Sunday, August 28, 2005

Out-of-Place... like a Tourist

I saw an old dusty pink one in between the cobblestones of Intramuros as I walked to the entrance of the Ilustrado restaurant. Weird. Again, it was nice to see a paperclip in odd places. I tugged on Carlo's sleeve: "See?! I really see them everywhere!" (I show people the paperclips I see as much as possible just so I have witnesses.) It was really out-of-place.

Kind of like a tourist. Carlo and I were like tourists for the afternoon. I had to check out Intramuros for an upcoming visit of one of our big bosses. Ilustrado is a nice old restaurant in the middle of the Walled City of Manila. Old world charm. Cobblestones. Old staircases that creek. Musty hallways. Dark walls and floors and calesa wheel chandeliers. Sampaguita ice cream and kesong puti pandesal and hot chocolate.We walked to Barbara's (too bad it was closed) and Patio Victoria (perfect for those frilly/cheesy weddings and debuts!). A stone well. A stone fountain. Old houses with capiz windows. I also finally got to go inside the San Agustin Church. It was timely because it's St. Augustine's Feast Day today. It was good to be a tourist in my own country, even for an afternoon.

I passed by Fort Santiago, the National Museum, Luneta, the Manila Cathedral, Baywalk, the dungeon-turned-Starbucks, the streets of Malate. I'll need to schedule more time to be a tourist. Manila has a lot to offer... if only we take the time to appreciate what we have.

I know wherever I go, I'll see paperclips there. And maybe I won't feel so out-of-place.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Last Friday, I was hanging out with my coworkers outside our office when four stainless paperclips were staring up at me, as if they were saying, "Please tell 'Ki that you saw us so you can talk about us on her blog." Yep. There they were aligned like stars in the sky. What's weird about it was that I picked all four 'clips and gave it to our subscription lady, Lori, who happens to use lots of paperclips daily. Interesting day for those paperclips of four...

CloudWoman said...

That's so cool! Thanks for thinking of me... and for picking them up! Imagine what adventures they'll start with Lori!