Post Card from Paris

Making a detour to Paris was the best thing that happened on my trip to London in 2010. It was easily the most beautiful city to visit (although the smell of urine was almost everywhere!). The people were surprisingly very friendly to us, and except for restaurant food, I found Paris to be rather cheap as compared to London!

To Paris with Love. I would LOVE to go back there again! Hopefully with more cash to spend this time!

Post Card from London

Finally, my blog entry for my trip in 2010 is completed. My last words on London: Not the safest feeling place to visit, with not the best food, but the people are rather good nature, and it is full of history and has all the things I read about when I was a kid. If only I could have visited a forest with a Faraway Tree, my trip would be perfect! Will I go back? Maybe.

Ref:
Faraway Tree

London Food Information - Part 2

Although I didn't like the food at London, I did like the food market atmosphere! Here are 3 notable one which I like. First Covent Garden. I think I went there twice. Covent Garden is one of the oldest market in London, and most famous for this scene in My Fair Lady. The Paella there is cheap and good! I also like the Square Pie shop there.

2nd is Borough Market which I think we went twice as well. I fell in love with perry there. Lots of cheese there.Very interesting place to wonder around.

3rd is Portobella Market at Nottinghill. Had my first Falafel and Churros there!

Ref:
Covent Garden
Borough Market
Borough Market Official Site
Portobello Market
Portobello Road Market Official Site
Square Pie
Paella
Falafel
Churro

London Food Information - Part 1

As always, first few days of the trip is an adjustment to the exchange rate. We're talking about twice the price of SGD here since we're surviving on pounds in London. Thankfully the following things are really cheap at their supermarket: ham (1 pound for 10 slice!), cheese (1 pound each for assorted cheese), bread (1 pound), and milk (less than a pound). I love the Mark and Spencer there as well as they have prepacked salad which are just amazing! And soup from Sainsbury! They open till 11pm!

 During our land tour, we also had lunch at a traditional English pub where I ordered my first cow liver in mash. The pub's name was called Queen's Head somewhere at Stow-on-the-Wold.

 One of the place that I would really like to go back to is Sally Lunn's at Bath. We were in such a rush when we were there that we didn't manage to finish our lunch and had to pack it to go. I even left my postcards there :(

 We did try a few eating places in London, but I can't say I like the food in London much. Here's some pix of the kebab we had near where we stayed, and some underground cellar near Chinatown. I'll share more about London market food in Part 2.

Ref:
Mark and Spencer UK
Sainsbury
The Queen's Head
Sally Lunn's

TOL - Shadows

19-Nov(Friday). Favorite type of photograph? Lights and shadows. Here are some taken inside the Tower of London that gives you a feel of the medieval times :) Kinda reminds me of all the haunting documentary that I love so much. Unfortunately, nothing supernatural turned up in my photos even though it was shot in one of the hunting place in London.To start off, a clip on the ghost stories of the place... I'm kinda glad I did no research before visiting this place! Now I'm tempted to google ghost of Le Catacomb.....

Ref:
Haunted London - Tower of London
The Tower of London Ghosts and Legends

TOL- Blue Skies

19-Nov(Friday). Why I have a blog entries call TOL - Blue Skies? Cause you must understand, that I pick the worst weather to visit a country, and was expecting a gloomy sky with a hope of snow to thrill my little heart. But I'm also a sucker for blue skies, so seeing blue skies and having my DSLR with me just brightens up my spirit. So it was a fine day to visit the Tower of London! Continuing on our journey, what can you see there? Castles! Lots and lots of it, more than you have on a chess board.

And the support system of a erm, kingdom? Surrounding of the place where normal people stay, to serve the royalties. I was told that the blue doors are where the doctor lives. Imagine living in such surroundings in a particular era.

TOL - Tower of London

19-Nov(Friday). Not really hype about visiting the Tower of London cause it sounds kinda touristy  to me. Plus you have to pay quite a lot to get in! History is apparently expensive(17 pounds). It sounded more like a historical themed part to me at first. But it was highly recommended, and my Mum say I must go see the crown jewels.Well, ok.....

Nearest Underground London Bridge looks impressive enough to get me on a good mood.
Go early, and follow a Yeomen Warders tour. It's free, and its very educational.  Yeomen Warders are also known as Beefeater.... Sounds like a good paying job! Haha. But seriously, follow the tour, cause the warders are very well versed in the history, and the story telling beats reading a boring history book. Plus, the way they tell the story, it kinda remind me the monarchy in Discworld :P Below is a photo of our guide who was very entertaining and informative.

What to see at the Tower of London? Castles! Courtyard, changing of guards! And raven! Yes, you gotta see those very well fed ravens in the gardens! They are so huge they look like they could rip me apart easily! But fear not, they can't really fly. Read the legend about them here.

Crown Jewels? Checked. Impressive? Yes. But no photo allowed, or I didn't bother to take any. But what was great about the Tower Of London coming up soon in the next two blog entries!

• Blue Skies
• Shadows

Ref:
Tower of London
Yeomen Warders
Discworld
Crown Jewels of England

London Walk - Bunhil Fields

18-Nov-2010 (Thursday). In the middle of our London Walk, is a place call Bunhil Fields, and the burial ground was where I was headed. Lots of famous people were buried there apparently, but I was only interested in one call William Blake. Someone cemetery doesn't freak me out, but the opposite. They gave me a feel of calm and peace. Eternal sleep, eternal peace.

When I reach Bunhil Field, I immediately went in search of my favorite author's grave. And when I found it, I was rather excited and started looking for a place to purchase some flowers! Luckily there was a Tesco Express nearby up the road, so I went in, and got 1 dozen roses. I was thinking whether to get red or white, and finally settled on orange. Red was never his style, and white was too dull for his colorful character and style of poetry. Orange was bright and just right :)

So with trembling hands, I placed my roses on his grave, and felt just amazed and filled with wonders to be standing before his grave. Like I've met my hero, the person who inspired and shaped my life in some way.... it was a powerful moment for me, something that I find hard to express in words. There and then, the whole trip, the 13 hour flight, the cold weather, the bad hostel was worth it, for that one moment, my life felt complete :)

London Walk - Historic Buildings

18-Nov-2010 (Thursday). Clearing my travel back log of like, 1.5 years ago? Gawd. Anyway, better get it done with. One of the things I love doing when I travel is to take a walk around the city/town/village just to soak in the history, the people, the atmosphere. So I was really looking forward to the London Walk I planned out. The highlight for me was of course, visiting my favorite poet's grave :)

The walk we took is the The City Walk 1: Diamonds to Dungeons which I found online. I choose this because it has a lot of historical building through out the walk, it was William Blake's grave along the way, and also the place Jack the Ripper used to hunt his victim. Need a girl ask for more???

The walk took about half a day. The moment you step out of the Underground, you are greeted with this majestic old row of black-and-white timbered building.

A little walk down the left side of the road, and you're greeted with a sight of red buildings call the Prudential Building. You can walk in to the square and this is the view. Lovely.

Inside I found one of my childhood favorite author Charles Dickens. That was a pleasant surprise. In the middle of the walk is where I visited William Blake's grave, but I'll dedicate one whole post on it later on, so stay tune. I'll jump to the end part of the walk first.

The last part of the walk was where Jack Ripper hunts, Folgate Street and Elder Street. It's a pretty normal looking street if you don't think about the gore of it all. But once you do, it's kinda too late, and you start feeling the creeps all over :P

Click here to continue to William Blake's grave!

Ref:
London Walk Suggestion
William Blake
Jack the Ripper
Charles Dickens

London Lodging Information - HillSpring Lodge

We stayed at a few places while we were in London. The first few days were in the center of town at County Hotel London (Cost SGD130 per night for a double room with breakfast included). During our country trip, we stayed at a Holiday Inn which was included inside the land tour package. After that we left for Paris, and we came back, we moved to a more permanent place call Hillspring Lodge nearest tube being Willesden Green Station.

 

Hillspring Lodge cost us around SGD 57 per person per night in a private twin room with private shower room and a common bathroom. Breakfast was also provided and you could eat as much as you want. It was a normal hostel, nothing fancy. Wifi provided.

The town Willesden Green were fulled of middle eastern people, and even has a Pakistani mosque nearby. Can't say its the most pleasant place to stay at if you are traveling alone and coming home late as it's some distance to walk before you reach the hostel. But there's a straight bus to town from there. The crowd is a bit rough as well, but then again, the crowd is a bit rough in London -__- Don't think I'll be back.....

Ref:
County Hotel London
Hillspring Lodge

Paris Food Information - Eating Out

Eating out a proper meal in Paris is kinda expensive for us. It cost roughly 23Euro for a 2 course lunch. Since I got my own personal patissierie, I wasn't interested in desserts. But I really really love the entrée! But let's start from the beginning.

I love dining out in Paris because they provide me with free flow of fresh bread!!! I only realize this a few days later when I was so hungry I ate all the french bread on my table and was rewarded with a fresh new basket of bread! Voila! And most of the time they leave a whole pitcher of ice water on our table, which I just love cause I drink lots of water when I'm dining. French coffee and hot chocolate are also serve is such petit cute cups and saucer! And surprisingly ciders are really cheap and good there :) Chocolate mousse are only so so cause you can always buy them in bulk from the supermarkets.

My favorite part of a meal is actually the entrée, cause that's where the herring, the liver, the soups are! And all the above are really to-die-for!!! Especially the onion soup! I have read about the famous French onion soup before, but come on, how great can onion soup taste? Right? But sadly, I had to wait till almost my last few days before I finally decided to order one! And it nearly made me cry! It was soooooooo good!!!! Nobody told me French onion soup was serve with cheese!!!! How dare you people keep such important information from me!!!

As for main course, why Duck Confir in France is fabulous!!! Totally melt in your mouth. And frankly, almost anything we order pass the test of quantity and quality! Food was definitely my favorite part of Paris :) And you should have seen how sad I was when the day to leave Paris finally approaches :(  Sigh. Hopefully I'll be able to come back here one day and dig in more :)  Although I did hear the food in Italy is wonderful too..... 

Anyway, here's a photo of the restaurant we had our onion soup, duck confit, and escargot. You can go hunt it down, its definitely worth it!


Ref:
French Onion Soup
Duck Confit
Escargot

Paris Food Information - Eating In

The wonderful thing about having your own apartment is you can always bring food back home to eat. And that's a great way to eat your meals in an expensive country for a start cause it slowly ease you into getting used to the price of the food. And the other great thing about staying around where local stay, is the cheap grocery store around where you can easily stock up on water and food!

So Exhibit A - Food you can buy from the supermarket! (bread, fruits, juices, can food, chocolate). If in France, do get: Cheese!!!! Any can liver of any animal!!! Truffes!!! and Mustard!!! You can get most of these stuff from local grocer or supermarket like Monoprix.

You can also get those pre-prepared food from supermarket, plus lots and lots of good wine! Try Nicolas for your wine supply :) Above pix is our breakfast, and our dinner. Quiche is very very nice here!!! Especially those from Paul! I had my last quiche while waiting for the train back to London.  (Side note: Paul is opening soon at Takashimaya Singapopore!)

Here are also a few things worth mentioning, the patissierie below our apartment which supply us with our nightly sweets and chocolate! Wonderful pickled sotong from the supermarket, and the best roast chicken I've ever eaten before in my life! I only got the address, cause I wasn't expecting it to be great when I brought it from a morning market from Rue Mouffetard. Anyway, if you're ever there, get one of those roast chicken and thank me later :) It's only 2Euro and one of the best things I ate in Paris!

Ref:
Monoprix
Nicolas
Paul

Paris Lodging Information - Residence du Palais

Some lodging information to share. You know how it is, you're a backpacker, and every lodging can be quite a horror trip or a paradise. My stay in Paris, was just lovely! We stayed in a place Residence du Palais, central of Paris, with the Jardin du Luxembourg right in front! The entrance it's just across the road from where we stayed! (a-but back entrance :P )

I booked online via their website below for a private room for 2 person. But somehow, we ended up with a while apartment to ourselves, a usual room for 3 person! See! I told you it pays to travel during low peak period! Normally it cost 100Euro for the apartment (as shown above)! But we booked for 1 week stay, and it only cost us 70Euro for the whole place! We have a double bed, and one single bed, with our own little bathroom with a glass ceiling that looks out into the sky (I totally love that!). It comes with 2 heater, 1 TV, 2 lamps, 1 closet, and even a study table and chair. It is just charming! Here are some shots of the inside of the room. And look! Another sneaky photo of mua!

But there is a catch. It's on the top floor, which means it's 7 floor of stairs up! Pretty breathless the first few days! But after a few days, there were days we went up and down 3 times! Very good exercise! Here a picture of the stairs! And the view from the courtyard below. It really feels homely. And we don't even have to see the landlady or the reception as we have our own entrance and pin code and key.

And the morning view and air is just lovely. At around 4 degrees, the sky looks lovely when we're having breakfast in our room :) Only bad point of the whole place is, no hot water for drinking as it doesn't come with a kettle. Would I go back? Without a doubt! It's practically near everywhere! And right just below, there is a Pâtisserie where we get our daily supply of French pastries! Notably the chocolate Meringue, and Chocolate Soufflé and really, just anything chocolate :P  Tell you more about the Pâtisserie on my French Food blog entry later on :)


Ref:
Residence du Palais
Pâtisserie
Meringue
Soufflé

Jardin du Luxembourg

15-Nov-2010 (Monday). Today is the last day for me in Paris.We'll be going back to London the next day. I wanted it to be a relaxing day, so we decided to spend the morning feeding the ducks in the garden in front of our apartment. It so happens, that the garden was Jardin du Luxembourg :)

We kinda walked through the garden, and all around it as we travel out each day, but today we were really going to spend some time there. It was Autumn, and slightly wet. But the weather slowly started to clear up. I feel like I'm the luckiest person traveling sometimes, cause I always pick the worst season to visit a place as it's a lot cheaper, and somehow, the weather are usually good! I mean, come on, how often does it rain everyday??? But I bet it must be really lovely in spring and summer here :) Hopefully one day, I'll get to come back here in those wonderful season.

Here is my favorite place of the whole garden, the duck pond. I took about a quarter loaf of bread there, and me and my husband spend the whole morning feeding the ducks. Perhaps I've stayed in Singapore for too long, cause I was feeling cautious, as if at any time a police would come up and arrest me for feeding the ducks! But after while, I started to relax, and kinda wish this was something I could do every weekend. It is really really relaxing to be there and then! Heck I have such wonderful memories of it that I'm including here a rare picture of me on my own blog :)


Ref:
Jardin du Luxembourg

Paris Icons - Eiffel Tower & Arc de Triomphe

14-Nov-2010 (Sunday). After visiting the Catacombes, the weather was looking up, so we decided to walk across Paris (from South East to North West) to see the famous sights of Paris, mainly the Eiffel Tower, & Arc de Triomphe. I don't know what is it with me and famous sights that almost every backpacking I do, it is always one of the last few days that I actually drag myself to these sights. To be totally honest, while in London, we totally missed out Big Ben and the Parliament House.

Anyway, walking across town was just lovely. I love walking around. You get to feel more of the heart beat of the city. You get to smell it, touch the rain water, and see the sights that most tourist never do. By the time we reached the Arc de Triomphe, it was already evening. And there was a memorial services being held there for in conjunction with Remembrance Day.

Here are some photo's taken by my hubby on the event. We got a pretty clear view of it. 

Ref:
Remembrance Day
Eiffel Tower
Arc de Triomphe

Les Catacombes de Paris

14-Nov-2010 (Sunday). I'm tired out by now, so today my hubby took the lead of being the tour guide. He wanted to take me to the Catacombs. It was one of my to-see places in France, but I wasn't sure if there were any in Paris, or how I would react to skulls and skeletons even though I'm pretty dark in nature :P

The great thing about the place we were staying in was that it was within walking distance to everything! (more about lodging in later entries). So we decided to walk there! It was a pleasant walk, with a light rain accompanying us. We were pretty distracted by the Sunday street markets, and the streets were just filled with people and the smell of food! Lovely as can be.

Le Catacomb took some time to locate. It's not exactly clearly marked. But if you see a long queue there, it's probably the right place. You can't really see anything at the street level, cause the attraction is underground. The entrance is pretty intimidating. You pay for a ticket, and there's a staircase that goes all the way down into the ground. The following warnings are shown as you start your journey:

CAUTION, PARTICULAR CONDITIONS OF VISIT :
Visits limited to 200 Visitors in the site (entries can be stopped temporarily)
  Duration of the visit: 45 minutes - length 2 km
  No toilets, no cloakroom
  130 steps to be gone down, 83 steps to be gone up
  Temperature: 14°
  Visit disadvised to the people suffering of  cardiac or respiratory weakness and of nervous disease.

  Visit disadvised to young children

Children of less than 14 years must be accompanied by an adult

I'm claustrophobic and don't do well in small confined places. But I really really wanted to see this, so in I went.

The first few chambers were museum like, with photos and explanation of the place. It's a kinda warning of what you're about to encounter. The photos were pretty graphic, but fear not. It has been ages since they were taken, so all that's left down there now are just bones, 2km worth of it.

This was my first encounter of human remains, and it was not just one, but thousands and thousands of it. At first I actually thought those skulls were stacked up on stones, but on a closer look, those were actually body parts! Femur, tibia, finula, you name it, you got it. You're free to touch them, which I couldn't resist.

I'm glad I visited this place. There's just something about being near the dead for me. Not rotting dead, or dying dead. But dead with ages, stone cold, silent, and peaceful. To me, death is the eternal sleep, the eternal slumber, the eternal peace. There's just something very beautiful about it to me.


Ref:
Catacombs of Paris (Wiki)
Les Catacombes de Paris

Église de la Madeleine

11-Nov-2010 (Thursday).Finally making our way to downtown Paris! I wanted to go stare at the shop windows and drool over their display, knowing very well I couldn't bring myself to buy anything expensive there. So early in the morning, off we go. We wanted to looking for a Flower Market at Place Madeleine, and I wanted to visit Hediard and Maille Mustard shops too. Well we made it to the market, but being autumn/winter season, there wasn't much to see. However there was a huge building there which we didn't know what it was, and we walked all around it before following some tourist inside. Lo and behold! It was a Church of Lady Madeleine. And it was old and ancient and beautiful!

This was the 2nd church I visited in Paris, and the entrance was free! This place was not really on my itinerary, but it should be in yours if you're visiting Paris! Cause it's a lovely church, and not many people goes there! And best of all, it's all dedicated to the feminine side of Christianity. All the saints there are women. So that made it extra special :)

Here's a nearer pix of the altar. I think the altar look so much nicer than Notre Dame :)

I'm so addicted to churches! Hopefully I'll get to visit Our Lady of Lourdes one day! Didn't made it there this time round as it was located quite far from Paris. That's on my wish list the next time I visit Paris!

We did lots of other sight seeing, eating and shopping on this day as well, but I'll write about those information at a later entry. Stay tune!

Ref:
Église de la Madeleine
Mary Madeleine
Our Lady of Lourdes