Paris Paris Paris....when Chinese New Year meets Valentine's Day...


Paris, Paris, Paris..


The Capital City of France...
La Ville-Lumiere ....City of Lights...
City of Love...
Romantic City of the world...
And many others nicknames coined to this city ...

Who doesn't want to go there...

Well, I have to admit that this city has an everlasting magnet in attracting its admirers and wanderers, including me :D... 

Alhamdulillah I was sooo lucky to get a chance to visit Paris a few times during my internship in Brussels and while I was posted in Geneve...
Bspsk, Mama et Bo..posing in front of the Grande Dame of Paris :D

But one visit in 2010 was indeed special...

It was Feb, 14,2010 

What a celebration...

It was such a rare combination to have Valentine's day together with the Chinese New Year..and it happened in 2010 :D..

Not that we celebrated Valentine's Day nor the Chinese New Year, but we were there for photolovers trip :D...

We were lucky to witness that colorful celebration in Paris..thanks to Mas Hedi et Mba Cessy, our avid-never-run-out-of-patience photo mentors, who had arranged the trip for us..since Geneva has never had such celebration..as always..
So, off we went to Paris on the 13th of February, staying there for 2 short days only, with the aim of enjoying the Gong Xi Fat Choi ( hope it'r rightly spelled :D)..

and yeaaah, 2 extra big agendas...jumping in front of the Eifell Tower et Louvre Museum :))))....

And we did it...

Although as a big, mixed group of 15 people traveling together, there will always be 'dynamics' that we have anticipated :)))...

Starting with the tour de Montparnasse, we climbed to the 59th floor of the building to enjoy the City of Lights in full-fledge..a culinary tour to Tang Frere or the china town and our search for the lost 'klenteng' have completed our journey as well... 
Before hitting Hotel de Ville where the defile du dragon started, we managed to visit the one-and-only Eiffel Tower and fulfilled our first agenda :D....


Perhaps, Eiffel Tower is the most visited landmark in Paris..Being a hot-diggetty spot, Eiffel will always be packed with people..no matter when and what time you visit it..La Grande Dame, one of the nick names of Eiffel Tower, is indeed the center of attention....






Walking a bit further and heading to Champ de Mars, we took the opportunity to take other pictures...well, well, seems like it was a never-ending  photo session for sure..La Grande Dame from this side is equally grandeur :D...


Having fun jumping around in front of the famous tower...

waiting for Bapak et Bo....


private jumping session for Udi....


Then the trip continued to the Louvre..to again acomplish our 2nd agenda :D..

Musee du Louvre or Louvre Museum remains as my all-visit favorite ...Not only because if its world-wide legendary Mona Lisa or La Joconde in French, or  Venus of Milo, or its Dan Brown's inspired Da Vinci's Code tour, but the palace itself is tres grandeur on its own...magnificent architecture, intricately mixed with the geometric pyramids and fountains, has successfully hit the soft spot in me! The first time I visited this world most visited museum in 2004, I managed to spend 8 hours inside, truly lost in time..The second time I came here with my hubby and my mom, I stayed for 6 hours...the 3rd time I revisited this museum, it was only 3 hours :D..Never get enough of it!



with Jardin Tuileries in the back and Louvre Pyramid on the side, it surely was cozy to sit around and watch the birds








Barely made it on time, we arrived in Hotel de Ville or the City Hall right when they were about to start...














And what a celebration indeed...
Full of characters from the famous Chinese legends, soooo vivid, sooo colorful...


Getting ready for the defille....
Lady in red...




Young and old, fully or modestly dressed in characters, with or without the make-up, all lingered in front of the City Hall...




It was a huge cultural gathering not only for Chinese descents living in Paris and the surroundings, but also international spectators like us...



















They even have the purple dragon :D...



Red was obviously dominating the scene, but I managed to find one wise man (at least I thought so...) with PURPLE beard :D..

Many, many of them were beautifully dressed in fully-adorned majestic costumes from the imperial hey-day...

Queens, Princesses, Judges (they pretty much reminded me of Judge Bao, you know :D), and also vampires...


young and fresh...getting ready...

the dragon is ready , too...




Enjoying brunch ...he seemed to enjoy it soo much...




what a beard....

What do you think his role is?....




Add caption

purple beard...purple...



such a cute vampire.....

These 3 ladiees are soooo amusing :D...

let the dragon roaaarrrr....

happily parading....


Afterwards, we hit the road again and headed to les Champs- Elysses...how can we miss it after singin and rehearsing the song les CHamps-Elysses with angklung hundred times :))...

Well, quite a colorful weekend, I can say :D....

Paris, Paris, ooh Paris...



Most photos were taken by Udi, a few by me....while the family pictures were taken by Mas Hedi or Mba Cessy ..

10 comments:

  1. Such a beautiful scene
    Hopefully, I can go there too :)
    Nice pictures, make me mupeng very much wkwk

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Mba Esti...It was a perfect mixture of culture and a rare event indeed...I sincerely hope you can come and visit paris as well..there are many more beautiful objects and places to see...thanks for visiting yaaaa....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow great pictures Mak ....
    Kapan ya saya bisa ke sana .....
    Blognya keren ^__^

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thaaanks mak...I loveee pictures as well :D...insya Allah sampai, kalau diniatkan...makasih sudah mampir...blog dirimu lebih keren lagiii...

      Delete
  4. Looove your pictures. Sometimes I skip the text because of the pictures. Sorry for that xixixiiiii

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hahaha...no worries, mak...my text can be lousy sometimes :D...I know pictures speak thousands more ..hope you enjoy it..cheers, makasih dah ditengokin...

      Delete
  5. Supeeeer keren mak Blognya ..... jadi pengen around the world ....:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. makasiiiih...go go, go around the world dan nikmati segala keindahannya..thanks for blogwalking to mine :D...cheers...

      Delete
  6. aku aku aku... mau juga donk ke paris hihihiii amin..
    keren makkkk...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Iya mbaaa Nophi..ayoo ayooo ayoo...kuatkan tekad mau ke Paris, insya allah sampai yaaa...makasih udah mampir lhooo...

      Delete

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