BIENVENUE EN FRANCE!

Bonjour! From London to France...in just under 2 hours, via the Eurostar train. We went to St Pancreas International Station, had our morning breakie while watching the early crowd on public transport, it was a sight to see. There is even an artist playing on the public piano and i must say he's a bloody genius in music! My brother and I boarded the 

Winnie (French), Yoke Leen, Hao and myself in the night time streets of Paris

Eurostar for the first time and our cabin was a Premium Economy which means we have more room space and meals served on board by this French dude. His English skills were exceptional and yet super polite. There were magazines to read, electricity sockets to recharge our phones on board.Plain and chocolate croissants, butter, jam, rolls, coffee-tea were served on board. We had second servings too! Ha ha!



Before we could doze off, the train informed us that we are pulling into Gare du Nord 

Basillica Sacre Coeur

station. We didn't even feel that we were travelling in such a high speed train. There was nothing much to see on Eurostar as it goes through the underwater tunnel.Upon arriving at Gare du Nord, it was a greasly sight. Behold! There were many scammers and people trying to con tourists at this station. Grab tight on the bags and look around. We quickly move out from the station with our bags to check into St Christopher's Inn Hostel around the corner. Our friends, Yoke Leen & Hao arrived in earlier from Germany to meet up with us. It was nice to catch up again with Leen as she was my junior band member in high school. First stop was Basillica Sacre Coeur. Our lunches were straight away digested from walking up and down the hill. I stopped by to buy a box of French home made cookies with its decorated tin box.

The trio under the Eiffel Tower at night! Beautiful!

At night we headed to Eiffel Tower and it was beautiful with lights lit up. There was tight security in most tourist attractions.
The following days, we took the subway to visit Notre Dame Cathedral, Arc de Triumph, streets of Champs Elysees, Palace of Versailles, Musee du Louvre, Galleries of Lafayette and french food testing!

Trying to find the Rose Line at Louvre (from the movie Da Vinci Code)

Arc de Triumph.

Desserts are a must for sweet tooth lovers- such as praline, macaroons, croissants, eclairs, creme brulee (I had it almost every meal!) and Laduree Pattiserie is a must to visit! Of course it comes with a long queue! We were lucky enough to get a free fruit tart when the waiter who served us accidentally charged us less for the bill. I couldn't care less as they are earning profits from tourists everyday so what does it matter for a small fruit tart! Bleh!

Those who love luxurious branded goods, Paris is a place to buy without VAT, you need to claim the VAT at the airport which is a pain in the a**. The queues were long and service is super slow. It took us a long time to clear immigration and the airport isn't impressive at all. Overall Charles de Gaulle Airport is like a shape of a donut. Duty free stalls are limited and it was plain compared to even an Asian airport. Anyway it was a good experience in France for the first time with my buddies from Germany. My brother felt terrified and daunting when he was approached by the gypsies and strangers at the train stations and public. I find it dodgy too compared to when we were in London. We had to everytime look out for pick pockets and children begging for money or signing a petition (scam! beware!) After spending couple of days in the country, good times must come to an end.

Adieu paris! That was my travel journey for the year of 2013 ....