Italy - The start of the adventure

Eiffel Tower
see all photos »

Arrived! Safe and sound. It feels strange to visit Paris with friends as this city has always been known to be the romantic honeymoon city. After we touchdown from our Ryanair flight, we headed to the metro. We got stuck there for a bit as we didn't know which direction we should head. Finally, we purchased a 3-day pass for 18.25 Euros and found our way to Aloha hostel.

We had a good experience in Paris as we were approached by an old lady who asked if we needed help. People tell us that French are snobbish people but it sure didn't seem like that to us.

..And along the park, there was a photo exhibition outdoors. No questions why Paris is known as the Arts and Culture city.

We walked around the hostel and found this really tall building. It turned out to be a tourist spot where we could get a paranomia view of Paris on the 56th floor. We paid 5 Euros with our 3-day pass and had a lovely view of the whole city...the Eiffel tower and all...

Next up, we headed towards Luxembourg. It was a huge park, with really fancy buildings inside. There were lots of people just sitting on chairs, reading, drawing, thinking. Geez, we need one of these in Singapore. Another thing we noted was the different kinds of people in Paris. Blonds, Asians, black people and all sorts... it sure is one hell of a culture melting pot. Oh! and along the park, there was a photo exhibition outdoors. No questions why Paris is known as the Arts and Culture city.

After stuffing ourselves with some food from a nearby supermarket, we went back to the hostel and ended our first day of the trip.

_______________________________________

After a horrible night's sleep, thanks to a snoring roommate from Qatar, we left for the Opera to pick up a friend who arrived from Singapore to join us. We visited the Opera (pronounced O-pear-ra). And finally, we can have 2 persons in a photo. Haha... we couldn't do that before with just the 2 of us. woohoo... **cheap thrill!**

Anyway, the opera was beautiful, with a grand staircase, theatres, and exhibitions of costumes and paintings.

We also visited Palais Royal, and found the Arc de Triomphe. Of course we had to take a photo with the arc and for that, we had to stand in between the traffic to catch a good pic.

We visited Notre Dame next. We followed the crowd into the church. There was a certain calmness about the place. I guess that applies to all churches =S. It was interesting to visit such a famous icon in Paris.

We had to buy our train tickets to Florence but to our astonishment, they were fully booked for the weekend! Our first barrier hit! Thanks to my friend, we finally decided to de-tour and head to Amsterdam first instead.

Our last stop for the day was the Eiffel Tower. It was still bright when we arrived and there were tons of people queueing to take the lift up the top. We decided to just sit on the grass and admire the view. There were people sprawling all over around the tower and we found a decent photo spot. Not long after, it got dark and the lights on the tower came on. What a pretty sight it was. I will never forget that night in Paris.

_______________________________________

Day 3 in Paris was spent exploring the world famous Musee du Lourve. We headed towards the Mona Lisa painting right away. A huge crowd was gathered in front of it with people snapping away on their cameras. We walked through the masses of sculptures, paintings and artifacts. We walked and walked and walked and never finished going through the whole museum.

We then arrived at Gare De Nord and prepared to leave for our next destination - Amsterdam.