<h3>Paris est la ville de l'amour. Paris - the city of Luuurve........ </h3>

Paris is truly a romantic city. There are amorous couples everywhere, in cafes, on park benches and even on the streets. In gardens (and there are gardens everywhere in Paris) couples sit in each other's arms, oblivious to the world passing by. And people kiss anywhere, everywhere. Really an ideal honeymoon destination. Kept us in the "mood" all the time. The Don was super romantic the whole time we were there. *wink* *wink*

We didn't leave for our honeymoon immediately after the wedding like most newlyweds do. Having had the wedding in our own house, we felt we had to at least ensure our guests had a comfortable stay the remaining days they were in town, especially after they have toiled so much for our wedding. So we eventually left on the following Thursday after the wedding. The flight to Paris was looong.... 13 hours long but we hardly felt it. And not just because we were in each other's arms (nope we didn't manage to join the mile high club. shucks!!) but the in-flight entertainment was fantastic and because it was a night flight, we spend most the time sleeping. Kudos to our wunderful travel agent who chose us the flights with the best timing so that we do not lose any unneccesary time due to the time difference.

When we reached Paris at 6am the following morning, I had my first real experience of what the fish in my freezer felt. Vapour kept coming out of my mouth as I spoke(In a goofy moment we actually tried to catch the vapour coming out of my mouth bit with our digicam but it didn't show!!) and my fingers felt numb. For a moment, I had this horrible feeling our 3 luggage were not enough to last us in the weather. We asked the Parishuttle driver if the weather was always this cold. Imagine our surprise when he replied in typical French accented English "Oh Noh noh noh...today is very hot!!" Temp. check 10 degrees celsius. In the following days we were there, the temp. was always within 5 to 2 degrees celcius. By the second day we had gotten used to the weather (but of course we both wore like 4 layers each)but the winds were icy cold. I could be halfway in conversation with The Don but when the wind blew my way I felt like my face froze. (think "Ice Age") I'd stopped mid-conversation (sometime with my mouth open) and freeze till the wind blew another direction. Bbbrrrrrrrrrr....


Our hotel sat on a tiny street called Rue Juge, in the 7th arrondissement(district), less than 5 mins from the Eiffel Tower. It seemed everything in Paris is tiny. Even the room was tiny. It was just slightly bigger than the width and length of the queen size bed that occupied the room. Lucky the room was comfy so the size didn't quite matter. And the best part was our room was on the topmost floor and we had a direct view of the Tour Eiffel from our balcony. (yes our room had a balcony!!!)
2nd shock of the day --> the size of elevators in Paris.


Midway through our stay in Paris we switched hotels to one in the Montparnasse area, just to have an additional experience. This time we stayed here. on Rue Blomet in the 15th arrondissement(district). Both hotels served a great variety of breads for breakfast and their hot chocolate was simply to die for. Both places served us Monbana hot chocolate. Its sooo delicious it's almost sinful. Apparently its a made-in-france Chocolate product. The taste is like melted chocolate. Pure unadulterated chocolate!!! We did pilfer a few sachets from the breakfast room and back to Singapore but we have run out now. I wonder if Cold Storage carries them.

The streets of Paris are mighty interesting. (To Musang: they have vending Durex machines on the street!!) On almost every street you'll see a boulangerie / patissier The French really love their bread.
and on every 3 streets, you'd see a chocolatier. Remember the 2000 French movie "Chocolat" starring Juliet Binoche & Johnny Depp ? (my first encounter with all things French and my inspiration for a Parisian honeymoon) Well its exactly like that. A whole shop selling nothing else but chocolates!!! So much so when we actually went on our first walk down the streets of Paris we decided not to take the Metro and walk everywhere we wanted to go so that we can take in all the sights and sounds. And walk we did. Everywhere including to the Mosquee De Paris which was a good 2 hours away.

This photo didnt do justice to the majesticness of the mosque. The interior of the mosque is humongous and walled with coloured mosaics.

The first place we went was of course the Tour Eiffel. Most of the buildings in Paris are not more than 6-8 storeys so you could practically see the Tour Eiffel from quite a distance away. Even in the day, when we walk past it, we are kept in awe

and at night.... it was tres magnifique

During our stay we managed to visit all the major attractions like Hotel des Invalides (where Napolean's tomb still rests today), the Jardin de Luxembourg, the Pantheon, the Arch de Triomphe, the Sacre Coure & of course the Lourve.


Most people cautioned us against going to Paris for fear that we'd starve and come back losing weight. Actually the complete opposite happened. Halal cafes are a dime a dozen in Paris. Mostly set up by Arab-Lebanese-Turkish migrants, they sell mostly kebabs and doner sandwiches. And seriously, the kebabs there are the absolute best The Don and I have ever tasted in our lives. We ended up eating them everyday for the entire duration of our stay there. We could choose any filling we wanted - chunks of poulet (chicken), boeuf (beef) or turkey (dinde) and and they came in various forms and sizes. some marinated, some smoked and some roasted. The fillings are generous and usually one kebab is enough to last us a whole day.


The highlight of the whole honeymoon to Paris for me (apart from the obvious!!!) was the trip down to Champs Elyses (pronounced: Shaun Selisey) Its the creme de la creme of shopping districts, ala the Oxford Street of London, the Fifth Avenue of New York, the Orchard Rd oops that doesn't quite make the list now does it? its lined with the kinda shops you wouldn't walk into unless u have maximum credit on your credit card (which I don't!!) The most interesting store of all is the Louis Vuitton, where the shop is actually an oversized LV bag itself. (dun believe all that u hear LV in Paris ain't cheap!!!! I was duped too!!!)


In the last few days of our stay, for the experience (actually our feet were sore!!!) we took the Metro. The metro system is very much like our MRT with interchanges for switching lines but there, the Metro is interlinked with the RER, the suburban train that goes to the outskirts of Paris. (much like the way the Kommuter is linked to the LRT in KL)

The doors to the Metro do not open automatically when the train reaches the platform. There is a latch on the door that you will have to unhook to get in or out but of course we didn't know that so we waited outside the door for it to open. Lucky The Don noticed the latch and we barely made it in before the train moved off. (the door closes automatically though!)

Our first destination via Metro was Galleries Lafayette. I remember frequenting this place with my sisters when they had a branch in Singapore so I thought I knew what to expect but boy was I wrong!!!! There are 5 buildings altogether and each building (5 storeys high with 2 basement floors) is one department!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (there's La Mode (women fashion), Homme (men's fashion) Maison (Household Dept) Gourmet (the cafes, restaurants & supermarches) and of course Lafayette Naissance(children & toys))

Thats the main building you see, the Lafayette La Mode (Women's fashion)
BTW Lore'al users, Lore'al products are dirt cheap there!!! Not so for the other stuff though!!!!


But the absolute grande moment was our ascent up the Eiffel Tower. We pass by the Eiffel everyday on our way to anywhere and everytime the lines up the elevator are snaky long. On our last night in Paris, we thought if we dun do this now, we'll never know when we will get to again so we braved the crowds and waited in line to go up to the topmost level. The lifts looked scary from where we stood as it was double level and ascended not straight up but in a skewered way following the bottom slope of the tower.

the elevator to the 2nd storey.
The view from the top was breathtaking. We could see the whole of Paris. Of all the shots we took from up above I like this one best, a bird's eye view of the River Seine.


Almost nightly we would plan our route such that we will stroll alongside the River Seine. The view from the riverside is fantastic. With the flood lights from the top of the Eiffel sweeping past us, the illumination of the tower itself and the lights of the cruise ships down on the river, it was a picturesque scene. We had our most romantic moments while strolling hand in hand here. Truly I can't think of a better place to spend our honeymoon - a culmination to the eight years of our relationship, the beginning of our journey into the paths of eternal love and the start of a lifelong marriage, Insy'allah. I'll never be able to forget the wonderful, wonderful memories we created together in this city of love. Given the rezeki, we'd sure like to come back one day, this time with kids in tow, Insy'allah.