Playlist

This is the first time I've actually forgotten to make the playlist post!!! OMG I feel so ashamed :D Especially as I've been thinking about it for a long time... thinking of gathering all my favourite Eurovision songs together etc. but since I've found new music I'll leave the eurovision playlist as a back up plan for rainy days ;)

This months favourite song :)

Neon Jungle - Welcome to the Jungle

I loooove the chorus on this :) PS! check out the lyric video, awesome idea!

Childish Gambino - 3005

Another Pearl from Ed Sheeran :)

Sing!

This is hard as I've got two songs still wanting to make it on the list :)

But since I am not sure if this song is officially coming out as a single and I've waited a while to listen to this without the pitched voices I'll put up:

Iggy Azalea ft Rita Ora - Black Widow

And my Estonian choice for this week is Mr. Specials fav song

Karl-Erik Taukar - Vastupandamatu

Ttyl ;)
Jazzz...

The Louvre

On Monday - when everyone at my work went to Disneyland (I didn't go because Mr. Speacial WANTS to go there sooooo bad) we decided to go to the Louvre. This time got there early - about half an hour after opening - to avoid queueing half the day and the plan was succesfull :) The small queue outside the pyramid was just like a slow walk. Which started with Mr. Special making his presence known to everyone by almost falling flat on his face... I travel with a little child -.- He didn't want to go the long way around the ropes and seeing some people step over them he wanted to too... Lets just say he can't actually lift his legs up so high to step over it without tripping - three times -.- everyone laughed... hahaha indeed...

Now for the people ready to queue outside of the pyramid - the wait isn't over! (evil laugh) upon entering the pyramid your bag is scanned and you can proceed into the pyramid, where you can buy tickets, have a coffee, visit the souvenir shops etc. There are about 10 ticket desks - each with their own queue and then self service machines that we used - a smaller queue there obviously. It took us about 10-15 minutes to get a ticket. (TIP: there are several entrances to this ticket hall - so if there's a huge queue at the pyramid you might try the other less known and less obvious entrances (some might let you in the museum directly and/or require a ticket already though) - might save you a lot of time).

Needless to say it IS huge. I knew this before visiting but I was still baffled and amazed. At first we wandered around aimlessly for about half an hour (saw the Venus of Milo etc), then saw signs to the Mona Lisa, followed them :D You can easily spot the small painting in front of a sum of people are trying to take photos of it :D It's funny to watch from afar. So shoved (in a polite manner of course) our way in front of it as well, don't think I took any photos though and since I'm not the world's biggest art lover I wasn't too excited about it trying to take a selfie with it - like some others did while holding their precious position in front of it - about 10 metres from the painting - to get their friends/family on the selfie as well - jeesh louise :D After that we continued on in the endless Italian paintings corridor until we found the little British corner :D So cute. Then we went downstairs where there was hardly any people and checked out the african, oceanian, central american etc sculpture section - those pieces were so unique and interesting, probably my favourite part... - and then went back up and you could feel that there were loads more people there than before. Probably an hour and a half or a bit more had passed since we entered and only now we felt the overcrowdedness of the Louvre (near the Mona Lisa that is). Obviously in Louvre terms we hadn't seen anything yet... But we were hungry! dun dun dun dun

The first café we found was closed :( so had to walk the whole way to the other wing! (which we hadn't seen yet so yay). There we found the "Art Objects" section which had some furniture and jewellery :) I like that sort of thing far better than paintings. Another happening: Mr. Touchy here just can't help himself and now to my amusement (I always have to tell him off for touching everything all the time) he began to put his hand on some art object when the alarm sound went off! HA!HA!HA!HA! That'll teach you a lesson! They have motion sensors to keep handsy people away!!!!

Shortly after that incident we found the café - omg the prices!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! about 10 euros or so for a club sandwich - a sandwich!!!!!!!!! I'll starve thank you very much! Luckily there was an outdoor terrace café right next to it with a meal deal for 8-9 euros for either a club-sandwich or a baguette with a packet of crisps and a drink - so affordable :) + we got to sit on one of the Louvre balconies enjoying a view to the glass pyramid :) Mr. Special had some troubles with his baguette because the day before he had broken his tooth, poor guy.

We were both tired by that time but were not going to give up just yet - so went and had a look at the Napoleon III apartment. Amazing!!!! They had so much unnecessary room and chairs etc at that time so the rooms are huge but nice to look at :) Then a glance at the Scandinavian and Russian paintings - now most of those were familiar to me :) and I felt more of a connection and understanding there than in the Italian corridor... maybe it's all in my head.

There were people (professionals) copying the artworks in front of us, but all of them were at the last stages of their work :( I would've wanted to see someone just starting their painting - that's way more interesting than seeing someone perfecting the coloring of a leaf etc :D + I'm not utterly convinced that they started their paitings with a completely blank canvas - but that might just be my cynicism.

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Eiffel Tower

We decided to take a boat trip on the Seine late at Friday night because it's all samey during the day :P And we weren't disappointed. We made it to the last boat and at first when seeing the huge mass of people waiting in the queue I was a bit scared that we might have to sit in the middle of the boat and wouldn't get to take any pics. Surprisingly the boat was soo huge that everyone kinda disappeared - seriously where did they go? and we got to sit on the side of the boat, so an amazing view on the banks :) and on the people chilling and having their late night picnic or parties either on other boats (yaya boat disco) or on the banks. The only minus to it was that we picked the side that wouldn't have a view on the Notre Dame Cathedral so we had to stand up to see that over the boat... But it was amazing and I fully recommend these kind of boat trips late at night. It gives you a totally different view on the city :) + I think there are less people at that time as well...

Now was the perfect time to see the Eiffel Tower up close when it was all lighted up (the boat dropped us off right in front of it). And since it was close to the hour we hurried accross the road/river of it to the steps of Palais de Challiot, luckily not too many people there at midnight so got to see the dazzling/flickering lights of the Eiffel tower without shoving other people out of the way etc. After that unfortunately there was no time to enjoy a romantic walk because we had to rush to catch the metro - the last metro trains go around 20 to 1AM and we had to change to get home. I managed to put a fear of not making it into Mr. Special :D because the metro station is about a 5-10 minute walk away from the tower. + I told him a taxi will cost us fortunes :D Obviously we made it with time to spare.

The next day, we had a nice lay in to avoid the midday's heat and blazing sun and made our way to the Concorde Square followed by a nice picnic in the Tuilleries Gardens (how do you pronounce that?). There are loads of chairs there where you can sit, some around the fountain (all taken :(). All free to move wherever you want to sit :) so we did :) Oh it was nice :)

Next a nice walk to the Grand and Petite Palais, we didn't go in because we didn't know if it the first one was our cup of tea to go and see and the second one had an enormous queue so no thanks :P Then we had planned to visit the sewage museum but I was already too tired (mostly because of the hot weather) and we weren't quite sure where it was so we decided to do it another day and continued on to Champ de Mars to eat the rest of our picnic stuff with a view to THE tower ;) We didn't go in - to the top because queues were horrendous and the tickets on-line were sold out until mid-august already :( I think one day we'll go there later on in the evening and just climb the stairs to the first level - less people and cheaper than takin an elevator ;)

A little happening too: as soon as we sat down 3 girls approached us with a sheet to sign, having previous knowledge that it's a scam we said no and luckily they left us alone and went to harrass another (wealthier-looking) couple right behind us. Mr. Special was very amused and couldn't keep his eyes off them. I prefer to use the ignoring technique so they'd leave me alone. Finally after the girls had leaved the poor couple alone (they didn't get rid of them as easily as we did) the woman started to look for her phone - which was nowhere to be found! Obviously the girls had taken it but they were so clever about it that even Mr. Special didn't see it happening! So the guy ran after the three girls to get the phone back. After a couple of minutes (now seems ages even to me) he came back with the phone in his hand! Phew!!! That was lucky! He had threatened to accompany them to the police and so the smallest girl unveilled the phone. After that I'm even more paranoid with my stuff! Better safe than sorry!

Walking to the metro we saw people playing a version of the Monte game - guess under which cup the ball is. Now when you know what they are it is quite amusing to watch it... though i was a bit afraid of pickpocketers - the perfect time for them - my attention is on the game, but had my bag infront of me both hands on top of it, so nothing to be afraid of :). You can easily spot the accomplices who "win" and "lose" money to trick people into thinking it's a legitimate game and they too have a chance to win. If you use a bit of common sense than what kind of a person travels alone, has 50's in his pocket/purse and gives them away just like that and doesn't leave with a bitter taste in their mouth when losing them, instead sticks around and (the main clue) looks at other people to try and drag them in too! People watching is so fun. On the third or fourth game we stopped to observe for a couple of minutes we actually saw an American couple parting with their money. The husband was keen on playing and the hustler managed to get a 100 euro out of them... the wife was pissed :D Since everyone's eyes (including mine) were on the couple (the wife was reluctant in giving the money) I didn't see if he honestly picked the wrong cup or did the hustler change the position somehow...

A couple of minutes later we saw the first two gangs walking along the street - the "players" and gamemaker all together nicely - obviously a gang. I assume the police was walking down that street. 

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

More walking

This time we weren't so ambitious to visit every single attraction in one day and limited ourselves to the Notre Dame Cathedral and Montmartre. Since we were both hating the blazing hot sun, we had a nice lie-in and went to town about 2 o'clock + I wanted to see the city in the evening lights as well and you can't (me me me) possibly do that leaving the flat at 9 AM already.

One jerk weaselled his way in the metro without a ticket - thanks to Mr. Special -.- because he went through the turning thingy so slowly that the stupid man was able to press himself through there aswell... I don't approve! Now I always make sure that the turning thingy is right behind me and no one else can freeload on my expense.

Just before the Cathedral on the river Seine there are little green booths that sell souvenirs and pictures etc. and at a very reasonable price i might add, made a note to myself to recommend souvenir shopping there as there are loads of things to choose from.

The queue to the Cathedral was enourmous! In direct sunlight! I would die, just after turning lobster red! Free entry is not worth the horror. Have to come back another day! The queue to the tower was as long but in the shade so not too bad and half the queue could sit on the fence :) not bad at all.

A little walk lead us to the Pompidou center - totally unexpected - and yet again I was amazed by the little shops that sell souvenirs :) (didn't go into the center because I'm not a big fan of museums)

After that went to Montmartre. The view is absolutely amazing: under the hill to the Sacre Coeur Cathedral, midhill both ways and in front of the Sacre Coeur to Paris - breathtaking. To my tiny disappointment you can't actually see the Eiffel Tower from there :( It's just behind some trees... :'( There goes my plan seeing it light up when darkness comes. 

There was no queue to get in the Sacre Coeur so we took the opportunity and did that (its free). It's HUGE :) definitely worth going to. After coming out I noticed a sign with prices leading to the side of the cathedral. Turns out you can climb up to the tower and enjo panoramic views there! I wish I'd known that earlier because we got there just after they closed :( Another place we have to back to.

Then just wandered in the streets of Montmartre. The main area is filled with tourists so beware and ready to shove yor way through - yeap even that late 6-7 o'clock. Actually we were hoping to stumble upon Moulin Rouge but since none of us did any planning before, we obviously didn't find it because it's quite far from where we were. But i was right yet again - it is just a random cabaré bar - just with a mill on it - and not some Tourist attraction activity thingy. But we'll be sure to see it before the summer's over don't you worry.

When going home we popped into a local butchers shop to buy something to drink and it was soooo cute! In the middle of Paris there is a local shop where customers and the butcher actually know and talk to each other. And he was cutting slices of saucages and meat for her and asked is this enough - no a bit more etc. So fresh and adorable in my opinion :) He also sold some quiches etc too, and alcohol if I remember correctly so not strictly a butchers shop. Damn I forgot to look at the name - was it a boucherie or not... :( Mr. Whiny couldn't obviously wait and had to butt in to pay for his coke bottle.

This heat is killing me!!!!!

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Lots of queueing and walking

I thought I'd sum up the two weekends we've spent in Paris but since I have to write everything out in a long (hopefully not boring though) manner I'd already written a decent amount of only our first day two weeks ago... mölapidamatus - what can you do...

The first thing we did in Paris (tourist time now) was to stand in a queue for roughly 2 hours. Obviously Mr. Whiny whined a lot when he saw the length of the queue but I forced him to stay put. It was to the catacombs, it was cloudy with a brief rainshower so if you have to queue that was the perfect timing. Our queueing time could partly be blamed on me as I was too lazy to get up at god knows what time in the morning to get there by 9, so I think we got there between 10-11 and managed to get into the catacombs between 12 and 1PM...

In the catacombs there is a lot of walking to do (to tell you the history of the tunnels themselves) before the actual "attraction" - the bones. The best adjective to describe it would most probably be creepy... it's not scary but the first time you see the enourmous amount of human bones and skulls you'll be taken aback, atleast I was.... The skulls were the creepiest parts of it because that resembles most to a human being. Some of the skulls were broken, as in smashed in (probably because stupid people want to touch every single thing and don't realize that when a thousand people touch it, the object will be ruined for good). By the time you reach the exit the novelty wears off and the endless stacks of bones - about shoulder high - is nothing to gasp at anymore, or maybe I have a short attention/excitement span ;)

After spending half a day in the catacombs we had lunch (luckily in Paris there are a lot of places who serve food non-stop - traditionally it's siesta time from 2-7PM in France so don't expect to get any proper food during these hours in most places) and then made our way to the Arc de Triomphe. Where we got a bit lost because we couldn't find the underground tunnel that leads to it - there are no pedestrian crossings on the roundabout. Needless to say it was right under our noses... I finally notice having wandered a bit further from it. Before we took to the tunnel a dance show was happening on the Champs-Elysée and I wanted to see that. Young poor street dancers trying to make money with their dance skills kinda thing. As a suspicious and cynical person as I am, I told Mr.Special to keep a firm eye on his belongings - the perfect place to steal something when you're concentrating on something! And I had my mind set on leaving before their dance was over - this was easy to do because I wasn't impressed at all! Basic hip-hop, breakdance moves I'd say, when trying to leave a guy put his hand on my chest for a second - "Give money give money" Pfffftt! Helll no, seen far better dancing for free! He wasn't pushy so nothing to be afraid of but it proves exactly my point - everyone is out for your money (and stealing your phone and god knows what else).

We visited Arc de Triomphe right after D-day, so there was a huge French flag waving in/under it. I liked it a lot :) There was quite a tiny queue (compared to the catacombs queue that is) to go in it but since neither of us knew what lies inside and if it's worth him paying 8 euros for it - free for me, yay go young people!!!! We decided to go back another day. Later walking down on the Champs-Elysée we saw people on top of the Arch, so that's why you need to pay... I will go there defo!!! It's like a disease for me already :D If I can go ontop of abuilding or just high up to see the view I will. I need to! I feel incomplete if I don't (this does not include the Eiffel tower - where all the advanced tickets are pretty much sold out and the only way to get up there is to queue for hours).

After sitting under the Arch (it was a hot day) for a while and seeing a Danish television come to film someone (warveteran?) to bring flowers to the Arch we decided to go have a nice walk down the Champs-Elysée. I chose the wrong side (where we wouldn't be under direct sunlight) apparently because all the cool shops were on the other side - I hear about the Mercedes shop he didn't get to go to to this day! But we did go to a fancy tea shop Kusmi I think it's name was, where they offered us some tea to taste, so good, but too expensive to buy :( Obviously Mr. Whiny didn't like it at all "That's not tea!" where's the milk etc etc etc etc. Disgusting in his not so humble opinion that thought there is only one tea in this world (the black tea they drink in the UK with milk). 

Then I discovered that maybe I would've actually enjoyed going into the Mercedes shop :D lol because we did go into the citroen shop and it was beyond my expectations of just a cars dealer, they had a peculiar racing car on display, then mini models of the cars for kids etc. And obviously a couple of real cars that you could sit in to - the first time Mr. Special has sat in a car with the steering wheel on the wrong side :D And they had a free photobooth - 3 pictures in flag colours, there were 2 families waiting to get their photos taken and the first one in the booth took sooooo long that we decided to come back another day. I've always wanted to take photos like that although I don't know what faces I'll make - you can't just sit there normally - that's too boring!

While walking there I noticed one Asian girl pulling a strange face as if dropped something etc and then saw a gypsy girl grinning maliciously... Apparently she had tried to trip over the Asian girl. What a brat! And then she has the audacity to beg for money with her clipboard... When in Paris be suspicious of the people who are asking for money. For the most part it isn't a genuine cry for help.... 

On that sour note I will end todays post, others will follow shortly ;)

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Living in someone elses flat

I must say it's a bit weird to look around and see books and stuff etc. practically everywhere... don't get me wrong we have shelf room for us and cupboard space but still Mr. Special had a hard time getting use to the fact that there are someone else's stuff in here as well :D So we know how to use the washing machine now :) thanks to me! - he's too afraid to touch anything without me in case it breaks. Next on the agenda will be learning how to use the microwave's oven function and how the bed can be a sofa. We tried the last one once but there seemed to be something missing to hold the sofa together :S

Still loving the flat though :) Although I wish it had a fancy balcony like the one's I see on other flats, freaking huge ass balconies. Some are rooftop terraces. Just wow! Fancy living in a new estate. At first it looked like a zombieland :D because practically everyone go to work at the same time in the morning and then come back at night :D So funny to see.

The entrance to our estate is a big gate and you can walk on top of it. And see the Eiffel tower in distance. I love going up there on the hour because that's when the tower lights up for 5 minutes. Okay, I've only been there twice :D But it's like a minipark up there. Once when Mr. Special was out making his phone calls - he doesn't get any signal inside the flat for some reason, he texted me saying come out to watch the thunder storm. It was amazing. There was no rain and no thunder but you could see the lightning over Paris and the Eiffel tower, filmed a bit as well :) I might add the video, it's a bit long and boring but when the lightning strikes I think it's sooooo beautiful. An hour or even a couple of hours later the rain - even hail - reached us. It was sooooo strong.

The next day was another storm so just sat in front of the open window and looked outside, this time we could see the lightning from here :) Oh I love it so much :)

Pretty much all unpacked now :D just need to sort out a couple more things :)

Ttyl ;)
Jazzz....

My own desk

9-5 job began for me! And I'm so excited :D well it's more like a 9.30 - 6 job and it takes me an hour to get there, so it takes up my whole day pretty much :( which is sad because then I have time for Paris only in weekends when EVERYONE else is there as well!

To go to work (and come back) first I have to walk about 10 minutes to the metro station (got myself a navigo pass, totally feel like a local now :D), 2 stops there, then to the tramway (about 10 minutes) - once there were people offering bellavita biscuits for breakfast for free :) ooooh that's why I love big cities - free stuff :D - after the tramway another 15-20 minute walk out of Paris. During that I cross two horrible junctions. First that is always full of cars everywhere (like when you look at it you can just see cars basically standing in the middle of the road side-by-side but going in completely different directions), when I go home and the peripherique of Paris. That's the big big road that surrounds Paris. On the first day I saw people hitchhiking by there :S

Now at work it's like a proper office - everyone's really friendly though :) and I have my own desk with one laptop but 2 screens, proper :D and the first thing I did - all last week - was to find translations to certain words from real estate announcements. Yep I did that for 5 days.... the last 2 days went by rather slowly because obviously there are only so many different versions of one word.. But next week the next phase will start :) There are 4 other interns on my floor + our supervisor, who I did my Skype interview with. Upstairs are the men :D the bosses I assume, well at least one of them is the boss and two others are not interns. We lunch together, when it's nice, at the park across the road and sometimes they play a quizz game in two teams... welll I'm not much help at the moment because the questions are wayyyyy tooo hard plus I often don't even understand the question :D if it's raining we'll have lunch upstairs. Everyone can either bring their own lunch, go to a shop near us to buy something or sometimes they'll all order something from somewhere (pizza, sushi etc). So awesome :D You have to realise that I've only seen this done in movies - the office life :D

• Monday is a bank holiday so no work yay :D not that I don't like it but it's always good news to hear that you can stay home ;)
• On Tuesday we'll all perform a silly dance routine... Me and one other girl have to do the Rabbi Jacob dance, look it up :D And it'll be a huge battle among the teams with the losing team having to do their performance on the street... I must practice day and night :D
• Oooooh when I go to work every day I see the Eiffel tower! Bragging! :D I tried taking a pic but it's too far away for a proper photo to be taken 

• One day a rubber chicken was dangling on a rope outside our window :D :D thinking we didn't see it they tried to knock on the window with it, didn't work because we have bars on it, so they took duct tape and tried with that :D

The first week is over and done with 11 more to go! 

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Lyon

We spent the last weekend in Lyon J It was so much better than expected J Arriving there we got a bit lost in finding the hotel, but luckily didn’t wander too far away with our luggage and quickly managed to get on the right path. Then we wanted food and decided to go to a buffet-style dinner to another hotel that offered us discount for staying at our hotel. We lost an hour though because I had looked at the time in Mr. Special’s laptop without realising it was in the UK time... so we just sat there like a couple of divvies waiting for the right time to go for food – it started serving at 7.

I must say I was expecting a bit more... Don’t get me wrong it was good but I kind of expected more choice... we had to choose from salmon, chorizo and ham – that the chef cut specially for us – with plain pasta or some fried-boiled vegetables... so I got salmon and ham, the ham was soooo good though!!!! Then we also opted for the dessert buffet ;) yummy, got to try everything on it :D pannacotta, chocolate mousse etc etc (I just can’t remember anymore :D) and then we decided to take a walk to the old town, not to go and see anything particularly but just walk there as we had a good couple of hours before the night and the old town was an hours walk away and it’s always nice and different to see the town by night – all the lights come out to play ;) And it did get dark just as we got to the bridge that led to the old town and we were just about to turn around to start going back when we saw the awesome view around the corner of the cathedral halfway up the mountain. Just wow!!! Well worth the walk J

The next day we had a plan! Go up to the cathedral. It’s a bit of a long walk uphill (especially as you’ve already walked an hour to the old town) but the views to town and a surprise free admission to the huge cathedral was worth it. On our way to town we managed to get lost though :/ Don’t know how because we walked straight but somehow we managed to turn left... and get ourselves lost, so an extra half an hour spent on just walking, and not even in the nicest part of the city L

 Ooooooh and since it was a special weekend there was a market in the old town, we got the most awesome fluffiest, moist heavenly macaroons that I’ve ever tasted in my life!!!! OMG OMG OMG they were out of this world – To be fair I’ve never actually understood the craze of macaroons – yeah they’re good but... I wouldn’t pay 3 euros for a small tiny one, not  a chance! But these (bigger than your average may I add) made me absolutely loooooooooooooooove with them. Although now I’m scared to buy any other ones because most probably they wont be as good, what a let down :D

Anyway back down in the old town I noticed a sign on a house door saying that that house doesn’t not have any traboules so please respect the habitants’ privacy by not entering the building.... hmm.... I’ve read before that the traboules are a must see when in Lyon but didn’t quite understand what they were, about two steps later though a random house door opened and touristy-looking people came out – so we went in to have a look and guess what traboules are! They are like little streets in houses and buildings, secret alleyways J I loved them, you could see flat doors and balconies with bikes.... oooh how I’d love to live there.

Ttyl ;)
Jazzz...

Toulon - Paris

Getting from Toulon to Lyon was harder than expected, all because of the stupid 4 day weekend the Frenchies had! Argh, the trains were ridiculously expensive and freaking sold out!!!! At the hotel checked that our train would go at 12 and get to Lyon by 3, perfect, got the whole day to spend in Lyon yet... Got to the train station and what do you know, all the tickets (except 1st class - 200 euros) were sold out!!!!! After a think, some frustration we decided to take the 2 o'clock train, that still had some seats in 2nd class. Nice train though. Now the next big issue was get all our heavy bags on the train in a short period of time. Luckily there are signs that say where on the platform you have to stand for your carriage (assigned seats) and we were one of the firsts to get on... A guy kindly helped to put our luggage in the rack (which was a lot bigger than I'd expected to be honest) while other people behind us frantically tried to get on board - I just rudely stood in their way :D Hey me first :D Then we realised our seats were at the very end of the carriage -.- Mid-way Mr. Special hauled all our luggage to the racks closer to us. Everyone was giving him a sympathetic look :D

We got to Lyon about 5 and first went to the hire car desks. One lady gave us hope - there might be something available but the system has crashed so come back first thing tomorrow morning! (Hope!!!! mind you at this point the train and car would've been roughly the same price). There were a couple of smart cars left but no use to us :( So Mr. Special went the next morning only to come back empty handed again and a frantic search for train tickets began - ones for the 2,5h TGV went straight under our noses! Dangit. We were forced to take the 5 hour regional train -.- 5 hours instead of 2,5!!!!! Torture! And it was a 7AM train... this time we were the first stop so had plenty of time to sort out our luggage and much to my surprise it was a really nice train, I'd been expecting an old train with no room to move at all (kind of like Arriva in Wales) but it was really nice and the time flew by - I slept through half of the journey.

12.22 at Paris Bercy. Goal is to find the metro station and our way to or flat. The metro is about a hundred meters from the train station so nothing impossible :) Bought our tickets - 10 in one go - works out cheaper like that :) Now how are we going to get through the gates with our luggage - there was no gate for wheelchair users etc. So after a little freak out we made it, big suitcase in front of us ran through the gate pulling the little suitcase behind me as quickly as possible :D Now the next mission: stairs -.- why no escalators???? The metro wasn't too busy luckily so getting on and off the trains wasn't too bad - had to change once.

Now a 13-minute (according to google maps) awaited us... In other words death because it was uphill!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It took us about 40 minutes I think or a bit longer. Never again! :D But the flat is soooo worth it!!! It's even nicer in real life than it was on the photos. I'm lovin´ it :) Got my stuff packed and excited to go to work tomorrow - decided I'll take the metro and the tram because that should be a 40-minute journey as opposed to the 1 hour walk. Maybe walk back :)

Ps! The landlady was so nice that she had bought us pasta, eggs, croissants, a baguette and juice since the supermarket closed at 12.30 already :) I was a bit worried to be honest because they'd had a bad experience before - don't know the details - but someone had sent them a false passport and she was asking so many questions on why we want to come here (didn't really answer them :D) and asked to contact the uni to make sure I am a legit student. Luckily for me I am :D and no problems, I will stay here as long as promised, pay my rent and not break anything - PS! this is a completely new and fancy flat with some computerized heating system and god knows what else - I have a huge touchscreen on my wall :S I'd rather not touch it - then I won't make a mess of anything ;)

I'll write about Lyon soon :) 

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...