In 2004, my family joined a Europe tour and visited Paris.
At that time, BH and I only dated for 2 years. I remembered that in the tour group there was this newly wedded couple and the husband bought the wife a Gucci bag! haha.. I was quite envious.. I don’t even own any branded bag!I told myself tt if I ever get married, I not only wanna go to Europe for honeymoon BUT I want my husband to buy branded bags for me! heh.. what childish thoughts! besides buying branded bags, I’m just glad that BH did more things for me 🙂
Who would have known that after 8 years, I re-visited Paris with my husband and had a totally different experience!! I feel so blessed and I thank God wholeheartedly for all these things I don’t deserve
From BCN, we flew to Paris via Easyjet We choose Easyjet instead of Ryanair because we feel that Ryanair is kind of shady? haha… that’s our opinions.. anyway, Easyjet’s price is about the same as Ryanair, so we booked it.
We were pleasantly surprised by how NEW Easyjet was.. the aircraft was WAY NEWER than the rubbish AA flight we took.. It was so much more comfy than our long haul flight. The air steward is sooooo good looking!! OMG! I wanna take a pic of him BUT didn’t get a chance to! wasted.. We later discovered that Easyjet was only 4 years old! heh.. so…. take Easyjet!!
At Paris, we choose to stay at an Airbnb apartment It was relatively cheap at US$97 at a good location! I was really glad that we stayed in an apartment because we saved $ on breakfast and water since we have a mini kitchen. There were also supermarket nearby to buy food should you be sick of eating hard and often cold baugette :/ I have no idea why Parisians enjoyed it
First, we went to –
Sorry for the bad reflection on the pictures. This is a pest control shop which was mentioned in the Pixar movie, Ratatouille. I wondered if those rats were ONCE REAL because they are seriously HUGE!
We purchased a 2 days Museum pass $39 euros/pax which allows us to enter MOST of the museums and we could bypass the LONG lines for buying tickets! How cool!
Of course… we went to…
Most of descriptions/explanations of the exhibits are in french. Yes, there are some boards with English translations BUT you got to wait to get your hands on the board. We didn’t rent the audio guide, so most of the time we were quite lost. I mean.. we are not exactly artsy people .. so we just zoom to the more popular exhibits like the Mona lisa ( which is ALWAYS crowded , bottom left pic)
IF Spain loves Antoni Gaudi.. I think France’s fave is Leonardo Da Vinci …EVERYTHING Leonardo is ‘wah’!! haha.. u get the picture. Yes, I agree that you can spend days in the museum BUT you need to
1) read/understand french OR
2) rent the audio guide OR
3) do your homework/research beforehand
…..to fully enjoy the museum.
Unfortunately, we didn’t do any of the above… BUT we have Rick Steves’ guide!!! OMG!!! Our host from Airbnb actually have a Rick Steves!!! I tell u that book saved our life!!! We followed his guide – we not only saw the IMPORTANT exhibits BUT we also understood the history/story behind it! 😀 Phew… A must buy – Rick Steves’ guide for your Europe holiday!!
With the museum pass, we also went to
Pictures are not allowed here BUT I was really lucky to take this clear picture ( without anyone inside !!) before I realised it! 😀 Ok.. this museum is less crowded than the Lourve.. Good to go IF you have the museum pass!
what about the food??
If you are thinking of saving money on food in Paris… DON’T!! I mean.. the food is really expensive.. McDonald is also expensive… so.. I suggest just eat at any cafe. It’s a lose lose situation because no matter how, no matter what THERE ARE TOO MANY TOURIST in Paris… so you will be served the tourist menu ( usually set meals) – It’s better than eating bread/pastries all day long… believe it or not BUT the ice-cream was the softest thing I ate in Paris.. haha… before i forget.. Do try Nutella Crepes..
It’s sold in stores like this and it’s quite tasty!
At this point… I was so stuffed with bread… and really wanted American or Asian or best still… a REAL kitchen so I can cook!!! OMG!
This attraction is covered in the museum pass too BUT the line to go up to the top is awfully LONG! I will strongly recommend that you wait in line ( we waited for 1 h) because you will NOT be disappointed!
It is a long climb up BUT worth every single step or breathe! It’s better than the top of Eiffel. I think we spent a pretty long time there.. and loved it! I feel that Notre dame is the Best attraction on the Museum pass (better than Lourve Museum)
NOW… the icon of Paris …
We didn’t go up the tower because we felt that it’s pointless. When we are on Eiffel Tower, we can’t see it anymore.. what’s the point?? right? [That’s y we feel that it’s better to go up to Top of The Rock in NYC than Empire state Building] Anyhow, BH really wanted to stay until the lights were up (8pm) It was extremely cold and chilly at night and I was kinda under-dressed. I caught a cold the next day! booo!
On the same chilly night.. we also went to .. Triumphal Arch
The background picture was taken on top of the Arch.. the view was great! You got to climb more stairs to reach it ( about 200 steps one way) I think we climbed alot of stairs in our trip.. luckily we went to Paris YOUNG!
AND…It was super cold (as usual) BUT Bh really wanted to capture more pictures… so… I not only caught a cold the next day BUT a very BAD cold.. BOO BOO!!
The next day… we went to the Pharmacy to get cold medicine ( sigh.. i have no idea how I forgot to pack my medicine pouch in my bag!!) Anyway, there’s tonnes of Pharmacy around. One more thing… DO NOT GO TO PARIS ON SUNDAY! everything is closed (think shopping mall) except for museums..
We planned for Versailles Day trip ( Train cost $6.50 euros/pax RT)
Ok.. it was super crowded… we read all about it on Steves’ guide… so we kinda know the more popular things to look at.
We didn’t go inside the palace’s garden as we need to pay ( not covered in museum pass)+it was drizzling+I was down with cold+we had no umbrella. In fact, the Versailles trip only took 1/2 a day! I feel that the outside was really stunning… its interior was just as stunning… a pity that it was just too crowded :/
We spent the other 1/2 of the day going into random museum covered in the pass and called it a day early
The last day in Paris, we went to the biggest shopping complex (I won’t even call in a mall) – This place was bursting with tourist from China. I was even approached by a Chinese national to help her to buy Chanel bag because her passport had been maxed out ( there is a limit on the no. of bags one can buy)
Anyhow.. I was super disapted that I didn’t find the bag I had been yearning for… so I just splurge on a MiuMiu wallet (bad idea.. because MiuMiu is cheaper in Italy) I felt happier after spending money though
We discovered that there’s a GOOD viewpoint of the Eiffel Tower on the top level of Lafayette. Admission is free!!! There’s also a food court in Lafayette which you can eat for slightly cheaper and enjoy the view of the Effiel Tower!
Last but not least… a picture just to remind BH (if he ever reads this blog) that he owe me something… wahahah..
Overall, Paris is just a ok place for us. I mean.. there’s just too many people + tourists. It reminds me of NYC! The place is not exactly clean and people smoke a lot.. and they smoke as they walk!!! I feel that it’s quite inconsiderate!! If I live in Paris, I think I’ll die a passive smoker. eeks! If and only if I ever go to Paris again, I am going to bring a lock and put it on the Alexandre III Bridge…haha.. “Lock u up!” I told BH
Next stop… Venice~~~