P-A-R-I-S!! Part Un

DAY 1

off the plane, hopped on the bus to the city centre and found ourselves the nearest metro.

the 1st thing that hit us was the cold. and then, the language barrier.

everything's in french

so we basically made our own intepretations of the signs and notices. lol.

was so excited!

checked into the hotel, dumped our luggages and off we were to explore the city!

the ladies :)

1st thing we see once we got off the metro

setting up the tripod for group photos! will upload them once evelyn does.

and then we're all set! walking to champs de elysees,

passing by buildings of which i forgot their names :P and monuments

statue of winston churchill

after about 20 minutes,

here we are!

CHAMPS DE ELYSEES!!

leading to all the high-end shops

nah, tian. spotted your b&o. lol

funny story. he arrives in paris on the 4th

and guess when i left for dublin?

the 3rd!!

talk about bad timing eh.

louis vuitton! where it began

at the end of champs de elysee, you'ld get to the Arc de Triomphe

can u see the faint outline of it behind us? heh

and then we took our tourist shots

walking under the arc

and through the underground tunnel to climb up about 300 steps in the arc to get to the top.

after climbing for..ever, we reached the top!

well, not really, got to a level below it where they showed the intricate detailings of the arc's exterior thru this projector thingy and models.

climbed somemore and FINALLY, reached the roof of the arc

the view? spectacular! my camera does no justice.

and you could see all of paris from up here!

i love how the arc was made to be the centre with the roads coming off them like rays of the sun. i think theres 12 avenues in total. and heres just two. to take all 12 in a photo would need a helicopter or smth

its not a really good photo but look, you can see the basilica in montmartre from here!

its the white mosque-like buiding right at the back shrouded in clouds on top of the hill

went back along champs to grab a bite. and set off on foot to the eiffel tower!

walked and walked...and walked.

and

nearly there!!

walked and walked some more..

almost there!

*walked and walked...AND WALKED!!!* aaannnddd

yay!

hello eiffel tower!

in the lift up the tower.

top of tour eiffel! it was freezing cold up there. the strong winds didnt help either. so after 15 mins or so, popped back to the observatory.

view of paris from the observatory...

the arc de triomphe!!

headed back to the hotel with our feet all sore.

but hey, we got to see 3 famous landmarks of paris in a day :)