Romantic Paris?? ......NOT!!!

Well, I have just been branded the new Queen of Torture. Immediately after mon amour arrived, I took him to the hotel. Though he was quite happy to see me, he was not at all pleased to find that it was not air-conditioned. Anyway, I told him we won't be spending too much time in the hotel because I wanted him to see as much as possible of Paris during his short 4 days stay. And so, we started on our journey immediately with Versaille.

Day 1

At the Chateau de Versaille, though I thought it would be nice and romantic to walk in the gardens, my darling thought it was too hot to walk in such a BIG garden, and we ended up driving around in an electronic car instead. There were long queues everywhere; ticketing booth, entrance into museums, toilets, etc. It was certainly not as pleasant as it was when I was there end of May, although there were less restoration work going on, and lots of beautiful flowers nicely planted in all the gardens with magnificent fountains shows. Then I was guilty of starving him - we had our lunch really really late, coz I was being such a miser and refuse to eat within the Chateau, and we only had one ice cream each as lunch. After spending close to 5 hours at the Chateau and the parks, we finally had our meal in a Tex-Mex restaurant next to the train station. Then we headed straight back to Paris and decided to have an early night rest (here I'll skip the details :P)

Day 2

The very next morning, I made TW walk again, this time to the Office de Tourisme. He was practically whining all the way, thought it was probably just a 15 mins walk. From the tourist office, we got our Museum Pass (2 consecutive days of visit), Disneyland tickets (this was on his MUST-DO list) and Moulin Rouge performance + River Cruise tickets.

I made a lists of museums to visit on Monday, and another list for Tuesday. He was not too keen on museums, neither was I, but there are some that you just can't miss while you are in Paris. We made our first trip to The Louvre, which he had absolutely no idea what it was about except that it has that transparent pyramid thingy. When I explained that Mona Lisa was part of the exhibits, he showed a little bit more interest. In fact, that was his ONLY objective, as after we found our way to Mona Lisa's, he already wanted to leave. I made him stay a little while more, then we went over to Centre Pompidou to see displays of modern art. There he was nauseous when he saw a video clip of gays making love to each other.

We didn't visit any more museums after that as we needed to do some shopping. There was a dress code for the Moulin Rouge show. No jeans, no sneakers. I reminded him to bring shirt and slacks in case we needed to be somewhere formal, and so he did. But he forgot about the shoes. Being particularly picky about shoes, we spent few hours looking for a pair that pleased him. He finally decided just to randomly pick one from Zara because his feet was just too sore to walk anymore....(more whining about the heat)

After the dinner, we took a metro to the meeting point for the cruise and Moulin Rouge show. The cruise was really nice, and when the sun set, the view was breathtaking. No offense, but the Moulin Rouge show which took place after the cruise was a BIG disappointment (ok...not completely, certain parts e.g. the acrobatic show was quite alright). You get a glass of champagne with the show, then you cramp into a small hall with the rest of the tourists. While the women danced half naked on the stage, the men were fully clothed from head to toe. It could have been that both of us were tired from a day's walk - seriously, we almost nodded off during the performance. I guess I don't find bouncing breasts on stage at all interesting, although credit must be given to the costume designer; they are really EXTRAVAGANT! As the show ended very late, we were sent directly to the hotel by a coach, which was perfect, we would have gotten a taxi anyway.

Day 3

More museum visits. But I kept it to a minimum as TW was getting blisters on almost every single toe, and instead of shopping for Louis Vuitton or Gucci, we were shopping for Hansaplast. We went to see Eiffel tower, he can't leave Paris without having climbed the Eiffel tower (we took the elevator lah.... I am not really that MAD). We also went up the Arc de Triomphe at the end of Champs-Elysees street, but we skipped Musée d'Orsay. I had to reserve our energy for Disneyland the next day.

Day 4

I guess this was probably his happiest day in Paris. We went on kiddy rides, watch Winnie the Pooh and his friends performed, took pictures of Mickey & Minnie, Pluto, the princesses, Chip & Dale (they are call Tic and Tac in French....how cute) and many other Disney characters whom I didn't recognize. Because it was so HOT, we probably spent more time in the souvenir shops than outside because the shops were air-conditioned. What I couldn't stand was, every shop he entered, all he thought of was what to get for my brother!!! "I think he will like this mug... I want to buy this Chicken Little for WL... This is cute, shall I get it for your brother???" Heyyyyy!!! He was suppose to reserve his baggage space for me, not fill it up with presents for my brother! :( Anyway, we stayed there until about 7ish, that was after the parade of the Disney characters. By the time I got to Paris, it was too late to meet up with Dita, she was already at the train station. So we spent time packing for the trip down south, while exchanging stuff. I gave lots of books and brochures and stuff for him to bring home .... including the bottle of Limoncello that I have been carrying from town to town since Perugia, while he gave me packets of Indomie, sambal goreng, and asam jawa, an apron, my yoga mat, and some additional shirt and shorts. Phew! A pleasure doing business with you! Hehe...

Of course, every fairy tale must have a happy ending :D. Especially one that takes place in Paris. We had someone take this photo in front of Eiffel Tower after the climb to the top.

Here are the rest of the photos taken in Paris, Versaille and Disneyland.

Reorganization of Photo Albums

Thought that it would be better to categorize the photos in France by city, rather than dumping all of them in one album. So that's what I did this afternoon, a little bit of reorganization.

1. Paris & Versaille
2. Toulouse & Carcassonne
3. Bordeaux
4. La Rochelle

Off I go to Cap Ferret tomorrow (again) with a group of students from AF Bordeaux, and on Saturday, to Paris. I probably won't have the chance to update my blog until I reach Chambéry on the 25th of July (where I will have permanent wi-fi and internet access from the comfort my room, YIPPEEE!!!)

Toute Seule Au Cap Ferret

Au bord de la mer,
tout le monde bronzait

"Depechez-vous!
Que vienne l'eau"

La pauvre....aie!
Personne ne l'aidait

C'est mouillé,
tout est salé

Le cahier, les stylos
aussi le petit sac-a-dos.

Life after World Cup 2006

Bordeaux was not as calm as I thought after France lost in the finals. Well, the town was not too crazy neither, but supporters of Italy were setting off small firecrackers, cheering, and running around with the Italian flag near Place Victoire, where I watched the game. The rest quietly went home did not make too much noise. Stanislas, the only son of the family that I am staying with, who was extremely hyper before the match, was also unusually quiet. So, life goes on, and nobody else mentioned about the match anymore today (except for some talks about Zidane). No grand fireworks, nothing.

Oh well...forget about the WC2006. So what if France didn't win. Everybody talks about Le Tour de La France now!

La Rochelle et les SOLDES!

Most of the students from Alliance Française that I know have decided to go to the beach at Biarritz this weekend. Since I only had one weekend in Bordeaux, I chose La Rochelle over Biarritz, and travelled alone.

But it was NOT BAD, not bad at all! In fact, I am really glad I chose La Rochelle, cette ville est tellement très très jolie!!! I arrived La Rochelle about 1pm, approximately 30 minutes late from the original scheduled time, but it was alright. The weather was perfect, not too hot, with occassional cool breeze, and not too crowded. As usual, I headed straight to the Office de Tourisme (OfT) when I arrive in a new town, and got myself a guide for just 20 cents. From the OfT, I found out that there is this Vélos Jaunes, that offers free use of bicycle for the first 2 hours, and subsequent hours for just 1 euro/hour!!! C'est genial!

I didn't start on my tour immediately as my tummy was growling. I found a nice restaurant just by the Quai Duperré (Vieux Port). Well, there wasn't just one, but a whole lot of restaurants there, so I had to randomly choose one, Les Regates, which turned out to be quite good. I ordered Moules Marinères as a starter, and a plat du jour, which was some kind of fish served with Normandie sauce, accompanied by some vegetables and rice. The seafood was really fresh, and portion was also sizeable enough to fill my tummy. While having my lunch, I went through the guide and found recommended walks in town for 1 hour, or 3 hours, which was really helpful.

I started my tour by first going to Vélo Jaunes, and found the process of getting the bike to be fuss-free. Just give them your ID or driving license, fill up a simple form, and you off you go with a bike. No money deposit, ilek. From Vieux Port, I cycled up to Baie de Port Neuf, then across Promenade de Chef de Baie, to Port de Pêche and Port de Commerce de "La Pallice" before heading to city centre, along Parc Charruyer then back to Vieux Port. After approx. 3.5 hours of cycling, I returned the bike and did the city centre tour by foot.

Oooh là là... what did I find?? Arts and crafts market, and rows of shops on summer sale! I know...I know.... I really shouldn't be doing any more shopping, not when my luggage is already up to the max weight limit. So I limited myself to just one...one tinnie winnie little handmade necklace. That was it!!! Really....honestly, that was the only thing I bought! Of course, I uhm, am waiting for my darling to come over next week, so that I can offload some of my stuff for him to bring home, and uhmmm... then I can shop again :P

Ok, back to my trip.... I was yet again caught in another delay when returning from La Rochelle, due to some Rave Party, where lots of youngsters group together for drinking sessions, techno music, and doing other crazy stuff. They happen to be partying right beside the railway track, and the train had to go real slow, to be able to brake on time. Why? Some wasted youngsters may decide to do some stunts on the track, then end up being like those bugs on your car windscreen when you drive late at night. And that slow down thingy caused a delay of 40 minutes, and I only managed my dinner at 10:40pm.

Anyway, the trip had been great, just regretted that I was not able to spend a little bit more time there, so that I could also visit Ile de Ré. Next time perhaps! Here's the photo album specially dedicated to La Rochelle.

Allez Les Bleus!!!

More football matches for me. Apa nak buat, Malaysia tak jadi masuk World Cup 2006, but France jadi mah. While I am here, gotta give a bit of support lah. Plus, if they win, also means lots of party party here...hehehe.... everyone was crazy yesterday when Zidane scored the but. Unfortunately, Carolina (espagnole) and Paula (brezilienne) were both supporting Portugal and were really disappointed. U faham, I faham lah........

Next match: France vs. Italy (Lo siento Federico, me quedo con la Francia!!!)

Perfect Timing

I arrived Bordeaux during noon time, and Mdm Brosseau was already at the station waiting for me. She was with Paula, une brazilienne who arrived last Thursday. I was really really surprised when Mdm Brosseau told me she has 5 kids!!! :O That's really not a very common sight on this part of the world. The kids range from 3.5 yrs old to 16 years old, and the youngest, Anne-Victoire, is really really cute. The rest of the girls and a boy, must be like the sweetest kids ever! And not to mention, hyper-active!

Today the family had some guests at the house; while the adults dine inside, the rest, which include the kids (of Mdm Brosseau and the guests), Paula and myself, had our lunch in the garden, with sausages, fries, fruits and ice-cream. The kids were kept busy with lots of toys and games, so that they wouldn't disturb the adults, while Paula and I chatted away.

In the evening, Carolina arrived from Madrid, and all 3 of us went to the Bordeaux Fête Le Vin. It has been running for 4 days in a row, it was the last day today. Seriously I couldn't have arrived Bordeaux at a better timing. We thought it would be nice to get ourselves Pass de Degustacion to try out the wines while we were there. With each purchase of the booklet, we get a wine glass, nicely stored in a pouch. Everyone was tent-hopping to try out all the wines available. That evening we managed to taste 3 types of vin blanc, 2 vin rouge, 1 rosé, 1 margarita and 1 mojito. And guess what, after that, with the alcohol still in our heads, we had to run home as it was raining cats and dogs. The very next morning, we hafta wake up early for class...... TOUGH!

Sachiko et Si Theng

Those are the names that I am giving to my 2 new friends. Sachiko, who adores rabbit and the colour olive green, gave me 2 new friends to accompany me on my trip. I decided to name the frog after Sachiko, since it was in her favourite colour, and the rabbit after myself, since I was wearing pink all the time in France (I have no idea why 80% of my wardrobe is in pink...though my fav colour has never been pink). Anyway, from now on they will join Li'l Teddy and Blue Friend in all my adventures!

Sachiko/Si Theng/Li'lTeddy/Blue Friend

Buuuuuuuuuuuuut!!!!!!!!!!

Ouch, my butt hurts. On my last day in Toulouse, I decided to watch the match between France and Brazil at the Place du Capitole, where the Mairie de Toulouse have set up a grand projection screen for this grand match. By 9pm, the square was crowded with football fans. Sachiko and I found a nice spot to sit, but we forgot our beer. Ai ya ya ya ya yahhh... Neither of us wanted to leave the place or else it would be gone in a second. Il faisait très très chaud, and we felt as if we were enclosed in an oven. Plus, the floor was so hard (I know...when has floor ever been soft?) and I had to shift several times during the first half of the match.

During the break, we decided to move to a bar where there were less people. Although it was just as warm, at least I did not have someone kicking on my butt everytime they tried to squeeze through the crowd to join their friends. France played a good game. Seriously I thought Brazil would kick their butts, but after the first half, I was convinced that they had a good chance of winning. I guess watching a football match is NOT so bad after all. Especially with good company and good beer :D

Last day of Class

I am left all alone in the class today, everyone else have left, while some decided not to come at all (except for Chang, who came for just an hour, and then left) . Instead of having French lessons as we were supposed to, Valerie, my professeur, and I, just chatted and worked on Sudoku puzzles instead. Hehe...what a way to end a session. :D

Just one more goodbye dinner tonight, and tomorrow I'll have to return my bicycle, and start packing. Bordeaux wines, here I come!

Je suis crevée

I know I have been lagging again on updating the blog....but I can't really help it with so many happenings in town. First it was the Fête de la Musique, then came the Rio Loco, and then Fête du Cinema and since this is my last week in Toulouse, there are also lots of goodbye dinners. Estoy hecha polvo!

List of movies that I watched during Fête du Cinema

1. La Colline a des Yeux (Hills Have Eyes)
2. X-Men
3. Cars
4. Scary Movie 4
5. Paris Je T'aime (Paris I Love You)
6. Volver

Except for Volver, I watched everything else in French. So proud of myself...hehe...

Anyway, I still have several posts in draft mode, will try to get it up as soon as possible, hopefully before I leave for Bordeaux this Sunday. Ah yes, I am moving again!

Mon "amour"

Je pense à toi, tu es loin de mes yeux mais près de moi des mes pensées.
(I think of you, you are far from my sight, but close to my mind)

Tu es une pierre très precieuse pour moi que je souhaite conserver pour l'éternite.
(You are a stone so precious to me that I wish to keep for eternity)

Je te remercie car je suis convainçu que tu penses à moi.
(I would like to thank you because I am convinced that you think of me)

There you go, some of the messages that I get from Gemma, the guy I met about a month ago on the streets of Paris. I never thought he was actually serious in coming down to Toulouse just to see me, but he arrived last Friday night.

He had originally wanted to come a week ago, but I managed to escape as I was supposed to have this excursion to Pyrenees, which was eventually cancelled. I could not run away this time as I had no excuse :P He asked for my help to find him a hotel, and being hospitable, I found him a cozy 2 stars hotel in the centre. On Friday, he arrived close to midnight, because he didn't know in advance that the train would take about 7 hours to reach Toulouse (and he didn't take the TGV anyway). I was glad Sachiko was with me in town while I waited for him. We went to watch the match between France-Togo then headed straight to town to meet him.

Oh well, when he arrived, I took him to the hotel where he could check-in, told him I was tired, and that we would meet next morning at 10am. He said sure, why don't u come up to my room when you arrive and give knock on the door. I told him NO, we can meet downstairs, at 10am.

Sachiko had to leave for the beach next morning, and she offered her bicycle for Gemma to use, which was very kind. I certainly prefered to have him on the bicycle than walking next to me. So Gemma and I cycled to the Canal du Midi. While we were cycling, he called me 'Mon amour, mon bébé....'. I had to explain to him again and again I am NOT his baby nor his love.... geeesshhh.... why is it so difficult for man to understand the word NO???

Anyway, to cut long story short, he offered to buy me jewellery, attempted to hold my hand, and insisted several times that I should walk next to him with my arms tucked under his and not well ahead of him. He threatened to leave the very next day if I keep rejecting him (I couldn't have been happier). He then helped returned Sachiko's bike, and then again tried his luck to see if I would let him into the house. I guess he finally got the idea that he's not getting anything from me, and walked straight to the metro station without saying a word, just a gesture to say he will call me. I never heard from him again. *phew*

Fête de la Musique

The Festival of Music is held every year on the 21st of June, which also marks the beginning of summer. I was in Carcassonne earlier during the day, but in the evening when I returned, the Fête de la Musique has started. It was just like any other working day, so the highlights began only from evening 7pm onwards.

People playing musical instruments, singing, dancing everywhere ..... partout! Whether you are a professional or an amateur, this is the day for you to show off. Find a spot that you like, then start making music... or noise .....whatever. Nobody will care, not until 2am the next morning. The Mairie of Toulouse set up a grand stage at Place du Capitole and it was almost like an open air discotheque. It was really weird, everyone was blasting their speakers really loud, and you can hear rock blasting on your left ear, and church choirs singing on the right. Then near the St. Etienne, there will be some jazz and classical music played, and lots of jamming as well near Pont Neuf. Just weird. Lots of stalls popping up like mushrooms, selling kebabs, and saucisses de Toulouse and sandwiches and beer. But the crowd was enormous! I thought I saw a stall somewhere selling saucisse, but when I tried to search for it again later, it just disappeared, camouflaged by the crowd.

On the same day was also the opening of the Rio Loco festival along the Garonne. This year's theme was Senégal, and lots of artists were invited to perform in this festival. Although everyone was busy promenading on the streets for the Fête de la Musique, the crowd at the Garonne was not small neither.

Check out the photos of Carcassonne, the Fête de la Musique and Rio Loco. (end of album)

World Cup Mania

Sachiko and Liko wanted to go watch the World Cup at the cafe today to support Japan in the match against Croatia. I thought I'd come along and joined them. After our lunch at Flunch, we settled in a small little cafe in town centre. The moment we sat down, there was this viejo verde, seated by the bar, who could not stop staring at us. Every 5-10 minutes, he would turn his head back and look at us. The match was not even interesting enough for him; if he was not staring at us, he would doze off with his head rocking back and forth a little. We didn't pay much attention to him, and left after the game ended.

Sachiko and I decided to stay at home and watched the match between Australia and Brazil, but we ended up watching the match between France and South Korea instead because I got the wrong information about the match time. The match between Australia and Brazil was already over. That shows how much interests I have for football...bleeehhh :P

Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire, SÉDUISANT?

What more could I ask for in a class? We are blessed with 2 handsome gentlemen (Steve* & Chang*) who are willing to take turns every other day to perform a table dance for all of us before the class starts. Ok, I am joking about the table dance part, but they really do climb onto the table, but to do all of us a favor...(nope, not pole dancing neither). We normally open the window on the roof to let some fresh air in, but at the same time, some of us in the class would be exposed to the risks of sunburn. These 2 nice gentlemen will climb on the table to shut the blinds, so that the ladies are well protected ;)

Today was Steve's turn to be on the table, and Florencia jokingly offered her sweater, for him to dance with :P Then later during the class, we came across a word which we did not understand, "Qu'est que ça veut dire, séduisant**??" , Valerie nicely explained, "C'est Steve sans chausseurs, avec le pull de Florencia sur la table :D" (That's Steve, without his shoes, with Florencia's sweater, on the table). And boy did that made Steve blush! ;)

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the innocent
** séduisant = seductive

Horse on Wheels

Yesterday, 10 of us from Alliance Française Toulouse went on a cycling trip along the Canal du Midi (which starts in Toulouse, and goes all the way to the Mediteranean sea, approx 250km). It was marvelous! We started our little tour immediately after class, and then we went off-route to a nice little garden to have a picnic before continuing. We cycled about 8km before pausing for a break, then cycled a little bit more before making a retour back to the town centre. In total, we probably did about 19-20km. The cycling path was shady, not crowded, so it was really really nice. I'd probably do this again on one of the weekends with Sachiko :D

The activites organised at the school has been quite interesting. We had Soirée Gourmand last Tuesday i.e. everyone who wanted to attend had to bring a typical dish of their country. Guess what I brought? Nope, not Nasi Lemak, coz I did not have ikan bilis :( But I managed to find some sambal to make Mihun goreng! I was quite proud of myself, and would have given a score of 8 out of 10 (masuk bakul angkat sendiri....hehe)

Right before the Gourmet Evening, we had Atélier de Cuisine, to make Fondant au chocolate et amandes, yummmyyyy. Seriously we were no chefs, so, the cake probably didn't come out looking like it was supposed to, but it tasted good all the same. And we had fun! Not forgetting to mention that we had good wine to accompany it in the end :D

More photos

I thought I'd upload some of the panaromic photos that I have taken both in Paris, Versaille and Toulouse here. The rest of the photos will be in my Yahoo! album.

Place du Capitole à Toulouse


Musée du Louvre


Versailles

Pont Neuf à Toulouse

**Albums moved to http://guiri.site.shutterfly.com/ (Update: 16 May 2008)

Disorganised

Ok, the blog hasn't really been in a proper chronological order lately. I had them written offline, then posted them at different times. It should be fixed by next week, so don't be too surprised if you see a new article dated several days back. Cheers!

J'ai un velo!!!

Well....I thought I had to wait till I was in Chambéry to get a bicycle. Fortunately, NOT! My housemate, Sachiko, thought it was a good idea to rent a bicycle too, considering that we have to walk at least 25 minutes a day to school, and another 25 minutes back under the hot sun, with a temperature of 32 degrees. Of course, we could take the metro, but it's not really worth it.

Today, we finally got our rental contract done, and a bicyle to ride for a rent of 20 euros a month (or less if you rent for longer duration). It's really handy if you know how to operate a bicycle properly. We have to be quite careful in some of the areas though, coz the some of the streets are really narrow with lots of pedestrians, and quite often cars too. I guess I'll be quite an expert by the end of June, before I leave :D

Am staying with a French family, and the lady host is really nice. She is more than 60 years old, but still goes out every weekend to dance! That's the spirit! Elle est très gentile, and also a good cook, so I am really quite happy here :) My housemate Sachiko, does not speak English, which is perfect. We are all the time speaking in French. God knows if it is correct French, but at least we understand each other .... hehehe...

The French class is so far going all right. I almost missed the first class as I thought it was the Pentcote holiday. Thank goodness me and Sachiko decided to take a walk that morning, drop by the school and found out that we were supposed to attend class! I was also put into the wrong niveau on the first day. It was too easy for me, and I requested for a change. I guess it's somehow my fault coz I didn't do the pre-entry test properly :P

Oh well, I haven't taken too many photos so far, but here are some picture of sunset in Toulouse. (go to the end of the album)

Kena halau!

Oh well...I didn't exactly get shoo-ed away. The guy was quite polite although I had taken his seat. I was so glad to have found the seat no 64 without having looked carefully at the coach no. Well, I did look, but apparently it was not the coach no but the seating class :P I plonked my ass on the comfy seat, plugged on the MP3 player, ready to doze off when...

Nice guy: Excusez-moi, uhm.... c'est ma place? (Excuse me, I think this is my place?)
Me: Uhm, moi aussi? (Me too? I quickly digged out my ticket to confirm). C'est la voiture 1, place 64? (This is coach 1, seat 64?)
Nice guy: Non, c'est la voiture 2. Pardon. (He said sorry although I was the one who was mistaken? How sweet.)

I quickly left the seat....malu again.... and searched for my rightful seat. Ah, the new one is not too bad after all. View was perfect. I had a bel homme sitting diagonally opposite and facing me. He got off at Bordeaux though, which was 2 hours before me, *sigh* what a waste. NO more wash-eye :(