Day Two went immediately straight through brunch at Leon de Bruxelles, another appetizing resto serving Brussels’ favorite - Mussels with Fries. As I had mentioned from Day One, food in Paris is simply delectable and I can only imagine what food is like at L’ Aperge, serving a staggering $211 per plate. Thank God for alternative diners and increasingly cosmopolitan food choices!
With stomachs full and a good eight-hour rest, we visited one of Paris’ high-end malls, Galleries LaFayette (Women’s). The mall’s interior consists of a beautiful dome as one of the many beautiful chapels in Italy. Towering with six floors and a basement, it is heaven for Becky Bloomwood with covetous gown displays ranging up to 16,000e. The cosmetics department hogs the whole floor where the LV store conveniently sits to its side. No wonder LV was jammed packed with tourists seemingly panic buying on wallets, bags and luggage.
After that pricey trip, our next stop was the Louvre housing the Mona Lisa, which by the way (Art majors, please don’t kill me) we opt not to see in exchange for a Starbucks Frappuccino! Yes, corporate America got to me. =) But we still walked around the area snapping photos of that inverted pyramid (pictured above) and the Louvre’s exterior. We spent about a good hour over at the Louvre, headed straight to Vendome, a piazza known for its high-end diamond jewelers and then at the Concorde with the towering Egyptian Obelisk. From there, it was quite a walk towards Arc de Triomphe. Journeying through Champs-Elysees was a blast though. It gave us a taste of a Paris fall, with its vermilion trees standing still in the background, and the hustle and bustle of the city veiled in beguiling lights! It was simply and enticingly beautiful.
Following a failed rampant search for Planet Hollywood, it was Chinese for dinner before finally heading off to the train station leading back home. We were looking to another long day for sure and this time, at Paris Disney.
E. Hemingway was right - Paris is a moveable feast. A feast with the finest cuisine and eccentric characters donned in Chaumet, Dolce and Hermes.
So in celebration of my verging on midlife crisis age, Paris marks as my top destination for two simple reasons - my Ninang lives there and well, its Paris! Beauvais Airport is an hour away drive from the city but when we got to Paris, who really cares? (well, except the locals I guess). It was around 11:00pm when we reached the city but for some, well, the party just seems to take on a heavy toll. Consider this street known for its transgendered belles actually prostituting themselves and, what’s more surprising? The lines of cars parked along the road actually negotiating with them. Europe does have a different definition of prostitution far from mine when they made it legal.
Moving on…
The following morning, we ate brunch at Crepe de Josselin, a resto specializing in scrumptious crepes. Got some German sausage wrapped in wheat-flour crepe which was far from disappointing, and so our succeeding meals. Now, I can truly say that French cuisine is the world’s finest. And yes, the most expensive sit-ins with meals averaging about 50euros for two, including drinks, main course and dessert exclusive of the 19% tax. Yep, you do the math. But similar to Italian customs, an unclean plate calls for an offended chef and resto owner. And Nobalutan please!
After Crepe de Josselin, we headed straight to Sacre Coeur, a Catholic church sitting on top of the hill with a stunning view of the city. Climbing the 100-stairs was a cinch considering the other 500 we climbed in Vatican. It was a local hang-out and a tourist destination filled with panhandling and very creative local entertainers. And by very creative, I meant, an old stout woman shrieking, jumping, dancing and scarf-changing, street-singers, street-sellers, break dancers, oh, and one guy boasting of his ability to not blink for a certain length of time. Recession, what have you done? Lol.
We then went to the famed Eiffel Tower. Oh, I could have kissed the metal bars and jump into the silly custom of biting into it. Coz what else can I say? Absolutely stunning. Waiting about well 2-hours in line was still worth it. The light show at sunset was just the cherry on top of the fantastic world wonder. I really wished I had a better, full-functioning camera. But oh well. Then, it was Pizza Pino for dinner followed by The Proposal movie at one of Paris’ many theaters. Took the last Metro and went straight to bed to gather strength for tomorrow - shopping, shopping, shopping, and more sightseeing.
But for now, Bonne nuit!
Blame it on Facebook with all its silly quizzes, random name generators (which by the way, generated my supposedly gay name: Susumosumo Jumujulaylay, which I obviously can’t help getting over with) and fun fun fun games that I left this blog, er..actually all my “online” spaces stagnant and hanging. But enough about Facebook. So Ralph & I recently took a trip to Kaiserslautern, Germany. This trip was actually work-related leaving us little room for exploration and discovery. Actually, the best thing about this trip is the Food - good ole American, Thai, Mexican and German food, so be warned!
Kaiserslautern or K-town is considered “Small America.” In fact, this is probably one of the few places in Europe where Europeans or Germans for that matter, speaks English and loves it! So getting around, alongside with TomTom GPS was a cinch. K-town is definitely a to-go place for homesick Americans living in Europe. The fare from Italy via RyanAir is fairly economical, with taxes and all - the total summed up to 250e for two. It was about an hour or so so flight so it wasn’t that bad. We flew in from Frankfurt Hahn and drove another hour to K-town. Scenery? Priceless. The pointed German houses and the windmills twirling lazily in the meadows along the route were absolutely stunning. A postcard picture-worthy indeed!
Once we arrived, we went to eat at Mama’s House for dinner, an American owned resto serving uber delish Southern Food. Ralph ate BBQ ribs with of course rice, while I ordered fried catfish with baked potatoes and mac and cheese.The next day was basically spent in preparation for the banquet we were attending – uniform and all. For Lunch: Chili’s. Craving for a really good American cheeseburger for the longest time, guess what I got? Ralph ate buffalo chicken wings with blue cheese dressing and a good molten dream cake for dessert.So the day after the banquet, we got to roam a little bit downtown K-town. We went to walk around the city square with all shops and got some really good finds. Most of the shops were American shops, Claire’s included! Huge malls also surround the area, which contains furniture stores and even Toys R Us. Again, for food: Lunch – Schnitzel House, authentic German food. I’m not even kidding! And then for Dinner – Thai Restaurant, hmmm…well I tasted better but still doable especially in Germany.Our trip lasted about 4 days. Although, we didn’t get to see Lego Land, the inspiration for the Disney Castle and the Berlin Wall, it was still a breath of fresh air from Italy. The convenience of having to know what other people are saying actually makes the trip worthwhile! So I hope, the next time I blog about Germany will actually be about those three places I badly wanted to visit though they are all apart from each other. Stay tuned! Oh wait, did I mention the Mexican Restaurant, the chips and salsa were good too!
 It is in my upbringing that I learned to be an Independent, ala-Destiny’s Child survivor woman. Having lived life surrounded by strong women – grandma’s, my mom, cousins and aunts, who survived raising their children without meager support from their ex-husbands, I became someone whose life’s execrable feebleness falls short of romantic relationships to survive. I had my heart broken couple of times and had moments of verging on emotional breakdowns but, I come out of it better and even stronger. Brokenness brings out that inner strength any extreme feminist would be proud of, in fact, I feed on it – on brokenness, loneliness and pain. Those times bring the best in me. That kind of pain makes me appreciate life more, it makes me feel even more alive. But now that I am married, things has slightly changed.
If I used to be that type of girl whose life emerges better without any emotional attachments to some guy, I am not that anymore. At times, I feel a clash coming between my upbringing and my now life. Many friends, family, even books advise to “Keep some for yourself” in which it meant – emotionally, spiritually, financially. And although my senses lean towards grasping on that advice, I simply don’t. Ralph’s departure only made me realize how I have given so much of my life to him and how our lives have been deeply intertwined in a little over two years. This forced and temporary separation leaves me feeling debilitated, crippled. It is as if I am Adam, who remains fully awake while God takes out one of his rib bones exposing my thoracic insides and even my rhythmless heart. It is simply that painful. Our weekend trip to Germany and Belgium answered why this part in me changed – Ralph, makes me feel alive without inflicting pain. My being, feeling and my strength does not necessarily have to be drawn out of extreme agony or emotional throes anymore, but of love and living loved. Moments spent with him – laughing at each other’s imperfections, surprise hugs, gentle kisses, holding hands – that’s when Ifeel the most. So though I know I will survive these few months, I know I will never survive life without him – not again, not ever.
 once concluded that technology is my pen’s greatest rival though, that conclusion still failed to abstain me from designing a simulated beach house and harvesting crops from one of my too many virtual farms. Shoving that aside, technology did a lot of good connecting me with people from the past and of expunging the bad seeds planted once. Emma, my childhood friend, whom I have not seen or spoken to for the last seven years, was one of the very many I am so happy to get in touch with again.
Re-connecting back with her was like a breath of fresh air. I mean, after years and years abroad finding friends who trust me and whom I can fully trust, here is one who still does. What I love about our friendship is though we have been separated for the longest, talking with her was the easiest thing in the world. It is as if those seven years were nonexistent. Things definitely changed in our lives but our friendship remains a haven of pure laughter, loyalty, stories and fun. Despite all the mistakes we’ve made then and now, we look not with eyes of judgement or condemnation of the other. There’s no hint of competition, of whose life’s better than who, whose smarter than who, whose much traveled than who. She is happy for me as I am happy for her. Her triumphs are my triumphs, and her sorrows are mine. There is only but friends, reminiscing the past and planning to see each other in the future.
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