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 - My rant for Paris - Part 1

Metro staff:

     

To end our first day in Paris, we were leaving from the Arc de Triomph, we walked to the metro station nearby.  We didn't know which line we should take to get back to our hotel's station.  We approached the metro counter for help.."Bonjour, Excuse moi?".  The staff was so rude, we asked nicely how to get to this station of "Jacques Bonsergent", and she replied....

"This station is too small, I don't know".  We looked at her, huh? Then she turned away to her other colleague who was about to leave.  So they goodbye hug, goodbye kissed, goodbye chat, she was totally ignoring we were still standing there, waiting for her help.  We continued staring at her, then she finally asked the other colleague: 

"do you know where this station is?"  

he said: "psh......I dunno?!"

We were like...okay.....can we at least get the metro map?

She was like..."Oh....Ok..you know what? it's your lucky day.  This is what I will do, I will give you this map. And u read. Ok?"

Wow, Thanks a lot!  It's like we were begging her to get the free metro map and she was being absolutely useless for doing her job.  I'm sorry.  I interrupted you doing nothing at work.  

Anyway, we ended up getting lost and got off from a big station which turned out to be very ghetto with drunken people puking around.  We called taxi and the taxi driver just dumped us somewhere far from the hotel.  It was raining like crazy, and we were walking in the crazy rain, it was so dark and the Paris Map was kind of confusing as it doesn't give the direction of North and South.  So we had to trial and error until we found the right direction.

We were dead tired by the time we got back to the hotel.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Love-Hate relationship with Paris:

To be honest, I was looking forward to Paris, but it was disappointing for the people we met during our stay.  I was disappointed and thought Paris was overrated.  The place was so dirty and the metro was old and gloss.  How the heck you could have huge holes in the wall and no one fixes it?  There were rats running around the Eiffel tower as they were having a rats parade.  I didn't understand why the French could be so snobby as sometimes I wonder what are they so proud of?  

Yet, Paris is a very beautiful city, and I do love their architecture, the streets, the food and their rich history.  I used to idolize Napoleon in high school as I think he was an amazing leader.  I just think it's like a love-hate relationship between Paris and me.  I do not blow up on strangers easily until I went to Paris (will talk about it later).  

I didn't enjoy my stay in Paris as much as I expected, I do wish to go back again though.  I don't know why, love-hate relationship :)  I wrote so many posts about Paris, and you think I really hate Paris?  

**Ranting about Paris?........ to be continued :p

Paris - Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe:

The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces.  Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.

It was such a nice day, yet after 10pm, it rain so bad all of the sudden.  We hid under this Arc for a while.  Many other people came under this arc to wait until the rain stops.  but the rain lasted for probably the whole night.

The eternal flame:
The flame was meant to honour the tomb of the unknown soldier, as a symbol of all the soldier who lost their lives for the defence of France.  It was first lit on November 11, 1923 and the ceremony is held everyday.

Paris - dining at Champs-Élysées

Since it was our first day in Paris, we were looking for some nice Parisian cafe on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees.  Yet, we could barely find any French restaurants on that strip, we found many Italian, Fusion, British....etc...but missing some French-style cafe.  It was getting dark, and we were starving; we passed by this bistro and the menu was ok, so we went in.

We ordered some beer, and we were sat beside this old couple who offered to help taking pictures for us :) They were tourists too, so friendly.  They also directed us to pour the beer into the glass and but it got too full.  The glass was overflowing with foam, and we immediately had to tuck our heads to drink the foam before it spilled all over the table.  And guess what, the camera guy captured all of the moments, pictures were quite funny.

I could have a million of these escargots for appetizer.  So yummy and it's not oily.  Kinda different from the ones I had in Canada. Yummmmm

I think this was chicken breast or something, I don't remember much because it wasn't that tasty. :p

After dinner, we walked out of the bistro and found that Laduree was right beside the restaurant!  Ooo...not closed yet.  Nice, one thing off my check-list.

So, Laduree is famous for their luxury pastries and their macarons.  I'm not a big fan of macarons, I bought four flavours.  They were good, but....not mind blowing for me :P
Photos were not allowed inside.  

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. 

Paris - River cruise options

Many people suggested to take the River cruise along the Seine River for sight seeing

There were some options of the boat tours/cruise tours along the Seine River:

1). Bateaux Mouches  

     1 hour boat ride for €12,5.  They also offer lunch and dinner cruise.

     www.bateaux-mouches.fr

2). Batobus
     Batobus takes you to the heart of Paris to reach 8 stops of the popular attractions.  Basically it's a hop on hop off boat ride, some people do complain it's too slow or too crowded.  I think it would be a good option if you don't want to walk that much and still able to experience the different perspective of Paris.

€15 for 1 day pass, €18 for a 2 day pass

We ended our walking tour at the Pont Alexandre III:

The Pont Alexandre III is an arch bridge that spans the Seine, connecting the Champs-Élysées quarter and the Invalides and Eiffel Tower quarter, widely regarded as the most ornate, extravagant bridge in Paris. Wikipedia

Finally, first day of Paris...we finally saw the Eiffel tower by the end of the tour

Travel buddy

Finding a travel buddy is so hard.   I wanted a vacation so bad... When someone suggested we should go here and there at when and where, most of the time it doesn't happen and it's disappointing.  Maybe I should just start travelling by myself..