The Fashion Capital of the World

Paris. Aaaahhhh. Its a very pretty city, beautiful.

spent the whole of sunday in cph airport til my flight at 6, wasnt too bored cos had a few friends around whose flights were all of different times. there was finally only me and a pedro from uruguay and it was fun.

there was this funny episode where we were just sitting down in the airport chatting and suddenly this young couple comes up to us and says "uhhhh, excuse me but do you drink beer?" and pedro says yes. so the guy passes his can to pedro and the girl passes her can to me saying that they cant bring it in cos of this new rule in all european airports on carrying liquids. so we say thank you and they rush off for their flight. so we start drinking, marvelling at our good fortune at having free beer during tea time ;-) it was a bit warm but beggars cant be choosers ;-) of course, everything your parents told you about accepting drinks from strangers flew out the window ;-)

then the couple suddenly comes back and starts chatting with us and we introduce ourselves and it turns out that they are from switzerland and they are travelling and he's been to malaysia cos his mom is taiwanese. weird that you'd think strangers would share information but as i said, psychology is a weird thing. so after like 10 minutes or so, the PA system calls out a last flight announcement and suddenly this couple say they have to hurry cos apparently thats the last call for their flight. weird right? would you wait for your flights last call just to chat with a couple of strangers you'd given beer to? Hmm.. so after they leave we haev a good laugh.. but it was a funny experience.

was also another one where this guy was travelling alone with a dog and i go up and talk to him and pet the dog and he was having a transit in cph airport and he was going to give the dog a sleeping pill so that he would be able to put it in the cargo area. and he was also travelling with a black cat called Memo who was going to be with him in the passenger area. was so cute, petted both of them. God, i love animals. Remember the farm story, Tres? ;-) Now what shall we do about it? ;-) Wanna migrate? ;-)

anyway, came to the end of my short stay in CPH airport and arrived in CDG at night and followed a friend's instructions to his place. contrary to what people say of the french not speaking english, some do try to help with directions and even in lending mobile phones. as i said, psychology is an interesting study ;-)

got to his place with some help from a couple who were coming to paris from lindo.. talk abt coincidence ;-) fell asleep right away.

Did all the touristy things in Paris the next couple of days - Eiffel tower both in the day time and at night - the structure looks boring in the daytime but the lights are beautiful at dusk. went up all the way and could see the whole of paris from the top ;-)

Seine, Louvre, Le Arc de Triomphe, the church of Saint Sulpice, Notre Dame, Champs Elysees and i'm quite sure i'm forgetting some but my memory fails me. Champs Elysees was really cool - all the big names - hugo boss, dunhill, bally, loreal, etc - in one (or 2) streets.

McDs was interesting - some burger with bacon and ham (is it the same?) and you could replace the fries (if you've seen Supersize Me), with mini wedges, served with some yoghurt dip. very nice. and McDs in Europe have desserts like cookies and a sundae with peanut crackles and something orange, think it was peach / apricot marmalade or something. but VERY nice.
went out for a typical french dinner on monday - red tuna with potatoes and "khir" white wine mixed with some juice - nice. ice cream for dessert - a mixture of coffee, nutella and chocolate chip. now THAT was absolutely gorgeous ;-)

jocelyn cooked a french dinner the next day - carbonara. was some spaghetti with cream and pieces of bacon and ham (AGAIN ;-) and a raw egg at the end. pretty weird if you think about it but suited the dish, nice even. overall pretty good trip ;-) apart from my bank balance as usual..

spent the night at CDG airport cos my flight back was in the wee hours of the morn. met 2 other people who were travelling alone as well.

1. this girl from US whose parents gave her a 6-mth round the world trip for her 21st birthday and she's been to australia and canada and europe and she'll be in brazil for christmas. nice. but tiring - after a while you wish you could just dump it all and go back to the comforts of your own home.. been there done that..

2. this guy who's a contractor from finland and who's on standby for the next flight out to somewhere. claims i have a VERY nice smile and was shocked when i told him i wasnt married.. sheessshhh.. COME ON ;-) i'm barely 16 ;-) what is this? timbuctoo? neways..

had my seat moved up from aisle to window and had a very crappy seatmate on the flight back cos it turns out, just cos i had moved up to a window, she couldnt have all 3 seats to herself and thereby couldnt sleep.. i mean, come on lady, shit happens. its not like you dies right?
watched the devil wears prada on the way back and was a little nostalgic cos some of the scenes were of paris ;-)

well, thats it really. depending on my results, will prob want to go to benelux and germany the next round ;-)

contrbutions still welcome for "save kogs' bank balance fund" ;-) cheers.