Boston's White cap suspect

Finally captured the suspect alive, what a relief to the people in Boston :)

Paris - random things around the Neighbourhood

After our visit to the Louvre, we were starving.  We were trying to look for the cafe where Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp's movie were filmed.  It was mentioned in my earlier blog. We walked around the area, and we couldn't find it.  So we walked to the love-lock bridge and put our prepared lock there; then we threw the key into the Seine River :)  Wish for the best I guess.

I believe we were in the Saint Germain area.  I don't really know what the checkers road marking were for?  Are they crosswalk? from both sides? Anyone?  They looked nice though :)

Random Street performers - Took the whole piano out!  Pretty good music :)  They seem to enjoy this a lot!

There are random things I might not expect nor understand when I travel.  But I love exploring and observing the different cultures and the histories. 

Where's next? :)

Around the world...

I usually read the local news on the newspaper, and the news never seem to be interesting.....seems like the Canucks is usually on the cover page...But I guess no news is good news.  I was watching the news channel at noon today, the news was talking about the aftermath of the Boston's tragedy, the crazy explosion in Texas, the flooding in Chicago, North Korea....Afghanistan...etc...And then our local news was....."superman turns 75!" or introducing a new bird or chicken named Aussie? .....While so many unfortunate events are happening around the world, I do know I'm quite fortunate to live in Canada: a peaceful country with a majority of nice and friendly neighbourhoods.  

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 - Bon Appetit!!

Paris - Day 2 - continued:
During this day trip to Versailles, we met a few people from North America: tourists from Toronto, Montreal and Seattle!  After an exhausting trip to Versailles (on a gloomy and rainy day), we were wet, drained and starving.

We had a quick visit to the exterior of the Napoleon's tomb (Les Invalides), then we wandered around the streets and checked out the different menus.  So we picked this cafe for dinner, and of course we sat at the outdoor table/terrace :)

Appetizers: French Onion Soup and escargots

We ordered a 3 courses meal for approximately 28 Euro (each) + tips + wine.  We had very good appetizers of the French Onion Soup and escargots. yummmmmmm.  The French Onion soup in Paris had a lot more bread/croutons than the ones I had in my home town.  The soup was quite filling.

Mussels and frites

I ordered the mussels pot and frites for main course, just wanted to see if it would taste differently in Paris.  The mussels were alright, not remarkably delicious.

Lamb Shank

This was the other entree we ordered: lamb shank and mash potato, quite soft and yummy:)

Dessert: Creme brûlée & Lemon curd crepe

Dessert: we had the lemon curd crepe and creme brûlée, along with cafe au lait.  The creme brûlée was pretty tasty, but we were a little too full to finish the crepe.  I love having the cafe au lait in Paris, there's something different about them.  I couldn't find the similar taste in my home town. :(

While we were having our dinner, we saw there were these 3 - 4 ambulance/emergency vehicles having their sirens on.  But all of them stopped at the red light at a clear intersection when there were no other cars!  How emergency was that when all of them stopped patiently on a red light?  Only in Paris, I assumed.  I felt sorry for those who were waiting for the emergency rescue.

Heading towards the Eiffel Tower!
this photo reminds me of Van Gogh's Cafe terrace at night...

It seems like it was usually the tourists were having dinner that early (6pm).  At around the happy hour time (4-7pm), it seems like the Parisians usually would just stop by the cafe for a coffee and a smoke.  That's why whenever you walked into the cafe, the waiter would usually ask you for drink or for dinner?

The sky got cleared up, we were having a nice walk towards the Eiffel tower :)  We didn't look at the map, we just looked up to see where the tower was and walked towards it :)

Paris - Versailles

History of Versailles:

According to Wiki, "the court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when King Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution.  

Hall of Mirrors - The galerie des glaces (Hall of Mirrors in English), is perhaps the most celebrated room in the château of Versailles.

Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy.  While the poor were starving, King Louis XIV inhabited in his lavish Palace of Versailles and continued his extravagant expenditures on luxuries.  King Louis XIV became one of the most powerful French monarchs and consolidated a system of absolute monarchical rule in France that endured until the French Revolution.  

Side story: Human bone-bread:

In 1590, the existing stores of food were inadequate to feed the population.  The poor people had descended to eating dogs, cats, tallow, grass..and even rats…..It was proposed that the bones of dead Parisians stored in the charnel house be ground into flour and baked into bread as there were no grain.  Yet, it turned out to be a failure as people who ate those bone-bread died shortly after.  (hypothesis reasons: (1) those breads had no nutrient (2) bread came from plague victims (3) contaminated by prions. )- Reference

Grand Trianon Castle Interior