Paris Trip, 2011 - Part Un

We are off to Paris today. We called a cab to bring us to the St Pancras station. Tak kuasa nak naik tube. Barang banyak and bag sgt berat. Bag kakak aku dah selamat pecah tayar ok. So bila tarik bag tu, macam tarik lori satu tan.

The train ride is two hours. I snap perhaps thousands of pictures along the way. By noon, we are in Paris. The train stopped at Gare du Nord (Nord = North). If you're heading towards Venice, Italy, it's Gare du L'est (East). This I learnt from The Tourist.

The Eurostar train ride was amazing! Best gila. Though the coach is not as luxurious and romantic like the one in the movie, the seats are still cozy and comfy. We bought the ticket online and print out the ticket from the kiosk at St Pancras station. Pretty easy. As long as you buy way in advance, ie like a few months in advance, you might get the chance to get the cheap fare like we did. We paid 81 pounds for 2, 1-way ticket. So it's about RM400++.

 At first masa nak check in dah risau that our bag are too big to put into the carriage. Tengok2 orang lain punya bag memang macam circus troop! Tapi berat gila babi ok bag kitaorang. Nasib la ramai orang nak tolong angkatkan bag tu letak atas shelf at the end of the carriage. Tapi muka semua orang memang menyesal la lepas tolong angkat bag kitaorang! Hahahaha. Masa sampai Paris, ada group of boys.. students kot, yang tolong angkatkan semua bag kitaorang letak atas platform. Serious shit kalau kena angkat sendiri, turun dari train, sah2 aku tergolek jatuh bawah train. So since dah atas platform, boleh la tarik slow2 macam kura2, till kuar dari station. Terus ambik cab, straight to Hotel. Actually hotel tu kalau jalan mcm 500 meters downhill gitu, takde la jauh sangat. Tapi dengan bag yang berat, tak sanggup la kan.

We booked ourselves into Holiday Villa. As in Holiday Villa yang ada kat Malaysia tu. The hotel is near Cadet Metro and ada McD and Supermarket nearby. Hidup la kita orang. Atas ni picture taken from our room's window.  Then we met Malik the guy behind the reception, who was super excited when he found out that we are Malaysian. I think he was Morrocan or Turkish. Sibuk pulak nak practise Selamat Tengahari, Apa Khabar bla bla bla. When we told him that we want to go and have lunch, he brought us to this Turkish/ Moroccan restaurant yang actually dah habis lunch service, tapi sebab tu member-member dia, tak kisah la.. depa kata jom makan.

What was on the menu? Cous-Cous. Hahahahah. This is our first time with cous-cous, so muka pun jadi pus-pus. Pada aku sedap aje. Kakak aku la tak lalu. Check out her face. The roasted chicken is to die for ok. Melambak pulak tu serving nya. Wash it down with Mint Tea. Sedapnya. Then for desert, diabetic induced baklava! Baru la engine warm up sket

So off we go to the Metro and our first stop is the Grand Palais Royal - Lourve Museum. Or Musee du Lourve. Dah penat posing maut, kakak aku suggest marilah mengukur Champs de Elysee pulak. So we took a loooooonnnngggg stroll from Lourve all the way down to Champs de Elysee. It was the start of spring, so pokok2 semua togel-togel lagi. Tapi Parisian is already out enjoying the sun. All over Jardin de Tulleries, semua orang dah mode baring-baring on the grass sambil cuci mata. Unfortunately, the sidewalk, rumput pun tak tumbuh lagi, ada pasir aje. Sudahnya, kasut aku berdebu macam pekerja construction.

Along Champs de Elysee ada pulak orang bagi free sample Miss Cherie Dior. Berapa kali kitaorang pusing-pusing untuk dapatkan free sample tu. Ended up with almost 30 vials! Hahaha tak payah beli. Then ada pulak Sephora. Macam la tak pernah jumpakan. Eh, masuk jugak. Aku pun tak ingat beli apa. But I did came out with a paper bag.

Sambil posing-posing lagi, tetiba nampak cahaya kegembiraan, dari seberang jalan. Wah apakah itu? Itu ialah



Dengan pantas, kitaorang pun lintas. Sebelum tu, ramai pulak yang dari tanah besar tetiba hello hello kat kitaorang. Rupanya, memang certain outlet (do we call it outlet) ada quota imposed. They will check your pasport before any purchase and if dari tanah besar toksah la mimpi nak borong banyak-banyak ye. So depa2 ni akan hang around the place to look for volunteers to buy them the bags. Apa ke gila.

Wah, saya terpegun or if you will, terpempan di dalam kedai itu. Semuanya macam tiba-tiba rasa mampu nak beli. We went around the place just to enjoy the atmosphere and admiring the beautiful things that we can't afford. Whilst browsing, one of the sales assistance named George, came to us. Kitaorang tak panggil pun, agaknya dia dah bosan nak layan geng bukit yang datang dengan kecoh macam nak beli ikan.

My sister already had in mind apa benda dia nak beli. Aku je la yang masih menengok2. Kononnya nak beli Speedy.. but it's just not me. So George suggested something else. Which I fell in love almost instantly (not with George) but the bag. Si George of the Jungle, pun lagi nak tokok tambah. "I think this bag is really suitable for you". Ye George, I think so too.

The cashier desk was swarmed with geng bukit, so George suggested that we go upstairs. Lo and behold, kat atas was meant for a different kind of clientelle. He asked us to have a sit while he sorted out our purchases. So duduk la kitaorang amongst the French taitai who is from head to toe, clad in LV (enjoying her champange no less).. and this Arab dude who just ordered esppresso. George takde pulak offer tah goreng pisang ke air sirap ke kat kitaorang, but we were enjoying the ambience still.

Kejap lagi, George pun datang dengan our credit card slip, sign kat situ je. Tak payah susah2 nak bangun. Ha ambik kau, bag besar gedabak sorang satu. Fear not, George shall help with our bags (tapi dia tak nak tolong angkatkan bag Sephora aku... hahahha) Angkat la pulak bag2 tu turun escalator and send us to the door, but not before pointing to us the nearest Metro from their shop. George V Metro (of course!). Lepas au revior au revior, kitaorang pun kuar la kedai and pergi Metro tu. Which is dekat gila as in like 10 steps away. I swore I skipped those 10 steps. Gembira gila hutang kredit card makin banyak :)

Sampai hotel, with one look at our shopping bags, Malik said "Oh you went shoppping already" Oui!

Later that evening we went out again, to visit Lourve. On Wednesday, it is open till late at night. Besar gila tempat ni. Manage to catch a glimpse of Mona Lisa. Quite nice jugak pergi malam, orang tak ramai sangat. The place is so huge, you actually need more than a week to really enjoy the place.

I wanted to see Naploean's Apartment. Sesat la pulak. Ya rabbi nak pengsan ok. It's from one wing to the other. Disebabkan dah sesat, banyak la section tak dapat tengok. We didn't get to see Venus de Milo, but I did catch Madonna on the Rocks ie yang dalam Da Vinci's code tu.

The museum memang beautiful. Aku mesmerized dengan paintings on the ceiling. Almost every room has one. But yes, after a while penat la kan. Dah la tak paham semenda. Most paintings are from depiction in the bible kot. And tah kenapa some section, keep on showing exposed boobs, boobs, boobs and more boobs. OMG.. it's like porn.

Malam tu terus tido tergolek tak ingat apa sampai esok.