Shout out to 
for sending us here!
for sending us here!We woke up bright and early today. Not gonna waste a moment with the little time we had. We stopped at the nearest metro to the Louvre and took some day time pictures of the Roue de Paris and Fontaines de la Concorde.
It was another cold morning. I was literally walking on thin ice that morning. XD
There was frost on everything. Guess this is the closest I'll get to seeing snow for now. *pouts*
The surface of the water was partly frozen too.
There's no line!! =D
This is the lower level of the Louvre.
We saw someone re-creating a painting on canvas inside.
This is one of the awesome ceilings inside the Louvre.
The Venus de Milo
It was really crowded inside the Louvre. And this is another awesome ceiling.
Another awesome hallway!
Our main reason for going to the Louvre. You can't go to Paris and not see her.
The Mona Lisa
From the Louvre, we walked towards Notre Dame. We stopped by the "Love Locks" bridge for some photos. If you thought that romance was passe in Paris, all you need to do is look at this bridge to see it being displayed in full force.
A popular thing to do here is for a couple to write their names on a padlock and lock it onto the bridge. They then throw the key into the Seine River as a symbol of their undying love.
Saw this nice looking restaurant on the way.
It was 3-5°C and there are police training swimming in the river! *Brrr*
Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris
Our most favoured place to visit in Paris, the Notre Dame Cathedral. The full glory of Gothic architecture.
Prepare for lots of photos.
Inside the halls of Notre Dame.
At many famous tourist locations, you can find machines like this where you can get coin tokens as souveniers. Each location has their own coin(s).
Holy Water
The stained glass windows of Notre Dame
The line to go up to the top was really long, like an hours wait or something. So we decided to put it to the next day, early in the morning, hoping that there would be less people. So we went around Notre Dame to take more photos.
When we returned to Malaysia, we looked up Gothic Cathedrals on YouTube. It's fascinating how these cathedrals were built.
Sadly, we didn't even bother going to the Pantheon after seeing the scaffolding. We didn't really have time either.
La Sainte-Chapelle
Another tourist destination for Catholics and those who appreciate fine architecture. This is another Gothic chapel but with some high security to go into and you have to pay to go in. I don't feel that it's really that worth it to go in since it's such as small place compared to Notre Dame ( where you can go in for free) , but if you want to look at the Gothic designs, then go ahead.
Inside Sainte-Chapelle
Just outside is the Palace of Justice
Jardin du Luxembourg
We headed on over to the Centre Georges Pompidou, which is a famous museum of modern art and frequent exhibitions. One other reason it's famous is because of its bizarre architecture, with all the pipes, vents, and elevators on the outside of the building.
We got lost trying to find our way back to the metro, some guy who was standing outside a store next to us helped us out by giving directions. Which leads to this next part.
French people are nice!
I bet that we've all heard that French people are rude, especially to tourist who can't speak a bit of French. But I don't think that's the case at all. Except for some of those working behind a customer service desk maybe. They were pretty unpleasant to talk to. But this situation happened that made me put my foot down on those who say they're rude. No matter where we are in the world, there will always be people who are rude, but there will also be people who are kind and helpful. Don't stereotype!
My brother and I were wondering what to eat for dinner and we decided to try and get some French food into our stomachs. We didn't lunch earlier and the first day either. So we really thought that we needed to try some French food. There was a small place next to the hotel and we were looking at the menu outside but it was all in french. I only knew a few words like Tartate de boeuf, pommes and a few others but I still didn't know what most of the items on the menu were. So we just decided to randomly order and went inside. It was empty except for a couple who was talking to the owner. The couple were leaving when the owner spotted us. We asked for the menu ( in very poor French) but she responded by saying "No food". We were kind of confused because they had a menu, but she said no food. But the couple that was leaving came to our rescue! The guy talked to us in English and we told him that we were looking for some French food to eat. He recommended this pub nearby and told us which way to turn. He then offered to bring us half way since he was going in the same direction. Isn't he nice?! We exchanged pleasantries while walking and once we got to a junction, he told us where to go from there. It made me feel really happy to have met them.
So once we spotted the place that the couple mentioned, we were looking at the menu outside which was in French too. We were pondering on whether to go in or not when a customer that was outside asked us if we needed any help. We expressed our concerns that we were not sure if the waiters were able to speak in English. He basically went in and asked one of the waiters for us. Thankfully, someone did know how to converse in English. To have encountered so many nice people in a day, it really lifts my spirits, especially since I was really exhausted and my feet were aching. The waiter was a great guy too. He explained the menu to us, recommended some items for us to choose and he came to our table once in a while to make sure that everything was fine. The service we got from him made us feel really grateful to him that we tipped him extra.
This place is called Le Comptoir de l'Arc. It's nearby our hotel and the Arc de Triomphe, and I really do recommend coming to this place for some good food. It's not fancy or anything, but the chef does a good job. The waiters are really cheerful too. Always having smiles on their faces.
Meeting so many helpful people made me feel extremely happy. I couldn't stop telling friends and family about them.
This is the menu we saw.
My brother had the Pave de Rumsteak Rossini, puree ( steak with foie gras ) and I had the Confit de canard persillade, pommes sautees ( duck with friend potatos ). The food was delicious. I didn't really expect the food to be this good in a place like this. What would you call this place? A bar? A pub? A tavern maybe? But anyway, the food is good. You have to come here.
After dinner, we returned to the hotel to have a little rest before deciding to go to the Eiffel Tower. We walked around in the pouring rain trying to find our way to the Eiffel Tower from the metro. It's a good thing we bought those small umbrellas before the trip. It was a cold night and it was raining cats and dogs. I think I was wearing 4 different shirts inside and my two jackets on top. I must have looked puffy.
So the Eiffel Tower is lighted up like this during the night, and I think that every hour, it sparkles? The lights, that is...
Check out the links below to see the rest of the trip:
- My Trip To Paris - Day 1: Discovering Iconic Destinations of Paris
- My Trip To Paris - Day 2: A Full Day French Baking Class And A Night At The Louvre Museum
- My Trip To Paris - Day 4: A Last Day Sprint Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur
If you wanna find out how I won this trip from Delifrance, check out the link below.
*~~~~~ ʕ￫ᴥ￩ʔ ~~~~~*
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