March 29, 09 : Chateau de Versailles - Seine River - Eiffel Tower - Montmartre - Eiffel Tower
Bonjour Paris!
Again, i woke up at 3.30 am. it seemed like it was my normal time to wake up at the crack of dawn when i was travelling in europe. if you were already awake, why wasted time tossing and turning in bed?, so i got up and took a shower... i was not lazy taking shower in the early morning, as far as the hotel room was equiped with water heater.. i love hot shower.. anytime, anywhere..
first, come and take a look at our room in holiday inn.. lovely little room..
...it's a room with a view...
..and the view outside the room..
the big mirror outside the bathroom.
and inside the bathroom, with a bathtub! i love it!
..at 7 am, we were ready for breakfast. took the elevator down to the first floor..
again, it was continental breakfast with ..
sausage and ham
fried mesh potato
chopped baquette
croissant
cornflake with milk
umm.. yum??
..bjc girls got ready for paris..
..now let's take a walk around the hotel before everyone was finished with their breakfast..
it seemed like we stayed in the rural area of paris bc there was no other buildings in the neighbourhood. but i enjoy the view and the fresh air... after breakfast, i walked to the front part of the hotel and saw some cyclists biked pass the hotel. the temperature was still below 10 C. how could they stand with that few layers of clothes??
..one more shoot before leaving the hotel for chateau de versailles..
Chateau De Versailles
stepping out of the coach in front of versailles, i was sorry for not bringing the gloves with me. my hands turned ice-cold and i could feel the cold seeping slowly through my thin jacket.. god..i'd better hurry up to get inside the building..
posing while walking to the back yard of versailles..
anywhere we went, we jumped! this was the fun of the trip and it was one of the best way to kick the cold away..
we arrived around 9 am but the guide booked our group to get inside at 10.45, so we walked to the back yard of the chateau..
saw this cute girl on the way to the back garden.. she was cute but looked uncheerful. her dad smiled at us so we thought it was okay to take pictures and tease her a little bit....
the view from the rear of versailles..
hey cutie! we met again!
...กิ๊ว กิ๊ว กิ๊ว...
at 10.30 am, we queued up at the entrance until 10.45 am, we walked inside.
enjoy!
..inside the glass room..
Beautiful Chandelier
toilet
..outside versailles..
outside the front gate of vaersailles, stood group of dark skinned-people trying to sell us some souvenir. but they tried unsuccessfully to sell me their goods, i had my polite way to say no.. when they started to sell things to me, i lifted my camera and took photos of them and then they just walked away and tried selling with other tourists... they were friendly, though.. and could speak and understand simple thai language... i told them i was chinese so they switched to chinese!
..this guy was pretty shy when i was about to take pictures of him, he just walked away not wanting to bother me anymore...
..after versailles, we had to walk about 500 meters to a chinese restaurant for lunch.. the food was pretty good with omelette and nam prick (shimp paste) brought from thailand by our guide and unlimited serve of fresh orange..
..stopped to take pictures in front of a florist's, on the way to the chinese restaurant..
and here after having lunch, we walked back to the main road in front of the flower shop to wait for antonio to pick us up..
p'tang is a big "longchamp" follower..
The Seine river : BATEAUX-MOUCHES
after lunch, antonio brought to the seine river. we got into the bateaux-mouches for an hour for sightseeing the historic landmarks lining up along the Seine. when we got there, the vessel was about to leave the pier but we were in time to get into it. so we didn't need to wait long..
this picture made me think of the movie "before sunrise".. my fave movie..ever!
(and i watched it again before i left for this trip.)
the weather was colder than in the versailles bc of the wind. we stood on the front part of the vessel and we could have a better view than sitting on the upper deck, but gosh.. it was chilly and breezy down there..
Eiffel Tower
leaving BATEAUX-MOUCHES, we headed to the eiffel tower.. though, it was early in the afternoon and the sun was shinning strongly, the weather was still able to make us shiver..
but before heading to the tower, we walked hastily looking for a toilet. there was one with a free service underground. we had to walk down a flight of stairs to get there.. it was unbelievably clean and no stinky smell. the toilet was decorated in an old and classic way. i had my camera with me inside the toilet so i could take a photo inside. when coming outside and not seeing the sign, i tried to take some more but heard the dark-skinned lady yell at me for not allowing me to take photos.. sorry.. i didn't notice the sign when i came in..
after releasing all the burden we carried from the seine, we walked straight to the tower.. i love sitting and watching people here. they looked so relaxed and jolly. some had demonstrated something and not cared if people would watch them or not.. surely, i stopped to watch and take pictures...
we walked down to the park for a better view of the eiffel tower and again we jumped!
..as my life motto, life is meant to live fully and jump for joy whenever you can..
we didn't stay here long and i didn't feel sorry bc the guide had promised us to come back again at 8 pm for a night shoots at the tower.. and i was looking forward to it..
Montmartre
leaving the eiffel tower, we headed to montmartre. along the way, before the coach dropped us off, we passed lines of sex shops and Mourang Rouge. the road was filled with people walking leisurely.. i wanted to get off the coach and walked with them!..
Mourang Rouge
after getting off the coach, we walked into a narrow street and walked up to the Sacré-Coeur on top of Montmartre. it was the highest point in Paris.
.
i love it here. i love it here. i love it here.
i love sitting there among the people listenning to the live music. they looked so laidback and carefree. when i got there my fave song "talking about the revolution by tracy chapmap" was sang. and i wanted to sit there even longer..
we walked up to the Sacré-Coeur and walked inside silently. taking photos was prohibited. we walked along the u-shaped walkway following other visitors.. they were performing a ceremony when we got inside..
seeing the time was coming close, we walked down the same road and stopped by at souvenir shops to buy magnets.. i saw some beautiful printings with different sizes and i couldn't resist buying them.. actually, i wanted the real painting but they were pricey and i couldn't afford them.. the prints were good enough..
these were real painting but.. the price was too high for me!
we got back on the coach at 5 am and headed to a french restaurant (sorry i forgot the name of it).. we were going to have local food today... yay!!..
we had to walk into the little street to get into the restaurant..
..inside the restaurant..
..again, i walked around to take pictures, love the decor...
..waiting for the food..
..this was my most fave meal in the trip..
starting with
a bottle of red wine for each table
escago..mmmm.. yummy!! i asked for more!
beef steak
salmon steak
lamb steak
and apple pie
the sign said "not for pregnant women"..
ummmm...nice!!..
after few glasses of red wine, we started to flirt with the waiters.. and p'tang manged to get a rose and an email from one of them too!!
..we left the restaurant with rosey cheeks at 7 pm and headed to eiffel tower again..
along the way to the eiffel tower
we went back to the eiffel tower in hoping for the chance to take photos of the light from the tower. the guide let us stay around until 8 pm. we waited and waited... when it was 8 pm, the sunlight was still beaming softly over the horizon.. so we had to gave up and headed back to the coach..
in the photos, it was 8 pm.. and it was still light..
p'tang and i were the last one walking back to the coach.. at 8 pm sharp, we gave in and walked back.. everyone was in the coach already waiting for us.. they didn't wanted to hang around bc the temperature was dropping and the wind was getting stronger.. it was colder than in the day time..
..me with rosey cheeks..
getting back on the coach, i slept since we left the tower and woke up again when we approached the hotel..
what a long and glorious day!!
p.s. before sleeping, i had to drink 2-3 glasses of water to flush out the red wine.. if not, i would end up feeling cranky and having terrible sore throat..
