Day 1 | Eiffel Tower
So we flew in from Rome Fiumicino Airport to Paris CDG Airport to continue our eurotrip. We’ll spend a few days here and then family will head back to SG while i’ll continue my trip at London. We had a place near La Fourche MRT station, pretty convenient I would say. The journey from the airport was only about 30 mins drive.
After we checked-in to our Airbnb, we decided to head down to the restaurant round the corner to grab lunch.
The menu was in french and as usual. we had to use Google Translate to try to figure out what the dish contains as I generally avoid raw stuff.
The good thing about Europe in general is that google maps and translate work pretty well in most places so getting around isn’t an issue even if you don’t understand signs and languages.
After lunch, we took the metro to visit the famed Eiffel Tower.
As expected, the place was pretty crowded. There’re also couple of popup stores selling candies, chocolates and accessories. Beware of individuals who tries to approach you or shake your hands. They will tie a friendship band swiftly when you shook their hand and then they will demand money from you. They also operate in groups so just be wary. Keep your hands to yourself and make sure your belongings are well secured since crowded areas means higher vulnerability to petty thefts. And petty thefts aren’t just happening in Paris, but Europe in general. Search for online tips ie TripAdvisor to learn from fellow travelers who’ve been there. It’s usually quite accurate. Even though there might be police officers around, they usually wouldn’t entertain petty crimes since they are more concerned with threats like terrorism.
Day 2 | The Louvre Museum
The first activity of the day was The Lourve where it holds the famous Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, and if you’re great fan of his novel such as the DaVinci Code, then you won’t miss this.
Tickets are available online, i highly recommend you to purchase them online before you go. Most of the museums in Europe operate via QR code tickets so its very convenient and efficient.
Getting there is also pretty easy as it’s right next to Palais Royal Musee Du Louvre MRT station.
In general, this place is a behemoth and there’s no way you can finish the entire place within a day so be sure to pick which art galleries you want to spend time on.
Website: https://www.louvre.fr/en/homepage
The overall architecture of The Louvre is nothing short of exquisite and grand. Most of the arts here related to christianity so if you’re not one, it might difficult to relate to certain paintings and impressions. Nonetheless, audio guides are available for rent so you can understand the history and heritage behind these treasures.
After visiting the museum, we made our way towards the shopping area near Chaussée d’Antin. On our way, we walked past Chatime BOBA shop and decided to try what’s so special about this 7 EUR bubble tea. It was a tad bland and the tea wasn’t that flavourful.
It was a nice walk as you’ll be able to catch Parisian architecture everywhere. There were plenty of galleries and international brands in this area especially around Lafayette Galeries. There are also affordable brands like Uniqlo and Zara further down.
Bercy Village
We headed to Bercy Village later that evening to check out this shopping street. There’s a good mix of bars and restaurants as well as some gifts shop. Unfortunately, we didn’t grab dinner there as we wanted to head back early to pack our luggage for tomorrow’s departure. I’ll be heading to London via Eurostar for a few days whereas the rest of the fam will be flying back home.
The trip to Paris was sorta squeezed in so that we could take a glimpse a few key attractions and places since we’re in the region. There’s definitely so much more things to see and food to eat in Paris.
