Paris - Day 2, Walkthrough

Salam..

Alhamdulillah, we managed to finish Day-2 of our Paris tour in one piece.. Despite the fact being disappointed several times during the day, I was still fulfilled by the achievements in the day..

Louvre - The Wait

We left the hotel early in an attempt to beat the similarly-eager tourists at the Louvre entrance.. When we got there, the shine was bright, the wind was cozy and the morning traffic was just about to pick up.. We stopped by at one of the bridges which connects the two banks of the Seine to snap a few pictures.. All of the pedestrian bridges are usually jam-packed with people, but we were lucky not much of a traffic was there so early in the morning..

We arrived at the front entrance of the Louvre - the famous home of Leonardo's Mona Lisa, the action scene of the movie The Da Vinci Code - with the big glass pyramid welcoming us.. The queue was not that long, probably just about 50 people in front of us.. We arrived around 8.00am and had pre-empted the long queue, so fifty was not bad.. And we knew the front door was to be open only at 9.00am.. Unfortunately, there was a delay in the administrations part that the opening time had to be postponed to 10.15am.. We were losing precious time! So we decided to leave the line and visit other places first, maybe come back to Louvre on Wednesday, again attempting the front line.. We also realised that the museum will be closed on Tuesday..



It was really disappointing that that happened.. I was excited to explore the three wings of the majestic building.. Our day-plan was disrupted..

And Ina was getting cranky!

So, we went off to find some other places to visit, unknowingly to us several more disappointments were waiting for us..

We arrived at the Palais Royal only to be welcomed by a construction/renovation site.. *Sigh*..

Then Ina wanted to see Galerie Vivienne, so we walked there, again only to find an empty corridor of what looked like an old bazaar.. I had to convince Ina that the lighting at the time of photography was the snatcher when we looked at the picture in the guidebook.. *Sigh, again*..

We then headed back to the compound of the Louvre, but rather to queue we walked in the Jardin de Tuileries, a beautiful and one of the oldest public garden in Paris.. It was a stroll, really, taking several pictures along the way, just to soothe the building disappointment that greeted us that morning.. We stopped at the two ponds and dove into relaxation, trying to re-arrange the day as we went along..

At the entrance of Jardin de Tuileries

We decided then to take the Siene river cruise, the Batobus, to continue our vacation.. We hopped on at Musee d'Orsay and went all the way to the Latin Quarter, hopping off at Notre Dame.. We went inside the old cathedral where Quasimodo had lived before, astonished at the lavishness of the interior.. We did not spend long in there as there was a mass going on at the time we arrived.. The long queue again stopped us from waiting in line for the tower climb..

We headed to the Conciergerie and then lunch across the river.. It was not that difficult to find a halal food shop, as we had thought before arriving in Paris.. After that, we were back to the building beside the Conciergerie, Sainte Chapelle.. The queue was long, made worse by the airport-like security checks.. By the time we got in, we did not spend time wandering around and zoomed straight to the chapel.. The two-storey lavish building was equipped with the most extravagant tainted glass collection I had seen so far..

Admiring the stained glasses of Sainte Chapelle

We passed the time there and after that continued back to Notre Dame, now in the queue for the tower tour.. At that stage, even somewhat late in the afternoon, tourists were coming by the dozens, making me wonder whether Monday was usually a holiday for Paris or was it just summer time vacation for people.. After the wait, we managed to climb the tower, and boy it was tough.. The staircase was steep and tight.. We were only allowed to enter by tens every ten minutes, to avoid the traffic.. The first level was not bad, then up to the upper level and then all the way up to the peak of the cathedral.. At that stage, Ina was gasping for breath, puffing and huffing all the way! We climbed down after just being allowed five minutes at the top..

In front of the Notre Dame of Paris

Bird feeding in front Notre Dame

We took the Batobus again and headed back to our hotel..

Day 1 was not as bad as I had painted here, but certainly the queuing was not helping and the fact that the Louvre was delayed and we subsequently postponed our planned visit to the museum made a bad start for the day..

We enjoyed being at the top of the Notre Dame, we were astonished by the greatness of architecture and art in Sainte Chapelle and Conciergerie, we had a nice walk through Jardin de Tuileries and we liked it a lot traveling on water in the Batobus.. It was not all bad at all..

We will undoubtedly keep you updated of our progress in Paris..

Salam..

Paris - Day 1, Arrival

Salam..

It is early and both of us are excited.. It is our second day of our stay in Paris.. 'Bienvenue' is what the Parisian will offer the greetings of to excited faces of tourists.. I may just summarise the first day of our stay here in this short entry..

Departure

We left our warm and cozy home and had Mate to drive us to Shannon Airport and arrived just before 12.30pm.. We had checked-in online (to spare our €40 per head charge) and had to wait just about 10 minutes before the baggage drop counter opened to drop our bags.. We then had lunch at the cafeteria upstairs.. Maybe we had planned it just nicely that after lunch we made our way to the departure gate and did not have to wait long at any stop..

Interestingly, just when we were about to board the plane (literally!), an airport groundsman asked us if the bag he was holding was one of ours.. It did look like Ina's bag, with the same padlock! We claimed that it was ours, thinking that the chances of somebody else having the same bag with the exact same lock was very unlikely.. Looking back, had we not claimed the bag, somebody might well be spending the vacation in Paris with no changing clothes! Or it would even be that way had the airport staff not taken the initiative to ask whose bag it was because there was no bag tag - it could well be left in the airport waiting for somebody to claim it! Phew..

The flight was direct and took one and a half hours and we arrived at Paris-Beauvais Airport around 5pm French time (GMT +1).. We took the prepared bus to the centre of Paris (well, not exactly) and the drive took about another hour and a half.. Myself and Ina actually did manage to catch a snooze on the bus.. As we approached Paris city centre, we saw the traffic - dense and horrible! But we had planned not to drive here (plus the fact that the French are left-hand drive) so it was less of our worries.. We arrived at Port Maillot bus terminal around 7pm..

Hotel

We tried our best to orientate ourselves in the middle of this new place but had failed so badly - mainly because the bus terminal was not even in the map of our tour book.. Port Maillot was further Northwest from the centre of Paris.. So, we took a cab and headed towards our hotel.. By the time we arrived, it was just turning 8pm.. In fairness, it was still summery bright, so we were not bothered by the lateness of the time.. We checked-in in our little 3-star hotel, Grand Hotel de Champagne.. It was close to the Louvre Museum which we will be spending our time in today.. The hotel is not as grand as we had initially thought, but I think it will be enough for resting as we are not planning to laze in the room but to wander around Paris..

Dinner

We were excruciatingly starving at this stage, so we headed out to find some decent dinner.. We walked North-bound Boulevard de Sebastopol as we were looking for the halal fried-chicken shop up this road, only to stop halfway when we saw a very busy restaurant with some Arabs there running the show.. We saw the Halal Certificate at the door and decided not to go down further to find the fried-chicken shop .. I had a whopping 'grillades mixtes' and Ina had something else (I don't even remember the name!).. They were both basically grilled meat with chips and rice and salad.. We were then entertained by two cups of Arabian tea on the house to finish.. That settled the grumbling tummy!

Strolling down Les Halles

As we made our way home, we realised two things; one - how did people say they manage to finish Paris in two days? It is big and very lively; and two - finding halal food is actually much easier than we thought.. We treated ourselves to some crepes with Nutella chocolate and walked back to our hotel.. At that stage, we were all ready to call it a day..

Lively Paris - street performers

Looking Forward To Louvre

We hope to visit the Louvre Museum today and some other places, maybe spending the sunset watching the busy Paris traffic from the top of Arc de Triomphe.. Maybe we will be able to catch a glimpse of the wrought-iron Eiffel with the lights on when the sun settles for the day, bearing in mind we are approaching the longest day of the year in two days' time..

I will keep you updated..

Salam..

The Long Silence, The Long Awaited Break..

Salam..

Ahh.. Indeed, it has been a very very long time since my last entry in this blog, and also since Ina's last entry.. In fact, it was Ina's blog was the last entry.. Well, I guess it has come to the phase where job was just too difficult to handle to allow some time for blogging.. I know, I know, blogging is usually for people to read the owner's so-called online diary/journal.. Maybe we are just not ordinary people.. Extraordinary? I don't know.. Different..

For the few who glances into this site, I am very sorry it has not been updated lately..

I thought I would just say a few words.. Next week, in fact starting today, is our long-overdue annual leave.. Now, it is just going to be a week, but trust me, it we will be spending the time somewhere very interesting, maybe even romantic!

I will keep this updated..

Salam..

A week in conclusion..

Salam..

I haven't been writing since last week.. reason - I'm back to work this week.. Much has happened since the last entry that I made.. There are wonderful memories, happy moments, sad news and mixture of events..

I'll try my best to put them all together in this entry..

Last weekend..
It was a long weekend as Monday was a public holiday.. as the weather was very nice with lots of sunshine, we decided to go to Cork.. People would ask, what would we do in Cork as Cork is a small enough city and actually we've been to all the tourists attractions in Cork.. I really don't know why.. probably it is the nearest city plus we have friends that are working in Cork.. so it would be nice to have a break & get the chance to meet up with my fellow friends..

As we have been to Jurys Cork hotel before, I decided to choose another place to stay (as my husband left it all to me to decide..).. so I chose Kingsley hotel as the price were the same but they included breakfast as well.. so,we were off to Cork on Friday evening.. when we reached Cork,my dear hubby asked me to look at the map and help him to find the direction to the hotel.. I kept searching in the map but I really couldn't fine the place.. I'm really not good with maps & directions.. after about 15mins looking at the map,I suddenly realised something & I laughed to myself.. I was reading the Dublin map!! hehehe.. even if I kept trying for the whole day,I definitely won't find the place.. and in the end Shaz found the place by himself.. hehehe.. Sorry la abang ekk.. ;)

The hotel is near the river and across the hotel there's a halal restaurant.. the room was very nice.. I love the decorations & the atmosphere in the room.. perfect for relaxation.. the bed was super comfy.. I wish that I can have a bedroom like that!

I wished I can bring home this bed;p

After resting for a while,we went out to get some dinner.. it was nearly 10.30pm & the Persian Cuisine was already closed.. so in the end we went to another restaurant..

Saturday..
Nothing much happened on Saturday.. A few of my friends went to Bantry to meet up with Rayyan.. We decided not to join as it would be a long drive (Shaz was postcall on Friday).. so we ended up strolling in the city centre.. We went to the bookstore & bought a few magazines.. I'm very interested in home design,sort of the interior-design-kind-of-stuff.. hopefully I will have the chance to decorate our own home in the future;) the weather was very nice and the city centre was quite packed with people.. there are a few street performances as well.. One that attracted me most was these 2 men arranging seashells to make a beautiful design.. the seashells were coloured with different colours.. I was so impressed as they have actually made an enourmous effort to make some money.. not just sitting around & beg..

there were actually 2 men doing this.. nice work of art..

After having a late lunch,we went back to the hotel & watched the BGT final.. & later that night,we got our dinner from the across restaurant..

Sunday..
We met a few friends & we spent time with them until late afternoon.. I haven't meet them for quite a very long time & most of them are still students.. & they're all going back to Malaysia for summer holidays.. huh,envy.. I wished I still can have the summer holidays.. student time were the best of times!

Monday..

Owh,the last day of this long weekend holiday.. I felt quite low to be honest.. knowing that my annual leave was nearly finished plus going back to Limerick, leaving the nice room & comfy bed.. huhu..

Breaksfast at Kingsley..

On that Monday,most of the streets in Cork were closed for Cork marathon.. we were escorted out of the hotel by a Garda motorbike as we were crossing the marathon track.. I was quite excited.. it is not a frequent event to be escorted by Garda/police.. felt like the guest of honour;)

You can see the marathon runners on the left side of the road..

But before heading back to Limerick,we went to Fota wildlife park just for fun.. i've been there before for a few times and I do love animals.. unfortunately we don't have lots of choices here. in Ireland.. there are Dublin zoo, Fota wildlife park & Lahich seaworld.. probably there are some more places that I don't know of..
As it was a public holiday with a very nice weather,there were a lot of visitors there.. mostly are families with small children.. and to be honest,I was more attracted to the children.. children are cute,aren't they? some are shy,some are very talkative & friendly.. some have tantrums.. I felt like pinching their cheeks;)

There was a group of people teaching how to play African Drums.. My dear husband joined the team but I refused.. prefer to be a photographer rather than a drummer;) there are children as well.. and they all looked like they really enjoyed themselves..

Enjoying themselves with the African Drums..

My dear husband trying to be friendly with the animal - failed;)

After spending about 2 hours,we headed back to Cork City.. and on our way back, we went to Ustaz Wan & k.Riza's house.. we knew them since were were students.. and we met them again accidentally on Saturday.. that was our first time visiting them in Cork and would probably be the last time as they're moving to Mallow next.. and they're planning to leave Ireland for good next January.. their apartment is in the middle of a shopping area.. we had a very nice lunch at their house (both of them are superb cook!!).. thanks to both of them.. we were nearly going to leave as they were expecting another group of guests - syuk & salwani with their newborn baby! but they persuaded us to stay.. and we ended up having dinner there as well..

It was nearly 9.15pm by the time we left Cork.. and we arrived home at about 10.30pm.. and that night we went to bed around midnight.. and Shaz were supposed to be oncall the next day..

Tuesday..
We were woken up by a phonecall at 5am.. Tok (shaz's grandfather) was admitted to the hospital & we were told that he might need an urgent surgery.. Shaz called his aunt and turned out it Tok has small AAA.. and he is stable.. Alhamdulillah.. I couldn't get back to sleep afterwards & lucky for me the day job wasn't too busy but I kept yawning the whole day.. back from work, I started preparing for my presentation for Thursday.. but lack of sleep didn't really help..

Wednesday..
It was my turn to be oncall.. and early that morning I heard the news about the missing Air France plane.. but I didn't know that the 3 irish on that plane were all doctors.. and to my surprise, one of them was working here in Limerick last year.. Dr Aisling Butler was working as a medical intern here last year.. I do know her but we weren't close.. I know she was a hardworking & dedicated doctor.. It is a big loss for all of us..
I was lucky that the call wasn't too busy.. I finished my last admission around 7.30pm & the next patient came at 5am.. and it between that time I managed to finish my presentation on monoclonal antibodies.. it was quite hard for me because I knew nothing about it!

Thursday..
As usual,we started with a dry round in clinical age assessment unit.. it is our routine to go through the new cases & the x rays and blood results first thing in the morning before going up to the wards.. of the 6 geriatrics patient that I admitted, we have 5 for ourselves.. after the dry round,I did my presentation & to my suprise, everybody seems to like it.. Prof Lyons & Dr Clinch thought it was a very good presentation.. so did the registrars.. and Prof even uploaded it in the geriatrics website.. Alhamdulillah.. I was so relieved that it was over..

Friday..
Shaz was oncall again.. he is doing the 'split weekend' call.. which meant he is oncall on friday till 12noon saturday & back to the hospital 12noon sunday till monday.. I didn't do much on Friday evening.. just lazying around.. Catherine & Mercedes held a house party but I didn't go as I don't have my favourite driver to drive for me;)

Saturday..
My dear husband came home at midday.. and later on last night we went to Majella's (the endocrinology SpReg) house.. She hosted a party - Endocrinology night out + her birthday party.. I baked an egg custard tart & brought it over to her house.. It was a nice party but we didn't stay for long as my hubby is oncall again today..

After my annual leave last week & the nice weekend we had together,I felt this week is quite tough for me.. and me and my dear hubby is taking turns doing call.. tonight I'm all alone again.. but at least this is the last weekend call for my dear hubby.. for some reason, I felt so lonely & I wish he's not oncall.. and tomorrow it's my turn to be oncall..
I can't wait for July to come;)