Catacombs & Vietnamese New Year's party

I had a visitor after a longer time! Our couch was tested for several nights sleeping for the first time since we moved to our small apartment in Gentilly. And it was very cheerful for me and H also to have other company - not because we would be bored with each other but because we also go more actively everywhere when there are others, too. And we have a good excuse to go to some of our favorite restaurants! It has become almost a tradition already that we take our guests to the best Vietnamese restaurant, Phở số 1, where I order bò bún 80% of the times we go there. It is just so good! And for the dessert we had to let our guest taste bubble tea. I am so into it, too, as it is both yummy and funny!

Since H visited the catacombs of Paris already before I moved to France, I have tried to go there with my friends. The last two times when I went there, I failed to enter because of a long line and because it was closed for an unknown reason. The third time tells the truth, as we say in Finland. With the third try I finally was able to go and visit these tunnels that are famous for holding the remains of six million people. Both I and my guest had to admit that there were so many skulls and femurs that one kind of didn't see them anymore. Walking for hundreds of meters through a tunnel that holds piles of bones on each side was not that scary after all - and that is because you don't even realize how many people six million actually is! It is like burying the whole population of Finland there!

At first it was a bit creepy inside the ossuary.

The skeletons were brought to the catacombs from
different grave yards.

They had piled the skulls and other bones in decorative forms, too.

Narrow tunnels leading the visitors
towards the skeleton area.

A monument for the revolution
fights in 1788.

Jardin Notre Dame restaurant at the center of Paris. You can enjoy
a 3-dish meal here with 16€ and a view to the Notre Dame cathedral.

The central police station at Ile de la Cite island.

The new year of the lunar calendar was a couple of weeks ago but different groups have celebrated it here for the past month with different events. Last Sunday there was a Vietnamese celebration in Massy, about 10km South from Paris. The event was held in the Massy opera house and they offered some music, karaoke, shopping possibilities for Vietnamese stuff (mainly food, books and accessories) and a big show for which we had bought the tickets beforehand. The "Tet" show was built wisely having a story inside which they could always perform some dance numbers and smaller stories etc. In the main plot there was a Vietnamese boy who had lived his life in France and his dead grandmother appeared to him telling stories from her youth or the boy's childhood. We heard and saw two traditional Vietnamese storytales, one of which resembled the story of Cinderella and the other one told about a small boy who ate a lot in order to get big enough to join the army and defend his land against the intruders. Even though we liked the show (despite the fact that both I and our guest had difficulties understanding all the French and Vietnamese), we decided to leave during the break. The two-hour show we sat there was only the first half of the whole spectacle. In the evening we wanted to eat well so we headed to the Asian district, to have hot pot and grilling at Au village de Choisy. Having at least 3 people, you can choose both cooking options for free. And we boiled and grilled lots of beef, pork, chicken, fish, salad, mushrooms, lotus roots etc.

An áo dài fashion show.

Hot pot and grilling.
One of our favorite restaurants.

This week and next week are the winter vacation of the schools in Paris area. Therefore I also work a little bit differently compared to my usual working hours. I took care of the 3-year-old for Monday and Tuesday from the noon and picked the little sister from the day care, as we always do. From yesterday on the brother spends time with the grandparents and I am in charge only of the 1-year-old. But for this week the parents also come home a bit later so I have put the girl to bed and waited for the parents either with or without the boy. I have quite short days now that I will pick up the smaller one after 6 pm and stay for ~2,5 hours but coming home late makes me still very tired. I am happy they don't need me today at all so I can have one day of rest and go to bed early. Tomorrow morning I have to get up for my Vietnamese lesson.

Louvre visit #4 and TooGoodToGo

Louvre's middle wing

Today is the first Sunday of the month so many museums are open for free in Paris. Louvre is an exception to this since it tends to offer a free visit in the evening of the first Saturday of each month. Even though I have been there already 3 times before in my life - once as a kid, once with H and once with my friend visiting me here - we thought of using this opportunity because I hadn't gone it all through yet. It is so huge that I might even go there once more after this fourth visit, as well. The entrance was free from 6 pm and unfortunately we didn't make it there to be on spot a bit beforehand. Consequently, we needed to join the line that was first squirming in front of the pyramid and after that continued through the big yard. It took one hour and ten minutes for us to get inside but luckily the rain never got too heavy (unlike my hunger). We thought of checking the middle wing but at least half of was closed. However, it still took us two hours to go through even the part that was open, so no big disappointments.

The middle wing is filled with art from the ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece, so we found it very interesting. The statues, hieroglyphs and bowls are nice to admire while we are a little bored of just paintings at the moment. I didn't even mind that I had seen part of them already with my friend last year.

I was impressed by the position of the second left statue on
the upper shelf. Not so common!

I wonder if the colors are original. They are still so bright
after 3000 years...

There was a good collection of
feet in Louvre. Haha!

In my opinion one of the best art works of
Louvre is the building itself. So amazing details!

A ceiling painting

TooGoodToGo

After leaving Louvre around 9.30 pm we navigated towards a Korean restaurant where we had a "reservation" for take-aways. I was recommended an application called TooGoodToGo which allows you to buy food from restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores etc. that would throw that food away at the end of the day. So instead of throwing away food that is getting old but is still consumable, the stores sell it very cheaply to people who have patience to wait until it gets close to the store's closing time. This Korean restaurant for example offers the time range 10.10-10.30pm to come and take your servations that have to be done (since each store have only limited amount of give-away boxes and bags). One thing you have to know about this app is that you cannot choose what you will have. Each place gives a surprise box/bag that includes whatever they would have put to waste otherwise. By now, I have collected a surprise package three times: two times from a restaurant and once from a grocery store. Tonight I will go and get left-over bread, cookies, cakes or such from a bakery.

Our Korean dinner.
12€ together when it normally is double to that.

These we collected from a Chinese restaurant 1,5 km away from
our home. The price: only 8€ including it all! Usually 24€.

A 4-euro surprise bag from a grocery store Franprix. Four cheeses was a way
too much for us, I don't even like it. And it all expired at latest on the following day.

Chinese new year of the mouse

Having a Vietnamese husband, the Chinese new year - or lunar new year - has a bigger role in my life than before. The lunar new year is in Vietnam like Christmas is in the Western countries: everyone is off and families get together to eat and spend time with each other. It is also because of H that I nowadays know which animal's year it always is. Or maybe living nearby the Asian district of Paris also helps with that since many places sell stuff with the theme of the animal of the year...

Our celebrating was very small this year. We didn't do anything special on the new year's eve January 24th (except that H didn't go to work) but on the following Sunday we decided to go to the center to see the new year's parade that was supposed to start at Place de la Republic, a famous square in Paris. We were only 10 minutes late from that but there was absolutely no sign of any parade there. Instead the square was filled with music and people waving Algerian flags. Seemingly the parade was cancelled due to the fear of corona virus. Well, at least we had planned making nem, Vietnamese spring rolls, in the evening with a couple of H's Vietnamese friends who had not gone to Vietnam for the new year either. (H didn't go to Vietnam now because we have a common trip to go there in March. We are going to have a little celebration for our marriage also there. Having a foreign spouse can give you a double party!)

The end of the strike!

I am so happy to say that the horrible strike of the public transport has been over for a couple of weeks! (Okay, there was another big strike day last week's Friday, but luckily I didn't need to work on that day.) I don't need to cycle to the other side of Paris anymore, unless if I want to. And now that the weather is more like spring time already (today the temperature reached up to 16), I might use more the bike that I haven't yet returned to the grandparents of my employer family.