Europe/UK Day 5 - Paris

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

2nd day of our 2-day museum pass. Woke up pretty late for travelling standards, but we still have a long way to go so we didn't wanna go too hard on ourselves. It was about 10 or 11 by the time we left, a whole morning was gone..

Musée du Louvre

I wanted to reread the da vinci code before coming here but didn't have the time to. There are actually tours that bring you on a trail along the places mentioned in the book.


us art-illiterate people came here, just for her.



Eugene Delacroix's "Liberty leading the people"


also by Delacroix


and there she is!


look at the crowd.. not very worth it, and rather headache inducing. We left shortly after. very lame right.




i prefer the fresh air



lunch was at some turkish joint



Walked along the river seine. There are 2 islands in the river here.




Notre Dame de Paris cathedral on the Île de la Cité



the door



I thought confessions were supposed to be confidential?



i've always had mixed feelings for gargoyles.. of fear cos they're scary looking, disgust cos they're not very pretty, but yet, because of disney's version of gargoyles I've started to like them more.


cute hor?

that's why I actually regret not going up the notre dame to have a better view of these grotesque, yet beautiful statues.



Walked over to the Pantheon. Later realized that the more famous one is in Rome.

At the entrance, a mural of the martyrdom of St. Denis. "According to the Golden Legend, after his head was chopped off, Denis picked it up and walked two miles, preaching a sermon the entire way." Wow.

I was quite excited to see this Foucault's Pendulum here. Because the first time we saw this, it was at Griffith's Observatory in L.A. And this, is the actual place Foucault built his pendulum. Basically this is how we came to know that the earth actually rotates.

At the basement of the Pantheon lies many famous people.

Victor Hugo




Pierre and Marie Curie


ok. enough sombre stuff. Time for a rest.




See the Pantheon in the door? Had my cappucino, with the Pantheon behind me

We came to this restaurant that his company recommended.. Met gerry earlier on and she was already inside I assume. Anyways, we weren't extremely hungry and were thinking of sharing some food. The restaurant was very full but we managed to get 4 seats in a long table with other people. However, shockingly, the staff refused to allow us to order food for sharing. Strictly no sharing was allowed! So we ordered like, 2 mains, and some wine. The staff rudely took away 2 sets of cutlery and looked at us as though we were dirt.

I was feeling more and more uncomfortable by the minute and we decided to just leave, even though they had taken our orders. Just stood up and left.. That forms a huge slice of my Parisien experience. Loads of shitty rudeness and a 'we are better than you' mentality.

We took the subway towards Montmartre. It was a long walk up a lot of steep slopes to reach the top.

(see the steep slope?)


and we reached it! Basilique de Sacre Coeur.



we loved the Montmartre area



finally settled down for dinner. this is our mandatory confit du canard


and a steak for pb


this area had lots of artists drawing portraits, and they did a damn good job! All of them drew really lifelike charcoal drawings.

walked back down towards the subway station. But no, we were not going home yet.

boulevard de clichy, the red light district!


woohoo


and.. the moulin rouge~! Ok, I was damn disappointed cos I was half imagining the huge tentage with nicole kidman and ewan mcgregor dancing and singing away.