Europe Trip (Paris #2)

3rd April 2011
It was Sunday. It was also my dad's birthday!

In the morning, we planned to visit 2 morning markets we saw over in the internet. The very reason why my mum booked this particular hotel. We wanted to know the lifestyle of the people in France. When we stepped out from our hotel, we were surprised to find that right in front of it was a huge market! What a waste of time thinking on how to go to the other markets when it was in front of the hotel all the while! The morning market was really interesting. Really really interesting!

 

 

There were a wide variety of things sold there. There were the normal ones and there were also some stalls I don't see in Malaysia like cheese, wine, honey, second-hand French books, oysters, chocolates, olives etc. Lots of food stalls too!

 

Chocolates!



Bakery!

Potatoes!

Fish!

Not sure what are these!

Oysters and others!

Bread!

Wine!

Olives!

Roasted chickens!

Honey and soap! <3

Cheese!



Avocados!

Entered a nearby grocery shop. I love the way the fruits were displayed.
Somehow they look prettier.

In the end, one of the things that we bought was a box of strawberries as they were so cheap and huge! I ate till I think I could stand not eating any for the next 5 years!




2kg for only £5 (RM 26.96). Humungous and sweet!

Our next destination was the famous Louvre Museum! We took Metro to the Palais Royal--Musee du Louvre station. A little about the museum. It is one of the world's largest museums and a historic monument. The museum is too big that we had to choose which wing (it has many wings) to explore in a day. Since it was the first Sunday of the month, there was no entrance fee. How lucky!

However, each famous artworks were simply surrounded by many people. Could not really take photos with them. Here are some of the pictures I took.



Entrance to the museum

The Nike of Samothrace (winged Victory).

I found out that the museum is actually housed in a palace itself! Cannot imagine how the king and queen could live in such big place. Must be tiring to walk from one room to another.




The hallway full of paintings!

The Wedding Feast at Cana

Guess who are they taking picture of?

Its the Mona Lisa! I still have no idea what is so special about this painting.

The ceiling! Amazing!

The courtyard of the museum

Aphrodite, known as Venus de Milo.

With the Louvre pyramid. Reminds me of the Da Vinci Code!

After Louvre Museum, we headed to the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris. We had to take the metro and then walked towards it. It is placed on a little island at the Seine River. The cathedral is a Gothic, Catholic cathedral. Said to have the finest example of French Gothic architecture in Europe. The interior was pretty superb.

Unique design!

We entered and found that there was a Catholic service inside. My first time seeing how Catholic church conducts service. I wonder how the church members can concentrate since there was always a constant stream of visitors entering the church even on Sundays. I couldn't really take nice pictures as flash was not allowed during service. 

 

Look at the high walls.

After visiting the cathedral, we strolled around, enjoying the beauty of the place. It was so serene. We wanted to go to Versailles Palace but did not as time was limited.

 

At night, we went to the Eiffel Tower again to view the night version of it. Pictures taken are not nice though but the scenery was still breath-taking.

 

Next Post: Europe Trip (Lucerne, Switzerland)
 

 

Europe Trip (Paris)

2nd April 2011

We walked from Saint-Mandé Metro station to our hotel nearby. It was called Le Ruisseau.



My first hotel in Europe and Paris.

After checking in, we headed towards the long awaited destination in Paris, that is Eiffel Tower! When I was on the train, I saw a glimpse of it from afar and it had already stolen my heart then. It was amazing and I felt unbelievable to see it. We took the metro to the Bir-Hakeim station. We bought one day passes for the metro at €6 (RM26.76) each. Those who are aged from 1 to 26 have a 50% discount on the tickets. To check out more, you can visit this website [click]. After dropping at the station, we walked towards the tower, following the crowd.



The station where we got down.

A little fact about Eiffel Tower that I found online. This tower was actually built as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair marking the 100th anniversary celebration of the French Revolution. I don't really get why Eiffel Tower is an icon of romance though. However, I could see couples enjoying the views. There were also many who were in groups. We walked around Champ de Mars, which is like a park for the public. Eiffel Tower is located at the end of the park.




At Champ de Mars and the foot of Eiffel Tower can be seen from this picture.



We walked to the Siene River nearby and just breathed in the scenery. It has a pleasant view, with boats cruising along the river. After that, we just toured around the place as the sun set. We reached a higher place where the Eiffel Tower can be viewed from afar. After googling, only did I know that it is called Palais de Chaillot. Anyway, in truth, wherever you go and end up in, you will see beautiful things because everywhere is just that beautiful!



Sienne River taken on Pont d'lena (Jena Bridge). 



Palais de Chaillot across the river.

We proceeded towards the Arc de Triomphe which is located at the western side of the Champs-Elysees. A little bit about this arc. It was built to honour those who fought and died for France in the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. You can see the names of French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Even beneath its vault, there lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. Amazing.



Arc de Triomphe.

It was already dusk when I reached there. So, we had dinner and walked along Champs-Elysées, which is actually one of the world's most famous streets. Lined along the street are branded shops, restaurants, cafes etc. It is also a street busy with cars.

Next post: Europe Trip (Paris #2)

Europe Trip (London & Paris)

This Europe trip is considered my first backpacking trip I took with my family. I don't include Singapore as I only went there for two days. The other oversea trips were under tour packages so they did not truly give me the feeling of being in an adventure. I will be sharing my journey throughout part of Europe and hope it will help me to remember as well as helping anyone who would like to know and plan for their own trip too.

1st - 2nd April 2011
I departed from LCCT airport at 3pm on April Fool's Day. It was a 13 hours flight to London!  At first, the journey was still alright. After the first 3 hours, I started to constantly ask my dad for the time and counting down till the landing. Thank God for my Kindle. If not, it'll be even torturing. It was night at around 9pm London time when I reached London-Stansted Airport. We stayed over in the airport till 6.30am the next day. There were a lot of people sleeping at the benches and even on the floors in the airport. Quite a sight to see.

We walked out of the airport towards the bus stop outside. There were not many people. We waited for the bus to Liverpool Street (London City Centre) at a provided area which shielded us from the cold. We took the Terravision Airport Bus [link] which costed each of us £9 (RM48.17).



The bus we took.

After a one-hour journey from the airport, we reached Liverpool Street. We then took a train at the Liverpool Street Underground Station to King's Cross Station [link] which cost us another £4.70 - from http://www.londondrum.com/transport/train-fares-ticket-prices.php£4.70 each (RM25.22)£2.20   - from http://www.londondrum.com/transport/train-fares-ticket-prices.php£2.20   - from http://www.londondrum.com/transport/train-fares-ticket-prices.php.

I was thrilled to see the buildings in London on the way there. The train stations were also amazing. Couldn't believe myself that I was actually in London. Anyway, when I reached the station, only I remembered that King's Cross station was where they filmed Harry Potter! It was the station where every September the first, he took the train to Hogwarts. Too bad, half of the station was under renovation, including the film site!

We headed towards the St. Pancras Station to board the Eurostar train. To find the station, just follow the signs for Eurostar check-in and you will reach in about 5 minutes. We got the tickets online but quite near to the date. Each ticket was around €90 (RM400.16). It would be cheaper to get them earlier. Don't buy on the spot at the station as it would be really expensive! To get them online, you can click here [link]. We were heading towards Paris Gare Du Nord, which was another 2 hours and 16 minutes. We departed at 9:22am.

Anyway, I saw Brooke Fraser and she was sitting in the same couch as mine! :D Along the journey to Paris, I witnessed pastures of green grass with cows, horses and sheep. It was really a sight to remember. My first time seeing such scenes in real life instead of in pictures. Kinda envy those people who stay there. I've always dreamt that I can stay on those green hills with farms at the side.



St. Pancras Station (Eurostar)

Paris was about 14 degree celcius when we arrived there at 12:47pm. My first impression of Paris when I was viewing it from the window of the train was the bandit area in Maple Story. That was because I saw many graffiti on the walls. It was quite creative. One thing we realised after a few visits around Paris. They have a lot of huge HUGE train stations. And all of them have marvellous designs and architectures. 


Paris Gare Du Nord Station

We went out from the station to search for food. Now, my first impression of the people there: Creepy. I could see many people hanging around outside the station flirting with girls, and eyeing people. One of them even called out to us in Japanese language. Well, maybe they were just trying to be friendly.

This impression got worse after lunch when we headed back to the station to take the Metro. We saw many rude, mischievous-looking, raucous people. Most of them didn't know how to speak in English but French. Fortunately we also met really helpful and friendly French people. They used sign language with us. The Metro station is in the Gare Du Nord station. We followed the 'Metro & RER' sign. The fare ticket was €1.70 (RM7.56). We were heading towards our hotel in Saint-Mande. To check out more about the trains in Paris, click here [link].

The first train we took, which was the RER (express metro), was a nightmare especially to my dad. It was because he expected the trains to be cleaner, brighter and more modern looking since its Paris. But this first train was very interesting (to me) yet in the same time creepy (again). It looked quite old like it was already there for 50 years. It had 3 levels. Lower, middle and upper level. Felt bit regret for not taking picture because was carrying luggage and also was afraid that the people might not like it. After that, for the rest of the journeys, the trains were all alright. They have a lot of lines and we had to walk along tunnels to reach to another station line. Pretty interesting. I guess the underground of Paris is practically full of underground tracks and trains.



The better metro station.

Next post: Europe Trip (Paris)