The dream is over but Oui Paree!
Three days later and still no-one is any closer to accepting that we got booted out of the World Cup because of a dodgy penalty! Oh well - we fought gallantly and I for one am very proud of our Aussie boys and I'm sure football has got it's healthiest dose ever of coverage back in Oz. It was still fantastic to watch them play and it gave all us expat Aussies a chance to proudly display our green and gold and drape flags over our living rooms. So thank you Socceroos! What a ride :)

I was in Paris for the weekend which was absolutely divine (and we managed to catch the game in Cafe Oz - an, obviously, Australian bar in the centre of Paris, just off Rue de Rivoli, complete with a crocodile eating a surfboard mounted on the wall - classy!). At first we didn't know how to find the Aussie bar, but while vaguely walking around we stumbled into an army dressed in green and gold, waving Australian flags and one guys wearing a Canberra Raiders jersey, probably having just stepped off a Contiki tour bus - and we were sorted.

But the weekend did not just revolve around the game. I went to Paris in the first place to catch up with my wonderful friend Kimberley (see pic from the game) and her boyfriend Stu who I have not seen since I left home. I caught them on the end of their whirlwind World Cup extravaganza through Germany - and they came complete with crazy stories and unforgettable memories from the land of beer and sausages (i wish I quit my job and went there for the entire month! - am going to be jealous about all these tales from all my friends who made the trip for months to come - at least I was there for a little while).

Anyways, it was lovely to see some faces from home and made me realise how much I truly do miss everyone. Good to see though that love from afar works just as well and no matter how far I am away, or for how long, there are people I will always love dearly and who will always return the friendship (regardless of how little I e-mail or how often I blab on about my UK/Europe adventures). Awwwwwww!

Here are a couple more of my favourite Paris pics...
In front of the Eiffel:

Getting an eyeful (haha!):

Paris by night:

And no visit to Paris is complete without a decadent visit to my heaven, Angelina's - the home of undeniably the best hot chocolate in the world and groan-inducing tarte aux fraises (below) and their famous mont-blanc cakes.


more pics later (and eventually when I load my photos from Burgundy and Germany - they're coming!)