Upon arrival, we booked our tour to Stonehenge at the train station for next day. Phew! We were lucky to get a tour which I guess was pretty last minute. The friendly lady at the counter had suggested another tour to Lacock where Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows was filmed hmmm maybe a minor part where Harry Potter's parents were killed but well the 3 girls are a HP's FANs so I don't mind heading there too cos the price difference was only £2.
The friendly lady directed us to our hostel which is easily spotted along the main road. The hostel is really near to most of the tourist spots. We dropped our backpack and head to Saint Abbey, a beautiful church though I m not a very church person. Oh Bath is a relatively small village with alot of historical building especially the Roman Baths.
Some facts about Roman Baths - The Romans made Bath their base, staying here for nearly 400 years. They built a luxurious spa with baths of varying temp, a sauna, exercise rooms, a Turkish bath and cool plunge pools. Spiritual needs were catered for by the construction of a temple, devoted to the worship of their ow goddess Minerva, and the Celtic idol, Sulis.
Get a better Panoroma view of The Circus and Royal Crescent here. There are 33 houses in the architect John Wood's Palladian-style Circus which is bettered only by the magnificient curve of Royal Crescent, designed by his son, also called John.
The Stonehenge is another iconic tourist spot in UK. I felt a sense of serenity, it is a great vast land and i felt FREEDOM!!!! The strong wind make me feel like flying though my foot are firmly rooted on the ground and with friends around, we had forgotten about the freezing wind! =)
Total cost include train ticket(return), meals, accomodation 2D1N, package tour to Stonehenge( £15) - £95est.
Accomodation is at Bath Backpacker, if you're budget go for this, if you want a better bed quality go for other hostel. It was rather noisy when someone is walking up and down the stairs, I couldn't sleep at all the whole night. I slept better on the train than at the hostel. =)
We travelled on foot and via metro around Paris City. It is actually very easy to navigate with a good map which you can get from the Tourism information counter, try to spot for it in Paris city. There's one outside Notre Dame.
Nothing NEW! it is all in the travel guide book, all the popular tourist spots - Notre Dame, Sacre-Coeur, Moulin Rouge, Eiffel Tower, Tuileries, Champs Elysee, Arc de Triomphe,
We set off for Notre Dame cos it is consider the nearest to where we are staying, the heavy drizzle had not affected us much. We took sometime to find Notre Dame cos it is hiding behind another building, well maybe I'm just not good at navigation. >__<" Notre Dame stands majestically on the Ile de la Cite, cradle of the city. It has a history of more than 170years. The cathedral is a Gothic masterpiece, standing on the site of a Roman temple. It has featured flying buttresses, a large transept, a deep choir, etc. Inside of Notre Dame - The North Rose Window which depict the Virgin encircled by figures from the Old Testament at 21m high. The South Rose Window depicts Christ in the centre, surrounded by virgins, saints and the 12 Apostles. There is a Chancel Screen enclosed the chancel and provided canons at prayer with peace adn solitude from noisy congregration. Behind the high altar is Nicolas Couston's Pieta, standing on a gilded base sculptured by Francois Girardon.
I like Sacre-Coeur which is more magnificent and grander than Notre Dame in my point of view. I like the way the Great Mosaic of Christ is put up on the circular roof. There is no entrance fee but we can't take photo inside cos there is a mass going on and the security is really fierce when they see people holding on to their camera taking photo. We learnt our lesson on day 1 when we visit Sacre-Coeur so both of us put our hands inside our pockets.
The Nigerian(they claim they are from Nigeria and have stayed her for 5 years) try to pull my hand out!!!!! argh I m really angry but still we walked as fast as possible and managed to snap some photos of them to warn those heading there!!
Moulin Rouge - We just wanna take some tourist photo with the windmill. lol. That is it. Gerry told me is an ART for those topless dancing. Well, I guess I don't know how to appreciate it. We had our lunch at KFC and Quick. =) both are Paris Fast food. We had our meals in KFC that is the time where we are the only Asian there. I did felt abit uncomfortable when there is a small commotion 1 table away from us. They won't ask whether the seat is available they will just take the seat. So "CHOPE" doesn't work here.
From Tuileries to Champ Elysee and finally Arc De Triomphe. Well Tuileries is a VAST and harmonious expanse of the Concorde square at one end and the Grand Louvre at the other. The garden has a huge collection of statues. From Tuileries, we passed by Place de la Concorde.
It is a long walk from Tuileries to Champ Elysee before we finally reached those BRANDED stores.... is window shopping for us! though it will be cheaper to get LV here!
Eventually, you will reach Arc De Triomphe at the end of Champ Elysee Arc De Triomphe is now the customary starting point for victory celebrations and parade but it is always flooded with tourists around it taking NICE significant photo during the day or evening lighting. It is a good spot to catch the night scene of Eiffel Tower.... we did that at 10pm on the next day with heavy rain and strong WIND. Our fingers were numb, the umbrella is spoilt but we were satisfied. The light we saw is white.
Eiffel Tower is originally built to impress visitors to the Universal Exhibition of1889, it was meant to be a temporary addition to the Paris skyline. It is really impressive when standing beneath the chunk of iron while climbing up EIffel, I wonder how is this build in the past imagine 1889 technology. We managed to conquer Eiffel Tower 1st level at 57m, 360 steps and 2nd level on foot. It is 115m , separated from the first level by 359 steps.
Paris Tourist Spots mission accomplished!
Total Cost on lodging, food and transport - £280 Accomodation is at an apartment called PariSummer which cost almost the same at staying in a hostel. Around €25 per person. It is small but it has all the essential facilities - Bathroom, toilet, kitchen, washing machine, internet, free call to SG!, ironing board.
I had arrived in Paris at 0900. Abit hard to navigate cos of the French Name. Anyway, I met a Paul passer-by who leaded us to Sacre Coeur. But but but Poor us, we came across a group of blacks who insisted to tie somthing like french band on our finger then on our wrist. 2 blur sotong not enough of sleep, were been extorted money from them. They insist note but but but we insisted that we are BROKE with only COINS. I poured out all the coins i have in my purse and there are no note inside....We cursed at them and simply become alert of our surrounding...
Backview of Paul, a decent nice French Guy!
This is our apartment - dining cum sleeping cum cooking cum showering area
the Lodging.
The place we're staying has free internet, free phone call to SG landline!!!! wohooo...so happy we made phonecall back home cos is using internet phone. Even though the apartment is rather or very small which look like Ikea display with bed on top, kitchen below, separated toilet and bathroom on the left and right. A desk, a cofy table, 3 chairs, iron, ironing board, salt, olive oil, utensils, microwave, fridge, washing machine, etc. It is like a complete house! Both of us were amazed at how small the house like yet it has whatever stuffs you need. It cost 150euro for 4d3n shared among the 2 of us. [too bad the booking site had closed, however, I still would recommend to stay in apartment which is cheaper compare to hotel.]
explore Paris.
We had decided to explore the food market in 4 and 5 district. We had bagutte along the way and tried out the Mcdonald over there. The fries, the burger and the coke taste different. Guess they don't fry the fries in hot oil, they bake it in oven instead, sprinkle with little salt, the buns are different too and the coke doesn't taste as sweet or weird as in sg.
Look at the colour of the fruits!
Somehow, we were lost in the district took sometime to make our way to Louvre which is near to where we are staying. While finding our way, we saw Saint Michael Church, Pantheon, University of Paris, Jardin du Luxembourg, etc
The Pantheon was built after Louis XV recovered from a desperate illness in 1744. It is to honour Sainte Genevieve. With the revoluntion, the church was turned into a Pantheon - a location for the tombs of France's good and great.
We were excited to see part of the Da Vinci scene pop right in front of our eyes. The pyramid! The popular new main entrance, designed by the architect I M Peo, was opened in 1989.
It is a romantic city which alot of us know. I got a traveller partner all the way from Singapore. It is always fun and exciting to travel abroad not alone but with a friend. You can share the joy, woes and you won't need to face the black alone. I m not trying to be racist here! The truth was we were cornered by a group of black outside Sacre Coeur on our 1st day of arrival. Well it did put both of us on 100% alert while travelling inParis.
It had been a good delightful trip, we did met nice local people, some who was overly friendly, some just walked up to us when we seemed lost, some are rude too. Paris is a Romantic City not only of the beautiful building structure but the surrounding, the ambience, the variety colourful flowers selling at many florists in Paris, the lovey dovey couples express their love in any corner of the street- sitting at the cafe, traffic light, at Eiffel Tower, etc. I think it does make a difference to the city!
It is still worth a visit even though it is a heavily commericalise tourist spot..... You may move on from Paris to other part of France. A 2 days tour around Paris is good enough, you may consider getting a day transport pass for 2 days. 1 day pass which cover Zone 1 -3 cost around 8.80euro. I think you can check out with the staff or online at RATP Paris metro for more info.
Thing to take note of at Paris The local speak little English. If you are exploring Paris in SPRING/SUMMER(cos sunset at 9pm), here is my recommendation for 2 days tour. 1st day arrive Paris in the morning Visit to Notre Dame spend around 3 hours before heading to Musee Du Louvre spend around 2hours and from Louvre walk along Jardin Des Tuileries, there are alot of statues around the vast garden. From there you may move on to Elysees Champ where all the branded good pop up like LV, Gucci, etc. You may want to climb up ARC DE Triomphe Etoile, entrance fee apply. Adult - 11euro, student 9.50euro.
From ARC DE Triomphe, you can catch a nice view of Eiffel tower from far which I greatly suggest that you go there at night to catch the lighting effect of Eiffel Tower at night. I went up at 9:30pm and explore around before making it to the top of the Arc and saw the magical lighting effect on Eiffel Tower. It look stunning and beautiful. (can leave ARC DE Triomphe till evening)
Instead of ARC DE Triomphe, you may take metro to Eiffel Tower, climb up the stairs or take a lift. Do a bit of exercise instead cos the cold, freezing wind will make you climb faster and you won't perspire too. Catch the day Eiffel Tower from near and a night Eiffel from far and high on the ARC DE Triomphe will allow you to catch the light up Eiffel Tower.
2nd day - Try out all the pastry, bagutte, gelato around Paris will complete your stay!!!! lol
