I am not a coffee drinker. Nor a tea drinker. (Hot chocolate is my poison.)
I used to joke with my friends, when I was a graduate student, that cafés relying on my business would easily go bankrupt. I was the opposite of many other students (and non-students alike) who need their caffeine fix daily, often several times a day. There isn’t even a point for me to carry any loyalty card, because I’ll never reach the number of stamps required to get a free beverage.
Of course, coffee houses are great for short meet-ups with friends, or to get a cup of hot drinks and sit to read. Given I’m due to move to Paris soon, I should learn to ease in the café lifestyle a bit better. Perhaps it’s the romantic view that everyone have of Paris, that this is the thing to do. For sure, you’ll also be charged a premium for that sit down privileges. Do you know, most Parisian cafés easily charge 200-300% more for the cuppa at the table than serving you au comptoir (i.e. at the bar)?
Passing by the area yesterday (George’s Street Arcade is flanked by both George’s Street and Drury Street) these colourful street art caught my eyes but in the miserably wet and grey weather, the vibrancy of the colour and form is just not that quite same as today, when the sun comes out to play for a little while.
I know I have been photographing mainly the southside of Dublin city for Project 365, and am considering venturing more often across River Liffey for variations, or perhaps to go to the suburbs areas such as Howth and Dun Laoghaire. If only it would rain a little less without the wind of 50km/h… I don’t fancy getting blown off the coastal areas into the sea!
Sorry, I couldn’t help the dig.
Had this been a display of some sort, then the label below would denote the item on exhibit. Given this is a figure of a head normally associated to religious iconography, a signage of Facebook gives it a whole new meaning. (Not that this amount to much else but the possibility that the fortune teller of George’s St Arcade is trying to promote his page on Facebook.)
George’s St Arcade is a small gem of a “market”, boasting a couple of cafés, second hand bookstalls, clothes shops, knick knacks and collectibles. It also used to host my favourite gourmet food stall, selling delectable fudge, unusual ingredients (edible lavender, anyone?), pulse and lentils by weight etc but is today replaced with a sort-of stocking fetish and plastic mobile phone cover business. Not quite equivalent in exchange, as you can see. Probably also explain why I haven’t been browsing around here much in the last couple of years.
Weekend socials continue. Not that I am complaining. I’ll take all socials time with my friends as much as I can right now. Afterall, soon enough, I can’t just call them up for coffee/dinner with a mere 30 minutes notice. It’s a tricky business, to live in a different country.
Ranelagh is actually my old neighbourhood. I lived there for a good 4 years, loving the village vibe yet secure in the knowledge that I was only about 20 minutes walk away from south city centre. It is vibrant and dynamic, an area of choice of many young professionals of the city. For a short while, it even boasted a Michelin-starred restaurant, if only it was better managed. In the end, there just wasn’t enough good food to rescue the business from closing down. What a shame.
As I walked the streets of the village, I relived the memory of time past. One of my friends has just recently moved to the area and I think she would be very happy there. Had it not been for unwillingness of my previous landlady to renegotiate rent at a time when rental property prices were falling, I would have continued living there. I was happy where I was.
Free movie? Opening night of a film festival? Sure.
I nearly pulled out from attending though. The weather has turned rather foul in Dublin in the past 30 hours or so, wet and extremely windy. There have been news report of overturned vehicles and a tragic freak accident by this very spot where a fallen tree killed a woman. Flower tributes now tie along the sign.
However, the weather did improve somewhat in the evening (drizzly with occasional gusts of wind) and I made it to the IFI in Temple Bar. The film festival has been organised in conjunction with Dublin Chinese New Year Festival, but the hope is to turn it into an annual film festival. We saw Bodyguards and Assassins which was very good (if a tad bloody), and the evening was followed by a small reception.
The DCNYF Chinese Film Festival will close on 13 February with a world premiere of Blood Oath, directed by Stephen Shin and produced by Zhang Yi-Mou. The director himself will be in attendance, opening the movie and taking part in Q&A at the end. I look forward to that.
The last time I travelled through Beauvais-Tillé was back in November 2010, and like all the other times I used the airport, it was teeming with passengers, trying to make their morning flights to Milan-Bergamo, Barcelona, Rome Ciampino, Stockholm, Fez and Dublin but to name a few. (I know, it’s a bit scary that I know what flights there are purely by the frequency of my trip via this airport.)
This morning, however, was all calm and the panic queues through security were missing. Sometimes in the 3 months, a new Terminal 2 has been opened and now many European flights have been distributed to the new terminal, reducing the passenger load of Terminal 1. I must admit this is a much more pleasant travel experience.
Looking back, this airport has changed so much over the years. The first time I used it must be about 10 years ago, where the building was partition into two, one for arrival and one for departure. There was nothing else bar a small cafe, so forget about duty free shopping even. Since then, the building was extended, shops and cafes added, duty free bonus, and now a shiny new terminal. Impressive.
It’s the eve of Chinese New Year. Traditionally, family reunions/dinners are held today and downstairs, I think there’s a party somewhere, with cheesy Alan Tam music on. A number of Chinese residents (and friends) have been going in and out of the corridor where the music is blasting out loudly. I debated gate-crashing it, but as a newbie, it’s probably frowned upon to be quite that forward. Never mind, I’ll be getting my New Year dinner fix tomorrow with my friends back in Dublin.
There are 3 Chinatown areas in Paris. The largest of them is in the 13th arrondissement, mostly concentrated in around Avenue de Choisy, Avenue d’Ivry and their environs. These streets are currently lined on both sides with large greeting banners and lanterns in red, with the Chinese community flocking the major Asian supermarkets to complete their shoppings for the festivities, from food such as roast pig – yup, the entire animal – and nian gao to decorative items including New Year picture and plum blossom. There will also be a Chinese New year parade this weekend, which alas, I won’t be here to enjoy. Quel dommage.
The second Chinatown is in Belleville and it is actually a lot more diverse and multi-cultural here with a relatively high number of African ethnic groups also living here. A third and much smaller Chinatown can be found in the 3rd arrondissement, near Rue des Gravilliers. They each will also have their own parades to welcome the Year of the Rabbit.
For a complete programme to CNY celebration in Paris, check out this link (it’s in English) from the Mairie de Paris. Happy Chinese New Year!
I flew in to Paris this morning for a short 48 hours trip. As a thick layer of cloud shrouded the sky (the view during the flight was very impressive) over north of France, it was inevitably a grey and coooold day in Paris. Nonetheless, I find myself on a stroll around the Latin Quarter for a couple of hours in the evening before heading to Anne’s for dinner.
I’ve barely crossed the road from Place St Michel towards rue St André-des-Arts when this trompe-l’œil materialised before my eyes. The hues matched so beautifully, yet the painted reflection of the window revealed a season that is definitely not winter. Afterall, the trees outside are currently pretty bare. I should revisit in a few months for a follow up photo.
