summer trip : DAY 07

ACROSS THE BORDER

Today was our last day in Paris. Just like the past two days, it was sunny. We checked ourselves out of the hotel at about 10.15 am. As always, we rode a metro from the nearest station, Les Gresillons. We reached the main station, Gare du Nord early at 12.00 pm. The train we booked was supposed to be leaving Paris at 2.45 pm. So we just waited and waited and waited ‘till we bore to death. I was very grateful to have brought along a novel. I already finished reading ‘Kot Putih.’ So this novel entitled ‘Home’ was my last inevitable choice.


At about 2.10 pm, we hurried to the platform announced at the board. The train was opened for passengers. The journey from Paris to Brussels took just about an hour. They are two neighboring cities. Upon arrival, we asked for the city map at the tourist centre at the main station, Gare du Midi. It was quite a relieve actually when the officer blew out English words as I kept on seeing Flemish or German, if not French words on any hanged signboards. The Belgians themselves don’t actually have their own language. The country is roughly divided into three regions based on the language spoken in each region. Majority speaks Flemish as in Dutch. Then the French while a small part of the east side of the country uses German.

There was supposed to be a shuttle to take us to the hotel. Unfortunately, we couldn’t reach the hotel’s number given. So based on the city map given, I lead the others to the hotel we were supposed to be staying through our staying in Belgium. It was quite easy actually referring to the map given. So we reached the hotel without any difficulties.

I read some review in the internet on Hotel Van Belle, the hotel we would be staying. They were mostly negative. Some even labeled the hotel as horrible. So I didn’t really expect too much from this hotel. I was thinking of an old unconvincing hotel. When we arrived on the street where the hotel is located, I had a glance on a huge hotel. But I kept on searching for maybe a smaller building which could be this Hotel Van Belle. Then one of the girls pointed on the first building I doubted before. Yeah! The name of that red building is Hotel Van Belle. The astonishment didn’t just break there. We entered the hotel and I was once again surprised with the size of the hotel which is unexpectedly huge. It has a number of public areas downstairs. I couldn’t really confirm it is lounge for it is too overfurnished for a lobby.

Oh and yeah, my room was numbered 205 while my room back in Hotel F1 in Paris was 105. That was kind of ironic isn’t it? We would’ve to pay another 5 Euros for the wireless internet service. Realizing the fact that I’ve been draining my money out of my pockets for the past few days, I rationalized not to pay the extra money for the extra facility. No matter. Breakfast was included in the bills. That sounded good. Heh. There would also be a free shuttle service from the hotel to the centre of the city. But sadly, it started at 6.00 pm and ended at 11.00 pm daily. What a waste since we planned on leaving the hotel for a walk around the town as early as 9.00 in the morning. The moment I entered my room, I flashed a room in a hotel in Vienna. I couldn’t recall the name of the hotel (I think it was Zipper or something), but it had the same design as this one. To be concluded, the hotel did just enough efforts to unexpectedly mesmerize me.



I can’t believe I wrote too detail in describing the hotel. Well, there was nothing much to be told yet. We didn’t plan anything upon arrival on this first day in Brussels. I just lied on my bed through the long evening. Prepared myself a bowl of instant noodles and a mug (a brand new one with ‘Paris’ wrote on it) of mushroom soup, I fancied myself with my lappy, finishing the daily journals through the trip.

to be continued...

summer trip : DAY 06

GLEE + FULNESS

Another sunny day but it went too hot that I felt like soaking the sunlight. Haha. No jacket, though I actually wore it at first. And here came the day of gaiety and fun! We were just as exciting as any other children going to any theme park. We were going to spend a day at Parc Asterix! Yeah! We went out quite early but were delayed by the quest to find the shuttle bus office. It was already late when we found it. The shuttle bus left at 9.00 am. And to our disappointment, we did reach the office at 9.00 am!!! So the guy at the office gave us the directions to take the train to the airport where there would be a bus station providing the service going to the Parc Asterix. The buses leave every half an hour to my remembrance. The journey from the bus station to the park just took us a while.


There are 2 main popular theme amusement parks in Paris. The most popular is definitely the Disneyland Paris (DLP). The other one is the Parc Asterix. We chose to go for Parc Asterix after some thoughts. First of all, the entrance fee is much cheaper than DLP. We didn’t have much time in Paris so Parc Asterix would be our best choice since DLP will need at least 2 days for it to be fun. Parc Asterix is less crowded. So the lines will be much shorter than in DLP. DLP has so many attractions for children while many reviews I read said Parc Asterix will satisfy the adults more.

Parc Asterix is inspired from the stories of Asterix, a cartoon show originated from France. It is especially well known for its large variety of roller coasters, and has begun incorporating rides and themes from historic cultures such as the Romans and the ancient Greeks.


Upon entering, we rushed to a steel roller coaster called Goudurix. It’s a large multi-looping coaster with 7 inversions. I nearly had my glasses fallen from the ride. Luckily I was fast enough to catch it. There are so many attractions and shows. We realized it was impossible to experience every one of them so picked them at random based on our interests.



Some other attractions we managed to experience including Oxygenarium (a large, twisting water slide with round dinghies), Transdemonium (a haunted mansion filled with special effects), la Galere (a swinging ship), Grand Splatch (a rapid river ride) and many others.




Grand Splatch forced us to get a little wet. Luckily, the day was hot so we dried easily. I wondered how it would be if I were to come in winter. Our last ride at the park was the Tonnerre de Zeus, the third longest wooden coaster in Europe. Tonnerre de Zeus means Thunder of Zeus of which we can found a large statue of Zeus holding his thunderbolt at the park. This last ride was a total blast!!! It has a 30m tall lift hill and 2 helices!!! I wasn’t expected that kind of ride actually, but again, it was a total blast!!!


We managed to perform our Zohor prayer in the park. We found a large hidden suitable area with grass carpets. This time, Danial lead our prayer while the girls and I followed. It was a satisfaction to have been performed the obligation in a group or jamaah at public area.


After that, we stopped by at the souvenirs shop. I didn’t buy anything looking at the prices. But the goods are all in very good quality. We left the park taking the bus back to the station. We took the metro and dropped by at Anvers again. The girls wanted to buy something so Danial and I just followed. Well actually I did buy some more things. Heh. We went back to the hotel and I packed my things a little for we would be leaving Paris tomorrow.

to be continued...

summer trip : DAY 05

WHOLESALE > BROKE

It was a bit of sunny day. But I still put on my jacket. Our first destination today was a little bit confusing and indistinct actually. The girls told us it was an old hospital which later became a museum. But we couldn’t find any. They said that the location is somewhere in the Île de la Cité, the centre of Paris where the medieval city was refounded. We passed through some museums and other interesting buildings. We found ourselves a hospital, Hotel-Dieu Hospital. It is nothing more than a functioning hospital, not a chance a museum. So we just took some photographs around the town. Then we left by train.



We stopped by at the Gare du Nord, the north station to claim the tickets to Brussels we bought online. It was easy. We used the ticket retrieving machine (don't really remember the machine's name) provided. Just enter the code, and then tickets will be printed by the machine. Next, we left the station and went for some shopping.


We arrived at Anvers by metro. It was indeed an exclusive day for shopping. Heh. I couldn’t help myself that I overbought souvenirs for myself and some for family and friends. By then, I recognized Paris as a place to go shopping. The prices were considerable since I found souvenirs in Austria were way more expensive. I bought things like T-shirts, a mug, key chains, a bag, a pen and a cap.


It is like a street with many souvenir shops on each side. At the end of the street, sitting on a hill is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica. It is an extremely beautiful white church. The dome it has on it makes it looks a little bit like a mosque. We didn’t go up to the church as we were already tired shopping so we just took some pictures from the hillside. We went back to our hotel with number of plastic bags.


Upon arriving, we took some time to perform our prayer then we went out again to get some food. We just went to a nearby Turkish restaurant. We could also find Pakistani’s restaurant, Halal meat stores and many other Muslim shops. The night was kept just for some rest after a day shopping. Yeah, shopping can be very tiring sometimes. Heh. Oh and today I finished Kot Putih. Luckily I brought another novel, Home by Marilynne Robinson.

to be continued...

summer trip : DAY 04

OOPS! WRONG ARC

So it was decided. This morning we were going to enjoy ourselves at the well known tower, the Eiffel. We arrived early at 9.00 am. But we had a little waiting for about an hour and a half for our booked tickets would only be valid at 10.30 am. We were lucky to have a booked ticket for each one of us to avoid the long waiting line at the ticket counter. By lift, we rode up until half of the tower. To be able to reach the uppermost part of the tower will require extra money.


The view from the half of the tower was already satisfying so we made up our mind not to pay the extra money. There was actually nothing much on the tower itself apart from enjoying a great view of Paris. I would say that there are no other skyscrapers in Paris except for the tower itself and the far away modern buildings in La Defense district. It was very windy up there.

We saw a board written ‘River Cruising.’ We followed and decided to take a ride on the boat. Cruising was really exciting. We chose to sit at the roofless part of the boat for we thought it would be more exciting. The boat took us along the river surrounding the town. We had a view of many famous buildings like the Eiffel Tower itself, the Notre Dame and many others. At one part of the river, the deejay was saying something like wishing and kissing. I think it was when the boat was between two cute bridges. No matter.

I think the cruising took us about an hour or so. We lunched at a nearby stall. I was convinced it’s Halal. So I had waffles. After that, we went back to the Eiffel Tower to take some pictures from the garden. Funny but we did enjoy taking pictures with grasses. Heh.




Then we left for Notre Dame. Notre Dame means Our Lady in French. It was a church which became a museum I think. We didn’t enter inside just to save some time and money as well. Notre Dame was once argued to be crumbled down but later being saved after a novel by Victor Hugo published. The novel ‘The Hunchback of the Notre Dame’ rebuilt the reputation of the church thus preserved it from being destroyed. It came out just when the building needed it. Ironic enough? Heh.


We met other Malaysians at the church. A large group was students from United Kingdom. Then there was an Engineering student, Azwan studying in France accompanying a friend of his. He’s under Petronas. He did give us some ideas of France and the Malaysians studying in France. He offered us to join him to go to the Great Mosque of France. But we already had other plans waited. He told us of how the Notre Dame used to be the place where the French coronation took place. We hurried back to the hotel for our Zohor prayer.

Before sunset, we set our foot out again for Arc de Triomphe. It was said that the Arc is best viewed on the night. So we took the metro to the station we thought is near enough to the Arc. Unfortunately, we confused it with the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in front of the Louvre. We had a very long walk to reach the desired Arc de Triomphe, which actually has a metro station beside it. Douh!

Arc de Triomphe is at the centre of 3 arches which together they create a great vision of the Great Axis (Grande Axe). The emperor was responsible for the first 2, placing the Arc de Triomphe directly in line with the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. Later in 1989, the trio was completed with the so-called 20th century’s Arc de Triomphe, the Grande Arche at La Defense. So we can see the two arches directly from Arc de Triomphe.

Paris was crazy that night. It was the FIFA. Cars were honking here and there. The long road was overcrowded. Even the presence of the cops couldn’t stop the crowd. I think Portugal must’ve won a match which was why they had the Portugal flags in their hand. They were like –Yeeehaaaa! Yahoooo! Yeahhhh!!! Woooohoooo!!!!- Very much like Jordan. Heh. I was little worried of the safety issue with all the crowds getting crazier and crazier.

By the time we arrived, the Arc was already closed for visitors. Quite disappointed, we took few pictures then hurried back to the nearest station. Realizing the limited time we had before we could reach our far away hotel, we decided to perform our Maghrib prayer at one of the connecting station. We did it below the stairs and escalators. That would be our second time performing our prayer at public areas.

to be continued...

summer trip : DAY 03

IT AIN'T ANY WINTER RIGHT?

The weather was weird somehow. I could rationalize the drizzling and the raining. But today, the wind blew harshly. It brought the atmosphere from our last winter in Jordan. Yeah exactly! The wind. The rain. The clouds. More distinctive, the temperature. We were freaking cold outside there. My twenty cents jacket couldn’t help much. But anyway, it could be worse. It got weirder seeing the girls acting cool without any jacket or sweater covering their freezing bodies. Don’t even bother asking about the European. Some were just wearing shirts and shorts.

Okay, our journey today started a little bit late. Well, it was because of the late night incidence. We went out at about 11.30 am and headed for La Defense. But we were trapped at one station. We couldn’t get out because the machine didn’t accept our tickets. So we asked for help from a lady inside the counter outside. We bought new tickets. It was kind of funny trapping inside, couldn’t get out.

The journey went smooth then. Just the weather, as been told before. Quite distracting, but we proceed anyway. La Defense is a major business district in Paris. Just when we came out of the underground station, we were greeted by engirdling tall and modern buildings leaded by Grande Arche in front of the exit. It is a modern city. Sophisticated and magnificent. Grande Arche is somehow considered as the 20th century of Arc de Triomphe, which is a famous monument also situated in Paris. We went around the city taking photographs here and there despite the unexpected weather.





Next in thing, we headed for Versailles, a suburb of Paris. The objective was to visit a huge palace situated there. Following the train route on the map, Versailles is the end stop of one line of the transport. There was quite a story while in the train. We were enjoying a view of a river from inside the train when suddenly the train stopped on a bridge. This had happened before. But this time, it was damn longer. Finally there was this announcement heard in French. So the girls asked one of the passengers of what actually happened.


There was an attempt for suicidal. My heart was like – WOW! A commit suicide attempt in France!! This is one hell of a scene!!! - I didn’t really get how the attempt could’ve interrupting the train access. I think the guy must’ve blocked the railway. Or he might have jumped onto the roof of the train and try to jump from the train into the river. It was chaos outside the train with cops and the workers of the train running here and there trying to calm things down. While Inside the train, the passengers were eager to see what happened outside. Everyone moved to the window hoping to get an image of the attempt. I could also see some people trying to snap pictures from their camera. WOW! Was it dramatic enough? Well quite a scene I guess. The worst part was when we realized we were actually trapped in the train couldn’t get out, late for Versailles. I think it was an hour until everything solved finally. Thank God the attempt failed. He (or was it she?) should think of a repent. Haha.


So we reached Versailles and headed straight for the palace. On our way, we once again met another scene. A building was on fire. We didn’t actually see the fire but we saw the fire engines and the dark smokes. It might have cleared when we saw it. 2 incidences in a day!!!


Versailles is not only popular with its beautiful buildings. It indeed symbolizes the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancient Regime in France. The Palace of Versailles is considered as one of the largest and prettiest palaces in the world. This is really a tourists’ hot spot. So many people. The palace itself gave us an amazing impression. The gate is golden shining. But we later decided not to enter the palace because of the price of the ticket. We thought it was not worthy.




So we just hanged around snapping some pictures from the outside. And we managed to perform our Zohor prayer at the public area. We found a spot in between the cars. It was quite an experience. Well you do know the Islamophobia thing don’t you? Anyway, I think France is better than Austria regarding this matter, though I love Austria more than Paris. Heh.

On our way back, we bought some key chains. Well quite a lot actually. I don’t really remember what we did that night. I think it was nothing. We just had some rest. And instant noodles. Huh.

to be continued...

summer trip : DAY 02

LATE NIGHT TRAIN?

Again, we overslept. I mean, just us lads. We were supposed to be meeting in the lounge at 8.15 am. We managed to get out of the hotel at about 9.15 am. It was drizzling. The weather was cold. So I had to put on my insufficient jacket. It was just like a winter in Jordan.

We reached the RER train station but the ticket counter was not opened. So we had to go to a nearby Metro station, Gabriel Peri to buy the ticket. The girls went to a nearby petrol station asking for a little guide. Fortunately, a black guy named Kamil helped us through. He brought us to the station with his own multi-purpose vehicle. I think he is an African. His long experience working at the petrol station really helped his spoken English. He even escorted us to buy the ticket. He’d been such a great help.


We arrived at the Opera Museum early. It was not opened yet. So we decided to go for a walk at La Madeleine with the help of maps. There is a church named The Madeleine Church. I think this was my second time entering a church. The first one was the great church in Vienna. I don’t really know the story behind the church but it is indeed a large church. I peeped onto a room and saw like a baptism ceremony, because I could see a priest and many children.


As planned, we later turned back for the Opera Museum. I was thrilled to have the chance of being in the Opera hall or whatever you called it. Just like in the movie. All of my travel mates already have some knowledge about the hall because they’ve read The Phantom of The Opera. I unfortunately was clueless. Just some vague ideas. But it was a great chance entering the box.


After that, we headed for the Musee de Louvre. You must’ve some idea about this museum. The place holds the honor to exhibit the portrait of Mona Lisa and many other arts like paintings and statues. The museum is unexpectedly huge. We realized it was impossible to finish all the three wings in a day. So we just went straight for the portrait of Mona Lisa. We were hoping to take a look at the Arts of Islam portion. Alas, it was closed for renovation.


We had a little quest inside this extremely huge museum. Malik had asked Danial to find a number of paintings and statues. That really was a tiring task. We found only few of them then ran out of energy. We gave up and exited the museum.


We then took a metro and stopped at a station called Place Monge. We were planning to visit the Great Mosque of Paris. Upon arrival, we didn’t linger much as we were greeted by people who at their notion knowing we were looking for the mosque. Their cordiality had been such great help. We had the chance to perform our Zohor prayer at the mosque.

It is the largest mosque in France and the third largest in Europe. Founded after the World War I, it represents the gratefulness of the French towards the Muslims for their help in battling the German. Then we dropped by at a maktabah in front of the mosque. I bought few non-alcoholic perfumes made in Paris.


After that, we rode the metro and stopped at a station which I don’t quite remember where it is. We actually went there to fill in our empty singing hungry tummy. Walked and walked, we finally found a street with Halal restaurants. I ordered sandwich Adana. Man, it was a relief though I didn’t have an idea what kind of sandwich it is. I think it must be from Turkey. Or it isn’t?

Zohor? Done. Lunch? Done. So we headed back to our hotel and went out again after Maghrib which was about 10.15pm. Summer in Europe is really interesting. Like always, days are way longer than nights. I think it’s longer than we have in Jordan.

Subuh : 3.30 am +/-
Zohor : 2.00 pm +/-
Asar : 6.10 pm +/-
Maghrib : 10.15 pm +/-
Isya’ : 12.05 am +/-

We wanted to have a night view of the most popular building standing in Paris, the Eiffel Tower. It was very magnificent. With all the lights surrounding the tower, it looked just glamorous. Just when we were about to leave the tower, the tower was suddenly illuminated with scattered glittering white lights. I looked at the time and it was 12.00 am. A flickering Eiffel! It was super cool!!!

This very beautiful night was cut short by the transport problem. The last RER train going to Les Gresillons was at 12.00 am, just when we were admiring the glittering show at the tower. Haha. So we went after the Metro to reach any station near enough to our hotel. All we could think of was the station Kamil brought us to that morning, Gabriel Peri.

Oh and we met an Indonesian on our way back. His name is Budi Faisal. I think he said he’s working in Germany or something. He just had a ride up in the Eiffel Tower that night. We talked a lot and he’s a very nice and polite guy.

The hard part was to get to the hotel. We didn’t have any map in hand as Gennevilliers is an outskirt area and I’ve got only the central Paris map. We depended on our hunches plus some vague memories from that morning. It was almost 1.30 am. I’ve started to worry about the security issue. The night was so silent. Worse, it was unexpectedly freezing cold. It was the wind.


We were very lucky to have met a couple and asked for directions. They can’t speak English so we were using the international language of all. The signs. Haha. The more compassionate scene was when they were willing to turn their way back just to guide us to the accurate direction. It was very late indeed. The night didn’t just end there. We went apart at a junction and we went clueless again though they did left us with the directions which can be easily understood if we speak French. We had no choice but to believe in what we thought we understood. Steps after steps, there it was. Our beloved hotel. Wow, that was a relief.

I was quite disappointed by myself today. I was getting better but was still sick. I didn’t help much. I couldn’t talk much. I had a partly impaired hearing and a voiceless throat. It sucked!

to be continued...

summer trip : DAY 01

JOURNEY TO THE WEST
I felt sick. I was indeed sick. Worse, I would be traveling with a handkerchief always in my hand. I lost my will to travel. My fever did indeed take away the excitement I should be feeling. I’ve got no enough strength left that day that I asked Faiz to substitute me. I even offered him to support the online payment which I’ve already paid earlier. That was quite an amount. Like hundreds. That was an irrationalized idea sparked from crossfire inside my aching head. Heh. I was too wired for anything at the moment. But then he reminded of the name on the flight ticket booked.

Argh! I got no choice. So I packed my things last minute that night. I felt guilt though since I didn’t prepare much for the visits in Belgium which agreed to be obliged on me. Accepting the fact that I’d be inevitably gone traveling for 10 days, I set my energy back. I was grateful though that I didn’t get sick during the exams.

Abu Seif is just like his brother, (he is, right?) Abu Khalil. He’s punctual. Or at least he was being one that night. Few minutes are considerably forgiven. Syamil followed us. He got his aunt coming to Jordan. From Hijazi, the multi-purpose vehicle went to Zam Zam picking up the 3 girls. Oh okay, as you prefer; akhawat.

Just after finishing the Subuh prayer, we rushed for the flight though we in fact waited another few minutes before the check-in counter opened. The flight took only an hour to Larnaca, Cyprus. It was my first time stepped my foot on the land of Cyprus. I was a little bit discomfort by the environment. The atmosphere is different from Jordan. I couldn’t see any women covering their hair. I kept asking myself, are we in Europe yet? The toilets are devoid of water. I’ve read that Cyprus is the very first country governed by Christian nobles when the Pope visited there like many years ago.

The transit area is not much. Like always, there are the duty free shops. I took quite a nap while waiting. When I woke up, I felt embarrassed of myself as I couldn’t see any other sleepers. I just couldn’t understand how people managed to just seating there for hours doing nothing. Not even reading or eating. They were just waiting. Or is it just me who sleeps anywhere? LOL


The boarding time was delayed few minutes. We left Cyprus. On the plane, I quite entertained myself with some movies provided. We also got to fill our hungry tummy with Halal foods as we requested. We reached Paris at almost 1.30 pm. The sky was cloudy. But bright. Not so hot though it was supposed to be summer. Unlike my first journey to Europe last January, the immigration affair was easy this time. We didn’t receive such irritating questions like I did before.

From the Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport, we headed for Gare du Nord, the north station. I’ve already expected the blurring we had when we arrived at the station like I did in Vienna. Heh. Luckily there were so many people trying to help us buying the metro/train tickets to Les Gresillons. That’s where our hotel is located, Gennevilliers. A suburb northwestern of Paris. Kind of an outskirt.


We stayed in Hotel F1. The concept is like a hostel with outside shared bathrooms and toilets. The hotel is great. The rent is cheap after all, quite satisfying. Each room is locked with a code rather than the stereotype keys. Heh. So we have to memorize the room specific six-numbered code given.


I wasn’t enjoying myself this first day actually. I caught a cold and sore throat. I’ve lost my voice so I let Danial do most of the talking. I coughed a lot. Headache comes and goes. Most interrupting, my ear. I felt like something was blocking and pushing my ear drum inside. The pressure hurt like hell. My hearing was partly impaired. I self-diagnosed myself as being infected by some kind of bacteria causing my flu, sore throat and this indescribable pain in my ear. I think I had a common cold which then brought me pharyngitis which then disseminated into my ear causing Otitis. I checked my ear up till the ear drum and it was clear. The problem must be something inside. It was like a puzzle. It could be Haemophilus Influenza. So much for medicine. Heh.

The plan was supposed to be river cruising. But thanks to us lads who overslept, it was canceled. I still have the guilty for that. Sorry guys. Hehe.

to be continued...