I am literally far from Paris,
but I felt immense sadness when I saw the news early morning of Saturday, 14
November 2015.
I have been privileged to see
Paris and enjoy the city way back 2013. I have nothing but good memories of my
stay there. Reading about the horrors
that have happened, I cannot help but think of my brief stay there. Maybe, I am
choosing to remember the good rather than the carnage I saw.
My mind instantly wandered on my
first time to see it. Let me share it because it might help ease the heaviness I
am feeling
It was my first time to be there.
And I was lost…lost in a beautiful city but nonetheless lost.
Paris was actually the fifth city
in our mini European tour that year. I was traveling with my best friend on
the Thalys. We were coming from Amsterdam, and we choose the 7.30pm train
going to Paris. We were supposed to arrive in Paris by 10.30 pm. However, our
train was delayed.
As I‘ve said was with my best friend, Janice,
so I was unperturbed. Instead of being annoyed at the delayed, we kept
chatting, and reviewing what we will do in Paris.
We arrived nearly 11pm. We were
immediately given food and 50 euro voucher. They said we can use it to get taxi
because the trains are closed. It has not sink in yet. We were supposed to take
the train that will take us to Disneyland Paris. No, we were not going to
Disneyland that night but our hotel was near that Disneyland. We did not have a
backup plan like in case the train is unavailable, how to get there?
We went out of the train station
and one lady guard asks us where we are going, we can only say Marriot Hotel
near Disneyland. She flagged a taxi, spoke briefly to the driver and ushered us
in. The driver ask us, where to? And in unison we said, Marriot Hotel….to which
the driver replied…which Marriot Hotel? Where? I think we must have the
blankest face. The driver looked at us a tad long, and said, ok, we look via
the map, and proceeded to search via his iPhone. He eventually said the address
and we agreed it was the Marriot Hotel we were supposed to go.
Janice and I were whispering
about thank goodness for technology. We didn’t really want to think about
further misadventures had the driver did not know where was the exact location
of the Marriot Hotel we were supposed to go.
By the way, from Paris Noord
Station to Disneyland, was about an hour. Well, the taxi was faster but
expensive. But thanks to the voucher from Thalys, it was ok.
Past midnight, we finally
arrived. My cousin was a bit frazzled already because of the delayed. We spent
one full day at Disneyland Paris, and after that, we went back to the city.
Ok, so now I am about to tell
you, we were lost again. It was not intentional, we were just lost, hahaha! So
we kept walking and after so many twist and turn, we had to concede, we need
help. We approached a couple and asked, but to be honest we thought they will
ignore us. After all, there was a lot of hearsay that French people could be snobbish to
people who do not speak French. To our delight, not only that they stopped and
listen to our problem, they really went out of their way to help. The guy
called the hotel and asks where the hotel is. After that, they walk us a bit to
where the train station that would take us to the hotel will be.
We finally arrived at our hotel,
which was near the Eiffel Tower.
We had fun exploring the city. We
did the usual touristy stuff. I am unapologetic when I do that. After all, I do
not pretend otherwise. I am a tourist who is keen on enjoying the cities I
visit.
One of the places I wish we had
more time to explore was the Versailles. We were not able to enter anymore so
we had to do by looking and exploring the perimeter.
We went to see the Notre Dame,
had a cruise on the River Seine, but we keep falling asleep not because it was
boring but because it was so relaxing, We wanted to go up the Eiffel Tower but
no more tickets on the day we were there.
We went to see Sacre Couer and
Moulin Rouge, and encountered some interesting scams along the way. But if you
are aware, there’s less chance you will be scammed. But that is another story.
These are the thoughts that was
swirling to my mind that early Saturday. It was a place that welcomed strangers
like me. Made me feel I belong and I can come back anytime.
I do not know if there would be
another attack like this, if maybe, it will happen to another city I have loved
but I want say it is a cowardly act.
May the vive of Paris lives one.
Liberte, Egalite and Fraternity. Vive la France!
For dinner, another set of
friends were with me at a Hot Pot restaurant. We went to the Hot Pot of Lagos
Oriental Hotel. We also enjoyed this dining experience, it is just some of the
ingredients came a bit late than the rest. We were hungry so even if not all
the ingredient were there, we started cooking. It was my first time to go there
and I must say I liked it. My tongue got burned a bit but that is the hazard of
enjoying the soup too much too soon. For dessert, we had cake. It was ordered
thru cakes and cream. As usual, the cake tastes good.
