Life After Work: Embassy Adventures

Soooooooo, first of all the internet connection here at the BW Jardin du Cluny kind of sucks so it's slowing down my blogging. But, I will carry on.
Today was Embassy Day for us. We learned to use the Metro which was pretty easy once we figured out which slot to put the ticket into. We got to the Champs Elysees in good time and used our map to find the embassy. It's located in a prime shopping area next to stores for Dolce and Gabbana, Fendi and other haute couture places. We figured that since we had copies of our passports and could prove we were Canadian it would be a simple process. Were we ever wrong! It was more of an ordeal than getting the original passport. Security rules have changed and we had to fill out numerous forms and go out to find a passport picture place as well. Thanks very much to our neighbours Ken and Lucy and friends Lyndsay and Ben for vouching for us when the consulate people actually called to check our references. On the way to the embassy, we stopped by Notre Dame to see what it looked like before the crowds came.

Here's our embassy in the high rent district.

We walked along both sides of the Champs Elysees and it was very ritzy. Lots of expensive clothes and shoes and, much to my surprise, car dealerships! I thought the place below was an embassy or other government place. But no...

It was some kind of Abercrombie and Fitch place. There was a major lineup to get in and A and F guys standing out front.

This was the first of the fancy cars, a Renault Dezir. So cool.

Here's an interesting window at the Louis Vuitton store. We saw this girl in a painting in the Orangerie earlier in the day.

Then we found a Citroen showroom. This is the new GT. I think I own it virtually in my PS3 racing game but it was a real thrill to be this close to it!

On the way home we passed by Notre Dame again and this is how it usually looks. The line of people waiting is very long.

We also passed by the Hotel de Ville (city hall) and noticed a large crowd. Here's the building and you can see the 3 soldiers in the foreground. We have seen soldiers all around Paris at all hours and they are carrying serious weapons.

The crowd we saw was watching France play basketball at the Olympics. The giant tv has been set up every day.

For dinner we decided that we'd like a change of pace and went to an English pub called the Frog and Princess. It's a microbrewery and I really wanted some good beer in pints. When you go in, they give you a sampler of all of their beers so you can choose. How civilized! Most of the cafes would charge 15 euros for this.

We decided that we'd drink half of each one. This was Marilyn's idea of half. I didn't mind.

Here we see a picture of the Queen in her racing outfit along with Dark de Triomphe and Parislytic pints. I also tried a pint of Inseine. All were good.