A view of Saint Cloud from Pont de Sevres in Boulogne…
Hot! Hot!
29 06 2009Yesterday, all the stores were open in Strasbourg. Remember when Obama visited? All the stores closed down for a day because there were people and police everywhere so they made up for the lost sales yesterday. I took advantage of the summer sale and came back with two full bags of books and clothes. I got 6 books for the price of 1 euro each. And well, the clothes were just amazing. There were too many people and I didn’t have time to fall in line to the fitting room and try every item I purchased.
After a couple of hours of shopping and browsing and wanting to buy everything in sight, I went to the centre ville to meet my faux in laws. The scene that greeted me was festive and happy. Kids were playing in the water fountain – swimming, splashing, running, and shouting.
Centre Ville Strasbourg
I gotta admit that it was a hot day. My hands got sticky and my face got a little bit oily. I began to feel the tingling sensation of a headache caused only by intense heat. It’s like Manila, but people didn’t carry umbrellas and I wished I had bought that sunglasses I’ve seen in Zara.
We went to look for ice cream to cool us down, but all the shops were full. Lines were long and extended until the tram rails until a police came and instructed the people to bend the line a little bit. We head to the Cathedral and saw Amorici, fell in line for that mouthwatering Gelato (pistache and chocolat noir), and ate until I wanted to gulp down loads and loads of water.
Gelato
I went home happy. I fit all my purchases and thought to myself that I was kinda thick to buy shirts in small sizes, but hey it fits! And books for 1 euro each – I just wanna read the whole day and listen to music and not worry about a thing!
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Tags: Strasbourg, summer sale
Categories : Living in France
A New Season
28 06 2009A day before summer’s celebration, Fete de la Musique. The evening air was charged with enthusiastic energy as people (mostly students, I think) gather around one of the bridges over the Seine in Paris.
It was a cheap gimmick. Buy a bottle of wine in any Monoprix and drink it along the Seine river while listening to musicians from all over Europe making summer gigs in Paris.
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Tags: Paris, summer in France
Categories : Just Nice, Living in France
Oh, the humanity!
17 06 2009I have been enjoying my last week in Paris by spending time with my friends like a tourist. I am looking forward to our move in Strasbourg, but when I was eating and drinking with my friends by the Seine, a wave of sadness hit me. These are the people who have been with me through thick and thin here. I was just walking beside Notre Dame last winter with Jela, freezing my ass off in -7 weather. And Pinky, who I just met, had been a great friend as well.
It was funny because in a way – the 3 of us – Jela, Pinky, and I all worked together for Total Woman magazine back in the Philippines, but I didn’t even know it coz I was a freelancer and I was communicating with her just through emails. Pinky, managing editor, assigned feature articles to me and to Jela. Small world really – and I met the two of them personally here in Paris.
One of my oldest friends from college, Sol, lived with me here in Paris for 2 months and I suddenly realized that I was gonna say goodbye to her again – in a way, she became like a sister to me.
Anyway, as the night went on, we walked around Notre Dame and watched some street acts – there were two men dancing with fire. Pretty amazing.
You can never be bored in Paris.
And this is the best and most disgusting part of the evening. I swear, all my wistful thinking went down the drain when we saw a guy pulling his pants back on after taking a big dump in the street. It looked almost like cow dung. What happened to just dog poops?
After this unbelievable scene, I went home traumatized, sat down on my boyfriend’s lap, hugged him, and put myself in a baby position in which he can rock me and tell me everything will be good again.
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Tags: dog poop, human poop, Paris
Categories : Living in France, Ramblings
Smoking is Bad
13 06 2009During the designer’s exhibit last Thursday night, we came across this genius, giant ashtray.
We get the sign – smoking is bad. I’m glad I’m one of those who got to quit. Even if I crave one from time to time, I just think of the effects of it and I immediately lose my appetite to smoke. Yellow teeth, bad breath, stained fingers, etc. etc.
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Tags: designer's exhibit, Paris, smoking
Categories : Just Nice, Living in France
Something New
11 06 2009I haven’t been working since last week. We have been preparing our move to Strasbourg for the 3rd week of the month and so – I have some time left to practice photography and photo-editing. Yup – I bought a new camera! Woot! It’s a Canon EOS 500D (took the advice of a friend who is a professional photographer) and so I have been shooting like a freak in Paris.
I still have got to get that tripod. Wake up at sunrise and miss dinner tso I can catch the sunset! These are stuff I have to do if I want to photograph landscapes. But anyway, yesterday was a disappointment. I have a lot to learn and I am just sooo impatient.
This is the only photo that came out, which I think is kinda OK (after editing it in photoshop). Anyway, I remember my photographer friend told me that photos are usually 90 % photoshop.
These are kids in Champs Elysees – it looked like some sort of a field trip to me.
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Tags: Champs Elysees, Paris
Categories : Just Nice, Ramblings
