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Back with another honeymoon entry! I was bent on finishing the entries on Pengerang before working on the rest of the entries for Paris. I just hope my itchy fingers won't attempt to open another travel folder (^^) It was rise & shine to a brand new day in Paris. We were well-rested the previous night to begin a day of adventure :)
Looking through the stack of itinerary. Yes, I'm still used to the conventional way of planning itinerary on paper and printing it out. It took us almost 2 weeks to prepare this & I'm always beaming with pride whenever I see the printed papers coming out from the printers, filled with valuable information.
Laduree for breakfast, pure bliss, lol! We got a box of 15 different flavours to try out.
Prized possessions :) The sales people ensured that each macaron is of good quality before putting them into boxes. They actually threw away cracked macarons - even those that had just a tiny crack were not spared. I almost wanted to ask them if they can give it to me FOC, lol! Don't waste mah, I can deal with cracked macarons as long as it tasted good.
Leecher had the honour of picking up his first macaron. He went straight for lemon flavour, which was filled with lemon flavoured cream & lemon zests. I went for raspberry & boy, it is really good! I took really tiny bites so as to prolong the enjoyment.
Time to head out to our first destination! We took a really relaxed approach for this trip, since this is our honeymoon & we don't want to be rushing against time.
Waiting for the lift, which is really small. When we first arrived at the hotel with our luggages, I had to sit on the big luggage so Leecher can squeeze our small luggage in. He then had to climb up the stairs for there wasn't any room available for him to stand. Thankfully, we only stayed on the 4th floor.
Our tickets to travel on the metro. This is known as ticket "t", which can be bought as 1 ticket for a price of €1.70 or a carnet (10 tickets) at €12.70. These tickets can be bought directly at the train stations. When we arrived at Paris Gare Du Nord, 2 youngsters were "kind" enough to assist us with our purchase on the machine. They kept insisting that carnet cannot be shared and pressed 2 carnets for us. I sensed that something was wrong when they attempted to proceed the payment with their ATM card. So I stopped them from making payment & walked off to queue up at the train station counter (which by the way was located just next to the self-help machines), where we purchased 1 carnet to be shared b/w us.
Our first destination of the day ~ The Louvre! This is located at Metro Station Palais Royal Musee du Louvre. Once you alighted from the station, follow the signs that will guide you to the museum.
Even though we reached at 9.30am (the museum opens at 9am), we were greeted by this once we turned into the basement :( This was only part of a queue to an entrance for there were around 2-3 entrances on this level.
Leecher was grumbling about not having his coffee fix, when he spotted Starbucks!
Like a magnet, he walked towards the store and came out looking happy with his purchase, haha! #spoiltbrat
With McDonald being renamed known as McDo in France, this American coffee chain was able to retain its original name.
The Inverted Pyramid, the smaller sibling of the famous Louvre pyramid.
Directly below the tip of the downwards-pointing pyramid, a stone pyramid is stationed on the floor (mirroring the larger structure above). The tips of these 2 pyramids almost touch. If you had read " The Da Vinci Code" or watch the movie, the inverted pyramid was mentioned as well.
Almost there! Security were present almost everywhere in the museum, due to the large presence of pickpockets. Henceforth, please be extra careful with your belongings as you appreciate the artworks in this museum.
Check out the massive crowd at the lobby area! There are guided tours available (by national museum guides), providing you with an overview of the museum's most famous works (introductory tour is the best option for the first visit). Alternatively, you can download/rent an audio guide to listen to the informative commentary by curators/lecturers.
Before that, purchase tickets first! There are the automated machines available, but we went ahead to queue at the counter since the queue was relatively short.
Holders of Paris Museum Pass will be able to enter FOC (and without waiting in line). Otherwise, we paid €10 for an adult ticket. Free admission is also available on the first Sunday of each month, so do remember to plan your visits :)
| Here I am, looking upwards to the famous Louvre pyramid! More on that later, as we were in a hurry to enter the exhibition hall :) |
With the floor plan in hand, we decided to start our visit by entering through the Denon entrance. Besides Denon entrance, there are also 2 other entrances (Sully & Richelieu) which brings you to different exhibitions though all the entrances are connected once you enter the museum. These wings are named after famous historic french people. I'll be breaking up our trip to Louvre into entries, so stay tuned for the rest of it :)
Musee du Louvre75058, Paris, FranceMetro: Palais-Royal Musee du Louvre (Lines 1 & 7)Tel: +33 (0)140 205317Opening Hours: 9am till 6pm (closed on Tuesday). Night opening until 9.45pm on Wed & Fri
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