Paris

The city of Paris, the most romantic and popular city in the world, located in the heart of France. Highly populated with estimated 2.3 million people and flooded with tourists. A place must-go if you were in Europe.

Parisians are proud of their awesome architecture buildings, museums, rivers, cuisine, fashions, French language, arts, culture, and many more... Some tourists find them rude, but the Parisians that I met were good. With Bonjour and Pouvez-vous m'aider, s'il vous plait ? + smile, they helped me to show direction or snap a few shots. Many young Parisians could speak English fluently. Avoid walking to corners of the streets if you don't want extra smell under your nose.

The icon of Paris, or even icon of France, you can visit Eiffel Tower (La Tour Eiffel), eracted in the end of 1880.  I, not fond of its height, admire the architectural design of iron bars charming from every angle. Coupled with a big garden, you could walk or lay around and spend as much time as possible to gaze the tower. Perfect place with you sweet heart. with budget.

See how the iron bars were put together amost 121 years ago....amazing...

Another landmark that you must not miss, Notre Dame de Paris, also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, completed in year 1345. It was on Sunday morning, I visited Notre Dame. A long que of visitors patiently await to enter the cathedral. Admission is FREE and visitors could attend the mass ceremony.

This is the main entrance.

It has its own website: http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/
I don't mind the long que because I was busy looking at the walls, doors, corners,... of the architectural building. and also people walking on top of the building. Can you see the people on the top?

From near, what can you see? Angels? Very fine sculptures...after 600 over years, they still seem not tired of so many visitors.

The other end of Notre Dame, with one nice park in front. It took me 5 hours to be satisfied with external and internal tour of Notre Dame. For FREE!  Nonetheless, I cannot help but to contribute EUR2 to this Notre Dame by buying a souvenir coin from a machine. They also sell CDs, key-chains, chains, pendant, necklaces, ...

If you think this magnificient architecture is not sufficient to gain your lover's heart, you can bring a big lock with his/her name written and lock it on a bridge across Seine river... and drown the key. For FREE!

But whatever you do, please don't lock the girl's leg.

Take a stroll along the river or a boat ride. But, please be reminded that the boat ride is NOT FREE  (EUR12 for an hour).

Thumb-up for Paris.

Getting around in Western Europe

Travel in Europe is convenient. You can use train or bus to get to your dream destination, such as the romantic city of Paris.

From city to city, the train route are well specified. One of the well-known train company in Europe that I traveled with is TGV http://www.tgv-europe.com/en/.

I booked my train ticket online. The earlier you book online, the fare is cheaper. TGV allows you to collect their ticket in various modes. One of my Malaysian friend collect the TGV ticket that she book online from one of the office in Puchong. To collect from Malaysia, make sure that you allow enough time for the ticket to be sent from Europe to Malaysia, 3 days to a week.

For me, I booked online when I was Malaysia and collected the ticket in Europe via machine. Very convenient. If you want to collect in Europe, ensure that you choose country as France or Luxembourg and use the same credit card that you used to purchase the ticket online when you want to retrieve the ticket from machine at France or Luxembourg station.

In Paris, my tour-guide was the metro (underground train) map. It is tremendously useful. Thanks to the metro Paris for the map (it is free!)
http://parisbytrain.com/tag/paris-metro/.

One night stay in Paris can be easy too. You can have luxury hotel under romantic light of Eiffel Tower or budget stay.

I chose budget stay. I stayed at Aloha Hostel (EUR25 with breakfast, yes! the cheapest that I can find online) in female dorm, 5 min walk from Volontaires (means 'It's my pleasure') metro station. The hostel is small but cosy and good enough for a night sleep, shower, and breakfast. You can rent bedsheet and get Internet access. Recommended for budget stay.
http://www.aloha.fr/eng-acces.php

Hop onto metro at Volontaires station (line 12, green) and stop at Assemblee Nationale, you walk along the river for 15 min, then you can reach the Eiffel Tower.


If you want to get more information and get help when you travel in Western Europe, learn up some French word. Bonjour, Merci, désolé, Un, Deux, Trois, Parlez-vous anglais? s'il vous plait, and Oui...(not exclusive list). You will definitely find them useful in understanding announcement in train stations.

You can get some start up lesson for free at  http://www.bonjour.com/index.php?lesson=1

Au revoir !

Luxembourg City

Park views on the first day of winter season.

Popular sight for tourists.

 Famous landmark.

How big is maple leaves?

Lux

The park in Luxembourg city center. Located between 3 countries, France, Belgium and Germany.
A place worth visit if you are looking for a peaceful place for retreat and relax.

Stop by the park to enjoy the breath-taking scenery and a slow walk. Significantly, the tower and bridge mark the land of this city.
At some corners of the city, you could see...more...