Tarzan, Melanie Jane and the lost city of Golf

I thought I would embrace life sans purpose by doing the things that no one ever seems to have the time for. So I decided to go out with a couple of friends to play golf last Friday. The golf course was on an island in the Seine about a 30 minute trip out of Paris on the train and the website suggested that the course was a kilometre from the metro station and so we thought it was pretty easy to get to. No one had an "outskirts of Paris" map but we thought we'd ask some locals and it would be OK.

However, the lost city of golf is like the ring,the golden compass and now the crystal skull (ref:Indiana Jones movie) in that it wasn't that easy to find. The amazing thing about islands is that they are surrounded by water and therefore, short of swimming, you need to find a bridge to take you onto the island. This was the great challenge worthy of Columbus. We were misdirected by every Parisian in the city. We ended up walking for over two hours to get onto this course. And yes, the way back was much quicker - damn those elusive bridges masquerading as train tracks! Here's a couple of snaps to prove we made it and played and I didn't throw my clubs even once. Well done Prash.

A photo from the bridge of gloom.
After golf, I went off to see a movie at the Outdoor Cinema at the complete opposite end of Paris. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (I think is the translation) is a film about Antonio Banderas as a stalker/kidnapper. When he was very very young. The golf had taken it out of me so I slept for a lot of it. Mel had to keep waking me when I started snoring and it became obvious in the quiet bits of the film.

We saw Wall.E on Saturday. Incredible. Make sure you see it.

On Sunday, Mel and I went and played a bit of Tarzan and Jane in the jungle. Well actually, its called Accrobranche. Imagine rope courses amongst trees. 2 hours of balancing your way on logs, loose ropes and wire to cross the course. It was exhilarating but utterly exhausting. Especially given that neither of us are particularly good with heights. Again, some snaps to give you an idea. During the week I enjoyed a two hour wait to got to the Paris catacombs. This is the height of tourist summer in Paris and it shows! In 1786, mysterious illnesses in Paris were linked to the over-crowded city cemeteries. So, the town decided to move all the skeletons into underground caves. Thus the catacombs. There are over 5 million dead people's bones there now. Again, some choice snaps.
On Saturday, we head off to Turkey for 9 days so we'll have lots of photos and stories from there.