[L.E.P.A.K series: Paris] Chap 17: Meeting Madame Mona

Alright! That was certainly a loooong rest since the last L.E.P.A.K post. No time to sit and linger anymore. It's time to get up and go, go, GO! Boy were we determined to hunt down Mona Lisa. Determined enough to set it as our goal before dinner. So we walked and walked until we got distracted by the beautiful night view outside.

The sun had set by then and the lights were on. Pretty. 

 We finally found that little turn we kept on missing and was on our way 

to meet Madame Mona...

... but alas, we got distracted once again. 

This time by a gigantic art piece. I say it just goes to proof my earlier point that 

Europeans have a thing for BIG THINGS. Hahaha. 

 Sure enough, we finally found the biggest crowd at the Louvre, all gathered to lay their eyes on Mona Lisa. It was impossible to get a good shot with her when there was a whole bunch of people to share the spotlight with. Not to mention she was shyly hiding behind a protective glass and surrounded by a barricade. Talk about being anti-social. Tsk tsk tsk. I came all the way just to see you, 'mam. 

 Oh well, you're even more famous than celebrities these days after all.

So I humbly settled with what she has to offer. *click* 

Boy do I look tired out in the picture. *sigh* 

Now that our mission is complete, it's time for a good French dinner!

We had enough of walking for the day so we decided to head down to a restaurant 

inside the Louvre. Nothing overly fancy but still a very 'luxurious' place compared to all 

the budget meals we were having for the past few days. All that savings certainly deserved 

one good meal and what better place to dine finely than Paris, right?

I ordered my very first cup of coffee since I arrived at this side of the globe. 

Truth to be told, the coffee was not very impressive which was kind of disappointing since I was kind of hoping to be wowed by it. *sad face* Now, those little sugar cubes and complimentary nougats on the other hand was conveniently brought home as my little momentos. Muahahaha. So Chinese. So proud of it. :P

Now for the recommended affordable dish-to-try in Paris, Croque-Monsieur! 

Yummy. It was not bad at all. Cik Anai being the bread-potato-lover that she is 

preferred this to our another order. 

 BUT! I stand to differ!

Because I was in loved with this other dish instead. 

Yuuummmmy Poelon de moules au curry et poireaux. What?!!?! Haha... or in English, 

Mussels and leeks casserole spiced with yellow curry. Again WHAT?!? Leek? Eww! 

And why go all the way to Paris to eat curry. These girls are not in the right state 

of mind are they. :P 

 But I see no leek and instead lots of what looks to me like alfalfa sprouts. Hmm... 

and nope, the curry was not spicy at all, obviously. Spiced? More like herbs maybe. 

Either way, it waaasss delicious. Well, at least to me lah. Each to their own.

I love it enough to insist Cik Anai to take a picture of me with it. Yum! 

Oh and in case you're wondering about the cost of a meal inside the Louvre, well, the Croque

 was 15€ and the mussels was 9€. Not to outrageous I guess for a tourist spot.

Now that we are all recharged and energised back to at least mid-battery level, 

we're off again to hunt down our next 'target'. Venus de Milo. By then, the museum was pretty much cleared of tourist. Yay!

That gives us time to linger and take our time at every single thing that 

perked our interest. Like insanely beautiful architecture!

The Nike of Samothrace or also known as the Winged Victory of Samothrace. 

Why such a faraway shot instead of a close-up you say? Well, we were left in awe 

of the sight of the empty stairway actually. Hahaha. Earlier in the day, this place was packed 

with visitors as these stairs was the cross-road to different halls. There were people walking 

from in every direction and there were also those sitting along the stairs, at the feet of the statue. There were people everywhere and now, waalaah! A lady and a statue.

And finally! Venus de Milo was surprisingly easier to locate. Maybe because 

we were more calm and less distracted by the crowd. The down-side of a night trip 

to the museum is the lighting though. :(

One last compulsory shot inside the museum. *click* There are a lot more to see in the museum actually. All that we saw were only in one of the three wings of the museum. Imagine that. Museum enthusiasts can easily spend three days in here and still complain there's not enough time. So yeah, this would have to do for us this time around. If the chance do come by again, I'll be sure to drop by and awed all over again. *smiles*

We decided to step out again for a night shot of the museum.

It was a bittersweet feeling for us as it was also time to bid goodbye to Paris. 

BUT WAIT!

Not before we visited La Pyramide Inversée aka The Inverted Pyramid. Hehe. 

With that, our mission here in Paris was finally completed. 

 Or so we thought! 

 Who knew we had one last adventure before finding our way to the bus station. *sigh* 

For us, Paris does not sign off 'with love' but instead 'Paris... with adventure'. We headed towards the one route that we knew of, the route that we came but alas, we somehow got ourselves a little lost. With the clock ticking away, we hit the yellow panic button. 

 Eh? Eh? Eh?!? 

 Finally we found our way to the metro station only to discover it was already closed! Wooot?!?! Panic signal hit orange. Danger Danger! We headed out to the streets only to be greeted with a lonely street and a sad few pedestrians. Panic signal reached bright RED because we had no idea how to go about from here because we had no freaking idea where we were. 

 Weee!!! Heart-pounding excitement. 

 The thing was, we had a bus to catch and if we missed it then we're practically stranded in Paris. Yeah, worst come to worst, we can somehow manage a night's stay in a hotel but still.... *tick tick tick* 

Time to ask for help!!

We quickly approached a young lady who seemed to be on her way back from work and asked for the nearest metro station and guess what!! She kindly offered to guide us there. Hooray! WAIT! Should we turn our suspicious mode on? No time yo! It's time to believe in the greater good of mankind! 

And so we followed. 

 And so we arrived safely to the metro station. 

 *phew* 

 She even asked if we know how to manage our way with the ticketing machine and we said yes as we already have our carnet of tickets ready. We expressed our deep gratitude as she smiled and wave farewell to us. Yup! She was not heading to this metro at all. She just took the extra effort to help us! *sniffles* Together with the guy who helped us ordered our lunch earlier in the day, I'll say French people are so not what some made out to be, snobbish or unfriendly to those who knows no French? Well, not to us at least. 

Thank you Paris for a wonderful and exciting experience like no other! 

It will forever be a day we will never forget. :) 

 Now it's time for a rocky night's sleep on the bus as we get ready 

to wake up in another country. Weee!

[L.E.P.A.K series: Paris] Chapter 16: I Louvre Art!

After all that excitement at Eiffel Tower, we were on our way again to our final destination for the day. According to our 32-page itinerary (in my defence, Paris was only 5 out of 
the 32 pages), we were 'hoping' to catch an evening cruise along the beautiful Seine River.
It was a very 'hopeful' plan because it was only possible if we were super lucky enough to meet with a short queue at Eiffel, which we did not, and we even topped that with a bomb scare. Seriously, who would have thought? 

So yeah. No Parisian cruise for us then. *sad face* 

Instead, we headed straight to here!

*grins*

Can you guess where this is?

 Yup yup! It’s time for some art appreciation class.

 Who would have thought we ended up right under the Louvre. Eh?

Here comes Hiyashibeeps' Travel Tip No.10!

You see there are more ways than one to enter the Louvre. Of course, every tour bus and tourist alike will most probably arrive at the front entrance of the museum, then proceed to line up in another super long queue that rivals that of Eiffel at the main pyramid entrance. Well, if you are arriving via Metro, choose the Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre stop. Upon stepping out from the Metro, you will find yourself right under the Louvre and instead at the Carrousel du Louvre Shopping Centre. Here you will eventually find another entrance that takes you to the museum. The queue here is way much shorter. ;) But but, there's a flaw to this plan though. More about that later.

 But what about the 'compulsory' shots of the iconic glass pyramid structure in front?


Worry not as you can always step out anytime.

See! That's Cik Anai with her canggih-manggih camera taking canggih-manggih 

shots with the famous Pyramide du Louvre right behind her.

Her canggih-manggih shots of course should have me in it. :D

And of course, I must return the favour as well. But but! How can we keep taking separate shots of each other right? We're travelling together-gether and therefore, should take pictures together-gether. So with eyes like the hawk, we searched for our prey target and eventually settled for a group of girls chatting merrily in a corner. With our smiley faces on, we asked them if they can help take a photo of us together and they said.....

 "Okay."

 Hahaha. Of course they said okay.
It's not like we are two suspicious ladies asking them to help us buy LV bags right?

So finally we got another shot of us together!
 In return, we offered to help them take a picture of them together too.
See! Win, win for both parties. 

Noticed the change of colour tones between the earlier pictures with this one?

Well, that's cause the sun was beginning to set. So pretty. *hearts* 

Now for the biggest flaw to the time-saving tip I shared earlier. *sigh* 

You see, after all that photo-taking outside of the museum, we decided it's time to go 

back in and pay a visit to our dear friend, Mona Lisa.

But... but... BUT!!

One turn around and we found ourselves facing with another long queue. Bummer. 

*big big sigh* The biggest bummer though was the fact that I lost my shawl here. What made the situation so heartbreaking for me was the fact that the shawl wasn't mine but my dearest godmom's. *sad face* I didn't even realised it was gone until much later and in the massive state of lost and panic, we looked through our photos and noticed the last time it had made an appearance was in that shot of us together in front of the Louvre. You see it wasn't as cold here as it was in London and Edinburgh, so I knotted the shawl around my bag stripe. 

My guess is that the knot probably came loose when my bag went under the security scans upon entering the Louvre. 

 So here's Hiyashibeeps' Travel Tip No.11 learnt from a costly and very regrettable lesson. MAKE SURE you check all your belongings upon picking up your bag from the scanners. We tend to be very careful when we go through security scans at the airport (most of the time it's because we're more afraid of not being let through the gates than anything else) but when its scans at tourist attractions, we see them as merely a needed procedure. 

 Well, never again! 

 *sigh* 

 I'm still very very sad over the loss. :(

And we're finally inside! There are three main wings in this massive museum. Word is you actually need three full days to see everything inside but all we have is only a few hours, so we head straight to Denon Wing where the famous Mona Lisa is located.

Obviously there were many other interesting exhibits along the way.

Like a lot LOT! 

The place is huge and we're only at one of the many wings and each wing has a few floors. It's really an art lover's paradise. In fact, there were lessons going on right inside the Louvre. You'll see young eager students listening attentively to their teachers explaining enthusiastically about the painting behind them. You'll find art students sitting cross-legged on the floors, seeking inspirations from all that is around them and painting away. Wow. 

 It's a slow pace way to live life I must say but that's not us. We're two young ladies on a mission. Walk, walk, walk. See, see, see. Then suddenly... stop, stop, STOP!

We were 'stopped' by this interesting piece of work in the middle of the walkway. 

You probably wonder "What's so special about this one?" 

 Wait till you see what's on the other side.

It's the opposite angle of the same scene! Nice. Very nice. I like.

Did I mention that the place was huuuuuge? 
I'm repeating myself, am I?

That's because I'm not kidding. I was totally poof out half way through and 

there was no sight of Madam Mona yet. *phew* 

 That's it for this post as I relief my poor arching feet. 

Will we ever see Mona Lisa before the end of the night? 

 Or is it going to be a no show? 

 Till next time. Hehehe.

[L.E.P.A.K series: Paris] Chap 15: Up, up and away Eiffel

We're finally at our most exciting part of our one day trip in Paris. Oh boy, oh boy! First, we rode the metro from Charles de Gaulle-Etoile, located right under Arc de Triomphe to Bir-Hakeim, which was one of the two nearest stops to Eiffel Tower. That shot up there, right on top of this post is a shot that Cik Anai took from the train we were in. 

 From Bir-Hakeim, we took a scenic walk along the Seine River and passed by many 'illegal' roadside peddlers selling all things Eiffel. From key chains to small, medium, big displays of the tower, this is the best spot to buy your souvenirs. We were pretty happy when we found the stalls here were selling the key chains at a better price than those at the underground pathway of Arc de Triomphe. With that we bought them from a stall without much hesitation only to find the stalls far down offered an even more better deal. Dang. So the moral of the story is to never buy from the first nor second nor third stall. Hahaha. Go waaaaay down down down and you will get waaaay low low low price. :P

And finally we're here! Time for a smile and say 

"Hey! I'm in front of the Eiffel Tower." :D 

 After a lot of look-see look-see around we finally joined the extremely long queue at 

the ticketing counter. :( What a bummer to spend most of the afternoon waiting in line. 

First you line up for your tickets, then you have to line up for the lift that takes you up to 

the first level and, and! If you're heading up to the very top, that's another snake around 

the lift area. Boo. No fun. 

 But wait we have to, and wait we did.

We were then squeezed into a little lift that takes us up, up and away!

"Hello, people down there. It's cold up here and I'm only half way there."

The view at this level was total unobstructed. So you can marvel away at the 360º view of Paris. However it of course did not stretch out as far as what you will get at the very top.

Another 45 minutes of waiting later, we were finally at the very top of Eiffel. Sadly, it's dangerous to be that high and windy without any safety precaution. Thus the ugly wire mesh all around. :( The view here though was amazing!

To the extend that if you zoom in close enough, you will the Arc de Triomphe right there.

Who says all roads lead to Rome? The way I see it, they're all heading towards Paris. :P

 Now the top level is not very big, duh. So we managed to round the place for about twice, taking some photos with Paris behind us when we decided to split up. How bad can it be right? It's just a little space. No way to get lost here right? So here I am at one side of the tower and Cik Anai at the other when I heard a little commotion going on. What? What? Before I had any idea what was going on, I was ushered down to the lift area by a security guard telling us that we need to leave immediately. 

 WHAT? 

 WAIT!!! 

 I'm missing my partner! I quickly explained that I had a friend up there but the guard insisted that I need to go and the others will come down real soon. 

 Umm... okay... 

 *worried* 

 And Cik Anai appeared! Hooray. Except we did not have any time to say our 'hoorays' when we were once again told to line up and leave. Now that we're together again, our thoughts head off to other more 'interesting' stuff. 

 Like why are we leaving? 

 I paid 13 euros to be here and now you're asking me to leave after an hour and a half of waiting and barely 30 minutes of sightseeing? How can? How can? Are they just trying to get rid of us so that other people can have their turn at the top of the tower? 

 Umm... wait... the staff and guards are looking worried and they're staring everywhere. 

 OMG! 

 Is there a bomb?!?!!

Gotta go! Gotta go! Everyone move.

 And finally when we were at the bottom, look at what was awaiting us.

Look at all that police cars!!

And look at us still thinking about taking a photo. :P If we're going to die *choi choi choi*, we might as well remember every second of it. Now leaving the tower wasn't enough, we were told to leave the entire vicinity. What's more, the enforcement people blocked the roads all around, including the way we came from Bir-Hakeim. Noooo... we had no choice but to divert from the plan. Ahhh!!!

AHHHHHHH!!!! 

 Alright. I think I have made my point clear.

With that, we found ourselves at Trocadéro Gardens instead. No plans, no pre-planned guide on what train to sit, no idea where the metro was even. All because of a bomb scare. It can't get more excited than this. Well, I guess we just have to make do with what we can do.

Regardless of the situation, we shouldn't let a good shot go to waste, right? 

 Luckily, my months of research had somehow managed to prepare me for this. Muahahaha. Crazy obsessive planning for the win! You see, although the map in our 32-page itinerary cuts off at the Seine River, I was the one who cropped it. So I sort of knew what was at across the river. Thus, I can agak-agak assure Cik Anai that I agak-agak know where we were at.
"Don't worry. Stay calm. We can do this." 

Except when we finally found the entrance to the Metro,
it was closed for construction!! 

 *sigh* 

 Why lah? WHY? :( 

 Luckily the other entrance down to the Metro is within eye-shot. Before we took off to our next destination, we decided to slow down our pace, stop and appreciate some street art.

Mr Scuffy Man at work. 

 Can you see me in the picture, taking another picture of Mr Scuffy Man. Hehe.

And here’s the picture from my angle. :) 

Can you see Cik Anai in this photo, taking the above picture from her angle.

Hahaha.  

 Next up: More art coming your way... meeting Mona Lisa. :)

[L.E.P.A.K series: Paris] Chapter 14: Triumphing Elysees

 As we strolled down the road with a crepe in hand (well I had the crepe, Cik Anai had her camera :P), we soon realised we were no longer surrounded by trees but instead magnificent buildings. When we saw the many al-fresco cafes lining up the street, we knew we have arrived at the famous Champs-Elysees.

 SEE SEE!

Told you there were many!

And they probably had a written code that RED was the official colour.

 SEE SEE! Told ya.

And as we walked and walked and walked, suddenly cars came out of nowhere! At the walkway! Or at least we thought that was the walkway. They came from underground, nifty eh. *snap snap* *click click*

Who can missed the grand Louis Vuitton building when walking down Champs-Elysees? 

Look at the lady in the picture, betul-betul ada gaya, mutu, keunggulan. Truly French. 

Truly Paris. No?

Something really interesting happened here. While we were busy taking photos and being all touristy, suddenly two Chinese women approached us for help. First they asked us if we knew Mandarin, while being unsure of the entire situation, we nodded a little and said yes. Then they asked us if we can help them buy some LV bags and instantaneously we went like "Whoah!!" Defensive mode on. They went on explaining to us that they have bought just enough for themselves but they have friends back home that have asked them to buy too. However there was a limit on how many bags one can buy so yeah, that was why they needed our help.

Cik Anai and I looked at each other and probably had the same thought in our minds. These people are either damn rich or are some con women at work. Either way we're not risking it. So we told them no. And guess what?

They told us they will even pay us for helping them.

Hell, NO!

And after a few stubborn sorry's and no's later, the ladies' faces turned black and finally walked away. Shhh!

As we continue down Champs-Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe grew bigger and bigger. We were figuring out how to get a good picture of it when suddenly we saw the divider in the middle of the road and got a light bulb turned on right above our heads. *ting* The divider was actually there as a midway point for pedestrian crossing since it was a pretty wide road. So while everyone was busy zooming pass us, we stood at the very tip of the divider, hopefully out of the way, and took our money shots.

*ka-chak*

"Look 'ma! I'm standing in the middle of the road."

As we reached the end of the road, right across the arc, we got ourselves another good spot for some photos. And then we were lost. We stared across the road, looking in awe of the majestic architecture before us that was surrounded by busy traffic all around and wondered... how on earth are we going to get to the other side?

The answer was well... at the other side of the road. 
The other side side. :P

TADAA!!

There was an underground passageway that led us to right under the arc. If you are a lover of art, you will find yourself walking pass street artists along the underpass. By the looks of it, if you have amazing negotiating skill, it's not impossible to get some nice paintings for a fair price here. 

As we opened the doorway leading to the arc, we were once again left in awe of pure architectural beauty. The Europeans do have the tendency to "GO BIG!" with everything, from food to buildings. 

They also have a good appreciation of space. I guess another fact to consider is that us Asians are generally smaller in body size, so we somehow see everything here as just big. 

Though I don't think we were the only ones feeling small. :) We spent a little while resting our tired feet here as we sat along the base of the columns and took in the chilly breeze. After awhile, we decided we had enough. It was not the chilly breeze that was freezing us out, it was the ice-cold marble under our butts. LOL. From here, we went back down to the underground in hunt of the Metro. Our next stop was Eiffel Tower!

That's me being all crazy while waiting for the train at the platform. We finally took our first Metro ride instead of the RER. The Metro trains are more similar to our regular LRT / MRT / Tube / Subway trains found everywhere else in the world while the RER gives an impression of a more upgraded version. 

There were cute little foldable seats on the train. Space-saving during a crowded ride yet conveniently provide extra seats whenever possible. Make sense, right? As we sat and enjoyed the view outside, we noticed something odd. The doors do not open automatically at each stop. You have to do it manually. *shocking*

So I'm ending this post with Hiyashibeeps' L.E.P.A.K Travel Tips No.9! 

See that little button Cik Anai is pointing right there? You gotta press it for the doors to open. So before you go all panicky that the doors are not opening when you are in Paris, remember that little magic button right there. ;-)