Paris & London trip day 4

we left Paris and made our way to London on Eurostar.

It was my first time taking Eurostar and It felt bit like taking the Shinkansen in Japan. It was a challenge to lift the luggage up onto the train as the train is not level with the platform.

All set and ready to go! It was also our first time in London.

Check in to hotel Ibis style Kensington. Loved the design and architecture of the place, so English! After depositing our luggage, we decide to explore downtown area like Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus area. Ended up at Frankie & Benny for fish and chips.

Food was nice and reasonably priced.

At night, we went to watch Les Miserables. It was so good!

We were seated within the first ten front row seats. It was worth the money paying for these seats as the experience was totally different compared to watching it from far. The first time I watched it was at Esplanade in Singapore and I don't enjoy it at all as i was seated too far. However this time, I was able to appreciate it so much more.

For dinner, we found a decent Chinese restaurant located just behind our hotel called No. 10 restaurant. It served mainly sezchuan food.

Paris & London trip day 3

We are finally at Mont St-Michel! Also known as Repunzel's castle from Disney's Tangled cartoon. It took about 4 hrs by bus from Paris to reached here.

It was a v touristy place inside and full of souvenirs and restaurants.
We went passed all these shops and made our way to the top where the chapel was located.

Exterior of the chapel.

Located at the top of the chapel was a golden statue of arch angel St Micheal.

View from the top, it was low tide at the time.

Interior of the chapel. The architecture was gothic in design.

Garden inside the chapel, where the monks grow their herbs or food.

Giant chimney!

The chapel was v big and we felt that the tour shd have given us an audio guide which I saw most of the other tourists were using. We opted for the free and easy without a tour guide but then I feel the tour shd have given us the option of getting an audio guide in this case. Anyway there was not much time as we are only given 4 hrs in Mont St-Michel before we need to go back to Paris by 4 hrs bus.

Good bye....it was an amazing and beautiful place but don't think I will come back again as the journey there was too long and there really wasn't anything else you can do nearby.

Paris & London trip day 2

On day 2, we went to Rodin Museum in the morning. It was my second trip to this Museum and it was my fave Museum so far in Paris. For hubby, it was his first time here.

The first time I was here, hotel biron was under renovation so I din get to go inside. This time, the renovation was completed and I was glad to be able to go in and visit this beautiful building.

The interior of hotel Biron was v nicely done up. Felt like a cozy home more than a Museum. The toilet was so well concealed that u will never be able to find it unless u ask the security personnel.

After that, we went to the garden for lunch.

Although the food was simple, it was delicious.

Had great fun playing with the outdoor statues after that. Haha...

After that, we were actually intending to go Jardin Luxembourg but since most of the yellow autumn leaves have already fallen and there are no more flowers as compared to the first time I was there (early Oct) , we decide to go outlet shopping at La Vallee instead.

Paris And London Trip 28 Oct-5 Nov 2016 :Day 1

This was my second trip to Paris and this time I wanted to visit places which I missed out last year.

First stop upon reaching Paris is the Musee de l'Orangerie located inside Jardin Tuileries. The most famous paintings are the water lilies by Claude Monet. The wide expanse of the painting in the oval room was v impressive and beautiful.

Each of these paintings were carefully pieced together to form a long wide continuous painting. My fave painting was the one with the willow trees.

There were also other paintings and art exhibitions in the Orangerie when we were there.

An art exhibition showcasing American artworks. One of the most iconic painting which I can recognize is this:

Overall, I find the American artworks to be v distinctly different from the usual Europe art pieces which I often seen.
Some of the all time iconic European artwork seen in the museum: e.g, Renoir

Notice that Renoir tend to paint people with a fleshy rosy appearance.

Some other paintings by Monet as shown above.

After that, we went to Tour de Eiffel.

Hubby bought the tickets to go up the Eiffel months beforehand, otherwise u need to queue for hours and hours just to go up. The queue was horrendous.

Recommend to get your tickets online before visiting as it will get you straight to the elevators that bring u up to the 2nd floor.

View from the 2nd floor. Above is the view of the Seine River.

Next we need to queue again to take another elevator to go up to the top. Regardless whether u have bought the tickets beforehand, u still need to queue....luckily the queue was not v long.

The buildings look v small when seen from the top. It's v high up indeed...

Manage to spot the Arc de Tromp from afar!

This concludes my tour de Eiffel. A must do thing for many people in Paris but it's ok to skip it if you dun have time.