chez clément, elysées

the seats were made out of jeans, and the light fixtures were made out of welded spoons!!

after a long day of walking around (and a little bit of shopping), celina and i decided to grab a nice dinner. we stepped into chez clément, elysées almost right away. the decor was amazing and the food (and prices) were great. i checked out the site and apparently they have a dozen restaurants in paris and the surrounding paris areas, all with different ambiance and decor. i can't wait to try out the others!!

it's all about the food!!

what we ate at chez clément on the champs elysées. délicieux!!

signs

right off the metro stop of the louvre is this view. so francais!

louvre at dusk

one of my best shots... this was taken the early evening before celina and i actually went into the louvre, hence the lack of crowds. i'm just including it cuz it's beautiful.

the sacred feminine perhaps?...

i just had to pose with the upsidedown pyramid. how could i go to paris and not do ANY corny da vinci code stuff? turns out our hotel was right across the street from the gare st-lazare... yeah, the only other da vinci code spot i went to.

baboons!

i really don't remember the deal with these guys. i just thought they were pretty funny all lined up like they were doing a new edition dance routine!

so this is when we actually got into the louvre and looked around. tip: visit the louvre on a sunday. otherwise there's practically nothing else to do in paris on a sunday. not even eat at monoprix cuz everything's closed on sundays!!

sekhmet

she was the goddess of war. apparently she even brought on fierce thunderstorms. i guess even the egyptians knew that hell hath no fury... like a woman!

seated statue of ramses II

that's one big pharoah.

more egypt

lotsa sarcophagus... -es?... sarcophagi?... well, obviously, the whole egyptian part was MY favourite.

diana the huntress

to think, we spent our whole time in 2 wings of the louvre. did we see mona lisa? no. did we see psyche and cupid? no. but at least we saw practically the whole richelieu and sully wings... which leaves just the denon wing the perfect size for a return trip to the louvre.

things i liked about europe in general...

the fountains. they're everywhere!!

and check out the little boats! i like boat races!

i only saw this kind of stuff on that horrible "learn to speak french" tv show that used to air on the knowlege network like 15 years ago!

and i like the scooters too.

scooters were rampant in europe. (but they were straight crazy in spain!)

l'académie nationale de musique

i want to check this place out. celina and i walked past this building at least once every day we were in paris. in retrospect, we walked a LOT.

basilique du sacré coeur

i really wanted to see the inside but it was too late by the time i got there. so i just puttered around til it got a bit darker. i am quite impressed with this picture i took (*pat on the back*). this basilica is found in montmartre, THE MOST romantic part of paris. seriously, they say it in the guide books, but if you go there, it really is. painters and artists drawing scenes and portraits line the sidewalks on the hilly streets. the buildings house little cafés and boutiques and shops... and the view is amazing.

café des deux moulins

for those of you who watched amélie, you KNOW what this café is! i was SO lucky to be here and it wasn't busy at all! i drank a café crème and even sat in the booth where amélie was writing backwards at! too bad the waitress was totally acting like she hated her job. oh well, the ambiance otherwise was awesome. i know i'm a geek, but i made it a point to see this place. i just HAD to. this pic is dedicated to my homie: romeo.

got change for a 20?...

so i got to actually see a "vending machine convenience store". if ever you needed the basics of anything, you could just go up to this huge machine, pick out your items and work it like a vending machine! it was hilarious!! since i had some change, i decided to test it out. it worked! look at the bottom left item in the machine... it was...

... where i bought THIS package of pink toilet paper. i was laughing so hard. so as i was watching this huge mechanical arm move over and grab my toilet paper, 3 police cars pulled up behind me and the officers got out and stood right behind me just staring at what i was up to. seriously, i felt their breath on my neck! so i very snobbily picked up my toilet paper from the chute, stared at them with a snobby nasty look and walked away. they were harsh rude, i can't even explain. but really, if they were to ask me what i was doing that night, i'd reply "well, duh! i'm buying toilet paper, what does it look like?!"
but seriously folks, the police in france are sorta like american marines... act now, think later. i'm actually a bit surprised that i didn't get arrested for my dirty look. rumour has it that they can stop you just to ask to see your papers (what, are we in ww2 poland?). and if you don't have your passport or any citizenship documentation on you, they can arrest you. yeah, i don't think i'd want to be blogging from a french prison, thanks.

notre dame

... from the back... i think. among other things, i will be going to see the notre dame again. it's so beautiful. and huge! next time, i'll get a good shot of gargoyles and flying buttresses!! note to self: buy a zoom lens.

these pictures were taken on my way to the train station (gare d'austerlitz). i left for barcelona that evening... au revoir paris... tu me manqueras!!

barcelona!

this is how our hostel looked... from the outside, that is. the actual sleeping quarters and facilities were in a building built behind this beautiful ex-hospital. our building was modern, clean and above average standards for a hostel i'd say... but you had to get up quick to take a warm shower otherwise you're lathering in the cold! what i guess bugged me the most is that we kept on being put in rooms where the other roomates were early-to-bed types. i'm sorry, but why would you go to bed on a friday or saturday night at 11pm when you're in barcelona? they didn't even wake up so early! although it was an interesting and experience (i kept on thinking "it could be worse!"), i would not hostel unless i absolutely had to. for real.

so after we dumped our stuff we headed to the department store nearby called el corte ingles. it's like a super mega hudson's bay. we ate, i mailed my postcards, we looked around a bit, then we headed straight to the strip called las ramblas. it's SO busy there. but the food... and the shopping!... my gosh, i really could have spent ten times longer checking out all the shoes, all the purses, all the clothes... nobody knew my shopping skills til i was let loose in las ramblas!