Paris : We will always have Paris!

Ep.28

“A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of Life.” -Thomas Jefferson.

CDG – Paris, France.

29^th-31^st December 2011.

Me and Eiffel Tower

Sunny Paris

Ammo!

It was almost New Year. And where would I spend my last seconds of 2011, on my flight back from Paris, France. It would be my last flight in 2011 and yet I got a flying buddy again, this time is Jezzy from Induction 28/2011. Missing my boyfriend birthday (which is on 30^th December) was my biggest guilt of that time, but Paris is waiting to be explored. It was said that Paris is a golden flight, which will be only rostered like once in every 1 to 1.5 year. So definitely I was looking forward to do the flight to Paris, the city of love, romance, and finally (call me crazy) be in the town of the adorable Louie XIV.

where to?

Had packed my suitcases with complete winter supplies, I drag my suitcases happily to the crew bus. I worked at the aft cabin with Jezzy and of course in the same galley as well. It was like unwritten agreement that we would spend our time and explore Paris right away after we arrived. It was (again) a midnight flight. All of the passengers were sleeping. 12-13 hours of flying from HK to Paris, two meal services, the ground temperature was 4°C, and finally we arrived at the Hotel (which by now already demolished) at 6-7 am in the morning. Some of the crews said that we should book for the shuttle bus from the hotel to the Opera, where we could find metro station and shopping area, Galleries Lafayette. We jotted down our name on the 11 am time slot and went up to our own room.

Opera Square

We went down at 11 am and unfortunately, we couldn’t get onto the shuttle bus as there was only one vacant seat left. So we decided to grab ourselves some quick breakfast at the nearest building and go to the Opera by metro (EUR 2 per trip per person). One thing about European port, I don’t know how they works, most of the stores open at 11-12 noon and closes at 6-7 pm. it was such a short shifts and what about those, like us at that time, hungry for breakfast? None of the restaurant was opened yet. All we got was our mighty Ronald McDonald that opened early. We had our breakfast and started our journey.

Sculpture

By the time we arrived at the Opera, it was crowded by people already. Beware of the pickpockets. It was really serious! I almost got pick pocketed, just in time Jezzy spotted the pick pocket and shout to her (yes! HER!). We took some pictures here and there, let ourselves swayed by the beautiful artistic building of downtown Paris. We visited some shop nearby (L’Occitaine was like 1/3 price compared to wherever else and we can do the 12tax refund as well. Ah! Heaven!). We shopped until we almost forgot that we have to do the tour. Ha-Ha! Jezzy suggested, in order to minimize the “lost in Paris” wasted time, to take the hop on and hop off tour bus from the Opera. We agreed to buy the 2 day pass ticket of the hop on hop of sightseeing tour bus, which cost us EUR 24 each person, considering that the next day, we will surely need a transport device to cater us around the downtown area and, just in case we’re lost somewhere, we will just hop on the sightseeing bus and get to the Opera stop to ride metro back to the hotel.

Musee du Louvre

What was my expectation of Paris? Of course, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champ de Elysees, Louvre de Musee, Moulin Rouge and Versailles. I would proudly said, we covered most of the list in a day! Hehe… We saw the magnificent Eiffel Tower right before our bare eyes. Honestly, it was not that tall, but I have to admit that it was a masterpiece of art. Right under the Eiffel Tower, we could see a Christmas market was still there. We went there and see if there is anything we could buy. 

Arc de Triomphe

We bought ourselves a waffle and hot chocolate (EUR 6 for a package). We took pictures and pictures like we never out of pose with Eiffel Tower above us. 

On the bus, all we could hear from the tape recorder was the history of the places on our right and left. The places where Princess Diana had the accident, the square where Marie Antoinette faced the guillotine, the places where Napoleon Bonaparte (I just found out that he was really famous in France history) and many else. On the Champ de Elysees, Jezzy and I were amazed by the largest 5 storeys Louis Vuitton building. It was enchanted us! But the queue outside the building turned us down. We just strolled around the places and took pictures of the stunning Champ de Elysess with Arc de Triomphe at one of the end.

Padlock Bridge

We hopped on our bus again and this time we hop of at the largest museum in the world, where the famous Leonardo DaVinci’s Monalisa and other paintings keeps, Musee de Louvre. Before we enter the museum area, just across the museum there is a bridge and if you pay attention quite enough, there were thousands pairs of padlock clinging on its side, with couple’s name engraved or written on it. I took it as a symbol of love, where people made their commitment and clinging the padlock there. Musee de Louvre was spacious and grand. It was like brought me into the famous DaVinci code film (well, cant still quite understand about the story). Pose, pose, pose! Click, click, click! We were excited enough that I got my camera hit one of the pole and got it scratched. No problem, it was Paris’ scratch!

Hold the triangle

The sun has set earlier that usual (damn winter!) and we decided to go back to the Opera. But we made out quick stop at Notredame Cathedral. Aw! This time it brought me into The Hunchback of Notredame film, the sculpture of bishops just blew me away. Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in France and in Europe, and the naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture. 

Bienvenue!

The towers and also bells (just like in the movie) that Quasimodo rang, just took my breath away again and again. As it was start to rain, we hop on the bus and rode back to Opera, well we hope so. We saw the Eiffel Tower illuminated, (just like in Eiffel I’m in Love movie) and we missed the stop as the day view and night view mixed us up, so we looked for a metro station instead to get back on the right track. After a long walk, a nice dinner in a café out of nowhere (EUR 36 for a steak and EUR 4.5 for the hot chocolate), and Jezzy successfully spotted where the Christian Loubotin’s outlet (by the help of Korean lady and her android phone), we spotted a metro station.

@ Notredame

The rain became fierce as we stop at the Opera station and got into Galleries Lafayette. We looked around and all we found was queue everywhere, and by that time we just realized that we were in the middle of New Year holiday-erssss. Queue is a must before entering any of the branded shop and then we searched for another important thing, Toilet. Tips: in that big building the only ladies toilet is on the sixth floor and cost EUR 1 per person to use it. After we used the toilet, we hang around a bit there and guessed that we couldn’t fid anything there with such a massive crowd, we went out. The temperature was drop to 0°C, I guessed, as the rain felt icy cold on out skin. We decided to head back to the hotel immediately. I slept like a pig as soon as I lay on my bed.

The next day was start by a phone call from Jezzy to my room. I got ready and started the second day in Paris. We, once again, had our breakfast at McD, EUR 6 for the McNuggets. Today we decided to visit Chateau du Versailles. So, we head to the metro station, bought the ticket (EUR 12 each person) and get on the train. It took about 40 minutes to 1 hour until we finally arrived. As soon as we got of the train station, we could see the crowd heading to one direction, which was to the right hand side, then we looked for the signage and yes, it is the direction of Chateau du Versailles.

The Versailles (spot he queue?)

I fell in love at the first sight when I saw the house of Louie and Marie Antoinette (in fact, I watched the film all over again after I reached HK). The palace itself were divided into buildings; The Palace, The Garden, The Grand Trianon, and Maria Antoinette’s Estate. The admission fee for each part or the complete package were sold in different prices. I would love to enter the castle if the queue didn’t turned me down, it would take around 4 hours queuing and I guess from the massive palace, I couldn’t finish tour it before it closes. So I just took a glimpse walk from side to side outside the palace, which already took me almost 30 minutes. The Versailles is soooooooooooo BIG, wide, spacious, beautiful. Even I only enjoy the view from the golden gate, I could see how majestic and luxurious for those whomever got a chance to live in a place like that. I felt like I could understand how would it feel to become a commoners looking up to their king. (I got a glimpse of the set where Marie Antoinette chariot arrived for the first time in France, according to the film).

Louie XIV

Finished with the Versailles, I promised myself to visit it again someday and this time I will enter the Hall of Mirror and Marie Antoinette’s chamber. We bought some souvenirs and basically, I have had all my checklist done, so I will just follow wherever Jezzy would go. We went back to the train station and it was occurred that Versailles is outside Paris already and we have to buy the multiple tickets to get ourselves back to Paris. We finally reached Paris by 4-5 pm and we walked right to Christian Loubotin’s outlet that we found yesterday before it closed at 6 pm. Unfortunately, the shoes that Jezzy wants was not available. So, we went to the Champ de Elysees (by the hop on and hop off bus, we bought the 2 days pass, remember?) and we have a quite fancy late lunch in a hotel restaurant. F’s is the name of the restaurant, if you want to find it, it’s just across the biggest LV store with red canopy. The restaurant was packed with people. I managed to ordered myself a  plate of chicken in brown sauce and hot chocolate for EUR 56 and skyped my bf to wish him happy birthday.

Me and my fancy late lunch

After the fancy late lunch, we felt the syndrome already, we felt tired and sleepy already. Considering we have to operate back to HK the next day, we head back to the hotel and reached the hotel by the time of 8 pm. I gave myself a last good rest on 2011 and be ready to spend my old and new time up in the sky. We flew back to HK the next day and it was my first new year in the sky, working. The countdown was over the PA system, that the pilot stated that we’re over Moscow at that time and it was 5 minutes to 2012. Me and all the crews poured some juices and wines and offered the passenger (luckily, it wasn’t a full flight), we counted down in the galley and cheered our orange juice. Happy New Year 2012! Great to have Paris as the closing flight of 2011. I was still an early bird in this aviation industry, yet my God is big, He made me feel so blessed that I could see so any places within few first months of my career. Paris, you’ll be always there for me with your beauty. Next agenda would be: Paris Disneyland and Versailles again!

cheers happy new year!

The creepy story was told after the flight by Jezzy. She said she was so happy the night before the flight that she checked the flight prep and found out that it wasn’t a full flight. She wanted to tell me this and she called up my room. A man was answering the phone in French, she said and she hung up the phone. She tried again and no one picked up. She tried for the third time and this time the man answered the phone again. She gave up and thought it was nothing. That night I was just stayed in my room until midnight and my phone didn’t ring at all the whole night. It couldn’t be wrong dial as Jezzy already called me early in the morning that day. Ah never mind, it was happened already. As long as everyone happy! Just don’t think to much.

Versailles front Gate.

“Every time you fy, you always have the same passenger; nice, demanding, nasty, uneducated, unruly, VIP, family, etc., they’re just changes name and seat. You can’t change them, but you can choose the way you handle them.” –Me.