We shall now resume our regular programming of kennysia.com‘s travel log in Paris, which actually happened more than six weeks ago.
After our disappointing and disastrous first day experience, *Belinda, Dawn and I were determined to make the most out of the remainder of our trip.
Like any other major global city, Paris is scarily huge and daunting.
Fortunately, it has also one of the most efficient public train systems in the world. But after taking nearly 10 hours worth of train rides the previous day, the last thing we wanna do is to board another train.
On our first full day together, the three of us went for a morning stroll along the River Seine to take in as much sights as we could. It was a decision we never regret.
Paris is absolutely gorgeous. No wonder some call it the most romantic city in the world.
How is it possible not to fall in love with this city?
We walked across one of the many arched stone bridges over the River Seine, admiring the classical black Parisian lamp posts over our heads and sighing at the gracefulness of the meandering water flowing past beneath our feet.
Along the banks of the River Seine, pairs of lovers found their perfect spots underneath the shades of the wispy trees to enjoy the company of each other.
Being surrounded by so much beautiful scenery and attractive people can be very soothing. I feel like impulsively jumping onto a lamp post to sing and dance, pretending I was the lead actor in some romantic comedy.
That is, until I caught my own reflection and realised I am too ugly to play lead actor.
Paris has such romantic and wonderful effect on all our senses. As we continue strolling along, we imagined the song La Vie En Rose quietly playing inside our heads.
Before long, we found ourselves at the footsteps of arguably the most famous cathedral in the whole of Paris.
The Notre Dame Cathedral.
This 800-year-old church is one of the grandest and holiest of all in France, housing such important relics as the crown of thorns of Jesus Christ.
But today, it is a bustling tourist site better known for the Hunchback from the Disney cartoons.
The inside of Notre Dame was a little too dark and gloomy to be exciting.
It’s possible to climb to the rooftop of the cathedral. It is worth the long queue and the exhausting climb up the narrow spiral staircase.
Once on top, we were rewarded close up views of the famous stone gargoyles guarding the cathedral.
I couldn’t resist imitating them.
It’s fascinating to think how these intricately carved works of art survived 800 years of war, civil unrest and environmental effects.
The sweeping views of Paris, City of Love, on top of the Notre Dame Cathedral is absolutely stunning. It’s possible to see as far as the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
And the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Montmarte, featured heavily in the movie Amelie.
We spent so much time snapping photos on the rooftop that if we stayed on any longer, we would’ve turned into stone gargoyles ourselves.
Oh look! The Hunchback of Notre Dame!
Looks a bit Chinese.
Across the road from Notre dame is the Saint-Chapelle. It is a much smaller church that features very tall stained glass windows. When the sunlight shines through the windows, the church look exceptionally stunning.
According the legend, King Louis of France built the church to house the Crown of Thorns he purchased from Turkey. The crown costed him four times more than the amount he used to built the church!
Our lunch. This one is called “Croque Monsieur” and “Frites et Salade”. It’s 9 Euros (RM 45)
Most of the French food we had in Paris was quite a let down. We don’t know where to find reasonably-priced restaurants to dine at, so we were tried our luck at random restaurants. The ones we had, they taste really quite mediocre.
This pet shop nearby sells a hamster cage for 38 Euros (RM 190). What a rip off.
After lunch, we continued walking towards the Louvre Museum, aka the Da Vinci Code place.
A lot of people I know tend to think that museums and art galleries are boring places to visit. In general that’s true, but the Louvre is a museum like no other.
I’ve been to many, many museums in my travel.
Most of the ones I’ve seen are small. Some can be quite huge.
The correct term to describe the Louvre I think is fucking humungous.
Seriously, the Louvre is so freaking large it’s like the Godzilla of museums.
It used to a palace where the royal family lives in, but now it houses some of the most amazing collection of artworks from the Renaissance period. The amount of artsy fartsy stuff there is to see here is incredible.
Michaelangelo’s The Dying Slave. This pose is exactly how I look like when I wake up in the morning.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Some say it’s the most beautiful painting in the Western World.
I say, “HAR? SO SMALL ONLY ONE AR?”
Then there’s the “Venus de Milo”, perhaps the most well-known female statue with no arms.
The Louvre is so damn huge that after spending two full hours going through the statues and paintings, we only covered 5% of the entire venue. At the end of it all, I was so overwhelmed by art that I walked out of the museum looking like this.
This one is called, “Kenny Drinks Milo”.