if any different at all. Of course they were surrounded by different circumstances, but I don’t think that the fear Marie Antoinette must have felt is any different than the fear people would experience today if their lives and existence were threathened. It makes for a more intense exploration of the castle, when you keep that in mind. Especially visiting the beedroom from where she fled was a very special experience.
My interest in Marie Antoinette, which has always been there in some way, was sparked further by the book I got from my cousin Michael for Christmas a couple of years ago (Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser). It is very insightful, well written and it’s supposed to be well researched as well. I spend a good part of the end of June 2007 reading this book at my lovely terrace after exams were finally over and I can tell you it was a real treat! Also the film directed by Sophia Coppola is lovely, even more because the role of Marie Antoinette is played by Kirsten Dunst whom I just love.
The only downside to visiting the castle (except for the lines if you haven’t bought a ticket in advance) is that it’s very crowded, so its hard to take great photos inside. But at least you’re actually allowed to do photos and that’s just great! Another thing which is worth paying attention to is that if you exit the castle and the courtyard you cannot re-enter. We exited after visiting the castle to go and have lunch at the café and then we couldn’t re-enter to visit the souvenir shop. We managed however to get into the bookshop from where a friendly member of the staff led is into the castle again. The souvenir shop wasn’t that impressive however, and I’d say that you get more out of spending money in the bookshop, which was really nice and had Antonia Frasers book in stock as well!
Then it was time to visit the grand garden, however as I mentioned earlier the weather turned on us. From being simply very cold to being very cold and very rainy. So our visit to the garden was limited to a short 45 minute walk and the pictures we took there (including the one above) were taken while we alternated holding the umbrella over each others head!
Coming back to Paris we went back to the appartment and went online to search for an interesting place to have dinner. We found the Curieux Spaghetti Bar but once we found it we decided against it because the music was too loud. I’m sure we will go another time because the menu and the interior design is quite interesting, however after freezing most of the day and ending up being quite tired it was just not the evening for a “we’re-eating-in-a-trendy-disco” dinner. Another time. We ended up heading back to our new favorite Le Diable des Lombards and I ate exactly the same wonderful club sandwich once again.
We did however finally make it to the front of the line and decided to have the castle tickets sans Marie Antoinettes estate, which proved to be the right decision because the weather was really against us in the afternoon! The castle is very impressive, but we had both thought that there would be a lot more to see. Maybe I will go back another time to do the 1½ hour guided tour that takes you into rooms that are otherwise not open to the public. It was really interesting to walk around these old rooms and imagine the lives of the people who lived here. I’ve been thinking a lot about a certain concept lately. Actually I think it’s something my brother said that started this line of thinking. He had read Homer’s Odyssey and he was surprised that the story – despite its age – was so sophisticated and portrayed reality with just as much accuracy and insight that we write today. That has made me think about the real people, who only live on in our minds as historical characters in books. They were real people too and had real emotions that were probably not so different from what the rest of us feel, if any different at all. Of course they were surrounded by different circumstances, but I don’t think that the fear Marie Antoinette must have felt is any different than the fear people would experience today if their lives and existence were threathened. It makes for a more intense exploration of the castle, when you keep that in mind. Especially visiting the beedroom from where she fled was a very special experience.
My interest in Marie Antoinette, which has always been there in some way, was sparked further by the book I got from my cousin Michael for Christmas a couple of years ago (Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser). It is very insightful, well written and it’s supposed to be well researched as well. I spend a good part of the end of June 2007 reading this book at my lovely terrace after exams were finally over and I can tell you it was a real treat! Also the film directed by Sophia Coppola is lovely, even more because the role of Marie Antoinette is played by Kirsten Dunst whom I just love.
The only downside to visiting the castle (except for the lines if you haven’t bought a ticket in advance) is that it’s very crowded, so its hard to take great photos inside. But at least you’re actually allowed to do photos and that’s just great! Another thing which is worth paying attention to is that if you exit the castle and the courtyard you cannot re-enter. We exited after visiting the castle to go and have lunch at the café and then we couldn’t re-enter to visit the souvenir shop. We managed however to get into the bookshop from where a friendly member of the staff led is into the castle again. The souvenir shop wasn’t that impressive however, and I’d say that you get more out of spending money in the bookshop, which was really nice and had Antonia Frasers book in stock as well!
Then it was time to visit the grand garden, however as I mentioned earlier the weather turned on us. From being simply very cold to being very cold and very rainy. So our visit to the garden was limited to a short 45 minute walk and the pictures we took there (including the one above) were taken while we alternated holding the umbrella over each others head!
Coming back to Paris we went back to the appartment and went online to search for an interesting place to have dinner. We found the Curieux Spaghetti Bar but once we found it we decided against it because the music was too loud. I’m sure we will go another time because the menu and the interior design is quite interesting, however after freezing most of the day and ending up being quite tired it was just not the evening for a “we’re-eating-in-a-trendy-disco” dinner. Another time. We ended up heading back to our new favorite Le Diable des Lombards and I ate exactly the same wonderful club sandwich once again.
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