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.
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| I was impressed by the position of the second left statue on the upper shelf. Not so common! |
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| I wonder if the colors are original. They are still so bright after 3000 years... |
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| There was a good collection of feet in Louvre. Haha! |
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| In my opinion one of the best art works of Louvre is the building itself. So amazing details! |
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| 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.
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| Our Korean dinner. 12€ together when it normally is double to that. |
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| These we collected from a Chinese restaurant 1,5 km away from our home. The price: only 8€ including it all! Usually 24€. |
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| 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.
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