Monday, November 25, 2013

Honeymoon: Cruise along River Seine Part Two

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The famous Paris love locks: where couples will write their names on a padlock and locks it onto one of the bridges. They then throw the keys into Seine River as a symbol of their undying love. This phenomenon of padlocking your love across continents - from Japan to Canada to New Zealand.
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There are 2 bridges in Paris with the locks, so you must be careful which bridge you put the locks on. Pont des Arts is for your committed love while Pont de l'Archeveche is for your lover. Make a stop at these 2 bridges to admire the ocean of locks or adding to the collection. Since we are in the city of love, we should do cliche commercialised romantic things right? Sadly to say, Leecher think otherwise :( Sometimes, this hubby is a tough nut to crack!
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Samaritaine was the department store in Paris, owned by LVMH. It has since became a combination hotel/apartment/offices building, with a small retail component. 
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Viaduc d'Austerlitz is the rail bridge that crosses the Seine in Paris. Its usage is solely dedicated to the railroad traffic, linking places from the left bank to the other side of the river. Even though demonstrations & strikes are common throughout Europe, I was thankful that we didn't encounter any strikes during our journey. 
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Most of the bridges in Paris are named. This particular bridge that we crossed looked ordinary, but I was captivated by the statue of Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris. She was standing on Pont de la Tournelle (name of the bridge), as if she was keeping a close watch on the people & boats crossing the river.  
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French history is never completed without mentioning Napoleon Bonaparte :)
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Just like every tourist, our cameras started clicking away the moment we left the jetty *face-palm* in an attempt to digitalize our memories. I believe we took close to 150+ pics just on the cruise alone.
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Leecher was also trying out the new lens that he brought along which allowed us to capture the intricate details on the buildings along the banks. 
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Notre Dame Cathedral (back-view) - we visited the famous church on a separate day, so I shall leave the details in the entry. Cupola of the Institut de France. This building housed the 5 national institutions of academic wisdom - French Academy, Humanities & Literature Academy, Science Academy, Fine Arts Academy & Policial/Moral Academy, pretty much like our faculties in University. As I'm typing this, I thinking of planning a trip back to NTU just to look look see see. It has been almost 2 years since my last visit & I'm pretty sure things have changed by now. 
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Saving the best for the last, we finally cruised towards the Eiffel Tower :)
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Wa, this Leecher actually insisted on taking his pic with Eiffel tower, lol! With the love, in the city of love ~ see, it rhymes!
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While researching on places to eat in Paris, I came across the legendary Le Jules Verne restaurant in Eiffel Tower. The initial plan was to head there for a meal, where you get to dine while overlooking the whole of Paris. However, we didn't have the luxury of time thus we had to abandon the thought :( Well, I think there's always next time, right? Heehee. 
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Oh my! Carousel spotted ~ so pretty :)
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❤ ❤ ❤
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 Time really passed by quickly when you are having fun. We finally reached the end of the river cruise. A couple of us were reluctant to leave & lingered around to take a few more pictures.
Bateaux Mouches
Port de la Conference 
Pont de I'Alma, Rive droite
75008, Paris
Nearest RER C: Pont de I'Alma station
Tel: + 33 0 1 4225 9610

Friday, November 22, 2013

Honeymoon: Cruise along River Seine Part One

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We are leaving for our holidays in less than 10 days and I have yet to sort out our itinerary *stressed to the max*. I have the perfect excuse though ~ we were busy attending weddings (both Sat & Sun) for 2 consecutive weeks and it left us me very little time to sit down properly and research. This is the first free weekend since Nov & I'm determined to start dedicating more time on planning the trip instead of blogging, haha! I've decided to focus my energy for the next 2 hours (after this entry) to get 70% of the things sorted out. Ganbatte! 
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We decided to take a stroll from our apartment to the ferry terminal for the next activity ~ River Cruise along River Seine. It was around 10 min walk & relatively easy to navigate if you stayed on the main street.
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Spotting the Eiffel Tower along the way!  P5083594P5083600P5083602 
Bateaux Mouches translates literally as "fly boats" (fly meaning the insect), but the name comes from the gact that the boats were originally manufactured in boatyards situated in the Mouche area of Lyon. This is one of the biggest ferry terminal along River Seine.
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Leecher purchasing tickets for the evening ride.
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We bought tickets for the river cruise tour @  €12.50 per ticket. There are also options available for dining onboard (lunch or dinner), where you'll enjoy a lovely meal, accompanied with timeless French songs while cruising down River Seine.
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While waiting for the next ferry to arrive :)
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Getting ready to board!  
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There are 2 decks on this boat - one of them is enclosed (with heating & air-conditioning) with glass roof & sides. The other has an open deck, which enables passengers to take advantage of a 360 degrees view of the city. Since the weather was good that day, all of us hopped up to the upper deck.   
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Once most of the passengers are onboard, it was time to set sail :) Cameras all ready to start snapping away!         
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The cruise lasts around 1h 10 min, bringing us to several places of interest that you can see along the river bank. Starting with the Jetty, this overlooked the Eiffel Tower & provided a nice backdrop for us to take pictures before setting off.    
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 I love going for river cruises, for it is the fastest way to explore the city. I still remembered the cruise we took in London ~ it was drizzling slightly when we departed from the dock. While the rest of the tourists headed down to the lower deck, I refused to bulge from my seat (on the upper deck) and "enjoyed" the view while seeking shelter from my small umbrella.   
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There are several cruise operators along River Seine & most of them offer the same route map. We went with Bateaux Mouches as they offered an open deck for a panoramic view :) 
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Grand Palais, where Chanel annually hosts many of their fashion shows, haha! 
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Pont Alexandre III, the most ornate and extravagant bridge in Paris. This bridge is classified as a historical monument. It was decorated with exuberant Art Nouveau lamps, cherubs, nymphs and winged horses at either end.
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We spotted several boat-homes along the river. I really wish to stay on-board a boat house one day!
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One of the 2 clocks of the former Orsay station, now known as "Musee d'Orsay". Paris-Orleans was the name of the original railways company, where after nationalization of rail operators, the company became a property company. 
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Everyone snapping away! 
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Assemblee Nationale is the lower house of the Parliament of France, where the members are known as députés . My knowledge of french politics started when I was studying history on the french revolution. As I'm older, I pay more attention to our local political scene instead.    P5093731 P5093728 
Need to sign off now to work on my travel itinerary. Have a great week everyone! 
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