Paris, how I love thee!

Paris... Paris... will I ever get sick of you? No.. never.

Every trip to this magical city just seems to be... magic. Even if the weather is cold, grey and crap, I still manage to find zillions of things to do and enjoy myself immensely. The time always passes so quickly that I exhaust myself trying to fit as much as I can in one day until my legs turn to jelly and I cannot go on walking anymore...

It had been a whole 2 years since I saw my friend in Paris and almost as long since we last spoke... We kinda lost touch but since I was going back I decided to get in touch again. Actually he's not from Paris but that's besides the point... he's lived there for 5 years now. So we had dinner and a chat... Last time he took me on a scooter ride during the daytime, this time he took me on a car ride at night which was a totally different experience, but both equally great.

This whole trip to Paris was a bit like déjà vu because last time (with my friend) it was also in April, in Spring and with this gorgeous mid-20s sunny weather as well... (and pretty much every other time I came to Paris it was grey and cold).

That tour of Paris by car was THE highlight of my trip among all the many things I did over the last few days.

Again,  I felt like I was in a movie... we drove around both sides of the Seine (including the tunnel where Lady Dianna died :( ), around the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs Elysées, around the Eiffel Tower (which looks huge when you are right under it)... and various other places.

I didn't speak English at all the whole time I was there, even when someone spoke to me in English I'd pretend I didn't understand and continue in French.

I don't think I could ever run out of things to do there. However I will say (and agree with many French people) that I wouldn't want to live there. It would totally take away the magic if you had to go to work every day.  It would be a great place to live if you didn't have to work though. That would be such a dream. To be there and just soak up the atmosphere, just wander aimlessly through the streets no matter what time of day... to just sit in a cafe all day and people watch...  To shop in the fresh food markets...and come home and cook up something fabulous...  To observe everything and everyone...

How could anyone not love this city? :)


(image from here)

Only Lyon promotional video

Playing on the LY in LYon, here is a new promotional video for this great city! I actually feel sad that most tourists will never visit it. Of course it's not Paris and it's not quite as beautiful but it's just as vibrant and interesting with plenty of beautiful sites to see (especially from the top of the hill), culture, and great food! Check it out.

Via Navigo Paris

Check out this cool new website vianavigo that allows you to search through all the means of public transport in the Ile de France (that is Paris and its surrounding suburbs).

Voilà ! Un nouveau site web qui vous permet de rechercher tous les moyens de transport public (les trains, RER, métro, tram, t-zen, bus) en île de France.

SNCF Carte 12-25 for those up to 30 years

I found out about this about a month ago and I should have posted it up earlier... oops.

For a limited time, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the TGV, you can purchase a 12-25 discount card even if you are aged between 26-30 years old. The card is valid for one year and non-renewable. It costs 49€.

linky

Get in quick while stocks last! Limited to 400,000 pieces.

Paris vs New York skinny people

I wrote that I thought there are no fat people in Paris. I happened to find this article New York skinny vs Paris skinny which I thought was interesting, especially not having been to New York...

I have to say that it's not just the Parisians or the French that exercise portion control. Pretty much every European I have met eats very small portions! I am always so shocked that they eat so little. I'm left thinking, "Aren't they still hungry?" Back home I am not a big eater at all but here I feel like a pig sometimes! Hahaha..

Le Petit Prince agenda 2012

When I was in Paris the other day I didn't buy much but I bought this adorable 2012 diary!! I've been wanting to get a nice diary for ages and I saw some nice ones but they were usually too small or too big and heavy (or in Geneva, too expensive). I wasn't even looking for one when I found this though.

I bought a cute artsy Paris postcard and when I went inside to pay for it I happened to notice there was a stationery section inside this bookstore and went to have a further look...

I love this because it was cheap (only 9 euros! - even less than the recommended price of 10 euros, weird), it's good quality (hardcover and with a magnetic closure), and there are random coloured pages inserted throughout which are pages from the book Le Petit Prince AND with the quotes in THREE different languages: French, English and German. It'll be great for me learning German.

It's so freaking adorable and perfect I want to start using it now but it's not like school diaries which start in September, it starts in January 2012. Here's the official site of the company which makes it (teNeues, it's German) if you want to get one too :)

Best time to travel to Europe

After having travelled around Europe during every season and almost every month I would say, without a doubt, the best time is between mid April to mid June. (unless of course you specifically want to see snow and be here for the festivities of Christmas).

The weather is super nice during this time. You can also easily get sunny 20-25° days during these months in most cities/countries.

Even though the weather is also nice during July and August, riding on public transport and staying in places without air-conditioning can be horrific. Also, during the height of summer it can get exceedingly crowded at touristy cities/attractions.

And so I went to Paris again

Apologies for my lack of posts. I just don't feel that I've done much noteworthy to blog about..

Anyhoo, I went to Paris again on Monday and Tuesday. For my return trip to Geneva I got a bargain ticket which cost me only 25 euros!

It didn't rain but it was completely overcast the whole time I was there. The weather was remarkably similar to the weather last time I was there (in July) except cooler and windier. I shouldn't have been surprised it was cloudy because it's ALWAYS cloudy every time I go to Paris. This was my seventh time to Paris and 6 out of 7 times, it was cool and cloudy.

Given the weather, I wasn't feeling particularly cheerful but I remembered that the previous time in July I also had to force myself to cheer up and enjoy my time there, and so I did.

I used AirBnB this time for my accommodation as the hotel I normally use wasn't vacant and also I wanted to save some money. Of course I would have used Couchsurfing if I could but every time I tried to find one in Paris, I wasn't successful and I didn't want to waste time not having a definite place to stay.

What did I do? Nothing particularly noteworthy but I just walked around a lot. And revisited places I'd seen before (some more than once): The Eiffel Tower, The Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysées, The Bastille, The Seine, Nôtre Dame Cathedral, Ile Saint Louis, Shakespeare & Co bookshop, The Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall)... I didn't go to any macaron specialty places but did manage to pick up a giant raspberry filled macaron at a pâtisserie towards the end of my trip.

I really want to take a boat ride along the Seine... one day. I didn't do it this time because I really want to do it with someone else and not alone.

I kept trying to recall what I did on my last trip and admittedly, did a lot of the similar things. What made me sad was that last time the sun didn't set until 10 or even 10:30 and this time it was completely dark at 7:15pm :(

When it was about 8pm and I'd walked around forever, I was exhausted. Yet, I felt it was still too early to go back 'home' yet. But what could I do? Oh that's right.. I hadn't even had dinner yet! So I found a nice restaurant.. actually I found 3 next to each other and looked at their menus and decided which one to go to based on what I wanted to order. I'm always scrimping and saving when it comes to food and dining out but since in Geneva I pretty much NEVER eat out (and when I do it's always pizza as that's the only thing which doesn't cost an arm and a leg), I decided to 'splurge' on a nice dinner. No drinks, entrée or dessert though! I ordered the confit de canard (duck). I LOVE duck. I had to wait a long time for my meal to come but was very content just watching the scene in front of me, listening to French being spoken all around me and the music softly wafting out of a speaker somewhere.

Although it was a cool night, I felt very warm in there, surrounded by all these people and the lights. There was an outdoor gas heater but I don't think it was on.

Finally my meal arrived and I wouldn't say it was over the top amazing but it would've been better than anything I could get in Geneva for under 40 francs. It cost me 16.20 euros. The duck was well cooked but a tad dry. It was surrounded by baked potatoes (which I love). It was overall very tasty (I didn't need to add any salt or anything) and satisfying.

What happened just before I decided to eat, I was just aimlessly walking down a random street and past a pub, when the guy walking there said hello to me. I thought he was doing it to get me to come in and have a drink (ie trying to drum up business). But while I was eating dinner, I thought myself.. surely he wasn't trying to chat to me? I remembered that on my previous visits to Paris I had had a 'connection' to someone and this time I hadn't. Twice in April I was with a friend who showed me around and in July, I spoke to that guy on the train on the way there and then tried to see him play at a concert at the Town Hall.

Anyhoo, after dinner, I couldn't resist finding out what his intentions were so I purposely walked past that bar again, wanting to see if he'd notice me again. If he didn't I'd just keep walking and if he did I'd stay and chat. I just LOVE chatting to strangers and finding out more about them. He did see me and motioned for me to come in. Luckily it was a Monday night so fairly quiet.

It's funny. I'd heard and read about these stories so many times but never actually thought it would happen to me... What I mean is, guys in Paris trying to chat you up randomly in the street or on the metro or something.

So I went in and he was like.. "Hi, I'm ___. What's your name? Where are you from? What are you doing in Paris?" etc etc... I just looked at him and said, "C'mon, you probably do this every day to every girl who walks past..." He sweared, "No" and looked to his colleague for affirmation. He told me he works from 5pm-6am every single day and is usually too busy, especially on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. He said he saw me out of the blue and felt attracted to me, and how pretty I was (la la la) and then he asked me if I had a boyfriend, to which I replied, "Yes." He was like "Damn!" but he still kept wanting to talk to me and offered me a drink. I stayed long enough just to learn something new about a stranger (my goal and only goal) and realised it was getting late so decided to leave at about 10pm...

Actually I lie. Something like that DID happen to me before in Paris but it was an old guy. This time it was someone around my age and who was reasonably attractive too. He invited me to his place and that's when I thought this has gone too far and I definitely have to leave now. He asked me if he could get a hug before I left...

I did spend some time talking to my AirBnB hosts too, a couple. So I guess you could say that was another Parisian 'connection.'

Overall I didn't really do a great deal in Paris but I walked so much I was totally and utterly exhausted (and still am). Next time I go I'll make sure to have a more concrete plan though. I've seen almost every part of Paris now, I'll have to go further afield to discover new places. Next time also, I want to go to La Défense which I didn't have time for this trip.

What I actually wanted to write about was my ride home on the train.

I spoke to a friend on the phone when I got back. I told him that I felt a great amount of sadness riding the train home to Geneva from Paris. I tried to sleep so for the majority of the time I was slumped/slouched in my seat and had my eyes closed with my sunglasses on to block out the light (the lights inside the train were on the whole time). I barely noticed what was going on outside the window at all until I heard the click-click of the shutter of a young man sitting near me.

When I heard him taking photos of course my natural reaction was to see what was outside the window and when I looked out, it didn't seem that interesting and special to me (the only noteworthy thing was that the further we travelled from Paris, the sunnier it got until I saw no clouds at all!) but then I had this flashback to a year ago or even just a few months ago.

I used to be totally and utterly mesmerized by everything I saw out the window and took photos at regular intervals throughout the entire train ride. Now I barely even look out the window and didn't take a single photo. It goes something like this. 1 is when I first arrived a year ago, and 5 is today.

1. Staring out the window the whole time and taking lots of photos
2. Staring out of the window some of the time and some photos
3. Staring out the window sporadically and taking photos every now and then
4. Staring out the window sporadically and taking no photos
5. Not looking out the window at all and taking no photos

I was telling my friend that I felt somewhat sad that when I first arrived in France and for the first few months everything was new and amazing, my senses were totally overwhelmed but now, after countless train journeys (probably 50?) and trips to Paris (7), nothing is new or amazing to me anymore. And that made me feel sad.

He told me he thought that that means the older you get, the less impressed you get by things as you would have experienced more, like his father who moved around and travelled so much for work and now he just wants to stay put. I guess there was some truth in what he had to say, even if I felt it was a tad negative. But it also made me think of the other spectrum. If it really is true, then it must also be true that kids are impressed by everything because they've never seen/done it before and isn't that why I hear time and time again that parents love seeing everything through their kids' eyes? Because for them, it's like reliving the moments again when THEY did such-and-such for the first time (which they probably can't remember because they were too young)?

To use an analogy (because I love analogies) I guess it's similar to the phenomenon of people who have lots of kids.

With the first kid, it's their first time so everything is new, interesting and amazing and they take photos of every single step of this kid's life. With each subsequent kid the things get less amazing and they take less and less photos and if they have 4 or 5 kids there will be significantly less photos and less milestones celebrated compared to the first kid. 

Makes you ponder, doesn't it?

One year...

Cela fait un an... It's been roughly one year since I left the comforts of my home and ventured halfway across the world to France... What an adventure it has been! and despite some bad things that have happened, I've loved every minute of it. Every sight, taste, sound... everything I've experienced will be forever embedded in my memory, my brain and my heart. :)

Aaron, the band

After my last blog post about Paris my curiosity got the better of me. WHO exactly was I sitting opposite to on the train? Well I went to the FNAC Festival Live website to see the list of who was playing at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris on Thursday night (21 July). I soon realise the times are all wrong because I was there from about 9:30-10pm and did not see the ones listed on there during those times. Also the guy I met told me he was playing at around 7:30pm (then again, I suppose schedules do change at the last minute?!)

Given I know that he's French and there are two of them, it was pretty easy to narrow down - the band is Aaron. LOL. And to make sure I was 100% correct, I checked out their tour dates and the day before, they were in Nyon (which makes sense why they were on the train from Geneva to Paris). Looking at the tour dates... OMG how exhausting! Still, if you love what you do... Interestingly, I knew about the Nyon (Paléo) festival because the friend that I caught up with about a week ago (who is also a singer) is/was also playing there...

If they really did play at 10pm (as the website says) I'm gonna be pissed 'cause that's around when I left. Oh well.

Still, it's kind of cool to know I struck up a conversation with a real live Parisian rock star ;) However, the photos on the sites don't look exactly like the guy I remember. I think it may just be the different hairstyle. Anyway here they are: Olivier Coursier (left) and Simon Buret (right). Guess which one he was? :P

Official sites:
• My Space
• Tumbler
• Facebook


Check out how many people were in front of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris though!

I guess bad weather doesn't stop Parisians from partying!

I also found this photo which means they also went straight to the Hôtel de Ville (like I did) straight after getting off the train from Geneva at Paris Gare de Lyon!

There are no fat or ugly people in Paris

Back in my hotel room after a whirlwind day in Paris. There is NEVER enough time to spend in Paris! Every time I come here it's one big rush where I feel like I spend half the day underground riding the metro!

I forced myself to have a good time. No matter what. I would NOT let anything get in my way of having a great time today.

Before I get to the good stuff and the story let's get the bad stuff out of the way.

1. The weather. It was lightly raining and overcast. It wasn't that cold but it seemed like it might be and most people (including myself) were dressed for November or March type weather! The main problem with the weather was not the rain or the clouds but the extremely high humidity which made me sweat like crazy even though it was only somewhere around 17-22°. However, if I had worn fewer clothes I would have also frozen so it was hard to know what to wear in this strange weather.

2. The romance of Paris. You can't escape it. Recently I went through some events which sort of feel like a break up and it hurts. And then every millisecond my eyes were assaulted by lovey dovey couples. Ouch. It hurts so bad. There's nothing I can do except be happy for them and wish one day I could be in Paris with my love and make out everywhere and not care who is watching!

3. I had a shit problem with my hotel booking where I nearly had a spack attack. Because I had so many credit cards in my wallet that got stolen and they are now blocked and I don't have a single accessible card at the moment, they couldn't reserve the room for me. Even though I said I can pay them in cash it didn't matter. The guy at reception said I HAD to have a credit card to book the room. What could I do? I could have gone elsewhere but I couldn't guarantee that they'd have a room available and for the same or less price. Plus I had accumulated some bags/stuff and did not feel like traipsing around wasting my whole day looking for another hotel!!

At first I tried calling my bank in France because I was due to collect my credit card there the very next day and hoped they could just give me the number of my new card over the phone (since I don't need the PIN or anything) but all I got was voicemail. D'oh!

When all else fails I can only rely on one person who never fails me: my father. Thank God it was still a decent time in Australia. It was 2pm here and 10pm there. Luckily it wasn't much later. So I called him on my mobile thinking it would cost 2chf a minute (that's what my phone told me when I crossed borders but then I realised in hindsight that was probably only the call cost to France). I quickly explained what happened (he had no idea I was in Paris. In fact I barely told anyone it was such a last minute thing!) and asked if I could use his credit card saying they weren't even going to charge it, it was just to book/reserve the room. He gave me his credit card number and I gave it to the reception guy thinking it was all OK now.

No.... being French everything must be in writing. Oh fuck. I forgot about that! He wouldn't accept it saying he needed 'authorisation' from my father to use my card. I said, "But you heard our entire conversation!" So I had to call my father back, and ask him to get on the email to send an email to the hotel regarding authorisation to use his credit card for my room. Oh My Fucking God. I felt so bad for bothering my father and felt so crap for all this time I was wasting. Meanwhile I decided to check the credit on my phone... I only just added 30chf credit yesterday! It should be at 28 or 29chf ish. When I checked my credit I had only 12chf left. I nearly had a heart attack. The call must've cost me around 5chf per minute! ARGH. Still there was nothing I could do about it now, and at least I had a hotel room for tonight! I decided not to let it upset me too much other than I had wasted some of my precious sightseeing time.

OK now let me go to the beginning of my story.

As usual I don't sleep much before big trip and I only had 4 hours sleep. I had to get up so early to walk about 10 minutes to a bus stop a bit further away, take the bus, get off the bus and walk some more and wait at the station for my train. I got there way too early I could've caught an earlier train but decided not to and just stick to my original plan.

When I got on the TGV headed for Paris I went to find my seat hoping the train would not be full (it was almost empty!) The guy yesterday booked me a couloir (corridor/aisle) seat in the lower level. The worst!! He didn't ask me what I wanted otherwise I would always choose a window (fenêtre) seat.

I quickly realised I could have a window seat afterall... I found myself sitting opposite a fairly good-looking French guy who reminded me a lot of my former teacher in Alliance Française in Sydney. He was travelling with his friend who sat across the aisle, taking up all 4 seats.

It was going to be a 3 hour train ride and I really felt like talking to the guy sitting opposite me but I talked myself out of it. Besides, he seemed to be seriously occupied (addicted?) to his iphone! So I got on my computer and did some work and then I tried to go to sleep. As often happens on train trips, right where I get to the point where I'm almost asleep the inspector comes to check the tickets. Why the heck can't they just check it at the beginning? So of course I never did fall asleep during the entire trip but I was in that sort of sleepy drowsy mode which was nice given I didn't get enough sleep the night before as usual.

Towards the end of the train trip the guy opposite me started reading a novel. Without even thinking and pondering and dwelling too much (allowing me time to get nervous about it), "That's it!" I thought. I was going to talk to him and I knew the EXACT way to start the conversation because it's something I've been wondering for ages.

Back in June-July 2010 not long before I left for France, I invited a French guy over to my place for lunch. Actually I invited other people too but he was the only one who could make it that day. We met on Couchsurfing and were going to do a language exchange with each other.  I remember him showing me this cool bi-lingual novel where you open at any page, and one side is in French and one side is in English. As well as that, there are translations and phrase explanations at the bottom of each page. It was so cool and whenever I've been in a bookshop in France or Geneva I'd look for a book like that but never found one. Then again I never looked for it seriously or even asked for assistance (thinking they just didn't exist in a bookstore that's not huge)... but given this guy was reading a book, I thought it would kill two birds with one store: it's a way for me to start a conversation with him AND find out the answer to something I've been dying to know (assuming he knows the answer).

I started with something like, "Excusez-moi s'il vous plaît mais est-ce que vous venez de Paris?" (Excuse me please but do you come from Paris?) He answered "Oui" (phew)... OK so I asked him and he told me I could try Shakespeare & Co bookstore and even drew me a map! He suggested I could also try FNAC (which I know of because they are in Geneva too and obviously I'd seen them before during my travels around France but I had no idea of their locations in Paris since I'd never been to one there). He tried to look it up for me on his iphone but there was no connection. D'oh! Still... at least it gave me two ideas of places to try.


And then we got talking about our lives.  I said I used to live in France but now live and work in Geneva. And just when we had to get off the train I finally found out what HE does. He told me he's a musician and would be playing tonight at the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall) starting at around 19h30 and invited me to come. It wasn't till much much much later in the day (night) that I realised I didn't even get his name or his band's name so I had no idea who he plays for! (ETA: I do now)


I love that I've been to Paris enough times now that I don't have a big long list of touristy things to do and can just do whatever I want. I LOVE not having any concrete plans. It's fun to go with the flow. I had no plans other than the one important thing that I had to do.


I couldn't check into my hotel until 2pm so I had some time to kill. First of all I needed to get a map of Paris since I left mine at home. After that I needed to go to the Post Office but I had no idea where one was (I couldn't remember the address of the awesome one I went to last time) so I just decided to go to the Hôtel de Ville for a few reasons: 1) it's only a few stops away on one métro line from Gare de Lyon, 2) I could check out what would be going on tonight regarding the free music concert, and 3) It's a big enough landmark so I guessed there must be one somewhere around there...

As luck would have it, there was an information stand (which was staffed by some young, good-looking AND friendly Parisians) one of whom told me there was a post office right IN (sort of underneath on the left as you're looking at it) the Town Hall. Wow, I'd guessed right!

With that out of the way I thought I could go straight to Levallois to do my 'business' but something happened.. I kind of took a shopping detour.

At first I thought I'd go and find FNAC (since I remember him saying there was one around there) so I went back to the Info desk to ask the same girl where it is. She explained but I got lost. I asked a random man in the street and he didn't know either. Hmm... so I just kept walking and saw a nice bag shop that had heaps of backpacks in it, many of which were on sale.

I couldn't help but go in for a peek. I really need to replace my beloved backpack that got stolen but I put it off because one of a similar size/style cost 129 chf in Geneva. However, I could get one cheaper here! After spending ages through them all there weren't that many that were big enough. And not all were on sale. In the end I chose the only one that fitted all my criteria and it was 90 euros down to 60euros so I was really happy with that. It's the very pouplar Eastpak brand and it has a 30 year guarantee! I still miss my baby like crazy and hope that he turns up in Lost and Found (I had him for 10 years :( ) but this one is a nice replacement.

So then I asked the salesperson guy (who was super nice.. who says Parisians are rude?!) where FNAC was and he said it's in Forum Les Halles, a big shopping centre a bit further down the road.

Following his instructions I did manage to find it. This FNAC was HUGE! OMG I was in book heaven.

Allow me to go off on a tangent a bit. I LOVE books. When I was in primary school we got these catalogues for 'book club' and my father usually let me choose 2 or 3 books in each catalogue and I always had such a hard time narrowing down my choices. I still have all those books I got from book club! Also, I was a 'library monitor' in 5th and 6th grade and one time we went on a school excursion where I got to meet some famous children's authors which was awesome.

Buying books in Australia was kind of shit because a large majority were imported from the US and even though our currency is almost equa,l the prices of the books were usually double! Eg a book which costs 9.95 USD ends up costing 19.95 AUD. Sometimes it was even MORE than double. Because of this, most people now buy their books online (Amazon and Book Depository) and because of that, recently a lot of bookstores in Australia closed down! In Geneva I have the exact same problem as I did in Sydney. A lot of the books are imported from France and the prices are double! Now the Euro is stronger than the Swiss Franc but still.. the prices are a joke!

Meanwhile shopping for books in France is a dream come true. The range is HUGE and the prices are good. I cannot believe you can buy paperback novels for 5 or 6 euros. Novels cost at least 20 and often 30 Australian dollars in Australia!!

I could have spent all day in FNAC but just focused on what I wanted. After asking two different salespeople I finally found the section with the bi-lingual books my suspicion was right. The section was quite small and given this is a huge bookstore I doubt a small bookstore would even have these types of books.

I got 1) Alice in Wonderland (Alice au pays des Merveilles) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (Petit déjeuner chez Tiffany). I've never even seen the film and didn't know it was based on a book! There were classic novels like Charles Dickens and John Steinbeck etc but I want to read something that actually interests me and most classic novels bore me because they were set so long ago...

After that I went to check out the foreign languages section. The selection in Payot Librarie in Geneva actually has a bigger section for learning French! But that makes sense given most people in Paris already know how to speak French :P  Not long ago I almost ordered Assimil German from Book Depository online (where I buy all my books). I couldn't decide whether to get it in English or in French (ie learning German comparing it to English, or to French). The thing I wanted to buy wasn't on the shelf so I asked a staff member if he had it. He promptly went out the back and brought back 2 copies to put on the shelf. While i was there a lady was also enquiring about it and we both ended up buying it! It was too tempting not to because it was cheaper than Book Depository already AND there was 20% off! Bonus!

The lady asked me if I thought it was good and I said I used it to learn French! I told her as much as I could about it and she seemed generally grateful for my advice with just makes my day (when I feel like I've helped someone).

After buying a big backpack, 2 books and the very heavy Assimil kit (book and CDs) AS WELL AS carrying my existing bags which had my 2kg laptop inside, my back and arms were killing me and now I was dying to get back to the hotel, just about time too.

First I had to get myself to the metro at Châtelet Les Halles. Now, I've only ever heard bad things about this place. That it's dangerous at night. That's its huge and overcrowded, etc. So knowing this I wasn't in a hurry to dilly dally but being so huge it took me a while to get me to where I wanted to go!

When I got to Gare de Lyon I bought a maxi pain au chocolat as I hadn't eaten since about 8am and was now totally starving.

So I got to my hotel and I already told you what happened...

By the time I left the hotel it was almost 3pm and I STILL hadn't done what I set out to do and I didn't even know what time they closed. I prayed to God they didn't close at 4 or else I might be stuffed as I didn't think I could get there before 4pm. It was quite far away and I had to change metro lines twice.

Still, I made it at 4 on the dot and they didn't close until 5 anyway. Levallois. I'd heard of this place before in Sarah Turnbull's book Almost French. It's just out of the ring road so technically it's another city! I went to two cities in one day hehehe.

As soon as I stepped out of the metro I thought, " Wow, it's so much cleaner/quieter/less crowded than the city and still just as beautiful." I can't believe how much she whinged in the book about living there. Actually I'm tired of these spoilt 20 something year old brats from well to do families (they are always from upper middle class families, aren't they?) whinging about stuff when they have a place to live for FREE in Paris, an instant companion, an instant and free French tutor... I'm sorry for sounding bitter but I had none of this when I arrived and now it's a constantly struggled to provide for myself and to make friends, etc etc. Levallois is beautiful and tranquil and not that far from Paris. Man! I wouldn't mind living there if I had a free place to live in!

Anyway so... after doing what I came to do, I popped into a supermarket where I bought 2 sandwiches which cost less than 2 euros each (bargain!) as I still hadn't even had lunch yet. I sat on a park bench and ate my lunch and then...

I checked out the very beautiful gardens of the Hôtel de Ville there. There were so many different kinds of flowers and at that exact moment I was there, the sun came out! Ah the sun... how I've missed you.

So with that, that was my queue to high tail it to La Tour Eiffel. I knew the sun wouldn't last long and I was right. It was gone by the time I got to Trocadéro. The reason why I wanted to go back to the Tower is because I've seen it in autumn, winter and spring and now I finally get to see it in summer completing my cycle of 4 seasons :) although my spring photo looks far more like summer than today's photo!

I'm still struck with awe the moment I see it from Trocadéro. No matter how many times I see it I want to gasp.

Lovey dovey couples everywhere...

Around Gare de Lyon and around that area I saw HEAPS of police and men in army uniform. HEAPS and heaps and all carrying weapons. On one hand it feels weird but on the other it makes me feel safer which is a good thing. And without fail all the policemen were hot hot hot! ;)

Anyway so I took the same photos as I always take at the Eiffel Tower, squeezing in trying to find a space between all the other tourists.

Then I realised I really needed to use the toilet. I couldn't find one anywhere. I managed to distract myself with a small market where I bought a cheap, soft case for my mobile phone (since that was also stolen along with my phone!!). I asked a stallholder where the toilet was and she told me it was downstairs near the boats. When I got there I was told they were closed. WTF? The one up near the markets was also locked. The lady at one of the restaurants told me to go to the actual Tower. Geez. I tell you what, I was that close to to finding a quiet secluded spot...

I got to the Tower and asked some policemen where the toilets were. I started off being quite angry (that there were no toilets anywhere in such a busy, crowded place?) but they were so good-humored I actually left smiling. Apart from the rude hotel reception guy every other Parisian I dealt with was super nice and friendly!!

She joked about going behind a tree and I said I already thought of that.. she said there were two toilets. One you have to pay for (which you didn't!) and another one. She suggested the one further away because the queue would be shorter (it wasn't). Now I never say, "je m'en fous" because it means "I don't care" but it can ALSO mean "I don't give a fuck" but given I was about to piss my pants and she asked me if I cared about paying, I said, "je m'en fous".. other giving me instructions to the other one (of course I initially got lost) she said "bon courage mademoiselle" which made me laugh.

I did eventually find it and there were 7 people in front of me! Thank God the queue moved relatively quickly AND it was free. Usually all public toilets are paying in France!

I was really glad to see this sign after my bag was pickpocketed in Geneva

There were lots of police and army presence!

And then I had to get back on the metro again and I'd forgotten just how far Bir Hakeim station was. It felt like I had to walk 20 minutes to get to it!

I still hadn't finished my shopping fix so I wanted to get to the shops before 7pm (I assumed they close at either 7 or 8pm). Luckily for me though, since it was Thursday, the shops don't close until 9pm! (and usually 8 or even 8:30pm which is such a change from Geneva!)

 


I went to Galeries Lafayette not that I can afford anything there but just to look at it because the interior is so beautiful. For the first time I checked out the kids/toy section (amazing) and also the top floor with the souvenir shop, a book shop, a tea room, and cafeteria (and also a nice rooftop view out the windows). And there, I found a FREE toilet - woohoo! It is such an incredibly beautiful (and huge) department store. I still remember my last trip there during Christmas with the beautiful moving window displays.

Lots of lovely books about Paris

I got my macaron fix too at the Pierre Hermé stand and bought two macarons.

On leaving Galeries Lafayette I couldn't help but notice the chic 'school uniforms' in the window. It's a bit of a novelty for me to realise that 1) kids don't wear uniforms and 2) school starts in September and therefore school diaries start in September (and not January)! Right now in Geneva and Paris and probably everywhere else in Europe, they are selling back-to-school supplies and I just go gaga over the gorgeous stationery and beautiful things, the kind of stuff which did NOT exist when I was in school! An surely still doesn't exist in Australia. The range of incredibly beautiful and cute back-to-school supplies is mind boggling.

Then, finally, after I had finished my checklist I could go back to the Town Hall to check out the concert.

I didn't want to change metro lines ago (which drives me nuts!) so I just decided to get off a bit further away at Pont Neuf. I'm really glad I did because I walked along the Seine and saw Paris Plage. I was fascinated with it ever since I heard about it 2 years ago and today was the opening day for this year! Unfortunately, it wasn't beach weather though :( Still, there were quite a few people taking advantage of the beach chairs and enjoying the atmosphere. There was a band and they were awesome. I looked down on them from above..  Just loved the music.

Would have been a gorgeous sunset without all those clouds

By the time I got to the Town Hall it was already 21h30, two hours after 19h30 so I didn't get to see the guy on the train :( Still, I quite enjoyed myself. There was quite a big turnout despite the miserable grey weather. I LOVE live music. The only thing I really really wished (and I wished all day long) is that I had someone to share my day with. Not necessarily a guy, but even a good friend from home. That would have been the icing on the cake!

It's funny how things turn out though. If I didn't meet the guy on the train I probably wouldn't have gone to FNAC and wouldn't have gone to or even known about the concert at the Town Hall. So many "ifs".. If I didn't get off at Pont Neuf I wouldn't have seen Paris Plage, etc etc. I wanted to stay at the Town Hall forever. I got that horrible feeling I get at the end of every holiday. That I have to leave this city/country and soon go back to every day life...


Regarding the title of this blog post.. there seem to be very very very few fat people in Paris and those that are overweight are over 45 or 50 years old. I am guessing it has something to do with the metro. Taking the metro I feel like I've walked thousands of steps and kms of tunnels. Sooooooo much walking and it's one thing I don't like about Paris. Those long underground metro tunnels and tonnes of stairs. I'm simply exhausted! Also, the Parisians are sooooo good looking. Both the guys and the girls. I can hardly stop staring. There is quite a large percentage of good looking people here! AND they seem taller than the average French person (who is shorter than the average Anglo or Northern European person). Weird. Are they all super lucky with genes or what?!

But it was a very successful day indeed and like all my previous Paris trips, I could barely keep the smile off my face all day :D

Paris here I come... again!

OMG how time flies! It's been over 3 months since I was last in Paris and so much has happened between now and then.

Last time I toured Paris with my friend who I'm now kinda trying to ignore because I realised my crush on him was getting out of hand and I'm just trying to forget him now.. still, I will always remember that day in Paris with him which was nothing short of perfect. Perfect weather, nice company, beautiful sights, ice cream, scooter ride, nothing could've stopped me that day from feeling anything other than utter bliss.

Unfortunately the weather for tomorrow is  not looking as great as last time. I don't mind if it's overcast so long as it's not actively raining. Please God, Please don't let it rain. That will just remind me of my last trip to Lyon where it was freezing, windy and raining and it was late May.

Now I'm not going to Paris for the heck of it. I would be stupid to given the high(er) cost of last minute train tickets. I need to go there to do something and since I can't do it on Friday I have to go tomorrow (Thursday). Since I need to go back to my hometown in France on Friday I thought it would be stupid to come back to Geneva so I will stay the night in Paris, in the same hotel as the one I used last time! - Hotel de France Gare de Lyon Bastille.

I'm basically blowing all my savings on this trip but I don't care really. I really need to get away from Geneva because I'm not liking that being here just reminds me of all the bad stuff that's happened recently. It will be such a great diversion to go to Paris. I can't wait :) I wish I could take a proper holiday and go somewhere new but it's not meant to be at the moment.

Every time I've gone to Paris I've done and seen different things... what will I do this time? I'm not sure yet but I'm going to buy a day metro pass (which works out cheaper than the carnets of 10 tickets if you take the metro at least 4 times in one day).

Nothing makes me feel more ALIVE and happy than when I'm travelling. I think back fondly to my last three "overseas" trips - Germany, Barcelona and Italy and what a fantastic time I had, and if I go further back, all my trips around France. Those were the days... Unfortunately my life now doesn't allow me to go on trips so often anymore. It was just a fluke that I had 2 sets of public holidays in June!

Ideas for what I can do... after I've gotten the important stuff out of the way:

Check out the sales (and then get all depressed I can't really afford to buy much anyway)
Check out more macaron places!
Just walk around or sit outside at a café on a cane chair and people watch
Go to the cinéma and watch a film (something I haven't done since February or March)
Go to a museum I haven't been to yet
Go and sit in the Jardin du Luxembourg
Go back to the Eiffel tower for the fourth time
Take the metro to a random unknown stop and just walk around to see what's there

Try really really hard to be happy despite the weather (if it turns out bad) and my stresses over the past few weeks. :D

I'm just so happy to be going back to my beloved Paris. Even if it is only for 24 hours.

World's best cities to travel to during summer

I just read the title of this Lonely Planet article and had hoped and guessed it was Sydney (hey I'm not biased or anything! ;) ). I was close. Sydney came second. Barcelona came first.

Crap crap crap. That reminds me I am sooooo behind in my blogs I still haven't written about my Italy, Barcelona or Germany trips :(

Anyway, I can see why Barcelona would come first. It is an all-round incredible city. I don't know what it'd be like in winter but when I went the weather was largely perfect. Sunny, but not boiling hot, and with a nice sea breeze.

1. Barcelona
2. Sydney
3. Montreal
4. London
5. Chicago
6. Stockholm
7. Edinburgh
8. Berlin
9. Amsterdam
10. New York
11. Lisbon

Notice how most of them are in Europe and Sydney is the only one in the southern hemisphere?

When friends of mine told me that they wanted to visit Europe in the summer I could never understand why. Don't they realise it can be stinking hot and a lot of things are not open since the residents themselves have gone on holidays?

Also something else about Europe in case you didn't know already: They don't use air-conditioning as much as in Anglo countries. Just yesterday I nearly died on the bus with no air-conditioning and the other day I was standing next to a guy with really bad body odour and swear I was going to faint and throw up at the same time!

In Barcelona also it was horrific on a bus without air con. It's not that they're not equipped with it, the bus driver just doesn't turn it on!

Oops, as usual I've gone off topic..

anyway to all my northern hemisphere readers, enjoy your summer holidays! :)

(picture from here)

My heart is in France

Lyon continued II

Something I didn't write about in my previous post about Lyon... When I first arrived it already felt strange and foreign and not at all familiar. I guess there has been a change inside me where deep down I realise that France is no longer my home. Before, when I travelled in France... after a while, everything felt really familiar and nothing felt strange anymore.

But yesterday, it DID feel strange. And I admit I felt sad. Maybe it was just the dreary weather. Maybe it was my stress. But part of me wished I'd chosen to go to Lyon instead of Geneva. It's not that I don't like Geneva (afterall what's not to like when it's the third 'best' city in the world to live in) but maybe that (already) I feel like it's just too small for me! There's a lot of things a city doesn't have when it's not big enough and I think that I'll always be a big city girl. Living in the 'burbs or in a small country town would bore me to tears.

Also in Lyon I had the strangely familiar occurence that everyone around me speaks French! If I ask a stranger to help me take a photo or for directions I don't have to guess whether they actually speak French or not.

What else? I could have CRIED at the low price of food compared to Switzerland. Plus the boulangeries are more plentiful and have a wider variety of products. I got a strawberry croissant!

Despite the horrible horrible weather I was actually still charmed by and still in love with Lyon. Perhaps also because it's rather arty and that part of it 'speaks' to me as I'm a creative sort of person. I don't know. It has so much character, and history, and culture, and art, and food and and and... it's not as beautiful as Paris of course (few cities are) but to me it's far more liveable.

I still feel that my heart is in France. Switzerland is a wonderful country but somewhat just too perfect and too pristine for me I think. When I lived in Shanghai I loved witnessing all the funny shenanigans that one normally never sees in a Western country and I can still see stuff like that in France but in Geneva it's extremely rare... Actually, to be honest, I think Geneva reminds me too much of Sydney and Australia. Namely the high price of food and housing, the modern buildings and roads, the longer working hours (compared to France), the way they do things (for example it's tax time now in France and in France it's not automatically deducted from your salary like in Australia and Switzerland).. it's all very similar to Australia. Not that they are bad things (or maybe they are :P ) , but I came to Europe (France) because I wanted a life that was DIFFERENT to the one I formerly had.

Lyon Continued

Continued from my previous post

So I went to Lyon today. I had a 16 hour day and am just a little bit tired after getting less than 4 hours' sleep last night. All the muscles in my arms and back are killing me (pain continuing from overuse). I'd like to say I had a good time in Lyon but I had an awful time! Why? Because the weather was horrible. When I think about it, I think I've only ever seen Lyon ONCE when it was sunny and warm and that was the very first time I went when I first arrived in late Sept/early Oct.

I had no idea the usually warm and sunny weather of these past few days/weeks would turn SO COLD. Luckily I thought to bring my trenchcoat and umbrella or else I really would have frozen. The worst was that I was wearing sandals and it was raining so my toes were wet and frozen all day long.

The train ride back was horrible. 2 hours. It was so nice that it was strangely empty and quiet and I could sleep BUT then I could not because I was totally frozen. I tried to curl my legs underneath me and shove my hands in my pockets, etc. It felt like it was air-conditioned inside the train. I hated it. It was horrible. How I longed for those nice warm trains during winter...  I even went into the first class carriage just to check that it wasn't heated (it wasn't but it seemed a bit warmer only because the compartment is smaller on this TER train). When I finally arrived back (late) in Geneva I was actually shivering and my teeth were chattering. It's about 9 degrees now.

Well the good thing is I did achieve what I set out to achieve in Lyon today and the day (weather wise) actually started off OK. It was overcast but not that cold and not raining. And I did some shopping and bought some new clothes, a pair of shoes and stocked up on some random stuff from the pharmacy (the range and brands and prices are better than in Geneva). That's basically why my back was killing me carrying that around all day and trying to juggle my heavy handbag and umbrella as well.

I feel totally 'ripped off' that I was 'given' this horrible weather. Made me so sad. I didn't get a chance to go to Sève to get those macarons as walking around outside was awful with my umbrella being blown inside out, but I did walk around a bit in the city and over a bridge before I hightailed it to the Part Dieu indoor shopping mall!

I had so much time to spare which has never happened before as it's always a mad rush to get everything done before I need to catch my train back. It was good that I could take my time browsing everything slowly. The annoying thing about this shopping centre is that you have to pay to use the toilets! (0.50 euros) and there are so few for such a large shopping mall so it took me a while just to find it and use it and get back to the shops again.

I know, I'm sorry this is such a boring post...  I kind of wish I could just blog all day long but since I now work full time I have no energy or motivation to a big long post (with lots of photos and links) even though I know they are far more interesting to read :(

Only Lyon

Tomorrow I am going back to my beloved Lyon!!! How I love this city so. If I didn't end up in Geneva I would've really liked to move to and work and live in Lyon.

This will be my fifth time there (I think). Sounds like a lot but the last time was 4 months ago in the middle of winter. It'll be nice to see it in the (almost) summer for the first time. Every time I've been I've done something different, and seen a different part of the city. Tomorrow I'm off to do something a little boring but I'll have to keep it a secret until it gets 'resolved' and then I'll definitely report about it back here on my blog in a few weeks' time.

I'm not really sure what else I'm gonna do or check out tomorrow but I am DYING to go back to Sève chocolatier/pâtissier to get me some of those one-of-a-kind awesomely delicious macarons!

(image from here)

Grenoble.fr

Bienvenue à Grenoble par Ville de Grenoble

A really nice video promoting the beautiful city of Grenoble!

Grenoble.fr

The end of one chapter and the start of another...

Tonight is my last night in Rome and in Italy. Tomorrow morning I will take a very long train ride (actually 3 in total) back to my home town in France. It was a whirlwind trip that I'll never forget. I had so many fun adventures, both alone and with others. I learnt so much about Italy and also about life in general and about myself (as clichéd as that sounds). I wanted a biggish trip (and big it was because I went totally over budget! oops!) because it would probably the last holiday I will take for a while...

I don't work at the school anymore and I'm not a teacher anymore and soon I won't be living in France anymore! Stay tuned... all will be revealed very soon :)

(Image from here)

First Impressions of Rome, Italy

Second day in Rome... Apart from some light showers yesterday the brilliant weather continues and I couldn't be happier. Warm and sunny but not too hot. The large and historical monuments scattered all over Rome are beyond impressive. They rock my socks off! I can't believe it. I am having such a great time here. Everything is going great except that Italy is seriously lacking in maps. Compared to France where I see maps everywhere... it's kind of shit. That'd be one of my number one complaints about Italy!

I am also suffering from some minor physical/health problems: tiredness/exhaustion, feet absolutely killing me and hayfever allergies from hell. Apparently it's the pollen from the cypress trees I've been told and not so much the pollen from the flowers. Whatever it is, it has been making my ENTIRE trip absolutely miserable. I hope when I return home the symptoms go away! And don't bother suggesting drugs to me because my body is immune to them. Antihistamines and nasal sprays do NOTHING for me. I just have to bare the 'pain' of it all till the pollen dies down (and it stops being windy) or I go to a different place.

Tomorrow is sadly the last full day of my holidays :(

A full and travel report will be up when I get back to my normal (or maybe not so normal?) every day routine...

First Impressions of Florence, Italy

Remember when I said I didn't want to go to Venice because it'd be too sad to go to such a romantic place alone? Well now that I've been in Italy for 5 days I can say that that was a stupid comment because it's romantic EVERYWHERE in Italy dammit! In France I felt that it's only like that in Paris but in Italy I feel like it's like that everywhere you go.

And being Easter school holidays, everywhere I go and look there are couples and families. I would be lying if I didn't say I didn't feel sad and that I miss my family and friends greatly. I see things and think that my mother or sister or one of my friends would just LOVE that and what a great time we'd have eating and shopping and sightseeing together. Alas, they are not here with me :(

However, I'm never sad for too long because I actually walk around with a great big smile on my face. I'm in fact quite overcome with emotions all day long whilst walking around this beautiful and historical city. I have now walked past the Duomo probably 10 times already but today I finally went inside and I almost cried! I have NEVER had such a reaction to a church before! Italy sure does strange things to you :)

Part of the reason I'm having such a great time is the unbelievably perfect weather. I couldn't ask for anything better.. low-mid 20s. Not too hot and not too cold. I don't think I'd like coming in May or in the summer. Far too hot and even more crowded, I hear. A lot of places are NOT air-conditioned and it's bearable now but obviously not later.

Apart from that I wish I could do more but I am just dead. I booked a hotel here (as being Easter it was impossible for me to find either Couchsurfing host OR cheap accommodation as I left it too late!) and it was quite a splurge - a 3 star hotel so I'm enjoying every minute of staying here and coming back at least once in the middle of the day just to sleep! It's because my first day was so tiring. I left the house at 6:45am and then had a dinner/party up until 1am. This included multiple bus/train changes and journeys totalling more than 8 hours and I could barely move the next morning but still, I managed to walk around for 7 hours straight in the quite strong sun all day long and now it's had a cumulative effect on me where I can barely do anything for more than 3 hours now without stopping for a nap! Not to mention that Italy has far 'worse' cobble stone paths than in France and even wearing the most comfortable pair of shoes that I own, my feet are dying. I'm contemplating buying another pair of shoes just to see if that will help!

I don't know how I'll be able to handle all that walking to come in Rome but we'll see! I admit in hindsight it was so unlike me to be this last minute about this trip, especially since it's Easter AND school holidays...  but I think as long as I'm enjoying myself that's the main thing. I don't feel like I need to be a typical tourist just checking off things on a big list to see/do... that's how I used to travel but not anymore! I'd rather soak up the atmosphere and if I can, spend time with the locals... I have to admit, almost all of the Italian men that I have dealt with (at the train station, in random places, at the hotel, in shops and food eateries etc) have been extremely good looking. I don't know if I'm imagining or what... perhaps I have this subconscious attraction for Italian men that I never even realised... LOL.  This morning I got my first Ciao Bella which I found amusing.

anyway it's au dodo for me!

Ciao....

PS Prior to coming to Italy I didn't know any Italian apart from Ciao, Buongiorno, Grazie and food words but now I know how to count to 10 and I figured out myself what Prego means just from usage (it's like the French Je vous en prie). A lot of the time I can guess meanings of words when they sound similar to French or English. Part of my whole last minute easygoing attitude was not learning any Italian before I came but so far so good! Miming and drawing helps too! haha.