19.04.2026

A: You are back in the country. What was your first thought as you stepped upon English soil?

S: The necklace of my arms is around the throat of the enemy. I do not forget.

A: This embrace of hate should be forgotten.

S: You have not felt the pain of the Oppressed.

A: You do not know that.

S: Revenge begs for fulfillment. The gift of destruction has been given to me by The Mother with four hands. One of which is upon my head.

A: This holiday has not cured.

S: Rest is for the rest of what will come. The writing which wounds, it will be written. The time is coming, the long and brooding summer.

A: Holiday from study for more study.

S: I will show what I know. I have sworn to break the face of their law. Only I am free enough to challenge. Only I am great enough to challenge. And only my heart is big enough to win.

A: You see yourself in the ring?

S: The bloodlust is upon me.

A: You are doomed to defeat.

S: Win or lose, the fists are bared. The blood floods the body. The Tiger is crazed. The time for vengeance cries. They have dishonoured The Mother. Her eyes ask for her honour back.

I woke up to an amazing sunrise in the window at Maison Eugenie which I photographed. These memories we have, now we have the images forever. We can never lose them. It was 6 am.

I sat reading a copy of French Vogue someone had left on the metro. I will study it later to learn all the vocabulary. I was also watching French music videos. One was about an airline host stealing someone else’s woman. I downloaded a song by Miki called ‘Pik’ which will be a memory of the trip.

At half seven I checked out of the hotel and then I called on the telephone at the station for help buying tickets to Versaille.

The train journey was excellent. I had a great view of the Eiffel tower and its environs as well as the pretty architecture of the houses that was around. Travelling on a train is something I have always enjoyed. It would be great to travel all over Europe on train. The trains are great in that they also have charging points!

At Versailles first thing, I stopped at the Orangerie de Monsieur where I ordered two cakes:

Moka chocolate breakfast

Molleuse Chocolate for takeaway

The Moka chocolate was fine but the real winner was the Molleuse which I devoured at tea time after lunch. The Orangerie looked very pretty with all the cakes spread out. French food is beautiful.

The town of Versailles was also alluring and exquisite. It was a chance to see a town outside of Paris for a change. There was a charming marketplace that I sent into before I turned into the tree flanked avenue that led into the Chateau de Versailles.

The first stop was the garden. The French Visitor Experience Assistant lady had a charming conversation with me before I went in and then the adventure began with these small mazes surrounded by topiary. It was an amazing sight to see the garden with the lake spread out before me. There were so many beautiful sculptures and fountains and the fountain show was on too so there was beautiful music filling the space. I took an amazing shot of two women holding hands standing on two posts while a third woman was between them (on their phone as I had offered). A woman took some photographs of me on request at the fountain too.

My favourite space was the geometrical arrangement but also the freer garden with flowers and I also liked the charming avenues through the hedges which gave a coolness of shade. I got there early so it was quiet in the beginning but everything started filling up with people.

Lunch was a ham and cheese and salad baguette in a tasteful cream room with a high ceiling and the class of Versailles to it.

Then Versailles. It took forty five minutes lining up to get in. The magnificence was breathtaking though. There can be nothing to rival its scale and glamour. It was an immersion into an alternative universe of the super rich and the powerful. A favourite painting there was Gaston la Touche’s ‘Fete de Nuit’.

It had been three days at full speed. I was tired so took a few comfort breaks but had to walk to a station through the park for about twenty minutes. I managed to relax on the train journey which was another double decker tube!

At the Gare du Nord I got food at a Chinese restaurant near the station. It was fried rice, spicy shrimp and spicy chicken. Delicious. The shrimp were enormous and succulent, really special. The best I’ve had at a Chinese restaurant. I washed it all down with a Cherry Coke.

Back to the Gare du Nord charging my phone. Then, at the last minute, my energy having fully restored after a good rest of one and a half hours, I decided to explore the area to get to the bookshop I found on Google, the Libraire du Canal. I was rushing so much I got lost and ended up asking strangers to the station! I was five minutes late for the suggested time as a result but it was better than being stuck!

In the lounge I watched Hindi Instagram posts. Then on the train home, I made some phone calls and watched France as the sun set.

Such an energetic and full three days in Paris. I will go again. I love it! The first holiday I have booked and planned by myself in my life and it beat all expectations. I’m proud of myself with this hard won freedom, sense of adventure, independence and the organisational skills I have got for myself.

6 am wake up and then writing my travel notes from yesterday. Sleep was not bad. I expect no sleep from the foreign bed factor so I was surprised.

Breakfast at the hotel (Maison Eugenie)

– Fruit salad of apples, melon, raspberries, etc

– Two strawberry yogurts

– orange juice

– muesli, nuts and raisins

– pain au chocolate, citrus cake, marble cake

– croissant

– water

The Louvre

I arrived at 9 am and joined the line. Or at least I thought I did. A blonde lady was talking to a group I had inadvertently joined because they had themselves inadvertently joined the line. They spoke to me something which I didn’t understand and then the confusion was solved. Proving again that native speakers do not read signs.

Entry was easy. The building was beautiful and sublime, the future realised. I wandered first into the Michelangelo and Rodin exhibition with their sculptures alternating in a circle. I contrasted The Thinker with a copy of Moses. The exhibition was about energy in sculpture. They converted me. I was more into painting. Thoughts about Moses – the power of the law in his body, the monumental and larger than life – the sublimity of the law. The Thinker? The nakedness and vulnerability of thought.

Highlights and Portions Done

– Minister’s private apartments. The sheer opulence and magnificence of objets d’art.

French sculpture. 

– Eastern antiquities. One statuette had blue eyes and the curation had a statement that we all (my eyes can be blue) all descended from the same progenitor. 

– Obelisk of Manushtusu. Law and its importance, it’s relationship to conquest 

– Sumer: big man means king. But is the king a big man?

– Cyprus at the Louvre. Cross figures before Christ. These for childbirth. Showing that inventiveness always precedes us.

– The Louvre Medieval. Grey stone walls in a massive underground formation. Very impressive. The fortress of king Phillipe Auguste. Moat and keep. Really felt a piece of history.

– Polished sculptures after Praxiteles. The sheer smoothness of Ancient Greek art and its allure. I wanted to get back in the gym to weight train after seeing the ripped torsos!

– Venus de Milo. Victory of Samothrace. Mona Lisa. Amazing to see these masterpieces up close.

– My first sight of the Pyramid Louvre was in the Apollo Rotunda. A little blonde girl with burgundy dress and a little backpack put a clockwork chicken toy on the wooden seat as I looked so that is what I will associate the sight with!

– Ancient Italy

– French painting. Camille Corot – The woman with the pearl. Mysterious women locked in their own private world.

– Theodore Rousseau – Avenue of Chestnut Trees. Beautifully immersive.

– Eugene Delacroix – Young Orphan girl in the cemetery. Striking and lively.

Artworks loved 

Francois Biard – Magdalena Bay

Horace Vernet – Louise Vernet portrait

Louis Hersent – The monks of Saint Gothard

Theodore Chasseriau – The Two Sisters

Ary Scheffer – Saint Augustine and his mother

Ingres – The Bather, Turkish Bath

Marie Denise Villers – Self portrait of the artist tying her shoe

Hubert Robert – Antiquities – The Principal Monuments of France

Boucher – Diane Leaving her Bath

Elizabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun

Ancient Egypt

Martin Schongauer – Madonna of the Rose Bower

Martin Bernat – Saint Anthony tormented by demons

Verrocchio – Two Flying Angels

Gregor Erhart – Sainte Marie Madeleine

Canova Psyche Revived by Cupid’s kiss

Pierre Paul Prud’hon – The Soul Breaking the Ties that Bind her to Earth

Ary Scheffer – The Shades of Francesca da Rimini

Delacroix – Young Tiger Playing with its Mother

Jardin de Tuileries

I wandered in the gardens admiring the light and the beauty. I was surrounded by love. A Chinese couple were marrying in black wedding dress and black sunglasses while being photographed which I photographed. A young man approached a voluptuous blonde tattooed woman with a red rose to ask for her number. I ate a chocolate and caramelised almond ice cream in a terraced cafe next to a lovely green pond with green bronze statues.

The Gaston Lachaise ‘Standing Woman’ sculpture showed a striking female form.

Place de la Concorde – Vivre Ensemble. A Photo exhibition of France in statistics and facts which had some quite striking photos of groups of people.

The Smiths and Son mini museum was the next stop, a little room as a whole museum! All about W H Smith. A kind of wooden box in it and lots of photographs. Amazing. I had a conversation in French to find directions to the next bookshop where I bought all the Harry Potters in French.

Une journée au XVIIIe siècle, chronique d’un hôtel particulier

A walk back to the Musee d’arts Decoratifs where I saw the eighteenth century house exhibition. Interesting contrast to living today as someone not fantastically rich and with no employees. Lots of kids drawing the exhibits. Also looked at the jewellery exhibition in the permanent collection and the Orient Express exhibition again!

Dinner at Cafe du Louvre – Formule du jour

The young waiter who spoke English really looked after me and praised my French. A beautiful red restaurant.

Entree – French onion soup. Salty, savoury. With submerged bread and cheese. The first time in a French restaurant!

Main – Beef bourguignon, mashed potatoes. My first authentic version again. Such tender meat, so beautifully seasoned.

Dessert – chocolate mousse with Chantilly cream. Okayish. Again my first authentic French mousse.

Gourmet coffee. Very bitter! I’m not a coffee person but it was on the set menu.

Grazie Mille mocktail. The one thing I didn’t like as it had ginger in it. I got it because the waiter recommended it.

The Missing Eiffel Tower

I took a wrong turning after having spontaneouslt decided to go to the Eiffel tower and ended up in the night in a park at La Defense. On the journey back I saw some recent graduates with the hats and got a double decker tube for the first time in my life!

The night before, I spent three hours researching Paris and its attractions and creating account after account to book ticket after ticket while scrutinizing the maps and the itinerary. It was going to be an action packed outing and adventure. All of these things came down to one thing: planning.

I woke up at three o’clock in the morning and then decided to book a last ticket for somewhere on Saturday too. I walked down to the bus stop and got the N8 down. There was a rush. I had to get to King’s cross for about six. There was a feverish rush walking from Holborn to the first proper entry point into the journey but fortunately it wasn’t too cold at that ungodly time in the morning.

I met up with my companion for the first leg of the tour and we plonked ourselves down in waiting with plenty of time for the Eurostar. The ride in was uneventful apart from some slight vexations with the conveniences, or rather the people using them.

Arrival at Paris went smoothly although the lady selling the day card for metro travel was insolently rude and ignored me which was not the greatest of welcomes to the city.

Sacre Coeur

We walked up the hill towards the beautiful cathedral dodging the string artists jostling for work. That old carousel drew my attention. There was an elegance to it. The sight of Paris laid out behind us was breathtaking and we looked at it from different levels. The higher you got the better it looked. We were surrounded by the love of others in the locks signifying commitment. I wondered how many were still together. This was a place of pilgrimage and we were also pilgrims for Paris.

Eglise Saint Pierre de Montmartre

The church had incredible stained glass windows and a sublime sculpture of Christ on the cross which was larger than life. We wandered around in silence enjoying the beauty and calm.

Montmartre Artist’s square

We amused ourselves with the open air gallery. There were portrait painters galore, silhouette cutters, city chroniclers and oil painters of the nude. I enjoyed some stylish colourful depictions of the Eiffel tower and we also wandered into the enclosed art gallery. This had wonderful artworks in strips including women models in art history.

Musee d’Orsay

The building was an absolute feast for the eyes. Some masterpieces we looked at included:

Ingres ‘The Source’

Manet ‘Le dejeuner Sur l’herbe’

Van Gogh ‘Moonlit Night’

Cezanne

I had read about these masterpieces for years. It was incredible seeing them up close. My favourite part was going into the Art Nouveau gallery and admiring the posters, decorative arts and looking at the construction of the spaces.

Musee d’arts Decoratifs – 100 years of Art Deco Exposition

This was the main draw. We were super excited and we loved it. There were so many beautiful things, furniture, posters, screens, books. Each more delicious than the last. The highlights for me included the Cartier jewellery and the desks, each more lovely than the last. We traversed three levels of art deco learning about art deco animals, the figures involved and the ballet russes.

Musee d’arts Decoratifs – The New Orient Express

I’ve actually been in the house or castle of the once owner of The Orient Express. It was amazing to see the art deco updated, particularly the sleek dining lounge and the wood panels. What a beautiful ride it would make! What an opportunity to work on such a thing! An amazing creative endeavour.

Notre Dame

Time was running out as my companion had a train to catch back home but we decided to go in quickly. Fortunately the queue wasn’t so bad. We caught some music. The interior was beautiful as expected and I kept on thinking of all the good times I have had in Westminster Abbey and of how much I enjoyed reading ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’.

The last part of the day was taking my companion to the Gare du Nord to go back home and booking into my hotel and a quaint room accented in red. I got into bed at 10.45.

15.04.2026

S: The bravery of the writer vies against the bravery of this world.

A: A pronouncement that requires some unscrambling.

S: This world of cowardice believes it is a world of bravery. Because the herd can only attack in a group. Man against man they are nothing. Not when it comes to a fair fight. But the real brave one? They dare all and everything. They will have their say at any cost.

A: All costs? Even love?

S: They that dare all, they are the brave. The gambler is the one that is rewarded by fate, by destiny.

A: You say that the bravery of The Tiger vies against the bravery of the world?

S: Who can say different? In a world of strategic silence, of cowardly reticence, I am the voice, the roar of The Tiger. That is why I am the king of the jungle. I do not fear. I express the yearnings, longings and anger of the people. The world of thought, the world of sense, it is enriched by my fullness.

A: None read. None understand.

S: There is enough. The enemy reads. The lover reads. To collect one drop over time will create the ocean.

A: This bravery you are so proud of, what does it get you? What does fighting against everyone get you?

S: The right to look on the mirror. The right to boast. Only the brave are the free. Only the brave are love. And, my friend, only the brave are The Tiger. You know it. That is my recognition in this world.