selamat menyambut Ramadan

"Kami suami isteri ingin mengucapkan Selamat Berpuasa kepada semua umat Islam."

Well this is our third year fasting here and I'm missing the familial ambience you'd have in Singapore especially during berbuka.. and not to mention the festive sights prior to Hari Raya and the effervescent bazaars with the abundance of good food!

Fasting here is a simple, quiet affair for both of us. And in just 4 weeks, we'll be making our way there, back in the arms of dear family and friends. We're really looking forward to that!

one year

That's the age of my blog.. it was exactly one year ago when I first started blogging.. didn't think it would last this long but here I am still. There are over 70 entries in a space of one year.. some months saw some furious writing while others a mere speck.

Perhaps it's time for my blog to have a 'facelift'?.. on verra bien (we'll see)..

Well here's to more tapping on the keyboard!


"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."
- Benjamin Franklin

fahrenheit nine one one

Last night, we saw Fahrenheit 9/11 for the first time on the cable and I have this to say to Michael Moore - "Well done!". After 2 hours of intent watching, it further fuelled my dislike and ire towards Bush and his cronies and brought sympathy to innocent loss lives. The world has (really) been had.

Even if we caught the movie 2 years after its release, I'm glad I saw it. Go watch it if you haven't already.

oh, lame saint!

After two weeks of back-breaking, neck-aching, eyes-squinting endeavour, we've finally finished assembling the puzzle of chère Mona Lisa. She has been framed up and happily sitting in a corner with her eternal smile beaming on us. We're gonna have to tuck her away pretty soon though, given the limited space we have here.. and living in a rooftop studio doesn't leave us with a lot of straight walls for such a massive frame. I said massive.. well it's a 68 x 48 cm puzzle and that's huge enough. So she'll be joining Monet's Water Lily puzzle of the same size in the 'frame section'. Well there's actually a total of 999 puzzle pieces instead of 1000 due to technical reason.


Oh those who've read The Da Vinci Code would know what the title of this entry's all about.. but if you've figured it out without reading the book, then give yourself a pat on the back :)

[chère=dear]

et alors...

I thought I'd write something to mark the end of the month. So nothing much has happened since my last post. Well the summer vacation is reeeally over now, with students going back to school the following week.. and most working adults must be filing in for work by now after weeks of absence.

This summer wasn't that summery, in terms of weather/temperature likeness. Unlike the previous years, we had an exceptionally blazing heat wave in the early weeks of summer this time around.. then a juggle between sun and rain.. followed by a spell of grey, stormy weather with a wavering burst of sunshine in between. The temperature hovers around 20°C, a great drop from the normal summer weather.

We still have a few weeks of summer to go and the thick blanket is already out. Looks like we're gonna have to turn on the heater earlier than expected.

back to routine

Our summer vacation ended on a relaxing note. We spent the second half of the vacation at my in-laws, visiting relatives and lazying around most of the time.. though hubby did some works around the house. Much less activities, a contrast to the first half of our vacation but a good one nonetheless.

Our next long vacation would be in October, destination Singapore (yes!). That, we can't wait.. but it won't be long now.

vacances à paris

I love Paris in the spring time, I love Paris in the fall,

I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles, I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles...

I love Paris every moment, Every moment of the year, I love Paris, why oh why do I love Paris,

Because my love is here...

...and so the song goes.

Well I do love Paris and we just spent 5 glorious, fun-filled days in the city of lights. Although the weather wasn't that cheery for the most part, it didn't in any way mar the first half of our summer vacation, even if the temperature at times corresponded to that of autumn. It was my third real visit to Paris and it brought back good memories from my previous trips.

We went to places we haven't been to before, like the Versailles castle, Parc Astérix.. as well as to familiar places like the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysées, Eiffel Tower.. and I finally got to see Auguste Rodin's works as I missed it on the previous visits. Well I can still remember the streets I've trodden like the back of my hand.

I believe the best way to discover a city (or any place for that matter) is on foot.. and for that, a reliable comfy pair of shoes is recommended. I remember walking kilometres at a stretch during my first trips to Europe. You'll discover interesting nooks and crannies and can really get the feel of how the people live there. That's how we stumbled upon the red zone in Paris during the previous visit. But this time though, we made full use of the metro (MRT equivalent minus the cleanliness). The only precaution when you walk the streets of Paris is to watch your step so as not to sink your foot in dog poo... Parisians love their furry creatures but most hate to clean up after them. Oh and another thing to be wary of is the deft fingers of the pickpockets.. I had a couple of incidences with them in the past.

The Louvre is as magnificent as I remembered it. We went on the first Sunday of the month, so entry was free but what we didn't expect was the snaking queue that spilled out onto the busy street. We stood in line for one and a half our before entering the museum. The place was thick with crowd - mostly tourists... and the top crowd puller has to be the masterpiece by Leonardo Da Vinci, La Joconde.. or more famously known as Mona Lisa. While you're allowed to photograph around the museum, some places restrict documenting the works in any form whatsoever.. and one of the places is the hall where the Mona Lisa sits. Well the rule of thumb when one goes to a museum is not to touch any of the displayed works and even if photography is allowed, the use of flash should be avoided.

The Louvre houses a staggering number of masterpieces and it's simply impossible to truly enjoy each and every one of them in a single day but like most tourists, we managed a quick glance on most of the works and lingered on some others a bit more. I'm contented to have been up close to admire the work of my favourite Impressionist artist, Claude Monet.

We left the Louvre with a 1000 pieces puzzle of Mona Lisa and I finally got hold of the much talked about novel, The Da Vinci Code.. and these two newly acquired items will surely keep me occupied for a while.

I've lost count of the number of castles I've visited since I moved here but the Versailles tops the previous ones hands down with its immensity and majestic grandeur. You can lose yourself in its impecabbly manicured vast garden.. it was simply breathtaking. We spent the whole day there and even that won't be enough for a thorough visitor.

Parc Astérix is a theme amusement park, based on the comic Astérix. Like Disneyland Paris, it has numerous attractions catered to both children and adults. We had lots of fun there, taken some adrenalin rushing, heart thumping rides.. though the afternoon rain dampened our visit a little.

Be it the arts, culture, fun, shopping.. Paris has everything to offer everyone. It is a truly beautiful city (if you can ignore the occasional litter, dog poo and the sometimes arrogant Parisians).. but no place is truly perfect. It's a romantic city alright, especially by night and what can be more romantic than having a candlelight dinner in a charming Parisian restaurant, accompanied by an accordian basker playing Edith Piaf's La Vie En Rose..

Speaking of dining, we finally had a taste of pure fine dining when we went to this trendy chic restaurant that was transpired as a byproduct of a tv programme. It's owned by Cyril Lignac, the IN young chef du jour. He first appeared on tv through a programme about a chef (himself) coaching clueless young adults into becoming top chefs and finally employing them in his spanking new restaurant. It's a carbon copy of Jamie Oliver's "Jamie's Kitchen".

And so we had a marvellous time in Paris, even if I've collected a few blisters on my feet and some leg cramps (due to excessive walking).. it's well worth it.

Until we meet again, my dear Pareee.....

Our trip in still form: VACANCES A PARIS

(do excuse the sometimes blur photos)