Jay and Erin Zilkie's Blog

Paris – Notre Dame, The Louvre…

jayzilkie — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:09:54 +0000

Notre Dame – Probably the most famous Cathedral in Europe…its pretty much amazing

It is amzing inside and out…a must see

The Louvre -

The Musée du Louvre or officially the Grand Louvre — in English, the Louvre Museum or Great Louvre, or simply the Louvre — is the largest national museum of France, the most visited museum in the world, and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of Paris, located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (neighbourhood). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet).

The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) which began as a fortress built in the late 12th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are still visible. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace. In 1672, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of antique sculpture.^[3] In 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years.^[4] During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum, to display the nation’s masterpieces.

Paris – Clichy (Marie De Clichy)

jayzilkie — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:04:55 +0000

Paris – We live in a suburb of Paris that is just north west of downtown. Our Metro stop is called Marie de Clichy. It is on line 13 of the RATP (Metro Paris).

Clichy (sometimes unofficially Clichy-la-Garenne) is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 6.4 km (4 miles) from the center of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe.

The headquarters of the L’Oréal Group, the world’s leading company in cosmetics and beauty, Bic, one of the biggest pen producers in the world, and Sony France,

It is served by a subway line from the Porte de Clichy, by an arterial highway surrounding Paris, and by suburban train service. The Beaujon Hospital, (We live 2 minutes from this hospital) one of the largest and most modern in the Paris region, is located in the town. The Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, built when the saint was village priest at Clichy (1612–25), is on the boulevard Jean-Jaurès. The suburb’s manufactures include mechanical, electrical, and chemical products. The population is around 55,000 people

Here are some pics of the area we live in…

This is our appartment buidling , we live on the 1st floor

Paris – More adventures..

jayzilkie — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:18:50 +0000

The Palace of Versailles–A half hour outside of Paris, the Palace of Versailles is one of the world’s grandest historical museums.

In 1624, Louis XIII, the king of France, began the building of a hunting lodge in the small village of Versailles
There are 18,000 square meters of history in the Palace of Versailles

This palace was incredible. So amazing to see some beauty and the amazing gardens. It is about a half hour from our house to get here.

The Inside of the Palace if filled with incredible murals and paintings and rich history. The Hall of Mirrors being the most famous.

Paris – Adventures so far…

jayzilkie — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:45:23 +0000

Paris….. there truely is so much to see and do here. We have been very fortunate to have had lots of time to see all the sites and sounds and not having to rush. Here are a few of the adventures we have been on s far

The Eiffel Tower… over 60 Million people visit it each year. The most popular touris attraction in all of France. They repaint it every 7 years, but it takes them 3 years to do it. (below a view from the eifel tower, and the eifel tower at night – it lights up every hour starting at 9 for 5 minutes)

Our next adventure was to vist the luxumbourg Palace (below)

This was a beautiful palace and free to go and visit. It is close to the university so very popular for students to come and eat lunch there. The yard is massive and beautiful.

Our next little adventure was the pantheon. This is a giant church and tomb for some famous people in France. Pretty famous and huge and right beside it is a famous church.

Paris – The Arrival

jayzilkie — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:25:57 +0000

August 20/09 – We finally get to the airport, almost getting stuck in traffic but still making it an hour before boarding time. We than check in finding out that we are over weight by $750 dollars .. We take apart our luggage throwing out clothes and items that aren’t essential. We make our weight down to only $ 250 dollars and decide that will have to do. We get to our gate just as the our plane is boarding. We have a good flight to Calgary, quick stop over; not getting off. And fly out at 11:00 from Calgary and arrive at 4:00 after an 8 ½ hour flight. We both became sick after a turbulent landing, Jay threw up numerous times. We met up with Dimitri- Jaysons head coach, we pack in tightly all of our possessions in his red ford car. He drives us to jay’s new home, the Asnieres hockey area.

We met Christophe Cuzin, the president of the Asnieres club. We view the rink and jay drops off his gear. We than say goodbye to Dimitri and head with Christophe to our apartment. By now you can see that is already an overwhelming experience but as we go inside our blue door heading to our apartment on the first floor to the left I am a little apprehensive to see what is held inside. There is a little living room, a couch of sorts/cot and a nice black table, a little TV filled with only French channels, a “closet” where we are suppose to put our life of 9 months worth of clothes. You than look up to find our bedroom, a loft maybe 6 feet from the roof where our bed is on the floor, and to get there is by a wooden stairs that can be folded up and down. You than walk into a another room where there is a little narrow kitchen with a stove top, no oven, microwave, fridge, and a washing machine. There is cupboard space filled with kitchen supplies already and a little fold up table and chairs. You than walk through more doors and find a bathroom, pretty big; with a sink and toilet, shower.