Day 2 - Part 1
(Dear friends, because of some problem with uploading pictures in friendster blog,I decided to link the pictures instead.If u wanna see the picture, just click at the links I provided, or instead log on to http://photos.yahoo.com/angel_us_85 and click "Le Tour de France" for my full travel album there)
6th July- Wednesday (day 2 in Paris)
I woke up the next day feeling refreshed and excited.So ok, of course I should feel tired with all the journey and walk from the previous day..but hey!!! we’re in Paris..there’s no way I gonna bug all alone in this room just because I’m feelin’ a little tired (I got that a lot..people usually think twice before they went anywhere with me cause they knew I’m a lil’ freak who won’t be tired after hours of travel)
I got washed up, and then we had our breakfast in the next-door muslim restaurant..ok, lets see..what’s the menu for today? hmm…Oh my GOd!! I couldnt believe it..they sell "perut" here..really,it’s not a lie..it’s kinda "kari perut" or somethin’ like that…"mana diorang dpt perut lembu ni???"I wondered..so, I picked up the lovely kari perut with some doughnut (French doughnut isn’t like ours..it’s made of deep-fried dough)..so its kinda oily, and for the typical-girl Izwah, she rather didn’t try it.And for drinks, we had two choices of either "The" (Tea) or Cafe (Coffee)…or Cafe-et-Latte (guess…yeah..Coffee with milk!!)
Just after we had our breakfast, Atak had to answer the "nature’s call".So, while he suited himself up (back at the hostel) I and Izwah’s decided to walk around. It’s Wednesday morning, and under the Metro station in front of our hostel (Gare Borbes-Rochechouart) there’s kinda morning market, more like our "Pasar Tani" concept…I guess some Frenchmen visited Malaysia early centuries ago, and found "Pekan Rabu" there, so he brought out the concept to be employed here 
..Izwah got herself a pair of slippers (a nice slippers though) at the price of 1 Euro (is it cheap?) and I got myself a handful of video clips.I did wanna try some of the Peaches and Guavas, but I’m afraid of what happened to Atak earlier I dont want to delay our journey much longer..
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20 minutes later, we found ourselves on the RER (kinda monorail) departing to Moulin Rouge!!! Ok, usually people go there during night, but we went there during daytime cause according to Izwa, there’s suppose to be a big shopping mall there where we could buy some souvenirs, but it turned out to be a totally unexpectable kind of shopping mall, tell u more later….
when we arrived in Moulin Rogue, I was so excited. Eventhough we dont have the usual red-light gleaming all other the roof tops, yet the scene was already breathtaking for me."Moulin-Rogue" is French for "Red-Windmill",..I suppose that’s explain the big-red windmill located at the top of the building. It’s actually kinda a show places, where almost every night,there’s a dance show.I managed to read the list of some performance made there, and undeniably,this world-famous showplaces had managed to attract performers and viewers from all over the world. We made quite a number of pictures there before decided to walk upstream to the north. Along the sidewalk, we found several small souvenirs shops,but not the expected big shopping mall. Guessing that perhaps we walked onto the wrong direction, we decided to turn around and walked downstream.
Minutes later, my cam lenses caught something "weird"..yes..the s** word..It happened that we had walked ourselves to Paris famous Red-Light district, and yes, there’s a big shopping mall, and indeed it sell "souvenirs", but it happened not the kind of souvenirs we wished to look for. But then again, we didnt miss the chance to make several pictures here. Along the aisle, there’s several club offering peep shows,strip shows, whatever shows u can imagine..at an undeniably reasonable price (5 euro, anyone?),and while we walked in front of these clubs, there’s always some promo-men (and even women) who will try to persuade us to see their show. I like several phrases they use to persuade us, here I listed some:
"Come, my brother, it’s not dirty..it’s only men CURIOSITY"
"5 euros for both of u (pointing to me and Atak) and free for the women (pointing to Izwah)"
"u dont’ want? why? are u muslim? where are u from? Kuala Lumpur? ASSALAMUALAIKUM!!! c’mon, I believe in KL u dont have such opportunities, now u’re in Paris, why not take the chance??"
we just giggled all around…I dont know if any of us really have the urge to go inside there, and perhaps simply because we’re ashame to each other, we declined the offer…I just keep wondering, what my answer would be if suppose I was alone at that time ??????????by the way, it’s CURIOSITY..hehehehe
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ok,so we ended up in the wrong place, it’s already 12pm,so we better get ouselves some other destinations.Izwah pointed out some places where we can shopping, and minutes later, all three of us had some shopping bags in our hand. While I had a few, Atak got himself a handful of it…"maklumla, duit JPA baru masuk" hehhehe….
Our next destination is the "Le Bon Marche"…it’s an exclusive shopping mall, (kinda KLCC in KL), but with its own unique history. Not only it is the first shopping mall built in Paris, it was also designed by the same architect who designed Eiffel Tower. That adds up to my excitement to see it, but not before we lost several times finding our way to get there. Well, this is when the nice,civilised people of French is needed the most. We stop almost everyone to find our way there, and while some of them speak English not that well, all of them are eager to help..so contrary to the Russians I used to live with. At that time, I couldnt help but wish if only God could do something, if He could somehow shifted me to study here instead there….
At last, standing proud in front of us, Le Bon Marche…intrigued by the exciting scenery, I crossed the road without even looking around,..and thanks to God and the kind-hearted Frenchmen, they saved my life when they stopped to give way for me, eventhough it was a red light for pedestrian at that time. I soon discovered that most French drivers, while they’re not that kind to each others, but all of them shows an enormous respect to pedestrians.
But what await us was disappointment. Perhaps because of its "exclusiveness", the prices are rocketing up to the sky, and what more, apart from high-class jewelleries and boutique, we can hardly see any teenager’s shops lot..I guess its a place for "mak datin"..not people like us..in the end, I believe we spend less than 30 minutes in the much awaited-"Le Bon Marche"
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I guess we can’t just forget about the nice warm welcome the EIffel Tower had provided us last night, cause out of our plan, we decided to went back there, and catch the glorius Eiffel’s peak under the daylight.Without thinking much longer, we had all taken our seat in the train to the Landmark of Paris.
If is it not as good as then, it could only be better..Under the sunlight, Eiffel is much more mightier look than it’s soft and romantic view last night. Each of the metal bar supporting each other is designed in such a way that it give a tickle on your spine. The wind blew so heavily during that time, and when it passed thru the hole in between the bar arrangement, it whispered out a nice-soft-enchanting sound.I suppose its singing the song Colours of the Wind…
After we had spent our time eating ice-cream,T-shirts shopping,(Atak even managed to pose with 2 SFR babes!!) we walk along the aisle to the Grand Palace, located directly opposite of Eiffel, connected by a bridge which went across a river. Told u, its a magnificent view up here..We spent around an hour there, buying some souvenirs, n watch some French teenagers doing break dance..oh and I think it worth noting here, that French rap song ain’t really a music to the ear
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to be continued….
