I was chatting with a friend today over lunch about my feelings about Paris and she sum my feelings up in a rather accurate phrase: Paris is an acquired taste. I will admit that I did not take to Paris immediately when I arrived. We arrived at Orly airport in the early afternoon and took over an hour getting from the airport to the main train station Gare Nord. The train was non ventilated and really stuffy and just imagine me stuck in a small seat with my backpack covering me and just breathing in stale air for over an hour. I was like gosh.. "welcome to Paris". We arrived at Paris at 1.30pm. I had hoped to make it to our hostel and make it to a free tour scheduled to depart from St Michel at 4pm. But with all that travelling and by the time we got to the hostel, it was too late to retrace our steps back to St Michel. So I was a little disappointed by that. However, in view of my trip to Paris after coming back, I will say that I grew to love the city. It wasn't the perfect trip. There were a few times when I felt frustrated during the course of my trip, but looking back, I think that this had more to do with the company that I was with rather than the city itself. But rather ironic how the pple you travel with can have an effect on your appreciation of the city. More on that later as we progress through the posts, but for now. Enough writing and on to the pictures.

First afternoon in Paris... a suggestion to rest, take it easy and have a picnic by the canal... also time for Aimee to catch up with her friend.

I travelled with 2 colleagues who are hard party people, so it was of no surprise to me when James's friend had informed them of a pub crawl happening on the night we arrived and both were keen to join the pub crawl. So having else nothing to do I tagged along. Turned out it was the New Europe Sanderman's pub crawl. The cost was 11 Euros, and they take you to 5 bars and a club along with discounted drinks. Here's my take on a pub crawl... I am a fan of New Europe's free walking tours and the various other walking tours they offer, but not really one of their pub crawl. I personally felt that I could get drunk and go to bars on my own without having to spare the 11 Euros.... but I guess this happens when you're with a group of people and dont want to act like a spoilsport. The pubs they brought us to were like ok... and drinks still cost like 5-8 Euros each, but then again, Paris is an expensive city.

It was a pretty interesting night... met many random people... even a couple of australians from our hostel room came over to join us.

My first glimpse of Notre Dame at night. At first I didn't even know it was that... till some Australian pointed it out to me as we were leaving the bar and then I literally exploded OMFG you kidding me.. and quickly whipped out my camera...

I didn't drink too much for the pub crawl because I knew that the next morning I wanted to get up early to go to Versailles. Versailles was built by Louis XIV in 1664 and was an important site for modern world history as the WW1 treaty, the treaty of Versailles was signed in this chateau. However, being a history student, I was very interested and therefore very excited to visit this place. Again, things did not go according to plan as not everyone really realized the amount of time that it would take to travel out to Versailles and by the time we reached the site it was 11 plus and the lines were huge. Seeing the lines, Kate and Aimee immediately backed out and refused to line up with me and said that they were going back to Paris instead. Having already come all the way, I told them that I wanted to wait in line and that I would meet them later on when I was done. So as it turned out, I visited Versailles alone (which is why there are no pictures of me here :()

The impression that Versailles gives anyone is that its freakin huge.... The grounds and chateau was so extensive that the majority of my pictures in Paris came from Versailles. There was just so many things to take.... so please bear with me with the extensive picture taking in this post and the next...

The marble courtyard which was the original area of the palace before the north and south wings were added.

Chapelle Royale which is apparently regarded as one of the finest Baroque buildings in the country. Finished in 1710 and spanning two levels in the castle...

The palace is full of statues, many with elaborate poses...

Royal Gallery: Portraits of what Versailles used to look like in the 17th Century and potraits of prevous members of the royal family.

From inside it was easily noticed how alot of money was obviously put into ensuring that the palace rooms were nicely protected to reflect its previous glamour and extravagance. The decor is still so rich and well maintained, that one feels the extravagance of the times almost immediately when entering the palace rooms.


Louis XIV was obviously very into Greek mythology as every ceiling in each room was painted wth murals of Greek gods. Apollo was a favourite as he was the sun god, and Louis XIV liked to be known as the sun king. Other Greek gods painted on the ceilings also included Venus, the goddess of love, Diana, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn


King's Bedchamber

I also noted the amount of gold that was used to decorated the walls, and I was so overwhelmed in every room that I kept shaking my head to myself all the time about the about of extravangance poured into this decoration of the castle's interior. Also what I noticed was the amount of portraits and statues of Louis XIV who seemed to be really bent on making his presence felt all throughout the palace!

Louis XIV emblem... notice the two Ls joined together..

The famous Hall of Mirrors where the treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919 to formally end WW1.

The Queen's bedroom where 19 royal infants were borned here. It was here where Marie Antoinette gave birth to her children. Giving birth was a public affair then to make sure of the children's legitimacy. It was also here whereby Marie Antoinette escaped the French revolution mob through a door hidden behind the bed hangings.

Hall of Battle, decorated with portraits of the various wars which France have been engaged in

In another wing of the palace, I also got to see the rooms designed for the crown princes before they moved to the king's bedrooms... very typical palace furnishings which I seen so far in the European palaces which I visited.