Paris Chapter 2 (Journey from Notre Dame to Eiffel Tower!)

Morning of 5th June, 2015, we woke up at 7am fresh and happy, a morning in Parissss. Yesterday was a thrilling day, I went to to magnificent places inParis, click HERE to read bout it!.

We went to the lower ground floor for breakfast. Aloha hostel includes breakfast in the booking. They served bread & croissant, the long hard kind of bread with spread. Options of Tea & coffee for beverages. Quite simple but enough, so parisien ay?, oui daccord!. Good for me as I rarely take breakfast..not a morning person here..hihi. As long as there is coffee, its good enufffff :D.

le breakfast :D

Btw it was cold (for us as we are tropical bitches), that morning, around 18'c . We went outside after breakfast cos Sarah wanna have her cigarette, no smoking inside the hostel yaa. 

Volontaires is a nice neighbourhood. There is a park, people walking their dogs, restaurants, jogging, bakery shops, overall its a neighbourhood that people wanna settle down at...ehehehe. Maybe soon with special someone, who knows?! hahahahahah. Yea my imagination went a bit high..lol. TIPS: Volontaires is a great place to stay in Paris rather than the typical Montmarte!

outside Aloha, after breakfast :P

Back to our story, after the cigarette, we went back to our room and get ready to go out. We took our showers, nobody was in the shower & toilet btw, so its purrrfect. But REMEMBER, as Malaysian or asian in general, we love to wet the floor when we do our No. 2 (u know what i mean), please clean it back till it dry before u go out, they hate wet floor there. We made sure the floor is dry first before leaving. TIPS: for Malaysians: they dont have hose, so bring ur own bottle and fill in the water from the sink. hihihi..sorrry..or just bring wet tissue..i know i know..but that's the options u have :). 

before starting our full day Paris tour! Volontaires

We leave Aloha around 8am plus to our 1st destination of the day, Notre Dame where we will meet the hunchback, ehehe, i mean we are all familiar with the story Hunchback of Notre Dame right?. so yeah. 

We took metro Volontaires and stop at Montparnesse Bienvenue, changed train (Direction P.D.Clignancourt) (L4) and stop at Cite. By now, we were expert in using the Metro. Sarah walked so fast, blend in with the locals..lol. TIPS: Parisians, they walk so fast everywhere night and day, time is crucial for em. So don't walk too slow or they'll gently push u aside with their arms.

the wrong place we line up :p

We got out of the metro station and walked based on our google map (print screen earlier). We saw a long queue so we taught it must be the one, although it doesn't seem like the Notre Dame tower. I thought maybe the entrance looks like that. We queued for a minute or two, then i felt like 'this is wrong'. Thus, i asked the person next to me, and she said 'owh this is not Notre Dame, this is the museum, u need to walk straight and turn left'. Oops! okie, wrong venue :P.  TIPS: the one we lined up for is Musee de Notre Dame, a museum for history of the Cathedral, Renaissance and Medieval time, if you have time, go for it. Notre Dame is a few min walking further up.

We walked pass the museum and our left, The Notre Dame tower! Majestic biding located beside Seine River, so nice! .

Notre Dame & Sarah Dame...eh 

So as usual we took pics here n there before entering. TIPS: U can enter the main hall for free, but the tower, u need to pay few euros. Lots of people of course, tourist from every corner of the world came to see the world 1st Gothic Cathedral.

packed with tourists

We got in, i felt like i was in a movie End of Days or Constantine, hiks.

the inside of the Gothic Cathedral

The buildings architecture made me feels like i am living in medieval Europe. There are drawings, relics and idols from that time. The statue of Jesus and several European Kings and Scholars are also placed here. We took one big round and went back out.

the altar for Jesus

the replica of the cathedral, Notre Dam

They accept donations at the door..lots of coins 1-2 euros were in that box. We took few pics here n there and decided to walk on the bridge crossing the Seine river. I love this place, so subtle and classic.

crossing the Seine River :D

hikss..love this place

U can see the Paris Tour bus stopping here, like hop on hop off bus in KL. TIPS: You can take their Hop on Hop off package as well if you dont wanna take the train and walks. But u cannot plan and spend time more than u want at certain places. besides, we prefer the adventure of travelling :)

France flag!

I walked past a France govt building, restaurants, cafes...and eventually arrive at Saint Michel metro station. They have a fountain here called La Fontaine Saint Michel, a classic European statue of an angel defeated a devil. and water comes out below it. Quite nice.

La Fontaine

The metro station, so classic so i decided to take a pic :P

We hop on the metro train and stop at Pont Marie, to visit Le Marais, one of the oldest city in Paris. some part of this place is also known for LGBT activism and celebration, but we're there in daytime, so nothing for us. 

It was nice to walked around this area, they have markets, stalls, cafes along the road. a cozy place. We kept walking until we realize that we ended up in Bastille town...hahaha, yeah! Well technically Bastille is in Marais, eastern Paris., TIPS, wear comfy shoes as there will lots of walking in this area as there is soo much to see. If you prefer to stay in LGBT friendly area, this is the place for u to stroll.

Bastille!

The fruits stall, yummy cherries

It was a good experience for us seeing the daily life of Parisians (that's what they called people of Paris) in Bastille. We stopped at a fruit & sandwiches cafe and Sarah bought freshly squizzed orange juice and i bought cherries for 9euros. The cherries was soo good homaigerddddzz, i can still remember the taste, sweet n sour exploding in my mouth, darn!, it was good. The orange juice however, was so rich in orange, i took a sip and started coughing bcos i can feel it stuck in my throat. Bcos it was so thick, aiyaiyai not for me, hiks, no more!

We walked around Bastille and to the market which they sell classic homemade jewelries, some paintings. As u know Paris is the city of art as well. We walk around it, and sit there..watching the world goes by...tetiber over.

the markets that sells paintings, jewelry, foods

parisien? lol

We stopped at a restaurant, bcos it was starting to feel chilly, the wind. We sat on the table exposed to the sun..hahahaha! I never realize how precious sunshine are in Malaysia . But now that i've been here, i know.,,the heat is needed!..ahahaha. 

We don't really understand the menu, so we ordered calamari, we asked the waiter whom i called Jeremy, cos i cant pronounce the name 'what is this?' and he said 'mm..fish'. So okay, all are fish for him, so we ordered calamari, which is squid obviously, not fish. and some coffee. Coffee in Paris, purrrfect hihihi..i know i sound so 'kampung'..hiks.

Coffee & Calamari. hihi :D

Our Calamari came with tartar sauce, it was damn yummy, the sauce, not like in Malaysia. We enjoyed our calamari in the sun while watching Bastille in daylight,..ehehe. Bastille is so classic, ancient..mesmerizing, i love this place. TIPS: Spend some time here, it will really make u appreciate ur trip to Paris even more. 

watching Bastille goes by :)

After the 'calamari event on the sun',..we took metro and stop at Chausee d'Antin Lafayette. well from the name u know that we are visiting Galeries Lafayette, the infamous shopping mall in Paris.

H&M poster from farrrr

galeries Lafayette!

There is this large H&M poster I saw from far. We walked inside Lafayette, there were lots of perfume shops, like u can literally see all brands of perfumes everywhere. The mall is quite classic, its like u r stepping into a 100 years shopping centre. We walked inside for a while, doesn't really dare to go into any expensive boutiques...hahaha. I saw an arab tourist being so fussy and yelling at the Gucci salesgirl..eyyy bad attitude u tourist. We didn't buy anything, but hey at least we've been here!, hiks. TIPS: Fancy branded clothing and perfume?, this is the place,open 9AM to 9PM.

inside Lafayette

We walked out of the mall and search for the Hard Rock Cafe, Paris. My sis wanted a HRC Paris shirt.so we started walking and going around here and there finding HRC. The roads here is quite confusing, for me i guess. Feeling tired, Sarah asked a restaurant worker who was sweeping outside, and he pointed us the direction with a smile on his face. awww so cute. I know Sarah ask him cos he is cute..lol! i know what u r up to Sarah! hiks

We found HRC finallyy!. I picked a t-shirt that suits my sis, paid and walked out of there. For me HRC is the same everywhere, not a fan. But cos my sis wanted it, so i went.

We then took the metro L7 again and stop at Palais Royal. Whats in here? well the famous Musee Le Leuvre, where Monalisa painting is display. We got into the Pyramid entrance, went down and we saw the lines queuing to get into it. TIPS: There are machines for u to buy the tix, the leaflets is free. U have to queued for tix, the price is 12 Euros. From the pyramid entrance, there are 3 main wings., Denon, Sully & Richelieu. If you wanna see the Monalisa, enter the Denon wing. 

Trust me le Luvre is so big that u will become tired of walking. Me n sarah was soo tired. esp when we were trying to find Monalisa, hahaha. Phew.. There were Greeks collections, Napoleons, Medieval Europe and lots more.

There were quite a number of PRC here at that time. We were queuing like everyone else, this group of PRC just cut the queue while making noise, they directly put their bags on the scanner. (Oh yea, u need to scan ur bags before entering). We were like wat the f!. A lady behind me said 'mam u go mam , u go'. And so, i pushed em PRC aside and went thru. Gosh, this ppl are brainless, no manners, no ethics, no civilization. damnn.

Walking around sections by sections, it truly amaze me, the arts and collections from ancient civilisation that are displayed here. Look at the pics below and lets be amazed together, hiks

So Greek!

Medieval Europe

The royal paintings

medieval Europe & Sarah :D

Sarah so excited to see the paintings

I was so excited to see the Pharaohs section, that is a real mummy btw

aaand the famous Monalisa painting, this is the best pic i can get..

After the tiring walking in Le Luvre, esp finding the Pharaoh and Monalisa, until Sarah feels like fainting, hihi, we went up the pyramid and just sit there watching people, hihi. We also saw French army walking around, so strong and handsome...hahahahhaha :P TIPS: The pyramid of Le Leuvre is the highlight of this Museum. The buses will stop here and the museum is down there, u can take the elevator down.

touch the pyramid!

horsing around, hihihi :P

After a while, we took the metro again and stop at Bir Hakim station. Do u know what's here?...The iconic place of Paris, Eiffel Tower! TIPS: from Bir Hakim station, take the road along the Seine River, bout 700M walk and u will see the sign to Tour Eiffel!. The metro station is quite dirty tho.

Big Eiffel Grin!

We sat at the park, champ de mars. There were lots of Bangladeshis selling beers 'beer water, beer water' everywhere. hiks. Lots of people in the park, enjoying themselves, having drinks, talking...such a fantastic day, facing the Eiffel tower.

berangan di depan Eiffel, :P

Champ de Mars

We walked below the Eiffel tower..hihi love that words, Eiffel tower, Eiffel tower, kampung sangat!. and head to Trocadero. TIPS: Trocadero is a place where u can take best pictures of Eiffel tower. It has the nicest view of the iconic tower.

                                                

Tera in Paris

There were also street performance, it is the best street performance i ever saw!.  It was a group of young men from different ethnics, all French. They did dance movement and comedy act using dialog from movies, in English btw. When one of the guys asked us to give more space for crowd, he said to me and Sarah 'up pussycat dolls, up', tiberhh!

They were very talented, using popular groups and movies from all over the world to attract the crowds. One of the guy called the Korean girl to do 'Oppa Gangnam style' with em. That girl was so relax and she performed with em. it was soo cool! After the performance they put their hats out for donations, we gave em 2 euros. hiks. But seriously, if u guys are lucky enough, u will find em in Trocadero :) The video up there is a bit dark cos the sun was in front of us..Sorreh!

So our last activities of the day was the Seine river boat tour, We booked the tour at 9PM, because we wanna see the sunset as we cruise along the Seine. Before that we bought some bread and fries for dinner below the Eiffel tower. They have food trucks here. But oh boy the bread was so hard, i felt like my teeth is falling out biting it. I ended eating just the inside of the bread and the fillings which is salmon. The fries was fine.

i didnt take the pic of the jetty, this is from google

this is the logo, just visit the website to book before u go

We went to the jetty, our tour is under Bateaux Parisien, which is the most common and widely used tour for Seine river. We thought we didn't have to queue as we already have the tix. But actually we still need to queue, and it was sooo long..aiyaiyaiii. TIPS: Book it early before you go, so that u can choose the time for the cruise. Click here for their website. I suggest you pick the sunset trip, it is soo beautiful. Dont forget to bring a jacket!. There are also other cruises like bateux mouches, but it is a bit expensive.

Eventually, we board the boat, it was a big boat, lots of ppl on it, almost no seats! as the boat started to sail the river, it got so cold! homaigerddd, i can barely move, hahaha, cramp in my legs. Sarah was like 'now its cold u become passive la kan' hiks!. But the view, my oh my, so beautiful. The light of Notre Dame at night, the Eiffel tower starts to glitter, the bridges...Oh what a beautiful sights.

on the Bateaux Parisien

mmhmm its getting cold

see the view?? see what i mean!

Notre Dame at night...from the boat

The bridge, and lots of people

The Eiffel tower lit up and glitter!

along Seine River

The tour was about 1 hour.  On the boat, there was a group of Russian women beside us, drunk and started laughing and talking.I find em amusing, haha made me smile, warm me up a lil..lol!

After the tour, we walked back to the metro station. It was freakin cold, the wind gave me cramps! ..duuhh. We took the train stop at Pasteur and changed train L12 back to Volontaires.

It was so great to have a hot shower back at Aloha hostel. After that we just talked bout the day we had and rest. Our roommates will leave tomorrow..So will we, to Brussels!! . So i'll see u in the next post, Backpacking Europe trip..Paris - Brussels! XOX.

P/S: For Paris itineraries (references) click here!