Travel Recap - Paris (Dec 2011)

After a month in Egham, I was so looking forward to a week's holiday backpacking in Europe.  My first stop was to be Paris.  I had purchased my Eurostar ticket through the website at 80 euro.  It was expensive no doubt as I should have booked much much earlier.  As I no longer have free accommodation in UK, I booked myself a place in a 6-bed female dorm at Clink78 hostel for one night at £28. It's located at Kings Cross so it was walking distance to London Pancras where I need to catch the Eurostar train. 

A view of my bed.  I was glad that each bed has its own socket for charging electronic gadgets and I love that each bunk bed has a side cover for privacy. Each bed  also has a bed lamp but mine wasn't working.  The room was very clean and breakfast was good as well.  

The train ride from London Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord station was 2.5 hours.  It was comfortable but scenery wise, wasn't as spectacular as how some people had described it.  Upon arrival in Gare du Nord, I proceeded to check in at Vintage Hostel at Montmatre arrondissement. It was about 15mins walk from the train station to the hostel.  I had booked a bed in a 4-bed female dorm ensuite but to my surprise, I was given a 2-bed ensuite instead.  Must be low season at the hotel...lucky me.  Since I couldn't really checked in yet, I had to leave my baggage at the hostel's storage room. The front desk guy was kind enough to show me places of interest in the map.  Since I only have 2 days in Paris, I had to squeeze in as many major attractions as possible. Thank god it was very convenient to use Paris' metro. 

Sacre Couer

A stroll along Tuileries Garden

A walk along Champs Elysees.  

Arc de Tromphe - admission fee applies if you want to climb to the top  for a good Paris view.  I didn't have enough time so I skipped this one. 

By the time I had reached Paris' most famous landmark,  the Eiffel Tower, it was starting to get dark.   There was a long queue to climb to the top so I skipped this one as well.  

Another view of Eiffel Tower from Palais de Chariot.  The nearest metro station is Trocadero.   

On the second day, I decided to pay Eiffel Tower another visit for a closer look.  I just have to touch this infamous landmark. It felt so surreal being there.

Love this shot of Eiffel Tower.  Didn't go up either since it was too early and the Tower wasn't open  yet.

A must stop to grab my shotglass collection.

Popped into Galeries Lafayette for a little window shopping. I managed to enter the Longchamp boutique before the crowd built up.  The bags were really nice but so were the price tags.  I only spent 5 mins in there.  

The Notre Dame Cathedral.  Didn't enter inside  either as I was racing against time.  The cathedral was spectacular from the outside.  Next time I shall be back to visit the gargoyles on top :-)

The Pyramid at Louvre.  The only museum I visited while in Paris. Entrance fee was 10 euro and if you are interested, you can get an audio tour guide of 6 euro.  The most famous painting in here??

Louvre's most famous resident - the Mona Lisa!

I ended my last night in Paris with a visit to Moulin Rouge located at the  red light district of Pigalle for a quick must have photo snap.  Not a good idea to hang around here if you are travelling alone. 

The next morning I took a train from Gare du Nord to Orly Airport for my Easy Jet flight out to Rome, Italy. Train fare was 10.75 euro with a train change at Anthony station.