On the second tripped to Europe continent, we chose to visit France and Belgium for a week stayed, although I feel that Paris alone deserves a week. We still keep at 3 days per city rules for each trip, even so we reserved for Ghent and Bruges during our stay at Brussels.
Belgium is a small country, yet there are many places that worth visits the Flemish region or you may extend further to Amsterdam or Cologne. But hey! we tried to avoid '
6 cities in a week' or
'10 countries in 2 weeks' of frenetic and restless kind of travelling. Let's travel leisurely!
Our outbound flight to Charles de Gaulle International Airport departed half-past eleven at night. The flight touched down half-past six in the morning. We had booked a private limo transfer to Timhotel Gaite in Montparnasse to avoid chaos in early morning. As our room is not ready yet, after let our luggage kept safe, we started the day with the
Montmatre art attack tour!!
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| Yeaahhh!! Dah sampai Paris... |
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| No 8, Rue d' Odessa, Montparnasse |
It advisable to get Paris Museum Pass that covers most of the museums around Paris, including the Louvre. Separate ticket requires for the Eiffel Tower though. We also bought the 2-days Visit Pass for the Paris Metro. Embarked into metro No. 12 at Montparnasse-Bienvenue station, we headed to Pigalle.
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| Friendly staff that guided me to purchase the metro pass |
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| Err... nak masuk jap bole tak? |
From Pigalle, we walked north-west to recognize the red windmill, the trademark of
Moulin Rouge. To the right is the
Musee de l’Erotisme. Hahahahah... that's how we started our Paris journey. :-P
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| Nope! We didn't go into that museum! |
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| The famous cabaret in Paris |
Down to Rue Lepic, we searched high and low for
Van Gogh's house. Then, walked up until we reached
le Moulin de la Gallete where a windmill caught our attention.
Wiki: In the late 19th century, working class Parisians would dress up and spend time there dancing, drinking, and eating galettes into the evening.
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| Hint: The unit no.54 is exactly at the Rue Lepic corner |
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| Van Gogh lived in this house with his brother, Theo |
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| Moulin Blute-Fin windmill built in 17th century |
Then we continued to walk along Rue Norvins towards the east until at Rue Azais junction. In between,
Place du Tertre has many souvenirs shops, cafes and a lot of art galleries/shops, hence this walking tour named
Montmatre art attack!
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| Street performers who busks for money |
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| Cobbled square, a hangout for buskers and artists painting visitors' portraits. |
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| We bought some of the arts painting |
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| A lady selling flowers while doing music performance |
Finally, we reached to our final destination in Montmartre, the Sacré-Cœur. However, long lines at the entrance deterred us to hop in. Rather, we had packed-turkish kebab while enjoying the stunning view of Paris from the stairs.
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| Church of the prestigious Montmartre Abbey built in 1147 |
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| Visitors spend time enjoying the scenery |
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| This man displayed the skill of weighing the ball while climbing the pole |
We embarked to a inclined railway station using funicular down hill before went back to hotel to rest.
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| Inside the Funiculaire de Montmartre |
The day isn't ended just yet. We continued to explore other part of city, Champ de Mars and Challiot before get into the line of Eiffel Tower tour in the late evening time slot.
We embarked to Paris Metro M6 to stop at Cambronne station instead of Champ de Mars. We walked north-east to Ecole Militaire and wanted to stroll along grassy field
Parc du Champ de Mars and enjoyed the breath-taking view of
Eiffel Tower.
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| Jom jalan-jalan... |
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| Jom main gelongsor... |
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| Viewing the École Militaire a vast complex of buildings housing various military training facilities |
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| Facing the opposite site to get Eiffel Tower in the background |
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| Get something for snacks... ice creams? |
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| A long line for buying tickets, luckily we bought its online |
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| Sculpture of Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, who inspired this tower |
While waiting for
Eiffel Tour time slot, we hopped-on the Bateux-Parisians boat along the
Seine river for about an hour cruise passing through several recognized structures, such as located by the river bank. They do provide lunch and dinner cruise for 1.5 and 2 hours, respectively. Even so we had torayaki and crepe for the dinner after the cruise and walked across seine river towards
Palais de Challiot @ Trocedero
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| I must say this experience was among the magical |
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| Our cruise boats begin their journey as the sun sets |
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| Located at the foot of Eiffel Tower |
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| Eiffel Tower at night |
We bought online tickets to climb to the 2nd floor of Eifel Tower. To go to the top, we bought lift-access tickets at the second floor. After spending around an hour to enjoy the view and back to hotel by taxi. Even though we were too lethargic the moments on the first day in Paris truly precious.
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| Alaaa... tak sampai plak! |
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| The city view from the tower |
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| The lighting turns on after sunset |
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| Among the prominent persons that involved in the erection activities |
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| At the top of the Eiffel Tower |
On the second tripped to Europe continent, we chose to visit France and Belgium for a week stayed, although I feel that Paris alone deserves a week. We still keep at 3 days per city rules for each trip, even so we reserved for Ghent and Bruges during our stay at Brussels.
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