Paris through pictures part 1

Paris, the city of love.

We started our morning with a visit to the local bakery and supermarket. I introduced them to crochet monsieur which is still as delicious and oily as I remembered. My parents concluded that the fresh milk in France tastes as delicious as the milk produced by the cows in UK. Now I'm starting to miss the European fresh milk badly as the milk in Malaysia is not as fragrant and nice and mostly they come in powder form which needs to be diluted in warm water.


The 3 storeys RER trains from district 17 to Paris central.


Finally, we reached Eiffel tower. It has changed from the rusty dark green colour from 4 years ago into this less rusty brown. Considering the super duper long queue, we decided that it was enough to just have our breakfast below Eiffel tower. There was a point where so many military soldiers appeared to stop a scuffle between gypsies. Usually if there's a commotion, we would feel very scared but not in Paris where you see tourists wanting to take a photo with the soldiers after they've controlled the situation.


Take 2 of me and Eiffel tower. I somehow feel shocked looking at how long my hair was just a month ago. It is really short right now and fit for Malaysian weather.


Look at the queue! This photo doesn't do the length of the queue justice.


The amount of money and effort spend to get the perfect wedding photo. I think it's all in the Paris package. Won't the bride look fat from that angle? At least her jawline was quite prominent.


My father thought that the street performer was a golden status until it started moving.


Sifu, if you can park your harrier like this and then drive out without a scratch, your father would buy you a car no matter where you're posted. Hahahaha. I don't think I'll pass the driving test in Paris.


We used the underground passage to cross over to Arc De Triomphe.


Arc De Triomphe

Till now, I'm still unsure if we were supposed to pay any entrance fee to go up to this level. The carvings on the ceiling were very impressive and we enjoyed the shade below it. Paris was really hot that day. Temperature reached 37 degree celsius.

As we were in Paris, we had to have lunch like the Parisians. We spotted this bakery which was crowded with customers and bought salmon quiche and salad tropicana. So delicious! I didn't expect so much salmon in the quiche. I think there's a whole fillet in it. The salad had prawns, mango and pineapple in it which made it really unique. No wonder that corner shop was so pack.

We walked to the Opera where our walking tour starts. According to our tourguide who was supposed to be dressed in a purple shirt but he came in a pink shirt and umbrella, there are 3 entrances. 1 is just for Napolean Bonaparte and his wife, the other is for genuine music lovers and the last is for those who came looking for sex. Another interesting history was, the Phantom of the Opera's setting is in this theatre itself. If you've seen the theatre of movie, you'll be wondering where did all the water in the dungeons come from as there were no sight of water currently. The belief is that Paris will be covered with water every 100 years and this coming 100th year was supposed to be in 2010. We'll wait and see.

The avant garde artist who leaves his trademark paintings on famous sites.

Following our tour guide on our walking tour. I highly recommend it as we were led by a local Parisian who speaks good English and was very passionate of his job. Please visit Discover walks for more information. We paid him 20 euros each for his services but this is up to your discretion. The whole tour lasted almost 2 hours and under the hot sun.

Statue of King Edward VII of UK. He spent a lot of his time in Paris while waiting to take the throne.

The place where King Edward VII spent most of his time in Paris.

The price of alcohol in Footsie is like the stock market, it can go up and down as fast as the share prices.

The first luxury hotel in the world - Ritz. The only different which made it a luxury hotel was by offering ensuite bathrooms in every room. Nowadays, this is a common practice.

When the sun sets, people sometimes can see an old but posh looking lady hiding behind a veil walking along Rue Saint-Honore. She used to be a very beautiful lady but couldn't accept the changes that came with old age. So, she destroyed all the mirrors in her home and will only leave her house after sunset and not without a veil. Even after her death, she still occasionally appear at dusk.

The small little gap between the buildings where you can see the Sacre Coer cathedral.

After the long stroll, we did what the Parisians do - relax in the park.

We admired the trees and did some people watching.

The Kiss.

The smaller Arc De Triomphe which was just opposite the other Arc.

Hotel Le Meurice - the hotel where General Dietrich von Choltitz stayed when he saved paris from destruction during World War II by defying Hitler's commands to bomb Paris before German fell.

The general stayed in Room 213 which offered the best view of Paris at that time. Speculation has it that he fell in love with Paris seeing it from his hotel room that deterred him from bombing it up. Another theory was that the Madame of the hotel managed to persuade him from bombing Paris.

Statue in the compounds of The Louvre.

The pyramids of The Louvre. When the pyramids were built, there were many protests as people were unhappy that it destroyed the uniqueness of the old museum buildings but now, their existence has been accepted.

1km of art pieces. Art lovers just love this place.

Many choose to enjoy the fountains.

Time to make our way home. On our way, we stopped by Quick, a fastfood restaurant to get some burgers for dinner and the nearest supermarket for fruits and veg.

Dinner. That's why our trip costs so little.

Next: Paris through pictures part 2