my week in paris

Paris, 1er day, 27^th Feb 2008.

We reached Paris early in the morning. The sky was still dark. But we did manage to get a taste of Parisien traffic jam. Our stay was at the Hilton Hotel Arc de Triomphe. Not sure about the rating but the hotel was comfortable and quite grand. It had revolving doors like most renowned hotels in Paris. Although on the exterior it looked like other old buildings, the interior was great and artistic. Following checking-in and washing up, we met downstairs after an hour and planned our day. The Courcelles Metro was walking distance away. From there we made our way to Anvers and walked uphill to the highest chapel in Paris, the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur. On the way up, many shops sold clothes and souvenirs. It was weird to find shops selling clothes by the meter; it was like in Jalan TAR. After climbing more than 100 hundred steps, we could see monuments and famous landmarks in Paris from the front of Sacre-Coeur. The steps reminded me of one of the temples in Nikko, Japan.

There were street performances. A man played ‘Contre Partivo’ with a violin. When I heard it my heart was jumping to tell Azim who loved listening to the same song. It is very rare that you find something familiar in Paris. There was also a harp player playing very sweet songs. A man who was dressed in white with his face also painted white stood at the stone railing of the stairway made sudden movements when people came near. It was funny and entertaining. The weather was cold but I could still endure it on the first day. The sun was shining and there wasn’t a hint of rain.

On the way down we stopped by the souvenir shops and met a relative of one of the doctors. Her name was Sharifah Dalilah and she has been living in Paris for a year now. There was a Pakistani working in one of souvenire shops for extra cash. He has been working there for the past 5 years as a part-time job while studying. Then we proceeded to the red-light district on foot while passing through Pigalle. At the end of the district was the famous Bal du Moulin Rouge. Of course the cabaret shows were expensive so we just decided to take pictures.

Then we took the metro again to Cité and took pictures of Palais de Justice, a court house, before walking to Notre Dame and passing by Hotel de Ville, its Parliament. While taking pictures at Notre Dame, JC counted ‘satu..dua…’ and a Frenchman passed behind her and said ‘tiga!’. I was shocked and all of us laughed. We then continued upwards along Rue des Archives to a shop near Rue de Temple to a shop that sold souvenirs in bulks. At the bulk shop, we got the Eiffel Tower Keychain for RM 0.75 a piece! That’s what you call cheap. I also found a shop that sold towels at a discounted price and of course grabbed that chance. Before that we stumbled upon a shop which sold towels at a discounted price. Just what I was looking for. So I went in and bought towels for my mum and future mother-in-law. After shopping we walked to Pompidou and found a shop that sold cheap t-shirts. The cotton was of high quality although the price was low. Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou was certainly a different sort of building. It looked like an unfinished construction site with all the pipes and chimney and many other metal structures sticking to the building giving it a more modern and daring look against a traditional and subtle background.

Then we continued our walk to Rue de Rivoli and walked along the Seine River and took pictures at the most famous pedestrian bridge. It was the oldest bridge, Pont Neuf. Since it was for pedestrians, the walkway was made of wood, not tar and cement like the roads. Some were sitting on benches and translating the scenery on to canvas. Along the Seine River was where one could find paintings of Paris’s sights in many sizes and other weird and wacky souvenirs to be bought. The paintings looked like real oil paintings, but of course they were just print-outs.

Our walk carried on to Musée du Louvre where the group split. Some of us wanted to carry on walking, some wanted to go home by Metro and rest. It was already 5pm by then, which meant we had been walking the whole day. After deciding where to go, we continued towards Champs de élysées. We passed by the miniature Arc de Triomphe (Arc de Triomphe du Carroussel) and Jardin de Tuilleries. The park looked different compared to when I came here 7 years ago. It was all sand, but maybe due to the season as it was spring then, and now it was still winter. Then my camera battery died L. So we took pictures at Palace de la Concorde where the L’Obélisque was situated with JC’s camera. Our walk went straight to Champs de élysées and passed by the Grand Palais. The route brought us to many high-end shops. For perfume fanatics Sephora and Yves Rocher is the place to go. For car enthusiasts there are Peugeot, Toyota and Citroen shops. Peugeot is a lifestyle there, not just a car. They have salt and pepper shakers, plates and cutleries all in the Peugeot brand. Lois Vutton also has its 1^st original shop there on Champs de élysées. The next monument we saw was the Arc du Triomphe in the middle of a round-a-bout with its 12 roads connected around it. From there we walked back to our hotel. It’s amazing how they drive around it and avoiding a traffic jam at the same time. At that point, it was only me and JC and both of us didn’t have a map. So we just took a chance and turned to Avenue de Friedland and Boulevard Haussman. At first we thought we were lost. It was a good thing I remembered the Metro that we took earlier and turned left to Rue de Courcelles. On the way we saw a Chinese looking building against French architecture. It looked weird but both of us were too tired to take pictures. So we walked on. At the moment that JC took out the hotel’s phone number to call, I looked up and noticed that the hotel was right in front of us. What a relief. It was funny and both of us laughed.

So day one ended with a dinner in the hotel.

28^th Feb 2008, 2ème day.

The morning was pouring and it was a good thing we had a meeting so there was no reason to go out anyway. I took a risk by going out without a jacket to a small garden in between the two wings of the hotel to take pictures. It was really cold…bbuurrrrrr…. After the meeting, we had dinner at 6.30 and went out to see the Eiffel Tower at night. We took the Metro out of pity for Dr. Zila and her pregnancy. We were supposed to stop at Bir-Hakeim, but due to construction works, we had to stop at Dupleix and walk a bit to the Tower. At 8 sharp, the Tower flickered with blue lights against the already yellow lit metals that made up the Tower’s body. It will light up every hour for around 10 minutes and was beautiful. We took videos and pictures and walked towards the Seine River. There, we took the Seine River Cruise under Bateux Parisiens which was an hour from Port de La Bourdonnais to Port St. Bernard and back. Even at night, we could see beautiful sights lit up in the City of Lights. It’s a shame that my camera isn’t high-end and couldn’t capture the night beauty. While the cold wind swept my tudung my mind wandered off to a place of its own.

After the tour, we walked to Palais de Chaillot where Musée du Cinema was situated. Before crossing the road there, to our right was the tunnel where Princess Diana had her accident. Musée du Cinema was a semi-circle building with steps going upwards to the other side to Palais du Trocadero, shop lots. There was a platform which oversaw the Eiffel Tower and we managed to candid the Eiffel Tower from a nice angle. Then we walked up Avenue Kléber to Arc du Triomphe and back to the hotel.

29^th Feb 2008, 3ème day.

The day of the half-day meeting which I didn’t anticipate my attendance. ‘Sigh’. Anyway, after the meeting, we checked out of Hilton and went to check in at Hotel Belfort Charonne in 11 ème. It was a nice small hotel with a single lift that could only fit two people. Though, it had an apt winding stairway up the 6 storey building. Our room was on the 4^th floor. It had a wide enough bathroom and nice sheets with a TV set. Replacing its cupboard was a wooden rail. I was satisfied. The price was cheap and the accommodation was comfortable. They say in Paris it is much cheaper to book online rather than walk-in prices. Per night was €30 online, walk-in was €55.

Subsequently, we went to Montparnasse by Metro. It was situated in the 15ème arrondissement. This part of Paris was quite modern with tall buildings and a big train station, Gare Montparnasse, similar to Frankfurt Hauptbanhof in Germany. Gare and Hauptbanhof means ‘main train station’. There, K. Dalilah greeted us and brought us to her apartment. It was just a walking distance away. She brought us to a green building with no windows around it and took the lift. There were only buttons with alphabets to go to offices and residential areas (RC) in the building. There wasn’t any numbers. All windows of the building faced the inner part and not towards the main street. No wonder no windows can be seen from the exterior.

Then we had to take a second lift to the residential area. There were two lifts this time. The left-hand side was for even numbered floors and the right-hand side was for odd numbered floors. It was so different from Malaysia. Her apartment level looked like a big box with huge wooden cupboard doors. It didn’t even occur to me that is was doors to her apartment. No beautifully carved doors or anything fancy. The walkway was just lit dimly with a yellow light, which can be quite scary.

As we went in we found that her apartment was beautiful. The wall was painted in hues of dark pink and maroon. Every space had a door dividing it. And the Eiffel Tower can be clearly seen from the kitchen and living room window! That is what I call a room with a view. The walls we glass from ceiling to floor to enhance the lighting and spaces of the rooms. It was small but cozy.

She cooked a very delicious serving of Tom Yam, chicken, fish and meat. She also served us some strawberries with white chocolate fondue and jelly. MMmmmmm…yummy! All of us ate with delight until our stomachs were ready to burstJ. To help the digestion, we walked to a supermarket nearby just to buy some chocolates at a cheap price and I had to buy a kilo of Gouda Vieux Fromage (Aged Gouda Cheese) for Laila.

We continued to walk around Montparnasse that was full of shops. Some were on sale and I managed to find a winter-spring jacket for on €15! It was still early but the senior doctors were too tired to walk and K. Dalilah had to go back and pray so they went back to the apartment while JC, Dr. Harlina and me continued walking around.

That night all three of us went back to our hotels while the others slept at K. Dalilah’s house.

1^st March 2008, 4ème day.

Time for more shopping! Also the last day to absorb and experience Paris’s atmosphereL. Our first stop was Porte de Montreuil. It had a day flea market which only opened on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. There were jackets and shoes and underwear and curtains and bed sheets and many other thingy-ma-jig you can think of at a negotiable price. There was where I found the perfect white cotton bed sheet for my weddingJ. The others shopped for carpets that were on sale only for €5 per piece = RM20.

On the way back to the metro station, many set up small stalls just by placing a piece of cloth on the sidewalk and arranging their personal belongings to be sold. What a wonderful way to get rid of old stuff.

With that heavy bed sheet, JC and I went to Opéra. As for me, I just wanted to go to Fragonard, the small perfume museum and JC wanted to go Palais Royale. The others wanted to shop so they followed K. Dalilah to Trocadéro. Right outside the Opéra Metro was the main Gallerie La Fayette (the biggest shopping and fashion center in Paris). While finding our way Fragonard, Le Musée du Parfum, we stumbled upon a big beautiful building with music coming from it. We really didn’t know what it was and walked to the front and found out that it was the National Academy of Art. There was a live band playing in front of the building. Statues and busts of famous musicians such as Bach, Mozart, Chopin and many others decorated the exterior of the building. Its interior was also as beautiful with carved arts on walls and painted ceilings. I was amazed how culture was still so strongly expressed in buildings of Paris.

After taking pictures we walked down Boulevard de la Madeline and crossed the street opposite Place de la Madeline to find Fragonard. I was lucky to spot its sign as it was just a small shop situated in between a café and other shops. We went in and the first step in was accompanied by sweet smells which tantalized our senses and persuaded us to explore more of the petit musée. No pictures were allowed to be taken so we couldn’t capture the ancient tools used to make perfume and create the variety of great aromas we know of today. They used many natural plants taken from all over the world including Malaysia.

Following the sweet smelling experience, we walked to Min. de L’int and Palais de L’Elysée. On the way heading towards Palais Royale, we found Place Vendome and La Colonne where the Ritz Hotel was situated. After taking pictures, we carried on walking and found out that we were actually quite lost and sat down at Place André Malraux to regain our bearings. While I was taking pictures, a man passed behind us and suddenly said ‘Malaysians’. He was also a Malaysian and has stayed in Paris for two years. He was happy to see his fellow ‘countrywomen’ and took a picture with us.

Our journey carried on as it was already quite late in the evening and at last we found Palais Royal. Both of us were so exited that we were almost running towards it. It certainly is a Royal Palace with its huge area and two very lovely gardens divided by a huge fountain. We could imagine the prince and princess of old times frolicking in the garden while its walk ways in the palace were filled with ministries and the royal family discussing important issues.

We felt like just sitting there and taking in the view, inhaling the cool and soothing winter air, watching the people around minding their own business. They were having a great time with their families. Some were reading and catching up with a bit of personal time as it was the weekend. Surprisingly though, many were fathers caring for their children of not more than 3 years old. Hence the statement by a friend that Paris is one of the most fertile cities in Europe. I felt so happy and at peace there. No words can express how calm I felt and how beautiful the buildings and the gardens were in the orange rays of setting sun. Pink and white flowers were just starting to bloom there, giving a tint of freshness against old architecture.

The happiness faded a bit as it was time to move on. We passed through the Louvre and took more pictures at the Pyramide before walking on to Notre-Dame again. JC wanted to step on a stone right in front of the chapel as one of the nurses said if you step on it that means that you will be coming to Paris again. Hehhee.....The stone was actually a sundial which was starting point to measure all distance-points in Paris, the kilomèter zéro.

By the time we reached Notre-Dame the sun has set and there was a sermon going on in the chapel. We managed to step on the stone and we went in because JC wanted to light a candle for prayer.

That was it…my last day in Paris. It was around 9pm by then and we will be going home tomorrow so we set off for the hotel and ate Arabian kebabs for dinner nearby our hotel. 12 hours of walking and with only a small bar of Cloud 9 plus mineral water for lunch. If only I could survive like that in Malaysia I would definitely be model-thin, and also malnourished… hehehe..

I was quite frustrated because time didn’t permit for visiting any museums such as the Musée d’Orsay and Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, also the Panthéon, Arénes de Lutece, Université Paris VI Pierre et /marie Curie et Paris VII Denis Diderot, Parc Zoologique, Jardin des Plantes. It was a good thing I have already been in the Louvre the 1^st time I went to Paris around 7 years ago. Hehehe….

2^nd March 2008, 5ème day

Good bye Paris! We were out of the hotel by 9AM. JC and I took the Metro while the doctors and K.Fiza took the car as we wanted to save money. Hehehe…both groups reached Aeroport de Rosissy-Charles de Gaulle (a.k.a. CDG) at approximately the same time. By 12 noon…we have already checked-in and were waiting for the flight to arrive.

THE END