Art, Art and Art.

Art #1: Musee du Louvre, how one giant museum can house so many artists is beyond me. The building itself is a work of art, let alone the collection inside. Years ago when I came to Paris I never understood its importance until now. (here is a picture of Patricia doing her own sculpture impression)
Art #2: Musee de l'Orangerie, thanks to Az and Linz who suggested this place, oh my god. We both were astounded at this collection of art; Picasso, Cezzane, Matisse, Renoir, Soutine. But, Monet's Water Lillies are truly astounding, two huge oval rooms house the most impressive artwork we've ever seen.
Art #3: Mille Feuille, the patisserie next to out hotel creates this masterpiece of pastry, custard and icing. If you only come to Paris to eat this delightful dessert, then you will go home a happy soul.

Beautiful Paris

You hop on the morning Metro train, cold and freezing, the pastry from the previously eaten croissant is in your teeth, your stop arrives, and you feel the wind pierce you like a knife as you make your way up the stairs to the cold light on the street, and suddenly its all worth it because you see Paris like this....

Almost French

Our first day in Paris involved walking from Jourdain all the way into Notre Dame, it took us about 40 mins but strolling arm in arm through the back alleys off the Rivoli was sensational. We caught the Tower, the Arc and other sights of the city, all the while managing to fit in a crepe also..

Paris and the Red Partridge

Leaving London for Paris was quite exciting for us both, we had travelled here both before, but were excited about staying in the east. Roh and Vero hooked us up with this funky little hotel called the Red Partridge. To stay in Paris, we all must experience this amazing little hotel. As the pictures show, the view from our room, the two-person lift, and the old rickety stairwell, all make this a fantastic Parisian experience. In the area of Jourdain there is an amazing patisserie and short walk to Menilmontant; which Patricia's cousin Nicola took us to on our first night here. I had the Escalope Veal in this quaint french cafe that was truly stunning. The Rue Oberkampf is a strip of amazing bars and cafes, and I wonder if we would have ever known this area if we had of stayed in the centre of Paris with the other tourists.

Kings Arm's

Twas a friday night in the heart of London, and we organised to catch up with some ol' mates at the Kings Arms in Victoria. The Kings Arm's a great little pub serving some fine Guiness and Lagers. James, Simon, Fabio, Smallfry, Sean Hunt and his mate Rachel all came along to spread the good word and have a good chin wag!! Too many beers later and we ventured into the cold London air to sober up on the tube ride home. Was great to see faces I haven't seen in 8 years, great crew!!

Wolfmother @ Brixton Academy

Jet lag can be a wonderful thing if you have time on your hands. However, when it decides to hit you about 7 songs into a gig at Brixton Academy, you shouldn't fight it either. Luckily for us, we had already seen 4 or 5 of their 'good' songs, and we decided to head home and hit the sack. We just happened to see the lead singer in the National Gallery the day before, but as his reputation for being a knob preceeded him, we decided not to say g'day in case he shut us down...our revenge was to not see his encore...jet lag is your friend...

Pret

For those who have been through London, bow down now to one of the greatest food chains in the history of food and stuff.. Pret remains one of the quickest and easiest lunch/breaky options for a traveller. Be warned, if you've previously read our Canada blog then there will be upcoming posts about food, just warning you all in advance....

First Beers

After the successful and free "Zomer Walking Tour of London", Patricia and I proceeded to taste some of the beverages London has at its feet. I opted for the sweet smell of a pint of Guiness, and Patricia went for the Becks. To anyone who has had a Guiness in UK or Ireland, oh you know how it felt for me...

London

After 24 hours of flying, waiting in airport, flying, waiting in airport, we finally arrived in London. It was somewhat surreal hopping on the Piccadilly line and head into the city, I had these flashbacks of reading the first Harry Potter on the way to work circa 2000. Patricia did get to live the ultimate tube experience however, with all passengers following the "no talking - all sleeping" rules of the tube. After getting our stuff to the hostel, I took Patricia on the 'Zomer Walking Tour of London". I think she enjoyed it, even if I didn't know about any of the monuments or where exactly the Queen's jewels once did lay.....We took in the major sites, with a great visit to the National Gallery on the way through. Amazing to see Monet, Van Gogh, PIcasso and Pissaro all in one damn room, reminded me how spoilt they are over here with their art.

Tony Frusciante

Tony Frusciante designs for Weiden + Kennedy in Portland, and remains one of my greatest inspirations. For those who don't care, thats cool, but for those who might care....please check out his work here at his freelance site 'frusciantedesign' Download his portfolio PDF and you will see his brilliance...you can also see his blog online at 'lastnightstony'. His blog showcases some of the work he has done for Nike, Heineken and WK. In his blog, maybe take a look at his archived post called "Layer Tennis", bout 4 scrolls down first page.....hysterical......
This design on the right was done for the Oregon address campaign...so simple yet so effective.

Public Enemy

The job of resigning at your workplace is quite fun, I've spent the last few days going through and deleting things off my iMac and reflecting on my time. One of the major benefits of resigning, apart from a fresh start, is finding little gems like this; some old footage of mine from the Public Enemy gig at the Espy last year. The gig finished at 5am, so gives you an idea of how the night turned out. They were on form, with Flava bouncing around and Chuck being the ever present 'strong island' MC. We witnessed the best that night in full force, even at their age, they showed the younglings who the best were, are and still is...PE...

Geeks

The term GEEK can often be misrepresented. I personally think at heart we are all geeks of some value. Take for instance those who indulge in the form of 'bookface' status updates, sitting at home telling everyone else what they are doing, sipping on a latte, in your favourite bob the builder pyjamas, GEEK?? Or, how about being on 'bookface' and hanging out with the 5,650 friends that you have, all alone........GEEK?? Very hypocritical of me to call bookface a geek haven, considering my current blogging situation.....but......I will do my very uptmost while we are away to contribute something on this blog that can be deemed as "valuable information". If your really interested, you can follow this geek on his bookface, twitter, blog, hotmail, URL , blah blah blah......

Leaving on Tuesday, so good luck to you all and peep you on the next post...........