The Paris Chronicles : Day 2

For day 2 in Paris, we split into two groups. One group, went to Versailles, the historic former capital and where King Louis XIV took up residence, and another to Disneyland Paris, the happiest place on earth. Guess where I went? :P

Of course, the child in me always wins... Ria and I separated from the group to enjoy a fun day with Mickey and friends. :) We split up at CDG station, and took the RER A to Marne-la-Vallee Chessy station. From there, it was only a short walk to either Walt Disney Studios or Disneyland Park. We first decided to visit Walt Disney Studios.

Our first stop, the Hollywood Tower of Terror. I love this ride! You'll get on an 'elevator', and be lifted up through several floors, stopping every so often to see a 'twilight zone' like corridor with ghosts calling you... and then you'll be lifted up very fast, the elevator doors open and you see you're on top of the entire park! Then you're suddenly dropped, and then go up again, and then dropped... it was exhilarating!

Then we tried Crush's Coaster, an indoor roller coaster with some very cool jellyfishes... it kinda got me a bit dizzy though. Then we watched Cinemagique, highly recommended! I wanted to go on the Aerosmith Rock &Rollin Coaster, but the erratic weather stopped us :( It was raining, and then it would turn sunny, it would snow, and then become sunny...it's amazing we didn't get sick :P.

Anyway, we transferred to Disneyland Park, and the familiar sight of Main Street greeted us. We arrived just as a parade started. And happy Disney music filled the entire park, and you could just how carefree people were. It was infectious! :) At that point in time, I really agreed with it's happiest place tagline.

Not having any time for lunch, Ria and I settled for some hotdogs and Coke...we made ourselves comfortable on a park bench and ate a quick lunch... it started out sunny, and it was already raining by the time we finished eating.. which just illustrates how crazy the weather was!

After lunch we rode the Indiana Jones, Temple of Peril ride. It was another roller coaster, and this time along the queue we wondered if we would still continue because we found out there was a loop in the ride... I personally love roller coasters, but I always had that feeling of anxiety everytime I rode one. We needn't have worried... it was a great ride! And the loop was practically dismissable... but the weather, again, acted up. See how blue the skies were right before we rode? About 20 minutes later, while on the ride, there was small pieces of hail/snow hitting us on our faces! It stung! But it was still enjoyable.

Some miscellaneous pics...close kami ni Goofy ;))

Scenes from inside of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride...

We also rode the Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion in the US)...I like the US version better though, because of the 'ghosts' in the mirror at the end of the ride. :)

The Big Thunder Mountain...this ride reminds me of my mom, who kept yelling "Ulo ko! Ulo ko! Aaaaaaaaah!" when we were in Anaheim! It's funny coz the guy right in front of us had to be at least 6 feet tall and you could see his head was nowhere near the 'mountains'. This time Ria and I kept laughing coz we would prematurely yell right before a seemingly steep drop which would turn out to be a very short one. Really fun and not at all scary. :)

We were able to catch another parade at around 4PM, this time the Disney Princesses were the highlight of the parade.

Our last ride was Star Tours, a Star Wars inspired ride....It wasn't as much fun as I remembered... or maybe it was because the 'robot' was speaking French all throughout, so you don't get the same feeling of 'victory' at the end of the ride because we couldn't understand a word it was saying. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch if they said, 'May the force be with you' in French.

And of course here are some pics from the Versailles group :P Pics taken from Jess and Fe Ann... Can't tell much about the place, but it's definitely a place I'm going to on my next trip to Paris. ;)

Afterwards, our two groups reunited along Champs Elysees... Ria and I were almost an hour late! Too much to do in Disney....After meeting up, Ria bought a bag from Louis Vuitton for her sister. The LV store was huge and I fell in love with this wallet... but there's no way I'm going to spend 400+ Euros for a wallet... at least not until I win the lottery or something. :)

Then, when we got back to the hotel, and we ate these delicious macarons from Pierre Herme... the Versailles group had this on their itinerary as well. You actually have to line up outside of the store because it was so popular, and it was delicious! I don't really like macarons, but I really loved the Jasmine flavor (the silver ones)

That ends Day 2 in Paris... :) Still a magical experience, from Disney, to Versailles, to walking along Champs Elysees and to eating delicious pastries...even now, while writing this entry, almost a month after the trip, I can still feel the 'appeal' and charm of this city... but you have to wait for the Day 3 update. Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower coming up. The most famous landmarks of Paris, all in one day. :)

The Paris Chronicles : Day 1

We arrived at Orly airport at a few minutes before 9AM on Good Friday. From there, we rode the Orly Bus to Denfert-Rochereau station. There we bought tickets for the metro and got on the M6 line to Charles De Gaulle Etoile station. From there, we rode the M2 to Courcelles. :D It's surprising that I remember these things since I'm the type of person who can get lost in my own backyard (exaggerating of course). Oh well, the metro map/metro system is really very, very efficient and travel-friendly.

Oh, and what's amazing about the metro is that every single time, without fail, there was always a person/persons playing an instrument, singing, dancing, performing... I saw all kinds of instruments, from the common guitar to a harpsichord! It was entertaining every time. Check out the pic of Ria and me on the metro with a musician in the background.
My first view of the Eiffel Tower came while riding the metro, we passed Bir Haiken station ond on my right was the Eiffel Tower... wow. However brief it was, it was then that I realized that I was really in Paris.

We stayed at the Hilton Arc de Triomphe, courtesy of Ria and Eisel who used their Hilton Rewards and exchanged them for extremely low rates. We made a quick check in before heading out. We had brunch at Le Murillo before exploring the city.

Our first stop? Montmarte, where we could find the Moulin Rouge and Sacre Coeur. As much as I wanted to enter Moulin Rouge, I didn't have 100+ Euros to spare, so we settled for some picture taking outside. It was so windy...so cold... and it even rained, which is why we had very limited pictures at this area, although it was just outside the Blanche metro stop.

Afterwards, we went back into the station to warm ourselves a bit. It was really, really cold, I'm telling you. I bought a black beret, because I felt I was going to get sick because of the cold. And of course, when in France, don a black beret right? :)

On our way to Sacre Coeur, we passed by a church... I'm not sure what it's called something like the Lady of Montmarte, I'm not really sure.. .below are the pictures I took of the church.

Then, we continued on our way to Sacre Coeur. I was just following Jess and Marbi because I really had no idea where we were going... navigating the metro is one thing, making our way on foot around all the rues and tiny streets with the bad weather was another. Anyway, we finally made it at the foot of the hill that led up to Sacre Coeur. There was a funicular that we could ride that will take us to the top, but we opted (for some reason) to climb the two hundred and thirty-five steps on foot. When we got to the top, we were all out of breath, but believe me, it was worth it.

Inside the church were several images, like the La Pieta, we even saw an image of St. John Baptiste de La Salle, and we Lasallians took a pic with our school saint. Thanks to Fe Ann for these pics. :)

Then, we saw the Place de la Bastille....

The Seine River....

St Gervais...


Hotel de Ville...

Place du Chatelet...

And then finally... our last stop for the day... the Louvre. :) Already, I was suffering from a bad migraine... probably caused by the cold, the rain, and just plain exhaustion. But no matter how bad I was feeling, I couldn't help but marvel at the amazing works of art that were on display. Of course, before anything else, we had to take pictures with the famous Louvre pyramids right?

The grand gallery... walking through this hall reminded me so much of the Da Vinci Code. I took a pic of Madonna on the Rocks painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. :) And of course, the Mona Lisa...probably the most recognized painting in the world.

After the Louvre, we just had dinner and then went home. A very tiring, but worthwhile first day in Paris... I wish I could have explored the Louvre more, but we just didn't have the time or the energy to do so. Tip, entrance to the Louvre is free for those under 26, every Friday from 6PM onwards, just bring your passport.

I'll continue my Paris chronicles tomorrow... it's already past midnight and I really need to sleep. :) Bonne Nuit!