Paris - Day 1

Before I move into our journey proper I thought I'd give a brief heads up about myself to the folks who might not have a clue as to whom I am. My name is Jennifer and I'm currently travelling through France, Switzerland, Italy and hopefully, Spain with my soul mate, Brabon. We are both Eurasian Malaysians, we come from a very beautiful island called Sabah formerly known as Borneo but our current home base is in the capital City of Kuala Lumpur. We have 4 children, are already in our fifties and pretty much as a family, we grew up with one another and are still continuing to grow together. We have several small family businesses, Brabons Entertainment - Artiste and Event Managers, Jen's HomeKitchen - Food and Cake Suppliers, Jen Homegrown Cooking Academy - Cooking and Baking School and also of late, Jen's Underground Supper Club. So if you are ever in our vicinity and you want to take up some cooking and baking classes, experience our kind of food and our one of a kind hospitality, get in touch with us!

Most importantly, the purpose of this blog is to keep abreast and connected with my family, friends, students and fellow country folks, who might wish to read about stuff that I'm exploring during this trip. I'll be sharing about the cooking and baking classes I’m taking, Chefs I’ll be meeting, Cooking Schools and Restaurants I'm training at, Montreux and Montreux Jazz Festival, digs I'll be staying at, my atonement in Rome and Lourdes, Lifestyles, Foods, The Swiss Alps, Eurorail, People and hopefully many more. So, enjoy if you will!

We arrived in Paris on time as promised by Air Asia and in the excitement we did not freshen up as planned, EVERYONE and EVERYTHING was in FRENCH. Remember what I said about our luggage...well, heavy coats on, one nap sack each, one baggage each, Brabon takes the laptop and I, my rather large and heavy enough handbag. Breezed through immigration and customs, yes, spices and all! Now, the hard part.

Got our tickets, that was easy, now all we have to do is take the train to Anthony Station and then hop on to the Metro to Saint Michel at Notre Dame. Did I say hop? OK, up the ESCALATOR (thank goodness) and QUICKLY....on the train - closest to the door exit. Let's see, how many stops? Oh, they'll annouce...quickly..we're here...get off! SNFC, SNFC, here it is, quickly, help, don't lift, just drag it with all your might, oh and remember if you have to, USE your ARMS! Steady does it....opps....we're here....QUICKLY, QUICKLY, GET OFF! 

Phew, "we made it!" Exit!...where is it...look left - Sortie, look right - Sortie, look ahead - Sortie, look back - Sortie, emmm..sortie, oh must be exit......Look for...Notre Dame...there it is, let's go! So far so good...escalator!.....Alamak....staircase! "How".. Brabon asked? "You go first", I said. Take a deep breath, Jen, deep breath. Someone speaks in French to me...I look at him, smiled and said...."ok"....he lifts my bag and took it all the way up....I said..."thank you, thank you, oh I mean merci"...."de rien", he says and disappears! Now, isn't that just great hospitality? I mean, whoever said French people were snobbish! France was going to be great after all.

Oh, this is the River Seine, we're on the bridge! Mass of folks and little students walking through us, ...sorry.....pardon....ooppss..."let's move over there", I said and we moved. Brabon takes out his GPS and says,"let's see"...I asked..."where's the map Corrine sent?" "Tunggu...patience....yeap, it's behind that building", he says. "Are you sure", I asked? "We try, ok? we try", he answered. So off we crossed the roads, looking for rue de la Huchette. Yes, we're here, Brabon says, "look for 29, should be next to a cafe". There! 

Brabon takes out document, looks at code to enter building, presses the number, we go in. Looks for Pechiodat, press the button, wait...hello, hello...nothing...press again, hello...someone speaks in French, we wait. We looked around, saw the stairs to the lift, looked at each other, shaking our heads from side to side....and together gave out a big sigh. Before we could say anything else, the lift opens and Mrs Pechiodat says "Bonjour", we smiled and replied "Bonjour". So we introduced ourselves, she welcomes us, we kissed and she tells us that we have to walk up one floor to the lift, go to the 4th floor and walk up to the apartment on the 6th Floor. Also, she says "lift is very small, with baggage, one by one, oui? "Ok", we replied. Brabon went up first, we waited....(small talk).......finally she says, "I go check", I again smiled and replied, "ok"...she went. Brabon comes down and eventually we were in the apartment. Mrs Pechiodat gave us a run through, the dos and don'ts, "you read, I show", she says! I read, she showed. "Everything good", she asked, we nodded...she widens her eyes and exclaims "WI FII"! Yes, "WIFII", I too echoed with eyes and hands. I give first lesson to you ah, she tells Brabon and after 10 minutes with the alphabets, VOILA, we got WIFII. We spoke a little more, she picks up a bottle of aperitif and say "For You eh!", I smiled and said " Oh, merci". I opened my bag and took out a scarf for her and a sarong and said "for Mr Pechiodat". "Oh, no, no", she says but takes, then we kissed again. "You go Lourdes, you pray me, oui" she asked in her heavy French English. I replied "Oui". When she finally left, Brabon and I looked at each other and laughed "Well, we're in Paris", he said "This is it!" I said.   

      

This was our digs in Paris. It would have been parfait if we were younger (note the stairs we have to climb on to get into bed OR to climb down in the middle of sleep to visit the loo) otherwise it was comfortable and quite lovely 

  

By the time we settled down we were quite hungry, what with the aromas of food we could smell from the street below. Yes, would you believe it, we were smacked in one of busiest streets in Paris itself, a street full of cafes, bars and souvenir shops. So off we went....down to look around and for some food. We looked and looked and with all kinds of food available, we agreed to ta pau (pack) and share a sandwich. "Safer" Arm in arm, we strolled further down the street munching away....it was a cold sandwich and a bit hard. 

After a while,Paris or not, we were tired and jet lag. "Are you still hungry?" I asked Brabon. "a little" he replied. "Why don't, we order thaaat sandwich with the hot lamb, go back to the apartment, make coffee and eat" I suggested. "We can rest for a while, shower and take a nap?" "When we get up, we go to the supermarket as planned, what say you?" "Good idea" he replied.

We went to the supermarket (Monoprix) as planned and as you can see, we indulged! I mean, Camembert Campagne President - 2.07 Euro, Beurrier Tendre President - 1.84 Euro? We have to pay an arm and a leg for stuff like that in Malaysia!       

Rue de la Huchette