Europe Travelogue Day 11: Last day in Paris

For our last day in Paris, we woke up bright and early and headed to the Luxembourg gardens. We saw people jogging and sitting on the green chairs just chilling and reading a book. I notice French people seem to love the sun! I wouldn't want to read a book directly under the sun, cause I would turn dark. I also noticed it from the way they prefer outdoor seats! Almost all the cafes in Paris had small tables arranged outside, with the chairs facing outwards to the pavement (for people watching) and it's always crowded. Why would anyone want to dine under the sun?!

Pretty flowers

We walked to Little Breizh for crepes, very nice and value for money! They had a set lunch menu and we get to choose two crepes each, a savoury and a sweet one. Think I ordered something smoked salmon for my savoury choice.

Afterwards, we headed to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Since there was a long queue to enter the cathedral, we decided to walk around the vicinity first.

The love lock bridge is nearby as well. Shortly after we returned, one segment of it got so heavy, it fell into the river.

Decided to queue to enter the cathedral since we had nothing much to do.

The stained glass is so pretty! It's a prelude to what we're going to see in Italy afterwards.

Finally, we traveled to Centre Georges Pompidou, which was an art gallery with a unique design. It also offers a nice view of Paris at the eighth floor.

Afterwards we walked around and went back to our hotel to pick up our luggages to go camp at the airport as we had an early flight to Rome the next day. We were miserable and sleepy at the airport but thank goodness we had the Korean drama "You who came from the stars" to keep us entertained.

Europe Travelogue Day 9: Paris Again

You can read my previous posts here:
Day -1, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 , Day 4, Day 5 & 6, Day 7, Day 8

For our second day in Paris, we went to Leon De Bruxelles for lunch before heading to the Louvre. Sadly I didn't take any photos of our meal but it was good! I had their set lunch, with a pot of mussels and free flow fries as my mains.

After lunch, we took a leisurely walk to the Louvre. This is the exterior of the Louvre, if you look carefully through the hole in the lower left of the picture you can see a bit of the glass pyramid.

So pretty!!! The glass reflected the clouds in the sky.

First thing to do when we got in to the Louvre is to go on a treasure hunt to see Mona Lisa.

Ask L to snap a photo of me with Mona Lisa. I had to squeeze all the way in. There is forever a crowd in front of Mona Lisa.

After seeing the Mona Lisa, we roamed the rest of the Louvre. The museum was larger than expected, and there were so many artworks on display. However, I couldn't appreciate it much because I didn't understand a single thing! Even if there was an explanation on the side, it was all in French, which I couldn't understand. So we just kept walking and looking at artworks without understanding.

After awhile, we got bored and we decided to call it quits at the Louvre. Headed out and the pyramid looked different. Transparent instead of cloudy. It's so cool that the pyramid looks different during different times of the day.

Right in front of the Louvre was the another Arc. I forgot the name of this one.

After the Arc, we were at Tuileries Gardens.

Pretty pretty flowers

There were a lot of random garden chairs available so we grabbed two and just chilled. The weather was good too! It was cooling & sunny at the same time.

After chilling, we took a train down to Galeries Lafayette, an upmarket departmental store. Headed straight for the Longchamp section cus L needed to buy some bags for his relatives. There was a long queue, and it was full of Asians. Didn't see a single Caucasian in the shop or in the queue. Guess Asians are super crazy over Longchamp bags!

The ceiling is so pretty!!! 

The whole place was just so pretty and atas. Sadly, I couldn't afford anything here. 

After some window shopping in Galeries Lafayette, we headed to Chez Chartier for dinner, which was known for serving cheap traditional French food. I didn't have pictures again cus I always think people will stare if I take my DSLR out and take some photos of my food. They would probably think Asians are crazy. After we filled our tummies, we took a long walk back (about 20 mins). We tried to minimize taking trains cus of our experience on the first day. Waiting time was long and we didn't feel safe.

That's the end of our second day in Paris.

Europe Travelogue Day 8: Paris

You can read my previous posts here:
Day -1, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 , Day 4, Day 5 & 6, Day 7

After spending seven days in London, it was time to set off to Paris. We bought train tickets from the Eurostar (£39 = SGD 80), which will allow us to reach Paris in 2.5hrs. However, we missed the train cus I wanted to get some snacks from Marks&Spencer to eat on the train. I was duly punished for my gluttony! Contacted the staff there about our situation and for a few minutes I was worried we had to shell out another sum of money to buy the tickets again. My worry was unfounded as they put us on the next train at no cost but we had to sit on uncomfortable seats between the carriages.

So after two hours we arrived at Gare Du Nord station, Paris! Our hotel in Paris was just across the street from the train station, so we went to drop our luggages and went to find a restaurant for lunch!

My first impression of Paris wasn't great cus I could smell stale pee whenever we walked past any small alleys and there were some people hanging around our area who seemed like they were up to no good. Furthermore, French people do not translate anything to English!!!! While we were in the random restaurant for lunch, the waitress had to explain to us what each thing on the menu was because everything was in French. I had to use Google Translate! Made me feel so stressed up whenever I see an menu.

First stop: Arc De Triomphe

The interior of the Arc. Subsequently we saw more Arcs but I guess this is the most famous one! Arcs are built to celebrate war victories and commemorate those who died.  From the building of Arcs and refusing to translate anything to English, I deduce that they must be very proud of their culture/being French.

From the Arc, we walked the underpass to Champs Elysees. The Arc is just in front of the famous shopping street. As you can see below, the Arc is at the centre, with a lot of roads converging towards it. The road was quite chaotic because there were no traffic light around the area.

 Champs Elysees. The street looks prettier than Orchard road, with the Victorian style buildings

Of course we couldn't miss out Laduree!!

MMMMM... Actually I can't remember the taste already, but I remember I liked it better than Pierre Herme.

Last shot of the Arc

We walked in the direction of the Eiffel Tower as it was nearby. The river next to us should be the Seine river.

Since we were hungry, we headed to Aud Petite Sud Ouest first! L looking at the menu.

For starters, we ordered Foie Gras with truffle sauce. I can't remember the price but it was only around SGD 20+? For three thick slabs of foie gras with truffles!! So worth it! I want to eat it now :( But I can't cause it would cost me a bomb in Singapore...

We both ordered the duck confit, it was so crisspyyy!!

After our tummy were filled, we walked to the grass patch in front of Eiffel Tower and took some photos! While I was right in front of the tower, it felt so surreal! I have seen photos of this famous structure so many times and never thought I would be to see it in the flesh

We reached the Tower at about 7pm. The sun was up for a long time during May and it only turned dark at like 9pm+

Lots of people chilling around and Middle Eastern people (not sure, but they looked Middle Eastern to me) earning a quick buck by going around selling Eiffel Tower souvenirs and wine. I was a sucker and I bought a miniature Eiffel Tower, which lights up.

We stayed till it lit up at like 9pm!! So pretty! We quickly left after that because we were worried about our safety. I felt less safe in Paris compared to London.

We walked to the nearest subway station and took the train home! I hate taking their trains!! Their trains and signs are so confusing, worse than in Japan. That day, we had to wait 30 mins for the train to come! We were so worried that the last train left already, but thank goodness it came after 30 mins. So freaking long!!! Only cool thing about their trains is some of them are double decked!

That's the end of Day 8 in Paris

Europe Travelogue Day 7: Harry Potter Studio Tour

You can read my previous posts here:
Day -1, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 , Day 4, Day 5 & 6

For the last day in London, we headed to the Harry Potter Studio on the outskirts of London, at Watford. L booked the tickets online for a fixed time. However, we took the wrong train and ended being late but they said it was okay so we just went in. I thought the studio tour was quite pricey, £31 (SGD 62) for a 2-3 hour tour.

Let the pictures speak for themselves

Us trying out the butter better! It was nice, a bit like the black tea macchiato Koi has.

They had a comprehensive souvenir store but I couldn't bring myself to buy anything cus everything was so pricey! Usual for Harry Potter merchandise I guess. L paid extra for the butter beer cup so he brought that back.

After the tour, we headed back to London to visit their Natural History Museum. We mainly looked at dinosaur stuffs

For our last dinner in London, we picked a restaurant we liked for a second taste & we chose Burger and Lobster!!

L looks so happy with his lobster claws.

Me with mine

I wanna Burger and Lobster again!!

With that, we concluded our London trip and headed to Paris the next day.