Jalan-jalan Paris

Tell ya the weird feeling was just temporary. I still never really understands why I blog though. All I know, I can't cope being not to blog, because this is where my random thoughts, my expectations, my memoirs are kept.


Paris

June 04, 2008

I woke up as early as 5.00am. Tried hard to sleep back but I just couldn’t so I watched Disney in-house channel. Despite extremely tired, I couldn’t sleep well. I was too excited!. In my head : I’m visiting Paris today…woohoooo…... I need the energy, I need rest but my excitements subdued my body. 5++ I took my camera and out wandering around the hotel area. It was cold and quiet.




the abandoned city, small canal belakang hotel,camping site apache’s style,cute wooden rocking horse

Alice caused such bad blisters that I had to wear my sleeping sock. Mind the very contrast color of everything I wore. And that Nike pink hooded sweater again? Hahahahha


Arc de Triomphe

We stopped at Charles-de-Gaulle (Metro) station and exited at Champs Elysees. On the right, just few steps away is the majestic Arc de Triomphe. Eh, I took notes tau at every place I visited. So don’t be surprised how I can still remember the susah-nak-sebut-let-alone-nak-eja places. Hehehehe.

Anyway, the Arc stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle (Star Square) as it said but it’s just like a huge roundabout to me. There are twelve streets feed into the motorway that circles the Arc. Don’t be daft and try to brave the mad traffic of French driving, I kid u not, honking monking, cilok2 just like us maa! There is an underground passageway to get to the middle of the square.

A close look at the detail of the monument was really worth it. hey...not that thing la....sajer upload this pic...hahahahhaha
I also paused at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier from WWI (to pose actually). Each day the flame is rekindled and fresh flowers set in place. The flower is nice…ye la…bukan nak menjiwai perjuangan dia pon kan…hahahahhaha.

Champs-Elysées

Here is a picture of Champs-Elysees as I saw it. Yes everything is possible here. The cafes and shops are exquisite but horribly expensive! I didn’t do any shopping here, not even a cup of coffee. I didn’t find the x-factor of this street, its just big, grey and full of tourists…may be it was the weather, I don’t know.


Eiffel Tower

No matter how cliche this might sound, a visit to Paris truly wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Eiffel Tower. We took the Metro to Trocadéro station and exited at the Musee national de la Marine.

Here, we just couldn’t avoid the best view on the Eiffel Tower. Also pretty hard to avoid the many gagak (Chenta’s word) selling souvenirs. They speak Malay annoyingly well. Tak suka!

These are the way i wanted to be photographed with Eiffel. Cool tak akak?

You might already know that there are three levels of the Tower. We paid €12 each like any good tourist to ogle at the view from the topmost tier. The view of Paris is fantastic! Its worth the money, the waiting (buying tickets and queuing for elevator).

well planned city

From the 2nd tier, tried to be adventurous as many of other tourists suggestion I read in the net, I decided not to take the elevator to go down. It took me few floors to realize that it was a bad idea! Gayat!!, why they said it was easy? Oh no, I’m at 2nd level just now. They suggested from 1st level to the ground!!. Sh**t… I burst my lungs stepping 359 steps to the 1st level! Don’t pity me yet, pity those mat salleh yang climbing! 3 of them. One ask me how far more to climb. I just said I lost count already, good luck!. At some point I was so gayat that I sang Cuppycake song (Iman’s fav). If you hear it, it was more like jeritan ketakutan!. I heard they laugh at me, those stupid mat salleh. To add injury to the already injured lungs and legs I took another 345 steps to the ground.

cant even see people kat bawah..bila angin kuat...woooo.....akak duduk!!

Gila tak? Mengah! from afar I saw Topek, Izyan and Kak Yah enjoying their ice-cream at the bench near the garden. I walked slowly toward them, tried hard to control my breathing.

Oh Eiffel, It's a must see. How could you go to Paris and not see this magical French epitome? It gave me that feeling of validation and said to myself, "Yes, I have arrived in Paris and I have my own story of Eiffel. “


The Louvre

You see, unlike the other three, I was the only first timer here. I handed my wishlist to Topek and Izyan, they did the whole traveling plan. Somehow from Eiffel to the Louvre, we took the wrong direction and ended up walking about 1km and not knowing we were lost. I didn’t blame them though, those lucky kids been traveling with their parents, with driver and all. You get the picture. So we are apparently equal. Plan changed, we took the train instead.

Dapat naik train 3 tingkat!!!. Adda hikmahnya sesat tadi.

We stop at Solferino station, just two blocks away from Musee d’Orsay. Some say d’Orsay is much better than the Louvre but I don’t care. We stop just to pose. May be next time, heheh. We walked across a bridge on the Seine, The Louvre is on the apposite bank.

And, I was here.... at The Louvre! A Mecca for art lovers. When planning my Paris trip, a visit to the Louvre was 2nd after Eiffel Tower. I so wanted to see Mona Lisa and the Venus of Milo. Last time, Chenta didn’t get a chance to come so I promised him I would. I knew it would be impossible to see everything, so I had to choose.

As Po (Kungfu Panda) said, I only see paintings of this painting before!.

The high ceilings and diffused light are just great. The arts are all arranged in a way that it is easy to see everything. The supposedly 1 hour stop became more.

i love the louvre and from Topek's lense - cun kannn...

You can see for yourself the scale between the building and the people around the building. It was massive!

Across the road, there was this arch, I do not know its name. It led towards Jardin des Tuileries. I wanted to lepak there but apparently we don’t have much time left.


Notre Dame

From the Louvre we took bus no 41 (rasanya) to Notre Dame, cost us around €6. I ask the bus driver to drop us to the nearest bus stop to Notre Dame and he was kind enough to do so, shouting from the driver seat “Miss, your stop is here!”.

My heart bloomed once I sat my eyes on Notre Dame. I have seen it on the net, on travel documentaries, on papers, now she is there in front of me. I was about to take a step towards it when suddenly my SIL said, “Laparla…kita makan dulu la…dah pukul berapa ni,…bla..bla..bla..” My ears refused to get the remaining words she said…treeeeeettttt. Potong tak? Hahahahahha. You see, after the sesat incident, I was the one giving instructions where to go next. Lovely Izyan will always ask me, “Next mana Cik Ida”, “Where else you want to go Cik Ida?” hehehe. And I kind of lupa diri bila berjalan. I wanted to see all and afraid I can’t, so, eating is not compulsory. I forgot about my SIL.

doner at paris

Now I am here, standing on the outside, slowly walking around it. And even that was already so impressive. But in the end I never went inside. I wonder how many people have this same thing. A place like Notre Dame is a dream comes true for all who love architecture. Am not I always wanted to be an architect?. But on my short visit to Paris, I decided not to go inside.

Am I stupid? Probably yes. Am I regretting it? in a way: yes. I still want to see the inside!!! I want to see the oldest part of Paris from the tower, the carved wild beasts and the great bell. Blame the mass they had that day. It’s a Cathedral, what do you aspect. But I know I won’t be comfortable inside. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the whole building from the outside.


La Seine and Its Bridges

focus on Izyan's pic, i love this pic most. cantikkkkkk

Now the river, the famous Seine River. On the apposite bank from Notre Dame, there is a Batobus stop. Batobus isn't a sightseeing-boat company. It's more like a bus line that offer hop-on hop-off service at eight stops along the Seine. You might wonder why we didn’t get in this boat earlier. What with the sesat, the train and the bus. You see, that was my idea. I wanted to do all remember?. Yes now I can proudly say I’ve done it all. The public transports – checked. Just like Venice, from a €0.50 traghetto to three tier cruise.

Cruising on the Seine gave me a whole different perspective on Paris and was a nice break from all the walking. Nice to have a glimpse at Place de la Concorde, Palais Royal and many beautiful buildings and jardins along the river. Plus, I got to see among many others, the elegant Pont Alexandre III Bridge. Notre Dame is in fact at the farthest of Seine from other attractions. So, it was like doing it all over again, this time from the boat..

The pleasant evening

The last stop of the Batobus is at Eiffel.

Izyan ask me do I still wanted to go to

Galeries Lafayette . Oh no, I wanted to stay here, to wait till its dark and Eiffel will illuminated. But then I remember how Chenta tell me his same stories of Paris over and over again especially about Galeries Lafayette and its chandeliers. I wanted to see the chandeliers! But, but, finally I decided to stay. Eiffel seems a better choice.

This time, we really lepak at the gardens around the tower. And I didn’t get a chance to see the Eiffel illuminates too. In that season, the day didn’t get dark until around 9pm. By that time, it will be kelamkabut to get back to Disneyland.

From Eiffel, we then walk real slow, like taking our sweet time to CDG station through Cleber road. The cafes along Cleber mostly full with young trendy executives, doing their drinks-after-office thingy. I can’t help but pandang2 their handbags, shoes, ties, jackets and all.

Oh, so jealous. Along the Cleber - nice road

, ferrari shop, gas station-just park at the side of the road and do your business...coolll.

inside the underground passage - very tired! and Champs-Elysées again

We then wander around Champs-Elysées again before heading back to Disneyland.

Oh, I hate to say goodbye. When will I be here again?