Pictures have been updated to flickr.com in the France collection.

June 17-18. Pompidou (Musée National Dàrt Moderne) witnessed the exhibitions of Alexander Calder and Kandinsky. Kandinsky`s progression as an artist was astounding. Later years are great. The permanent collection was focused on female artists and feminism. A very different approach then the male dominated galleries I`ve been visiting.

Went to a picnic and played some Bocce Ball which is very popular here. Tried to get into a soul concert but the cover was to high so we went to a bar in Canal Saint Martin.

Celebrated Olivia`s birthday at the same wine and cheese bar I went to my first night in Paris. Also worked on the bikes more...

June 15-16. Gorilla glued some furniture. Adjusted the brakes and deraillers on some bikes. Attempted to true a wheel that ended up being beyond repair. Meet with friends. Explored the under ground quarries and catacombs of Paris. Discovered they do not allow flash photography if you have a nice camera but if you don`t its ok to do what you please.

June 14. Road trip from Rouen to cliffs of Etretat. A short drive away to the coast a couple of Melodie`s friends and I walked the cliffs along the edge of the ocean. A few remnants of WWII are visible but it isn`t the famous beach of D-day. Most of the cliff feature are shrouded in clouds for my pictures. However, it did clear up as we headed back to Rouen and eventually Paris.

June 13. In the morning we hopped a train to Rouen for the weekend. Rouen is in Normandie and is a tourist draw for its old buildings. Melodie used to live here so she took me around to the sights. Joan of Arc Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral (famously painted by Monet), Saint-Ouen Abbey church, Great Clock (one of the oldest in Europe) & Aitre Saint-Maclou (a high light of the great plague).

Unfortunately we didn`t have time for the many museums and the streets were packed with tourists so I didn`t feel like taking to many pictures of the old buildings. After our exploration and my guided tour we went to a birthday party a few miles out of town. I spent the night and early morning sipping wine and using a mixture of English, French and body language.

June 12. Preparation for for arrival. Melodie`s parents are in bound for the week so we cleaned the flat and continued to use our Thai cooking training with an attempt at sticky rice with banana. I also made some hummus with my world famous skills.

June 11. Musée d`Orsay. Spent the whole day exploring every bit of this museum. Most impressive to me is Monet, Van Gough and the impressionist / neo-impressionist work they have in permanent collection. This is the first museum to have almost all the art information in English. I learned a lot but still can`t claim to be anything but art illiterate.

On my walk back to the flat I took pictures of the Louvre and surrounding gardens. Sunny day with tons of people out enjoying!

June 10. In preparation for dinner Melodie and I took bikes via Place de Italy to Paris`s version of China town. In the streets we found a grocery store with all the Asian ingredients we needed for our planned Thai dinner & slide show. We settled on a more simple dish Pad Thai also picked up some sticky rice for later in the week. Cooking went well and the slide show was a bit long for everyone.

Check the France photo link for updated pictures! Also I actually proof read my posts this time so there might be less grammar mistakes.

June 9. Parisien life. Place de Vosges, Notre Dame Cathedrale and Musèe Carnavalet (Paris history). A note to any English speaking travelers. Nothing is writen in English so you`ll have to take a tour or opt to learn nothing but a visual history. I choose the latter. There was a revolution at some point and they don`t have a guillotine on display. I asked. "Maybe the Louvre?" they say.

June 6-8. Paris Tour con`t. Free first Sunday visit to the Louvre. Escape culturel Louis Vuitton and the trippiest elevator ride around. Attempted to cook an Indian favorite Roti/chapati and curry. Failed miserably with that cooking adventure. It looks so easy when they do it!

Walked a ton. North in a wandering zigzag pattern to Gare du North (train station). I like to walk without a map until I get lost enough then I reorient with the compass and map. East to Parc des Buttes Chaumont. Took some pictures and enjoyed a baguette with Camembert cheese. Next South to Cimetière du Père Lachaise. Which is resting place of a few famous people including Jim Morrison of the Doors. I didn`t have time to find his. Security kicked me out for closing time. Ended at the Place de la Bastille.

Finished the weekend with some of Steve`s famous home made hummus.

June 4&5. Paris. A sushi dinner and Argentinian DJ. Helped Melodie prepare for a bacheloret party. Took a few pictures of the festivities before they took off to the south of France for the weekend.

When I returned it was late so I went out to take some night picture of the streets. Not a block away I broke my cheap Walmart tripod taking a picture of a mannequin in a shop window. Not a big surprise and its not able to hold my heavy camera well anyways. Continuing on using my camera bag as a tripod I headed in no particular direction.

Near a metro stop I almost literally ran into a guy. He was talking quickly in French and getting way to close to my personal space. Personal space that gets larger when I have my expensive camera with me at night. It took me a while to explain I do not speak French. By this point I figure he might be trying to mug me. But then he throw himself into me and gave a good shove. It all came together, he just wanted a fight. He didn`t even notice my camera. Apparently Daddy hit him and Mommy didn`t hold him enough. Anyways, I ran away.

June 3. Paris tour continued. Tour Eiffel, Champs Elysèe and Arc De Triomphe. Paris has a wonderful collection of public bikes that are rented by the hour or day from automated bike racks. Once you figure out the basics you can travel environmentally friendly all over the city in ease. I did learn a valuable lesson about the system. When the bike seat is turned around facing the wrong direction it may appears a minor inconvenience. Thats what I thought anyways. A few yards down the road I realized that is French for this bike is broken. So if public bikes catch on in your city keep that in mind.

June 2. Happy Birthday. Melodie brought me breakfast in bed and gave me a sweet hat to replace the one I lost in Thailand. After that we headed to get my camera sensor cleaned. Every price quote was between 40-60€. In Bangkok Canon themselves cleaned it for 10$. So I bought the stuff to do it myself.

Next we started the sight seeing. Basilique du Sacècoeur à Mont Martre and Seine river side. For dinner we picnicked as a group on Pont Des Arts a bridge near the Louvre. Known for it lively music and youthful wine consumption. Great birthday!

June 1. Paris. French immersion starting with a croissant for breakfast. Lunch with baguette, cheese and wine in Monceau park.

To view all the Asia pictures as a slide show use this flikr.com Set. They play in chronological order and includes everything posted thus far. Once in flickr.com click the slide show icon in the upper right of the web page.

May 31. SIN -> France. In Beijing we had a 6hr layover and slept until our flight to Paris. Our arrival was on time around 6pm. Safe flight unlike the one from Brazil thats all over the news. Now that I think about it our plane was ancient and we had some bad turbulence. The wing outside my window had boot marks all over it. It appeared to have hosted a square dance.

In the airport someone mistake Melodies bag with theirs. An identical bag to hers was going round the baggage belt unclaimed. We left with a promise from the airport people that it will arrive by tomorrow. In true French style we celebrated our arrival with wine and cheese. Had a great time meeting Melodie's sister and friends.

May 30. Tioman -> Mersing -> SIN. Took the 3hr ferry back to Mersing. All the buses to Singapore are full until "3pm due to a school holiday. During the wait we bought stuff and got our fill of Asian food. Bus to Singapore and a train to the airport. Flight to Beijing on China Air.

May 27-29. Tioman Island. Snorkeling, taking sun, reading, fish BBQ dinner and drinks with French friends. Jungle hikes to Monkey Bay, Salong, Panuba Bay and Tekek. High tides, low tides. Sunrises, sunsets.

May 26 -Tioman Island- Jungle walk to the East side of the island. Approximately 7km each way. The walk was unbelievably beautiful. We saw Black Giant Squirrels and heard all kinds of exotic sounding birds. As soon as we arrived at the beach a light rain turned into a monsoonal down poor. We shored up in a restaurant and sipped tea waiting for it to pass for an hour and half.

After the rain we discovered the viability from the end of the pier was easily 20 meters or more all the way to the bottom of the ocean. We could see huge schools of fish. Next we walked to a turtle conservation operation. We checked out the blind turtle they have and headed up a trail to a waterfall.

I figured the falls would be in good form due to all the rain. After hiking 35 minutes in the jungle we arrived at the creek. Which had swollen due to the rain and consumed the rest of the trail to the falls. We headed back not having time to bushwhack through the jungle. A family ran into us heading up the trail and we discussed the colorful snakes we've been seeing on the trail.

On the walk back we chose a different route and eat dinner in Tekek.

May 24&25 -Tioman Island- Walked to a small beach a short jungle walk from ABC. Took some sun, snorkeling and valuable reading time. Walked to the town of Tekek. Discovered the duty free shops near the small airport. Spent time becoming island culinary critics.

May 23 - Took the 3 hour ferry to Tioman Island. Tioman Island (locally known as Gunung Daik Bercabang Tiga) was the setting for the 1958 movie, South Pacific as Bali Hai. In the 1970s, TIME Magazine selected Tioman as one of the world's most beautiful islands. (wiki)

Found the cheapest bungalows on the Air Batang Beach (ABC). I did all my laundry including my backpack and camera bag. My poor Granite Gear-Vapor Trail backpack has developed a large hole in it`s Rip-stop nylon. Afterwards I took advantage of the local guesthouse libraries. Trading all my books for a stack of unread material.