Au revoir Paris

Sorry for the very slow update on my short vacation., but fret not as I will bore you with details of sesi Mari Bersiar2 Di Kota Paris finale.

The one thing that I had wanted to do in Paris (other than follow the DVC trail) is to sit at a cafe, overlooking Champs Elysees. In fact because I know where I am in the society, read:not the elite bunch,sitting at any cafe overlooking Eiffel Tower would have satisfied me. I didn't get the chance to because on the evening my mom agreed to accompany me on my mission, it rained. It poured and we had to take shelter in the nearby Intermarche. I was quite dissapointed actually because I had the song in my mind and on the phone. The saxophone blowing.

Argh, Autumn in Paris. What a lovely sight it was. Anyway back to my last day in Paris.

We left Simplon at about 11 after the agent paid my €300 deposit. I had circled Sacre Cour as the final visit on the map, but upon my Dad's suggestion, we visited Paris mosque instead. I must say that was one good decision, because I've never visited any mosques in Europe (except Dublin mosque of course) plus we would have visited enough churches already.
For far we spotted the moon and the star, which is the symbol for Islam. There are a lot of Muslims in France because of the French Algerians. And that is why I think there is a huge mosque in Paris.

When in doubt, we trust wikipedia, and it says that the French made Algeria an integral part of France, a status that would end only with the collapse of the Fourth Republic in 1958. Tens of thousands of settlers from France, Spain, Italy, and Malta moved in to farm the Algerian coastal plain and occupied significant parts of Algeria's cities.

These settlers benefited from the French government's confiscation of communal land, and the application of modern agricultural techniques that increased the amount of arable land.^[32] Algeria's social fabric suffered during the occupation: literacy plummeted,^[33] while land development uprooted much of the population.

Starting from the end of the 19th century, people of European descent in Algeria (or natives like Spanish people in Oran), as well as the native Algerian Jews (typically Sephardic in origin), became full French citizens. After Algeria's 1962 independence, they were called Pieds-Noirs; ("Pieds Noirs" meaning "black feet", referring to the black shoes the Europeans wore on their feet). In contrast, the vast majority of Muslim Algerians (even veterans of the French army) received neither French citizenship nor the right to vote.^[34]

Assalamualaikum!

Fortunately I had brought along my pashmina, or I could not have entered the prayer hall. Alhamdulillah we managed to perform the 2 rakat sunnah prayers in the mosque. There were a few other Muslim praying as well at that time. Few of the females were staring at my mom's telekung that I borrowed and apparently they asked my mom about it. We would have donated it to the mosque, but unfortunately that's the only telekung we had for our vacation.

The one thing that I observed while living abroad and also travelling is that we Malaysians are very strict when it comes to the ablution. During winter times when it's a hassle to take off your winter clothing and boots, we do not have to take our jackets off or roll our sleeves. If you had taken your ablution before leaving the house, even if you fart(like I always do! heh), you can just wash your hands and then repeat the act you would normally do during ablution. You don't have to let your skin touch the cold water. Orang melayu kata ikut syarat. You don't have to wash your feet even, just dab the water around your shoes or your socks. Sorry if I am wrong, but the Muslims from other countries seem to be doing it that way. Again sorry if I am wrong, but I also read it in the Internet.

Anyway, the Mosque is also open to Non-Muslims and a donation of €2 is very welcome. While waiting for my mom to finish her prayers, my Dad and I talked a French Algerian man, who is doing his internship in Paris.Ha kawan2 still young,ada rupa cam Zidane sikit. He was praising Malaysia and its people. Do you guys know how famous Malaysia is among the Muslims around the world? So please be proud of your country!!

We then had some pasta in a box for lunch before heading to the bus station to get to the airport. Overall, I had a good time in Paris and enjoyed the language very much. Given the chance, I would study French just to sound cool. Hehe.