Au revoir LMD Mines

I left la maison des mines (LMD Mines) on 1st September with heavy luggages and an even heavier heart. It was a place I had called home for the last 49 days and even though 49 days probably isn't a long time, I had developed a sufficient attachment to the place that it really tugged on my heart as I trudged down the corridor of level 6 one last time.

LMD Mines is situated in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, which is not too far from the city central. In fact, from LMD Mines, one can take a 45 min slow walk to the Lourve, which will take you past the Notre Dame, cross La Seine and down Rue de Rivoli which is much like the Far East Plaza of Paris but with shops lining the street. It costs 19euros a night in maison des mines for a tourist, which is not the cheapest hostel you would find in Paris (that would be like 15 euros a night, or free of charge at my place=)), but for its prime location and its tranquil surrounding, I think it was money worth spending, by MOE on my behalf...haha...

Staying in central paris means that I could spend the night out without worrying about rushing for the last train to take me home. This means that photos like those below were possible:

Taken by Tristan of the Sacre Coeur. Having taken more than 10000photos with his no-longer-in-sales Pentax camera, he has figured out how to best take night scene photos.














Tris and me in front of the Pyramid. This photo was taken with my Lumix on a tripod. Shuttle speed was set to like 2, 3 seconds...can't quite remember exactly, but the 2 of us just couldn't keep still enough and ended up appearing blurish.

The man not in the photo took this photo. Zai right? haha...but give credit to the model also lah...

The last night in Paris, Yeejia and I took a walk down from the Lourve to the Eiffel Tower. The weather was superb, the scenery was superb and the walk was superb (haha...doesn't it sound familiar, jeff, tat?) And while walking, I was telling Yeejia that I hope Yaohui could be in Paris right now, because if he was here now, he would have a better experience of this city than what he had on his Europe trip few months back. Apart from having too many tourists, too many indians selling miniatures of eiffel tower below eiffel tower, too many parisiens who insist on speaking to you in French when they jolly-well know English, and too many pee-flagranted metro stations, there's so much else about Paris that you would find it hard not to like Paris.

I used to be quite neutral about coming France to study for 2 years. I mean I would prefer to stay in Singapore where bak chor mee, rojak, kway chup, hokkien mee are available right at my door steps. However, the 49 days at LMD Mines have changed my impression of Paris. And as I walked down its corridor one last time yesterday, while I was sad to be leaving, I was also secretly glad that I had made the decision to come France.

Remembering LMD Mines:

View from the window.













View out of my door.