Trip to Paris

I have always fancy going to France in particular Paris. Perhaps because there was a promise made to me by somebody that if by any chance will be able to make it to Paris in our lifetime, we will have a cup of coffee in Paris, or to be more exact a caffee mocha with whip cream on top.

But I guess promises are meant to be broken. The promise of a cup of coffee in Eiffel was dump in the bin years ago. But the promise I made to myself that if I go to Paris I will carry on drinking coffee in Eiffel no matter who I am with and no matter what the circumstances will be. Once I set my foot to Paris, I will go to Eiffel tower that is a resolution I have for years.

Yesterday that dream was realized. I went to Paris with a friend, Roberto. It was a rushy rushy spur of the moment plan that happened in an instant. I dont even have a spare shirt with me, as soon as the idea hit my conciousness, the next thing I knew I was inside the business cabin of eurostar sipping red wine and looking outside the window of the fast train that will bring me to one place I really wanted to go.

As me and Roberto hit Paris Nord we went immediately to the tube station going to Eiffel, but as a first timer in the franco-land and with barely a knowledge of French except for Bonjour Monsieur and Cest la vie I never realized its hard to get by in France without having to try to speak the language. For one we ask an information station, and sadly the man on the other end of the till barely speaks English, in fact the only English he knows is No No and No. He does not probably know any word of English except for No.

But since Robert is a frequent traveller we were able to find our way by just following our feet, and the next thing I remember, I went out of the the Tour de Eiffel station and lo and behold Eiffel Tower with all of its majesty and greatness greeted me with a BaNG!!!

After going and around Eiffel tower Obet and I got tired and we are confronted with another problem, we dont have a place to stay for the night. I just gamely told him, well might as well sleep rough on the streets of Paris which he immediately dismissed. He thought I was joking but I wasn't. When I was in Amsterdams months ago, I walked thru the whole red light district for several hours just for the fun of it. I wouldn't miss a chance of another revelry now in Paris.
Well just for convenience sake as Obet will be returning to work tomorrow I acceded to his demand of looking for a hotel to stay for the night. We went to Blanche which is the station nearest to Moulin Rouge the red light district of Paris, there we got a nice cozy room fit for our tight stingy budget. The next day we woke up early as we planned to tour the city as we will be leaving at 4pm the same day.

We went to the Church of the sacred cross which is very near Moulin Rouge but is a steep climb up a hilly land. Its was all very quick as we dont have the luxury of time we immediately descended to the place to go to Notre Dame and then to the Arc de Triomphe. The next place was Louvre where the Da Vinci Code movie was shot, and of course we just got to say Hi! to Monalisa which cost as 10 euros. The collection of Louvre was just amazing, I was in front of Venus de Milo and other masterpieces by world renowned painter and sculptor. The artistic side of me want to get out again. But then we have to hurry for our next and final destination the top of Eiffel.

I was a bit acrophobic while the lift ascending from the top of Eiffel was moving. It was just a bit nauseating. But at the top I just cant help but to be amazed of the beauty in front of me. All the stress I have been to the past weeks simply melts away. It was just 10 minutes that we have alloted ourselves for the trip to the tower of Eiffel as we need to catch our train to bring us back home.

We catch the train at the last minute, passport checks, immigration control and then we are heading back to another city, which I call home...temporarily. Next month we are heading to New York City if all plans push thru, I will meet most of my relatives there, which I have not seen for ages. My ninang and my ninong and cousins and other close relatives. The last time I have seen my cousin we were all very young and now we are all grown up in fact we are old enough to be called oldies... Yuck I hate the idea. But then what can we do.

For as long as there are cities like Paris to explore we are all young at heart...Next stop the Land of the free.