Honeymoon: First Night in Paris

 Departure to Amsterdam

Arrival at Schiphol Airport

First meal in Amsterdam

From Amsterdam to Paris
 *******

I hope no one is suffering from post long weekend blues. The 4 days spent at home was absolutely fantastic. I spent quite a lot of time in front of the comp researching on our trips. Yes, after a grand 9 months working my ass off this year, we are heading to Hong Kong for a short trip in Sept. I'm looking forward to re-visiting Hong Kong again since our last trip was way back in 2008. Anyway, from where I left off previously, we did a quick freshen up and roamed the streets of Paris.

 Arc de Triomphe - the first thing that we saw once we reached the main road. This monument honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolution & Napoleonic Wars. I studied history during JC days, so being able to see historic monuments up close and personal was really an eye-opener! As this monument was close to where we will be staying, I kept telling Leecher that we should have time to visit the Arc during the duration of our stay here. So off we went in search for food!

While walking down the streets, we realized that several areas were being cornered off and policemen were out in full force patrolling the streets. It turned out that there was a presidential election going on & results will be broadcasted on the same night. Leecher, the market watcher, then filled me in on each candidates profiles and their policies.

The famous Champs Elysees, lol! Everything is just expensive here, lol! I wished I was walking on the street with lots of shopping bags decorating my arms. 

 

 Haiz, sad to say this didn't happen :(

  

Leecher with my shopping bag, lol! Hums the tune of "pretty (wo)man, walking down the street ...... "

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I thought only Singaporeans like to queue up, but looked what we found in Paris? People queuing up to get into LV boutique. Nah, I didn't join in the queue for I was looking at something else instead.

There are lots of cafes on the street. We wanted to dine at Fouguet's, but changed my mind after spotting 

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Instead of having our first authentic French experience/meal in a french restaurant, we opted for McDonald's instead.  

Across the world, McDonald's menu vary and cater to local flavours (beef rendang burger, durian mcfluffy etc). In France, McDonald's is known as 'McDo' and their menu were displayed in french. I ordered the Croque McDo (melted Swiss cheese and ham pressed between two English muffins). I later learnt that this was under their Happy Meal item. Leecher ordered Le Charolais, which is McDo's version of McDouble.

McDo

140, Avenue Champ Elysees

75008, Paris, France

 

Dropped by Paul & got a couple of pastries for our breakfast tomorrow. The initial plan was to sit down for some desserts, but the shop was so packed with people that we decided to do take away instead. 

PAUL 

84, Avenue Champs Elysees

75008, Paris, France

 

The famous Laduree macarons! Everyone wants a piece of it & I had to queue 20 min before I could lay my hands on these prized macarons :) The cafe was under renovation, but we went to another outlet for a meal & it was absolutely wonderful! More on that in another post.  

Laduree 

75, Avenue des Champs-Elysees

75008, Paris, France

We caught a glimpse of Toyota's concept car, FT-Bh. The name actually stands for Future Toyota B-segment hybrid. This car was designed based on 5 key concepts - mass reduction, optimum aerodynamics, powertrain efficiency, thermal energy management and electricity saving. 

 Leecher itching to get a "feel" of the car, lol! Being out on the roads for almost 20 hours straight, we were pretty tired by now & decided to call it a day. Before that, we popped over to Marks & Spencer to get some food.

Our supper for the night! Did I mention that I love champagne? They are my new found love, lol!

Honeymoon: From Amsterdam to Paris

 Departure to Amsterdam

Arrival at Schiphol Airport

First meal in Amsterdam

 *******

We had approx 2.5 hours before our scheduled departure to Paris. The initial plan was to travel by budget air to Paris. Even though the flight time is 1 hour, but we will need additional time to clear customs/immigrations, it could add up to a couple of hours. Hence, the next best alternative was to travel by train. With the extra hours we had on hand, we headed to explore the airport.

 The lift to Panorama terrace, which offers a fantastic view of the aeroplanes and aprons. During the winter period (begins the last Sunday in Oct), the terrace is opened from 9am till 5pm. During the summer (begins the last Sunday in Mar), it will open from 7am till 8pm. This is also the location of KLM Cityhopper Fokker 100, which was modified to be a viewing exhibit. We didn't have time to head over there though :(

 It was so windy once the lift doors opened that Leecher had to don on his jacket. Looking much like an Eskimo, lol!

 The lower level was more of a smoking place, so we got into the life once more and headed up to the upper floor.

 Spot the air traffic control tower. Call me biased, but nothing beats our iconic Changi control tower :) It got too cold/windy for us to bear, so we headed down.

 

 Schiphol station is situated directly below the airport. With our online tickets, we arrived at the platform waiting to board the Thalys train that will take us to Paris :)

 

Thalys is a joint service offered by 3 railways companies (Belgian, French & Dutch). Henceforth, it was our choice of shuffling b/w Amsterdam & Paris. Even though a one-way trip takes around 3 hours, but you save the hassle of clearing immigration & heading into city. The train stations are located near the cities & well-connected to their underground lines. If you book way in advance, tickets can be relatively cheap. We only managed to book our tickets 2 weeks before actual departure, so we paid a premium for it.

 

Someone catching up on lost sleep, lol! I was then tasked to stay awake, keeping an eye on our baggages. 

 

You can always head to their Thalys bar if you are hungry. They offer an extensive menu of hot dishes, sandwiches, desserts, pastries, snacks etc. You can also stay connected on the train with their WiFi onboard, provided you are travelling on a certain class. Alternatively, purchase WiFi credits at the bar to stay connected :)

 

Time to alight from the train! 

 

We have arrived in Paris :) Paris Gare Du Nord is one of the 6 large railyway stations. This is also the busiest railway station in Europe, with approx 190m travellers in a year.

 

The trains stood out in the station due to their striking red body :)

Train stations always have a certain charm around them :) Even though the station wasn't as famous as Grand Central Terminal in New York, it has made its appearance in several movies, like the Bourne trilogy. Wasting no time, we had to navigate our way to the hotel. 

 

We made our way from the train station to metro line. Navigation was relatively easy, similar to the Tube in London. When planning for the trip, I found that a decent hotel in central Paris is relatively expensive. Since we'll be staying for 1 week, the hefty price tag spent on hotel alarmed me, lol! The auntie side of me screamed "That money could be used to buy another bag", lol! I managed to locate an alternative source of accommodation, but the place wasn't available for 2 days. Hence, we had to stay at a hotel for 2 days before moving over.

 

We stayed @ Hotel Royal Magda Etoile, a 3 star hotel near Champ Elysees. It was a stone throw away from Charles de Gaulle-Etoile station, which saved us the hassle of dragging our heavy luggages on the street. 

I have booked for double standard room type & they kindly upgraded us to a suite. Even though it was a suite, the space was still very tiny! I'm thankful for the extra sofa/space to put our luggages.

The kind hotel staff even left a tray of surprise on the table for us :) A bottle of champagne, nibbles and a hand-written note. This little gesture does make a difference, doesn't it? 

Royal Magda Etoile Hotel

7 Rue Troyon 

75017 Paris

Tel: +33 1 47 64 10 19