白色圣诞 Dec 2013 - 巴黎漫游徒步

真的很难找 － 莎士比亚书局。 我们兜了几圈才找到， 一次在夜晚，一次在白天。书局很古色古香。As inspired by my previous trip and the TVB show, this is another place that I wanted to bring my wife. We spent quite some time here, walking up the steps to the 2nd floor, sitting on the wooden bench reading. It was quite crowded and I was quite obedient not to take photos insides - following the notices. I learnt quite a few books that I should have read before - one of which is "The Little Prince". Didn't know about it so I got one for my nephew too. We got a few other books and got also the signature stamp of Shakespeare and Company. I feel this is a place that my wife would like and yes, I think she likes it a lot. At least from the books she bought :P.

We also have some "small" disagreement while searching for the bookstore at night. We chanced upon a chinese restaurant and we feasted there two times. Not sure why but we have serious craving for chinese food in european countries. I have earlier wanted to go to Chinatown for more authentic recommendations but my wife actually made a good decision for us to eat there. We saw one traveller, I think so, eating there on two days we patronised the shop. To me, it's like going back home with familiar food and smell. I have wanted to try the mee though but didn't do so. 

We didn't know that there was this famous building - Notre Dame Cathedral. It is a very grand building and the entrance to the building closes early before 6pm I think. So, we missed it. We were told by our "Free Tour" guide that many of the decorations in the building remained unchanged to-date and descriptions in the book "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" by Victor Hugo can still be appreciated if we visit the building. Wow. Interesting. Again, I have not read that book before. One thing I realise when I travel in Europe and also with my wife is that I dun really read a lot or widely. My wife reads and she also mentions that her brother reads a lot too. Difficult to catch up, especially on childhood books? 

We planned to walk to Eiffel Tower and then walked along Seine River to go to one Candle shop. It was drizzling and made the trip a bit uncomfortable. I was still hoping that the drizzle would become snow flakes? Eiffel Tower - still as beautiful as before - and it gave us some good memories during our honeymoon trip. This time, we didn't go up as the queue was still long. We took some pictures and videos and decided to stroll along Seine River instead of taking the river cruise - too dark to see and rainy too.

The walk was kinda romantic. Muddy but it was quite fun walking and chatting. This is the kind of quality time that I want to have. Family time is important and I think not everyone understand that. For me, I want to enrich my family life, not with cash but with quality. Quality of life - it means having time with my family and doing things together. It means exploring new things together and helping and supporting each other. 

We couldn't find the Candle shop. However, we did enjoy the walk though it was getting dark and darker. Dusk fell. In a way, it marked the ending of our Christmas holidays. I can't help but think that Paris is still very attractive place to visit. Sure, I think we will still come again. 

Happy New Year 2014, Paris.  We spent our new year celebrations in the blue skies of Paris though. 

白色圣诞 Dec 2013 - Loving Paris Again

We revisited Paris again. This time around, we stayed at Jules Joffrin area - a totally different feel from our previous stay near Gard Du Nord. It is very near Montmartre - the area that I wanted to bring my wife to see. At hill top, the view was fantastic, I think it is nicer than the view at Eiffel? The whole area gives us a feel of "latin" - very very different and we liked it a lot.

This leg of journey was in a way inspired by the TVB show we watched and the previous official trip I went. I wanted to do a few things this round with my wife but I dun want it to be mission-based, no longer the excel spreadsheet itinerary and the SOP-type journey though. Of cos, coming to Paris needs us to be street smart and it is important to cover each other carefully.

There was also christmas market at the Montmartre area but my dear said it was "different" - but they still sold german beer and also similar snacks leh. As I was a bit hungry after passing through the food stalls, I managed to persuade my wife to try an onion soup to replenish our energy a bit - though I felt she was a bit reluctant to do so. We walked around the area and spotted the Eiffel at one corner and it was something different from the usual backdrop we saw on the postcards. I could see that my wife loved the area though it was very crowded. Actually, we were trying "hard" to enjoy Paris after our previous bad experience in Paris. 
They have fenced up the field which travellers could sit and enjoy the view. Not sure why. Something that I wanted to do with my wife though. But overall, the Montmartre trip was still nice and cozy.  We went to another place that was inspired by the TVB show. We heard of it before but didn't really go there during the previous trip. It was a walk along the river to Pont Des Arts.  "Pont" means bridge. There are many bridges in Paris and it is not hard to find this "Pont" cos it will be packed with locks. I did some research to make sure I got the right "Pont". According to guide, there are two bridges - one is Pont Des Arts - the lock is for committed love and the other is Pont De I'Archeveche which is for lover =).  Very interesting and the "Free Europe Tour" guide said that the local authority has to cut away the locks as they are adding load onto the bridge. We have prepared our lock and marker so we need not buy from the stalls or people there. 

Hee Hee. There were so many locks and it was difficult to find a slot. My wife managed to spot one and we hooked our lock on it. Got another couple to take picture for us, and we helped other couples too. As a fun tradition or thing-to-do, we grabbed and held our key together and threw it into the river. Our committed love together.  I can't help but think that the Parisians were so romantic in things they do... It is not hard to understand why Paris is the most visited country. 

Next time we come to Paris, I will ask my wife to visit the bridge and see the lock again. 

在巴黎这个浪漫的都市，我们学习浪漫，锁住爱情，不知不觉也变得比较浪漫吧？

白色圣诞 Dec 2013 － Le Mont St Michel

I never knew there is such a place. Thanks to the reading by my wife and planning to visit this island during our 2nd leg of the white christmas trip in Paris. Booking of accommodation was challenging as many of the hotels were booked Full. My wife wanted to stay very close to the Abbey - and we really got a room high up near the Abbey. This meant we needed to take our heavy luggage up to the top on our way up?

It was raining when we were on our way there. Kind of irony as we wanted to have rain in cold weather and rain would equate to snow? My first impression of the Le Mont St Michel was "impressive" - on our small little shuttle bus across the swamp and sea - there lies the "fortress"-kind of building. Like fairy-tales. Initially, I was still trying to search on how we could walk over from main town - they really have this causeway for vehicles to move and for people to walk over. I think it would take about 15 mins? It is even amazing or scary when at high tides, this causeway may be submerged and cars being drifted away?

A closer look at the building shows how weather has also created an impact on it. A big massive "brown" building. Dear mentioned that there were only less than 300 people living at LMSM. And the tourists were actually more than the natives =). We went to our hotel to check-in and off to try our crepes and omelettes! The omelettes were supposed to be very special. We got our crepes but no eggs yet. There were warning signs/posters reminding us not to venture out into the swamps. This would be the time for extra caution really, and I actually felt good to stay "higher" despite the walk.

The "mud" or "swamp" created different nice patterns as the day went on. It was beautiful. At times, we did see people walking on the "mud" and I told my dear they were on guided tour. No way we would to try though - the always cautious and careful me. No doubt, the feeling of touching the mud on feet ought to be nice (something like our first Germany trip on mud play?). 

Just like it was Christmas seasons, we found out that many shops closed early and we decided to try the "touristy-looking" restaurant near the entrance of the LMSM. There were groups of japanese. I glanced at some europeans drinking some drinks on a big cups so I signaled to the waiters to have the same beverage - guess what? It was cider - dear said I liked to follow local customs. As LMSM was an island, we ordered mussels too and we have our omelettes. My first taste of the eggs - like they pumped air into the eggs and my verdict was OK. Haha. The mussels were however very fresh and yummy. With the cider, they made a good meal. 

Exploring the LMSM is challenging as it is not that small either. We decided to go for Abbey tour the next day early morning and have a good rest in our hotel. Night was starry and well, we stayed quite near the cemetery too. We have a big squarish balcony and the church "bell" was also quite nearby. Cold wind, stars and occasional vehicular lights from far on the causeway - that was the backdrop of our night. We however were woken up by the church bells at 0600hrs - there supposed to be a mass at the Abbey. Not sure and not adventurous to venture out at 0600hrs to walk up the Abbey - still as mysterious to us. 

The Abbey tour was hosted by a "half-nomandy and half-britanny" guide. She was very responsible and friendly - a perception that we always have when it comes to parisans not living in paris. Something that I rem from the tour was that the monks were supposed to eat at a dining place and they were not allowed to talk while eating. Of cos, there was this "小orange鸟" which was not afraid of us and kept following us, and my dear losing her gloves at the waiting area.  The overall tour of the Abbey was interesting. I saw a guy sitting at the small church near the coastline and I have wanted to go there take a look. However, we did not have enough time to venture as I wanted to have sufficient planning time to take bus and then in time for train to move back to Paris. One point to note was my dear was smart to remind me to put bulky luggage at our hotel in Paris so we dun need to carry them to LMSM. 

Afternote: There was a brand of cookies originated from LMSM - the cover of the butter cookies box shows the LMSM. Didn't know about it until my friend told me that he bought a tin in NTUC. This is one of the funny learning that I like during traveling.