After walking for ages along Rue L’universite, we finally saw The Tower!I have been told by most people that it is nothing special but I was still very impressed.
The long queue to the top of the tower and back to the bottom took forever.
The Tower at night.. 
The lights that the Parisians deteste...
Saying goodbye to the Tower ..au revoir..
We pop by The Louvre before the Tower, decided not to go in cause we wanted to see the Tower before it got dark. 
Arc D’Triomphe (take 101..) 
The start of the second day at the Notre Dame Cathedral.
The climb to the bell towers left me breathless.
The panaromic view and first sight of the Eifel Tower in the distance.
The bell ringers.. 
The start of our first day was a bit of a struggle. First at the airport trying to find change to use the automatic machine because we couldn’t be arsed to queue up. When we reached the city center we got a wee bit lost trying to find the hotel.
Finally found the Hotel. Basic but very comfy and the location is really good.
Spent the rest of the day walking up to the Sacred Heart Basilicca (Sacre Couer).
The climb..
PJ needs to keep up with Ef..
Madames and Messieurs chilling out at the cafes..
Note the Madame with her legs up on the chairs. So cosy...
Ef engrossed with the music boxes.
Paris City of Crepes… 
Food to keep us going…
Ef kept her promise to eat at a Kebab shop who helped us find our way when we were lost.
Eating croissant by River Sienne..
Other Random pics… 
Once more thanks for bearing with me, Ef and sorry for being such a lousy photographer.
-End of Part 1-
Epilogue
Paris is a fabulous city.
I thought it would probably be like London but there is something very unique about Paris.
Maybe it is the language.
Maybe it is the Parisians.
It felt really nice to hear French people speak French.
Parisians are infamous for being a bit of a snob. They have the ‘I am so proud I am a Parisian face.’ They don’t smile. They don’t pretend to be nice. They hate the Eifel tower. They seem to not like tourist very much. Well, at least they are not pretentious.
Paris is the City of Smokers. I think virtually everyone smokes there. And I think you can smoke almost anywhere. Probably the only place with No Smoking sign is the Eiffel tower.
The elderly Parisians love sitting outside the cafes for hours. The thing about cafes here is that the chairs and tables are arranged in a straight line outside the cafe. Probably for people watching purposes. I have never seen this anywhere else. Its brilliant. You can people watch without being too self conscious cause everyone is doing the same.
The girls there are all really pretty and slim, a bit of a contrast from the wide variety of girls that you see here in England. It makes me wonder how they get those figures with all the croissants, crepes and patisseries lurking around practically everywhere.
I don’t think anyone can starve in Paris. There is food everywhere calling out to you 'Eat me. eat me!' .
This short trip to Paris is really memorable. Fabulous city with a good travel buddy.
I love how we sometimes stumble onto something interesting.
I love how we sometimes annoy each other with good humour.
I love it that we watch out for each other in the dodgy metros.
I love it that we were both more of travellers rather than tourist.
I think this trip was great because it was not overloaded with being overly touristy. It was a quality trip. Not about how much we see.
But how much we discovered – about the city and more importantly ourselves.
Unforgetable...
- Le fin -
15 comments:
So you went to...all the same places as I did and took...some almost identical photos.
That's a bit wierd, I guess.
Ok, so this commenting linking malarkey is rubbish.
really...
great travellers (not tourist.) think alike. ;-p
but i reckon you guys probably didn't spend ages taking silly pics like us two.
and tell ef the eiffel tower pic is a good pic!! it took me ages to get it right!
Which eiffel tower pic? The one with her finger on top of it is indeed great - it made me laugh, at least. The ones in this post - the second and third ones - I have VERY similar photos, taken from behind that same tree. Mine never made it to my site though because they were rather rubbish :-(
I have also decided that it's impossible to take a really good picture of the arc d'triomphe from where you did because there's always traffic, and traffic is ugly. I had one like that up on my site, but after reaching this decision it *magically* disappeared ;-)
I do have one thing to ask - how did you get up the bell towers at Notre Dame? We searched and searched and couldn't find any way up. It could be because we are blind, it could be because the entire place was being invaded by Japanese school parties and my partner in crime was unable to keep a straight face...i don't know...
It's a shame because I really wanted to see the view from up there - there's a fairly famous photo of Paris that I'm pretty sure was taken from one of the bell towers and I wanted to try and emulate it. But hey, you can't always (or even normally) get what you want.
pj.. why are there lots of pictures of me up on ur blog ??!! Put pictures of yourself up !
I soooo wanna visit paris one dayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. it looks soooooooooooo lovemantic!!!!!
ef.. that's wat you get for travelling in twos man. very few pics of you two together!!
and pj...
"I love how we sometimes stumble onto something interesting.
I love how we sometimes annoy each other with good humour.
I love it that we watch out for each other in the dodgy metros.
I love it that we were both more of travellers rather than tourist."
did you came up with that yourself??? THAT IS SOO COOOOOOOL... i love them man!! they are...brilliant! hahahahah...
just the two of us was perfect. If u travel in 3s, there'll prob be a love-hate triangle and one person will feel left out at one time or another. Travelling in 4 and u'll break up into pairs anyway. Travelling in 5s and up always need some kind of group-hug management. When u get lost with a group of people, although it can be comforting, it looks stupid man... having a bunch of tourists round in circle..looing at one map. And there's probably 1-2 people trying so hard to understand it while the rest of us stare blankly through it. (PJ was the guide on this trip, i'm proud to say.. i can't read maps).
Where were we....
Oh yes, with 2 people, there's no majority vote so ur voice is always heard! 5555555555555555555. u stop when u want to, eat whenever, wake up whenever (which we did at the perfect 10am - just in time for lunch).
simon, yes the one with ef + finger + tower. ;-)she keep sayin its a bad pic. its a masterpiece!
i know what you mean about the arc d'triomphe. i had to do it like God knows how many times until miss ef was satisfied. she wanted it just her and the arc. (almost impossible task!)
the bell tower of notre dame is just by the side entrance. not in the church. we stumbled onto it actually on our way to get crepes.
to get to the bell tower,turn right when you come out from the church's main entrance. it is opposite some shop selling crepes and souveneirs.
you can always go there again. just jump on the eurostar from waterloo. ;-p
ya japanese/korean tourists were everywhere! i think ef and i could have joined them easily.
france is such a fab country. i wanna see the outskirts next time!
ef, your pics are up cos you are more photogenic!
professional photographer simon brent thinks ef-iel tower pic is 'great'! you have to be convinced now.
stella, its not really that romantic really. maybe cos i went with ef. its fabulous!
fel, of course i came up with that myself. i am brilliant! hahaha..
and couldn't agree more with natra's theory. 2 is company 3 is crowd. anything more than that will be headache. never travel in big groups cos you will end up being a tourist. even numbers is always good. so that no one gets left behind. xx
oh !! so Simon is Simon Brent?
sounds so familiar? hmmm.... :D
pj, ur story is a bit.. wrong. After we walked around the inside of notre dame twice looking for the tower, we gave up, but i wanted to see the back of it (the round side) so we went around the corner and saw a major queue thennnn we realised that was the way up to the top.
forgot to say.. french kids are actually nicer than brits.. as in, less noisy.
and.. there were lots more cool people... hip-hop style dressings.. which fel would have liked but u know... they might look cool in the movie but they scared me on the streets. (ToT). Thank god i had pj to protect me.
oh ya thats true, you wanted to see the back of it. dunno why i kept thinkin we were looking for crepes. maybe i was lookin for crepes. hahaha... i miss crepes..
my story is not wrong. just my version. its interesting how differently people remember things. remember Amitavile Horror? Houses don't murder people, people murder people. its crazy that all 4 of us remembered it differently when we watch the same movie.
those kids freaked me out. thank God you were there, ef.. seriously..
it is my secret dream to sip wine on the streets of paris one day with a parisian mademoiselle...only that i don't speak a word of french :D
hmm... i still ike bigger crowd. 2 is just too...dangerous. ahahhaa.. i find safety in numbers. ho ho ho...
Yes, I am indeed guilty of being that Simon. Professional photographer though? I wish.
derek..u dun need to know french in paris. they all speak english. and body language is adequate. ;-)
fel, i think it is easier to run away with smaller numbers. ;-p
simon, i really think u should send some of your pics for competition. you never know where they might lead u...
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