On Saturday a couple of other au pairs I have met were heading to Versailles, so I decided it was a good opportunity to head back and brave the line to see inside the château! We were all regretting our decision to meet so early once we were on the train at nine am and all nearly falling asleep, but despite the occasionally torrential rain it was definitely worth going back to see inside. Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon, and the Hall of Mirrors were of course highlights but we accidentally stumbled upon the Grand Trianon which was housing an exhibition of top fashion designer's various haute couture dresses from throughout the years, mixed in with a few from the 16/17/18/19th centuries, it was fairly spectacular!

Sunday made me the envy of many a person in Australia as I watched the Tour de France on the Champs Élysées! I was already going to watch, but once I heard that Cadel was finally going to win, my general interest to see what all the fuss was about turned into real excitement! It was lucky for me and my photos that he was in winning outfit already because the group flies past so quickly that I wouldn't have had a chance of picking him out from a crowd if he weren't the only one in yellow! I have hardly come across any other Australians here (Americans on the other hand, are absolutely everywhere!) but for the whole of Sunday it was quite easy to pick out an Aussie - draped in a flag with a huge smile of course.

The parade of advertisements before the cyclists arrived was quite amazing (I had no idea it even existed) but it was another long wait standing in one spot before we saw the first bike - but well worth it!

We had some rather intoxicated, loud and rude English people standing in front of us who decided that, even though they were in the very front of the crowd, it was necessary to stand on top of their eskys and chairs - much to the delight of everyone standing behind them of course! They also proceeded to pick fights with various French people standing around them who dared to ask them to get down... doing wonders for the image of British people in France.

That night I had a farewell dinner with some new friends who were heading home after a year here (making friends who are leaving soon is becoming a bad habit!) and another late night made for a tired au pair on Monday!