Finally in France...

SATURDAY  JULY 8^th 8:25am

Wow, we’re finally in France! We arrived in Paris, the capital, yesterday afternoon and were too tired to do anything but book into our hotel, which is great, really beautiful. We also had to change our money into Euro’s, which is the currency here.

It’s morning at the moment; we just finished having breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant. It was a traditional French breakfast with coffee, tea or orange juice and baguette’s and croissants’ with jam. It was really nice but a very light meal compared to what we eat at home. The waiter told us an interesting fact about croissants’. They actually weren’t invented by the French. They were originally made in Austria in the 1600’s and introduced to France shortly after. I’ve put a picture in of our breakfast.

Anyway, today we are going to see the Eiffel Tower! I’m really excited, I’ve always wanted to see it, I’ll tell you about it tonight...

The Eiffel Tower...

 SATURDAY JULY 8^TH 5:20pm

Wow, the Eiffel tower is amazing! I found out some interesting things about it while we were there; The Eiffel Tower is 986 feet tall, it was the tallest structure in the world in 1889, when it was built. The tower was designed by Gustave Eiffel in 1887 for a competition that was held in Paris to design a monument for World’s Fair. Eiffel’s design was a tribute to the French Revolution and took two years to build. Did you know that originally many people protested against the construction of the Eiffel Tower? It was made so that it could be torn down but it was such a great tourist attraction and also a tool for radio broadcasting that it was left standing.

After seeing the Eiffel Tower we went and found some lunch, then we had a look around the shops for a while before coming back here, the hotel.  It’s great walking around listening to everyone speaking French, which is the official language here. Something else you might like to know is that the population of France is 62,616, 488 (as of 2009). Anyway, at the moment we’re having a rest for an hour, we’re pretty tired from all of the walking around. Later we’re going out to dinner at a restaurant, just a few minutes’ walk down from our hotel. My first French dinner, I wonder what it will be like...

Paris at Night...

SATURDAY 8^th JULY 9:01pm

Dinner was great, and dessert was really good too, I had crepes Suzette. They’re like pancakes but thinner and crepes are usually either folded in quarters or rolled. The sauce that is poured over them is orange flavoured.

As it’s summer time (June to September is summer, winter is from December to March, spring is March to June and autumn September to December) and the weather was nice, we went for a walk around after eating dinner. The Eiffel Tower was in the distance and was all lit up, it looked spectacular.

It’s great to be in Paris at this time of the year, there are lots of festivals on. Foire Saint-Germain is a festival that is on during June and July. It has been held since medieval times. Concerts, poetry, antique fairs and exhibitions are held. Another day coming up soon in Paris is Bastille Day on July 14^th, and although we won’t be in Paris for that it is celebrated with a public holiday for all of France. Bastille Day commemorates the storming of the Bastille, a prison, in 1789, by French revolutionaries. The storming of the Bastille marks the beginning of the French Revolution when King Louis XVI was overthrown and executed along with his wife and many other people.

Well, it’s been a long day and tomorrow will be pretty big too. We’re going to see the Notre Dame Cathedral and visit the Louvre.    

The Louvre and French Onion Soup...

SUNDAY 9^th JULY 5:06pm

Wow, the Louvre was awesome. It’s so big. We took a tour but because it’s as big as it is we didn’t see all of it. We did see some cool paintings though. It’s amazing seeing pictures of them for all of my life and then actually seeing the real painting. The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is among the 35,000 pieces of artwork that are in the Louvre.  Did you know that there are so many paintings in the Louvre it would take weeks to see them all.

The tour guide told us a the history of the Louvre while we were walking around, it was really interesting to know how it started out and how it has become what it is today.

The Louvre was built in the late 12^th century by Philippe-Auguste as a fortress to protect Paris form Anglo-Norman invaders. In the 16^th century it was renovated and used as a palace for Louis XIV. It remained that way for a few centuries and began showing artworks that France had been collecting. In the 18^th century the Louvre began to show artwork full time and has become a museum from that. Over time different rulers have built extensions onto the building.

Before we went into the Louvre we went and had lunch.  I had French Onion Soup, and I don’t really like onions but that soup was really good. It is made from beef broth and caramelised onions and is served with crotons and cheese on top. 

Once again we’re having a break before dinner. We’re going to eat at the hotel’s restaurant tonight.

Leaving Paris...

SUNDAY 9^th JULY 9:16pm

I’m just doing a quick update before heading to bed. Tomorrow we’re getting up early and leaving Paris for a week and a bit, seeing more of France. Some of the places we’ll be visiting are Versailles, Chartres, Dreux, Evreux and Le Havre. We’ll come back to Paris for the last part of our holiday and spend a few more days here before flying home.

Dinner tonight was really nice, but once again I’m going to tell you about dessert. I had Crème Caramel. It’s a custard dessert with a soft caramel top and was really tasty.    

The French Countryside...

MONDAY 10^th JULY 9:01am

We got up early today and are now driving out of Paris in our hire car, I’m writing this while we drive. We’re heading to Versailles where the Chateau de Versailles is. We’re staying the night there and them moving on to Chartres. I’ve put up some pictures of the countryside we’ve seen as we’ve been driving along.

Château de Versailles...

MONDAY 10^TH JULY 4:30pm

We are now at our hotel in Versailles and are staying here the night before moving on to the next town. We’re going on a bit of a trip around France for the next week or so, like I told you last night. It will be great to see more of the country.

Today we visited the Palace of Versailles, or the Château de Versailles. I’ll tell you a bit about it; Château de Versailles was built from an old hunting lodge in the 17^th century, it was designed by Louis Le Vau for Louis XIV, (who, by the way, was crowned king at the age of 5 when his father died) who was escaping the busy Paris life. Surrounding the Château are beautiful gardens designed by Le Notre, and also the amazing fountains by Mansart.

It’s really beautiful, the gardens and fountains are fantastic and the rooms are so extraordinary. We went on a guided tour, otherwise we wouldn’t have access to some of the rooms, and even on the tour we didn’t see them all.