Crêpes
2 saturdays ago, I was feeling really lazy and grumpy and I just wanted to stay in bed for the whole weekend. But, by noon, I was done with the laundry and vacuuming of the the house, I decided to just drag myself out and hit up Le Marais.
Definitely did not regret doing so! That saturday ended up to be the most happening saturday yet ;)
After exiting the metro, I was walking towards Place des Vosges, and I saw so many interesting shops and art galleries. I was so pleasantly surprised.
It felt really weird to go in and just take photos of the artwork and leave since the shops seem to be selling these artwork, and there is no way in heck i'll ever be able to afford any of it. So, I just took pictures, gawked and admired the unique artwork themes from the shop windows.
This one really reminds me of the statue in Orchard Ion back in Singapore.
(IS IT EXACTLY THE SAME?! - my memory is failing)
This perfume store display their testers as such! It was so cool. The shopkeeper invited me in and sprayed a scent "with a lot of asian notes" on me. It was a really nice scent though. I didn't know if it was intentional or if I was being oversensitive, but I always feel awkward at the Asian references, I don't dislike it because I know I OBVIOUSLY Look extremely asian (even among asians, I'm super asian!) Hahaha but its awkward because I don't know how I should respond/react, not that I feel uncomfortable or anything.
Nevertheless, I was so tempted to buy it. But no, I don't need anymore perfume.
P.S. Im doing a really good job exercising self-control in terms of retail therapy - just saying.
JAM SHOP. Enough said.
Finally I reached Place des Vosges, gorgeous looking park with waterfalls, families having picnics, children running around and playing in the sand box, while couples make out under trees/ on benches nearby :) such a cute picture perfect sight!
Outside the park, there was a like string ensemble of about 20 people playing wonderful music to promote their CD (Unfortunately, the crowd made it hard to get a good picture).
While they were entertaining the public with melodious music, behind us a horse carriage just trotted by.
I was so excited when the horses rode by. Paris can never be boring!
After enjoying the music for a bit, it started raining, so I headed over to Victor Hugo's Mansion to look at the museum and temporarily hide out from the rain.
Victor Hugo - The man behind Les Misérables and Hunchback for Notre Dame.
The rooms were themed by the different stages of his life. He is one exceptionally talented man. Im no expert on the history of any of this, so just check Wikipedia :)
There was something about the Chinese inspired room decorations that he adopted for himself and his wife that I found quite haunting. Very intricate, very interesting, yet a little haunting.
His bedroom before he passed
Also went to view an exhibit on L'Homme Qui Rit - The man who smiles. Was not allowed to take any photos, but the exhibitions was really something special. Watched part of the play in black and white. It was such an interesting experience.
Went to Breizh Café for some crêpe and hot tea. I made the stupid decision of not buying and umbrella or bringing an extra jacket, so by this time I was literally freezing and my fingers were all purple from the cold.
After my meal, I was attempting to head back home when I walked right into the middle of the gay pride (equivalent of the Pink Dot movement in Singapore) parade, and decided to stay and watch.
The way they celebrate is so different from what we normally do in SG. They play music in the streets, carry rainbow coloured umbrellas and wear elaborate costumes while dancing and parading in the streets!
If you look closely, you'll see topless girls and guys in the pictures. Yeappp, liberal is what they are. I was so entertained by the parade. It was so much fun and way more interesting that all these was happened IN THE RAIN.
So special to see the cultural differences between a european city and an asian city in different, but i love it!
In the end, its a good thing I left the house. There is just so much to see and so much to do in Paris, it never gets boring :)
More updates:
After one month in Paris, I'm starting to feel really happy here. Taking all the experiences and making the best of every situation. I don't feel homesick, and I'm really glad I'm coping good in Paris. Glad for this opportunity to live alone, and grow. I'm actually really liking this "new life". I never expected it to be easy (or hard), but all in all, I would say I'm doing a lot better/its been a lot easier for me than many would expect.
Sometimes I think I'm pretty adaptable/have good survival instincts for a Singaporean. Typically, at 20+, we still live with their parents, some of us have never left the country or lived away from their parents for long periods of time. We are so sheltered back in Singapore and I'm really starting to realise that now that I'm here. Hearing about what youths in Singapore are complaining about, my only respond is: a lot of us need to do a little more growing up.
My whole life i've never been alone, be it in kindergarten, back home with my siblings, different cliques from primary school up till college, I sort of have planned my social circles such that even if i didn't have a bestfriend to run to when i have problems, I was never alone.
Looking back, even though I felt alone, dealing with the whole inferiority complex stuff, I was not as alone as I thought.
Even though I'm more alone now, its a good thing that I'm doing fine, I guess it shows that when we focus on the good things, and not make mountains out of the molehills that are our problems, we really are able to enjoy life to a greater extent.
In comparison, the youths here are really independent. The other interns have so much experience away from their hometown its enviable. I hope after this internship I can say that i've grown/matured and it would be noticeable in the way I behave.
Thankful that I'm no longer moping about things related to body image, self-confidence, feeling inadequate about my achievements, being inferior in comparison to people who achieve more in terms of academics, and the lack of friends in college etc. Those things pretty much consumed my life when I was in Singapore. But being alone here, I hope i can find myself and grow into my own individual, instead of just being another rat in the rat race trying to outrun everyone else.
Learning to be more positive as the days go by - Never thought I would be associated with the word "positive" hahaha but here's to new adventures and here's to growing up!
Oh, another thing I've noticed, people are really good looking here! Not all, but sometimes when I'm on the metro, or in the office I'll be like "Wow. thats person is really good looking." Initially I thought its probably because they look different from the type of people I'm used to looking at, but no, even after 1 month, I still think the interns in the office are really good looking. Somehow they just are. Its like they ALL have good genes or something, its kind of unfair lol!
Happening Saturday in The Marais
13 July 2014 Le Marais, Paris, France
Instead of cooking/learning how to cook from my dad every night, we decided to head out and eat one of the weeknights. Found out about Ti Jos online at Timeout Paris, and we gave it a try.
It was hard to navigate to Ti Jos, but thankfully for google map, we succeeded. Ti Jos is located in some small lane in Montparnase.
At Ti Jos we had (Clockwise direction): Ti Jo Salade - Really awesome potatoes with ham and mustard sauce (and i don't even like mustard, but i liked the salad!), Galette with Ham, Eggs and Mushroom, Salted Caramel Apple Crêpe - This crêpe was divine. Zara and I both LOVED the apples. They has this light sweetness, and the caramel was not too sweet and didn't overpower, another Galette with cheese, ham, eggs and mushroom! 3.50Euro for a glass of really fragrant red wine and COMPLIMENTARY Baugettes which were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
It was a good meal :)
Here's a box of pretty Pierre Hermé macarons that zara brought back, which I heard had a really awesome texture. Gonna get some for myself soon!
Met Nic and her friend on her last evening in Paris for a little catch up session :) Went to SoonSoon for dinner and had Korean food. Despite my ugly picture of it, the food was pretty awesome! And it was a great catching up session nice to finally meet nic after so long <3
p.s: Nic, i noticed kenny talking to zara to make her feel less awkward while the both of us were reminiscing about the past and gushing about random RJ people haha! Thank him for me!
The Grand Palais, as we were heading for dinner down Champs-Élysées
After the dinner, while walking along the Champs-Élysée, kenny got approached by some petition people. They really pick their targets. He happened to be carrying a lot of things, but thankfully we all walked away fast enough.
Apparently my dad entertained one of the small kids who asked him to sign for some stuff. He wanted to donate money but only said he had a couple of coins, the little girl even offered to change his notes to coins for him, but thankfully nothing serious happened and I guess they "lost" only several coins in his pocket or something.
The last night for them in Paris, we went to the Eiffel Tower. After cooking dinner, we waited until about 9pm and headed out then. It was pretty easy to get to the Eiffel tower, since my dad went there a couple of times during his stay.
Edited version of the sun set while I was playing with the photo editing app.
After it got Dark the Eiffel Tower looked really pretty :) Not too many pretty shots cause Zara was wearing a dress and she didn't dare jump and it was damn hard to please me when it comes to jump shots. So heres a picture of us against the Tour Eiffel.
After the sun completely went down, the flickering lights of the Eiffel Tower came on :) It was a really pretty after the lights turned on!
Honestly, I was pretty disappointed with the Eiffel Tower.
1. There were just too many tourist. TOO MANY.
2. I was in a really crappy mood that day.
3. It didn't evoke any feeling/emotion in me. I have no idea why, but I did not find it majestic/grand etc. it felt as though I was looking at a postcard more than something live. IT REALLY JUST LOOKS LIKE WHAT YOU SEE IN A POST CARD. Feels... "dead" if anybody got what I meant.
Nevertheless, its like something on a TO-DO List. You can't go to Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower, Its like just for the sake of it. Everyone should go at least once. :)
I guess when you just walk around with your significant other, without the stress of settling in/having to wake up early to work tmr, its nice to admire the lights or even climb up the tower to get a birds eye view of Paris.
On the way back we saw a couple just standing against one of the lamp pole waiting for the photographer to take their picture. It didn't look the least bit romantic. They just looked uncomfortable, awkward and annoying. Which I found really amusing and I had to contain my laughter.
I have a whole theory about Paris and Romance. Which will be elaborated when pictures of Pont des Arts go up :)
Tour Eiffel + Food Adventures
28 June 2014 Eiffel Tower, Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 Paris, France
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