Paris in Spring

this is a much-delayed post considering i went to Paris in march and have only just posted the photos up (this is because of my parents' refusal to sit in front of the computer and yousendit all the photos i took on my mom's camera). and anyway it took ages to upload this to Blogger!

My mom came to visit during my Easter vacation and the 3 of us (my brother, mother and i) decided to take the Eurostar, rather than fly, to Paris (because 1., it will take us into the centre of the city and 2., it will save us time as we only need to check-in 30mins before). It was my first trip to France (because going through the country to Belgium doesnt count as seeing the country) and I WAS GOING TO PARIS!
armed with my trusty map (which is brilliant by the way because it is laminated so you can draw on it with a marker the route! and it wont get soaked by rain or damaged by any other accidents like fire...) and our smattering understanding of french, we set off from Victoria station in London at noon to Gare de Nord in Paris, arriving at 4pm local time.

We stayed in a 3* hotel along Rue de Provence near Galeries Lafayette and were well-connected with the Métro (which i found to be very impressive considering it is one of the world's oldest subway yet is efficient, clean and airy). We had planned the 2 days we were spending in Paris to be as "geographically-practical" as possible by ordering the places of interest we could do strategically along a route. After checking in at Rue de Provence, we walked along Boulevard Haussmann and turned at Rue Tronchet where we got to Place de la Madeleine where L'église de la Madeleine stands (Church of Saint Marie-Madeleine).
we were decidedly hungry so we proceeded to Rue Vignon where we had an early dinner at a restaurant reccommended by The Sunday Times Travel Magazine - Le Roi Du Pot Au Feu
we decided to play it safe and go for the set menu - we had a starter of beef consume, followed by a beef hotpot (stockpot of beef, aromatic root vegetables like leek, cabbage, potatoes and carrots, herbs and bone marrow stewed together).
after filling ourselves and realising that food in Paris was going to be really expensive (considering the restaurant was supposed to be medium-range in pricing but rather a lot of money, even by UK standards...), we headed towards Place de la Concorde, catching a glimpse of Palais de L'élysée along the way...
Paris is gorgeous in the sunset...
the Obelisque at the Place de la Concorde
THE Champs Elysée
(sidenote: showing Josh this photo the first thing he did was to identify almost every single car in the photo... o_O)
it was one really really long walk... and we were exhausted by the time we got to the Arc de Triomphe and then we discovered we had to climb a few hundred steps to the top!
the view of Paris by night.. the Champs Elysée and the crazy traffic even at 9pm!
and you can see the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Arc de Triomphe (approx 50˚ to the right of Champs Elysée across the river Seine)
goodness my brother has the same cheesy grin that i do! haha...
on the second day, we started off by visiting the Eiffel Tower, the icon of Paris (which is ironic because when the Eiffel Tower was first erected the people of Paris were pretty vocal about their disapproval... ahh... les francais...)
see the lift that takes you up to the first level?it was rather cloudy but the sky cleared up by the time we were about to leave...

we then proceeded to Notre Dame via Métro. A gorgeous view of Seine...
THE famous Notre Dame
a Mass was in progress when we entered
we chose not to climb up to the bell tower (because my mom had done that before when she came to Paris about 23 years ago and she said once was enough) so we fooled around taking silly pictures outside with the facade...
we briefly explored the island before moving to the next island along the Seine where we had lunch at a Crêperie along Rue St-Louis-en-l'Ile. cheap and nice but nothing fantastic... this one was walnuts and camembert cheese while we had one with egg and ham and another with mushrooms in a tomato-based sauce, all served with side salad.
after lunch we crossed to the other side of the river and walked along Quai de l'Hôtel de Ville, Quai de la Mégisserie and past St-Germain l'Auxerrois to the Lourve.
the view of Ile de la Cité from the other bank
and one of the bridges linking the island with the 'right' bank.

and finally, the Musée du Lourve!
and it is HUGE! but not only does it house beautiful and famous art, the architecture itself is amazing!
the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in the Jardin du Carrousel
view of the Musée Lourve from the Place du Carrousel
gazing with great interest at one of the magnificent statues...view of the Place du Carrousel from inside the gallery (i also saw part of the student riots from the window in one of the galleries! it was sooo cool! Viva la France! Liberté!)
the entrance to the galleries where the Italian, French and Spanish paintings are kept - from here on, no photos allowed (and the Mona Lisa is cased up!)
outside again looking towards the Jardin du Carrousel
and with that we went back to rest in the hotel, nipped out for a quick and rather forgettable dinner near the hotel before heading to the shops Galeries Lafayette and Printemps (the 2 mega dpartment shops conveniently located near our hotel). Either it is that my mom and i have lost our urge to shop, or shopping in Paris is just blah. nothing really fantastic about the stores - the clothes seem a bit dated and overpriced and even the food section failed to inspire us.

one last shot of Paris by night - Opéra Garnier opposite Galeries Lafayette. Gorgeous.

(apparently laminated paper isnt fire-proof, or so says my brother. dont really want to test that hypothesis...)