Finally, Paris

Made our way to the hotel in Paris at midnight. It was frightfully cold. The photo exhibition alongside the Luxembourg Garden railing lit our way to the hotel. It was great to look at all the shoots in the middle of the night, but had trouble trying at the same time, to see if we're going the right way with the map.

We decided to take it easy on Fri morning. By the time we sauntered out of the hotel, it was almost time for lunch. Grabbed sandwiches and muffins. Yummy. We walked around exploring the Latin Quarter, where previous intellectuals and artists stay and hang out. It is pricier now and the true-blue bohemians have moved to cheaper digs in Montmartre or further away from the central Paris. It is still bustling, though it caters more to tourists now. There were plenty of eateries and cafes (Greek, Italian, French of course). Many touting cheese fondue (!). Came across a Tunisian pastry shop and I just had to have one, even though I just had brunch. As usual, gluttons make difficult decisions on what to eliminate from their diet everyday. I settled for a pistachio baklava. It's about the same price for one back in SG (cold storage, Arab street). There are supposedly bathhouses in the area, but as we were unable to enter the buildings, we couldn't see them in their preserved glory. We did however, find St Severin church. I stuffed the baklava in my mouth before we went in. Gosh, it as dark as the churches in Ukraine. And again, the stained glass held no meaning to me as I am not schooled in the Bible. They were holding a photo exhibition in the church. I was pleasantly surprised. I love the stained glass in churches. Some in this church were splotches of impressionist colours. Lovely. Came back to this church with Yin and Looloo the next day, and paid more attention to the 12 apostles stained glass.

Stumbled along and found the Moyen Age (middle ages) museum. It's a really small museum with a watch tower of gargoyles and a well. It is located in a quiet corner near a park and second bookshops. I would love to go into the bookshops and browse. But I cannot read French... I guess they cater to the students of the university, which is located within walking distance.

Lunch (yes, can you believe it, we had lunch despite brunch) a little off Paris city. Loads of Asians - Vietnamese. Laotian, Chinese of course. Came across a manga shop! Had yummy pho and spring roll. Managed to grab pate de fruit and amande croissant at a local bakery. I was so enamoured by their meringues and pastries, I would have bought them to try if not for my budget and rotund tummy from lunch. Oh man, the pate cost 2sgd per pop. I bought 10 of them for Mummy... The croissant was magnifique! Almond cream custard filling, flaky, crisp crust with the icing sugar adding to the crunch. Gosh. I immediately wished I had gotten more when I finally ate the croissant. It turned out to be my breakfast two mornings later. I forgot to grab it when running of the hotel to meet Yin and Looloo.

Lost my way trying to get into the Louvre. I've never been to such ancient grounds. It being an old palace makes it more interesting. Well, where the crowd is heading to must be the entrance of the museum, right? Wrong. The crowds were heading away from the museum. A friendly French chap said bonjour and made conversation. Thank goodness for him or I would not have realised I was leaving the Louvre grounds. He pointed me to the I.M. Pei pyramid. Of course!

I was giddy from the massive crowd in the museum. Was initially struggling with the decision whether to enter, since it was almost 4pm and the museum closes at 6.30pm. Later on when I was hovering around the Egyptian exhibits, did I realise that the museum closes at 9.30pm on Fridays. Whew! I wish there were more explanations available in English. It was very interesting looking at the artifacts, but would be more so if I could know what they ARE instead of guessing from the French root words, which are somewhat similar to anglais. Anyway, stumbled upon the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. Being vertically-challenged, I didn't know they were there till the crowds parted. The Mona Lisa is much smaller than I imagined. The winged victory looked great! The museum guidebook I purchased had too little detail for this massive museum. There were a painting that captured what it must have been like to be a royal - amidst a group of whites in a garden, there was a black slave child holding onto a line to which a pet monkey is chained. Bizarre. Then I got to my favourite part - impressionist paintings. All the others about Christianity are alien to me. Corot, Monet and Goya... Super cool to see them in person. There I was mesmerised by one painting. It was a potrait by a painter, named Hippolyte something. I didn't take down the name, cos Hippolyte is such an uncommon, it'll be easy to "google" the name. Wrong. Try it. Do a search on a French painter named Hippolyte and see how many turn up. As I was gazing at the painting, someone remarked beside me "Beautiful painting, no?" He then explained in fractured English that it is a painting of the artist's wife and that it is a copy. Copy? Then as I went around the museum, I continue to bump into him, and he continues to try to explain the paintings to me. Sometimes I was lost as I could not understand his thick French accent. But he pointed out some things to me though, about how stained glass in churches were based on the paintings of the 12 apostles. There was one comment that struck me - He said that there are too many Americans in Singapore. Hmm... So, what's the big deal? Then small talk and whether I've been to Concorde. I lied that I gotta meet Cheng when the museum closes. It was a reflex action.

I decided to walk to NotreDame from Louvre. It was dark and quiet. Some youngsters were messing around in the open area in front of the church. I decided not to proceed to Ile St. Louis and walk back to the hotel. Good choice, as I witnessed the buskers out in full force in the Latin quarter and managed to sneak a peek at the clubs there. Then I was ready to crash into my bed, with tennis history as my bed-time story. (3 Nov 2006)