[not to be read with parisienne walkways in the background. sorry, you fans of gary moore.]

i’ve always been a fan of lat. as a kid i would read his cartoons illustrating his trips to london (his depiction of the old bryanston square malaysia hall was spot on!) and NYC (remember roots?). and how can i forget his cartoon on paris – especially of him asking for the time at the eiffel tower only to have the woman reply, “i am sorry, we don’t speak french. we’re from abroad.”.

and here i am in the same city, seeing many aspects of paris described by lat in his cartoons. i have made several observations ever since i arrived at gare du nord:

1. everyone seems to smoke. exiting the m̩tro, hisap rokok. waiting for the taxi, hisap rokok. and beautiful parisian women with their cigarettes Рashtray pun ashtray lah.
2. parisians are courteous. i don’t know about other people’s experience in this city, but so far, i’ve not been treated badly (not that i was expecting to be). when i was taking the métro from franklin roosevelt, a woman was kind enough to tell me my satchel’s zipper was open. the only thing i picked up was the word ouvert (open), and she proceeded to zip it up for me as the métro was chock-a. i would’t expect this in londres, i’ve to say. she wasn’t a pickpocket – she did this in view of the passengers around me.
3. orang inggeris memang tak menunjukkan usaha untuk bertutur dalam bahasa perancis. i noticed this at today’s conference and at the restaurant during dinner. the waitress would greet the patron nicely with a bon soir and the order was given in english, without the courtesy of a “parlais vous anglais?”. i took french at school a long time ago and my french is ever so rusty and basic (limited to selamat pagi/petang, terima kasih and saya mahu [insert noun]), but like what people say, you definitely get brownie points in speaking the language. i’ve been here three days and i can count on one hand how many times i spoke english with a local – tak de masalah pun.
4. when they dress smartly, parisians are the most sartorially exquisite people i’ve ever seen. you’ve seen fashion ads in magazines like arena and vogue, right? itu macam oo.
5. the most important observation of all – the women look sophisticated, which makes them easily sexy without effort. common sight i see every day without fail – sleek winter coat, long boots and rambut like this. toleh kepala je, garenti cun. *phwoooargh*

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for the second time, i was at musée du louvre this evening. yesterday, all my shots at the louvre were wiped out. macam sial. today’s visit was brief, revisiting the bits where i took the photos. i still think i couldn’t recreate the moments i captured – the hoard of japanese kids and their keitai, the couple standing behind canova’s psyche revived by cupid’s kiss and venus de milo’s butt crack.

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paris photos are on my flickr – the link’s on the sidebar.

tomorrow, the latin quarter, le pont neuf (the photos i took of it in the rain disappeared too) and notre dame beckons.