The Specky Panda: My Trip To Paris - Day 1: Discovering Iconic Destinations of Paris

A shout out to

for sending me to Paris!

Delifrance sent us on our way to Paris via Air France. It's pretty exciting when you're on a plane from a different country. So our flight was at 11.40pm and it was going to be a long flight. About 13 and a half hours being cramped in a plane.

The airplane food was surprisingly pleasant. And they have lots of cheese.

We arrived at Charles De Gaulle CDG, Paris, France at around 7.00am Paris time. Apparently you don't need to fill up an immigration form like you do with other countries. I was wondering about it when I asked a fellow Malaysian and she said that we didn't need to.

The Christmas decor was nice.

So my decision was to find the hotel and drop off our bags first so that we didn't need to haul our luggage around. And because it was cold, I didn't want to waste energy carrying too many things. It was -2°C when we landed. And it was my first winter too. Bro recorded this while we were waiting for the train. Can you see my breath? XD I totally underestimated the how cold it would be.

( Sorry Dad! You were right! >_< )

Directions to the hotel via metro.

Arrivals Charles de Gaulle
Go to Charles de Gaulle 1
From Charles de Gaulle: RER B direction Massy-Palaiseau
Stop at Chatelet-les-Halles
From Chatelet-les-Halles: RER A direction Cergy-Le-haut
Stop at George V

Once you come out from the George V metro station, you'll see buildings like these around you.

Hotel Elysées Bassano

Located in a quiet street in the heart of the Triangle d'Or (Golden Triangle), it's a short walk from the George V Metro, but I guess that depends on your definition of a 'short' walk. The hotel is just steps away from the famous Avenue des Champs elysées, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower and prestigious boutiques of haute couture and luxury. It has a very Parisian atmosphere.

24, RUE DE BASSANO - 75116 PARIS

Tel: 33(0)1 47 20 49 03

Fax: 33(0)1 47 23 06 72

Email: resa@ebassano.com

Website: www.hotel-elysees-bassano.com

Delifrance also recommended that we visit Laudree Restaurant that is famous for it's macarons and is walking distance from the hotel. Unfortunately we were too busy running around Paris and too exhausted to remember. I missed out on tasting REAL French macarons!! >_<

I love the designs of the signs in Paris. There's something classic about it. If we didn't see this sign, we might have not known which way to go. Most of the street signs are on wall so don't go looking for pole signs.

So this is what the hotel looks like from the outside. You'd definitely notice it because of the bright orange. It's pretty hard to miss.

This is what the lobby looks like. Pretty modern and nicely decorated with an artistic sense.

The front office attendants are super friendly. They have a good command of English so there's no language barrier there. After we checked in, they were even nice enough to give us a map and highlight all the places that we should visit. Talk about good service, I don't think I've ever checked into a hotel where the attendants were so friendly and helpful.

After dropping our luggage off at the hotel, we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe.

A McDonald's! I researched the locations of McDonald's outlets in Paris the week before, just in case we couldn't find a place to eat. XD

Apparently this particular McDonald's is the only one with a white M logo. Supposedly to match with the other stores along the street. If you look around, you'd notice that most of the store signs are white.

They also have macarons. Which I stupidly did not try. I guess when you're cold and rushing, you don't think properly. >_<

We passed by this souvenir shop on the way. Lots of stuff you can buy here, but it's pretty pricey.

Arc de Triomphe

The first picture of me and my brother bundled up in winter clothing. We're actually standing in the middle of the road under the traffic light. It's a nice spot for a photo but be careful of cars when you're taking pictures.

The Arc de Triomphe stands at the center of Place de l'Étoile, the hub from which 12 grand avenues radiate to form the star for which the Place de l'Étoile is named. To get to the Arc, you can't just cross the street you see behind me. There's no pedestrian crossing or anything. You have to enter through an underground tunnel adjacent to the Champs Elysees. From this photo, the staircase should be on my right. I think... hehe...

While we were taking pictures, this man was already standing there for quite a while holding a single rose. And he was waiting for the 15-20 minutes I was there. It's pretty romantic to have a guy willing to wait for you in the cold. I hope the person he was waiting for didn't make him wait too long.

Tickets are priced at 9.50 EURO per adult.

Because of this trip, I now know just how unfit I am. You have to go up to the top by climbing via a tiny spiral staircase. There is an elevator to go up, but that's only for the disabled. I'm not the only one that was feeling this way. There was an American guy who reached the top and was pumping his fists up in the air, looking and feeling like he just finished running in a marathon. Everyone around laughed because we were all exhausted from the climb and liked his enthusiasm.

Check out the spiral staircase looking down. I also saw this diagram of the arc at the top. Apparently I climbed up 284 steps. This trip has started to become an exercise trip from this point on. Couldn't imagine how many steps the Notre Dame would have. *shivers*

Check out the view from the top!

Using the panoramic app on my bro's phone, we tried to capture the 12 roads around the arc. It's like a clock. If you google the image of what it looks like from above, it's pretty cool.

Once we were done, we made our way towards the Eiffel Tower. During this whole trip, my bro and I went on foot instead of taking the metro. The metro is very convenient, but you wouldn't see sights like these while in a metal box underground.

We were walking by and almost missed this. What you see on the wall is painted on. You tend to see lots of these around.

I have no idea how the people here park their cars and get their cars out. It doesn't look like there's any space for them to move the car to get out. They must have some super parallel parking techniques.

A cute smart car. Lots of those around. My fav Mini Coopers too! Guess they like small cars. Easier to find parking spaces? =P

The Seine River

If you have the time, you can take the boat ride that brings you along the river. It takes about an hour or so and you'd get great views. We didn't really have much time so we opted not to take it. But if you do have time, it's highly recommended. Unless you get sea sick. =P

Getting closer...

And closer...

What's with this tree?! The trees around here are square!!

*cue overdramatic and bad french accent*

Voila! Zis is ze Eiffel Tower!

I love how clear and blue the sky is. I didn't edit the photo just so you know. The sky really is that blue.

So, many of my friends told me that I would need to get to the Eiffle Tower early so that I wouldn't have to wait in line for hours, but we were there at around 1pm-ish and we were only in the line for half an hour, so it wasn't bad. It might be because it's winter or maybe I was just lucky. = ) You can take the stairs up to the half way point or take the lift all the way up so the pricing differs quite a lot. And if you're between 12-24 years old, it's cheaper. Hehe.. So my bro paid 14,50€ ( more or less RM60+) and I paid 13,00€ (more or less RM55+). We took the elevator all the way to the top.

While I was walking around, a British girl passed by and said "Go Gryffindors!". I felt like laughing so hard! I didn't think anybody would care that I was wearing a Gryffindor scarf. I wonder if I should have brought my wand too. XD

Check out the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

Look in between the city and the sky. Not sure if you can see it but there's like an orange line in between. You wouldn't see something like this in Malaysia.

So at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, there's also a lake with duckies! It's such a beautiful place.

There seem to be several carousels around the Eiffel Tower. Makes for a really nice photo opp.

Guess where we were going after the trip to the Eiffel Tower. To our hotel! On foot no less... It was pretty tiring and our feet started to hurt a lot but it was worth seeing everything around us instead of taking the metro and missing everything.

On the way, we passed by the Jardins du Trocadero (Gardens of Trocadero)

City Museum of Modern Art

Didn't really see anything modern about it from the outside. Unless you count the graffiti. =(

We made our way to the McDonald's we saw earlier. Gotta try the new menu at every McDonald's in different countries right? So I got the Grand Bagel Cheese, which is one of the famous one for Paris, and my bro got the Double Cornbread Barbecue. Luckily the guy at the counter could speak English. I guess they all could but you never know. It was his first week working there too. Nice guy. = )

McDonald's macarons.

Checked-in and up to the room we go ~

So this is our bedroom. It's a pretty tight squeeze but I think that when you're in a place like Paris, you'd only be in the room just to sleep.

Bathroom check!

Look at the size of those burgers! Had to compare them with the size of my bro's hand and his Samsung Galaxy S4.

The size of the burgers are no joke. Thanks goodness the guy attending to us at McD recommended I get the regular instead of large.

Galeries Lafayette

So after eating and resting a while, we took the metro to Galeries Lafayette. It's an upmarket French department store which is famous for it's interior architecture and beautiful glass window ceiling. We decided to rush here because it supposedly closes at 7.30pm. We got there in the nick of time but it didn't seem like it was closing anytime soon, but better to be safe than sorry.

Opera Garnier

I really wanted to visit the Opera House because I've seen beautiful pictures of its architecture online. I would have loved to go inside and see what a real Opera House looks like but you'd have to buy tickets for the show which cost a bomb and you have to dress formal. *sigh* I blame the Phantom of The Opera for making me want to have a look inside. *pouts*

The traffic lights in Paris are pretty funny. Does this mean that when the light is red that I have to do the Superman pose? =P

Moulin Rouge

The Moulin Rouge is a cabaret which is world famous for its French Cancan and for presenting sumptuous shows to its ambiance. I bet you've watch the movie Moulin Rouge. If you haven't, then go watch it. But basically, if you want to see the famous French Cancan dance, or hot French women, then this is the place to go.

I think this area is like a red light district, although I'm not really sure. But basically a majority of the shops here sell risque outfits and things for adults. I will not post pictures because those shops are not for the eyes of children! I don't know who's reading this and I don't know your age, so... yeah.. No photos for you. If you're into kinky stuff, I guess this is the place you should walk around. I've seen some weird stuff I didn't know existed. There's also some sex museum which I avoided, especially because of the weird displays they had which made me feel super awkward. >_<