Ah Paris....

We were taking the 11.30am Eurostar train to Paris, so we arrived earlier in order not to be late. Other than the little delay in departure time, the trip there was great.



We brought a lot of snacks on board, it's like a little train picnic!



The train ride was very fast, very smooth. Imagine, we reached Paris in just 2.5 hours! We reached Gare Du Nord, one of the oldest and most beautiful train terminal in Paris!



We found the metro station underneath the station and bought our Paris Visite Pass. Honestly, Paris was a little more intimidating as most people don’t speak English, and all the station names are in French. And there were so many mean & tough looking Africans in France! Scary... So after some struggling, we managed to hop onto our train to our hotel. Phew... Exhausted and quite stressful really.

In Paris, if you want to get off the train, you need open the door yourself by pressing a button on the train door! Interesting right?



We had a little trouble locating the hotel, we walked about 10minutes before realizing that we were walking AWAY from the hotel. Sigh~ When we finally found the place, we found out that it was pretty crappy place. We have to change room as it was a double bed and the air con was faulty. It’s just pretty crappy. Luckily the bed was quite comfy... Heng ah...

Anyway, we still have some light, so we headed out to where every tourist in Paris would go.


The Eiffel Tower.




She was more beautiful as I imagined her to be. After staring at her in awe for awhile, we were still at a lost of where to find dinner. So our very first meal in the most romantic city in the world was sandwiches, french fries and coke underneath the magnificent Eiffel Tower.



As we dined among the pigeons and tourists, we absorbed in the beauty of it all. The tower right above us, the cool crisp air, and the gorgeous sunset at the background.



That was pretty romantic huh...

After ‘dinner’ we strolled down the park in order to view the tower from a far.



We sat down on a cool grassy patch just like the Parisians and admired it in silence. I cannot believe that I am actually in Paris, looking at THE Eiffel Tower with my own naked eyes! Everything is just so beautiful. A beautiful way to end a beautiful day...




The next morning we headed to the City tour office. As we were a little early, we strolled around a nearby park. “Oh look, a pyramid.” Cobby said nonchalantly as he saw the tip of it over some trees and bushes. “Oh” I replied.

Wait.

There’s only one pyramid in Paris.

I looked around, we’re in a nice park, there’s a pyramid nearby?

I started running towards it, with Cobby following behind. Could it be? And in a few minutes, I was staring at THE LOURVE MUSEUM!!! Aaaaaaaaaa....!



Oh My God! I was awestruck! This is one of the main reason why I wanted to come to Paris, so you can imagine the look of my face as I stand there, just a few hundred metres from it. I wanted to cry... It was even bigger and more beautiful than I imagined it to be! Cobby said that we shouldn’t go in now as we needed to go for our city tour soon. So I left reluctantly and went for our tour.

The Cityrama tour was just a 1.5 hours trip around the city in a bus, like a summary of the city. So from the tour we chose where we want to explore further. After the tour we had a, well, honestly a not so good lunch. But the French Onion Soup is to die for! YUM! So cheesy & oniony & bread-y. One of the best french onion soup I've tasted.



For the rest of the day, we practically just walked around to wherever we please! We lazed on the grass outside The Lourve. It's surprisinging warm if you lay down in the sun eventhough the weather is quite cool. But their grass is very nice and soft and insect free, no wonder the locals love it.



Strolled along the Seine river...



Browsed through the stores along the river...



Enjoyed a sumptuous chocolate crepe with cappuccino at a side walk café. Hey you're in France! This is a MUST DO! The coffee & crepe is super good by the way...Oui!



We then visited the beautiful Notre Dame de Paris.



We were facinated by the whole gothic design of the catheral even though we weren't Catholics. Beautiful...



The catheral is surrounded by gorgeous stained glass windows with stories designed into them.



The most famous is this rose window, which is close to 800 years old!



I also love the many life-like gargoyles perched on top of the towers. They have the best views of Paris I tell you...



The famous Quasimoto's bell.



Taking the boat is one of the best way to see Paris! Try Boatabus - it's like a bus system. You just hop on and off at various stations. So we took a leisurely boat ride down the Seine river before having dinner at the famous local restaurant, Bouillon Chartier Restaurant for dinner. It's very popular with the locals AND tourists. Look at the queue! And we also saw the whole door pasted with stickers of recommendation from dozens of travel guides!



The meal is very simple, cheap & good. Nice, cosy ambience too. No wonder people love it. As we took a bus back to our hotel, we even passed by the famous Moulin Rouge!



I don't know why I didn't think of planning for it, but we didn't. So sadly, we didn't go. But if you're interested, check this out.

So ends another day in Paris... tomorrow we pay a vist to Madam Mona Lisa~ So exciting!!!