ENGLISH
Okay, to close my story about my latest trip to Paris (before it is too out of date 
), I write this epilogue about some experiences that I had there 
So, here we go!
(1) So Many Australians
One of the few things that I noticed during my stay in Paris was that I met SO MANY Australians! Hmm, is this so important that I have to write it down now? 
Well, to me, this kind of thing is kinda “unusual”. I mean, in most of my previous trips in Europe, I rarely met any Australians. However, somehow, in this latest trip, where I traveled with my friend who now LIVES in Australia, I met a lot of Australians! 
Weird, no?? haha. Btw, most of my roommates in the hostel were Australian. Btw, there were also a lot of Americans. But I mean, I meet Americans like everywhere, so it was no surprise, haha. 
Ah, maybe September is Australians’ favorite month to travel, haha Btw, I knew they were Australian because either they told me (or they spoke and I involuntarily eavesdropped 
) that they were from Australia or from their accent. Well, talking about the accent, some small incidents happened because I (apparently) found Australian accent kinda weird. For example:
My Australian Roomate (AR): “Is this your ‘KAY’?“ *this was how I heard what he said and I was thinking: “What the hell is “KAY”??” 
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Me : “I’m sorry?“
AR : “Is this your ‘KAY’?” *pointing my roomkey*
Me : “Oh, yes, that is mine“.
huahahahaha Apparently what he meant was the key I put on my bed! haha Well, accent can be very interesting sometimes indeed . And sometimes I kinda like British accent (and also Australian to some degree) though…
(2) So HOT in Paris
So, it was very HOT in Paris! I mean, honestly, I did not expect it. During that week, it was already quite cold in the Netherlands (as usual btw ). And because it was September and Paris was not that far from the Netherlands, I assumed the weather should be similar. But I was WRONG, way way WRONG!! It was hot!
(3) French Cuisine
Anyway, forget about the weather and let us discuss this very interesting topic 
. Those who already read my chronological trilogy Paris Trip entries might notice that I did not really write anything about the food that I had in Paris. Well, I did this on purpose as I want to write about this specifically! 
Why? Well, because they were AWESOME!!!!
* Macarons
Ever since I read this entry by Arman and watched them in Masterchef Australia, I had been craving for macarons!! huahahaha Even during my summer trips to Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, I were also looking for them in bakeries or pastries hoping they would sell this confection! Well, I found one bakery in Basel which sold them but the bakery was already closed at that time (damn!). And in Vienna, actually I also found them in, guess where, : McD!! Yup, McD! Muahahaha Apparently in McCafe they had macarons and they promoted them as McCarons, hahaha I bought one (it was kinda expensive btw, 90 cents for one piece) and the taste was okay. By this time, I already knew I was going to Paris this September and I promised myself I would eat macarons when I was there (in Paris)!
FYI, macarons is a French confection and so it was reasonable for me to expect to find macarons in Paris, the capital city of French, right? haha
So, when I really was in Paris, my friend (who was also curious to try the original French macarons (as they have a lot of macarons in Australia apparently)) and I did macarons-hunting! huahaha We found this bakery in the city which sold macarons. And so we dropped by. We tried the “big” macarons, which cost us 5.6 euro each! The price was kinda shocking at first but we didn’t care, huahaha . I knew I should not play it safe (by picking “general” flavors like chocolate or vanilla) and ordered a coconut-flavored macaron. My friend even “played with fire” even more by picking a flavor that sounded very strange (I don’t remember, but it was something like the seed of a flower/fruit or something, haha ). When the macarons were served, my reaction was: “Well, surely this is larger than mini-macarons, but I would NOT say this is BIG“. You can see the picture below. And so we ate it. It was good though, but we thought 5.6 euro was very expensive for that! haha. I mean, we prefered to buy a few mini macarons with 5.6 euro than buying one “big” macaron.
In another occasion, when we had meal at that restaurant in Versailles palace, we decided to buy a box of mini macarons as our dessert (well, actually it was because we were still hungry, hahaha ). It cost us 18 euro for 10 mini macarons. Well, still, kinda expensive, but we did not really care. It was macarons in Paris anyway, haha And this time, the macarons were GREAT!! It was delicate and delicious! My favorite one was the mocca-flavored macaron as the mocca flavor was very on the spot! But I did not really like the chocolate one as it tasted pretty much like brownies, haha But still, overall, I LOVE macarons!!! I definitely want to eat more of them!
* French Cuisine
You know, France is also very famous with its cuisine. And the image that revolves around French cuisine is its elegance and glamour. And having eaten French cuisine for four nights, I can confirm that. French Cuisine was SO GOOD!!!
Well, I also think Italian cuisine is also very delicious (damn, I like all the pasta, pizza, etc that I had last year in Italy!!), but French cuisine is very different. The French focused more on quality than quantity. I think they focused a lot on techniques that when you eat the dish, we can taste that it IS expensive! Once, I had this duck thing (I forget the name, haha ), and the texture of the duck meat was so perfect!! The texture was very delicate and tender, the cuts were also perfect that every piece of meat tasted very subtle in my mouth. The taste was also good btw (it kinda reminded me of “Bebek Goreng Haji Slamet” in Indonesia though), but the texture of the meat was definitely the winner (thousand times better than the texture of “BGHS” duck meat)!! I wonder how could they make the texture to be like that!!
And that is why, there is an art of eating French cuisine. We should not eat so fast because if we do, we will still feel hungry afterwards (at least it applies to me, hahaha ). But it was kinda difficult for me though, because I am a fast eater naturally. I mean, I just cannot help it. Normally, I eat fast, haha .
There is one famous French cuisine that I had not tried though. It was escargot. And this one, I should try next time I visit France, hehe. Btw, don’t know what escargot is? Then google it!
* crêpe
Short sentence for this one. My trip to Paris made me realize that crêpe was pretty much just pancake!! hahaha
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Escalope de Veau I had in France
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Big coconut macaron, not that big honestly
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Apparently this was from Indonesia and now exhibited in Louvre, Paris
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The seller of crêpe cooking my plain crêpe
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This was the duck that I am talking about! The meat was perfectly cooked!!
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Mini macarons we had in Versailles. I loved particularly the mocca one!!
BAHASA INDONESIA
Oke, untuk menutup rangkaian cerita tentang perjalananku baru-baru ini ke Paris (sebelum terlalu basi gitu ), aku menulis epilog ini mengenai beberapa pengalaman yang aku alami disana. Jadi, mari kita mulai saja!
(1) Banyak banget orang Australia
Satu hal yang aku amati ketika aku berada di Paris adalah: ada BANYAK banget orang Australia loh! Hmm, emang penting gitu ya sampe-sampe harus aku tulis sekarang? Hahaha, ya, untuk aku, ini adalah sesuatu yang agak “nggak biasa” deh. Maksudku, di kebanyakan perjalananku di Eropa sebelumnya, aku jarang banget ketemu sama orang Australia. Namun, entah bagaimana ceritanya, di perjalanan kali ini, dimana aku jalan sama seorang teman yang sekarang TINGGAL di Australia, koq bisa gitu ya aku terus ketemu banyak orang Australia! Aneh juga kan?? haha. Btw, dan lagi, kebanyakan roommates-ku di hostel itu orang Australia loh. Btw, banyak juga sih orang Amerika. Tapi udah sering ah ketemu orang Amerika jadi nggak heran deh, haha.
Ah, mungkin bulan September memang bulan favoritnya orang Australia untuk jalan-jalan kali ya, haha Btw, aku tahu mereka dari Australia ya karena mereka ngomong (atau aku nggak sengaja nguping ) bahwa mereka dari Australia, ya atau dari aksennya gitu deh. Eh, ngomongin aksen, ada beberapa insiden kecil yang terjadi nih karena aku (ternyata) nggak terlalu familier dengan aksen Australia. Contohnya:
Roommate-ku yang dari Australia (RA): “Is this your ‘KAY’?“ *yup, aku dengernya dia ngomong kayak gini, dan aku mikir: “Apaan tuh “KAY”??” *
Saya : “I’m sorry?“
RA : “Is this your ‘KAY’?“ *sambil nunjuk kunciku*
Saya : “Oh, yes, that is mine“.
huahahahaha Ternyata maksudnya dia itu kunci (key) yang aku taruh di ranjangku! haha Yah, aksen memang kadang bisa menjadi menarik koq . Eh, dan kadang ya, aku suka loh ngedengerin orang ngomong dengan aksen Inggris (dan in a way Australia juga sih)…
(2) Di Paris PANAS
Jadi, ketika aku berada di Paris, cuacanya PANAS banget! Maksudku, jujur, nggak aku sangka-sangka nih. Soalnya, minggu ini di Belanda kan udah lumayan dingin ya (kayak biasanya sih btw, ). Dan karena udah bulan September dan Paris kan nggak jauh-jauh amat dari Belanda, aku asumsikan cuacanya mirip gitu deh. Tapi ternyata saya SALAH, SALAH banget malah!! Panas ternyata!!
(3) Masakan Prancis
Anyway, udah ah males ngomongin cuaca (lagi) dan mari kita membicarakan hal yang sangat menarik ini . Yang sudah pada baca trilogi kronologis perjalananku ke Paris mungkin menyadari bahwa aku nggak terlalu menulis dengan detail mengenai makanan yang aku makan di Paris. Yah, aku memang sengaja sih soalnya aku memang udah berniat menulis tentang ini secara khusus! Kenapa? Yah, soalnya masakan-masakannya ENAK BANGET!!!!
* Macarons
Semenjak aku membaca postingnya Arman yang ini dan melihatnya di Masterchef Australia, aku sudah pengen banget makan macarons!! huahahaha Bahkan ya, dalam perjalanan musim panasku ke Jerman, Swiss, dan Austria, aku juga sambil nyari-nyari di toko roti gitu lho berharap ada yang jual kue manis ini! Yah, aku nemu sih satu bakery di Basel yang menjualnya tapi waktu itu bakery-nya udah tutup (sial!). Dan di Vienna, sebenarnya aku menemukannya. Dimana hayoo?? Jawabannya adalah di: McD!! Yup, McD! Muahahaha Ternyata di McCafe-nya itu mereka menjual macarons dan dipromosikan dengan nama McCarons, hahaha *maksa dotcom* Aku beli satu (yang harganya menurutku lumayan mahal ya, sebijinya 90 sen gitu) dan rasanya biasa saja. Nah, pada waktu ini aku sudah merencanakan perjalanan ke Paris bulan September berikutnya dan aku berjanji pada diriku untuk makan macarons ketika berada di Paris!
FYI, macarons itu kue manis dari Prancis gitu. Makanya masuk akal dong aku berharap nemu macarons di Paris, secara Paris kan ibukotanya Prancis gitu loh, ya nggak? haha
Jadi, ketika aku berada di Paris, temanku (yang ternyata juga penasaran banget nyoba macarons Prancis di tempat asalnya (ternyata di Australia banyak yang jual macarons tuh!)) dan aku berburu macarons deh! huahaha Kami nemu satu bakery di tengah kota yang menjual macarons. Makanya kami mampir. Kami mencoba macarons “besar”, yang harganya sebijinya 5,6 euro gitu deh! Harganya lumayan bikin syok juga ya tapi nggak papa lah ya sekali-sekali, huahaha . Aku tahu aku nggak boleh bermain aman disini (maksudnya memesan yang rasa standar kayak coklat ato vanila gitu) dan akhirnya memesan macarons yang rasa kelapa. Temanku malah lebih nekad lagi dengan memesan macarons yang rasanya kedengeran aneh gitu deh (nggak ingat rasa apa, tapi kayak rasa biji dari bunga atau buah apa gitu, haha ). Ketika macarons-nya tiba, reaksiku adalah: “Ya memang lebih besar dari macarons mini sih, tapi ukuran segini ya NGGAK BESAR lah“. Bisa dilihat deh fotonya di atas. Dan kami pun memakannya. Rasanya lumayan sih, tapi kami tetap merasa 5,6 euro ya masih mahal banget lah untuk itu! haha. Maksudku, mendingan kami beli beberapa macarons mini dengan uang 5,6 euro daripada beli satu macaron “besar” ini.
Nah, di kesempatan lain, ketika kami makan di restoran di dalam Istana Versailles itu, kami memutuskan untuk membeli satu boks macarons mini sebagai pencuci mulut (sebenernya gara-gara masih laper aja sih, hahaha ). Harganya 18 euro buat seboks isi 10 macarons. Masih lumayan mahal sih ya, tapi biarlah. Kan ini macarons di Paris gitu loh, haha Dan waktu ini, macarons-nya ENAK BANGET!! Rasanya tuh lembut dan enak deh! Favoritku adalah yang rasa mocca soalnya rasa mocca-nya bener-bener pas dan nendang banget! Tapi aku nggak suka yang rasa coklat sih soalnya rasanya cuma kayak brownies biasa gitu deh, haha Tapi, tetep ya, secara keseluruhan, macarons itu ENAK banget!! Jelas aku pengen makan lagi deh!
* Masakan Prancis
Tahu dong, Prancis kan terkenal sama masakannya gitu ya. Dan image yang menyelimuti masakan Prancis itu adalah keeleganannya dan keglamorannya. Dan karena aku sudah makan masakan Prancis selama empat hari disana, aku bisa mengonfirmasinya. Masakan Prancis itu SESUATU BANGET!!! *halah*
Yah, aku juga suka banget loh sama masakan Italia (damn, aku suka semua pasta, pizza, dll yang aku makan tahun lalu di Italia nih!!), tapi masakan Prancis kan beda gitu ya. Bedanya adalah, masakan Prancis itu fokus lebih pada kualitas daripada kuantitas. Aku rasa mereka sangat fokus banget sama yang namanya teknik memasak deh. Sampai-sampai, ketika kita makan masakan itu, kita bisa merasakan bahwa makanan itu MAHAL! Di sekali waktu, aku ceritanya makan bebek gitu deh (lupa namanya apa, haha ). Nah, tekstur daging bebeknya itu sempurna banget loh!! Teksturnya itu bisa lembut dan tender banget, potongan dagingnya juga bisa pas banget jadi masing-masing urat dagingnya bisa bener-bener terasa halus di mulut. Rasanya juga enak sih (dan sedikit mengingatkanku akan “Bebek Goreng Haji Slamet” di Indonesia), tapi tekstur dagingnya itu beneran JUARA banget deh (ribuan kali lebih enak daripada tekstur daging bebeknya “BGHS” deh menurutku)!! Heran deh, koq bisa ya memasaknya seperti itu!!
Dan itulah mengapa, ada seni tersendiri dalam makan masakan Prancis. Makannya itu nggak boleh cepet-cepet, soalnya kalo enggak kita bakalan masih lapar setelahnya (setidaknya ini berlaku untukku sih, hahaha ). Tapi ini susah juga sih untuk aku praktekkan, soalnya kan aku pada dasarnya itu orang yang makannya cepat gitu deh. Gimana ya, ya sudah begitu sih. Aku kalau makan (biasanya) cepat, haha .
Ada satu masakan Prancis yang belum aku coba sih. Masakan itu adalah escargot. Dan yang satu ini, memang harus aku coba di kesempatan berikutnya ketika aku berkunjung kesana, hehe. Kalo nggak tahu escargot itu apa, tanya Google aja deh!
* crêpe
Sedikit aja ceritaku tentang ini. Perjalananku ke Paris membuatku sadar bahwa crêpe tuh sebenarnya hanya pancake aja ya!! hahaha
Yeah, same old same old. But it was good though, I made quite a good progress today I think. Btw, this DST caused me to get confused for some seconds today in my office. At 5.30 PM, when I looked outside, I was surprised that it had been getting dark as yesterday the day got dark at around 7 PM or so. Then I realized it was because of this DST, hahaha 
This is quite sad as my favorite bapao is black-pea bapao! 
Thus, that application form was still sitting nicely in my bag! Well, and so, after unpacking, I biked back to the supermarket to mail the form. Btw, as an illustration, the distance between my apartment and the centrum is around 1.5 km. Well, I had no other choice other than going back to the centrum right away at that time. According to my schedule today, I would spend the day starting from noon to like 7 PM in my campus to work on a project, then I would go home to cook and have dinner, then interneting for a while, and I would go to bed quite early as I will have an early class tomorrow morning. It means that there would be no time for me later on today to mail the letter *yes, I was busy 
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