12 Days, 6 Cities - Paris

After the pain and horror that was Madrid, I was both dreading and highly anticipating going to Paris. On one hand, Paris! A city I know almost like the back of my hand! French food, Asian food, French shopping....and Pooey was rejoining us again! She would be there to help me take care of Ma and Pa, and I was needing it 'cos I was feeling pretty weak. I wasn't looking forward to it because Paris is a city I love and eating all that food and doing all that shopping would require energy :( 


Not feeling up to fighting the RER and metro with luggage, we decided to take a cab from CDG to ...er.... the 13e arrondissement where we were staying in CHINATOWN!!! Seriously, this was one of the best decisions me and Pooey made in terms of accommodation evah! However, like Madrid we got caught in a monster traffic jam but this time, I was able to translate between the cab driver and questions from the parentals! (He said the situation was not normal for a Saturday morning and that he believed that it was due to a broken down car.) Eventually we made it there and met up with Pooey where I had some noodles and clear soup to get food in me and needed to lie down afterwards. I can't remember what else we did during that day. We did go to the Printemps across the road though. Kekekek. By the next day, I was pretty much back to normal and so we headed out to the city to get some tourist and shopping action!


First stop, parking Ma and Pa at the Arc de Triomphe while Pooey and I went to try and find some lemon biscuits in the Monoprix on the Champs Elysee. We couldn't find them and were slightly devastated by this. Lydia!!! Do you remember what those biscuits were called?!?!?! Anyway, we then headed off to Boulevard Haussmann for some shopping at Galeries Lafayette. 

No matter how many times I come here, I'm still awed by the 19th century opulence of the central dome and balconies.

We decided to have lunch in the upstairs restaurant and discovered something fantastic - Lafayette has opened up their rooftop and it has an AMAZING view over the city!

FOR FREE!!!!

Me and Ma with the Opera Garnier and Tour Eiffel as backdrop.

Sacre Coeur!!!

Family relaxing on the fake grass. Others had purchased maccas and were sitting on the rooftop enjoying their cheesebaos.

Kekekek.

We ended up eating in the Chinese restaurant on the 6th floor.

It was...alright. It's been a while since I had a seafood combination that I didn't make myself. 

Not the dumplings though, they weren't great.

After a lot of shopping later, ended up near the Madeleine which I was surprised to find that the others hadn't visited before...

And so didn't know that it had a great view of the Place de la Concorde. 

The steps for some reason were covered in flowers. It was purdy.

Photobomb!

For dinner, we had more Asian food. While exploring last night, Pa apparently found an authentic restaurant run by people who came from the same place in Vietnam that they're from and where we could get seafood congee so we decided to go there!

Various foods that we had!

But after dinner, me and Pooey decided to let the Parentals continue talking to the restaurant staff while we headed out to Bastille to get her a crepe. Unfortunately I wasn't up to it :(

We also went to a supermarche where this goggie was waiting for his master!

We also saw these - Bastille ruins!!! :D

The next morning, Pa had discovered one of the best things about Paris - there was a street market down the street from our hotel!!!

ROAST CHICKEN!!! YEAHHH!!!!!!!!!

MEAT!!!!!!!!!

My smile is just as cheesey as the cheese in that case!!!

Big smiles all around!

And then we headed to Pont Neuf then strolled towards Hotel de Ville for some classic Paris moments. 

Photo on the Pont Neuf!

Excuse me while I charge my car.

And then attempt to be the ultimate Asian by hitting all those ASIAN POSES!!! Kinda lost it at the end. Unfortunately, some girl came along and did a one legged pose. This is not a joke. 

Here I am ordering a crepe because I also had to speak French since no one else could. We were trendsetters though - after I was done, there was quite a few people wanting to order some crepes from this guy!

Ma and Pa enjoying the ease of still having someone talking for them.

It was MIAM MIAM!!!

On peut manger un crepe, mais un sandwich est interdit!

And finally at the Hotel de Ville. 

Alas, we then bid adieu to Paris and headed over to Gare du Nord and make our way to the last stop - Londres!!!