PARIS TRIP

My uncle from Malaysia has a business trip in Europe, including Paris. It was a good time for us to meet. This means another holiday in Paris for Anna and I.

At first Anna didn’t want to go, because this visit was between my uncle and I. As a wonderful boyfriend, I forced her to come. Well actually, I convinced her to not leave me alone on my way to and from Paris. And what fun is it to stay at a hotel without your lover?

It’s a ‘two day one night’ trip — despite our final exams coming up the next week. Quickly we planned the hotel and transportation. This time we travelled by bus — Ouibus to be exact.

The day starts at 5AM, surprisingly Anna wakes up first while I was still knocked out. We prepare sandwiches first thing in the morning, eat our breakfast, shower, pack up and go! The bus is at 7AM.

It takes 4 hours to go to Paris. The closer we reach Paris the more excited we are. One hour before arriving, there’s a small stop. As usual I took some hot chocolate, Anna prefers cappuccino. We smoked a cigarette and took off again.

Finally, we are in Paris again.

We checked in the hotel, rested. We were supposed to eat Pho together but time was short. So we decided instead to eat our handmaid sandwiches while watching french television. Our favourite activity.

It’s time to meet my uncle. We met at his hotel, of course with me getting lost in the streets first. It feels weird talking in Malay after a long time, it feels like home. He invited me to have lunch with him and passed me some goodies from Malaysia. I was very thankful. I invited him to coffee at McDonald’s. We talked and exchanged our goodbyes.

I wonder what Anna’s doing in the meantime. Turns out she finished watching TV and head-off to Forever 21 to get her ‘dream’ clothes. She asked for us to meet there. So I took the metro, reached the store and found her. But before saying hi to my Anna, secretly I was admiring her. It’s not always when she shines so brightly. Maybe it’s what Paris does to her.

The first thing we did together was finding a Starbucks. We got lost again. You know, getting lost in the streets of Paris is a cool experience. You get to see Parisian life on their terraces, luxury boutiques you never imagined, also random people with the way they dress and walk.

After a long day, it’s time for dinner, our favorite Vietnamese restaurant in France, to eat Pho! We walked back like fat cats to the hotel room. The night ended with watching tv with Anna while recharging for tomorrow. Magic moments like this make me work hard and save money for holidays.

The next day is here. We woke up, took a nice shower, checked out of the hotel and head out to the Champs-Elysées for breakfast.

Anna ordered a ‘Salted Toffee Macadamia Latte’ with a cheese cake, while I got a personalised Latte with a ‘pain au chocolat’ at Starbucks.

We visited the most beautiful avenue in the world, and we talked until we reached a Korean restaurant for lunch. The food was so good we barely spoke to each other, admiring the food. It was so worth it to spend 4 hours on a bus just to come here.

The highlight of this day was our visit to the Louvre museum. It’s our second time, so we skipped the paintings and head directly to the Antique Egypt section. We learned about our ancestors, history, how they made incredible stuff out of nothing, can you imagine? Every carving on the stones, how they can still communicate with us thousand years later, every sculpture looks just impossible to make. Also you have to take a look at a real mummy, the way they fold the body and especially the face intrigues me.

There’s so many things to discover and time passes really fast, we had to go back if do not want to miss the bus to Rennes.

This Paris trip was an amazing experience. It got us to know more about the capital, so much we realise that Rennes is in fact a small city. But we’re proud to live here. Paris is a place to visit, Rennes is a place to live.