Innerpeace

Eurotrip 2006

Day 4 - Paris, France

Bonjour! We arrived in Paris at about 9am at Gare du Nord. I felt so intimidated and lost upon arrival because it finally hit me that there is a major language barrier here. Gare du Nord was rather empty in the morning, and we had to figure out how the Metro works so that we can get to our hotel. Enduring the weight of our backpacks, we were walking to and fro the underground for so long till we finally found the ticket booth. Took some time to decide what type of Paris Visite Pass to get and after making some mental calculations (we were so cost-conscious), we ended up getting the 2-day pass for zone 1-3 which costs 27.40 euros. We armed ourselves with the very important rail map of Paris before heading to Garden Hotel, located near the metro station called Voltaire. Oh yes, the Metro map is much more complicated than the Tube map, but after some time everything becomes so easy once you have figured out how the Metro works. I love these trains in Europe, they make sightseeing so easy and convenient, and the Paris Tourisme map that we got was just the right size, with the different lines so nicely colour-coded and tourist attractions in Paris are highlighted for us - Maps rule!

We found the Garden Hotel on Hostelworld.com, it was a budget hotel which cost us 27.50 euros/night without breakfast for a 2 bed private room. We were not willing to pay 3 euros more for breakfast. The directions given to us by Hostelworld were very clear and we found Garden Hotel effortlessly, together with some help from the friendly locals. Thank God for clear road names in Paris too. The room was not ready when we arrived so we deposited our bags at the reception, made payment for the rooms, freshened up a little before setting off to Musee du Louvre. I must mention that the aroma from bakeries in France smells so good (not theh Breadtalk smell, this one is authentic man), it is really hard to resist the urge to buy some delicious quiche or buns. And the location of our hotel is so ideal, there's a patisserie located a few steps away from our hotel! I was so excited, because I could survive on bread all day! So we had a quiche for breakfast (2 euros), note it's one quiche shared between the 2 of us. So pitiful right, actually Tian's very poor thing, if not for me who's the one on a tight budget, he can actually live very well in Europe, having perhaps 3 quiches to himself for breakfast. Sorry dear...

Musee de Louvre is Huge, and I can't believe that I'm actually seeing the glass pyramids, not in the movies, not on pictures, but right in front of me. This whole experience was so surreal. I finally woke up from dreamland and realize that yes, I am standing in Paris, right in front of the Louvre, right where Tom Hanks was standing when he was trying to crack the Da Vinci Code, and I am with nobody else but the love of my life. I could never have experienced this dream come true without Tian. If we make it, my dream is to come back to France for our honeymoon, together with many other countries - yea I'm quite greedy haha.


I must mention how suaku Tian and I were at this point of time. The land that the musee covered is huge, and somehow we thought that the entrance is under one of the buildings so we walked quite a bit, checking out the place and looking out for a long queue, before I finally asked another tourist and found out that the entrance was located at the biggest pyramid in the middle.

Finally! We found the entrance!

So silly, we should have remembered that Tom Hanks entered the Louvre from the foot of the glass pyramid in the movie, somehow maybe Tian and I was still lagging from the long coach ride hence the blurness haha. The queue into the Louvre was not long at all, snapped a few pictures before entering the pyramid. Ticket booths were located below the escalator and this was tourist haven. Tickets cost 8.50 euros/person.

And we're finally in..

Tian and I took about 3-4 hours in the Louvre and we didn't manage to cover every single room in the gigantic musee. I think it's impossible really, unless you are a real musee buff and you are willing to spend a whole day at the Louvre. We were exhausted after walking for so long, hence we gave up covering the whole of Louvre. Perhaps we did not have a good lunch, and our sleep on the coach the night before was bad too, or else we might be strong enough to last up to 5 hours in the Lourve, slow and steadily haha.

The paintings in the Louvre lived up to their reputations. They were all so unique and beautiful, some were so massive, I really wonder how it was possible to create such masterpieces like them, and can't imagine how talented the artists must be. Yes the Mona Lisa is a small painting, but intriguing nonetheless. It is protected by a glass panel and another a barrier such that visitors have to admire it from a distance away. No photography is allowed in some of the galleries of the Louvre, like the one the Mona Lisa is displayed in, and in addition, there are 2 security guards stationed at both ends of the glass panel. It can be quite meaningless walking around the Louvre without an audio guide. Especially for people like myself, who are not very familiar with stories from the Bible, histories of different nations and civilizations, and the art of paintings, it was hard to fully appreciate everything that I saw in the Louvre. For example, it was not sufficient to just look at a painting and say that it is beautiful. There is a need to recognize how the painting is painted such that it shows how brilliant the artist is and hence making him and his works famous. Also, there is a need to know what is illustrated in the painting, for example, who is Mona Lisa, a scene from Les Miserables depicting the French Revolution etc.


Everywhere we went, Tian and I decided to save money on audio guides. What I did was to try to follow (and eavesdrops on) different groups of tourists who have their own guides to tell them more about certain famous paintings in the Louvre. Of course the guides cannot talk in detail about every single artwork in the musee as tours have schedules to follow so they move around the musee quite quickly and the tourists in the group would not be able to look at every single painting in each room. So most of the time, Tian and I walked around the Louvre without a guide and more or less clueless of what we were looking at. Quite sad. Nonetheless, my Louvre experience was an eye opener and I saw many paintings and sculptures which are so beautiful, they left me in awe. Everyone should visit the Louvre though you may not understand art like myself. This architecture of the old palace is magnificent and all the treasures of art kept in this musee will blow you away. I came out from the glass pyramid tired but felt accomplished and happy.

Familiar scene from The Da Vinci Code? Is this the location where Mary Magdalene was buried?


More photo-taking outside the Louvre before taking a rest at the fountain. I love resting and basically sitting down and admiring the scenery in Europe. I love taking things slow, breathing in the air which actually smells different from that in Singapore, and watching people around me lazing under the sun.

I continued munching on my cornflakes, apple cinnamon flakes with yogurt-coated flakes from Marks and Spencer, my all-time favourite. Oh I bought this when we came across Marks and Spencer in London at St Paul's, I was so excited to do some supermarket shopping! Alas, we were on a budget trip hence no splurging of wealth on food. Tian was so kind to let me spend so money on yogurt instead of chips which he wanted. I love you so much dear. He's always giving in to me =) And we had a romantic time resting in the backyard garden of St Paul's Cathedral with my favourite Marks and Spencer apple cinnamon cornflakes with blueberry yogurt!

Ok back to Paris. We examined our map of Paris and realized that the path from Musee du Louvre leads to Arc de Triomphe. It's in a straight line! So we started on a slow stroll where we came to the Tuileries. Jardin des Tuileries is a garden in front of the Louvre.

One major difference which my cousin also pointed out to me earlier, is that French gardens are perfectly manicured, whereas gardens in London are more natural, with the bushes and trees looking like how they should be in a natural environment. The bushes in Jardin des Tuileries are all of the same shape and height, and instead of a huge lake, there is a huge man-made fountain, with few small ducks swimming in it. Not as beautiful as St James Park. But I saw something new.


Kids were playing with miniature sail boats in the fountain! Interesting =) And also, we noticed a lot of people around us having ice cream and found the ice cream cart near the fountain. We're supposed to be on a very tight budget but somehow we succumbed to our temptations and bought a double scoop ice cream, white chocolate and chocolate flavours for 3.50 euros.

(Imagine buying ice cream from one of the Orchard Road ice cream man for S$7. Never have ice cream in Paris.) The white chocolate was very nice. We watched the kids steer their boats for a while and soaked in the atmosphere and fresh air in the jardin before we continue our stroll towards Arc de Triomphe.

We then came to Avenue des Champs-Elysees. We all know this is a very famous shopping belt in Paris. But I didn't know the first half of the 'avenue' is lined with trees but no shops!

Tian and I thought we were walking the wrong way but the map showed clearly that we were on the right path which was Avenue des Champs-Elysees. So of course we played safe and I approached a local to ask where the shopping malls were. And indeed, it was straight ahead, problem is, the whole road was damn long, and Tian and I were so tired and hungry from all the walking (and lack of food).

And finally we reach the malls.

Eh, I don't know why it is so famous. Nothing much I thought, somehow I felt that the malls in Italy which carry the big international brand names are more grand. Well I did walk into Gap and some nice sweaters were on sale but those that I fancied were out of sizes. But there were not many shops that I know of, so Champs-Elysees is perhaps shopping haven for the rich tai-tais but not a poor backpacker. Well I did see this huge store, and a few Asian tourists carrying LV bags.

I didn't know the prices of LV and Gucci bags are significantly lower in Europe or else I might have splurged on this little handbag that I like very much.

By now, Tian and I were starving after all that exercise. We surveyed quite a few stalls before settling for a take-away sandwich meal each. Thing is there are so many cafes selling sandwiches such that you really won't know which one to choose, and we could only judge by the size and filling of the sandwiches, and also the prices. So we had our humble dinner by the road side, as we watched the Parisians chill out at cafes, some were seated along the road watching people go past and there was this cranky group of young punks walking down the streets in weird costumes.

You can easily see the Arc from Avenue des Champs-Elysees.


It is a majestic and huge triumphal arch decorated by sculptures and inscriptions, which must be related to periods in French history such as the Revolution.

Entrance fee was 5 euros/person, and we made our way up to the museum, then the platform roof, climbing 284 steps.

Everyone should go up to the platform roof. The view up here and the view from the Eiffel Tower is different because of the location. "The Arc de Triomphe stands on Paris's main east-west axis which links the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel - near the Palais du Louvre -, the Tuileries gardens, the obelisk on Place de la Concorde, the Avenue des Champs-Elysees...", that's why I said above that Tian and I walked in a straight line all the way from the Louvre to the Arc. Another thing very cool about the position of the Arc is that "It stands in the centre of the Place de I'Etoile, a vast circular square...which owes its name to the layout of twelve avenues that radiate out from it." And the picture below shows one avenue, the famous Avenue des Champs-Elysees.
View of the Eiffel Tower from the Arc.

I did not want to waste the evening and thought of visiting the Eiffel Tower but Tian was against it because he thought it was too late and the Eiffel Tower was not nearby. So I made the tired boy wait for about 2 hours at the Arc for the sun to set, because I wanted to see the Arc at night and also the Paris night lights. We waited for so so long, not knowing that it would only start to get dark in Paris at about 9pm. And as night fell, it got chilly up on the platform roof. The streets lighted up, followed by the Eiffel Tower and the tourists up on the Arc got excited. The view of Paris from Arc de Triomphe was awesome.

The Eiffel Tower lighted up as the sun set and the wind blew stronger.

And it finally turned dark..

Eiffel Tower & Me, at night.

This picture was taken by some fellow Singaporeans whom we met at the Arc. Speaking of Uniquely Singapore, it was so easy to identify one of us in a foreign land, and nope, it wasn't the Singlish. We were not even speaking 'lahs' and 'lohs'. We could identify ourselves with a uniquely Singaporean accent! They were a mixed group, guys from NUS engineering and some NTU girls. What a small world =) For a moment, I felt at home in this foreign city. We chatted a little with them and got some tips on Nice before bidding goodbye.

By the time we returned to our hotel, it was about 11pm. The streets near our hotel were empty and quiet, except for a restaurant right across our hotel which was packed with people. Retrieved our bags from the reception and walked up to our room. I was so excited to see how the rooms are like, and I was so happy when I saw the state of the room! I was prepared for a worse situation, because some budget hotels might be very dilapidated but look at the room! What a nice and simple blue room!

It was definitely decent enough for me, I was on a budget trip anyway, so I wasn't expecting any luxury. As long as the sheets and the toilet are clean, I'm happy.

Towels and soap were provided too, and there's a television in our room. Guess what I liked the most was the mini balcony from where I can look down at the restaurant.

It's like the typical Romeo and Juliet balcony and I told Tian that he could go down and sing to me while I stand at the balcony. (Of course he didn't =p) My complaints for this budget hotel would be the shower. Bathing at night was no problem and hot water was available. However, hot water was not available in the morning for shower and the hotel guy explained that there were too many people showering at one time and hence the unreliable source of hot water. Anyway it was quite a painful experience trying to shower my hair in ice-cold water because my hands were numb and it felt like a brain freeze. Another minor issue was 2 out of 3 power sockets did not work hence I had to unpluck the television from the socket to charge my camera battery. I give Garden Hotel 3 out of 5 stars! I loved the room and I definitely had a good night sleep.