Mad dash around Paris

First day in Paris: I love Paris!
Second day in Paris: I want to work here! Where's the namecard of that French company I got from the career fair???
Third day in Paris: I want to go home...

It was almost crazy. When I knew that I will have a friday off, I quickly made plan with my friend to do a short trip, a weekend getaway to somewhere nearby. And we ended up in Paris.

Personal experiences

The first thing I learnt about France is the unfriendly people. The air stewardess in the airport was my first encounter, followed by many other air stewardesses. Second is the way Parisians drive. Right in front of us was a zebra crossing but no car stopped. Neither did any car stop even when the light turned green for pedestrians to cross. Crossing any roads quickly became a nightmare. Third is the receptionist at the hotel. We had trouble using the lift and he just made some gestures without assisting us. It took him awhile before deciding to get out of his desk to help us. Before anyone start thinking that we are some idiots, let me describe how the lift works. We had to press a button to get the lift to come to our floor. So, that's relatively easy. The difference is that the lift may not necessary be at our floor when the light on the button goes off. It just goes off when the lift stopped somewhere. So, we had to keep pressing the button. When the lift arrived, we had to open the door (just like in the old movie). It was quite fun but definitely not user-friendly.

Back to my story...All was not lost for Paris. As we were stuck in front of the Compagnie Des Chemins De Fer, trying to find our hotel, a man stopped, spoke to us in French before changing to English to ask if we speak English. It was very kind of him to stop to help us. I think that was the first and last kind Parisian I met.

Felt cheated twice. On my final night, we found a small grocery shop near our hotel still opened. We went in to buy some sandwiches for dinner and bought a bottle of mineral water which cost me EUR0.80 for 500ml compared to EUR0.51 for a 1.5 litre bottle I bought the previous night from a supermarket. The price was not written on the bottle at all!!! The second time was for breakfast on the final day. We went into a Deli's Cafe and ordered pies and hot chocolate. The board said the chocolate cost EUR2.30 but we were charged EUR3!!!

Sightseeing

Our first day was spent on hopping onto the Paris L'Open Tour bus, costing EUR29 for two days. We went on the grand tour to get a glimpse of Eiffel Tower, Musee du Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and other buildings, braving the coldness of the wind hitting against our faces. While we did not intend to get down the bus till we had finished going round the whole line, a glimpse of a beautiful carousel on top of a hill changed our mind. It was a good, no great decision. Not only did we get some good bargains, we also saw a wonderful view of Paris from the Sacred Heart Basilica of Montmarte. Later in the evening, we managed to get on top of Eiffel Tower after lining up for nearly an hour, enjoying the beautiful view of Paris from atop amid freezing temperatures.



On the second day...

Coming from Malaysia, I have plenty of kiasu gene in me. So, early in the morning, we set out and reached Musee du Louvre before 8am. There wasn't any people in sight except for a jogger or two plus a few militarymen. Despite the drizzling rain (quite unfortunate), we had fun taking photos of the place from all angle with different poses. At about 8.30am, we spotted people beginning to queue. That was the signal for us to start getting into the line too. Half an hour later, the door to the museum opened. A long line had already built up behind us. Upon getting our tickets, we made a dash to Mona Lisa, situated in the Denon wing. We found her rather quickly and started snapping photos. Then we made another dash to see Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Along the way, we passed by many paintings, sculptures and antiquities. Two and a half hours later, we exited. We paid EUR9 for this and we never stopped to appreciate any of the arts. Such a pity.

Lunch today was considered a treat. We were drawn into Le Mondrian by its EUR13 plat du jour (i.e. lunch set) consisting of main dish and dessert. I chose poisson of the day, gratine something saumons (baked salmon in cheese). As for dessert, I shared a cranberry creme brulee (which turned into a raisin creme brulee miraculously) and fromage (cheese) with my friend. While I truly enjoy the creme brulee (because it is sweet), the fromage was too cheesy with lotsa sour fruits.



We continued our adventure, hopping into the orange line open top bus. After enjoying the scenery, we made a stop at Notre Dame. By that time, the sun had already set. We decided not to pay to see the gargoyles. Rather, we just walked around the church. We arrived just in time for the mass and had the pleasure of listening to some wonderful singing which we recorded by accident.

We ended the tour with a boat ride. Although we had to pay EUR10 for this ride, it was worth the money as we passed by some famous buildings and bridges on a cold, beautiful night. Although the ship is filled with tourists, it's still kinda romantic to just find a corner to enjoy the amazing view and the peacefulness of darkness.

Third day was rather unadventurous. We had to reach the airport by around 12pm and therefore did not have anymore time for sightseeing. We spent our morning looking for a nice cafe and we couldn't find a decent one!!! Sunday is seriously a lazy day here. What's with these people anyway???

Flying on Air France

I have only one comment on Air France. It was late the two times I had to get onto it. Based on this and the "friendliness" of the crew, I will not recommend this flight.

Nevertheless, the journey itself was amazing. My favourite part of flying is always the lift off. It felt so cool to be able to do that and each time I will wonder how is that possible. As the plane flew higher, we rose above the clouds. At some point, the plane dashed into the bed of clouds. That was when we had one of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. The view was white, a pure white. I almost thought we will see some care bears jumping from cloud to cloud. That gave me a rather wonderful feeling.

Throughout the while trip, I felt that it went quite well despite a few hiccups. We saw the things we wanted to see, we had fun, we took plenty of photos and some videos. No regret bout going there in such a short time though it was really tiring and too much of a pressure when I got back to face tonnes of unfinished work. Sortie.