Reunion Near L'Opera

Se reveiller à Paris // Waking up in Paris

I can't believe the day finally came in which I'm moving back to Europe. 

Although it's heartbreaking to leave people you love and adore behind, I can't lie: I'm happy to be coming back to a place where I am no longer a minority and where I understand the language. And I don't just mean "language" as the oral way of communication, I'm talking about that cultural way of speaking as well. 

(I sit for a minute, wondering if this makes sense. And if so, how I can prove it does.) 

Let's see... Where I am now, I know, and everyone around me knows (like some kind of unstated truth or rule, that everyone just naturally agrees on) that breakfast and coffee are a morning ritual, charm is essential and wine is sacred. People smile to each other, greet each other and are very likely to start a casual conversation with just about everyone. 

Well, just this morning (6:00am) at the airport, I was patiently waiting in line for a taxi when the man in front of me began: 

- Oh! Comme vous me semblez fatiguée! (Oh how you look so tired!)
- Mais.. ben oui.  Très fatiguée! Je viens de terminer un voyage de 12 heures! (Well, yes. Very tired! I just ended a 12 hour flight!)
- Ah bon, vous venez d'ou?(Oh really? Where did you come from?)
- De l'autre côté du monde! (From the other side of the world!)
- Naturellement, vous êtes si fatiguée! (Leaves to put his luggage inside a taxi, comes back.) Bon, alors, bonne journée! (Naturally, you're tired!... Have a nice day then!)

Know what I meaaaaan!? If you've lived in Asia for quite some time, you'll know exactly what I mean.

Here are the pictures, so far:

On the plane, decided to go part English- part French for breakfast. Sausage and eggs, bread, yogurt and a little danish pastry. Oh, and coffee. 

Already in Paris, we went to the coffee shop Les Deux Magots. It's right next to the naturally more renowned Café de Flore, but I've always liked Les Deux Magots more. Sartre and Beauvoir used to come here every day to write, did you know? Hmm.

While some had their breakfasts (naturally, it was only 9 o'clock in the morning)....

...I decided to remain in HK time and have lunch. 

Went for a half an hour walk before heading back home. 

Where I am now. 

Dying to fall asleep. 

But can't.

Grr. 

Damn you, jet lag, damn you.

Hong Kong Day Lights

Hong Kong Night Lights

With less than a week to my going back to Europe, and a bit more than a week until his birthday, we decided to spend two nights in Hong-Kong as a farewell to one of my favourite cities on the planet.

To start our evening, we decided to go to this new bar on Wyndham Street. Thank god I have an acute sense of direction (I do so don't you dare tell me otherwise, you know who you are.) because to get to this bar we had to get through a tiny little alley, without a single light in sight, go up some random stairs, until we got to this sort of medieval looking door. I found it medieval because, as soon as I confidently got ready to step inside, this man, who was somewhat of a guard, opened the door without any intention on letting us in and in a rather brute form just said: "yes, what do you want.". 

- Ahem, mister. We want to eat. Let us in, for crying out loud! 

- Did you make a reservation?

- (Did he really just ask us that?) No, we didn't but we want to eat. 

[Closes the door. Comes back after 10 seconds.]

- OK. Come in. But next time, you must make a reservation.

- Hmpf.

The place was worth the arrogance. The options on the food menu, not so much.

We were obviously still hungry, but didn't feel like staying there much longer, even though it was a pretty nice place. Soooo, we went to a Tapas restaurant! You can never go wrong with Tapas, that's a certainty. Thank god we did, the food was delicious! 

After our little aperitif mishap and our make-up dinner we headed to a very interesting (I can't really find the right adjective for this) little joint just behind Wyndham Street : SALON 10.

Oh, it was such a relief to find this little relic. The place, the people, the music... just what we needed. You walk inside and you have the impression to be entering a seventies' style submarine, along with a few odd but adorable creatures who float around with their cocktails, nonchalance and their high-heels. 

We were seated at the kitchen table. Yes, the kitchen table. No, not joking. There's a massive kitchen in the middle of the bar. Quite nice, makes the place feel even more cosy.

After a while, we spotted a man in a grey suit reading tarot cards. Minutes later, we were ourselves being told what the future held for us. He promised us a hellofa great future. 

We stayed there the entire evening and headed back home after a few good laughs, meeting some interesting people and with a pendulum in my pocket - a gift from our tarot friend.