I did not wake up that early in the morning since there wasn't any breakfast available. It is impossible for me to get breakfast in the school compound. Instead, I headed out early to the city to have delicious Croissant! That Singaporean friend of mine really provided me warm hospitality. In the sense, he was very nice to give me his room to settle down things and of course arrange my itinerary and plans for the next stop-Strasbourg to catch up with this nice French lady I met in Vietnam last June during our backpacking trip. What I can say about this Singaporean friend of mine is his motivation in life is MONEY and WEALTH.
Chats with him enlightened me. To hold a different perspective of life, to further appreciate the fact that many of us have different ambitions and dreams in life yet not all are realisable. You need to have certain aspects or edge to be able to do certain things. For e.g. I used to really despise people who see Money and Wealth as their top priority in life because they are those who tend to neglect friendships, relationships and even kinship eventually. However, I feel different towards this friend of mine. I do not know if it is own personal experiences that led him to become who and what he is today but I have no qualms in his ability to strike a balance between the struggle for power and maintaining interpersonal relationships. For me, I have lots of friends around me who see money and wealth as their motivation but why is it so that they may not be more successful than others? The answer lies to a certain extent on what my friend said. YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE BRAINS TO DO SO. If you don't, you'll realise that you struggle in life to find the foothold and you end up hurting yourself. All attempts are simply futile. So why not just be contented with what GOD has allocated you with?
For him, he was born in an average Chinese-speaking family. Yet he went on to acquire the best command of the English language and even moved on to learn to speak French fluently. Now, he's taking Spanish lessons. Further, he was able to survive and thrive in the 2nd most competitive course in NUS. Of course, I am not just commenting on his academic ability. I bet he has much more talents and capabilities which I have not seen. Honestly, I admire his determination to do well in life but of course, the kind of admiration is nowhere near love. :)
Our "Esplanade-Equivalent". One of their Grand Concert Hall supposingly?
The Market Place down at Galleria La Fayett.
Look at those cakes. Mouth-savouring!
Back to where I went that day. I headed out to a departmental store similar to Isetan in Singapore but on a much larger scale - Printemps (Pron-tom). The concept of the departmental store is very creative. They have 3 large buildings connected under the enterprise. The first specialises in catering to the needs of ladies and girls while the 2nd emphasises on males and boys' clothings and accessories. The last one cater to the needs of the household and retails all other general goods. On the top floor of the main building, there is a rooftop cafe where you get to taste moderately-priced French cuisine yet enjoy a scenic view of Paris. It was recommended by one of the tour guides and he says that place is more popular with the locals because not many tourists will actually get down there. In fact, most tourists prefer to dine at the expensive cafes and restaurants down Champs Elysees to exhibit their wealth. If anyone goes to Paris, I highly recommend this place. However, perhaps the weather was too dry and warm, I actually fell asleep halfway while reading my book- The Life of Pi. lol! Hilarious*
Is that the MENU (pronounced as - MER-NU)
Sumptous and Delicious French Cuisine.
The scenic View from the roof-top cafe.
There's also another departmental store that has the same concept as Printemps but it resembles Takashimaya of Singapore more. It is known as the Galleria La Fayette and most of the stores are of the high-end range like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, DKNY, Dolce and Gabbana, Coach etc. The basement of the building has the best marketplace to be at with all the sumptous food and desserts on display. I am unsure if you guys have heard of this famous French dessert- Macaron but trust me, it's delicious! Down at the marketplace, I saw a store that sells only macarons and it is priced at EUR6-7. According to my French Friend, that is an establishment who sells the best macarons you can find in the whole world which explains the steep price. Though I badly wanted to try it to satisfy my crave, I opted for the cheaper ones that were on sale. At least I am reluctant to spend $15 on a piece of cake that is only the size of my water bottle cap. :( Unless someone is willing to foot the bill for me. :)
Interior of Galleria La Fayett.
Anyway, in Paris, I experienced two live shows of "Police-and-thief"! Wahaha. Why do I say that? The 2nd night while I was waiting for the metro at the underground station, several policemen started to chase after a man or perhaps a group of men across the trains that were stationary on the platform. To mention, the doors of the Paris trains are manually operated which means that everytime when you need to get down, you have to open the door by yourself and the train tracks are side by side. So when two trains are stationary, you can actually cross the platform by going through the two trains. It was damn scary yet exciting. Imagine those policemen were actually carrying guns in their hands and frantically shouting for a man or maybe a group of man to stop running. I desperately wanted to know what had happened but the poor command of the English language of the French people around me and my broken French and limited vocabulary definitely screwed things up. At Printemps, I witnessed security guards of the building going after a thief once again. Armed with pistols in their hands and constantly mumbling to the earpiece, they whizzed past shoppers but everyone did not seem too interested. Perhaps, they are indifferent.
I caught sight of this guy across the traffic light. The way he dressed, the posture he took on. OMG. Yet another French cutie. :))
Les Invalides. I wanted to pay it a visit but it was near to closing hours by the time I reached.
The flower emblem of France. Le Bleuet de France - Blueberry flower of France. It had its origins and a French friend of mine briefly mentioned it before so I google-d it and got this link.
http://translate.google.com.sg/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.gers.pref.gouv.fr/acvg/documents/bleuet_de_france.htm&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DLe%2BBleuet%2Bde%2BFrance%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DvbcIn Champs de Mars.
After shopping, it was around 4 and once again, I headed to the no.1 monument in my heart once again- La Tour Eiffel~ :) This time round, I wanted to work on the sketch of the tower which was undone the previous day. But before I dwell on my work, let me mention the difference in attitudes between the French and Italians on bridges. When I was in Italy, people jumped up the parapet and set on the bridges everywhere and anywhere, indulging themselves in the sun. However, when in Paris, I barely sat on the bridge for 3 minutes and people started staring at me. There was paramount pressure for me to get down so I did so after 5 minutes. wahaha. Okay, why was the sketch undone the previous night? Somehow, tiredness impeded my aesthetic ability that is why no matter how I tried to sketch the tower the previous day, it just seemed UGLY.
I just thought their posture and dressing was pretty similar. But they are very friendly! They were the ones who explained why the stars started appearing on the Eiffel. That was because the European Union (EU) Presidential seat was about to change hands and France was the next on the seat. So they started putting on stars since the EU flag was one with yellow stars and a blue background. Indeed, in July when a friend of mine visited, the Eiffel lighted up in Blue instead of the usual GOLD with the stars shining in yellow. :))
MERCI BEAUCOUP, MR POLICEMEN!
The spot I decided on to do my sketch.
The sketch is based on this angle of the Eiffel.
After I was done. Smiles all OVER!
So on the fourth day, I sat right opposite the Eiffel, by the Seine River with my Ipod constantly playing the song- C'est La Vie (It's life!). I guess if you have never hear this song before, you gotta check it out honestly. I have two different interpretations of the song. First goes: Two beings who were probably in the same plight came to know each other in a foreign land-Paris. Both were recuperating from a loss in life or escaping with certain struggles in life. Sharing common sentiments allowed them to provide the best comfort to each other and after the short stint, they developed feelings for each other but it was time to leave and move on. This is nothing but reflections of life. Time heals all wounds and we all gotta move on when things fail. :) The 2nd interpretation is perhaps much easier. It narrates the story of a break-up and Paris, being the city of love naturally forms the best setting to develop the lyrics. :) Personally, I go for the first one. That was the interpretation that I developed the first time I listened to that song. I feel for it. Even till today, I constantly listen to that song. To reminisce my journey of life with .
Anyway, since I was just sititng by the river, the tourists on the river cruise that crawled by from time to time waved to me enthusiastically and it was kind of hilarious. People who walked past me started staring at my work too. At that venue, everything was perfect. The setting, the conditions, the mood I was in resulted in me producing the best sketch I had done all my life. :)
One last glimpse.
I realised time was catching up with me thus I strolled down the river walkway to the Statue of Liberty! :) Isn't that in New York? Yes! But there's one in Paris too.! On the way, guess what I saw? Yes, RAINBOW! It was a random occurence honestly. I was crossing the bridge and this pair of mother and daughter that walked past me just signalled to me the rainbow that was right behind me. Without delay, I turned my head towards it. Gosh! It's lovely. :) But that rainbow delayed my journey. Coupled with the delay of the train, I ended up missing the last bus that departs at 8pm. So I had to walk back to the hostel.
Imperfect Imitation.
Close-up View.
Who would have such sculptures on their bridge? Paris.France.
I wonder if the Rainbow is actually visible through the photo.
This should be betteR?
A random Party on Cruise that I came across. How fun!!! 
Frankly speaking, even till today when I recall that incident of walking back to the hostel, it still freaks me off. I had only done it once previously. I was not even sure if I could remember the route exactly yet I did not know where the courage had came from for me to complete that 40 minutes walk all alone. Along the way, I only came across a group of guys playing street soccer in a fenced off area. However, I did not want to interrupt their game plus it was almost impossible for them to see me thus I did not attempt to get help from them. At one point, I was at a crossroad and was extremely uncertain to go for right or left. Ended up it was actually a detour when I took the left. If i had lost my way back then, I have qualms of myself sitting in front of the laptop and relating this experience. It was a campus area and there were only woods and trees all around. Plus, it was the summer holidays so most students were not in campus. Who would be able to find me? My friend bombarded me with sms-es to try to borrow a phone to call him but my phone battery was flat and having known him for less than a month, it was impossible that his phone number would be in my memory.
The winding road, full of uncertainties of what lies ahead of me!?
When I finally see the familiar school building of his, I heaved a sigh of relief that I finally made it. I made a promise to myself that I should never be late and risk missing the bus again. When I made it to his flat and knocked on his door, I could see the relief that reflected off his face. Thanks for his concern.! :) I even bought chocolates for him but I guess the heat that the chocolates underwent while I was at the rooftop cafe at Printemps melted them. :( What a waste! Those chocolates were delicious!
That night, after I settled down, we had our usual chat. It was more of an intellectual one but I gained lots of insights from it. I realise communication is the way to break barriers and unless you attempt to communicate with others, no one will ever know what's on your mind. It's trying having to understand someone who refuses to communicate. Ended up, I slept at 3 am again!
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