the paris i saw

-pic: Oscar Wilde's tomb in Pere Lachaise, and a letter to Oscar-

when i arrived in europe, my dream travelling place, the first place that i want to go and be is Paris. No, not because of its fashion of Chanel and Dior (which i can't buy anyway) or its food ( which i didn't have the chance to taste in Paris due to its expensive price and the fact that i have two kicking ass children with me who won't stay quiet or even used a spoon during the three meal course in a fine dining restaurant that would made me end up being kicked out from the restaurant, if i ever dare to venture there).

anyway, the reason why i wanted to go Paris is Pere Lachaise. Yes, the cemetery. The fact that i want to go Paris just to visit its cemetery is a proof that i am a bit of a loony, no? Hahaha. Couple of years ago, on Kompas i saw the photo essay by Oscar Motuloh featuring Pere Lachaise and i was captivated since then. I mean, it's the history of mankind there, from Chopin, Wilde to Morrison. I want to see it. The fragment of human life called death being celebrated in a grand Paris style (though it might be a bit overrated and cheesy sometimes).

so i went dragging my husband, my two little kids, and myself to Pere Lachaise. Surprisingly, my kids are cooperating much better in Pere Lachaise than in restaurants. Maybe because of its somber air that makes them quiet. and of course my daughter was amazed about the lipstick marks on Oscar Wilde's tomb.

but before that, of course i went to the usual Paris sightseeing tour. the Eiffel, the Louvre (and my daughter just absolutely loves it), the Notre Dame (and i tried so hard to recalled the Quasimodo story to my daughter), the Sacre Coeur, etc, etc. and the fact that this is my first long travel with all of member of my family made me a bit mad about preparation. i prepared like three months in advance, borrowing all the book there is about Paris, and read and rereading all the story in traveladvisor.com and in fodor.com, lonelyplanet.com, etc, made me feel that i knew Paris before i even went there.

and the fact that some of my friends (almost all) keep telling me that Parisian are rude, it gets on my nerve too. I try so hard to learn the basic French, at least the helpful sil vous plait and merci. i just hate it when people (are going to be) rude on me. so i keep in mind to be very polite (because i believe when you're being polite, the worst thing that people would do is ignoring you, they won't be rude). anyway, from the rude side, somehow i didn't find it in Paris. Everybody are just being nice. A woman allowed us to go to her apartment which quite historical because it used to be Alexander Dumas's house! On the bus (since i was carrying stroller and metro are not so friendly on stroller so we used bus instead), everyone is smiling and i got the chance to admire dogs while others got the chance to admire my son :D. so yes, Paris been good to me