afternoon in paris

So I got freshened up, left the hostel and braved the whole new world that is Paris. I went down rue Lepic towards the Blanche station but before going there right away, I tried to find out why there were just so many people hanging out there. I turned around, looked at where people were pointing their cameras at and there it was! Moulin Rouge! I didn't realize that it's just a stone's throw away from my hostel! Okay, not stone's throw away, but definitely near. I took a couple of pictures, looked for a great spot and found one. It's an elevated circular thing where ventilation comes up from time to time. I don't know what it's called but immediately after leaving the Blanche station, cross the street and you'd find it. You can stand on it and have a good picture taken of you! :)

Lots of people milling around this central area of the street to have pictures taken of Moulin Rouge

So moving on, I used my super expensive ticket to move around the subway of Paris, with only the tube map to guide me. The first on my itinerary was the Eiffel Tower so I took the train again at Blanche, changed at Place de Clichy then got off at Champs Elysees. From there, I just followed where most of the people were going and then later, followed the tip of the tower to guide me (sort of the star leading the three wise men). Nearing the place, I could see that it's totally huge! I walked under the tower and it was just all steel and so big and so amazing. Didn't get the chance to go up on it though because the queue was too long. I walked around a bit, walked along Champs Elysees park, asked a couple of Chinese tourists to take my picture, then went to buy some food. While buying, I noticed a guy who looked like a Filipino but didn't really approach him. He was kind enough though to pick up my receipt when it fell. I said 'thank you' and went on but for a moment, I realized that I really do need a companion because I've been traveling solo for the last couple of days now and just like my experience in Cam, natutuyo na yung laway ko! So I hailed him and started a conversation. Apparently, he's staying at the other end of where I'm staying and he had already seen the places I'm going to but later on, he changed his mind while walking towards the Concorde station where I will take the train going to the Louvre. He decided to accompany me. We were both glad to have a companion, especially so that we can have someone to take our pictures. For the most part, our pictures were self-taken and our faces cover half of the whole frame of the picture!

Serge and I stopped first at Arc de Triomphe and had our pictures taken. Then we walked along the long length of Champs Elysees, saw the LV and Swarovski buildings, other parks. On and on we walked towards the Seine, got lost, ended up unknowingly taking pictures of the Opera House, until we reached Louvre. We had some quiet time here to have our pictures taken at the back of the palace, and the famous glass triangles. My goodness, the Louvre from the outside is humongous, spanning to three palace buildings which were built by their kings (and had buildings built adjacent to each other). Although I can only remember the names of two of the buildings - Richielu (from the Three Musketeers story) and Devon (from Dan Brown).

Louvre in the late evening

Tomorrow will be Louvre Day for me :)

We then both walked towards Notre Dame. So happy to see the place where Hugo got his inspiration to write the Hunchback of Notre Dame in order to save this church. Unfortunately, it was already late with a very long queue to get inside the building so we both decided to just take pictures from the outside. This was around 730p and my feet were killing me. Serge and I then bought some ref magnets for ourselves (5euros for 4 magnets) then decided to call it a night. However, I was able to convince him to eat dinner with me coz I was already so hungry and I had to rest my feet. It was one of the most expensive meals I have eaten so far: Euro10 for a sandwich and drinks at a local brasserie...

Thank God, He gave me a companion for today.