Bonjour Paris - 3rd May 2008
Our free lodging at Heathrow Terminal 5 was finally over as we boarded our BA flight to Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG) at 6:15am. We'd like to thanks Cafe Nero of Terminal 5 for the free sofa and also £10 BT open zone (24hours) that kept us busy for few hours at the terminal. We reached CDG Airport around 8:15am - Paris time is an hour ahead of London. CDG airport is big but not that friendly for the first time visitor like us. We wasted around 20minutes to search for RER Line B to Gare du Nord. The station is actually at the end of the terminal 2. You just have to walk straight to the end until you find the train terminal. Don't rely on the arrow signs at the airport there - very .. very confusing! Anyway, again, because of the uninformative surrounding, we wasted another 20minutes ++ queauing up at the information counter to ask where to buy Paris Visite Pass. The counter lady then directed us to the train counter next to it, and again we had to join another queau to purchase the Paris Visite Pass that include RER ticket from airport to city. Agghhh we really wish that there is a sign at the train counter that says 'You can buy Paris Visite Pass here' so we don't have to waste our precious time. Anyway, we bought one day Visit Pass for zone 1-6 (Euro18). A single ticket using RER from CDG airport to Gare Du Nord is Euro9 per person. It is worth to purchase day pass (i.e., Paris Visite Pass) if you intend to use the public transportation in Paris. The ticket machine only accepts coins and card, and usually you have to join the queau because Paris is always full with visitors. So don't waste your precious time, just go for Paris Visite Pass!
We booked our 2 nights accommodation at Apollo Hotel. This hotel is just next to Gare du Nord station. The hotel receptionists were very friendly and we enjoyed our 2 night stays there. The hotel is small but the room is clean and it comes with free wifi internet access. We paid Euro180 for two nights. The room only has some basic furniture and the breakfast time is around 9am - with coffee/tea + hardboiled eggs + a croissant/french bread. Anyway we didn't expect so much because Paris in general is an expensive city. The best thing about this hotel is the location. It is very close to the RER, metro and bus, and also Paris open tour bus stop. We also glad to discover that our hotel location is surrounded by few kebab shops. So we didn't have any problem to find halal food around the area.
Our Paris tour began at Ile De La Cite where Paris city was born. We took RER B to St Michel station. On the way to Notre-Dame cathedral, we passed through the Boulevard Saint-Michel. The St Michel fountain is particularly interesting. We took a short walk through the Petit Pont and we could see Notre-Dame from the bridge.
Yuppp Notre-Dame cathedral is really unique. Its official site has more information about the history of this gothic cathedral. 'The cathedral is a Gothic masterpiece, standing on the site of a Roman temple' (DK Paris). We were particularly interested about the medieval architecture, especially the famous gargoyles and the kings gallery. Since there is no entrance fee to enter the cathedral, we spent about 30minutes toured around the cathedral.
The external design of the Notre-Dame is much more interesting and unique for us than the inside. We got some best shots for the gargoyles. Look out for the gallery of kings that has 28 Kings of Judah! But we missed the Point Zero. It was quite difficult to locate where is the Point Zero because of so many people around the area.
We continued our walking tour through Pont au double. Along the Quai de Montebello road, there are few souvenier stalls. We bought a couple of souveniers around here.
Our next destination was Eiffel Tower. However, we got lost finding the Metro 6 at the Denfert-Rochereau area but we found the Paris copy of Lion of Belfort!
Anyway, we finally found the metro entrance and the journey took less than 15 minutes to reach Eiffel Tower. We couldn't describe the feeling standing under it. It's just spectacular. Sadly though we had to give up our plan to visit the tower floor because of the long queau.
We took so many photos around Eiffel Tower. My hubby just couldn't stop smiling. We walked through Pont d'lena to get to the Trocadero. The view must be breathtaking from there. Halfway, we abondoned the plan and instead we took a walk around the President Kennedy Avenue to reach Passy metro station. We catched a glimpse of Paris Statue of Liberty using our kodak camera zoom. 
We booked our 2 nights accommodation at Apollo Hotel. This hotel is just next to Gare du Nord station. The hotel receptionists were very friendly and we enjoyed our 2 night stays there. The hotel is small but the room is clean and it comes with free wifi internet access. We paid Euro180 for two nights. The room only has some basic furniture and the breakfast time is around 9am - with coffee/tea + hardboiled eggs + a croissant/french bread. Anyway we didn't expect so much because Paris in general is an expensive city. The best thing about this hotel is the location. It is very close to the RER, metro and bus, and also Paris open tour bus stop. We also glad to discover that our hotel location is surrounded by few kebab shops. So we didn't have any problem to find halal food around the area.
Our Paris tour began at Ile De La Cite where Paris city was born. We took RER B to St Michel station. On the way to Notre-Dame cathedral, we passed through the Boulevard Saint-Michel. The St Michel fountain is particularly interesting. We took a short walk through the Petit Pont and we could see Notre-Dame from the bridge.
Yuppp Notre-Dame cathedral is really unique. Its official site has more information about the history of this gothic cathedral. 'The cathedral is a Gothic masterpiece, standing on the site of a Roman temple' (DK Paris). We were particularly interested about the medieval architecture, especially the famous gargoyles and the kings gallery. Since there is no entrance fee to enter the cathedral, we spent about 30minutes toured around the cathedral.
The external design of the Notre-Dame is much more interesting and unique for us than the inside. We got some best shots for the gargoyles. Look out for the gallery of kings that has 28 Kings of Judah! But we missed the Point Zero. It was quite difficult to locate where is the Point Zero because of so many people around the area.
We continued our walking tour through Pont au double. Along the Quai de Montebello road, there are few souvenier stalls. We bought a couple of souveniers around here.
Our next destination was Eiffel Tower. However, we got lost finding the Metro 6 at the Denfert-Rochereau area but we found the Paris copy of Lion of Belfort!
Anyway, we finally found the metro entrance and the journey took less than 15 minutes to reach Eiffel Tower. We couldn't describe the feeling standing under it. It's just spectacular. Sadly though we had to give up our plan to visit the tower floor because of the long queau.
We took so many photos around Eiffel Tower. My hubby just couldn't stop smiling. We walked through Pont d'lena to get to the Trocadero. The view must be breathtaking from there. Halfway, we abondoned the plan and instead we took a walk around the President Kennedy Avenue to reach Passy metro station. We catched a glimpse of Paris Statue of Liberty using our kodak camera zoom. 
Our final visit for today was Napoleon's Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. Then after that, we headed straight to our hotel.
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