First landmark that we visited in Paris was the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur. It's a nice church, although it's a bit bleak and expensive. The candle itself costed €2. The church was special since it was located on top of the hill. It's quite an exercise to climb up to its entrance, therefore we chose to forgo the chance to do another climb to its cupola. From the church entrance area visitors could have a good view at the city.
Next, we visited Eiffel Tower. Finally saw it with my own eyes! :) First glimpse was from Trocadero Palace, where a lot of people gathered for whatever reasons.. the most common one was of course to pose with the tower. I saw a guy doing the pisa-tower-pose (i.e. pushing the tower) on eiffel.. weird.
Queued for tickets and took the lift up to 2nd level, then next to the 3rd floor. First floor was occupied by a restaurant, for which booking was mandatory. The queue was quite long, for the ticket and for taking the lifts, but it's all done in orderly manner. Visitors could choose to buy tickets all the way to 3rd level or just to 2nd level. But since you were there, why didn't you choose to go all the way up, right? There's also an option to climb to 2nd level by stairs, of course it's cheaper. We had a nice view of Paris from up there!
Walked along Champs de Mars with occassional glance towards the illuminated Eiffel tower on our back. Beautiful sight, indeed.
We were too absorbed in indulging in the city's beauty we forgot it was past dinner time. Blamed the sun for setting down so late, haha.. in the end we purchased some snacks from a kiosk at central train station.
On our last day, we went to Louvre museum just to pay a visit to Monalisa, how crazy was that, haha.. Went around to see some other paintings as well like Madonna on the Rocks, greek statues and the medieval Louvre for 1 hour before we headed to the next destination. Louvre was really big with fascinating details and relief carved into its walls and ceilings. It housed numerous collections from paintings, sculptures, statues, and much more. Everywhere there were big posters and banners telling people where Monalisa painting was located, while actually the painting itself was small. It was covered by a glass pane, and surrounded by low barriers to allow more visitors to have a look at the same time.
Next destinations were Musée des Arts et Métiers, Hôtel de Ville and Village St-Paul. Among the many interesting collection in Musée des Arts et Métiers, there's Foucault pendulum, which in 1851 gave evidence that earth rotates. Hôtel de Ville (meaning 'city hall') was the Paris administration building. Every winter they constructed a free outdoor ice skating rink here.
Village St-Paul is a small alcove with pretty buildings, shops and cafes. A hidden find. Had a quick look at Jardin de Tuileries when it started raining intermittently. Then we went to Champs-Élysées , Square du Vart-Galant and Pont Neuf at Ile de la Cite.
Avenue des Champs-Élysées was so much like Orchard Road, except for its wide pavements. Surprisingly I didn't find anything I liked, so I didn't shop much, except for a few souvenirs.
In Paris there're a lot of grass-covered fields, and people would just sit there enjoying themselves, both groups and couples alike. Feasting on the clear blue sky, or the illuminated buildings at night. Paris is always associated with romance, and a friend told me that Paris is actually far from romantic, it's just another big city. But after a closer look, what I think is, it's all in your mind. It is romantic when you think it is.
Trinity Sunday mass was at Notre Dame de Paris.. The mass was celebrated of course in French, with some hymns sung in Latin. The Gothic-style church was tall with chandeliers hanging on the aisles. It looked depressing to me, and the altar wasn't that special, too. The distinguishing piece was the stained-glass windows on the left and right wings.
On the square in front of the cathedral, a bronze star was imprinted on the pavement with wordings 'zero kilometre' inscribed on it, indicating the centre of the country in terms of travelling distances.
Three words for Paris: glamorous, complicated, fascinating
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