Left Switzerland early in the morning for Paris and it was definitely a VERY LOOONG drive at it was already evening when we arrived there in Paris. Stayed in this hotel called the Kyraid Hotel which was a tiny hotel compared to the one in Amsterdam (it was true what the tour guide had said about the rooms becoming smaller as we went on with our tour). However, the hotel was located in a place which was very convenient. The metro stations were just 5 minutes walk away and they had tonnes of Cafe's and Restaurants there.
Got ready for dinner had chinese there, since my aunt couldn't stand the western food anymore. So had chinese and after that we went off to see the Eiffel Tower in the night. This was not part of the tour and it was all on our own. Took the train map and figure how to get there. Thankfully the metro system was easy. So managed to find Eiffel Tower and took pictures. By the time we got there, lights were alright out and it was really amazing. I never thought that this day would come, me being in Paris because since young, you always see thousands and thousands of pictures of it but never saw yourself being there. But I guess this was it. There were sooo many people there and the queue was incredibly long. My parents didnt see the need to queue and go up so we took the pics all around it, trying to get the best angle.
After photo taking, it was already around 10.30, so we said that we better head back before it really gets dark. So we took the train back to the hotel and called it a night.
The next day, we had a city tour. Went to Notre Dame first. The tour guide said that the buildings in Paris were just cleaned so Notre Dame was really relatively white looking compared to the usual greyish dirty looking. If you've watched Hunchback of Notre Dame, this is where the story was pictured. It is still a church that people go to and the architecture in it makes you feel so spiritual the moment you step in it. I know I've been to churches back in Malaysia but this one just makes your hair down your spine raise up in awe.
After all the snap snap of pictures, we hit the road again for some more siteseeing. Pass the city town and the famous Arc de Triomph. and we reached this place to take pictures of the Eiffel Tower. Managed to take some fun pictures there (if you have my facebook, you'll see all the jumping photos), and some family pictures too. I wish my whole family was there to have a picture taken!!!
After that, we were on our own. The bus dropped us somewhere near the The Lourve and we were on our own for the rest of the day. So walked around The Lourve, didnt go in because mom and dad were not that interested to go in and the group of friends that were with us were also not interested. So we just took pictures of the famous pyramid that is there and left for Sacre Ceour, another church. This church was on a hill and the view that we were able to see was fantastic.... It was pretty packed and people were not exactly in the church but around the church just chilling!
After the church, we split with the group of friends and we went on our own. Mom wanted to find this market where they had all the painters and artist. So we went in search high and low, and finally when we found out where it was, it was up on the hill on the otherside of the church. By this time, we had already come down from the hill. So imagine this, we went up this hill (quite high okay) to see the hill and then came down thinking that the market was not on this hill. Then we went up the hill again (this time on the other side) to find the market. This definitely tire my parents and my mom out, even i could my legs shaking already with the amount of steps that we had to climb. The artist there was really nice to see and watch too bad some of them put up notice that photos were not allow to be taken. I guess its all about copyright :P
After walking around the market, they were already tired and was thinking of going home. But told them that it would be a waste to go back to the hotel so early (it was only 4pm). So we said we would go to the Arc de Triomph to take some more pictures, since we only passed it and didn't manage to take any good pictures. Reach there and the amount of people there was crazy. I guess its the craziest site to see being that it is actually a roundabout. Another crazy part of this site or maybe the roundabout is that the people on the roundabout must give way to the people coming into the the roundabout. What madness is this? So means that there is constantly cars coming into the roundabout, and it is not like there is only 4 exits to this round about. i think it was more that 4 (maybe 5) and constantly giving into the people coming in is going to give the person on the roundabout a headache! I think I would be killed trying to cross that street!
We then walked down the town just to have a look. Found LV shop which was rediculously expensive yet still there were so many people in there. I personally never liked LV because of its LV being printed all OVER their items.... to just let you in how much things were, just imagine a keychain that has a small little LED on it cost 150 euros (thats about RM 650). We just went in to show my aunt how much things can cost and she got a shock and kinda hint that she wanted to leave the place. Walked around some more after that, into Toyota shop, some other car show. It was really nice. Paris is definitely a very nice place. Even when everyone goes on about how rude people there are, we were lucky enough that we didnt come across any! People that we ask directions for were nice and friendly, which definitely changed my view on them as being rude.
After the walk, we headed back to the hotel and had a very nice dinner and retired all early to bed. It was still so early (i think it was only 10.30pm) that i couldn't sleep since it was still bright outside so i just flicked through channels till i dozed off...
Morning came and it was time for us to head back to the UK. Some of the tour members were going to leave from Paris back to their respective homes so it was kinda sad that we were all going to part ways. Friendships were definitely made and with the power of Facebook, it would be easier to find each other. After breakfast, we headed to Calais again, go through passport check and back to Dover again. Reached London around 5 and everyone was hungry. Brought them to Kaisu (the place that i went with my friends) and it was good!! At last 2 ko enjoyed her food....:S
Anyway, that marks the end of the European Sampler. Sorry it took so long for me to update the last part of this tour. But there you go!!! Enjoy the pictures....
