Paris Day 3

• Early morning 0200hrs. 3 new roommates checked in and woke me up. Dammit!
• I did the same at 0630hrs. Karma's always at work.
• Found out that the Marché de Monge is right next to my place. at Mouffetard ("Skunk" was the word of origin), but it was a fruit and veg market with roast chicken.
  
• Lost for like 1 hour trying to find Promenade de Plantee but was definitely worth it. [This was featured in the movie Before Sunset] So peaceful. Wish I had an apartment there overlooking the jardine. The spring will be beautiful here. 4.5 km long.
  
• The wait for the Versaille train at Biblioque de Frair Matthew (or something) was 0.5 hour. And the change between the different trains at the station was so random! So many retardes and no intuitive indication of when the train leaves (always late!). It must be 0 degrees.
• Damn the Californians on this train are annoying. They are naturally the most uncouthed and loudest people in the carriage. Some French actually moved away to distance themselves from the group. It's amazing how different university-aged people are in maturity across different countries. The students at Sorbonne all look/act like grad students althought most look pretty youthful.
• Versaille is amazing. Imagining the number of articans and craftsmen working on this is mind-boggling. The house itself is not unmanageably huge. The biggest room appears to be the famous Hall of Mirrors, but I was disappointed that the dining area was off-limits. There were separate apartments for the king, queen, dauphain with a separate area allocated away from the main house for Marie Antoinette. The gardens are the most impressive of the estate, in particular the gardens on the right side of the house. The main garden with the lake and famous horizon was just as expansive as I'd expected. Heaps of Korean tourists today and people (the Europeans and Americans) don't seem to understand that no photos means not taking any inside the Versailles. Which is frustrating when the human traffic bottlenecks at places where these crapparazzos congregate. Otherwise, a great trip out.
• Mauffetard had a marché that was so vibrant and I was nearly seduced into buying wine and cheese (if not for border security!).
  
• Saw the "real" Pont Neuf which is on the top of the western island. Went back to the Lourve Carrousel and visited the Virgin Megastore. Which reminded me that I didn't go into the Shakespearean Bookshop or the Bartille Stationery Shop. Got lost in Rue de Lourve (it was dark!).
• Met the 3 new roommates, Americans on exchange in Bologña. The night is young but this girl's tired and the nose is starting to water again. The cheeseburger I ate is holding up well. At least I've upped my calcium intake with the coconut-flavoured yogurt drink.