Hoo hoo hoo... this is one of the very few French phrases that I have learnt from Ding Ying while spending one of my most precious long weekends here that I have in Europe - in the much beloved French capitol of Paris.
Therefore, my surname means "the water" (l'eau, pronounced as low) in French.
And so, here I was, over the weekend travelling a grand total of 1564 km (705 to + 859 fro) and about 17 hours in the trains. But it is definitely worth the trip. Afterall, who can resist not visiting one of the largest cities in Europe?
So, we reached Paris Gare de l'Est on Thursday afternoon and right on the first day of arrival in Paris, something that we have never expected happened. There was a fire in the hotel that I booked over the weekend. Sweat right, after 6 hours of train and waking up at 5.30am. But thanks to Guoqing who was so kind to pick us up from the train station. Also met Huey Chyi there.
And after we finally found the new hotel (luckily it is cheaper) we went out again at 3 plus. Cannot waste any precious time that we have in this big city.
With Guoqing at The Thumb
Part of La Defense
I saw Hilton Paris! P/S: Not Paris Hilton hor. Hilton Paris :D One night cheapest room is EUR
500.
Disneyland!
Ok la didn't go to Disneyland actually. It was at a Disney shop along the Avenue des Champs Elysees, on our way to the Arc de Triomph.
Arc de Triomphe/Arc of Triumph/ 凯旋门/Triumphbogen
Sorry ah, this picture is not well taken.
Anyway yup. So this is it. Basically the first day. Before heading to the Arc de Triomphe we actually had dinner at Guoqing's place!
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On the second day we basically stayed within the city of Paris. Visited countless number of monuments, the major highlights include Notre Dame Cathedral, Louvre and Eiffel Tower! Well many of you may think I am stupid enough not to ascend up to Eiffel Tower but if you take a look at the pictures you will understand why I didnt. For one, the entrance ticket costs 11.50 Euros.
Notre Dame Cathedral
The Rose - behind Notre Dame
Haha yet another futile attempt at photography
Musee du Louvre
Eiffel Tower at night
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And to me the one of the most important agenda of this trip is to meet up with Ding Ying! Have not met her since December '06 and it was really heartwarming to meet her on the second night of 18 May 2007! And after visiting Chateau de Versailles the whole day on Saturday she brought us to see Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge and then Pont Alexandre III where we took tonnes of pictures. And had a crash course on photography as well. Muahaha...
Dabian Ren in Paris!
For more pictures and information, do check out more pictures I have uploaded in Facebook. If you do not already have an account, just sign up and add me in :) search for my full name.
Thanks Guoqing for your excellent guide! Thanks also a million to Ding Ying. Without you my trip to Paris would not have as fulfilling and cheering up experience.
However, personally I would not want to live in Paris. It is actually not as fantastic as you might have imagined. Well at least not my cup of tea. For one I don't speak French. Also I am not a big city kind of person. Good enough for one visit and one good time :)
Oh man this entry took me so long to write.
