Fashionista's Travels: Oh La La, Paris!

This is a continuation of my honeymoon trip to London.

So we arrived to France from London via Eurotrain and arrived in Paris 2 hours and 30 minutes later. Since we only had two days in Paris and the first day was spent in Disneyland, we had to prioritize where we were going to on the second day. Here's a photoblog of my second day in Paris =):

As I mentioned before, we were staying at Le Regent Montmartre, about a stone's throw away from Anvers station.

I forgot to snap a photo of our room. Back from Disneyland we were so tired that all we could think about was sleep. Woke up on the second day to a beautiful cold spring morning (with no rain in sight). We stayed at the 4th floor. The room where we stayed was pretty basic but clean with an ensuite bathroom (exactly as they advertised on their website).

Rows and rows of identical buildings. So if you get lost in Paris, we totally understand. All the buildings look identical!

Sacre-Coeur or the Sacred Heart Basilica of Montmartre. This was the view from my parents' room. How lucky right? They were staying at the 6th floor in the other wing. Cool view!

The Sacre-Coeur is located up a hill (as you can see) so if you fancy a trip, bear in mind that there's plenty of stairs to climb before reaching the top!

The climb up didn't deter these pilgrims. There was already a long queue at the Sacre-Coeur and it's only 8 am in the morning! According to its' website, the Sacre-Coeur was the place of the martyrdom of Saint Denis, the first bishop of Paris and his companions. Many saints have made a visit to Sacre-Coeur including Joan of Arc herself =).

Le Regent Montmartre provides free breakfast from 7.30 am to 10 am so we enjoyed delicious croissants, jam, cornflake breakfast cereals, orange juice and coffee before heading out that morning.

Here's my parents enjoying their breakfast. There's a common room for breakfast and post breakfast it turns into a place where we can chill, relax and enjoy the free wifi provided by Le Regent Montmartre.

Hubs is an early riser so we took a walk around Boulevard de Rochechouart. Le Regent Montmartre is located within walking distance not only to the metro station but also to several of Paris's attractions like Montmartre, Sacre-Coeur, and Moulin Rouge.

We walked for a couple of kilometers to come up the infamous Moulin Rouge. Moulin Rouge is actually a place where you can enjoy cabaret performances. It only opens at night so we didn't get a chance to enjoy a show. In case you feel like going, the nearest metro to Moulin Rouge is Blanche, two stops away from Anvers (where we were staying).

This is our metro station. Pronounced as Ah-Verr.

Mum and Dad in the metro.

Lucky for us, there was a busker in the train, so we got to hear him sing (and play music). Dad was so excited that he asked the guy to take a photo with him.

Stopped at Bir Hakeim station for a visit to the famous Tour Eiffel.

The tower is definitely huge. Unlike the replica that we saw in Shenzhen *sheepish smile*.

This is a pose that I've learnt from my niece, Ayesha when we were in Manila two years ago.

Dad and mum decided to copy our style. Haha!

Considering how many romantic movies have been produced in Paris, specifically in the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower, the tower itself does not look all that romantic to me.

Since we only had a day to explore Paris, we decided to make the most of it by getting on the hop-on-hop-off bus. If I'm not mistaken the bus fee is about EUR30 and the pass is valid for two days.

Those opting for the bus would get a brochure and a free earphone (for us to plug onto the bus to listen to the commentaries on the attractions that we pass by or stop along the route). 

All in all there are 9 destinations to visit so the bus is actually worth it's price. Destinations are: Tour Eiffel, Champ de Mars, Musee du Louvre, Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay, Opera, Champ Elysees - Etoile, Grand Palais, and Trocadero. The best part is, you can leave the bus at any one of the stops and get on again once you've finished wandering around.

Tour Eiffel.

I forgot the name of this building though *blush*.

Musee du Louvre. This place is actually on my wish list of places I want to go visit but since we had to leave Paris that same night maybe I'll keep this place on my list for a future trip.

Notre Dame. Another place that I really wanted to visit in Paris.

The queue to enter Notre Dame. It's said that it would take at least 2 hours of queuing before getting to visit any of Paris's famous attractions like the Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum and Notre Dame.

Musee d'Orsay.

The National Academy of Music right next to Opera National de Paris. 

Opera National de Paris.

And about two hours later we arrived to Champ Elysees, one of the famous shopping centers in Paris. 

Famished, we had lunch at Flora Danica before heading out shopping. Besides, there was a slight drizzle by then. It seems like our trip to Paris was filled with rain *sigh*. 

101 Avenue Des Champs Elysees. The famous Louis Vuitton store sits here. 

And dad got mum a Louie handbag. Lucky her!

We actually didn't know that Louie has a policy of no photography in the store. The man behind me was on his way to reprimand me for daring to take a photo in the store. How was I to know, right? Apparently, the store also has a no touch policy on their handbags (which I also didn't know of). Oh by the way, I initially planned to get that bag but I changed my mind.

Shopping spree was a success! Not all are for us unfortunately. 

Left Champ Elysees on a cab. Mum wanted to drop by and see a mosque in Paris before we left so we requested the cabbie to drive us to Paris's Grand Mosque for Asar prayers.

There's a small garden courtyard in the interior of the mosque.

Drove off to Gare du Nord about 30 minutes later and found a stall selling bon-bons right across the street from Gare du Nord. 

You can choose from a wide variety of bon-bons. I forgot how much though.

Gare du Nord =).

This is how the train station looked like. Not as nice as KL Sentral I'm afraid. The trains behind me are the trains leaving for Europe. And for trains within Paris, they are located underground. 

Short trip I must say but definitely a very eventful one. We managed to visit most of the attractions in Paris and for my future trips to Paris, I'd definitely recommend a stay at Le Regent Montmartre.

However, no matter how great other countries are, I must say that there's absolutely no place like home =).

xoxo Mrs Fashionista

Fashionista's Travels: Disneyland Paris

I have never been to Paris. Never have my dad or my husband. The only person in our family to have been to Paris (and almost all of Europe) is my mum. And so since this honeymoon has been planned to start from London, I suggested that we make a short detour to Paris, and we did =). Here's a photoblog of the trip:

We left London St. Pancras International in the wee hours of the morning (note to self: next time, please don't go for ungodly hours for train departures. Waking up at 4 am is, to put it mildly, difficult). Our train departed at 5.40 am from St. Pancras International and we arrived at 9.17 am in Gare du Nord.

I got me a ladybird neck pillow (it's selling for only RM16.99 at the discount store at Green Heights Mall) specifically for this trip. Isn't it cute?

We boarded the Eurostar for our trip. Train tickets vary, the earlier you purchase your tickets, the cheaper they are. Our ticket from London to Paris costs GBP79.50 per person and the return ticket costs 64.50. If I'm not mistaken, the cheapest ticket is around GBP59. So peeps, make sure you get your tickets in advance to avoid paying extra (like us).

Since we only had two days in Paris, our first day was spent in Disneyland, Paris. After checking in at Le Regent Montmartre (where we were staying) , we took the Metro from Anvers Station to Nation, and then we interchanged onto the RER A train to Disneyland Paris. Oh, if you want to read more on how to get to Disneyland Paris, you can click [here]. And for a map of the metro in Paris, click [here].

We boarded a double-decker train from Nation to Marne-la-Vallee (the station for Disneyland). Can you imagine a double decker underground train? Well, I'd never in my life thought there's a double decker train. Ah, there's a first time for everyone and indeed it's a novelty experience for me =).

We chose to sit on the upper deck. Next to my dad is the stairs going down to the train's doors.

The train was fairly empty (well, suffice to say there's more seats than people boarding the train). Disneyland Paris is located on the outskirts of Paris, so the whole journey took about 45 minutes from Nation to Marne-la-Vallee.

We arrived to a wet Disneyland, which is not really a big deal but it was a cold spring and the rain (and wind) only made matters worse. We were freezing from our head to our toes. Not the best way to experience the magical world of Disney, in fact, we were quite miserable for the better part of our trip. Oh, just in case you're planning a trip to Disneyland, tickets to the park would cost you about EUR59 per person. However, there was a promotion when we booked the tickets (we booked online, which is more convenient), we got two parks for the price of one =).

Hey there, Woody! Since there was a slight drizzle outside, all of the Disney characters had to stay indoors.

So which way is it? We entered the confusing world of Alice in Wonderland and got lost in the maze. 

The infamous Cheshire Cat. Since it's the beginning of spring, we got to enjoy the blooming of beautiful flowers.

Went for a boat ride on the storybook-themed Happily Ever After ride. Here's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. 

Here's Hansel and Gretel. 

The Gingerbread House. 

King Arthur's sword in the stone. 

Beauty and the Beast. 

And they all lived happily every after...

Lucky for us the rain stopped (for about an hour or so) so we finally managed to walk around the park and enjoy some of the rides. 

The park is huge! If you've been to Disneyland Hong Kong, well, suffice to say Disneyland Paris's park is more than twice the size of Disneyland Hong Kong. So don't forget to wear comfortable shoes.

We weren't able to cover the park (I think we only covered about 25% of the whole park) and we didn't even get to visit the other park which is Walt Disney Studio Park due to the rain. We got caught in a downpour as we reached Marne-la-Vallee (even before we exited the station to enter into Disneyland).

Among the rides that we could enjoy, 'It's a Small World'.

Left Disneyland on a taxi, Dad insisted on getting a taxi (tired aching feet made the train ride extremely unappealing). As I've told you before, Disneyland Paris is rather far from the city so the cab ride costs us about EUR100 but Dad was really insistent on taking the cab. 

Oh, and for Muslims, there's an outlet in Disneyland that sells halal food, the Agrabah Cafe. For more info on Agrabah Cafe, click [here].

Will post more on Paris soon =).


xoxo Mrs Fashionista