We hopped on the trusty Metro line 1 to get to the Palais Royal - Musee du Louvre station.
On a side note, i got super excited on the train when i saw this kid reading Conan. A fellow Conan lover!
I went inside Virgin Megastore in Les Quatre Temps the other day and was surprised to see a 'Manga' section. All in French, of course. I didn't occur to me that people in France read manga. Shah made the observation that the French has a thing for anime. Since i came here, i've seen a couple of ads for anime movies as well. I don't need to tell you that they're all in French, right?
Anyway.
We arrived at the station and immediately searched for the direction to the ticket counter and entrance to Louvre. I was pleasantly surprised to see that we were right in Carrousel du Louvre. And i just found out that it's a mall right then too.
During Paris Fashion Week, i looked at online schedule (for fun, what else?) and noticed that some shows took place in Carrousel du Louvre, and i remember wondering what the place was as it sounded so familiar. If i had known Carrousel du Louvre was so accessible to where we lived (i didn't bother to check, typical me), i would've totally went there during Paris Fashion Week. You know, to stalk celebs.
And of course it sounds familiar, because this thing was right smack in it. Hello, Da Vinci Code!
OK, i had NO idea this thing was in a mall space. Honestly, you would've think that i would've done some research before coming to Paris. After all, one of the reasons i was so excited to come to Louvre is because of Da Vinci Code, after all. Not just to Louvre, to Paris itself! But i had no idea this upside down pyramid was here. In a MALL. I had this idea that it was in the museum. Not a mall OK. And i kept saying mall. Because i was like, whattt, there's a mall here? I was so confused, as you can tell from the way i'm writing all this nonsense. Did Dan Brown mentioned Carrousel du Louvre in the book? He must have, right? And if he did, did he say it was a mall? Hmmmmmmm. Puzzler...
Shah and i were totally agog over it. The name is La Pyramide Inversee, by the way.
My excitement at that point was nowhere near when i saw the kid reading Conan. I loved The Da Vinci Code, so it was amazing to be there and see the famous skylight.
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| Admiring it up close |
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| My supercomel Sheh |
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| That's me walking inside |
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| And that's me with the macarons. Har har |
Since we just wanted to know what the fuss was all about, Shah got me the box of 6, priced at almost 15 euro. Just try not to convert. Because it just won't. Make. Sense.
Shah thinks macarons are all dainty and "girlie", but that didn't stop him from taking the first bite. So did they live up to their hype? Well, i guess. They're alright. For their price, they'd better be... But i probably will not purchase again. There are still loads of places here that sell macarons, and i love some other pastries a lot more than that box of 6. Some would argue that Laduree does not make the best macarons, so why stick to one shop. But then again Laduree is so famous with tourists too. Besides, their shops look all glamorous and lavish, so i understand the attraction.
And it's true what loads of people said, most macarons in Malaysia are too sweet. The Laduree ones are pleasantly sweet, but then again, they're not out-of-this-world or anything. To me, at least. I do like macarons, but i guess the true macaron-lover would have a lot more nice thing to say about these adorable sweets. And Shaheera would appreciate them more than i would too, i'm sure.
The shop itself is all fancy and very nicely done. There were three women working in the shop; one at the cash register, one who's such a sweet courteous brunette and one was almost unbearably sullen. Almost snobbish, maybe. If i have to make a theory, mine is she's sick of attending to all these "silly" tourists.
Obviously there would be loads of tourists there, and a few people were taking photos. When Shah was paying for the macarons, i took out my camera to take photos, and after a few snaps, Sullen Lady looked at me with that extra-annoyed expression she's had since we walked into the shop and sullenly announced, "No photos". I was like, "Oh, no photos? OK. Sorry". You know, very nicely, because i'm a nice person. But inside i was like, hello lady, tak payah eksyen OK, bukan ada sign "No Photos Allowed" pun. If there were one obviously you wouldn't have tourists doing what you don't want them to do.
Even if there were a sign, serious tak nampak. So out of respect, i'm not going to put up any photos of the inside of the shop. Even if the lady was kind of rude.
Shah was like, "No photos? Ye ke? Tapi i nak ambik gambar pyramid tu dari dalam Laduree jugak" which he totally did (i had already ran out of the store, in case Sullen Lady saw me with Shah and got the idea that i tak reti bahasa or something). Then the cashier lady told him (nicely, though) "No photos". But he got the photo anyway, nyeh nyeh. Which i'm also not going to put up here.
So, it was a Sunday, and we actually got to Louvre reeeaaally late, so the ticket counter was already closed. We just decided to stick around and have a look around. There weren't many people, so it was the perfect time to take some jakun touristy photos.
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| Shah checking out some leaflets |
This glass pyramid was built at the entrance of the main court and was inaugurated in 1988. La Pyramide Inversee was then built as the second phase for Louvre, completing in 1993 (thanks Wiki!).
We just went around, enjoying the sights, climbing up the spiralling staircase, and before we knew it, it was night time.
I have no clue as to what this...monument?...is. It's certainly nice to look at though. And really tall.
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| That's Shah there |
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| Shah and i in front of the main court entrance |
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| Comelnyaaa dia |
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| Another pyramid; there are 3 or maybe 4 of this smaller one around the main one. Obvs i didn't bother to count |
I just loveee how Paris is full of beautiful buildings. They're probably nondescript to Parisians, and they're probably just random shops and apartments, but look at how cute they all are!
Does anyone know what this place is? We stumbled upon it on our way back to the station. Loads of people were standing on top of the funny-looking cyclinders and taking photos.
So we did too, har har! Don't those cylinders remind you of Beetlejuice?
Until next!
xxoo