A Trip to Paris - Lots of Animals - Day 3, part 1

On Saturday we wanted to visit the Catacombs, but the line outside was enormous. We didn't want to spend half the day waiting, so decided to go somewhere else.


I had a look at the map to see where we could go.


We decided on Jardin des Plantes.
(Garden of plants)
It's a big garden with several museums. There was a statue of some guy at the entrance to the gardens. I think he had something to do with plants.


At the back of the statue was another statue.
This time it was the plant guy and a woman who seemed to comfort him.


We went to the building that housed the Grand Galerie de l'Évolution.


The first thing I saw when we enterd the musum was this big skeleton of a whale.
Impressive.


There were all kinds of sea animals, like this squid.


I'm swimming with the fishes!


Wouldn't want to get to close to this guy's teeth.






The blue light really made me feel like I was underwater.


When we finished looking at all the fishes and water birds, we went to the next floor where a polar bear was looking at me!


I also spotted this walrus.


Then I turned around and saw this large parade of animals. It was unsettling and very surreal.


They were all mounted animals, but they looked really lifelike.


There was even a distant relative of mine among the animals.

This exhibition was really weird and cool and I took lots more pictures.
I will show you more tomorrow.

A Trip to Paris - A Park, Food, and Books - Day 2, part 2

Melliane also showed us a bit of Jardin du Luxembourg.
It looked like they were working on the gardens.


We had a look at the magnificent mansion.


And part of the garden.


I really liked this statue.


Next to the statue was a bit of plastic, and pigeons were all over it. I wonder what it was for and why the pigeons were so interested in it.


After our shopping and sightseeing we had lunch.
I got a Calzone pizza!


We then walked to a metro station, doing a bit more shopping and sightseeing along the way.


We took a metro to another part of Paris to go to Salon du Livre.
It's a big book convention, and both Melliane and us were very curious about it. There would be publishers and some authors as well.


There were books! so many books.
But all of them were in French!


Such a pretty cover!
If the book had been in English, I think I'd have bought it.

We tried finding publishers with English or American books, but it was a really confusing convention. There was a small map, but it only showed an incomplete floor plan and not where to find things.


We did find an author: Andrea Cremer
She was really friendly and agreed to have a picture taken with me.


She also signed a French sampler of her Steampunk book The Inventor's Secret.
I really want to read The Inventor's Secret, but it's a hardcover and very expensive. I will be reading Nightshade by Adrea Cremer soon though.


I spotted a Blake and Mortimer comic I don't have yet, but it also was in French...


More cool looking books!
In French...


We walked around the convention trying to find books that weren't in French, and we found Russian, Polish, Congolese and other books, but no English books...

If there were English books, they were really well hidden. I was a little disappointed, but in the end we had fun spending the day with Melliane, so even though this convention was very different than both I and Melliane had hoped, we had a great day.

At the end of the afternoon we said goodbye to Mellaine, but made plans to meet her again the next day. We then returned to our hotel and after dinner we relaxed and read until we were sleepy.

A Trip to Paris - Meeting a Friend - Day 2, part 1

On Friday morning we got up early and had breakfast.


There was orange juice


And french bread!

After breakfast we caught a metro to the center of the city, because we were meeting an online friend: Melliane from Between Dreams and Reality.


We met up at the Notre Dame which is in the exact center of the city I'm told. All distances to Paris are measured from the square in front of the Notre Dame.


We had a look around at the Notre Dame of course.






After our visit to the Notre Dame, Melliane took us shopping.


First she showed us Shakespeare and Company, a really cool bookshop close to the Notre Dame.


Next we wandered around a bit, looking at shops in general, and browsing some bookshops.


I spotted another church.


And this building with fountains in front of it.


I also saw these really yummy cakes!


I'll tell you more about our day with Melliane tomorrow!

A Cool Trip to ... - Day 1

Last Thursday we went on a trip.
My owner told me to pack for 5 days, and to take my passport. We took a train and went to Schiphol where we had to board another train. We traveled for almost 6 hours. I will confess I fell asleep at one point and when I woke up:


We had arrived at our hotel.
I wondered where we were. That's Mona Lisa in the painting. Rome?


The view out of the window wasn't telling me anything.


Then my owner showed me the map of the city.
We were in Paris!

After putting away our luggage we decided to do a little sightseeing before it got too dark. We took a metro into the city.


Knowing me it might not surprise you we visited an old cemetery.


There were some really beautiful statues there.




In the distance I spotted the roof of a church.
My owner told me we'd go there next.


The Sacré-Cœur!
The Sacré-Cœur (Sacred Heart) is a relatively new church, build between 1875 and 1914, but I think it's a beautiful church.


It's on a hill so you can look over the city.
It was grey and foggy though, so we couldn't see very far.




We had a look around both outside the church as inside, but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside.




After visiting the Sacré-Cœur we walked back to the metro station. So far I thought Paris was a beautiful city.

When we were close to our hotel we found a place to get something to eat. After dinner we went to our hotel to get some sleep.