Europe Trip - The Last Day Exploring Paris

The last day of our trip in Paris!

It was a Sunday and we finished our breakfast early for checking out and storing our luggage. At around 8:00am, we left the hotel for Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris.

Walking from the metro station

When we reached there, there was a group of high school students (from America, I guess) and the teacher told them to be aware of their belongings due to many pickpockets lingering around in the vicinity. And that's a church, for God's sake.

Seine River from Pont Saint Michel

People going for the mass

I love this angle!

It was a Sunday and there was a mass going on but we were allowed to go into the church. And of course, for free.

The Pastor at the High Altar, Choir at the back

The miniature of the cathedral

The evolution of the cathedral

Notre Dame de Paris, which means Our Lady of Paris, is considered one of the best gothic architectures in the country and one of the most well-known church in the world. The cathedral has gone through quite a significant revolution from 1160 onwards. In 1160, the Bishop of Paris during that time, ordered the former cathedral to be demolished. The construction of Notre Dame begun 3 years after upon demolition of the surrounding buildings and construction of roads for transportation of materials. The cathedral was fully completed in 1345.

However, major alterations and renovations were carried out throughout major events in Paris such as Huguenots Riot, French Revolution, World War II, and recent restoration projects. The cathedral is what can be seen as of today.

After we finished admiring the interior, the high altar, and the choir, we walked out and found many tourists crowding around the area. So again, come early to avoid disappointment!

Side view of the cathedral 

Au revoir. Notre Dame de Paris! Vouz allez me manquer!

We continued our journey to the highly talked Castle of Versailles. It was quite far off the city centre. We took RER train from Saint-Michel Notre Dame Station. We bought a carnet and 2 single tickets for two-way journey and it cost us EUR 33.5 (~SGD 52) or about EUR 5.6 (~SGD 9) per person.

We stopped at Gare de Versailles RER station and took a 10-minute stroll towards the palace. I had a high expectation for this place as a few people specifically asked me whether I had this palace in my itinerary and it really looked beautiful in the internet.

When we reached there, there was a long queue towards the entrance but it kept moving. After we asked a few Chinese tourists, we decided to buy the tickets and join the queue. The ticket cost EUR 15 (~SGD 23) per person. Not much time was needed to queue for the ticket and for the entrance.

I expected to see the REAL castle, as in the real bedroom of Marie Antoinette, the real dining room of the king, the real bathroom, the real of everything. But instead, I felt like we were inside Ikea. We were directed to walk along the lines passing through paintings and paintings and paintings and videos and videos telling about the castles, the kings, the history. I still had hope but it disappeared fully when we were directed to SHOWROOM of King's chamber, dining room, etc etc. This place is so overrated.

The front view of the castle, it's really better to be looked by the real eyes

Moving into the front yard of the castle

The chapel than can be viewed only from afar

The corridor

The painted ceiling

The show room of King's Bedroom

The Hall of Mirrors, the best thing in this castle

Luckily, we found this honey ginger bread sold in one of the cafes in this castle. At least, it helped to cure the heart ache. We came here not for nothing.

Angelina's Honey Ginger Bread

We completed our visit in about 1.5 hours and we walked back to the station. Before we departed back to Paris, we had our lunch in one of the restaurants here that served buffet. The buffet was priced at EUR 16 (~SGD  25) per person and the spreads were quite decent. There were soups, salads, breads, pastas, paellas, chickens, beefs, desserts, ice creams, and fruits.

We then rushed to be back to the hotel, get our luggages out of the storage and bid good bye to Paris. The hotel's front desk helped us to book a 7-seater taxi to bring us to Gare du Lyon Train Station. The taxi fare was counted by meter and it cost us about EUR 40 (~SGD 62) for the short distance.

Gare du Lyon

Platform

Cute Starbuck's truck

We packed our dinner for our long train journey bound to Venice!

Au revoir, Paris. Till next time.

Next - Stopover in Venice

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

Europe Trip - A Windy Seine River Cruise

There are a few cruise operators that run Seine River Cruise day and night, from normal cruise to dinner cruise. There are some jetties along Seine as the departure points nearby Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame.

Since we wanted to to enjoy night time Paris, we decided Vedettes du Pont Neuf as our cruise operator. The cost per person is EUR14 for one hour cruising, but since we bought our ticket online, we got it for EUR11 (~SGD 17) per person.

It was a walk away from Pont Neuf metro station and we easily found the jetty.

Seine River from Pont Neuf

Amidst the wind and the cold

We got our tickets, yay.

The boat departed in every 30 minutes and we waited about 15 minutes for our departure time of 7:30 pm. The boat consists of upper and lower decks. In upper deck, the view is better as it is open. However, due to the wind, we decided to encase ourselves at the lower deck.

Before the boat departed, a bilingual (English & French) guide greeted us. When the boat moved, she explained each one of the buildings and areas that we passed by. Her English was a bit difficult to understand and the tone of her speaking was very dry. I did not even try to listen. I just sat down and enjoyed the view that laid before me.

The route of the cruise

One of the buildings we passed by 

Another cruise operator 

Eiffel Tower at night

Ferris wheel 

Notre Dame

The boat

The journey completed in about 1 hour. We walked back up to the bridge and was greeted by super strong wind. We ran back to the metro station to catch shelter. It was my first horrible experience with winds.

After reaching Grands Boulevards metro station, we walked up and passed by a road full of restaurants and bars. Something caught our eyes: a crepe cafe.

Ice cream section

Crepe section

We bought homemade chocolate flavour and ham & cheese flavour. The price of each crepe is about EUR4-5 but the size is humongous! For the taste, the dough is thick and delicious, the filling is generous. I think one crepe for a person is too much, it shall be shared among three people!

It's way bigger than my face

Time to get back to sleep and continue the journey tomorrow.

Next - The Last Day Exploring Paris

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

Europe - Tour Eiffel and Champ Elysees, Must Do!

Leaving Montmarte, we were bound for the main attraction in Paris, The Eiffel Tower!

I did my research beforehand and a lot of people suggested to go by Jardins du Trocadero instead of by Champ de Mars. It is said everywhere that the best spot for taking the photo of Tour Eiffel is from Jardins du Trocadero. The reason being is that all the group tour will take photos from Champ de Mars and it is essentially further from the tower.

Therefore, that's what I planned, we were supposed to start from Jardins du Trocadero and continue walking till Champ de Mars to get both experience. However, we were so absorbed taking photo from Trocadero we did not have time to walk all the way to the other end.

Jardins du Trocadero is located right outside Trocadero metro station. We found the place easily. We just walked straight to the direction of the tower and there was a plaza there. Unfortunately, some of the spots were undergoing renovation and the place was surrounded by hoardings all along.

Walking towards Tour Eiffel

The other side of exit of Trocadero Metro Station

The Ellegant Lady, Tour Eiffel, amidst the gloomy sky

Moving forwards, there is a great spot

Spot 1

Spot 2

Spot 3

We took photos at quite a number of spots before we realized that we ran out of time. And the winds were getting much stronger when we crossed the river towards the bottom the tower.

Seine River from Pont d'lena

Tour Eiffel Steel Structure

What a strange thing to see rickshaw here, I thought it can only be found in Asia

We walked into a restaurant at the bank of the river but the receptionist rejected us due to 'no reservation'. So, we walked out disappointed and we finally asked a random tour guide for a guidance on where to eat. She told us to go to Avenue de la Bourdonnaise for a street full of restaurants.

Walking towards Avenue de la Bourdonnaise

We then found the street and chose a restaurant which was quite crowded called Cafe Gustave. The waiters were not friendly enough he did not attend to us immediately even though we had been standing and calling him.

So after quite a painful attempt to get his attention, we were served by the lady boss of the restaurant and got our seat indoor. It was past 1:00 pm and we were extremely hungry. We ordered the main courses, waited for about 15 minutes for the food to be served and finished everything in the next15 minutes. The cost of each portion of the main course is about EUR 20 (~SGD 30)

Despite the humongous portion, we made it!

The foods were excellent, especially the pork ribs, salmon, and duck confit. And the lady boss was so nice, she showed us the way to walk to Arc de Triomphe and Champ Elysees even she was busy with her business.

We walked towards Arc de Triomphe. It was not an easy walk due to the wind but we made it after 20 minutes of strolling.

Pont d'alma

Finally, the famous Arc de Triomphe

Family picture, yay!

The construction of Arc de Triomphe was initiated by Napoleon I in 1806 to honour the success of Grande Armee that conquered most of Europe during that time. However, the construction was stopped due to the abdication of Napoleon in 1814 and continued in 1826. The arch was completed in 1836 and the names of 128 battles of the first French republic Napoleon's empire was written on the wall.

The Arch of Triumph

The 128 battles on the wall

We did not choose to climp up to the top of the arch. Instead, we walked along Champ Elysees, the famous shopping street of Paris, the Singapore Orchard Road of Paris.

Champ Elysees

Wide pedestrian walkway, many shops

We strolled along the road until we realized it was about time to move on. We found a metro station and went to our next destination.

Next - A Windy Seine River Cruise

Love is in the air,
Little Feet