Monthly Archives: September 2008

Magnifique! Window shopping, shopping, sightseeing and taking shots of beautiful architechture in a beautiful city called Paris, nothing can beat the love in the air, the music along the road and areas, the clear blue sky and the beautiful tongue.

Somewhere in Paris. Magnificient!

My first impression of Paris was it was not as stinky as Rome. The metro and train stations are complicated when you don’t know the destination or you could end up somewhere in a totally different direction. However, people are very helpful, without even asking for their help, there would be an angel or two elsewhere calling, “Salute! Do you need help?”

That was our first night on our arrival in Paris, 2 angels at a different time to offer their kindness so we could reach our destination just a bit of the outskirt of Paris to have a good night sleep before starting off of our idea of being in Paris that weekend.

Saskia from The Hague met me at the building where I work in Rotterdam around 5.30pm when I just finished my Thursday’s duty. We took a train to Brussel in Belgium and from there took the Thalys to Paris Nord. By the time we arrived at her sister’s place, it was way past midnight. A simple and tiny space that consists of a tiny room, a tiny kitchen and a bathroom, cost about EUR700 rental plus energy and water which is considered very costly for a student.

On Friday, we decided to take it easy. Went to a nearby supermarket, about 5 minutes walk and bought some necessary stuff and food for 2 to 3 days. The frozen area was really awesome. I could just grab any kind of ready-made meals for the daily meal: Chinese style fried rice, Indian style fried rice, paella the Spanish style etc. All other stuff are available in the Netherlands but not these. My favourite was the shrimp that I ended up buying one pack to prepare for our breakfast/brunch that day.

Guido Sabato, a Brazillian in Paris

After the meals, we took our leave to start off with the touring but on the way we changed our direction to a place where Olga bought her handbag which I admired. It was a very long street and there were tiny shops displaying beautiful evening/gala gown, outfit to work or for a formal occassion, handbags, shoes, jewelleries for both male and female and more. Since most of these shops owners are Jews, the shops closed on Saturday and closed the doors earlier that Friday. We made our way and found a couple of handbags for me and a pair of shoes after entering and exiting many countless shops. If not because of my other holiday trip in October to Malaysia and some other short trips during the year, I would have bought the whole shop. Hense my little shopping spree which is totally NOT. The best part was I could still use my skill of speaking Mandarin. I feel like home instantly when I hear Mandarin speakers around me. (No, I am not Chinese, just a bit of Chinese blood in my vein.)

Love is in the air

The other reason for not buying so many things that day was also due to the fact that we still had a lot to explore in the city. Carrying along the heavy plastic bags with heavy stuff did not really help our satisfaction. That was also the reason that we decided to come back the next time in the future for the spree. So, for this trip we could proudly say we did not contribute as much to the French economy but just enjoying the beauty and admiring what the city has to offer without paying a penny.

They say, go to Paris to find l’amour. I looked around, I saw couples hugging, kissing, smiling together, lying down on a hard brick stone while the chess is simply touched by the loved one while enjoying the breeze of the river. Spread the music in your vein out to the sky, that’s what I would call the musician and artists on the streets, along the river, in the middle of a dead road, under the bridge, they were all amazing.

Eiffel Tower and her girls with the blue sky

I was glad that without even speaking the tongue as I originally thought it was important, I could understand the language of every creature.

We ended our wild expedition that Saturday in a restaurant/Karaoke pub. Since Saskia and I did not manage to go home to refresh and change ourselves, Olga (and Marianne) took evening shirts and parfume for us so we could refreshen up in the w.c. of the restaurant. E voila! We looked as good and sexy as the rest.

Our evening turned to night and night turned to the next dawn. We left the place at 5.40am by a city taxi and reached home after 6.00am. I was so sick of my ulcer problem that once we reached home, I washed up a bit and went to bed. We woke up after 11.00am, washed up and ready for our journey back home to the Netherlands with Thalys train in just about 3 hours Paris to Rotterdam.

I hope you enjoyed my share.