What I saw in Paris

If you're thinking of the Tour Eiffel or Invalides, this is not it. I just had to do a brain-download of the little things of Paris worth noting.

1. Yes there are many homeless people, including teens, and most of them have a dog.
2. Both extremes of the spectrum as it relates to politeness and courtesy exist in abundance. There is limitless energy when it comes to greeting people, and equally so when dismissing you once you've paid at the counter.
3. A hint of laziness perhaps, or am I being kind here? A simple request to add more chilli sauce was denied with an emotionless "it's too late ... you should've told me earlier"! I got nailed twice, first at the kebab shop (chilli sauce story) followed by a simple request to add salad into my still-being-prepared sandwich. Beware folks - if you really want more chilli sauce in that kebab, you better not be late in informing the vendor. The universal rule of sales, "treat your customer like a king and he will return again and again" holds no water in Paris.
4. There ARE English books in Paris, and I found one at Les Halles!

... more to come ...

Taking it easy in Paris

Today's our last day in Paris (at least for this leg of our journey), and it's nice to take it easy for a change after hours of walking the Lourve corridors and the pretty little streets littered around the Centre d'Pompidou which is right outside Dany's appartement. We're very lucky to have experienced a little bit of Parisian lifestyle not likely to be found in any cafe or restaurant. From a simple dessert of fraise avec sucre to a walnut-sized lump of coffee to make a nice café au lait to start the day, everyday had something uniquely special about what we did and ate.

The Roland Garros is on, not to mention the Champion's League final tonight between Man United (I've just joined the I &"!!-ing hate M United group on Facebook) and Barcelona. I REALLY hope the magical Messi can overpower the irritatingly spoilt runt that is Cristiano Ronaldo. Let's see ...

Tonight we'll be treating Dany to dinner, together with her boyfriend Alain (hopefully he shows up too). Tomorrow's a big day as we head to Normandy ... can't wait!! Au revoir et à bientôt!

Ville de Lumiére part deux

It's been four days and I'm glad we've adopted a leisurely pace of checking out the must-sees and must-do's. I've always wanted to stay away from the hordes of camera-clicking tourists and collecting the same postcard picture collecting routine that most folks seem to aspire, so instead of merely taking photos of the famous Notre Dame (yes, the same one in the Victor Hugo classic, complete with a Quasimodo lookalike posing with tourists), we decided to attend the Sunday service instead, which was followed by a Georgian chant by choir. Cés't beau!! We then made our way to the Champ des Mars, a lovely park facing the awe inspiring Tour Eiffel, or the Eiffel Tower. I slept while sharing an iPod tune with Viv ..

Today was de Musée du Lourve which was exhausting, but extremely satisfying. The Mona Lisa was small and simple, yet stood above all the other marvellous paintings by various Renaissance masters. The Persian exhibition was simply mindblowing and immediately got us thinking of the possibility of sneaking into Iran some time next year.

But you know folks, at the end of the day, it's all about the people. There is no point having seen all the glorious monuments and sights of Paris without meeting Parisians. For this purpose, I had subjected myself to a crash course to understand and speak basic french, a course that I am still undertaking on a daily basis, by speaking in broken french which will hopefully improve over the next few weeks while we're here. Aided by a book of course, and Dany has been of great help. Though I've bumped into the famously rude waiters in the local restaurants (we saw one chap pick a fight with a prospective customer!), I have personally found folks here to be very courteous, polite and warm ... unless you speak English as a first step when engaging a Parisian. With a slightly higher pitched voice and an undulating accent (I think influenced by Americans taking the mickey out of the french on TV, see Robin Williams Live on Broadway 2002), I have been Bonjour-ing my way through Paris in the past couple of days and it's fun. Have always wanted to pickup another language ... Anyway, time for dinner, and tonight it's jambon au fromage (that's ham & cheese) from the local super marché plus a €4 bottle of Bordeoux which is awesome value. We're off to Versailles in the morning ... A bièntot!

Ville de Lumiére

After catching a couple of hours' sleep on MH020 from Kuala Lumpur, we arrived safely at CDG airport in Paris, the City of Light, centre of the universe (at least as far as Francophiles are concerned) and de la plàce where everyone cool should be ... I've run out of superlatives - you get the idea. With concise instructions from our sister-in-law Sophie, or is it Sophié, we made our way to the Chatelét des Halle RER station, followed directions towards Centre de Pompidou, Paris and found our way to 156 rue Saint Martin, to be warmly welcomed by our host Dany Bonnaure, and a warm welcome it was!

Right on day 1, I've felt that we've experienced something most Lonely Planet-reading, TripAdvisor researching tourists wouldn't have experienced, which is chilling out with a Parisian in what is essentially a homestay - simply fantastic!