The Day of the Breizh Parade

- Travel Journal: September 23, 2007 -

Yesterday, I spent too much time surfing around the internet and watched Iron Chef episodes on YouTube; I haven’t prepared the presentation for tomorrow's class!
But first thing first, I had to go to Breizh Touch Parade. There were supposed to be a celebration of Celtic music with over 3,000 musicians and dancers taking part in this exciting event in Paris. But again, I got side-tracked and went to Madeline Church near Opera. Even though it was under construction (and so was the Opera), it has such a strong statement; the Joan de Arc statue, the humble tribute to John Paul II and Mother Teresa, and the gorgeous altar made the quick visit very much worth it.







By the time I reached Champ d’Elysee to see the Breizh Parade, the dancing stopped. Darn it! That explained why my pictures only got people in costumes standing around...But! I did get some good shots of the musicians.







I was also supposed to meet with friends but they arrived late and eventually I was wandering around alone. After a quick visit to the Arc de Triomphe (this time up, close, and personal), I bought a professor-recommended French dictionary and an Italian reference book (and I’m going to Italy next Saturday!) at W.H. Stone near Le Louvre.




After that, I simply went home and spent 5 hours to prepare the presentation. The long hours was largely because I got too excited about the putting pictures in the presentation. Some pictures even got rejected and did not make it to the presentation, you know... Anyway, I went to sleep right after I finished.

And hey, the whole album "Wandering in Paris - part 3" can be found here.

- to be continued... -

A Day of Relaxation

- Travel Journal: September 22, 2007 -

Today, I was resting at home to rejuvenate self. Yesterday’s excitement took a heavier toll on my body than I thought. Moreover, my sickness was not actually went away; it was just conveniently delayed. Worked for me though; I spent time catching up with blogs’ updating, picture editings, upcoming travel arrangements, homeworks, and job search – related stuff. I had to be careful though, I needed to stay healthy since people around me were getting sick (it’s the transition from summer to fall, after all).

I also had the first long conversation with the French lady; she’s also happy with the Moët & Chandon I bought for her. She also told me about a market in Pte. St. Cloud that’s open only on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but I have to always beware of pickpockets. She got her money stolen once before in that market. In addition, I just found out that this house experienced a burglary once and that Dewi lost many valuables without getting any money back, so again I have to be very careful and not take security for granted in this very nice area. Later that night, some friends were texting me and invited me to go to a chic club in Paris named Le Queen, but l opted to stay at home and watch Iron Chef. Entertaining Iron Chef episodes over an exciting night out at Le Queen? Certainly, especially with my stamina not in its top shape. Next time though, I would be glad to rock out “what my mama gave me”. Just you wait...

- to be continued... -

The Cathedral and The Champagne

- Travel Journal: September 21, 2007 -

Today was the day of the last field trip that ESSEC organized. This time, we went to Reims to see the gothic Notredame Cathedral and La Champagne to the House of Moët et Chandon for wine tasting. It would be a great time, but the morning started kind of shaky. I woke up later than I expected and reached Cergy Prefecture Station around 8:40 am. I was worried because I thought I missed the bus (we were told to meet in front of ESSEC on 8:30 am), but apparently the bus itself ended up being late. All of us waited until close to 9 am.

That little setback was remedied as soon as we reached Reims. When I saw The Cathedral, where most of French kings were crowned, I was awestruck. IT WAS HUGE and GORGEOUS! Some of the snapshots below did not do enough justice to this grand cathedral.








During our free time, I had a chance to explore the city. It was a charming city with lots of life. I had a great nice walks with friends and we had some hilarious moments trying to get the timer going with Sandra’s camera. It was worth it; all of us were laughing whole-heartedly, and the picture came out great. I had to pester Sandra to share me the picture; I ablsolutely love it! We also had a unique pie at a nearby pastry shop. It was stuffed with pork, rabbit, and veal dipped in champagne and baked in a wooden stove. It was delicious! I was greedy with eating that I did not think about shooting a picture of the pie, but here are some pictures of the precious free time.






But things started to go downhill due to my sudden sickness. I worried about my physical stamina and worried that I would not be able to enjoy the wine tasting at the House of Moët et Chandon. When I was waiting for the house tour, I seriously felt ill and struggled to stand up, let alone walk. When the tour began and the guide started to explain the different parts of the house and showed us a video, I felt my concentration slipping away.

I did not know what “woke” me up; the coolness and darkness of the wine cellar, the exciting labyrinth of the huge wine cellar and the possibility of getting lost due to my excessive camera-clicking to whatever objects I could find, the guide’s explanation about the long process of making wine, my friends, the realization that it might be easy to steal a bottle or two of still-under-process wine, or any mixture of any of the above. But one thing was for sure. I began to like Brut wine, at least the Brut Imperial of Moët & Chandon. All this time, I always drank sweet wine, but after tasting Brut Imperial, I began to wonder what on earth I had been drinking. Sure, I am not a great drinker, but I think I can appreciate a good wine when I came across wine. Moreover, the champagne actually helped revitalizing my energy and soon enough, I felt better already. I also found out from my teacher that French people like brut champagne the most (and hated the sweeter ones), so I bought one bottle of Brut Imperial as a gift for the French lady.









My only remaining drawback was going back to Paris via RER from Cergy. When the bus reached Cergy, it was close to 8:15 pm. It was a rather tiring journey back home (mostly because we spent a lot of time sitting down and did nothing at the bus already), but thank God for Sarah, Aimee, Laurie, and Nayuta who also took the RER to go to our respective apartments (except Nayuta, who went to take a bus to Germany). When I got home, I was so tired but obviously very happy. That was another great field trip. Bravo!

Oh, I almost forgot, the full album of The Cathedral and The Champagne is here.

- to be continued... -

Not the Best Day You and I had in Life..

- Travel Journal: September 20, 2007 -

It was a bad morning. I met the French lady in the morning, and she made some unfavorable comments implied towards Sandra. The worse thing was that Sandra was actually at the corridor and heard everything. Of course she’s pissed, and I felt really responsible. I knew from yesterday that asking her to let Sandra stay at the apartment was a bad decision; I felt really bad for both of them. I could understand why both of them felt the way they did, but I am definitely responsible for not being able to encourage better relationship between both of them.

After school, I went to Auchan at the nearby mall (the same one that has H&M, but this time I did not buy anything there). After comparing the prices of Auchan and Monoprix, I definitely need to do grocery shopping here, it’s much cheaper (later on, I found out that Monoprix is the most expensive grocery store chain in Paris). On our way home, each of us bought a cute black ballet flats for walking shoes at Auberg, the transfer station, before going on our separate ways.

When I got home, I took one look at my desk and knew immediately that Sandra mistakenly packed my laptop adapter. This was quite a disaster since my laptop could only last an hour or less without the adapter (the battery’s dying). That evening, it was such a hassle for her to go back and forth to give the adapter to me and reach the internet café (she still did not have internet; later that night, she decided to stay at a friend’s place in one of ESSEC’s Cergy residence halls). Meanwhile, that night I had a serious contemplation about the upcoming potential Italy trip.

By the way, I am very embarrassed about not being able to answer the phone here in the apartment. They rang pretty frequently and since I assumed they were all for either for the French lady or Dewi, I never bothered to answer it. It’s not that I could say anything decent... Anyway, I had to sleep early for tomorrow’s field trip to Reims and La Champagne. Wine tasting, anyone?

- to be continued... -

The Internet Dilemma

- Travel Journal: September 19, 2007 -

Before I started, I just want to share this funny print ad that I saw at the train station. I thought this was really, really cute. I apologize for the somewhat poor quality.



Even today, Sandra still did not have internet in her apartment, so we went to my apartment after school so she could do some work done online. I actually half-forced the French lady to allow her to spend the night at my room; deep down, I knew this would not go well. But I stood by my decision and felt that it was very much needed for Sandra to get online. I had experienced first hand that not having an internet connection was just a slow suicide.

Anyway, I created a soup with ratatouille and potatoes and sausages for dinner; in my opinion, it actually was kind of good. We also studied for exam and due to Sandra’s suggestion, I was really contemplating an Italy trip for the one week break we will have after the French language training course. I just hoped the wire transfer is good to go soon.

- to be continued... -

Back to School

- Travel Journal: September 18, 2007 -

I was feeling much better today and went to school with Sandra. Class was great and such a learning experience as always, and we went to H&M at the nearby mall after class. As always, H&M always lured me to buy something; I bought a purple belt with retro vibe. Also, when Sandra took care of some of her beauty needs, I went to Yves Rocher to buy some shower essentials and a facial moisturizer. When I found out that Sandra tried her best to speak French to her beautician, I honestly started wishing to be more courageous to speak French.

I went back to my place to pack more properly and once again spend the night at Sandra’s place. That night, we realized we had so much school-related stuff to do. However, Sandra’s apartment still did not have an internet connection made it difficult to do anything internet-related.

- to be continued... -

Monday is for Skipping Class

- Travel Journal: September 17, 2007 -

I felt awful when I woke up this morning. My back and feet hurt so bad that I decided not to go to school today. I was internally whining when I got up from bed and internally screaming when I started walking away from the bed.

In short, I spent the day resting at home. I only got out in the afternoon to do some quick grocery shopping. It’s very convenient to have a grocery store located close to the apartment, so I am very grateful for that. When I got home, I did a very much needed laundry.

In the evening, I went to Sandra’s place to catch up with lessons and homework. I have to tell you that Sandra has the best crepes ever! I ended up staying at her place that night.

- to be continued... -

The End of Journées Européennes du Patrimoine...and my feet.

- Travel Journal: September 16, 2007 -

I woke up very exhausted today and my legs were numb. I was also late to the 11 am mass at the church for the second time in a row. I was very ashamed and dissapointed in myself, there was no excuse about it. The mornind did not start on the right foot, in my opinion.

In addition, it was a completely wrong decision not to bring my camera to church today. Especially since right in front of the church, a flea market of antiques, furnitures, books, and questionable but cool objects just suddenly appeared. I regretted not bringing my camera, but this flea market was just too inviting. I quickly drown myself in a selection of old vases, tea pots, key chains, books, mirrors, accessories, and many others. After going around the flea market for roughly one hour (yeah, time flew by so damn fast!), I found myself buying a mirror for Sandra, a cool metal claw finger accessory (I always wanted to buy one for a long time!), and two folded spoon/fork/knife sets. I was proud of my buys since even though there were many claw finger accessory designs, the one that I chose (a hellhound) was totally cool and the only one that did not have a duplicate. I swore there was this one guy kept eyeing on my claw, waiting for me to drop it back to the pack so he could pick it up. Try your luck some other time, buddy.


My buys from the flea market


I absolutely love this hellhound!

Actually, the reason I decided to linger no longer in the flea market was I felt a sharp pain in my lower back. Apparently, I developed quite nasty blisters on my toes due to excessive walkings for the past two weeks. As a compensation, my pelvis unconciously shifted back to adjust my weight balance. However, that meant my back muscles were constracting too much and could not stand it anymore. I need to be careful next time, because my walking adventure is far from over. On the bright side, I am now weighing 58 kg (128 lbs - I weighed close to 140 lbs when I was only sitting and driving in California), a weight long forgotten since I left Indonesia in 2005. I am much slimer and fit, but I do need some endurance training. Remember how bad I am at running? Yeah...

Anyway, I rested at home a little bit and watched some Iron Chef episodes at YouTube. After a while, I forced myself to venture out a little bit more even though I did not feel my back was getting better. As a result, I half-heartedly revisited the Luxembourg Palace and Garden, seeing a street scene along the way. There were also a small art exhibition at the Petit Luxembourg by Agnès Pezeu.





But I lose my spirit along the way very quickly and decided to let it go and get some rest. After buying "An Idiot's Guide to Europe" from W.H. Stone, an English bookstore at Rue Cambon near Le Louvre, I took a train home, but when I missed a stop and got off at the wrong transfer point, I realized I shouldn't go out that afternoon after all. At the bright side though, I got a glimpse of Avenue des Champs Elysees and Arc de Triomphe, as shown in the picture below.


Place de La Concorde


A Glimpse of Arc de Triomphe

I finally went back home and watched some Iron Chef episodes again. Oh, I forgot to tell you that these were the JAPANESE Iron Chef, not Iron Chef America. I think the Japanese Iron Chef was much more entertaining and exciting, and Iron Chef America is not even worth comparing at the same level. Anyway, after doing laundry and updating blogs / editing pictures, I went to sleep.

P.S. : Once again, the full album for Journées Européennes du Patrimoine is here.

- to be continued... -

The 1st day of Journées Européennes du Patrimoine

- Travel Journal: September 15, 2007 -

Today is the first day of the two-day annual event of Journées Européennes du Patrimoine. It was an exciting day to explore Paris, but since I am not a natural morning person, I woke up late (around 9 am). After taking my time getting ready, I decided to visit the furthest interest point as my first destination, the Techno Parade in Le Marais. I purposefully took a quick stroll alongside the Seine River and got several great shots. Two of them are below; you can see the rest of them in here.


Square du Vert Galant


Pont Neuf

And quickly enough, I walked on Rue de Rivoli going towards Bastille to catch the crowd of the that is The Techno Parade at Le Marais. It was exciting and crazy (when I got there on 1:30 pm, it could easily be more than 5,000 people gathering on the street). Also, I finally got to see how French people street-dancing (which involves a lot of snake-like arm movements and stationary up-and-down bobbing leg actions). Perhaps it's just one of their styles, but it certainly is a new experience for me. And did I mention that Le Marais is the gay quarter of Paris? Anyway, you can see a small video footage of the beginning of the parade on my Vox blog. Below are some of the pictures I took about the Techno Parade.






Anyway, after hanging around for about an hour, I decided to walk a little bit north of Bastille. I passed Place des Vosges and entered Musee Carnavalet, which unfortunately did not allow photography inside the museum. The museum itself was built as a townhouse in the 16th century, and it contained paintings, decorated rooms, and many works of art rich of Paris history. Since today was part of Journées Européennes du Patrimoine, people were free to visit. I also did my first vintage shopping at Rue des Rosiers. I got two vintage tops that I absolutely love. The best of all, they costed me 25 Euros.


A garden in Musee Carnavalet complex

After passing the Techno Parade crowd once more and Hotel de Ville, I rested at the frontyard of Notredame Church. Not for long, though. There was this random French guy tried to strike a conversation with me and tried (unsuccessfully) to ask where I came from. When I ignored him purposefully (I just wanted to eat, man!), he even asked a passing-by key chain vendor to ask me where I came from. He also claimed to have bought me a La Tour Eiffel key chain; "Please listen, I bought this just for you," he said. Oh God, the stuff a girl has to go through just to rest her legs and eat some lunch! Anyway, I bolted out of the otherwise great scenery immediately.


Hotel de Ville


The Notredame Church in Paris

I continued my path down to the Quartier Latin area, passing the La Sorbonne. The school was closed unfortunately, I was too late. Normally, this school is closed to public but today is one of the two days of the year when non-students could come visit inside the school. Well, I blew my chance off of this one...

But, the Luxembourg Palace and Garden was simply a redemption. Not only the scenery was gorgeous, (this time) I conversed with a nice old Spanish guy who have lived in Paris for the last 20 years. He spoke very little English and I spoke very little French, so voila! But he was a really pleasant guy and I enjoyed our "Lost in Translation" moments with him.


Palais du Luxembourg

After deciding that my feet were getting less fatiqued, I strolled closer to the palace and immediately decided not to go in simply because I realized my feet were just too tired to go up and down the stairs in the palace anyway. Surprisingly though, I met some ESSEC exchange students in front of the palace! One of them recognized me and called me over, and shortly enough, others started to appear! Sarah, my Pepperdine colleague also showed up and kindly invited me to have a girls' night out moment in her place with three other girls. It was also at this time that my camera's battery died. So, no picture from my camera about the girls' night out at Sarah's place. But, the full album is accessible from here.

We had an awesome time; we shopped the ingredients at a market near Sarah's place, we cooked them together, ate them, drank some red and white wine, and had long girl talks. I absolutely loved, loved it! Another pleasant occurence that evening was that the tortellini with mushroom that Migena cooked did not make me throw up (I am known for my inability to eat pasta). It's probably because I ate them with lots of salad, but still, I did not throw up. More importantly, I think the meal was delicious, a very lovely meal! After some more girl talks, I decided to go home since it was getting late after all (about 11 pm).

Tomorrow would be another day of Journées Européennes du Patrimoine, and I hoped to venture some of the closer destinations, but man, my feet were hurting me....

- to be continued... -

The first encounter with Le Louvre and Two Steps Bar

- Travel Journal: September 14, 2007 -

OK, so the test actually was not so bad, even though it was definitely not perfect. I knew I forgot some vocabularies and grammar, so I knew I could've done better. But the more important thing is that I am definitely sleep deprived (and I know Sandra is, too). So, I went back to the apartment right after lunch and slept for approximately 4 hours. When I woke up, it's time for dinner. Perfect.

After a quick buy of quiche, I decided to go to Le Louvre before go to the "Two Step" Bar at the 11e arrt (where the International Students Organization would hold the welcoming event for the new ESSEC MBA exchange students). Le Louvre is free for people under 26 every Friday from 6 - 9:45 pm, so that alone is a fantastic reason to check it out. I got there a little past 8 pm, and you can see the gorgeous sky in front of Le Louvre from the pictures below.




Le Louvre was great and HUGE (of course!), so I only walked around some parts of Denon area, where Mona Lisa is kept. I saw her of course, but my picture hardly did her justice so I would not put it here (it's in my album, though). One funny encounter here was that a random European guy (I think he's in his 20s) approached me and asked if he could take a picture with me. I was prepared to hear him say, "Would you mind taking a picture of my friend and I?" when he approached me, so his question came as quite a shock. After a pregnant pause, I decided it would be harmless, so I said OK. But I am sure the picture would not look nice (he might as well delete it) since my expression was rather...confused. Why did he ask me that? I guess I will never know. Or will I?







I also visited the underground Medieval Louvre (the original site before the museum became so big!) due to my professor's recommendation. Truly, the museum is a wonder to behold and I began to understand why one needs 14 weeks to start to befriend this museum. I will return to this museum some other Fridays; for that I am very sure. You can see the whole album here.

After that, I continued my way to the 11e arrt. to go to "Two Steps" Bar. Of course, I took some snapshots of the streets during the night in this area, as you can see below. The bar was somewhat small but quite cozy, and it's great meeting some friends. After some socializing, I decided to call it a night and go home. Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day, I am sure. It's the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine, after all...





- to be continued... -