Paris, J t'aime

This is a long overdue entry:)

Hubby was never keen to visit Paris, for some reasons he went there with his family during his teenage years and didn't quite like the city, always give it a miss everytime he went to Europe, until this time around I made him.... forced him to made a detour from Cologne, Germany where he's supposed to go for his work related stuff.

Overall...I love this city, and don't mind to re-visit:) Couldn't say the same for him as he hates shopping:)

A friend suggested I bought a Lonely Planet guide, since French don't really speak English. It's very useful and handy, it provides a complete map of the city and guides for places you can't even find in the free guides available at the airport or local hotels...very thorough. (You can find in MPH or kinokuniya dan yang seangkatan dengannya.)

So, here for the first timer like me, I hope the info will be useful.

Tourist spots :

The normal tourist spots ; Musee du Lourve, which you can walk all the way to Champ Elysees and Arc de Triomphe (quite a long stroll, but it's across the parks and I don't find it tiring instead enjoy the stroll very much, yup walking hand in hand can be romantic right? Unfortunately not in my case..hee..hee hubby hates cold..he would remind me every 10 mins or so "did I tell you I hate cold" we continued walking..then he said it again...so it really killed the moment..dang!!!

du lourve- remember da vinci code?

Also, we take RER (the train to go out of Metro area) to Versailles. The palace for the French Kings before proclamation of the First Republic and the execution of King Louis XVI in January 1973. Worth your time to visit this place especially in good weather as you can stroll along the huge park in here.You can visit their website to check how much the tickets

I wanted to take a stroll, but the weather was really cold so we decided not to, you can rent the electric car to go around the huge park at this castle's compound.

the mirror room inside Versailles.
Versailles on normal days, quite a long queue to go in.

Other than these places, of course the Eiffel Tower, you can opt to go all the way up by paying Euro13.10 per person. You will get to see the whole of Paris if the weather is good:) or you can go up the stairs for the first level and pay only Euro4/pax

Makan-makan

In Paris, there are many halal restaurants, middle eastern food especially.

We were lucky to find Belgrand areas where there have so many halal eating places, they even have halal butchery where you can find "ayam golek" it's well marinated and yummy:)) and only cost Euro6 for a whole chicken.

Other than that they have cafes and Tunisian foods available.

In order to reach this place, take the Metro lines 3 to Porte de Bagnolet. Take exit Rue de la Py. The restaurants and cafes lies in Rue Belgrand.

If you have a sweet tooth like me, this city is heaven!! there are so many cafes..you can walk around the city and stop for coffee anytime, the sweet stuffs are really yummy...my favourite of course macaroons and croissant..dont forget to try the croissants here..it tasted extra yummy and fluffy..the parisians normally eat it cold, so I always requested them to heat the croissants. From there on...the croissant in kl will never tasted the same again...:)

Even their McD cafe has macaroons..and it's equally yummy as the one in Laduree, with half the cost of Laduree's, 90cent Euro or a box of 6pcs for Euro4.50, so you can imagine how much macaroons I consumed daily..at least a dozen/day

Fresh fruits are everywhere...we just loved berries and strawberry...it's yummy!

check out the halal ayam golek

Laduree @ champs Elysees, I stopped by at all laduree's outlets which I happened to pass by.

MC Cafe's macaroons..I loved it!! a box a day while I was there!


McD's macaroon

these strawberries only cost Euro 3..sweet and juicy

Flea market at Rue Belgrand , check out the presentation with leaves and all:)

Transportation

Taking a cab is costly (since we earned in RM), try not to unless you think it's really necessary

In Paris, their trains are super efficient and frequent too, the subway a.k.a Metro lines are the main transportation in the city, it connected almost every corner of City of Paris. If you think you will get on and off many times in a day, advisable to buy The Tourist Pass which cost you Euro7/ day in my case I took 2 days pass for Euro15 and it's unlimited rides for their buses and subway and it saves time for queing to buy tickets. One way cost you Euro 1.70 regardless the distance.


Shopping

Galleries Lafayette

well, from my experience shopping in Galleries Lafayette is the easiest especially in cold winter, as you get to check out many brands under one roof, without exposing yourself too much to the cold weather...brrrrr it was really cold then

Plus, the tax refund is easier here, they have a tax refund department located in LG floor to take care of the documentations and if you choose to get you refund immediately, you just need to go to level 1 and the cash will be given immediately, with conditions:

• If you choose the cash term, you can only redeem 10% but if you wish to refund to your credit card, it's 12% (it will take approximately 6-8 weeks , according to a friend who opt for credit card refund)

• In order to redeem cash : you need to provide your credit card as a guarantee. (at the airport you need to bring the form given by them to be stamped by the Custom and mail it (to the address pre-printed on the envelope), or else they will deduct your credit card any amount of cash you have redeemed earlier.

• Dont forget to bring you passport and credit card with you name (same as stated in the passport)

• in case you plan to redeem at the airport, please be there early as the queue is really long if you are unlucky!
  

if you are into sports...you will love Decathlon, a sport shop at the Aquacentre (Metro : Balard), we bumped into this shop as hubby was looking for place to play squash. we bought a lot of ballet stuffs for allysha and of course my hubby's squash and running attires..their local brands and really cheap...an exercise t-shirt cost Euro 4.99 like that...so you can imagine my hubby went crazy shops for his stuff. We went here 3 times during our visit..crazy huhh??

choices of TUTU and leather ballerina shoes, I spent almost 1 hour just at this section

Weather

If you are going in winter.....always check the weather to make sure you are prepared for it, I went in Late Feb until first week of March and the weather was still pretty cold, at times it reached -1 degree celcius.


Extra things......

Lucky before I went to Paris, I met a friend who just came back from her 4 weeks honeymoon in Europe that gave me advice to bring the 3 in 1 cereal, maggi in a cup and also stuffs from Brahims..it's really useful as most city in Europe close quite early, especially in winter and with jet-lag you will probably feeling hungry middle of the nights..so these stuff will come handy.

Btw, good stuffs from Brahims is their nasi briyani...I love it especially in cold winter, all you need is to boil (I put the packet into the hotel's kettle) in case some hotel doesn't provide kettle, it's good to bring a small kettle just to be convenient especially if you travel with kids.

Ohh..if you plan to use your debit card...please please check with your bank if activation is needed..and my experience with Maybank..very bad, i didnt know it has to be activated and knowing this bank everything has to be done at the ATM..u'll be screwed!!!! (sorry peeps if any of you work for maybank..no offense..:) ) I just hope it's convenient and I don't need to use credit card unnecessarily.:)

since this is my first trip to Paris, I hope whatever I learned throughout this trip can be useful if you are planning to go there soon..:)

so enjoy some pictures taken during my trip

a common scene in Paris, people hang out outside the cafe during nice weather, almost every hour we will stop by at the cafe to have coffee, so caffeinated I'm telling you:)

flowers are everywhere even during winter, even in the subway station, people are selling bouquets.

the big chocolate macaroon..yummyyy!

the cafe at night

Seine River - you can take a cruise along this river. Many of Paris famous sights are on the Seine river banks. The list includes Notre-Dame, the Louvre, the Orsay Museum, Palais de Chaillot, the Eiffel Tower

Louis Vuitton flagship store @ Champ Elysees