Florence - Pisa & The mall outlet

Day trip to Pisa:

We first walked to the train station, and there was this big board displaying the train schedules, yet the ticket machine was confusing.  There were several stations in Pisa and we weren't sure which station to get off at.  We finally got someone to ask about it.  So we took the regional train from firenze to Pisa Central.  There was no need to pre-book the tickets, you could just buy it at the train station.  The trains came quite frequently; it was about 7 Euro per person, one way.  The regional train sucks, there was no AC and it stunk.  The ride was LONG cuz the train was quite slow.  It was more than 1 hour (you can almost reach Rome within 2 hours with the high speed train).  There was no one checking the validity of our tickets on our way to Pisa Centrale.

very small station…half an hour walk to the leaning tower... 

We weren't sure where to get off, once we saw the sign "Pisa", we basically just followed the crowd.  We walked to the map and figured our way to the leaning tower.  The map looked simple and the tower didn't look that far away; so we just walked.  It was kinda too hot and sunny to walk there, it was a nice and quiet walk.  It took us approximately half an hour to walk there.

So I would recommend you to walk to the leaning tower and then bus back…bus ride was only 10 minutes.. The fare was only 1,50 - 2 Euro.

We saw some abandoned ruins on our way there

Duomo 

Famous Leaning tower…..I guess it doesn't look that leaning in this photo

 ok..One check off the checklist, I don't think I would come back again……

So after our lunch at mcdonald, we took a bus (10 minutes ride) back to the train station.  We didn't check the schedule this time, and we just hopped on to the earliest train that could get us back to Florence.  As the train came, yes, we just hopped on and we forgot to buy tickets……oh on….so this time, there was someone who came to check tickets, and we didn't have tickets.  She asked us to buy the train tickets from her.  Alright.  24 Euro for two people, not bad!!! Then later I looked at the receipt, she charged us 10 Euro for penalty (5 Euro per person).  Honestly, that was quite cheap for penalizing someone who didn't pay for the train fare, (not that I encouraged it), but i rather pay the extra fee than missing the train.

Anyway, this time the train took even LONGER to get back to Florence.  Different trains stop at different stations, though the longer it took.  It was almost 1.5 hour….

Mall Outlet: Prada, Miu miu, other high end Italian brands outlet:

So Pisa and the outlet are very far from each other.  Once we got off the train from pisa, we needed to take this shuttle bus to the Outlet.  It took us a long time to locate this bus station around the train station area.  It was quite hidden, and nobody was able to give you the direction.

The shuttle comes every hour, we were running back and forth to look for the station because we didn't want to miss it.  The outlet closes at 7, while we were trying to catch the 4pm bus.  After half an hour of searching, we could finally find it.  The round trip costed 10 Euro per person.  The ride was approximately one hour, it was seriously out of no where.

But it worth the trip if you love brand names products, their Prada stuff were quite cheap compared to retail prices  A regular Prada wallet (Long one), retail price is 350 Euro, it was 220 Euro.  Purse that was 1200 Euro in retail price, it was 450 Euro there.  So if you love shopping, you might not want to miss it.  Again, this is an outlet, so you might not get the popular stuff that you see at the retail stores.

Tax return:
You can file the tax return there, please do it because you get almost 11% back.  There's a tax return office there.  Line up and DO IT.

Last bus back to the city:
one bus leaves at 7, one bus leaves at 7:30pm.  Make sure you don't miss the last bus, cabbing back would be very $$$.

Note:
It took us a whole day to go to Pisa and the outlet.  So much commute, it was worth it though :)  Do some research if you want to go to the outlet, because there are more other outlets as well.

Florence - Piazzale Michelangelo

Piazzale Michelangelo:
When you come to Florence, you must come here for the panoramic view of Florence..especially come right before the sunset...

We walked to the main train station and took bus #12 to Piazzale Michelangelo…  We bought the bus tickets from the bus driver.  It was a nice ride; it took about 30 minutes to drive up the hill (some people suggested to take a hike up there)…

It was a magnificent view of Florence.  We were waiting for the sunset..I made a reservation at the restaurant up there at around 7 (just about the sunset time).  I thought we could sit at the terrace to enjoy the sunset, but unfortunately the terrace was closed.  I was a little disappointed, there was nobody inside as it was still a little early.

La Loggia del Piazzale Michelangelo 

We picked the table that was closest to the door…it was quite nice inside.  We ordered some wine and enjoyed a little of sunset :)

some salad to start with

Rabbit meat ….. it was quite moist… 

It was my first time tasting rabbit meat…….it was quite good..but it kinda tasted like chicken…..

Sea bass

The ambience of the restaurant was quite good.  The food was not bad and it wasn't very expensive.  I would recommend to try this when you want to have a comfortable meal at Piazzale Michelangelo.

After a nice dinner, we walked around and took some very nice night shots with tripod.

Bus ride back to town:
We thought we could take the same bus back to town, but the bus driver turned us away saying this was the last stop….We actually needed to take bus #13 which was across the road.  We waited for a while and when bus #13 finally came, we went up to the bus driver to buy the tickets…and he said he only had 1 ticket to sell…and he couldn't accept cash.  I asked him so what do i do? He told me to get off the bus to buy the bus tickets…he was pointing at the parking lot.  In the end we were running back and forth, trying to figure out what he was talking about….it took a good ten minutes before we could take the bus back to town.  Good that it was probably his break time, or else we would have to wait for another 30 minutes for the next bus to come.

Florence - Accademia Gallery & Basilica de San Lorenzo

Galleria dell' Accademia:

Michelangelo's masterpiece - The real David you can't miss seeing in Florence.

Day 1 - After a nice lunch, we went back to hotel and rested up.  We unpacked and got changed.  At around 4pm, we walked to the Accademia Gallery to get our prebook tickets.  It got us in quite quickly, we skipped the long line up.

The gallery had some modern arts, but our main purpose was to see the real DAVID by Michelangelo.  There was no photo allowed, but we still happened to take several sneak shots inside.

The real David is big, bigger than I had expected.  The masterpiece was so detailed.  we were quite amazed at this famous sculpture.  (see below).

There are quite a few of David replica placed around Florence, but nothing could be compared to the real one.  This was bigger, and you can actually see the details of the veins and muscles.

Tips to skip the line to the Academia Gallery:

 - prebook the tickets online from the OFFICIAL website.  (b-tickets)

http://www.b-ticket.com/b-ticket/uffizi/venueAccademia.aspx

If you just google online, there are tons of websites that sell you the tickets but they are more expensive.  So it's best to buy from the official website.  The time we went, the museum had an expedition so the ticket price was a little more.  You do have to pay for reservation cost of 4 Euro.  In general the info of the ticket price should be:

The official site for Polo Museale Fiorentino museum ticket sales

Opening hours

Tuesday through Sunday: 8:15-18:50, entry every 15 minutes.

Closed: Mondays, Christmas, New Year’s Day, May 1st

Tickets

Full price: € 6,50

Reduced : € 3,25 

Entry free of charge 

In conjunction with the exhibit "Dal Giglio al David. Arte civica a Firenze in età comunale", 14 May - 8 December 2013, full ticket price € 11.00, reduced € 5.50

Reservation cost

€ 4,00

After I made my payments online, I only got an email but it didn't give me an authorization or reference number.  So I made a long distance call to their museum and asked.  They said they will try to send it again, and even if I didn't get it, it should be ok.  They would have a list of my name and the visiting time on that day.

When you buy the tickets online, they made you reserve a time.  I picked 4:15pm; so we had to arrive by 4pm.  Make sure you don't go to the wrong line.  You first need to go to the reservation counter, across the street from the museum.  Then they checked ID and the confirmation number, and then print you the tickets.  Then you walked across the street to line up to get into the museum and for security check.  It felt good to skip through a big line up to get in.

- Avoid bringing a big backpack or any food in.  They would make you leave your bags at the security counter until you leave the museum.  

Basilica de San Lorenzo:

After visiting the Accademia Gallery, we hung out around the Duomo area.  Everything was so close together.  We took some nice photos and bought some postcards.  We also visited the Basilica de San Lorenzo - the oldest church in Florence, I believe.

It was a nice walk inside, not bad...but nothing special.


My first impression of Florence:

I fell in love with Florence.  There were many tourists walking around, very commercialized with shopping and brand names, yet very classy with the cobblestone and the vintage buildings.

Florence - Arrival

Train: Venice to Florence:
We took the first class train to Florence's Santa Maria Novella Station.  We arrived to Florence at 11am.  Once we arrived to the Florence train station, we went to the customers assistance to ask for directions to our hotel.  She said it was very close by, it should be only 5 - 10 minutes walk.

1 Euro per person to use the washroom
Both of us needed to go to washroom, so we went to the W.C., it costed 1 Euro per person to use the washroom.  They had gates to take money, just like how the gate takes money to enter the subway.  Most people had trouble figuring out how to exit (by pressing a button).

Awesome hotel location:
We looked at the big map in front of the train station to check where our hotel was.  After 7-10 minutes of walk, we found our hotel: Best Western Premier, it was probably the easiest hotel to find throughout our trip.  The hotel was super close to the Duomo and everything.  But it was too early to check in, we couldn't check in until 2pm.  So we walked towards the Duomo and we had lunch at the outdoor cafe with a nice view of the Duomo.


First lunch in Florence:

I ordered: Black Truffle Mushroom Ravioli

Lasagne

We ordered a big bottle of water (4 Euro) and some beer.  Alcohol is way cheaper in Europe than water.  I fell in love with black truffle during this trip.  The ravioli was quite good.  Lasagne was pretty good, simple but nothing special.  Pasta is usually not the main entree, that's why the portion is quite small.

Dessert time: Tiramisu & cappuccino

Finally, I got to try tiramisu in Italy....Yummm...along with a cup of cappuccino.  The texture of the tiramisu is very soft and creamy, taste of coffee/expresso was not that strong.  It was quite different from the ones I usually had in Canada.  The presentation didn't look that great either, but it still tasted good!

It was a nice day, weather was good.  Even though we were walking on the ancient cobblestone roads, the streets we were at were quite commercialized.  Brand name stores and shopping stores were everywhere.

Travelling in Italy by Train: Tips

Venice -> Florence, Venezia -> Firenze

Trains within Italy:

Travelling in Italy by train is so simple and efficient.  It took me a while to figure out how to buy train tickets online via www.trenitlia.com.  I didn't know how to use their code and to pick the main train station.  But after I figured out how to use it, it's the most hassle free transportation within Europe.  

I booked my tickets about two months ahead via the trenitalia website.  It was only 58 Euro for two people (one way) first class tickets.  First class tickets was only 10 Euro more than the second class.  It so worth the experience and the comfort level was awesome.  You got to book early tho, if you buy the tickets at the train station on that day, the ticket price is almost double.  

Tips for traveling by train within Italy:

Rail pass vs Individual train tickets?

- if you have a well planned schedule, it's better off to buy the tickets online individually instead of buying the rail pass

- a lot of websites will sell you the rail pass/Euro pass, I personally think it might be flexible, but it is more expensive and it is not as flexible as you think.  If the train's first class is full, you might not able to get the seats you want.  I like to book my seats ahead of time

- if you like to do day trips (round trips within Italy), I guess you might prefer a 3-days pass more.  For example, you booked a week of hotel in Rome, and you just want to go to Florence for a day?  Then a rail pass might be better for you

Trenitalia:
I bought my tickets via www.treniatlia.com.  I searched all the cheapest time slot available.  Service between major cities is frequent, and the trains usually arrive on time.  It is super convenient to search and book the tickets online.  You can book the tickets 3 months ahead.

Super Econ Tickets:
I had a fixed schedule, so I just got the super econ tickets as it's the cheapest.  There is no flexibility to refund or exchange the super econ tickets.  Again, First class tickets are only 10 Euro more than the others, why not?  I think it was a decent experience.

For example: (First class train tickets):
Super Econ: 58 Euro (for two).....Econ: 90 Euro (for two)....Base: 125 Euro (for two)

First class: Florence to Rome (Firenze to Roma)

I love taking the trains, very scenic :)

Main Train stations you need to know:

Venice - Venezia (Santa Lucia)

Florence - Firenze (Santa Maria Novella)

Rome - Roma (Stazione Termini)

***seat61 - a very useful website to explore and learn about the train systems around the world

Venice - Piazza San Macro

St. Mark's Square:
Here we are!! the St. Mark's square!  We almost missed this part, so glad we found this.  We basically just followed the street signs and then after turning out from a narrow street's corner...we were like wow.... nice view....and lots of pigeons flying around :)

Tips to avoid lining up at St. Mark's Basilica:
I booked a time slot to the St. Mark's Basilica for 10:45am, but we decided to sleep in instead, so we missed the reservation time.  If you want to avoid the line up, you can go to their website and pay 1Euro/person to select a time slot to visit.  That way you can save up some time from lining up.
Information: web site; Tel. (0039) 041-270-8311

Admission: Admission to the Basilica is free, but visitors should expect to pay entrance fees during holidays or to special parts of the basilica complex, such as the St. Mark's museum, Pala d'Oro, and the Treasury. You can book your free reservation (for a 1 euro service fee) on the website venetoinside.com.

The ambience was quite amazing and romantic.  There were live bands performing for the outdoor tables.  But you gotta pay for what you get.  Menu was quite expensive and there was a cover charge for 6 Euro per person for the live band.  But I'm telling you that it was well worth it :)

World known piazza + live classy music + good singer + ok food + pigeons flying around + waiting for sunset.................munching on the olives .....taking a sip of the white wine....How much more could I ask for?..........Gosh I miss that moment.

I mean when the bill came, it wasn't that bad: We ordered two glasses of wine and we shared ONE dish of panini...Chips and olives were "complimentary".  The bill included a 18% gratitude...so it ended up to be approximately 46 Euro in total?  

On the right hand side of the photo is the Doge's palace, this is located beside the St. Mark's Basilica.

It was quite remarkable to chill around the Piazza San Macro :) so memorable... Hope I would come back some day.

Venice - Gondola ride

our gondola ride along the Grand Canal

Our gondola ride:
We approached a gondolier near the Rialto Bridge for the price of getting a gondola ride.  We didn't bargain or anything, he asked for 80 Euros for approximately 30-40 minutes, but it ended up to be only ~25 minutes.  It was around 12pm, the gondolier said it would be the best time for the gondola ride because everyone went for lunch and there would be less traffic.  We agreed on the price and got on to the gondola.  I just searched online that the standard price should be 80 Euros for 40 minutes, I guess we got ripped off.  But then the Gondolier was right, there was less traffic during lunch time, because it was super crowded in the afternoon (shown below).

Traffic jam in the afternoon, but I guess that way you would enjoy a longer gondola ride.

      

Some canals are very narrow; just when the traffic sign showed "No entry", I thought the gondola would not fit in there.  In fact, it fit right in :)  The buildings looked old, but they looked nice though.  It was a super hot day, the gondola ride was very refreshing.  

The Gondolier spoke very good English, and he told us a lot of history about the different buildings.  He pointed to us where James bond's Casino Royale was filmed, the scene where the building collapsed and sunk in Venice.  He also told us a lot of interesting things; he was a pretty good tour guide.

Our gondolier :)

Becoming a gondolier?

Being a Gondolier is one of the oldest and most respected job in Venice.  It's limited to only 400-500 licenses.  The income should be very decent as it is pretty much guaranteed to have tourists paying for the overpriced but unique experience.  80 Euro for 25 minutes? Imagine how much you could make in a day, in a month....in a year.  However it is very difficult to become a Venetian gondolier from an outsider, especially when one is not born within the gondoliers' families.

Some facts about Gondolas:

- "A gondola is like a luxury car.  Although black is the official color, many are ornately decorated and have comfortable seats and blankets." - (reference: goitaly.about.com/)

- A gondola is flat and made of wood.  All of the venetian gondolas should be standard size: 11 meters long, weights 600kg and are hand built in special workshops.

- Gondolas hold six people and can be shared without affecting the fee, so you can save money by splitting the cost

- Gondoliers must be officially licensed.  They must wear black pants, a striped shirt and closed dark shoes.

 

Alternative option?

Another cheaper option to ride across the Grand Canal is to take the traghetto: Traghetto is an empty gondola used to ferry passengers back and forth across the canal. - (goitaly.about.com/)

Paris - Musee du Louvre

Day 3 of Paris: 

After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we took the metro to the station: Palais Royale, Musee du Louvre. 

TIPS: to avoid long line-up at the Louvre:

According to tripadvisor, other travellers advised that the line up at the pyramid entrance is usually pretty long.  There are 4 entrances to get into the Louvre, the Pyramid entrance is the most well-known.  To avoid the line up, you can enter via the entrance "Galerie Caroussel du Lourve".  

Via Metro: if you go from the metro station, get off the subway and exit at "Palais Royale, Musee du Lourve".  Turn left from the exit, and then head towards the entrance.  The walking tour guide told us the same thing.

The patio view from the cafe inside the Louvre

However, we followed the instructions and we still couldn't find that entrance.  We saw the line up at the pyramid, it wasn't that long.  I approached the security guard at the pyramid and I asked him where's the other entrance, he told me to just line up here.  I asked isn't there another entrance with a shorter line up?  He said: the line up today is pretty quick, it should be only 20 minutes.  So we listened to him and lined up at the pyramid.  Indeed, he was right; the line up was approximately 20 - 25 minutes :)

It was a cloudy morning, and the sky was clearing up in the afternoon

Buying ticket at the Louvre: get exact changes and accept the attitude:

**RANT ALERT**

We were lining up to get the entrance tickets.  When we got to the cashier, the ticket was 11,90 Euro each.  So I gave her 30 Euro for the two tickets (23,80 Euro).  The cashier had a bunch of coins (2Euros) sitting on her counter, but she just simply told me: 

 "No change, you see? (pointing on her counter) No coins".  

Ok?....do you take credit cards?

"Machine is down"

Ok....so I had to dig through my whole purse to find her the exact change.  I don't understand if she doesn't have coins, can she not just ask the person who sat right next to her for change?  She really had the "I don't give a f**k" face and attitude.  Ok, my fault, I misinterpreted the duty of a cashier (a French one), getting/giving change is NOT part of the job responsibilities.  Well, by the third day in Paris, I should just accept the way how the French work.  What do you expect? It's France.

I personally really like this painting.  When I looked at it, it was super vivid and it looks very 3-dimensional.  I love the use of colour and the shading.  It was like looking at a gallery inside a gallery.

The Louvre Museum is huge, it is impossible to digest their entire collection.  Someone told me if you just look at every piece of artwork for 30 seconds, it will take you at least 6 months to finish viewing all of them.  

Yes, everyone must see the Mona Lisa.  It's quite small and shielded with a glass case; it was the room with the most crowd.  To me, that's more like a check on the check-list.  I enjoyed looking at the other paintings and the Roman Sculptures.  The ancient artists were super skillful.  

We were at the museum for approximately 4.5 hours?  A lot of the artwork were breathtaking before it got too overwhelming.  We were getting super hot and hungry.  It took us a while to locate the cafe inside the museum, because the museum was humongous!  The cafe had a nice terrace/patio that faced the pyramid (second photo above).  We shared a salad and a sandwich.  The drinks were refreshing as it was super hot inside.

Extra info about the Louvre:
- Close on Tuesdays
- Visit after 6pm on some nights are 50% off and less crowded
- Check the official website for details :)
- Some people like to get the Museum pass to avoid line up

Paris - Eiffel Tower and travellers' advices

Of course.....Must go:

Book online ahead of time:
Before I arrived to Paris, I read on tripadvisor that only ONE of the four elevators was working in the Eiffel tower, due to technical difficulties.  Getting a slot online was very difficult.  But you must book ahead online in order to avoid the wait.  The people on the forum said they waited like 3 - 4 hours to get up.  I booked my tickets 3 months ahead of time.  I always wanted to take the night time slot for the Eiffel, because I heard the night view is magnificent.  Anyway, that was the only time slot available on that day: 10:00pm!  Everything else was fully booked.

*** remember to book through their original website: Tour Eiffel***

Tips for booking Online for Eiffel Tower: 

If you can't find any empty time slot on your desire date?
Try checking if there's anything available for the 2nd stage/floor instead of access to the top.  Because the tickets to the top are usually booked up first, but there are usually tickets left for the second floor.

OR: you can take other options:
(1): Walk up the stairs, not too bad.  No wait + cheaper fee.  Yet, make sure to check the time when do they close the stairs.
(2): Wait in line, some actually said the lineup is not too bad....2 hours?
(3): get there super early, or super late.
(4): go to the expensive restaurant up in the Eiffel, that would save you some wait time if you don't mind paying $$$ and spending a romantic lunch or dinner up at the Eiffel :)

Eiffel tower's poor staff's attitude:
We went there a little early to take some nice shots of the exterior - Eiffel tower...it's so beautiful.  It sparkles every hour.  Since we booked online, we went up to the reservation line and asked the staff if we should line up there.  There was no one lining up there, and the staff said we could hang out and then come back at 10pm.  Well, it was 9:45pm already, we were going to wait but he told us to go away and then come back later.  Then all of the sudden there was this tour of 50+ people coming to the line up and we were like wow? maybe we should get back into the line.  That tour group (maybe Italian?) kept pushing the individual guests away which pissed a lot of us off.  When I went up to the staff and I asked him why didn't he let us line up first ten minutes ago.  He told us to get back to the end of the lineup.......WTH...First of all, they booked the same time as we did.  Second, no one deserved to be pushed....Anyway, so we went back to the line up and waited patiently, but some of the tour kept non-stop pushing us, and when it was finally our turn, the staff stopped me from going through....Anyway, long story short, I blew up on the staff and things were settled.  It wasn't a pleasant experience to start off my visit to the Eiffel....

All I want to say is, the French workers don't really care about their tourists and their customers.  Most of them think we were just bothering them.  Do they not understand tourism is pretty damn important for their economy?  I guess they just don't care.  That's the French style.  Anyway, I think if you really encounter an unreasonable problem that they could easily solve, you need to SPEAK UP.  Confront them.  I don't think they like the confrontation.  Bring that aggressiveness part of you out when you really need it: Yes! the American style.

Second floor of the tower:
After the rainy day of Versailles, we each bought a Paris' poncho in case it would rain again.  Fortunately, it cleared up, yet it was super duper windy when we were up there.  It was so windy and cold that it almost blew my head off.  Looking down from Eiffel was amazing, yet it was hard to enjoy the view with the super strong wind.  It was hard to hold the camera still for the night shots and my fingers were freezing.  

looking down at the Seine River :) beautiful night view - facing the Pont Alexandre III and the Les Invalides (Napoleon's tomb)

Was it very romantic?
I guess it could be quite romantic.  But it wasn't that romantic for me that night.  First, the staff really pissed me off with his attitude.  Again, I really don't blow up on people easily....really..  It was too cold and windy up there.  We did stay until the tower sparkles......yes it was quite romantic at that part.  I could imagine why people love to pop the question there.  

Best part of the night:
We bought some hot chocolate.....so warm...so sweet.....it felt so good after the anger and the coldness....



Rats parade:
After the visit, we were looking for the metro station.  While we were walking to the metro, we walked on the darker street, and there were many rats running around the street (right across from Eiffel).  It was dark, and I'm afraid of rats; so that was quite scary for me......

Paris - Versailles & travellers' advices

Day 2:  Getting to Chateau de Versailles
We woke up a little early to catch the train to Versailles.  We had to take the RER C to get to Versailles, which we later figured we took the train to another wrong exit.  Versailles was about 45 mins-1 hour train ride from the central Paris, the train route splits to two ends in Versailles.  While we were not sure if we were on the right train, there was another tourist group who was as lost as us.  So when we were pointing at the map, figuring out the French map, that tourist group started discussing with us in English.  Both of us got off a station thinking it could be walking distance to the Chateau.  We later on figured they were French Canadian from Montreal.  Thanks god they spoke French, they went to ask one of the locals and the local Parisian said we should take the other train to get back to the Chateau as it was quite far to walk there.  Glad to see Canadians when travelling in Europe as they were always so helpful and kind.

We went on a Tuesday, usually Tuesday is a busy day because the Lourve Museum is closed on Tuesdays.  It's better to get there early and then purchase entrance Tickets at Entrance A.  All Entrance tickets were 25 Euro which included all admissions to the Palace, Garden, Trianon + Marie Antoinette, and the musical shows on Tuesdays.

It wasn't that crowded that day.  It was raining pretty bad that day, so we rented a golf cart to tour around this super huge garden.

Golf cart Rental:

It was 30 Euro/hour to rent this golf cart to tour around the garden.  Well worth it.  Usually you could probably finish everything by 1.5-2 hours.  We had to follow the route on the map, or else the golf cart would not move forward.  At one point, we went off track by mistake, and we thought the golf cart was down.  Then we found out that once the sensor sensed you went off track, the golf cart could only go Reverse.

Travellers' advices for visiting Chateau de Versailles:
- BUY ROUND TRIP TICKETS when you buy train tickets to VERSAILLES, as there would be long line up paying for your tickets when returning back to Paris
- Get there half an hour early(8:30) before it opens at 9am to get entrance tickets
- Entrance and the crowd control are not organized, so make sure you buy tickets online or at ENTRANCE A
- Lining up to buy tickets and lining up to get into the Chateau are TWO separate lineups.  Some people who had tickets wasted an hour lining up at the wrong line.
- If the palace is way too packed inside, visit the garden first and then go back to the palace at approximately 3pm.
- Some people suggested to bring sandwiches and picnic at the garden, because buying food in the Chateau has huge lineups too
- NO FOOD in the Chateau, security inspection could lead to long lineups too
- rent a bike/golf cart/ train ride to tour around the garden (walking would be exhausting)
- bring driver license if you want to rent a golf cart or bike

Paris - Pedicab along the Champs Elysees

Pedicab from Pont Alexandre III (the bridge):

After the walking tour, my feet hurt so bad that I could barely walk.  We wanted to visit the Arc de Triomphe, and we saw these types of Pedicab riding around the street.  So we went to ask this pretty cute guy how much would it be to ride to the Arc de Triomphe.  It wasn't that far, it was about a 15 minutes ride for 20 Euros.  Oh well, we might as well spend the money for the experience :)

We were riding quite close to the other cars.  It was a refreshing ride, yet in a way it did feel a little scary that I could almost touch the other car by reaching my arm out.  The cab rider kept doing shoulder checks, giving hand signals and ringing the bell to merge in and out.  It was about 6 pm, rush hour, there were lots of car but the traffic seem pretty peaceful. 

Avenue des Champs-Élysées:
Here!! We are almost there! to the Arc de Triomph! This is the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, one of the most famous street with its cinemas, cafes, luxury specialty shops - one of the most expensive strips of real estate in the world.