Finding the dustbin

After eating our galette, a speciality dessert of Perouge(a medieval city in France), we wanted to find a dustbin to throw our paper bags from the dessert. We kept finding till we arrived at the entrance of the cemetery. We still could not find it. Since, we are already at the entrance of the cemetery, Tai Qin and I decided to go in to the cemetery for a walk.

It was quite interesting, it was actually the first time I ever went into a cemetery. In the cemetery, there were various graves: some families buried together, some buried alone, some graves had flowers, others had withering flowers, some even have no flowers at all. Some graves were remembered, visited, some had been abandoned, forgotten. Some other graves have the French flag as a symbol of their contribution to the war, some had fire fighters plates, one had a beautiful poem, others had faded words. Some died at a ripe age of 83, some died young even as young as 8.

Each stone had a story to tell, for each one had lived on earth, had interacted with other people and surely in one way influenced other people. What was the story? What will it be for those who are still living?

After walking through once, we returned to the entrance of the cemetery and voila! It was there! We had found the dustbin. It has been always there at the entrance of the cemetery. It is just that we did not notice it. It is only after having our perspective changed, that we suddenly realized its presence.

So I guess life is somewhat similar. We often never realised the things that we are looking for are just right in front of us, staring into our faces. Probably after reflection and comtemplation of other people's life, and having our perspective changed, we only can find it.

Weekend Cycling

Lately, there is this craze among the 'Singaporeans' here in Lyon about cycling. The case is simple: A bicycle renting company, known as 'Velo' rents bicycles at automated machines all around Lyon. The charges are 1€ per hour and 2€ for the 2nd hour. But for the first 30minutes, its FREE!!!

So, the deal is - we can cycle to anywhere within 30 minutes and park the bicycles at the nearest station, we could save 1,60€ on trams and metros. If the given destination is too far, we have to park our bicycles and wait for 10 minutes before renting out another bicycle.

A huge Velo station near Part-Dieu

So we cycled in the rain to the Musee Des Beaux Arts. Of course, being cam whores, we did what we must do - take pictures!!

Hamon taking Kartik's picture in front of the Plate 'Musee Des Beaux Arts'

Me trying to imitate the sculpture in the museum courtyard

We had our personal tour guide, Yoke Hian, who took 3 semesters worth of Arts History to guide us through the renaisance paintings to baroque era and then romantic era, surrealism, impressionism and finally the modern 20th century art.

Some of the pictures were huge...as illustrated above

After that, we cycled to the cinema to watch an American movie with a french title and subbed french subtitles. Great way to learn French

After the show, it was snowing!!! Yeah!

Captured in snow...

A free day at Louvre!!

Last Sunday, the entrance for le Musee du Louvre was free. Being an opportunist, I went to Paris a day earlier than planned just to coincide with that day. After traveling for 2 hours and a half, I reached Louvre.


Notice the inverted pyramid has rainbows in it just like multiple prisms. Notice also the crowd.

This is the Grand entrance of Louvre. The famous pyramid. This is were I ate my lunch also.

Do not get me wrong, the subject here in this picture is not the Mona Lisa. It is the people scrambling to take a picture of the Mona Lisa. Being the most valuable painting here, it was guarded by 2 guards behind a bullet proof glass and partitioned by wooden barriers to prevent people from getting too near.


More people trying to take the picture of the Mona Lisa...

Yes, the subject of my pictures are the people. The big museum was crowded, crowded and more crowded. I didn't finish even one section of Louvre for my whole afternoon. When my friends said they gone through Louvre in 3 hours, I couldn't believe it...

Haha...anyways, it was a good experience. Although the place was extremely crowded (and I saw so many Asians... Is this Paris or is this like Asia?) I think everyone had the same idea of visiting the Louvre-when it is free.

Une Manif !

'Un grève', 'une manifestation', 'une manif' means strike, or a protest. If you haven't experience any of these, you have not experienced France.

There was a strike today (again!), the trams and the metro is not working. So, while I was walking, I saw this big group of people. Someone was making a speech.

After that, a group of people started marching towards the main road. Haha...

There was one classmate who can't make it to school because of the strike. The other canteen in the school also closed down, resulting in longer queues and much less food. Even dinner today was dismal compared to the other days.

Snow at Lyon

It snowed in Lyon. Although it was just a bit, it was a new experience for me. Here are some random pictures as I begin my first week in Lyon.

Me and Kartik

Me and Teijo outside "Les Humanités" - where we have french lessons

a frozen water cooler

Me and Elvin in front of some random building

My camera captured snow. I didn't even realise it was snowing then....

C'est ma résidence en Lyon

I was so anxious to get to my campus that I didn't want to take any photos on the way. Since coming here, I have to strain my ears more than usual to pick out words that I actually understand. So thankfully, I've managed to check in with the university and settle down.

When I got the room, I was so excited about it. Here's a glimpse of it:bed

desk

fridge with kitchen stove

shower

and private bathroom..

more compartments

door

wardrobe

The room was so big that it needed 2 heaters. It has lan cables and tv cables and a phone. Actually it is meant for 2 persons. but my other roomie hasn't check in yet. So, I'll continue enjoying the room till he comes...haha..

Floating around...

Suddenly, the holidays are coming to an end. And after reflecting, I haven't done anything at all during this break. Time is wasted.

It feels like I'm just floating aimlessly. No target to achieve. No interest in things. Just continuous existence.