bonjour! :)
paris paris paris, what can i say...
i definitely did not expect to fall in love with this city, i can tell you that.
yeah sure the eiffel tower is gorgeous especially at night when the lights twinkle, the louvre is practically made for history/art fanatics (i loved it because i read the da vinci code :D) and champ elysees is every bit as glamorous as i imagined it to be.
but the city of love is so much more than just beautiful architecture.
on top of it's rich history, i absolutely love how dysfunctional the traffic situation is; i mean, there are TWELVE exits surrounding the arc du triomphe roundabout.
pretty much every man for themselves, you snooze you lose.
then there's the food oh god i have lost count of the amount of bread i had in france all in all.
the baguettes are amazing and i had them for breakfast and lunch whenever i can which significantly contributed to my weight gain in europe, i kid you not.
street snacks like crepes and ice cream... equally good.
sure, some french people are so up their own arse but majority of them are really, really nice and helpful and DAMN FLIRTY ;)
we went out clubbing after the cabaret show and some performers from the show happened to come to the same place we were in and let's just say, i had to keep dodging a certain juggler. ahem.
ANYWAY. travel tales!
from london, we took a ferry to cross the english channel to get to paris.
when we got to the dock, hannah (our tour manager slash babysitter) told us: "the french are really grumpy people so let's all be cheerful just to piss them off yeah?"
so we got our passports ready (YAY FIRST STAMP!) and went through 'immigration', all 48 of us ready to say bonjour is the happiest way possible.
'immigration' by the way, was just three tables manned by three officers each with a stamp, no fancy computers or scanners.
everything was pretty speedy and no, they weren't grumpy leh! they're all very smiley (and cute).
boring scenery photos wtf.
the ferry was pretty well equipped with restaurants, bars, casino even, you get the gist.
2 hours later, we got to paris and hannah gave us a quick drive about tour and we got to see the eiffel tower, the arc du triomphe, the louvre, the champs elysees and the notre dame cathedral from the bus, and stopped for photo opps :)
eiffel tower from afar with juls | gibbo | tom :)
after that, hannah and nuno (only the most awesome tour driver) brought us to a french restaurant for some champagne, snails and cheese :D
did you know that champagne is only called that if it is produced in a district called champagne? otherwise, it's sparkling wine. pffbt tomaytoes tomahtoes.
jac | bec | B | juls | tom | gibbo.
we were joined by another contiki group but they were doing a 46 day camping tour as opposed to our 37 day hostel+hotel tour.
dinner was at the hotel and we all had an early night in. whoopee.
day 2 was a massive day of sightseeing X___x
early in the morning, we went to chateau versailles where king henry lived in after moving from paris because he thought that his palace in paris wasn't big enough for him -__-"
we drove pass his palace in paris and i think it's definitely big enough for at least 4 generations of a big family.
regardless, chateau versailles is huge and absolutely beautiful.
the queue to get into the actual palace was way too long so we just went to the garden and navigated our way around with a buggy :D
entrance to the chateau.
one of the many fountains. juls | B | diluz | angy | lisa.
thank god we decided to wait for a buggy because there was no way we would be able to cover so much ground on foot.
backseaters: B and angy.
lisa the driver and diluz the navigator.
we asked a random guy to help us with this photo and he took freaking ages take one shot.
the four of us were having a full on conversation through our shaky, plastered smiles going: "does he know how to use a camera?"
haha.
angy took over the wheel.
obligatory touristy photo.
the four of us saw them patrolling the grounds of the chateau briefly and it became our mission to find them hahaha.
hottie mchotstuff next to me was being all serious and i was a tad bit intimidated but i meekly went up to him anyway and squeaked "hiiiiiii can i get a photo?"
he immediately broke into a smile and he was so shy about it and asked the other hottie mchotstuff to be in the photo.
how bashful is his smile awwww.
men in uniform i tell ya *fans self.
i'm guessing they don't get a lot of photo requests because hell they look bloody fierce and they have guns wtf.
after us 4 girls got our turn, a queue for photos started forming wtf.
after the chateau, we were dropped off (illegally) at the arc du triomphe where we have a free afternoon so everyone is free to do whatever they want.
arc du triomphe, built by napolean to honor victorious/fallen war soldiers.
the eternal flame that burns in memory of all unidentified, fallen soldiers in both world wars. lest we forget...
we went up to the observatory deck of the arc through a special access tunnel or something like that because we had a day ticket....or something like that wtf.
having a secret entry on top of a normal entry is like a thing in europe, i don't know why but hey, we got to skip a whole stretch of queue so no complains.
errmahgerrd spiral stairs are EVERYWHERE T_____T
the ascent made me tired, the descent made me so dizzy zomg i was clutching the railing for dear life.
i remember i read somewhere that it's a form of defence, so that the invaders/attackers who are coming up the stairs won't be able to see what's awaiting above but the person upstairs can look down.
makes sense i guess.
anyway, it took about 300+ steps to the museum and another 46 steps to the deck.
there are 12 exits around the arc and NO traffic lights so it's pure chaos.
cars are swerving in and out as they please (indicators optional of course) and honks are used so much it's fucking crazy -__-"
nuno purposely drove 2 rounds and everyone on the bus was holding on for dear life. haha.
at one point, he was going to drive through a really, really narrow arc but hannah was going "nah don't do it, too dangerous. you won't be able to get through."
he did it anyway (and was very well received by us so he got a round of cheers/applause) and i swear the bus was 5cm away from the wall of the arc O__O"
hannah: "i can't believe you did that."
nuno: "don't worry, i'm really good at putting big things into tight spaces." ;)
hannah: "i can't believe you just said that."
LOL.
i digressed.
with diego from mexico! :)
we dizzily made our way down and went to the louvre :D
the louvre palace and pyramid.
the louvre palace.
the louvre pyramid.
the louvre; interior.
we got in through a special entry with our museum pass again so it was super fuss free :D
leading to mona lisa.
we saw whatever paintings and sculptures that were on the way to mona lisa but other that that, we didn't have time because we had a schedule to keep to.
gotta hustle yo.
i don't understand how is there a perpetual long queue at the mona lisa.
they should form a barrier and a queue so that only one person can take a photo at any given time.
queue, snap, leave - easy and a guaranteed good picture.
after the louvre, we walked around champ elysees for abit and went for lunch at some random french cafe.
escargots and pate for juls | tuna baguette for moi | french onion soup for diego | crepes for angy.
french bread is so good.
the gold tipped obelisk of the place de la concorde.
about 4pm, we met up with the rest of the crew to go back to the hotel for a quick break.
then we had dinner, stocked up on alco and went out again to the eiffel tower!
eiffel tower | first photo by ben rugers.
everyone was just chilling on the grassy area drinking and waiting for it to get dark so that the lights will twinkle.
out of 48 people, only 10 decided to climb up the tower which is pretty disappointing.
i mean, this is the most visited monument in the world and we're all here!
-__-" ah well.
10 of us got tickets and waited for our turn to climb the stairs up.
the eiffel tower has 3 decks; 374 steps to the first deck, 674 steps to the second deck and the third deck is only accessible via elevator.
we painstakingly climbed 1000+ steps to the second deck but the wait for the elevator was estimated to be 1.5 hours long and we couldn't wait because the coach was gonna leave earlier.
the view made the effort worth it :)
after we made it to the second deck, we sprinted down 1000+ steps to meet up with the rest and got the coach back to our hotel where we hung out at the bar :)
day 3 in paris was relatively free and easy in the afternoon in anticipation for the night ;)
went to the catacombs in the morning but that was pretty uneventful :\
in the afternoon, gibbo, angy, tom, juls and i walked down the champ elysees where we did a little shopping and just roamed around the streets of paris.
doing the retarded walk hahahaha.
gibbo tucking in his shirt for full effect.
lambos are sex on wheels.
random sandy street.
at about 4 or so, we took the metro back and started getting ready for an optional parisian dinner ie our first optional activity as a group :D
our table had me, juls, britt, bridget, mez and steph and it was heaps fun getting to know people :)
we also had 3 types of wine so everyone started loosening up by the end of it. haha.
after dinner was another optional activity, the nouvelle eve cabaret show with two bottles of champagne per table of four or five.
i thought the intermission acts were more interesting that the actual cabaret though.
by this time, everyone is semi tipsy already but we can't leave paris without causing some trouble ;)
hannah brought us to this club where everyone got SUPER loose ;)
things that i remember: getting a rose :), flirting with the juggler from the cabaret, D groping my arse -__-"
i had about 10 whiskey cokes and because they practice free pouring in europe, it was probably about 20-27 whiskey cokes that i actually drank i kid you not.
needless to say, i woke up with the one of the worst hangovers i've ever had on this tour and that is saying a lot.
in the morning, juls and i were freaking the hell out because we haven't packed our luggages and we had to leave soon.
in the end, we decided that there was no time to properly fold and organize our stuff so we just threw whatever belongings into our suitcases and hoped that we didn't forget anything.
day 4 was driving day so everyone literally slept their hangovers away the entire journey through hahaha.
paris was definitely one of the best stops for so many reasons ;)
next up: french riviera!
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