Discover France [ Part 1 : Paris City - Notre Dame, Musee Louvre, Arc De Triomphe, Sacre Coeur & Eiffel Tower ]
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamualaikum wbt.
Alhamdulillah, we safely arrived Mansoura yesterday around 5.30am local time. It feels good to be home even though travelling is lot more fun. 12 days of such meaningful memories. Funny, paranoids, good times and companions.
We traveled on a budget. In Paris, we are given accommodation by a friend's aunt who is living in Villepinte, Paris. It is in zone 4, and only 3 stops away from Charles de Gaulle airport by train. Upon reaching our destination in flight, we could see that France is a beautiful country. The countryside is amazingly clean, structured and well-preserved. We arrived late noon at our destination & decided to stay home as we did not have any sleep the night before. We did however took some walks around the local area. There was a flea market going on and the local parks are very pretty. They have wild daisies and wild rabbits too!
On the second day in Paris, we went out super early to the train station to visit tourists points in Paris city. Our first destination is the Notre Dame. The one from the movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In real life, the basilica is very pretty. The carvings and the monuments are so well carved and preserved. Did not stay very long there. Just took some photos and move on to the next place.
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| Notre Dame. Could you see the carvings and curve on this beautiful piece? :) |
There is a fee for entrance hence we did not go in. Our second place is Musee Louvre. The glass pyramid where Angels & Demons movie took place.
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There is Monalisa paiting inside the museum but the queue was too long & we does not intend to enter so we moved on to next attraction. It was noon and it was very hot to stay in the open air.
Arc de Triomphe was our next visit. We walked from Musee Louvre to get here. Phew it was not near. We took 4 hours just to get here even though you can already see the arc from Louvre. 4 hours including eating, shopping, window shopping and oh, 3 girls almost had their chance to pickpocket me. Or maybe bagpocket. Hehe.
Clever enough those 3 girls. It so happened that accidentally I walked alone. Two of our friends were in front of me. My husband and another 2 were behind me. Suddenly those 3 girls came behind me and cover my bag pack with maps. 3 maps. I didn't notice anything at first until I feel the bag zipper being open. I turn around and saw one of the girls' hand on top of my bag. -.-" I asked my husband and their friends whether they say is there anything the girl took. One of our friend is a Cambodian born in France so his mother tongue is French. He was arguing with the girl meanwhile another 2 girls were fleeing. Luckily she didn't take anything as my bag was practically empty. We heard of the "Magnificent Paris Pickpockets" so we took precaution. I only brought water, a book and makeup pouch that day.
Another incident happened at Sacre Coeur. Upon arriving, I told the boys we could get a tram to go upstairs. As we already bought the train pass for a week around Paris, might as well use it. But they insist on stairs instead. So I followed. Right at the alleyway to climb up, there was a group of Africans (dark-skinned people) waiting. Right when they saw us they practically bolted towards us and tried to show some magic trick. Or so what they called. They separate us one-by-one and ask for our wrists. They tied some ordinary knitting threads and tried to ask us money later. I had to leave my husband because they were too scary. You know how dark-skinned people can be. Their face is super fierce and violent for no reason. I am small even in Asian measurement. So I had to leave. One of them tried to follow me and tried to tie the threads. He pushed me too hard to accept him until I shouted in his face , "Don't touch me!" out loud. He gave up and went away. But the boys aren't so lucky. They gained money from two of our friends but not my husband. He was smart enough to argue that he didn't ask for the magic trick & demand them to take it off.
If it wasn't for that incident, we could have enjoyed Sacre Coeur better. The place is so pretty!
Look at the view. Picture is tilted a bit. Hehe.
Look at this view too.
After what happened, the boys kinda lost their mojo & all they wanted to do is get out from that place. Which is a waste since the chambers are actually free for tourists to enter.
Moving on the next place is the Eiffel Tower. Finally the tower right in front of my eyes. Finally we are here. I heard from people the tower is basically a load pile of iron junk. It does look rusty but the iron is also carved & curved. I mean seriously, how can you curve iron. But yeah. People that built Eiffel Tower did. Sadly zoom in photos are in my DSLR. Now we settle for phone photos yeah.
The Eiffel tower. With Roland Garros tennis ball hanging there. Better photos are in the DSLR as it was getting dark & the sun was hitting on us. Iphone camera does not enough justice here. However, it is a wonderful experience.
Paris is a beautiful city. But there are too many scammers. For Asians especially Malays, we often scammed by them. We are small in size, graceful and not violent. Malaysians are their primary target. So in case anyone going to Paris in future, leave your passports and only carry a front page copy of it. Bring enough money for food and forget shopping. It was way too expensive anyway. In case of intended museum entry, buy a pass prior to travel. They have a 2 days, 4 days & 6 days museum pass at a reasonable price. Pass can be bought online from Paris Museum Pass. That way you could save the trouble of carrying a lot of cash around.
The next day we visited Disneyland. That entry will come in another one. Until then, Jazakallahu Khayr.
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