it's paris!! BONjOUr!!

well well, we left amsterdam for paris on sat afternoon and reached paris 50 mins later. it was no longer than a bus ride; it seems as if the plane was starting to descend soon after it took off haha. i cant believe i was in PARIS!! paris is like THE city. the city of lights, the city of romance, the city of eiffel tower, notre dame, the louvre, the city of fashionn....it's...THE CITY to be at.

unfortunately my first encounter of paris didnt leave a fantastic impression. we landed at charles de gaulle aeroport. it is..OLD. i guess i've been watching too many movies. the paris i had imagined it to be was all posh and glam and the devil wears prada-ish. i found out later that the scene from the movie was filmed along champs-elysees, a vibrant street similar to orchard road, where all the lv, guccis and diors are.

we stayed at classic hotel, which is close but not that close to the paris central, but it was 20m away from the charonne metro station, so it was rather convenient. there are strangely very very few cabs around, and i dont really observe anyone taking them. most people take the metro and rer, which goes practically everywhere in the city. even buses are rare. paris has a verrrry complex and haphazard metro system. it's convenient..but complicated. there are multiple lines that connect with random stations everywhere. it gets rather irritating sometimes when you're tired, and still have to take out the map to figure out which route is the shortest to take to your destination. singapore's mrt system is like the infant-stage in comparison. paris is no place for people who cant WALk, because...they have no escalators and lifts at the stations! what the hell manz..cos we took the train from the airport back to the hotel, and i had to drag my ultra heavy luggage case halfway across europe, up many flights of stairs. and on the RER, they dont announce the stations. how do the blind people travel? what a strange city indeed!

paris is expensive. everything is expensive, just like everywhere in europe i guess. it's honestly what everyone says, the same as in sg but in euros. one mcdonald meal cost $11, and that's like the cheapest meal you can get. i told andre i miss the cheap and easily available food in sg and he didnt believe...it's true!! i feel hungry all the time in europe cos it's cold and it's damn irritating because i cant just pop by old chang kee to buy food haha. they have crepes and waffles everywhere but it's ex la. the water from the tap tastes weird, so i have to buy evian to drink. evian, and not the other brands, cos we bought one other weird brand before and it tastes terrible that it makes me want to puke. haha.

expensive macs meal..cost close to $50 for 4 people, and the tax is 20%!

let me tell you what is cheap in paris............WINE!!! they cost 1 euro in the supermarket.

the french are nice and friendly people. what with all the the french refuses to speak to you in english, or pretend not to understand you..or the french despise people who speak to you in english instead of your mother tongue..aiyo all stupid myths la. where got...this is the modern world we're talking about man. hhaa.

i've heard a lot of scary stories abt this place from friends too. friends going to street bar, girls were 'sent' to 'entertain' them, nothing was done, but before they left, they were demanded to pay 880 euros! extortion. or another incident, this black man was stopped by the conductor for not paying, in the end the argument attracted all his black friends. they whacked the metro station and the station had to be closed down for a week! in germany, apparently someone threw himself on the tracks to commit suicide. the stories we hear here.....it's just amazing. makes you appreciate singapore more, dont you think so?

the days are long and the nights are short. the sun rises at 5am and sets at 10pm. it feels a little weird that the sky is so bright at 9pm. the shops are all closed by 8pm. boring boring..no shopping for me. but the restaurants close really late, like till midnight, and the metro runs till 1am, so it's really convenient.

for all the complaints i've made, all in all, i must still say i love paris, simply because..it's paris! i love the people, the weather, the architecture, the palaces, the museums, the art, the culture, the clothes, the eiffel tower, the churches, the streets, the bars, the cafes...

all i think about everyday is really just where we should go to visit next, whether the photos i took will turn out ok, where to find cheap food...that's all. like i've told alex, i live in denial here! and it's a good feeling..haha..

day 1
Place de la Bastille

well well, believe it or not, this place used to be the prison stormed by the revolutionary mob in 1789, that sparked the french revolution, but nothing remains now. the bronze Colonne de Julliet stands in the middle of a busy junction, to honor the victims who died in the revolution. there was a carnival going on when we went. there were a lot cafes around the area and we had most of our meals in this area.

tour eiffel

it's verrry cliche, but i must say that if i have to choose one object i love most about paris, it has got to be the eiffel tower. everryooonne knows about eiffel tower, but honestly you cant appreciate the beauty of it until you've finally seen it with your own eyes! photos do not does it justice at all! it's...grand, it's majestic, and it took my breath away. it's HUGE, but it is really a very very huge steel structure, but the photos make it look puny. i marvel at this gigantic piece of art..it has got to be one of mankind's most beautiful creation.

it looks prettier at night..we went to it a second time on day 3's morning, and went up to the top. more about that later on.

Place des Vosges

this is basically a symmetrical square surrounded by brick houses. can see a lot of parisians sitting on the grass and chatting. how nice if we have such big, empty pastures in singapore. it would be a good meeting place (hopefully not just of Filipinos maids..:p)

day 2
the arc de triomphe

napoleon ordered this to be built after his greatest victory so that his men can "go home beneath triumphal arches". the view on top is supposed to be spectacular at night. it stands in the middle of 12 aves, radiating out like a star.

la defense

la grande arche..it's a very very huge hollow cube. again, it's difficult to judge the size just by looking at the photo. you got to be there to see it to know how big it is!

just look at how small the people looked climbing the stairs at the top left hand corner pic. it's a business district now.
le grand palais

paintings and sculptures..and more paintings and sculptures......and more paintings and sculptures...

le louvre

THE DA VINCI CODE!! to be honest....eh...it's just a gigantic glass pyramid. okok it's grand..


we got there pretty late, and the museum closes at 6pm, so we went in on the 3rd day instead.

notre-dame

pardon me for the weird expression on my face..it was raining! but you cant tell of course..

a model of the notre-dame


this is a beautiful photo that my bf took. for 2 euros, you can take away one of the candles..for what..eh..i'm not sure. for blessings? probably..


the cathedral feels very..holy..sounds like a dumb thing to say but i never felt so 'holified' in a church before, even though it was raining and the whole place was swarmed with tourists.


the worship takes place every hour. i cant help but feel it's nothing more than a form of entertainment for tourists......maybe it's just me, the natural skeptic.

random pics along champes-elysees

the cleaners in greenies! they looked..cute!


out of nowhere of the street pops out a peugeot showroom

i'm getting very side of photos at this point of time...you've no idea how long it took me to complete this post..haha.. anyway we're heading to venice, florence and rome tmr, back to holland on the 31st, so it'll be some time before i can blog again...and the photos are just gonna accumulate! *headache*..

au revoir!