French Film Festival

I went to see one of the movies showing as part of the French Film Festival last night. We ended up seeing a film called "Manuale d'Amore" (Manual of Love) which is an Italian film. You might think it strange that I saw an Italian film as part of the French Film Festival. Well, I didn't really.

We wanted to see a film called "Couches Froides" but when we got there it had sold out. As had the films for today and all but one of the films for tomorrow. Incidentally, the only film in the festival that we didn't want to see.

So, we had a look at the other films showing at the cinema and the Italian film was one option, so we saw that. It was quite a good film and I enjoyed it, but I will have to remember to buy tickets well in advance for future French Film Festivals (I hope you enjoyed that alliteration).

Ouais Grosse...

I've been listening to a certain song that I was introduced to by a Parisian called "La Boulette". I shouldn't like the song at all, I should hate it (or, I should ate it, as the french would say), but I heard it so much when I was in Paris that the song reminds me of that city, so it has good associations.

The singer, Diam's, has a website, located here. If you click "entrer sur le site" and then scroll down to "La boulette" and click on "visonnez la boulette" you can watch the clip and listen to the song.

Well, I'm back...

I arrived back in Brisbane this morning at about 7:30am, by the time I managed to gett off the plane, get my baggage and pass through customs.

For those living in or near Brisbane, if you want to catch up, let me know when and where, etc. I've already seen my doggy, so the most important task is done. :-)

Soon to be in transit

I have only one day left in France before I fly home to my dog. I miss my dog.

I've had a great time here, and I don't really want to leave, but on the other hand, I have different fingers.

As a cuisine report, I thought I'd mention the french foods I've sampled while here: Frogs' legs, goie gras, choucroutte, raclette, fondue (savoy style), snails, countless pastry things, and some other things that I can't remember the names for.

Anyway, I'm not looking forward to the flight home, as it will be 24.5 hours without a travel companion, which means it will most likely be incredibly boring. But on Monday morning, I'll be back in Brisbane and I'll see those of you in that region soon after. And I'll see my dog again :-)

Back in Paris

Although, from my lack of posts, you'd think I never left.

Since the last post, I've spent time in Grenoble, Lyon and Marseille, including skiing near Grenoble. I can't be bothered writing much write now (notice the pun) but I thought I'd write something to let you all know I'm still alive :-)
I'm having a great time here, and I'm trying to do as much as I can in the few days I have left.

For those of you who have four digit postcodes starting with 4, I'll be back next Monday and then you can either see me again or try to avoid me (ie, Mark).

Paris again....

Time time I'm using my computer (ah, I love wi-fi), so I can type much faster because I know where all the keys are; I don't have to hunt around the keyboard to find the apostrophe or comma or w, for example.

I'm having a great time in Paris. Yesterday I saw the Arc de Triomphe, and ate frogs' legs on the Champs Elysees. They were good. After that I went to the Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur and Butte Montmarte. There was also a lot of general wandering around.

Today I'm going to the Palace of Versaille.

I'm in Paris!

I arrived in Paris about 2 hours ago and met Julien at the airport. I'm now back at his apartment following a tour (by car) of the centre of Paris.

I'm typing this on his computer, which has a french keyboard, so I'll finish here because it's annoying to find all the letters and punctuation.

My last night in Gliwice

Ok, it's now 5:34pm on my last night in Gliwice. Assuming all goes according to plan, by this time tomorrow I'll be in Paris with Jul.

I went shopping today and bought a jam doughnut, two bottles of żubrówka, a pastry thing with jam, and 2445euros. The euros were the most expensive purchase. Also, the 100euro notes are quite large, larger, I think, than necessary, and it was hard to get them into my money pouch, especially because there were 24 of them. I now have one in my wallet, and it barely fits. Really, there's no need to make money inconveniently large.

I have almost finished packing. It seems like there are always many more things to cram into my suitcase. When I left Australia, my suitcase had a lot of spare room in it; enough to fit in my laptop when we were travelling around Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, now I don't think I could even think about trying to squash my laptop in there. I know I have some more clothes, but not many, and I can't think of much else that I have now that I didn't have then, so I don't what the cause of the lack of space is. This isn't worrying in itself except that when I left Australia with my roomy suitcase, it weighed 20.5kg, which is a pretty good weight when the airline imposes a limit of 20kg. Now I'm worried that my luggage is going to weight something astronomical like 30kg or more. I really hope it's not that much, and that if I am significantly over, that the check-in person is kind and forgiving as according to SkyEurope's website, the excess charge is 5euro per kg. 10kg extra would be painful for my wallet.

Well, this is probably going to be my last post from Gliwice as I want to pack my computer soon. The next post will come to you live from either France or Australia. Ciao for now.