my sis asked me back in 2007, "where would u wanna go in france ... venice, milan, paris ?" huh ? are WE going to france, i asked myself silently. for someone who have never been to france, i chose paris la, kann ? the eiffel tower is one of those places i dream of going. asyik dok tengok dalam tv jer ... not becoz its the most romantic place in the world pon. so the 5 of us - my sis, ika, mira, iman & me - flew direct to paris a few months after that.
so my dream came true. we sampai paris late afternoon. 'bonjour', the cab driver greeted us softly that we hardly heard him. dia cakap on the phone pon we all tak dengar. he dropped us off at our motel, & i sort of practiced the very little french words i learned, 'merci beaucoup. au revoir !' after a lunch of maggie, we (ika, mira, iman & me - my sis rest kat hotel) went for a walk around the hotel area. cantik gak. we found printemp, window shopped, & went back to the hotel to freshen up. by then, my sis dah recover. so we took the train, turun kat champ de mars station, & walked to the tower. the nite view was breathtaking ! the tower was lighted all the way up. & lucky for us, the que to go up pon tak panjang. dhamira stayed back - gayat rupa nya, with my sis yang dah pernah naik before. i just couldnt believe myself that i was there ... on top of the eiffel tower.
early the next morning, we took the metro train from chateau de vincennes, & got off at tuileries. then walked to musee du louvre. we gathered at the lower ground floor for the tour guide who took us, plus a few others, to major/important parts of the museum only. it would take days if you want to tour the whole museum. we were really amazed at all the big paintings, but there is only one that we were looking for ....
yang ni i cilok from google image ... huhuuuuuuuuuu
before we left the tour group, i saja2 tanya about the holy grail. she said, "owh u mean like the one in the movie 'the da vinci code ?' i remembered she told the whole group what i asked, & everyone sort of laughed, but cant remember what she answered.
the next morning pulak, we took the train to the same place, & looked for the tour bus office - disneyland, paris ! we had the choice of going to either the disneyland park, or the disneyland studio park - the girls chose studio park, since they had gone to the disneyland park in LA before. we spent a whole day there. towards the evening, it drizzled, & got a litlle too cold to go round the park. so we ended staying indoor at studio 1, till it was time to leave.
the arc de triomphe ... another a-must landmark to go to in paris. no, we did not go up the arc. just close enough to take pics. u see that lamp post behind me - not the tall one ? ika had a good fall climbing it. sampai polis tu tiup whistle ! hahaha ...
on the way back, we got off at chatelet station, changed train to st michel. we crossed the river seine, & walked to the notre dame cathedral.... kinda reminded me of the hunchback & the beautiful gypsy, esmeralda. it was another amazing sight as they lighted up the whole cathedral. then we went shopping at the rows of souvenir shops at the side of the cathedral. happy !!
shopping in paris is not complete if you tak sampai champ elysees, the rows of high end boutiques. however, we were too "scared" to masuk. hahaha ... we all just walked by jer. we did not even masuk the 3 - 4 storey LV store ! we decided to stay back a while here - lepak kat mcd - to catch the arc view at nite. as soon as the ligthts were on - the arc & the trees - we went out to the streets to take more pics. then we went back to the motel to pack all our stuff.
welcome, london ! the first time dulu, we tumpang a friend's apartment on edgeware road. this time we stayed at the berjaya eden hotel in bayswater. its a block away from the malaysian hall. so, ada gak la gi breakfast or tea kat situ. the portobello market pon is a walking distance away. we passed by notting hill, tapi tak jumpa pulak the bookstore yang hugh grant & julia roberts berlakon tuh ... haha. on the other block, banyak kedai2 souvenir & makan pak arab, so makan is not a problem - the girls asyik beli kebab jer laa. satu kedai souvenir tuh siap letak sign "pelawat dari malaysia diberi 10% diskaun" !!
the thing is : everytime gi london, tak singgah trafalgar square memang tak sah kann. & the big ben pon somehow will always be in view. so, amik jer laa gambar.
the london eye. the first time we were in london back in 1998 (?), this was not even up yet. so, i took iman with me. dhamira kan gayat. i thought i saw the eiffel tower from up there ... & believe me, i wasnt the only one ! i googled, & we all cud have mistaken it for the crystal palace tv/radio transmitter ... hahaha
so, the horse guard parade pon gud enough
dhamira is a of the arsenal. we saw it on the tube route, & made our way there
we spent 4 days in london. then we packed our stuff again & flew to rome. sampai late night. so we sewa a cab to take us to the motel. mula2 on the way tuh, the driver was on the phone, chatting away very loudly. when he suddenly exclaimed, "mamma mia!", we all laughed. later he asked us why we laughed. we told him that we were beginning to really feel we were in rome. & he taught us that "ciao" means hello. my bil had flown in directly from kay el, & waited for us at the main door of our residence. it was way past midnite. too tired to do anything else, we just washed up & hit the sack.
the next morning, we took the metro train from tiburtina to termini, the central station. then we walked over to exedra hotel (the hotel which the movie "the jumpers" was filmed at) to board the hop-on-hop-off tour bus. we went round the city & enjoyed all the beautiful landmarks & ruins of the roman empire. & also the traffic jam. among the interesting sights were the colosseum, st peter's basilica, forum romanum, palatine hill, castel sant'angelo, vittoriano, & many more names unknown of.
one evening, ika, mira, iman & me went out to the colosseum. the view was really awesome just as soon as we got out of the underground train station. we were right across the colosseum itself ! once again i cudnt believe that i have reached another world landmark. i thank god, & my sis & bil, for giving me this wonderful opportunity. we took pics with the "gladiators", & they asked us "apa khabar", & said "terima kasih" too.
early one morning, we left tiburtina - not without taking a glance at those handsome looking italian cleaners first, changed train at the termini, & headed to ottaviano san pietro. we walked briskly to this wide, steep stairs where there were a few groups of people gathered on the steps. owh ... its the tour group. we were in vatican city ! it is a country by itself completely surrounded by the city of rome. the tour guide led us to the musei vaticani, which is part of the st peter's basilica. apart from the amazing large paintings, the ceilings & floors were also covered with colorful painted tiles. i dont know how to describe, but u can certainly google.
then we got to this place we have heard the name often in history classes - the sistine chapel. we were requested to not speak, at least not loudly, & forbade from taking pics. but some ass****s just dont respect the rule, & was warned - otherwise asked to leave. we got to see with our own eyes michelangelo's drawing on the ceiling.
we finally got out of the museum, thank our guide, & walked on the st peter's square - the location of one of the mission impossible movies. outside the square, there were stalls selling all kinds of souvenirs. of coz we did a little souvenir shopping there.
owh yes ... during the hop-on-hop-off tour, we got off at piazza de trevi, & went to the fontana de trevi, another tourist spot in rome. this pic did injustice to the fountain becoz the brightness sort of glared the beauty of the sculpture. & yes, we found even better souvenir shops there. since that it was our last day there, we spent our last euros till enough to last for expenses at the airport. ika, mira, iman & me bade farewell to my sis & bil as we headed for our flight back to kay el, while they made their way to fly off to spain. jealous much !!
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