Sorry for taking so long to write this posting!

PARIS is amazing. After a nice TGV train ride (it's one of the best things about France, their brilliant fast-train network) we arrived in Paris and went to our hostel near the Sacre-Cour.

The next day was an extremely early morning start as Mum and I went to Cafe Oz to see the AFL Grand Final. GOOOOOOOOOO CATS!! It was a legendary game and I'm so pleased we beat St. Kilda (my second most hated team). With moments to go in the game I was shaking and on the verge of tears it was so intense.

Ina and Dad met us and we had a quick breafast before starting our expedition. We went to the Louvre (didn't go in though), and walked through Jardin du Carrousel and Jardin des Tuileries to Place de la Concorde. Then, up the Champs-Elysees to Arc de Triomphe. The highlights were a plenty. There were big metal blob characters, one representing each month of the year. The Champs-Elysees was awesome to see for a Tour de France fan.

We got hungry so we took a metro somewhere far away. We left the city, but we found a nice suburb where we had good Chinese food. We rode back in and visited the Eiffel Tower. Ina and I took the steps up the tower whileMum and Dad went up the lifts. It was wonderfully high and the views were spectacular. Then we wandered to Champ de Mars Tour Eiffel , where we sat in the relaxing part under the bright blue skies. As we continued to the metro, we found a guy who rollerskated and jumped up a ramp over a rope 3 metres above. I also took a classic picture of Ina doing something with the Eiffel Tower.

That night though, was remarkable!  We had a river cruise, before a Moulin Rouge show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  IT WAS SO COOL!

Sunday we took a trip to Versailles after going to Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise. The cemetary was great fun. We all kissed the Oscar Wilde grave, we visited Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Marcel Proust, Frederic Chopin and someone Balzac. Mum fell over as a twig rolled, collapsing to the floor. She screamed in shock and cried in pain. But greater moments were to come.

We eventually made our way to Versailles. It stirred up all sorts of chaos. Mum and Ina left to find a bathroom, and were held there captive for a good 20 minutes. After minute 18, Dad left to get McDonalds, which added more time. The Paris-Versailles 16km run had just finished, which Ina was going to run but was injured, so literally hundreds of runners were queuing to reward their healthy efforts with fatty delights. Meanwhile, Ina and I had a train to catch only a few hours later. It was a logistical disaster. Negative energy and stress was rife as Mum and I grew increasingly aware that time was moving fast and soon we would be saying goodbye again for another 12 months at least. Sacrifices, stress, nerves, sadness at the expense of sight-seeing, conversation and smiles around the gardens of Versailles (which were beautiful), before a long farewell at the queue for palace entry.

After Ina and I left my parents, it was a rush to the hostel and then the train station with the intensity of The Amazing Race. We were running the huge risk of missing the train, and genius navigation of the complex Metro system saw us reach our destination on time. That and the fact that I lied about when the train left to gave us an extra 10 minutes. That 10 minutes we spent looking for food. Strangely, Paris take-away is ONLY sandwiches. We spent 9.5 minutes looking for alternatives to sandwiches, and 0.5 reluctantly buying sandwiches.

Why did I dub it "the city of illusion"? While walking up the Champs Elysees I kept thinking the end of the street was only 5 minutes away.