Just Landed in London: October 2014

I planned this trip late last year. When Julie was here, we were talking about vacation. She mentioned that she and Carrie, whom I knew but not very well, are planning a trip to Europe. They are talking about France and possibly Ireland or Scotland. I immediately invited myself. After talking about the best time for the trip, we all agreed on mid September dates.

The flight and air BnB were booked several months in advance. After I got back from Norway in August, I was regretting a little bit that I have another long trip (8 days) to France. It's not that I'm not excited to go on another holiday with friends but I felt I just needed to stay in London and get back to the routine for several weeks without overnight trips to any where. It's nice to be at home for a while. A few days before the trip, my mood kinda changed, thankfully. I was looking forward to see Julie and Carrie, and also France. People say you don't know the real France unless you go outside of Paris. I concurred. I went to Paris twice before. One was for a less than 24 hour transit. I was fortunate to bike around Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and Louvre at night. It was so beautiful at night when they were all lit up.

We took Eurostar to Paris on Tuesday morning. It's so convenient. The passport check and security took less than 10 minutes. The check-in at Paris AirBnB was easy. The host wasn't there but I talked to him before and he said his helper that cleaned the apartment was going to be there to check us in. He showed us around. The apartment was tiny. It had an alley kitchen between the bathroom and the main room that had a queen bed and a bunk bed, that was attached to the living room, with a sofa and flat screen TV. The location was great, which was just across the street from a Metro station. It was clean and didn't have a funky smell, which was so important to me after the Budapest experience.

We didn't waste much time and went to Sacre Couer Basilica. A popular landmark in Paris that sat on top of the hill over looking the city. It was built in 1875 and finished in 1914. I was extra cautious because of what happened to Beth and Walter that went there in June. They were pick-pocketed but thankfully got their stuff back. The bad guys got caught by an undercover police that was patrolling around the area.

In front of Sacre Couer

The view of the city from the top

After walking around the area and checking out the church, we headed down to Arc de Triomphe, a popular tourist spot and where the Tour de France finished every year. Arch of Triumph of the Star is one of the most famous monuments in Paris. It stands in the center of the Place Charles de Gaulle at the western end of the Champs-Élysées.

After that, we just walked around Champs-Élysées and decided to go to Rue Cler for dinner. Since it was late afternoon, we didn't see many stalls anymore. The stores, restaurants and cafes were open until late.

From the left, Julie had duck, I had quiche and Carrie had beef tartar.

Carrie tried beef tartar. She's brave. I had beef carpaccio before but not tartar. I know they were totally different but both were raw. The waitress was kind enough and mentioned that to Carrie to make sure she knew what she was ordering. I tried hers and it was good. It was seasoned well. We had a glass of Rose and dessert too. Splurging a bit!

The cafe was busy throughout the night

We decided to walk home. The weather was nice, a bit breezy but still perfect for a light jacket. It wasn't s a short walk. I think at the end, it took us almost two hours because we stopped to take pictures at Louvre. Along Seine river, many Parisian had a night picnic. Some bought food from the local cafes, some ordered pizza, some even had food from grocery stores. It was a nice night. People just sat by the river.

Of course, we had to take one of those dorky pictures.

Look! I'm so strong.

The following day, I went to Louvre. Carrie and Julie went to Orsay. In March, I had a day trip to Paris and went to Orsay, so I don't feel like going there anymore. There were some reservations about going to Louvre because that place was humongous, it would be so packed with people and I don't really know what I wanted to see. But at the end, I had to go there. It's Paris after all. It's a must place to go, at least say hi to Mona Lisa.

Since the place was huge and I had 2.5 hours to spend, my strategy was to go there right when they opened. I bought a ticket at the train station the day before, so I just walked in. There were four quarters at Louvre and there had multiple levels. I grabbed a map. The map also listed famous art pieces and their room numbers. The first one I wanted to see was of course Mona Lisa. When I got the room, I was surprised that we could take pictures. It wasn't super crowded. The painting was protected by security guards and was behind a glass case.

Smile!

The wedding at Cana by Italian painter Veronese. Huge painting.

After Mona Lisa, I just went through the list on the maps and did a treasure hunt to find all of them. I found the Napoleon apartment to be very interesting and quite impressive. I'm not sure how they did it, but they moved the window covering, furniture, chandelier, carpet, wall covering to Louvre.

From inside the pyramid

Napoleon apartment

Dining room

Living room

Venus Milo

Cupid

The Raft of the Medusa

Michael Angelo's painting. Mary and baby Jesus.

I was meeting Julie and Carrie in front of Louvre at 12.30PM. I was done walking around right before noon. By this time, Louvre was really packed with people. I sat outside on the court yard.
We went to lunch in St. Germain area. This is clearly the best Nicoise salad I've ever eaten. First the mustard dressing was a great compliment to the salad and I can taste the mustard without overpowering the rest, perfectly cooked green beans because I hate them too raw or boiled to death, good amount of olives, tuna and anchovies. I used to dislike olives, now since I live in UK, I like them. Julie and Carrie ordered savory crepes. They had good varieties from ham, cheese, sausages and other meat options. Julie went with chitterlings sausage. None of us knew what it was. It turned out that it was made from pig intestines (Julie, sorry if you read this blog, you have to relive your nightmare).

After a delicious lunch (for some of us), we went to Saint-Chapelle is a royal medieval Gothic chapel, located near the Palais de la Cité, on the Île de la Cité in the heart of the city. The church was known for the mid 13th century's stained glass windows. There were 15 almost floor to ceiling windows. Each told a story of the Old Testament, started from the book of Genesis to the book of Kings. It was in the middle of a restoration, so they covered some of the windows when we were there.

The chapel was right next to a government office, so security was tight.

After that, we walked to Notre Dame, a Gothic style church that was completed in 1345. You could go to the side of the building and climb 300+ stairs to the top.

Inside the church

A garden behind Notre Dame

Notre Dame from the back

One of Notre-Dame's well known chimera statues, which doubles as a gutter

We sat by the river and ate Camembert cheese and crackers for dinner, later we went on a boat tour along Seine.

The next morning, we went to Versailles, where Marie Antoinette used to live. I was so looking forward to go here because I heard many great things about this place. After spending around 4 hours in the palace, I could say that it definitely lived up to its expectation.

Golden Gate. The first thing you see when you walk up to the entrance.

From the Marble courtyard, behind me is the shop and cafe.

Beautiful painted ceiling in the Hercules drawing room

Hercules Drawing Room

Gorgeous hallway with tall white pillars and painted ceiling.

One of many gardens in Versailles

The ceiling in Hall of Mirrors

King's Chamber

Queen's Chamber, where Marie Antoinette slept.

Giant floor to ceiling tapestries

Coronation of Napoleon. This is the blown up version of the original painting in Louvre.

Dragon Fountain. It is only turned on during the weekend. Too bad.

The palace has many fountains, each was named...Nepture, Apollo, Flore, Enceladus.

View of the Orangerie

Then, we went to Grand Trianon. It's like the mother in law suite or pool house. Grand Trianon was built for the royals to escape from the palace. I guess they wanted to have a bit more freedom, away from the uptight rules.

Then we went to Marie Antoinette estate. Apparently a grand palace with its beautiful garden wasn't enough for her. She was longing for a simple life out in the farm, minus the hard labor. It was quite cute actually. We saw little farm houses, only from the outside, couldn't go in. A small pond was nearby.