Paris in Pictures

The other side of Notre Dame






















On a boat cruise on the way to the tower

















The happy 25th anniversary couple






















Tom after lunch on the second tier up there

















The night view from our hotel room

















The serious side of Mare's art appreciation at the Louvre

Paris - the bagette stereotype is so true!

Everywhere people are carrying bagettes some are even eating them. I think its a look in Paris to carry around a long thin loaf of bread. So we tried it and they are really tastey - very fresh. The other stereotypes like the barets - not as true.

Mare and I had a spectacular time is Paris. It was short but sweet. The highlight was eating lunch with my parents ON the Eiffel Tower. It was in a plush restaurant about half way up the tower. The food was mouth watering and the service was pretty good too. We sat next to the window with amazing views of paris - all the popular sites like Arc de Triumph, sacre coeur Basilica (Im sure the spelling is wrong here so pronounce the words phonetically, cause thats how I spelt them:). For those who have been to Paris you will understand what Im talking about. For those who have not - it will all be giberish.

Anyways, Mare and I stayed in the red-light district, Montmarte, as you do. We got the room included in our plane ticket. To our suprise, it had a view to die for. For those who have been to Paris - we had the basilica sacre coeur on the right and the Eifell Tower on the left and all in between too. For those who have not been - sucked in :). just kidding. It was an amazing view - check out the photos.

There is a lot to write about, like Notre Dam and the area, how freakin huge the Lourve is, and all the history and museums scattered around the city.

One thing that I had heard about and experienced while over there was many of the French peoples aversion to speaking English. Its kinda funny. They speak it very well. They will greet you in French, thats understandable, and they will continue to speak in French, which is ok because we are in France. But if you do not try to do the same, or act in anyway impolite while speaking English, they will act like they dont speak the language - until, off course, there is money to be made. Then they seem to understand your every word. They live off tourism in many places and they know it. Most tourists dont speak French. Maybe, they are just too proud to be submissive to any other culture and language - why? "...Cause we're French" (pronouced 'fhench')

The easiest way to get around this is to say "Bon jouir, hello" and then speak english. It shows that you would like to but cant speak the language - it worked well for us. Before I got the hang of this, I messed up a couple of times. The best was greeting a bar-tender with "Hello, merci."
This means "Hello, thank you" - no wonder he didn't understand my english when I asked which way to the Moulin Rouge. It turned out that it was just down the road from our hotel and he told me to go left - why? "...cause we're Fhench"

Individualism in the city vs in the country

I wonder if people in the city are more or less individualistic than those who live in smaller towns in the country.

This struck me as I stepped off the train onto the platform and automatically moved into line following all the people getting off the platform. There was a whole wide platform to walk on, but we all chose to walk pretty much in a straight line. We were all the same.

The 'city' is know for having all kinds of people in it and fostering a sense of freedom where everyone can do what they want. Especially in a place like London, they can choose from many different styles, habits, and lifestyles to live by. So the city is seen as a more individualistis place to live - I mean individualistic in the sense that you don't have to follow trends or a collective way of living and thinking, but can do your own thing in your own way.

While in the country, the small population forces people to fit in or be left out, so it is viewed as a restrictive way to live.

But in the city there are soo many times when people do the same thing, when we are just one ant in the whole army of millions, of what seem like, other identical versions. It may be following the croud at the train station, swarming to work in the morning and home at night then again to work the next morning, going out on a saturday night, making money for the sake of it, watching the same TV shows, all the same stuff that most people do - so much for doing your own thing.

In the country, a person can distance themselves from most influences which affect those in the city. There may not be any people around for miles so that person is definatley one of a kind. They can wear what they want out there, say what they want, do any sheep they want... hehe.

Then again, in the city there are more of these activity to choose from and fit into than in the country. Even though we may be 'fitting into' a way of living, there are more options. If there are times that we seem like identical speks, it is only because we are on our way to a unique end and happen to meet in the middle - as I got off the train yesterday, the person in front may have been going to dinner, while another to the park while I was off to beat someone up at training in a dodgey gym behind the station - not many poeple do that...

But still, with all this talk of freedom and individual choice of lifestyle in the city, many of us seem to just slide into a way of life which is just like everyone elses. You can also say that we are social creatures and need a sense of belonging hmmmm...

We are going to Paris this weekend

Maree and I went to an RnB nigh club with Maree's Brother, Kire, and his girlfriend on the weekend. It came recommended by Kires mate. We had a good time - drinks, dancing, good times. It was in a great part of town, really gorgeous, I have photos, but no promises as to whether I will actually put them up :)

It was definatley one of the most expensive places we've been to - £20 to get it, and about £35 for a round of 4 drinks. THats like 80 bucks! We made sure we were going to stay there and have a good time! And we did.

And this coming weekend should be even better. We are off to Paris for the first time. We are taking friday of work :) and catching the train over. My parents will be there staying in a posh hotel - as for us, its the ghetto. Nah, we will be staying in an area more like the Kings Cross of Paris which means the night clubs will be near by....

We're excited to be going but I dont know what to expect. I havent really travelled around europe and have never felt the urge - I like the crazy adventures like Bolivia. The exciting thing is that hopefully my dad will tell us about the history behind pretty much everything in Paris :)

Plus we can walk around talking in a french accent and maybe grow a funny moustache... or maybe just me, not Maree... ye me with the moustache and her with the Fench arm pitt hair.. lol eeeeew

Oooh ye its Friday No 2

I got my GAMSAT result back. Last year I got 58 which got me an interview at ANU (Canberra Uni) - but it wasnt where I wanted to be. I wanted to go to Sydney Uni and their cut off was 61. So I missed out and tried again this year.

This year I got...

.....

64!

I was aiming for 70, but I will be happy with whatever score gets me into Sydney Uni.

64 means that even if the cut off continues to rise the average of 2 points each year, which it has been for the last three years - it would be 63 this year and I will be in with a great chance to get an interview at Sydney Uni!

If not then my second choice uni is Notre Dame. This is a new med school opening this year in Sydney. Its new so it will be keen to invite students and I expect the cut off to be low. But because its new, it will be less experienced.

But that doesn't matter anyways, cause Im going to Sydney Uni :) The interviews are in late september and Im shopping around for tickets - I say act like you're going to get it and things will go your way.

===========================

On another note, I bet people are asking 'why is Tom the only one writing updates? We wanna hear from Mare'

Well too bad.

Just kidding. Its because Mare doesnt like you.... or it may be because at work her website for this blog is all in German and she cant understand German, so she cant use it. But she keeps letting me she is really keen to write stuff. Plus shes busy at work, unlike me :)

Adios,

Tomasz

PS I was reading a friends blog and she mentioned an article which was a crack up - a member of the Polish government wants to ban the Australian kids TV show 'Tele Tubies' because she thinks the one with the hand bag is gay. The MP calls it homosexual propoganda and doesnt want Polish kids exposed to it.

I always though the tele tubies were for stoners... they should ban them because it promotes weed smoking - funny shaped martian things in bright colours running around in an imaginary world talking in a funny language... it already sounds psychadelic and kinda like the British - they're all around me right now...

Our first Ozzy visitors

Some of you may know Mark and Katrina Gabriel.

Mark is the tall, funny looking Tae Kwon Do superstar I went to uni with. While Katrina is his better half.

Well, they are in the Uk for a 17 day tour with Katrina's family. Their first stop was London and we took the two of them out for a day of real London site seeing. The tourist attractions are a must while here. And so is the other side of London.

Mare and I took the two newbees to Camden Town, which is like Sydneys Newtown on acid. Its a funky place to go out with celebs and locals hanging out at the clubs and bars at night. And the punks, goths and other extreme crouds frequenting during other times.

It was pretty restrained really, but theres a huge market there and the stuff they sell is the main attraction. There is one store that sells clothes and accesories for ravers. We couldnt take photos but they have some wacky stuff there including an instore go-go dancer, t-shirts with LCD screens and anything you want that glows under uv (black) light.

I think it was a bit of a shock for the two townie from the blue mountains - Mark and Katrina, but I think they liked it.

Our next visitor is Nate from Santa Cruz. Hes stopping over on his way to Africa. More on that later.

But for now its back to my evil plan of taking over the world.... one bank at a time muahahaha

oooh ye its Friday :)

Last night Mare and I went to see our housemate perform. Shes in a band called Angelique Kenny - which is actually her name. Check her out on http://www.myspace.com/angeliquekeni

It was in this random club in a random part of town. But it was pretty funky inside. And Ang had some cool songs. SHe has a style that resembles Bjork doing rock songs. Both Mare and I had a couple of favourite songs she sang. But it was a school night so we left right after and had to get back to bed - Ang and Terry stayed, had drinks and we were asleep by the time they got back.

On another note, many of you have met by mate Dawson. He's a guy you remember after meeting him - mainly because he's a cool guy, is a Karate black belt, started an online community for like-minded people, puts out a seasonal fashion e-zine (there's a link to it on the right of screen), goes to uni at UTS and is blind.

The illness that took his sight has been getting worse lately and I found out yesterday that he's not doing too well. Mare and I want to send him our best wishes. He reads the blog and is hopefully going to visit later in the year. His sister is over here too so it works out well.

So Daws, I'm still planning to take you around London to try the best tastes and drinks around here. And there are a sh*tload of styles in London to cover in the e-zine.