Paris is Beautiful

We did a crash course of Paris. Spent half a day in the city, and another day at Euro-Disney, and that was it.

I've always had this affinity for the city of Paris. I had a simple course of french taught to me when I attended school in the States when I was 12. I'm so glad, I could put what I learnt (or remembered) to practice. Going into Paris, I was actually not as fearful about communication. But, it did turn out to be quite difficult. I think where the people spoke English, they actually did so quite well. Problem is, they very naturally speak in the French, and stuck with it.

I didn't like Paris because I couldn't get any good food there. We survived on cold food. Sandwiches and pastries, meal after meal. Just two days there was enough for me to say I have had it with bread. In fact, by the end of our first night there, the thought of eating another pastry nearly made me puke. Croissants were very delicious there though.

The buildings and monuments in the city are really huge and grand. Quite a few buildings with gold guilds. If London was charming, then Paris is the prettiest city. It is a very beautiful place. And cliche as it is, the Eiffel Tower is a very romantic place. We nearly didn't go up the Tower, because by the time we arrived, it was 10 p.m. We were quite tired, and not sure if wanted to pay money to go up to a Tower that is so cliche. I'm glad we did go up. The view was very nice. See lights only, but very nice. It was also freezing cold. We can't imagine what level 3 would be like.

EuroDisney wasn't very big. Which surprised me. We did a crash course of all the roller coaster rides. It was great fun! Though, by the time we finished Space Mountain 2, I was very shaken and in one of those low blood sugar, wanna puke mode. Plus the fact that my diet in the past two days had barely any protein in it, I really was feeling quite weak. Our fave ride was the Thunder Mountain. Go for it. I would have gone for it a second time, if not for wanting to squeeze one Outlet Shopping into our itinerary.

We visited the La Vallee Outlet Shopping Mall. It is stratigically located just one metro stop away from Disneyland. It is a huge place. We didn't get to explore in detail. But we did managed to buy some stuff there...like new Timberland shoes at unbelievable prices.

Btw, wine and champagne is ridiculously cheap in France. In their supermarkets you can find pretty good stuff at low prices (not more than 10 euros). We are so sad that we have a 2 litre restriction, if not would definitely stock up more.

I recommending visiting La Basilique du Sacre Coeur...it's a beautiful church. And other Paris must-sees like....Arc de Triomphe; Notre Dame Cathedral. I also would have liked to watch a cabaret show at Moulin Rouge, and visit the Louvre.

We had arrived in Paris around 1 or 2 pm, and had a little trouble at the train station. We were cheated by someone and paid 40 euros for two one way tickets. The fella brought us to a self-ticketing machine, pressed some buttons in french, and then said that for two one-day passes, we had to pay 33 euros. I was still computing in my head if the price was reasonable, and he went ahead to pay with his credit card, and then before we knew it, we had paid him and took over the tickets. Not convinced that two passes could cost so much, we checked with the official ticketing booth, and realised we had been cheated. Thus, trust no one, and as much as possible, buy things from the official people, not strangers.