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Sights not to be missed in Paris

Christian Frank — 2013-05-19T11:46:43Z

Paris is a fascinating city and definitively worth a trip. Here are some insights into the places not be missed and how you could tackle them, especially if this is your first time in Paris. Please leave you comments and thoughts in the contribution section.

The Eiffel tower
There is no better introduction to Paris than climbing up the Eiffeltower. If you are not afraid of heights you should definitively go by lift to the third level and get a feel for the city. You will discover its architectural unity, the landmarks; and, if you come by night, a delightful sea of lights.

From the Eiffel tower you could head to Place de la Concorde and from there to the Louvre.

The Louvre
One of the great museums on earth, it is home not only to the famed Mona Lisa and her mysterious smile but to countless other master pieces and treasures. The building itself is fascinating - the grandiose palace, the inner courtyards and wings - and the post-modern pyramid which is to the main entrance to the museum. If you can, visit the Louvre in the evening. Every Wednesday and Friday the Louvre opens until 9.45 pm. If you are lucky you will have the Louvre almost to yourself. Winter evenings bring additional charm the way the Louvre is beautifully lit.

Notre Dame de Paris
Notre-Dame, "Our Lady", as Parisans have called their cathedral for 850 years now, sits right in the historical heart of the city - the Ile de la Cité, a small island, which has been inhabited since Roman times. Notre Dame is one of the finest examples of gothic architecture in France. You should have a circular walk through its isles, and if the queue is not too long, climb on the cathedral towers and check out the gorgyles (please add a picture in the comment section … ).

Crossing over the Seine to the left bank (i.e. turning right facing Notre Dame) you will come across steps leading down to the river bank. Following the river bank upstream is one of the nicest walks in Paris (also much appreciated by Woody Allen).

The Marais Quarter
In the 15th and 16th century, the Marais quarter was "the" place to be. Numerous palaces and a unique feel still bear witness of that period today. One way to discover the Marais is to start from Bastille and head over to Place des Vosges, one of the prettiest squares in France. From here you walk up Rue des Francs Bourgeois, a busy fashion street, spiced up with 17th century palaces, to the Pompidou Center, our next stop.

The Pompidou Center
The Pompidou Center, a vast building made of glass, steel and tubes, is the most popular cultural destination in Paris. The Pomidou Center houses the Museum of Modern Arts and various temporary exhibition of 20th century artists, designers, architects… . It is a good place to spend a rainy afternoon - check out an exhibition, brows art books at the bookstore or visit the design shop, eat and relax in its cafés and restaurants. Kids enjoy the wide open spaces.

Montmartre
If you have seen the movie "Amélie Poulain", you have already a good idea what Montmartre could be like - small streets climbing up a steep hill, squares filled with children (and tourists) and the view from the porch of Sacré Coeur onto the bustling city.

Disneyland
Disneyland is in an outer suburb of Paris. The theme park is about a 30 minute ride with RER from the city center. For many kids and their parents this is a must do. You should plan a whole day to take a good plunge into Disney fairy land. There is no good advice to be had except the obvious : avoid crunch time on Wednesday afternoons, Saturdays and Sundays. The queue for each attraction can be hours long.

Other ideas (to be developped) :
A walk through the Latin Quarter
Imperial Paris
Shop like mad
A trip on a Bateau Mouche
Versailles
Historical Paris

Other languages :
Deutsch : Die schönsten Sehenswürdigkeiten in Paris

Classic brasseries in Paris

Christian Frank — 2013-05-19T11:39:49Z

A brasserie is literally a brewery. In today's Paris, a brasserie is a restaurant where they sell beer together with food. Most brasseries in Paris are more than a 100 years old, elegant et quite chic.

Here is a selection of our preferred brasseries in Paris.

Brasserie Bofinger, near Place de la Bastille and Place des Vosges, serves Alsation food since 1864 in a beautiful Empire setting. Read more.

La Coupole, the most Art Deco : The Coupole' dome and pillars were painted by several artists, including Fernand Léger. The place to be should you end up near Montparnasse (at the border between the 6th and the 14th arrondissement). The food served is traditional French cuisine (especially seafood) in a single large room.

Le Boeuf sur le Toit, the most jazzy brasserie in Paris. The boeuf does not refer to an ox, but to a jam session also called "faire un boeuf" in French. The decoration is very Art Deco, and even if the jazz musicians are long gone, you will enjoy the traditional brasserie cuisine from seafood to steak tartare and beyond.

Brasserie Mollard, the most elegant : The brasserie was built by the Moulin Rouge's architect. The decor is turn of the 1900 century or Belle Epoque when Paris was the thriving capital of the world. Traditional French cuisine. The Mollard is just opposite the St. Lazare train station.

Le Bouillon Chartier, the friendliest : This is one of the friendliest brasseries in Paris. Since 1896, the menu has been reasonably priced (10 to 20 Euros for a meal), and the setting is quite remarkable : a single large room, wood furnishings, round lamps cascading endlessly down huge mirrors.

Other languages :
Français : Les plus belles brasseries à Paris

Rue de Bretagne in the Marais district, a great street to live in!

Christian Frank — 2013-05-09T07:38:01Z

The rue de Bretagne is in the upper Marais. It is one of those Parisians streets great to live in or nearby. It has also become quite a trendy place where the beautiful people hang out to be seen...

If you wanted you could probably live off the rue de Bretagne. It has the right mixture of shops, groceries, cafés and restaurant to provide for (almost) all your needs.

Here is a quick run down of what you should not miss.

There are a couple of nice cafés all along rue de Bretagne. The one not to miss is the Café le Progrès at its Eastern end.

The bakery just off into rue de Saintonge makes good bread, the other on rue de Bretagne makes also great patisseries.

There is a supermarket on the corner of rue de Saintonge and rue de Bretagne. There is not much that you won't find here. It also opens until late : 8 or 9 pm, if not 10 pm.

There are two wine stores, a cheesemonger near the crossing with rue Charlot which has a great selection of French cheese.

There are two butcheries and vegetable stores. All good.

Finally there is the Marché des Enfants Rouges a covered market. The entrance is right between the cheese monger and Comme un roman, one of the better bookstores in Paris. If the weather is fine, several stalls serve lunch : anything from fine Japanese soups, Lebanese food to Moroccan specialities.

Least but not last, all of this comes at a price. Maybe the best deal you can get is to take your coffee standing at the comptoir of Le Progrès. Last time I checked the coffee was still at 1 euro a shot.

What to do in Paris on May 8th 2013 ?

Christian Frank — 2013-05-06T09:17:43Z

May 8 is a public holiday in France commemorating the end of the second world war. Contrary to May 1st, most museums, attractions and shops are actually open. The day feels pretty much like a Sunday.

Here are a couple of ideas of what you could be doing in Paris on May 8th :

You can join in on the commemoration which takes places in the morning at the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysées .

Museums! All national museums and monuments (like the Louvre, Pompidou Center, Eiffel tower...) are open. Only the Arc de Triomphe will be closed during the morning as the President rekindles the flame of the tomb of the unknown soldier. However, all municipal museums, such as the Musée Carnavalet, will be closed.

Here are a couple of places you might want to check out with your kids : The Jardin d'Acclimatation in the 16th arrondissement, in the midst of the Bois de Boulogne. It is made for kids only, with lots of out doors activities, animals, playgrounds, etc.

National Museum of Natural History (Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle) is another definite must do : there is a great the dinosaure exhibition (running until June 24 2013); otherwise the gallery of evolution displays quite stunningly several thousand stuffed animals.

Should the weather be nice, you could go for an open air-swim in Paris ! For exemple : Piscine Georges Hermant - 4 rue David d'Angers, in the 19th district; Piscine Hébert
2 rue des Fillettes, 18th district; Piscine Butte aux Cailles - 5 place Paul Verlaine, in the 13th district.

Should the ground be dry, you can also just take your pic-nic to one of many parcs and gardens in Paris. By now you should be free to access the lawns. Here are a couple of great places : the banks of the river Seine, Le Champ de Mars right behind the Eiffel tower, Le Parc Montsouris in the 14th district, the parc des Buttes-Chaumont in the 19th.

Related articles :
Check out the French version of this article : Que faire le 8 mai à Paris

Hints and tips on how to park your car in Paris

Christian Frank — 2013-04-28T08:29:55Z

Parking a car in Paris was never easy. Today Paris, like other European cities, actively discourages the use of cars. To make things really difficult a third of all available parking spaces have disappeared in the past years.

So here are a couple of hints and tips on dos and don'ts when you need to take your car into Paris :

First and foremost, find yourself a parking space and just leave your car there during the whole of your stay. Public transport by metro, bus, taxis or bicycle (you can rent a bike at almost any street corner) take you anywhere in Paris in no time. Merely trying to find a suitable parking space can take longer the journey itself.

Second, you probably should head straight to the nearest underground parking. There is always one in a 5 or 10 minutes walking distance. On the downside, they are quite expensive (25 euros a day, with a discount for longer stays), which means, on the upside, that they are shunned by locals and you do find quite easily a space there.


How to park your car in Paris : hints and tips

There is of course street parking and there is a way to catch a space. You should aim for 8 to 8.45 am in the morning or 4.30 to 5.15 pm in the afternoon when Parisians go to or leave work. For the reminder of the day you need to be lucky. Evenings are the worse when lots of people head into town.

Once you found yourself a surface space, you need to head to the next "Tabac" to buy a "Paris carte" to be able to pay the parking fee. In theory you are allowed to say no longer than two hours. Parking is free of charge between 7 pm and 9 am.

During the day you should avoid at all cost to leave your car unattended in the yellow spaces, marked "Livraison". They are for deliveries only. Your car will get towed away in no time.

Paris, here we come again, and again

Christian Frank — 2013-04-28T06:32:18Z

Paris, the city of light, awaits us once again.

Paris, a city full of contrasts : glamorous and luxurious, multi-cultural and bohemian, pulsating with noise and life.

Australia, the birth of a nation, key dates

Christian Frank — 2013-04-22T11:44:29Z

A. Discovery and colonization

-40 000 b.c: arrival of the first aborigines from New Guinea
-20 000 bc: first rock paintings in Kakadu (North of Australia)

1504: Sir Binot Paulmier de Gonneville discovers by chance a part of Australia. He is the true discoverer of what he calls the “Great Austral land”… until the historians offers proof that this beautiful land he found on his road to Indies war in reality a part of the coast of Brazil.

1605: The Dutch explorer William Janz arrives in a part of Australia that he baptize “New Holland”.

1606: The Spanish Luis Vaez de Torres goes through the strait between the north-east of Australia and New-Guinea.

1642: Abel Tasman, another Dutch, discovers an Island in the south of Australia, that will become Tasmania.

1688: The English William Dampier, a corsair, explores the North-West coast of Australia.

1770: James Cook, sailor, cartographer and astronomer, is sent by England for a voyage with a scientist purpose with seven specialists like Joseph Banks, a famous botanist, or Parkinson, a drawer. Their boat was called “The Endeavour”. They arrive on the 29th of April in the place of the future Sydney, a bay with so magnificent plants that they baptize it the Botany Bay.

1788: The first group of convict arrives in Port Jackson, in Sydney. The New South Wales is created and becomes an English colony in 1823.

1851: beginning of the Gold Rush.

1868: arrival of the last convict ship.

1901: Creation of the Federation of Australia.

B. Australia and modernity

1918: Gallipoli Battle. The Anzac Day commemorate this fatal day for the Australian army.

1924: The vote is compulsory for Australian citizens.

1927: Canberra become the capital of Australia.

1948: Australian Citizenship Act 1948, the aboriginals obtains the Australian citizenship.

1962: The right to vote is granted to aboriginal people.

1967: After a referendum, the aboriginals are recognized as a part of the Australian people. In 1971, they are integrated into statistics.

1976: Aboriginal Land Right Act is voted for Northern Territory

1986: Australia Act. This consecrate the independence of Australia.

1993: The Native Title Act establish a law court in charge of the dispute over land ownership.

1999: 54,8% of the population reject the Republic and choose to stay monarchic

2007: Australian Citizenship Act 2007, which impose a test of citizenship.

2008: the prime minister Kevin Rudd apologies officially to the aboriginal people.

Museums in Sydney

Christian Frank — 2010-11-12T16:03:41Z

Sydney Australian Museum:

This is the oldest Australian museum, founded in 1827 on Count Henri Bathurst initiative. The museum, whose main interest is the Australian fauna and flora, will found its actual site in 1849 and open its doors to the public in 1857. The collections presented in the museum is really extensive with more than 16.5 million objects, fossils, minerals, meteorites, gemstones, and specimens of native Australian mammals, birds, reptiles and fish, which are all perfectly described. Many exhibitions and events are organized each months for the general interest or for the kids and even an annual film festival, the Margaret Mead Film Festival.
Location: 6 College Street (opposite Hyde Park)
Opening Hours: Daily 09:30 to 17:00 (except Christmas Day)
Telephone: +61 2 9320 6000
General Admission: Adult: $12 / Family (2 adult, 2 child): $30 / Family (1 adult, 2 child): $18 / Child (5 - 15yrs): $6 / Under 5s: FREE / Members: FREE
Link: http://australianmuseum.net.au/

The Powerhouse Museum:

This one takes its origin in the Sydney International Exhibition held at the Garden Palace in the Domain in 1879. One century later, the museum moved in the darling harbor area, in an old power station constructed to provide power for Sydney's electric tram system. The new Powerhouse Museum opened its doors in 1988. Dedicated to the science and technology, this museum is particularly appreciated by the children who will spend a lot of time in its different interactive sections. Its diverse collection, built up over more than 125 years, spans history, science, technology, design, industry, decorative arts, music, transport and space exploration. A lot of exhibitions and events takes place in the museum, about such diverse subjects like the 80's or the rock band AC/DC…
Location: 500 Harris Street, Ultimo
Opening Hours: Daily 10:00 to 17:00 (Closed Christmas Day); School Holidays 09:30 to 17:00
Telephone: +61 2 9217 0111
General admission: Adult: $10.00 / Child (4 - 15 years): $5.00 / NSW Seniors Card holders and pensioners: $6.00 / Family (1 adult and up to 3 children; or 2 adults and up to 2 children): $25.00 / Concessions (Social Security and Veterans Affairs cardholders, Australian pensioners and seniors): $6.00 / Student card holders, Education group bookings (per student): $5.00 / Children under four, Powerhouse Members, Members of International Council of Museums (ICOM), Members of Museums Australia Inc: FREE
Link: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/

The Art Gallerie of New South Wales:

Established in 1874, the Art Gallery of NSW presents fine international and Australian art. Surrounded by parkland in the eastern edge of the CBD and offering stunning views of Sydney and the harbor, this museum is one of the most beautiful in the world. About 29 000 objects are presented in the galleries, divided in the seven sections of the permanent collection which are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders art, Asian art, Australian art, Contemporary art, Pacific art, Photography, and Western art. There is also around thirty changing exhibitions each year, including the famous Archibald Prize, the famous Australian art prize of portraitures.
Location: Art Gallery Road, The Domain
Opening Hours: Daily 10:00 to 17:00 (except Christmas Day & Good Friday), Wednesday 10:00 to 21:00
Telephone: General +61 2 9225 1700, Information +61 2 9225 1744
General admission: Almost everything here is free, including the entry to the permanent galleries and some temporary exhibitions. You will have to pay admission fees for some major temporary exhibitions and for courses and workshops.
Link: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/

The Museum of Contemporary Arts:

Opened to the public in 1991, this museum is situated near the historic Rocks precinct and offers an impressive view of the Opera House. This site also marks the landing place of the First Fleet in Port Jackson in 1788 and is dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting and collecting contemporary art from across Australia and around the world. Temporary and recurrent exhibitions often takes place in this museum, including Primavera, for Australian artist aged 35 or under.
Location: Circular Quay West
Opening Hours: Daily 10:00 to 17:00 (Closed Christmas Day)
Telephone: +61 2 9245 2400
General admission: Free, at the exception of occasional special exhibitions.
Link: http://www.mca.com.au/default.asp

The National Maritime Museum:

Situated on the western shore of the Darling Harbour, the museum explore all the historic and actual links of Australia with the sea. Officially opened in 1991, the museum‘s collection comprises more than 40,000 objects and present regularly very interesting and interactive exhibitions. You will also be able to visit a full-scale replica of the HMB Endeavour, the famous vessel of the iconic English discoverer James Cook, and other boats or submarine.
Location: 2 Murray Street, Darling Harbour
Opening Hours: Daily 09:00 to 17:00, Daily 09:00 to 18:00 in January, closed Christmas Day
Telephone: +61 2 9298 3777
General Admission: Free at the exception of the visit of the different vessels, free vessels entry for children under five years
Link: http://www.anmm.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1260

Sydney Observatory:

This beautiful observatory is part of the Powerhouse museum. Built in 1858, Sydney Observatory is Australia's oldest observatory. The Observatory comprises a historic 29cm lens telescope built in 1874, a 42cm computer-controlled telescope and hydrogen-alpha solar telescope, a virtual reality 3-D space theatre, exhibitions about astronomy, meteorology and the history of Sydney Observatory, a lecture theatre, souvenir shop, beautiful gardens and the beanbag planetarium. Night sessions are available if you want to use the night telescope or assist to a show in the 3D theatre, but it is highly recommended to book before coming.

Location: Watson Road, Observatory Hill, The Rocks

Opening hours: Open 10am–5pm daily, except Good Friday and Christmas Day; Night sessions of approximately 90 minutes, except Good Friday and Christmas Day; Telescope/3D theatre: Monday to Friday (school term), 2.30pm and 3.30pm, Weekends and school holidays 11am, noon, 2.30pm, and 3.30pm for the day sessions; April to September 6.15pm and 8.15pm, October and November 8.15pm, December and January 8.30pm, February and March 8.15pm for the night sessions
General admission: The visit of the Observatory is free; charges apply for the telescope/3D theatre sessions: Adult $7, child (4 to 15 years) $5, concession $5, family (1 adult and up to 3 children; or 2 adults and up to 2 children) $20, member (individual and family) free for the day sessions; Adult $17, child (4 to 15 years) $10, concession $14, family (1 adult and up to 3 children; or 2 adults and up to 2 children) $47, member (adult) $15, member (child) $8, member (family) $37 for the night sessions.
Link: http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/

Other museums: The Sydney Heritage Fleet, located on Wharf 7, Pirrama Road, Pyrmont, comprises ten historical vessels (http://www.shf.org.au/Index/index.html). Located in Oxford Street Mall, Level 1, 420 Oxford Street, Bondi Junction, the Bondi Shark Museum offers a display of sharks, marlin and other marine creatures (http://www.bondisharkmuseum.com.au/). The Historic Houses Trust include twelve museums to be found in beautiful buildings such as the Museum of Sydney or the Government House (http://www.hht.net.au/). In the heart of the historic area of The Rocks, the Discovery Museum, 2 - 8 Kendall Lane, The Rocks, tells the story of The Rocks from pre-European days to the present (http://www.therocks.com/sydney-Things_To_Do-The_Rocks_Discovery_Museum.htm).

Introduction to Sydney

Christian Frank — 2010-11-12T15:57:55Z

Area: 12 144 km2

Population: 4,504,469 Sydneysiders

Government: Sydney is the State Capital of New South Wales. It is the largest and most populous city in Australia and Oceania. The metropolitan area is divided into forty local government areas (LGAs) which have elected councils. The City of Sydney is the Central Business District (CBD), and thirty-two surrounding inner-city suburbs such as Glebe or the Rocks. The political leader of this LGA is the Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore.

History: The Cadigal people are the oldest inhabitants of the Sydney region. Historians often agree that Aboriginal people have settled in this area since 30 000 years. Sydney is the first European colony in Australia. It was establish by the British Commodore Arthur Philip who arrived on Botany Bay on the 18th January of 1788. The City was first built around Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour where stands nowadays the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge). From 1810 to 1821, the Governor Lachlan Macquarie had a very important role in the development of the colony, helping the transition between a simple convict settlement to a real city by upgrading or creating new roads, bridges, wharves and public buildings. On the 20th July of 1842, the town was declared the first city in Australia, with John Hosking as the first elected mayor. While the 19th century has seen Sydney growing and developing considerably, the most popular buildings and architectural achievements date from the 20th. The Harbour Bridge (503m length and 49m wide), was completed in 1932 by the architects J.J.C. Bradfield, R. Freeman, G. Roberts and G.C. Imbault, and the Sydney Opera House, made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007, was completed in 1973 by Jørn Utzon.

Transports: Sydney is served by train, taxis, bus and ferry networks. Sydney Trains are run by CityRail, a State corporation. A private rail line operates also in the City with a line running from Lillyfield to Central Station, and a monorail which runs in a loop in the CBD and Darling Harbour. The Sydney Buses are another State company, as Sydney Ferries. Sydney's main airport is the Kingsford-Smith Airport, located in the suburb of Mascot.

Climate: Sydney has a temperate climate with warm summers and mild winters. The warmest month is January and an average of 14.6 days a year have temperatures of more than 30°C. The coldest month is July, with an average range of 8.0 to 16.2°C. The average annual rainfall, with moderate to low variability, is 1,217 mm, falling on an average 138 days a year.

Climate data for Sydney Source: Bureau of Meteorology

OZ from A to (almost) Z

Christian Frank — 2010-07-22T10:00:34Z

Aboriginal: One last census established that Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders are more than 510 000, more than 2.3% of the Australian population. Although there were over 250-300 spoken languages with 600 dialects at the start of European settlement, fewer than 200 of these remain in use. In 1983 the High Court of Australia defined an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander as "a person of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent who identifies as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and is accepted as such by the community in which he or she lives".

Bottle shop: In Australia, drinking alcohol means going first to a Bottle Shop or “Bottle'O”. Some restaurants or Take Away are not allowed to sell alcohol, that's why you could find some with written on the front “BYO”, which means “Bring Your Own” - you can bring your beer or wine in this restaurant.

Cricket: This sport is born a long time ago (a doctor spoke about it in 1597). It remains now the most popular sport in the English Commonwealth, especially in countries like Australia, Pakistan, India, New-Zealand… The rules are numerous and there are some variations of the game but mainly, the match is contested between two teams of eleven players each. One team bats and the other one bowls and fields. The first tries to score as many runs as possible without being dismissed while the other team tries to dismiss the batsmen and limit the runs being scored. When the batting team has used all its available “overs” or has no remaining batsmen, the roles become reversed.

Diner: Australian people love to eat very early, between half past five and seven o'clock. Some restaurants even offers a 10% saving if you eat before six. Australian cuisine has numerous influences, from asia (Chinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese food…) to Europe (English, Italian, Greek food). The wine, French grape grown in Australia or New-Zealand is drunk like beer: very cold. The real Australian diner is the Barbecue or BBQ. On huge and efficient machines, they grill meat (Angus beef preferentially), vegetables or fish.

Ecology: Taken apart the global climate changing, the main Australian problem concerning Ecology is the lack of water. Even if one can use since a long time water tanks, built in individual houses, that permit to collect and recycle rain water, some regions in Australia are facing serious difficulties in the dry seasons. The other problem linked to the climate is the progressive disappearance of the famous Great Barrier Reef. This lively organism of 2300 km of length on the East coast of Australia could die within the next decade if the water continue to get warmer.

Football: The football in Australia is not like football in Europe or even like football in the United States of America. It is a very popular and spectacular game called generally “Aussie Rules”. Officially born in Melbourne in 1859, The Aussie Rules, or “Footy” is maybe the most important sport event of Australia. Eighteen players in each team are on the oval grass fields, and try to score by kicking the ball between the middle two posts of the opposing goal. Players may use any part of their body to advance the ball, but they usually kick, handball or run with the ball (in that case, the player must intermittently bounce it on the ground).

Garage sales: This is more than a tradition in Australia: garages sales are a real opportunity to discover ones neighborhood, its inhabitants and heaps of second hand books, discs, or furniture. The garage sales are organized each Saturday and sometimes the Sundays in front of the particular's houses. You can find the announcements in the local newspaper, or you can find it on the road: often, the garage sales are marked by air balloons.

Hats: With its sun shining all year long in one part or another of Australia, the government doesn't joke much with sunburn. The Australian Cancer Council is in every corner to remind you to wear a shirt, put sun cream every two hours, and wear a hat. The typical Australian hat is the famous Akubra. With its large edges, the Akubra – whose name comes from the factory based in New South Wales – protects your face and neck from the sun, and makes you feel like a cow-boy even if you are in the middle of the CBD of Sydney…

Jewelry: Even if you can easily find heaps of freshwater pearls in Australia, the country's most famous jewelry is without any doubt the opals. The opal is a mineraloid gel which is deposited at a low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock. Shining and playing with the sunrays, the opals can be classified from the most rare (and expensive) red and black ones to the most common, white or green. Some opals jewelry are made from different cut of the gemstone to give it a wonderful and wide scale of colors. Coober Pedy in South Australia is one famous city producing opals massively.

Kookaburras: One of Australia's strangest birds. Even if it is linked to the kingfishers family, the kookaburras are easily recognizable by their funny shout between the human laugh and the monkey's scream. Those birds are quite sociable and you can often hear them at the sunrise or the sunset. If you hear one that seems a bit unsuccessful, don't worry, it's just a new born kookaburra who is practicing under the patient advices of its mother.

Lamington: The lamington is one of Australia's national cake. Often presented in a square shape not longer than ten centimeters, the Lamington's origin could be linked to Charles Cochrane, Baron of Lamington, Queensland Governor between 1896 to 1901. The cake is made with butter, sugar, eggs, chocolate with coconut. The 21st of July is Lamington's National Day in Australia.

Marsupials: Marsupials live in Australia, Tasmania or New Guinea. Marsupials are mammals whose female possess an abdominal pouch where the larvae comes after its birth to grow up and be fed. Kangaroos, Wombat and Possums are marsupials.

No Worries (and other slang words): Australian's language is very colorful with tons of silly expressions like “Flat as a shit catter's hat”. “No worries” is quite a common expression you will hear in Australia. It is not only the reflection of the mood of a happy man, but the way of living of a whole nation.

Outback: Let's quote Bill Bryson for this one: “To Australians anything vaguely rural is “the bush”. At some indeterminate point “the bush” becomes “the outback”. Push on for another 2,000 miles or so and eventually you come to bush again, and then a city, and then the sea. And that's Australia.” (Down Under)

Police: In 1979, three commonwealth law enforcement combined to create the Australian Federal Police (AFP). “The role of the AFP is to enforce Commonwealth of Australia criminal law and to protect Commonwealth and national interests from crime in Australia and overseas.”

Road train: A road train consists of a tractor unit, more or less colorful, pulling two or more trailers. Australia has the largest and heaviest road-legal vehicles in the world, with some configurations topping out at close to 200 tons. Some of them can have a fuel tank of 2,000 liters. Road trains are used for transporting all kind of materials, from livestock to minerals. Low cost and effective, the road trains have played a significant part in the economic development of isolated areas.

Surf: The art of surfing has a Polynesian origin. The first observation of it was made by the crew of the ship Dolphin in Tahiti in 1767. Surf was first used to determine the leaders of the leading classes of Polynesian tribes. Hawaiian tribes used three types of trees including the Acacia Koa. Surfing was brought to Australia in 1915 by Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku. He demonstrated this ancient Hawaiian board riding technique at Freshwater in Sydney.

Tea: Australia's first hot drink. The morning tea is around nine o'clock and the afternoon tea between three to five. Real Australian people use to eat a classic Tim Tam biscuit – named after a horse which won the Kentucky Derby in 1958 – with their tea. The method is simple but you need a little exercise: first, bite one of the corners of the Tim Tam, then the opposite corner in the diagonal, and then, enough quickly not to let the chocolate biscuit melt in your hand but not too much because of the high danger of burning your lips, swallow some tea trough the biscuit and eat it in the same movement.

Uluru: This is maybe the most famous monolith of the world even if it is not the biggest or the highest. Situated around 400 km south of Alice Springs in the red middle of Australia, Uluru is 9km of circumference and 348m high. First seen in 1872 by the explorer Ernest Gilles, the Uluru is a sacred place for Aboriginal people, that's why it is forbidden to take pictures of it in some places. Uluru is listed as a World Heritage Site.

Vegemite: Australian's best friend for breakfast. This black cream made from concentrated yeats is very salty, but full of vitamin B. You will have to put just a little bit of Vegemite on your buttered toast to appreciate it, otherwise you will say this usual comment “pouah, how can they eat that?”

X-Ray: The X-Ray painting is an Aboriginal technique in which sacred animals like the Kangaroo or the Emu are painted showing some parts of the inside of their body. The artist expresses in that way all the beautiful simplicity of the system created by Nature.