Boooooo0jour,

Happy 'day before' Halloween!

What a strange world we are living in where every store isn't overflowing with costumes and candies galore! Paris had been left nearly untouched by the Halloween craze that has swept through North America but that doesn't mean we can't have a little Halloween fun of our own!

Since, L'halloween is Natalie's favorite 'holiday', I decided to surprise her with a fun filled day of scary goodness (even though it was only the 30th)! Our first stop on our spooky adventure was les Catacombes in the 14th district of Paris. For those of you unfamiliar with the Catacombes of Paris, they are a famous underground ossuary.

The tour began first by decending a winding staircase 20 meters below the surface where you enter the tunnels of a limestone quarry dating back as far as the 11th century.

The quarries

It starts getting a tiny bit scary!

The "quarryman's foot bath" was a small pool of groundwater for the quarryman's personal use

Sculptures in the Port Mahon gallery were created by quarryman Decure who carved a model of the Port Mahon fortress where he was kept prisoner by the English while serving under Louis XV

As you move further through the labrythn of tunnels you approach what is known as the Ossuary. It is here that the remains of over 6 million people are stored in 780 meters of galleries. These remains did not always rest here. Most of Paris' large churches had their own cemeteries but overcrowding in burial grounds such as that in Les Innocents near Les Halles was causing disease and illness. In some cases the ground level of the church yard had risen 10 to 20 feet just from the volume of human remains!

The first human remains arrived in 1786 and were simply thrown into a heap. It was only under Napoleaon I that the site was renovated. Long bones and skulls were arranged in neat rows, providing a wall behind which the rest of the bones were piled in a jumble. Amongst the millions of bodies rest many bodies from the riots of the Revolution and the Reign of Terror that followed, including the body of Maximillien Robespierre.




Walking amonst the millions of bones was an indescribable feeling. I'm not sure if we could have found a more eerie place to spend the day before Halloween. But, if you are ever in Paris, you should definitely consider making a stop to pay your respects to the millions of souls whose bodies now rest deep below the surface in the depths of the tunnels.

After making our way up the narrow winding staircase and back onto the surface, I surprised Nat with a stop at one of the few costume stores here in Paris. We felt like we were back home with the pirate swords, face paint, and wigs of all shapes and colors. We picked up a few decoration for our apartment and headed on up the way to the fanciest candy store we have ever set foot in. Halloween isn't complete without some good old fashion chocolate!



We hope you all have a SPOOKtacular Halloween and stay tuned for a special Halloween Video Blog tomorrow!

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Salut, friends and family!

We realize that we have been horribly absent from the blog for the last few days! But, we have been in the process of lugging our belongings down five flights of stairs, down the street, and back up five flights of stairs to our temporary holiday home on rue Veron! We tried to get to you folks yesterday but had a run in with utterly useless adapter plug-ins for our computers and went on a scavenger hunt to find the nearest "future shop" (Side note: nothing is open here on Sunday!). We did eventually stumble upon an electronic store in the biggest shopping mall we have ever seen... and being that it is in Paris of course, it is underground!

But, we are back in the game now and enjoying the luxury accomodations at Chateau Blanche, just up the street from Amelie's cafe Deux Moulins! Baxter has been enjoying some down time as well and wanted to take you on a bit of a tour of our maison:

Baxter "hanging" out

Smooth operator! PURE GGGOOOOOLLLLLDDDDD!

He felt like he was back in the Cretaceous Period

Baxter kicking it with St. LePage
Playing us a diddy on the melodica
He was so excited about the melodica that he had an accident!

Now, as a special bonus for all you folks who have stuck with us during our absence we have two... yes TWO very special Cribs episodes for you! Just follow the links below and check out our new home!

The South wing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgYOvekxoXA

The North wing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKvXHiSCUyg

Note: Stay tuned for the SECOND FLOOR!

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Hey ladies and gents... We just wanted to give a shout out to all those peeps who have been commenting on the blog!... We really love hearing from you and appreciate you taking the time to check out the blog. So without further ado we give the final Cribs episode of the series, but fear not, we are moving on Sunday and will have a whole new set of lovely Cribs videos for your enjoyment!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK4pZSp_y0Y

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Bonjour

The long awaited Cribs #3. Follow the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlJdgg-5NKM

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Bonjour,

We thought that today we would fill you guys and gals in on some of the interesting things we've discovered while wandering the streets of Paris...

1. If you ride the metro, be prepared to get up close and personal with your neighbour. Also be prepared for any form of entertainment including: accordian players, guitar players, panflutests, poets, and puppet shows. Sometimes the metro gates like to trap you! Each metro station is a giant labrynth of tunnels, do not try to understand how it all works, just follow the signs and always keep your ticket! Oh yeah, and if you think you can get rid of all your change to buy a carnet of tickets, it only takes a maximum of 20 coins, after that it ejects them all and it sounds like you just won the jackpot!

2. There are stairs everywhere! Not just in Montmartre, everywhere!

3. The 5th floor is really the 6th floor and that extra set of steps is a real bitch to go up! Especially with luggage! Side note: The lights in the stairwells are on timers so you don't have to go up them in the dark! We learnt that one the hard way!

4. French dogs are really well behaved but some of their owners are not! AKA: watch out for poop!

5. A map is usually a very handy tool to have but if you come to Paris throw it out. None of the streets run in any sort of rational direction. Plus, you often find the best places when you let go of the map and just wander. This is what the French are famous for and it even has a name, flaneur (a person who wanders the city in order to experience it).

6. Many of the delightful cheeses here have a film on them. We are still not sure if you eat that, we'll get back to you on that one!

7. Nutella contains an unknown form of addictive drug, and apparently tastes different depending on the country where it was made and the quality of the hazelnuts that are used.

8. Apparently it's legit to drink alcohol whenever one feels like it. On the steps of the Sacre Couer, at the Eiffel Tower, or even in a metro station.

9. French beer is surprisingly very good.

10. Be prepared to be on display for all to see. Parisiennes have made an art out of people watching and every cafe and restaurant is set up so that everyone at the table can creep on those mulling about on the street. It's actually quite entertaining!

11. Coffee here comes in itty bitty little cups and costs you a small fortune!

12. Do not, under any circumstances eat a nut off the ground in a park!

As a bonus we thought it was about time that we brought you some never before seen photos from our wanderings about the city. So, sit back, relax and enjoy:

The view down the street from our humble abode
(Note: as the sun sets this lovely corner is occupied by a lovely madame of the night!)

The stairs in this city are deadly!

I've sent Natalie to live in a small cubby hole in the Jardin de Plantes

Where's Natalie?

This is a daily occurance for moi! We eventually find our way somehow, usually without the map!

The view from inside the Louvre

Note: It's pretty incredible that all those different statues are actually lifesize!

We couldn't resist. Smoking is bad for you but these made us think of you buddy!

Baxter had a good time soaking up the sun in front of the Invalides

Beautiful

It really does exist and it's giant!

Please, stay tuned, we promise to bring you Cribs #3 this weekend!

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Hey folks... now we realize that we have been absent for the last few days but a las we have been busy dealing with various life issues like where we're going to live at the end of our stay here a the Chateau Montmartre... Fear not though, we promise not to disappoint all you anonymous lurkers who we urge to make yourself known! (we like comments people!)... We are back now and hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. We certainly tried our best to have a lovely feast here and were very thankful to be enjoying it en Paris!

We had an eventful weekend enjoying the city and making our first trip to the Canal... We wondered about for the afternoon and if everything works out we hope to be staying in a place that is not far from the Canal so we'll bring you pictures galore... After a nice afternoon out and about, Natalie had a sleepover at the house where she is nannying and I held down the fort at the Chateau and to my surprise I was treated to an impromtu fireworks display!

BONUS VIDEO OF THE DAY: Fireworks in front of the Sacre Couer



After a relaxing Sunday complete with a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower we headed over to Jean Michel's and proceeded to play knock knock ginger with his neighbors until we finally found Hugo and Joeffrey! They treated us to champagne and pasta alla carbonara and we played a rousing game of Euro Monopoly en Francais might I add! We had some laugh and got our butts whooped by the two savvy Frenchmen and headed home for the night.

We've started to get settled here and have become accustomed to the all the nuances that give Montmartre it's own unique identity. Nuances such as the transvestite that greets people and families on our street as they go about their day to day lives (we have affectionately named her "Gladys of the kNight". She is pure GOLD and one of the many reasons we love Montmartre!

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BONUS VIDEO OF THE DAY:

The long awaited MTV Cribs part deux!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP1LT8oQY0U

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Baxter was a bad dino today! We caught him in the act!

BONUS VIDEO OF THE DAY: MTV Cribs (part 2)

Stay tuned!

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Aujourd'hui we decided to go check out Parc des Buttes Chaumont. It's a strange feeling going from the hustle and bustle of everyday life here into one of the most beautiful parks we have ever seen. When the Parisians decide to make a park they spare no expenses and this one was complete with:

A lovely waterfall

Steps with a crazy person at the top!

A bridge over not so troubled waters

An excellent view of our humble abode

A New York funky tree

And, to our surprise some Canadian geese. We figured they must have hitched a ride in our plane and got all confused and figured a Parisian life isn't half bad. A beautiful park, an unlimited supply of French bread, plus they can bully all the other wimpy Parisian birds. Ahhh, we've taught them well!

BONUS VIDEO OF THE DAY: How'd they do that?

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BONUS VIDEO OF THE DAY

Follow the youtube link below for an exclusive tour of : Notre maison (part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6vvEmO7iac

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Well, ladies and gents. There's not much new to report on the French front today. Although we did catch a glimpse of the endangered species otherwise known as the one footed pigeon! Now, this is not something we are accustomed to in Canada but over here in Paris the pigeons lead an extraordinarily difficult life, fending for turf on the steps of the Sacre Couer or scavenging bread crumbs from high a top buildings. It is survival of the fittest and unfortunately this pigeon has been in one to many crumb fights and has become a casualty of the Great Pigeon Wars of 08'!

I also came across another endangered species who shows it's head only when a deliociously sweet treat known as Nutella is around. Please, if you see this beast, do not try to approach, contact your local animal control immediately and for God sake's don't leave your Nutella lying around!

BONUS VIDEO OF THE DAY

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Well, a new day and a new mission completed... The French Connection has finally completed task #1 for chauve pere fermier!


Today, after dragging our bums out of bed, we decided to take advantage of the '"first Sunday of the month", when you can get into many of the museums sans admission. We decided to get our fix of modern art at the Centre de Pompidou. First off, the building itself is a bit of a modern art piece. Built with the insides on the outside it makes for a strange contrast with the old buildings that surround it. Inside it was no less remarkable. They have a lot of interesting modern pieces mixed in with classics by Picasso, Matisse, and Dali.

The view from below

Who needs Clifford the Big Red Dog when you've got a Rhino!

"The Matrix, is everywhere, it is all around us, even in this very room."

Before leaving the museum we captured a nice little view of the hilltop we call home:


After a few hours wandering about our brains were on overload and we decided to escape to the safety of the streets. Here, we discovered that the French are the masters of the word blending as you can see:

Anyone want some flunch, I'm hungry!

Nothing beats a good fantasimagory!

WHERE'S JACIE (hint- I may or may not be using my monocle)

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Bonjour friends,

Well, we don't have any photos for you today but we have some excellent stories to tell. We started off the day with a lovely stroll around the Jardin de Luxembourg and the Quartier Latin with Geoffrey. He showed us around la rue Mouffetard and we stopped at a Greek restaurant and ordered the only thing on the menu that didn't involve baby animals! It was tres bon! We managed to get ourselves a phone card for our mobile and I (Jacie) somehow managed to MacGyver a way to add minutes to the phone by hacking into various computer systems en Francais! We then had a bit of a late night craving for a little thing they call Nutella. We don't know what they put in it over here but it has consumed our entire being. It has become what water once was to us! To our surprise, when we returned we heard the honking of a horn outside only to find that Geoffrey had returned to take us out. We went a few blocks down the street and came face to face with a Karaoke bar. Although Natalie didn't get to spread her wings this go around, she will surely dazzle all with a lovely rendition of something by Five or perhaps Tom Jones! No worries, I'm sure we will frequent the establishment often and I promise to get some video footage of Natalie belting it out for all you lovely folks! Now we are capping off our Saturday night with another round of Nutella for the ladies! Au revoir de Paris!

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Je suis desole... We didn't get a blog out to you folks yesterday but we'll make up for it today that is a promise.

After a relaxing Thursday resting our feet we were out on the dusty, or should I say rainy, trail today. We decided to take a little trip to see some of Baxter's kin... Was he ever excited when we stepped back in time in the Musee Paleontologique. We found some of his ancestors there and captured the reunion on film and photo!

Baxter was finally reunited with his Great great uncle Pierre Delacroix

The knee bones connected to the leg bone, the leg bones connected to.....

Natalie is a wee dwarf woman beside this Mastodon femur


Aldergador?

It's the mythical underwater unicorn!.... from the future!

After our lovely afternoon in the museum we trucked through the rain to check out a bit of the Jardin de Plantes. It was still full of flowers and some of the trees were turning color and losing their nuts... don't worry, I didn't try any this time!

Natalie sheltering 'under the umbrella tree!'

Tree hugger

Me too!

BONUS VIDEO OF THE DAY: How'd they do that?

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