paris...BONJOUR!

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Paris.

dates back when I was primary 5 (1994) in paris wearing my chinese fake ponytail hat.
I sort of remember entering some sort of palace aka the lourve.

eiffel tower which I did not get on the way up coz I remember 100euros for top level.

so, here goes my 2nd expedition.

BONJOUR~!

welcome to the romantic land of crepes, wine, quiches, Louis vuitton

so we took a bus ride- biggest mistake
it cost 79euros back and fro - 7 hrs from 11.55pm to 6am
the thing is...

we got 90degree UPRIGHT chairs and cramped seats.
It was horrible.

me and tejinder (my other exhange mate) can't even sleep.
to make things even worse, this french couple are like making out beside me.
argh.

where's kenneth?! hehe

so then,

when we arrived at 6am+, we took the metro to st michel-notre dame

It was dark but gladly we are just excited without sleep, without light.

St Michels

it's 7am -.-" at this time, I am usually still in dreamland.

then nearby was Notre Dame.

Introducing tejinder - the other exchange ntu mate. welcome to my site! haha!
the wind was so strong, din sleep at all so pardon my ugliness. I usually looks better :) (100% true)

nice pose! we are having fun :P

after much fotos outside, we went inside.
It was so beautiful!

Seriously since young, my parents are never a fan of cathedrals or chapels.
so I dun remember going to churches like this, this is truly roman catholic.

one word: Magnificient.

Paris was the one that started the 'blue stained' glass window in churches.

so then we proceeded to the back of notre dame:

look at the fantastic architecture!

centuries of work. finest standing.

one thing we realised about winter trees. They all stand in a straight rows and even the branches are well cut off in one symmetrical line. I dunno who did it or the work of nature. just amazing!

told you!

daryl introduced us this round plaything at the playground but i got abit freaked out!

u grabbed on the side then it will be spinning. it's really quite freaky!

Then after some fun, we walked around the area around the seine river in paris.

the ever famous river that surrounds paris lovely sights.

It's especially windy in Paris even with the sun. It's cold!
even the lamppost is beautiful.

sunny and windy.
shit la, I look so fat in that winter jacket.

told you the lamp post is beautiful :D

it's romantic walking down the streets of paris. reminds me of ratatouille because some drawings are drawn from paris streets.

here's some more pictures we took as we take our walks:

flower shop

effiel tower in the background

typical house with balcony in paris.

and I heard each unit cost really expensive along the river.

then I saw cherry blossoms. so beautiful!

we went walking about chatelet metro which is near the lourve! we went in search of le lourve - the largest museum in the world.
not forgetting the pyramids in the da vinci code.

Ohyes did I mention my lunch was freaking expensive?
we ate quiche - tastes like pizza but cheesier and like pie.
tried crepes and fries
costs us 22 euros! = S$44. crazy right?

gosh.

le lourve here we come!

the pyramids is also the entrance. we found out that the 1st sunday of the mth is FREE!!!
being a singaporean, of coz that's why we were there. haha.
saving 13euros! but must queue up and come early then.

there's so many people gosh!
people mountain people sea~ and we saw many japanese too. are they here for the LV mainly?

next photos u are going to see are inside le lourve.

behold the royalty, european paintings, sculptures and so much more.
these photos are so far from the real thing.
you gotta BE HERE to experience it. (sounds so marketing. hah!)

sculptures made from marble and ivory. gawd, why is there so many of those in the ancient roman period? famous michael angelo sculptures.

yes, NUDITY. all of them show nudity.

This is my favourite of all. "Revive from a kiss" winged lovers amour

there's a story!
I love stories. hehe

greek cupid psyche sculpture:
'Originally sculpted by Antonio Canova. The scullpture is a clear representation of the character Psyche and her love affair with Cupid, also known as Eros in Greek mythology. Psyche was a princess so stunning and beautiful that the goddess Venus became jealous. In revenge, she instructs her son Cupid to make her fall in love with a hideous monster; but instead he falls in love with her himself. He became her unseen husband, visiting her only at night. Psyche disobeys his orders not to attempt to look at him, and in doing so she loses him. In her search for him she undertakes a series of cruel and difficult tasks set by Venus in the hope of winning him back. Cupid can eventually no longer bear to witness her suffering or to be apart from her and pleads their cause to the gods. Psyche becomes an immortal and the lovers are married in heaven. The sculpture of the winged lovers, cupid and psyche, are one of the most romantic of all love affairs from Greek mythology.'

Yea besides that, there was a jar that psyche is not to suppose to open but she opened it and died. cupid came and revive her with the kiss.

omg! lovee.....

there are too many pics to show all at once but i will show my faves:

italians paintings was another highlight. Christianity is very strong in europe. every painting has christ and virgin mary. and some are the royalty pictures of king and queen. It's really fun listening to all these stories behind every painting.

understand how the artist feel and think.
what does he/she wanna show in the painting and why he/she paint this way?
omg, the paintings are really beautiful.

of coz leonardo da vinci mona lisa is not to be missed:

apparently her left eye is painted in the centre of the canvas, her smile is so pure, every angle u are at, she seems to be looking at you.

I really enjoyed the italian paintings but I still like the napoleon apartments best!

then we started walking out of the lourve.

it's so huge and enormous. from pyramid to the gate takes abt 30 min to walk out.
tired man.

then we proceed finding the arc de triomphe.
Here it is!

theres a joke really.

U look at the top of the arc. there's actually movement there.
and so I thought they were pigeons coz pigeons are always on monuments.
I told them and they say NO! THEY ARE PEOPLE!

haha so u mean we can actually go up there?!
cool!
need to pay la.

5.50euros. haha but worth it.

coz we caught this on top:

one word again: MAGNIFICIENT!

we walked the streets of Champs Elysées - where shopping prevails
but they are all expensive except H&M and promod.
the rest, i can run away with my wallet.

then I saw something:

a married couple taking fotos in the middle of the street! so beautiful

we also run to the middle of the street to take fotos :p the arc was taken from the middle of the road. I mean it was green man light wat... :x

we finally reached the arc.

then we in seek for our hotel which we booked online for 25.50euros/night/person. for 2 rooms.

not bad.. cheap deal I feel. hey! it's paris, what do u expect?

had those balcony where u can open and c what's in front, below.
paris streets are very narrow unlike netherlands.
and very confusing. coz alot of intersections of short narrow streets.

le view outside the room.

to make this blog entry a little shorter (it's already so long!)
I din wanna make it like a journal.
so i just show where i've been to :)

eiffel towers by night!

arggg so fat!

when it's shiny, it's even more beautiful

bling bling baby! like diamonds made of gold.

eiffel towers submit top is only 11euros. was so tempted to go up with the guys.
me and tej decided to stay put and wait around coz we want to go up with our special someone.

it was couples everywhere, hugging, kissing. romance level to the MAX man!

Ohhh and this foto!

I wanna show to you all!!

it's on my HAND. HAH! lame but i like it :P

then we went to eat in a brassiere. sounds like BRA shop but it's a cafe in french. haha think so? or means restaurant.

i was already broke then so the guys had a hearty meal. whereas me and tej share an omelette which taste great too.

they had cheese with french loaf, quische, beef, red wine.
by the seine river in a french atmosphere.
so french.

I looked tired.

the NEO cousins

it's a common fact that waiters in france are arrogant. they can scold you if you change waiter. only 1 waiter throughout. they can insist in speaking french only then u LL.
lucky we met a nice waiter at 1st.
then we met a nasty one. he was old and face very buay song when we ask for orders.
commanding us around.

I learned "do wat the romes do" so LL loh.

tej asked for something and he said, "PLEASE." meaning?
"say please." "please, I am busy."

watever lah. haha wat an experience.

the only regret is we din eat es cargoes or ratatouille?

going back to maastricht.

Paris is a must-go in europe.
I mean there's so many others pending in my list. rome, italy, prague, vienna, geneva, munich, barcelona and those will blow me away, far far away from my wildest dreams, imagination, fairytale.

yes, MUMMY... NO REGRETS! -fiona tell mummy that.

I just want to capture all these in my memories.

I am so forgetful.
all my travels - i forgot the history, names, stories, culture.
I must keep it with me.

next up BRUGGES, BELGIUM TRIP.

and there, will be another dream come true.

belgium chocolates!

Ohyes, to see more pics, click on my flickr on the left side or go facebook check it out!

live with no regrets peeps.

those in NTU. THE END IS DRAWING NEAR! PERSIST!

char, you know I am always looking out for u :)
dear, waiting for u in paris in may!

weeeeeee!

A rainbow to end my day

12:14 AM

A lit' treat from me

paris...BONJOUR!

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Songs of Rainbow

Someday I will find it

The Rainbow connection

The Lovers, Dreamers

& me

The pot of gold at the end

Must go

Someone out here