In the parts of my youth that were not so misspent, I learnt some languages. French mainly, a bit of Spanish, Latin to a fairly high standard and some ancient Greek. Not being a science boffin most of my education was centred around literature and languages and at one stage, surprisingly, I was considered to have an "aptitude" for languages. Sadly, and not so surprisingly I also had a considerable aptitude for winding up my French teacher and the standards I attained were not that impressive.

Biking in Amsterdam is popular. So popular that the Netherlands actually has more bikes inside the country than people. If this sounds strange to you, just think about the moment that you have a flat tire on your bike and can't get to work. What do you do? You hop on your spare bike of course! Not everyone has a spare bike, but to give you an idea, I live in a household of two, and we have three bikes---one for each of us and one spare one. It's kind of like the car situation in a lot of American households I know!

Leaves crunched deliciously under my feet as I wandered the winding paths of Park Monceau this past weekend with a friend. I had stumbled upon it days earlier when the fiance and I had been viewing an apartment nearby. The landlady had mentioned the park as a main feature of the neighborhood, and I received a typically disgusted stare when I announced I had never explored the famous beauty. I have to say I fell in love with it after stumbling across an incredibly aged stone stairway tucked snugly away underneath two enormously weeping trees.

I have a secret, it's my first time. I have spent the past twenty minutes coaxing my little white keyboard into being gentle as it sends my words out into the abyss of cyberspace for strangers to view my thoughts for la premiere fois. It helps to have my trusty sidekick gently snoring away at my side, pink belly fully exposed and paws slightly mimicking the action of running as she dreams of chasing the hundreds of leaves littering the streets of the city at the moment.