Days 32-37

Last day in Vienna:
As always loads of info to tell you guys. I forgot to mention, that it actually did snow one day when I was there, tuesday, and Michi was throwing snow balls at me. Um, so my last day in Vienna, I went to Cafe Sperl, which was Hitlers old haunt, and had apfelstrudel (apple strudel0 and wine. I went to go see this church Votivkirche, it was ok. It is beautiful on the outside, but I prefer Stephansdom. I also went to Stephansdom and the karnter strasse one last time. Gawan came to help with my bags, he carried both of them down the stairs by himself. When I exlaimed that he is so strong, he said not really, I am just showing off. Hehe! Helga, Gawan and I took a cab to the westbahnhof (train station). Guy and Michi met us, and then we argued about where I should sit, and if I should get a sleeping car or not. God, I cannot beleive how attached I got to these people, (well most of them), and I only knew them for a such a short time. I actually cried as I left Wien. I am going to miss them.
Aboard the Hogwarts I mean Orient Express:
Can you believe it I rode the Orient Express! I ended up paying an extra 30 euros, for a sleeping car, but I lucked out because I got a six person one all to myself. I felt very safe. I think Helga may have talked to the Stewardess or something. (New career idea, instead of a airplane stewardess, I could be a train attendant.) My bon voyage committee waited outside on the platform until the train pulled away, I felt a bit like a zoo animal. I had to write notes to communicate, because I couldn't hear them. With the sleeping compartments you have to give the stewardess your passport and ticket, so they don't have to wake you up as they cross borders. I asked her to have them stamp it, but when I got it back in the morning there was no stamps. I basically fell asleep in Austria and woke up in France. They even had a continental breakfast for us. It was a overall good experience, although the bathroom really smelled. Ugh.
Arrival in Paris
So I arrived on time at 10:30, and was met by my collegue Annette. Although she sounds British on the phone, she is actually Swedish. She is very nice. My apartment, is outside of the districts, and is in the north of the city on Rue Diderot. We took a cab to my apartment. I have one landlady, two housemates, and two cats. All of whom I like. Vanessa and Binnie (landlady) are British by birth, but reside in France. I forget where Jose Luiz is from. Jose Luiz and Binnie both work at Unesco on the same floor as me, but in different departments.
I went to check out UNESCO as soon as I we dropped of my stuff. It is about a 40 minute metro (subway) ride, but seeing as rent is so cheap it is worth it. The first thing I see as I emerge from the subaway station is the Eiffel tower, it is a definate reminder that I am in Paris.
People at work seem really nice. Doug my supervisor is Canadian, (Montreal)- although his parents are Japanese. His wife is french, her name is Marie, I believe, she is also nice. Doug's assistant Jenny is super kind, and she is from England. There is also another girl named Stephanie. She is French.
I went out to lunch with Annette, Jenny and Steph at the Unesco cafe. Then I made my way alone to the Eiffel tower. It is big, I didn't go up.
It was a bit of a culture shock coming here, after using what limited German I have for five weeks, and then all of a sudden having to switch mental gears and use french is very strange. There is also the keyboard thing, I got used to a german keyboard, and now an english one feels foreign, forget about a french keyboard, which is really different.
After making my way back to Unesco after the tour effiel, I helped Annette fold pamphlets for our conference session on tommorow, and then the girls and I went out for drinks. It was nice, I met alot of people. So much is new. I had trouble finding my way back from the metro station near my house though, I couldn't remember what street, and then I couldn't find the house, because the number is so discreet on the mailbox! To get into the house, I have to unlock and lock the outgate, and then the front door. The key is different too, there is no teeth, just a bunch of different sized holes on the sides.
The weekend
The weekend was sort of quiet. I went with Binnie the supermarket and the bank saturday. The supermarket was a little overwhelming everything is new, but part of the problem is that I only had a little cash, because I just had travellers cheques, and the banks couldn't cash them. Well the ones near me anyways.
Binnie fed me a really yummy salad for lunch, and then I dashed off to meet Annette. Binnie and I chat alot. Annette and I went to Notre Dame Cathedral. To be honest, I don't like it as much as Stephansdom, but I won't tell anyone here that. We also went to this shopping district, with an underground mall. Annette had never had KFC before so we went there. It was so packed, it was crazy! The only thing they had was spicy pieces of chicken. The bathrooms didn't have toliet seats, so it was really icky.
Sunday, I didn't do anything but read the Di Vinci Code by Dan Brown- very good, I highly recommend it. They are making a film version of it, and it will be filmed at the Luevre. Although it has Tom Hanks, which is a bit of a draw back. It is neat because this book was talking about pagan symbol in churchs etc, and before I even read it, I noticed there was a pentagram in one of the glass windows Notre Dame. Harry Potter note: Nicholas Flamel -maker of the philsophers stone- is mentioned in D.Code as a grand master of a secret society. Binnie I looked him up in an encyclopedia, and he is a real person, and there is a legend about him and a phil. stone! Ms. Rowling really did her homework!
That thing called work
So Monday finally roles around, and is the first day of this massive international conference on Biodiversity, Science and Governance. No one told me where I was supposed to be, so I didn't get to see Chirac. Boo-urns to that. I spent the morning, doing more folding, after finally getting ahold of someone. I don't have an office or desk or computer yet, because there is overlap for another week and a half, as a replacement is trained for Claire who is going on maternity leave. But this week it is not so bad, as I have been mostly attending the conference. I didn't have a security badge until tuesday because the paperwork wasn't quite finished yet, and so getting into the building was a bit of a problem. I still have loads more to write but it will have to wait as I don't want to miss my subway home. Ciao for now.