PARIS

[11.10.09] I just finished a delicious pastry from a patisserie nearby.. I have no idea what it was called but its layered with flakey dough and creme. The top part of the pastry was glazed with sugar then topped with strawberries. Cést bon! As of now this is marking the end our day 2 in Paris.. sad that time is going by so fast! I'm beginning to love it here, especially in our neighborhood of Montmartre. The beginning of our Parisian adventure was a very bad impression of the city but its growing on me =)

--NOTE: Let's rewind back to yesterday and how it all went down... also keep in mind I never studied french so I probably have it all wrong... >.<


[10.10.09] As soon as we arrived in Gare du Nord, everything around us was French including the signs. Luckily I can read pictures and we were able to easily find our way to the Metro. The sad thing was that we did not know how to buy our Metro tickets via the machine since that, too, was in French. We ended up buying a pack of 10 metro tickets via the Ticket window where the lady spoke English.. YAY. On our way back to the Metro line, some gypsies asked us for money. The way they asked was weird. "Do you speak English?" If you responded yes, which I did... they show you a paper in English showing their situation and asking for money. I thought it was weird how they just didn't ask me straightaway after I responded I speak English rather than showing me the paper...

Anyway, we got on the line and got off at Chateau Rouge where there were a LOT of Africans. There was a swarm of people attempting to enter the Metro station as we exited and someone shoved me back through the turnstile so I got stuck for a bit in the middle. Did I mention that I was hauling my luggage with me?? I was really scared and hung on to my purse and luggage for dear life. When I finally got out of the station onto the main street, my friends were waiting for me and were wondering where I went since I was just behind them before I got shoved back.

We got lost finding our apartment even though we knew it was by the Sacre Coeur church but we couldn't manage to locate ourselves on the map. When we finally saw signs pointing toward the direction to the church all the streets were uphill and steep so we dragged our luggage up and down 5 or 6 blocks before we got onto the road we were looking for. That totally drained us out so we were happy to finally reach the apartment. However, once we put in the code to the door, we entered only to come across another door which we could not open. The lady who was supposed to meet us could not be contacted until another 10 minutes passed then she finally said she was coming down to meet us.

She was very kind and told us that it was busy because of the wine festival happening at the church later on in the evening. Also we mentioned that we got off Chateau Rouge and she called it Africa. She told us the area that we were staying in has very different parts of it such as "Africa"and "China"and some others I forgot. She showed us around the apartment which is very cute. We are on the 3rd level but luckily there was a lift to bring our luggage up. The lift is the smallest room in the world. It says max capacity is 2 persons but I'd say it only fits one skinny/small person comfortably. I went in the lift last with my luggage and it was so small.. once the elevator doors close then there is barely any light inside as it goes up. I wouldn't recommend it to claustrophobic people. When we get to our floor there are 3 doors, we go into one then there are 2 more doors. One of those doors leads to our apartment. We have to lock both that door and our door when we enter/leave so I feel very safe. It is a hassle though since it takes a lil time. What if there was a real fire coming..? We'd be screwed trying to scramble with our keys to open the doors. Our view from the apartment is spectacular. From one room, we see the back of the Sacre Coeur and from the main room there is a panoramic view of Paris.

After getting settled in we decided to explore the festival happenings. When we were leaving we realized we didn't know how to open the 2nd door to enter the apartment complex without having someone open it for us so we asked the restaurant next door. He showed us that the key had a remote that you touch to a sensor to open it automatically. He laughed after he explained and looked at us... "Japan.. technologie!! China.. technologie!!" Yeah apparently even though we're all asian we don't have the concept of technology lol. The festival was super crowded but exciting. It was right in front of the church and there were people playing music and tents set up selling food and wine all around the church's perimeter. We ordered some street food (7E) and bought some macaroons (100kg = 10E). Our food was delicious and I attempted to go back today, the last day, but they were closed by the time I reached them. I spoke my first French words in France when I ordered my food.. parlais vous englese? Luckily the asian guy serving the food also spoke fluent English and French and I was able to check the ingredients (no fish or peanuts please). He gave us generous portions which we still have leftover in our fridge here.

After we saw enough wine, sweets, meat, bread, and couples making out, we wandered away from the festival to sit down and eat. We found a spot to grub along a fence, listened to some guy play the tetris theme song on a clarinet, and enjoyed the view of the church lit up at night. We wandered a bit around the area and saw some cute shops, cafes and picked up some dessert. Gelato for 2 of my friends and 2 sucre crepes for me and my friend. Crepes were 2,50E and I think was quite a steal. "Un...sucre...crepe..si vous plait?"she went along with my lame french but I was happy. Ling ordered hers by interrupting and putting up 2 fingers. Deux?? Oui. We headed back to our apartment after that and called it a night.



[11.10.09] Today we had the whole day reserved for the Louvre but we took our sweet time getting ready and arrived there via metro around 11pm. The line was long but luckily we didn't wait that long. We ended up getting in line at the museum store to buy tickets so we weren't even sure where the main entrance was. The metro tunnel took us directly to the store entrance which was convenient. The Louvre is enormous, lovely, and exhausting. We went up and down so many stairs there that we didn't care to see Mona Lisa after seeing 2 wings of the museum. We were starving when we first go to the museum so I ate an apple turnover (1,30E) in hopes that it would hold me over until dinner time. Stupid me had a throbbing headache and got fatigued after going up and down so many steps.

After we saw the egyptian artifacts and mummies we wandered around the area and almost everything was closed since it was Sunday. We were in search of some good food (a real meal) that cost less than the fare for food at the museum. We stumbled across a ramen restaurant and ate there. I had shoyu ramen (7,50E) which was pretty good. Still, the price was expensive and a lot more than I would expect to pay for a bowl of ramen. Nonetheless, I was satisfied and reenergized by my bowl of carbs.

We headed back to the Louvre since its a day pass to see the Mona Lisa but we decided to wander the jardin in front of the Louvre instead. They were very beautiful and surprisingly colorful considering the weather. There were a lot of random modern sculptures (gigantic silver heads) put up as well which was weird because it was right next to all these classical statues.. but it was still cool haha. We could see the Arc de Trimophe from the place de concorde (where I bought a sucre crepe for 2,50E again hahah) and decided to walk towards it and shop around Champs de' Elyses. We ended up walking all the way up the street and empty handed b/c everything is brand-name and super pricey. The Louis Vuitton store was 3 stories! We caught the metro and came back to the apartment from there.

We bought some fruits on our way back from the metro station. They were so delicious! Very fresh and even the grapes did not taste sour at all. We bought green ones that were large and round with seeds. After resting for a bit, Soapy and I decided to check out the wine festival one last time before it ended but once we got there they turned off the festival lights. A little disappointed, we decided to wander the area and see what else was open. We saw some extremely cute shops, that were closed, along the way to revisit tomorrow. There were a lot of cafes still open but not that many shops/vendors. We found one patisserie that was still open where I bought my layered pastry/cake and Soapy got a strawberry tart.

Now here I am, pastry devoured and exhausted from walking up and down stairs all day. I think I shall call it a night from here... good night moon. <3