sementara tunggu code gua compile ni, meh gua sambung citer penamat trip gua ke paris. jadinyaa... we started the day with breakfast of toast and crispy delicious croissant from the hotel. gua suka giler croissant dia tapi roti yang lagi satu tu gua tak layan la beb. keras gile.
lepas abis makan, and the rest of the group pun dah sampai dari hotel mereka yang sangat jauh tu..kami pun bergerak keluar menuju destinasi seterusnya, to climb the famous eiffel tower! semalam dah tengok dari jauh...skang, meh kita naik dia pulak kan?
kami stop kat station yang agak jauh sebab silap perhitungan. tapi takpe, jauh perjalanan...luas pemandangan ye tak? sampai-sampai kat eiffel tu, orang beratur dah panjang jugak la. tapi kaunter tiket dia sangat effisyen. cepat jugak sampai kat turn kami. bayaran nak naik adalah 11.50 euro. tapi kalau takat nak naik sekerat je, murah sikit kut. tapi gua takde la kedekut sangat nak naik sekerat je kan. mana bley naik sekerat-sekerat beb, paris ngan seremban bukan macam seremban ngan nilai 3, boleh datang anytime. lepas beratur beli tiket, kena beratur nak naik lif pulak. life dia ada 2 tingkat. gua naik yang kat atas sket. lif dia bole tahan laju jugak pastu kena transit untuk naik ke part lagi tinggi. takde apa sgt bley dilihat sebab fogs. tapi boleh tengok guna teropong. haaaa, part-part guna teropong ni gua kedekut sket...
gambar kat atas ni ditangkap di platform paling atas la kat menara eiffel tu. lubang grill dia besar-besar boleh hulur kepala tengok bawah kalau tak gayat. gua tak buat la sebab gua taknak la buat perangai bukan-bukan kat tempat orang. mak gua marah nanti. nampak tak seine river kat belakang tu? biru je air dia kan? cantik! lepas puas buat perangai orang malaysia kat atas tu, kami pun turun beramai-ramai. buat perangai orang malaysia plak kat bawah. jangan tanya perangai apa. tengok gambar kat bawah ni je dah tau perangai apa. sampai baring-baring tangkap gambar...hish hish!
so, lepas settle semua benda yang dihajati di eiffel tower, kami pun berjalan pulang ke metro station berhampiran. perut pun dah bergendang meriah, kami ke strasburg untuk makan tengah hari. jangan main main beb, gua belasah kari kambing kat paris. dekat berapa bulan tak makan kari, akhirnya dapat gak makan kari. food portion dia memang banyak, nasi macam nak melimpah-limpah. subaidah kat ayer keroh tu bole kata tertinggal pat lima tiang jugak la kalau nak dibandingkan dengan kedai ni punya portion. zul kata ada bangla basuh pinggan kat kedai ni reti cakap melayu. huhu!
ni salah satu gate yang ada kat sini. taik burung bersepah-sepah. kat sini pun ada orang mintak sedekah. so becareful jugak la kalau orang muka cam middle east, comot-comot sket tanya, "do you speak english?". diowang ni rude gila kadang-kadang.
hari dah agak petang, jadi kami pun cepat-cepat bergerak ke destinasi terakhir kami. museum louvre. museum ni dibukak free every first sunday, so memang kena la dengan hari yang kami pegi ni. museum ni sangat la besar. kalau nak explore semua section dalam masa sehari, mintak maaf la ye tuan-tuan. lainlah kalau ada kaki yang kuat atau kowang sebenarnya tak la minat sangat nak tengok artifak-artifak atau lukisan dan sculpture yang dipamerkan, tapi nak gak datang. gua sempat pegi few sections je sebab hari dah petang, nak mengejar train lagi nanti. ahh!
antara sculpture yang terkenal yang dipamerkan kat museum ni adalah venus de milo. goddess cinta bak kata orang rom yang dah kudung tangannya. bukan kudung sebab apa, tapi hilang tak dijumpai. kalau datang museum ni, kena buka minda luas-luas sebab almost all sculpture dia memang naked atau tutup sikit-sikit je. pepaham la yek.
hall yang mempamerkan lukisan-lukisan pun sangat la luas. tak terpandang! diowang divided kepada banyak sections. lukisan-lukisan dia sangat halus, macam hidup pun iya. kaler dia sangat soft adunannya. orang? tak boleh nak cakap! ramai macam ulat taik. painting yang dipamerkan, allergik dengan flash camera. kalau tangkap gambar dekat-dekat, ada bunyi alarm. hish! tp camera still boleh bawak tak macam museum kat tempat kita!
bilik yang paling crowded macam ada party adalah bilik yang ada lukisan mona lisa. kecik je painting dia minah tu. tapi orang ramai macam ada magnet pulak kat situ. maybe sebab dia dah dikomersilkan terlampau-lampau sangat. siap letak dalam kaca tu dengan security guard. tak boleh pegi dekat-dekat. ha, ni la bilik yang kurator museum tu mati dalam da vinci code.
museum ni bertingkat-tingkat. sikit-sikit tangga, sikit-sikit tangga. lepas tu panas gile. mungkin sebab orang terlalu ramai. temporary exhibition pun banyak. oh ye, dalam masa beberapa tahun lagi, akan ada satu ruang khas yang akan mempamerkan kesenian islam. best kan?
jadinya....lepas semua orang puas bergambar, menjelajahi mana-mana section yang sempat. kitowang pun beramai-ramai pulang.
sampai kat station gare du nord, platform train tatau lagi lagi sebab takde pun terpapar kat board hitam belakang tu, so kena tunggu jugak.
penamat trip ke paris adalah bila aku dengan selesanya dapat duduk kat seat dalam ketapi. hilang semua penat (tipu!). sempat pegi thalys bar lagi kat dalam tu. abis da citer pariss.. :D
so now, as promised i am going to write about my night experience in paris. to be honest, my night experience while i'm in belgium is very limited. most of the time, my night is spend in my studio, watching tv if not going out to have dinner with my colleagues once in a while. not that i meant that i have a wonderful night life back in malaysia.
when i am still a student, my typical night out usually meant hanging out at mamak having glass of teh tarik and hours of chit chatting with some close friends. if i have some money, i will go out for movie or roaming around jonker walk or any night market and hunting for food with some friends at some familiar places (that has passed certain criterias: the price must be reasonable, the portion must be generous and the taste must be good).
see, i am such a food hunter all the time. however, i can say that i have totally no night life in seremban since i am not keen to go out at night when i'm in seremban (apa je yang ada beb?). and when i was in kl, my night experience is totally depend on whom i was hanging out with. but most of the time, since i am not the type who goes clubbing so they were spent with dining out with some people or went to movie. you see, i have small crowd of people whom i can spent the time talking non stop and this people knew who they are. haha! apa yang aku da melalut ni?
ok lets get back to my paris night. after checking in to our hotel, we took sometimes to get ourselves back on the feet. penat wooo...tapi apapun pengembaraan mesti diteruskan. the initial plan was made by zul and eventhough there were voices heard of not participating, we're on our feet as a huge group again. oh yeah, the thing about going out after checking in is you need to return your room key to the front desk and get it back when you return to the hotel. i wonder if its some kind of rule for any hotel in europe but thats they way it was with ours.
first destination that night, hard rock cafe paris. ok ok, i know some of you are probably giving me 'that' look now and furthermore, i never been to hrc kl, owkay. but then, i think its pretty good plan too since it received support from the whole group where almost everyone ended up buying something at the rockshop. i bought two tees and received a complimentary gift from hrc, guitar shape tomato squeezer or something? i dont give a damn and it looks hideous too. no, we didnt dined in there since we still need to catch metro to see eiffel at night! eiffel at midnight to be exact. im not sure what is the name of the metro station that we stopped at since it was mike and zul who navigated our way. but its not really far actually from a good spot where you can get a good view of eiffel from the other side of siene. the tower was brightly lit up with maybe thousands of light from every corner of tower. it was such a breathtaking view and suddenly my heart pounded with disbelief. funny, but i really pinched myself since i couldn't believe my eyes that i was standing in front of the tall tower that i previously could only see in postcards, magazines or tv. it just so beautiful and inviting and i hardly could take my eyes off of it.
we spent sometimes by the river bank to snap more photos of the tower. and all of sudden, the thing that i wish never happened, is happening. my camera (borrowed from azhan, actually) was running out of battery and how dumb i am, i didnt bring the battery charger with me to paris. that mean, if i ran out of battery now, i would also have no photos tomorrow. i knew i'm in a deep s**t (need to sensor some curses since i think mom and dad is also reading my blog now, :P) dan terpaksa la berjimat-jimat. so i am so sorry for the lack of photo's quality. night photos consumed a lot of battery energy for the flash light. gosh! turned out every face in my night photos bermisai-misai!
after satisfied, we walked along the avenue to trocadero, a wide esplanade between the palais de chaillot and eiffel complete with a beautiful fountains. the stairs to the front terrace of the palais were really one of the challenges to my feet. we sat around the terrace for the remainder of the night watching the lights sparkle at midnight from the eiffel. i read somewhere that it took rock climbers 2 months to install thousands of leds on the outside of the eiffel tower and every hour during the night they are set off randomly. i also learnt that the tower shrinks up to 12cm every winter when the rivettes contract.
the atmosphere was pretty happening up there at the terrace. young people were hanging out with their crowds, couples kissing everywhere (perhaps it made the kiss special to them since its in front of the eiffe, for bottle sake) and there are street vendor trying to sell souvenirs at a very low price and we can even bargain. i've learnt the trick of bargaining that night and ended up buying eiffel miniature at a price that i am so satisfied with.
at midnight, the light from eiffel went blinking beautifully and after the show, we walked back to the nearest metro station to head back to our hotel. there were series of funny incidents happened on the metro. first was when the metro didnt stop at the station we want and 5 of us (jess, brenda, zul, marwan and me) trapped inside the train while mike, mat and azli has already got out at the next station. its because the door stucked and the train has started moving. there were hell lot of running around to catch the next metro back to the station where mike and the rest were waiting for us. and more running to catch the metro that head to the station we want to go. i felt like if i ran more that night, i could break my legs and start walking with my hands. to make it worst, after we hopped in the right metro there were no empty seats available.
still out breath, in front of us there were bunch of drunkened youths in the middle of train making noise. we're making assumption that they were too drunk and got kicked out of any disco. :P at first its pretty annoying but then it started to feel funny. and we started to move our body to the song that the drunkened guy sang. it was eddy murphy's party all the time. seeing our response, the group start to sing even louder and performed some acrobatic stuff on the train. haha!
and guess what happened next? we counterback the group, we sang rasa sayang to them. its damn hillarious and i felt like the whole train is roaring with our voice singing rasa sayang! we were granted with a huge applaused from them right after we finished the song. it felt so good! and they jumped out of the train at the next station and we still couldnt stop laughing like we're on sugar high. perhaps too much running?
we called it a night when we reached our hotel at almost 1 am. i am sharing room with mat and we have this spacious room up on the 6th floor with lot of beds! two single beds and one queen sized. we throw our stuffs on the single beds and tuck ourself into the comfy queen bed. its too cold to sleep alone, heh! the goal has been set for the next day, we need to get up as early as we can to queue for the line to get on the eiffel!
destinasi pertama kami di kota paris ni adalah roundabout yang terbesar di dunia di mana terletaknya arc de triomphe. panik gua tengok kereta berpusu-pusu tak berhenti kat roundabout tu. roundabout ni adalah titik temu 12 jalan utama di area tu dan salah satu daripadanya adalah champs-elysees. seeing the non-stop flood of vehicles, i dont think even a madman have the slightest of idea how to cross the road without using the tunnel.
gua suka gambar ni..awan dan langit sangat cantik..cuaca memang baik haritu cuma ada sikit windy la..
and as i said, the only sane way to reach the base of the arc is by using underground tunnel from champs-elysees. dekat atas arc ni, ada platform yang kita boleh tengok view sekitar tempat tu. gua tak naik sebab gua rasa tak berapa berbaloi sangat. mahal pun iya jugak. tapi nak dijadikan cerita, tengah-tengah kitowang seronok tiba-tiba terperasan 2 ahli rombongan dah ilang. perasan time kitowang dah chow dari arc tu ke champs-elysees pulak tu. rupa-rupanya, en lee ngan marwan dah lepas naik atas arch de triomphe tu. hehe!
lepas arc de triomphe, kami menyusur pulak jalan yang sangat famous di dunia, champs-elysees. rent kat sini dikatakan yang kedua termahal didunia. butik-butik berjenama popular berlambak-lambak la kat sini. sebut la apa nak, dior, chanel, lv, ysl, lancome tapi kedai yang gua sempat singgah bersama rakan-rakan hanyalah disney shop sebagai pengubat tak dapat pegi disneyland. jangan tanya gua beli apa. lepas tu masuk pula ke butik mercedes. mau bangkrap aku sepanjang weekend ni kalau beli apa-apa kat situ.
dekat champs-elysees ni punya la ramai umat manusia...mebbe sebab hari sabtu, semua orang keluar jalan-jalan dan shopping sebab ahad kedai tutup. beza betul ngan malaysia, hari sabtu ahad la hari yang shopping mall penuh melaut ngan manusia ye tak?
dari champs-elysees tu, kitowang masuk ke winston churchill avenue. kat situ ada petite palais (istana kecik) ngan grand palais (istana besar). tempat ni bukan istana okeh, tetapi digunakan untuk art exhibition dan sebagainya. these buildings, as well as the nearby bridge Pont Alexandre III, were built for the World Fair in Paris in 1900.
gambar kat atas ni adalah bumbung petite palais. senibina bangunan ni adalah daripada style art nouvoue. jangan tanya gua apa benda tu, sebab tu la yang ditulis dek pamphlet ni. dan gambar bawah ni pulak adalah salah satu statue yang ada kat atas bumbung grand palais. bumbung grand palais ni dibuat dari kaca. gaknye kat dalam tu see through la. bley nampak bulan bila malam ek? motiffff...
dekat jalan ni jugak, ada statue general charles de gaulle. general perancis yang mengetuai penentangan terhadap nazi di paris. dan kat hujung jalan ni pulak ada statue winston churchill dengan his famous quote, we shall never surrender.
lepas seronok dapat tangkap gamba statue winston churchill tu, kami meneruskan perjalanan ke arah Pont Alexandre III. jambatan yang tercantik di paris ni pun berseni bina art nouveou. ia siap dibina pada tahun 1900 dan dinamakan sempena nama tsar rusia ketika itu.
next destination is place de la concorde. tempat ni bukan tempat buat kapal terbang concorde tu atau tempat lahir founder hotel concorde, tapi ada sejarahnya sendiri. kat sinila marie antoinette dihukum bunuh dengan gillotin bersama suaminya. tetiba teringat kirstin dunst. let them eat cake! the main monument that is in this square is the Obélisque. this is one of two obelisks which originally stood in the temple of Luxor next to two huge seated statues of the pharaoh Ramses the Second (the ruler of Egypt from 1279 to 1212 BC). carved on the obelisk are hieroglyphics which describe the achievements of the pharaoh. monumen ni dah ada kat Place de la Concorde ni sejak 1836, sebagai hadiah dari mesir kepada perancis. kat sini pun roundabout dia punya la besar. eh, ke bukan roundabout? ah peduli le...
dari place de la concorde ni jugak, kita bole nampak arc de triomphe dari jauh. memang cantik view dia. selain dari obelisks, kat sini ada fountain yang cantik yang mana inspired by the fountains in Piazza San Pietro dekat Rome sana.
tak jauh dari place de la concorde ni jugak, resides one of the top attractions in paris..la magdalenae.church ni asalnya dibina atas arahan napoleon sebagai monumen untuk his grand armee and himself. it looks more than a greek temple than a catholic church. the style of the church is in fact of a Greek temple, with its bronze doors and huge corinthian columns. but it is nevertheless a church and also a venue for classical musical concerts.
it feels so good resting on the staircase watching the cars passing by the busy road while stretching our tired feet. straight ahead is de la concorde and a good view of rue royale while eating crispy carrefour's biscuits brought by en lee.
the sun is still shining but its still so cold when we're on our feet again. this time, our destination is to see the famous notre dame, an example of one of the finest gothic style building. i didnt go inside the church but taking my time wandering around the place with the camera. on the pavement by the west door of Notre-Dame is a spot known as kilometre zero where all of the main road distances in France are calculated.
some archeology museum nearby notre dame...
one of the most interesting things about this place other than the church itself is its where you can catch roller-skaters displaying their skills while at the background a bunch of baskers playing some classical tunes. i think its quite far from norm where we usually watch the extreme sport accompanied with some rock tunes but here, its cello and violin, dude! and if you feel like shopping for souvenirs, there are a lot of stalls near the riverbank that sells a lot of stuff.
the famous two towers of notre dame and in the photo below is the famous seine which divided paris into two... "On September 3rd 1973, at 6:28pm and 32 seconds, a bluebottle fly capable of 14,670 wing beats a minute landed on Rue St Vincent, Montmartre."
remember the quote from amelie? its one of my favorite movie and our next aim is to catch the sunset on the top of montmarte where sacre cour, the most beautiful church (i think) in paris located. a little background about this church begin when two catholic businessmen (who must have been loaded) made a pledge to build a church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Christ (Sacre Coeur means Sacred Heart), should France be saved from the Prussian war. the basilica took over 40 years to build, the foundations are deeper than those of the Egyptian pyramids! i just love the Byzantine architecture of this building. its seems like a perfect building built on a perfect place. right at its place. as we were walking up Montmartre, we could hear so many different languages spoken, vendors standing outside of their stores promising something different from the vendor next door, smells wafting out of the many side street cafes that line the area, and artists painting the beautiful Parisian scenery. the walk itself up to the basillica is pretty long, but you see so much along the way. however, if you are too tired, there is a furnicular you can take. and remember the carousel in the film? its still there and well lighted at night! however, beware of street vendors who sells bracelets made of thread. once you give your hands to them, you will never get away without buying it. whatever it is, i still love this place so much. on top of the hill nearing the sacre cour, you can enjoy the music from street musician. it made the atmosphere felt so alive and with the good view from the hill top, it made your climb worthy. no joke. its just so sad to leave this place but the journey need to be continued. and we lost marwan again and only after we have some shopping spree at one of the shop there, he was found somewhere in a good condition (thank God! hehe!). another good thing about this place is you can bargain when you shopping!!!lucky us, we have our bargain goddess with us! hehe!
after had our dinner at one of the kfc (guess what, kfc in paris and amsterdam is halal!) we get back to our hotel and this blog will be continued on how do we spend our saturday night in paris...
sebelum ni, gua tak pernah pun terfikir untuk merantau sejauh ni. kalau ada pun, angan-angan kosong je le. ingat, my dream vacation hanyalah vietnam dan negara-negara di sekitarnya. time gua dapat job offer ni pun, gua tak berapa mengharap sangat untuk dihantar ke sini. sebabnya, banyak je multinational software company yang ada kat malaysia tu tapi jarang-jarang pulak mereka nak hantar new employee mereka training di hq. tapi apa pun gua bersyukur. gaji gua mungkin tak semasyuk kawan-kawan yang lain tapi gua rasa kalau orang yang style macam gua ni (asek nak makaaaaan sedaaap je), gaji banyak mana pun belum tentu gua dapat save untuk pegi europe. kalau sambung belajar tu lain cerita la kan? tapi cerita sambung belajar kita tolak tepi dulu. yang penting, gua da sampai sini tanpa perlu kumpul duit 10 tahun. :P
macam yang kowang da dapat hidu, gua da sampai paris (akhirnya...). macam mimpi.. pukul 7 am, colleagues gua da tekan door bell suruh turun cepat-cepat sebab kami nak catch train yang paling awal. cuaca pagi tu windy tapi langit takde pulak menunjukkan sebarang tanda nak hujan. perut lapar gile sebab tak breakfast. cafe apapun tak bukak lagi.
sampai dekat brussels midi, kawan-kawan brussels tak sampai lagi. lepas beli air ngan roti kat panos, kami gerak ke thalys information counter sebab nak inquire ticket price for the next trip (jeng!jeng! jeng!). orang dekat counter tu suruh tanya orang dekat travel centre pulak. kat sana kena amik nombor. tak tunggu lama pun, tapi bila sampai kat kaunter dia kata kami da silap tempat untuk tanya. dia soh pegi kaunter information belah hujung. sib baik tak payah amik nombor. tanya punya tanya, ada la dua seat untuk smileys price. maksudnya, murah sangat la berbanding normal price. maknanya oleh kerana sbb ada 2 seat je yang tinggal, the rest kena bayar normal price untuk bawah 26 jugak le.
kami pun pegi balik ke kaunter tadi sebab nak grab tiket smileys tu sebelum terlambat. sampai kat kaunter, minah jual tiket tu plak gaknye lemah betul englishnya. orang kata nak tanya berapa banyak smiley tiket yg ada dia tanya berapa tiket kitowang nak. kitowang tanya berapa tiket smiley yang ada, dia tanya kitowang nak beli tiket berapa banyak. tak paham-paham. alih-alih nak marah-marah kitowang pulak. last-last satu tiket pun tak beli sebab kitowang decide nak beli kat leuven je nanti. oleh sebab hati dah terbakar, kami pun blah cepat-cepat dari travel centre tu. suwey betul, pagi-pagi dah kena marah.
lepas kawan-kawan brussels sampai, kami pun gerak naik ke platform untuk tunggu train. oh ya, ahli rombongan ke paris ni terdiri daripada, en zul selaku ketua rombongan merangkap pembaca peta, en lee selaku ajk security, en mike selaku pembaca map metro, en marwan selaku pembawa bekal nasik, mat, jess, brenda dan gua. time naik ke platform, train dah sampai tapi ada sket delay. yang bestnya, bila tanya kat keje ketapi tu, dia boleh selamba je cakap french ngan kitowang. ternganga dengar. rupa-rupanya, ada part of the coachs yang tak sampai lagi dari amsterdam. ketapi yang kitowang naik thalys namanya and with this train, kita bley sampai paris dlm masa sejam lebih sikiiiit je sebab memang laju.
ada sekali gua sampai terhantuk kat tingkap sebab terkejut time dia selisih ngan ketapi laju yang lain. view sepanjang perjalanan takde apa sangat nak diceritakan sebab lalu kat countryside, ada meadow yang menghijau, pastu kat satu tempat tu gua ada nampak windfarm. busan tak busan, sib baik ada mp4 ija bole jugak gua layan rilo kiley sambil melayan perasaan excited.
sampai kat gare du nord station dalam pukul 10 lebih. perkara pertama gua buat bila sampai mesti la amik gambar ngan kepala ketapi thalys ni kan. hehe! hati memang excited. senyum je pagi-pagi tu.ni adalah station gare du nord tu. op op, bukan yang dalam citer amelie ok?
ni pulak adalah basikal untuk disewa. ada berani?
kami bergerak dari gare du nord untuk mencari hotel penginapan kami yang telah dibook. punya la payah nak mencari. nak-nak bangunan dia semua sama je. hotel yang gua tinggal tu nama dia de paris. hotel budget je. yang jadi frontman, wanita kulit hitam yang tersangat la kerek takmau cakap english. oleh kerana time untuk check in lewat lagi, kitowang letak beg dulu dan pegi cari hotel untuk dak-dak laki plak. nama hotel tu altona.
lepas sesat barat, maka sampai le kami ke hotel tu. dekat pintu dah tergantung sign no vacancy. tapi sebab kitowang dah book, dengan konfidennya kitowang pegi kat frontman cakap nak check in. muka dia punya terkejut. episod tragis kisah hotel pun bermula. katanya, travel agency yang uruskan booking hotel kitowang tu tak forwardkan dekat dia booking kami. lepas en lee kautim apa tah ngan mamat frontdesk tu, dia pun tukarkan hotel budak-budak ni ke hotel lain. hotel baru ni jauh sket dari hotel kitowang. tempatnya macam style lorong haji taib pun ada.
hotel ni star dia macam nak taknak je ada. aku tak tengok le keadaan bilik tapi dengar citer diowang, tangga nak naik atas tu bole tahan berdebar le. memang tragis. untuk mengelakkan berlakunya perkara yg sama kat hotel dak-dak pompuan, kami terus gerak balik ke hotel de paris. minah kulit hitam tu still lagi kat front desk.
she refused to speak english and we refused to leave until we got the confirmation. maunye tak, sapa nak tido tepi jalan malam kang beb! time tunggu tu, kitowang siap boleh makan nasik yang dibawa oleh gang brussels. bawak bekal nasik tu poit pegi paris. perut pulak tengah lapar, habis licin semua. lepas makan, kitowang memang tak boleh tunggu dah. check in tak check in we gamble our luck and hit the road again.
untuk mengeksplore bandar paris ni, adalah crucial untuk kami membeli tiket metro. metro ni macam lrt la. cumanya, metro kat paris ni memang berselirat. kalau duduk paris gua rasa tak payah risau-risau nak beli kereta. memang efficient gile public transportation dia. pass untuk 2 hari berharga 11.20 euro. tiket dia tu alahai...kecik gile. gua ni dah la pelalai, main sumbat masuk poket je. dengan terbelinya tiket metro ni...maka, bermulalah pengembaraan 8 enthusiastic travellers from malaysia yang dah kenyang makan nasik...di paris!
"traveling is always one of the thing that i like to do and it felt nice to read some old travelogue once in a while. and since i don't own any good camera, this is the only way i can documented all the memories. so welcome!"
from now on, I’ll write about flowers and butterflies, chickens and kittens and shit.
from now on, I’ll try to look myself in the face and be proud and grateful of what i see.
and i have found someone who knows I exist and be married to him.
but still, from now on the questions on when i'm going to get myself some babies is totally forbidden!
lepas abis makan, and the rest of the group pun dah sampai dari hotel mereka yang sangat jauh tu..kami pun bergerak keluar menuju destinasi seterusnya, to climb the famous eiffel tower! semalam dah tengok dari jauh...skang, meh kita naik dia pulak kan?
kami stop kat station yang agak jauh sebab silap perhitungan. tapi takpe, jauh perjalanan...luas pemandangan ye tak? sampai-sampai kat eiffel tu, orang beratur dah panjang jugak la. tapi kaunter tiket dia sangat effisyen. cepat jugak sampai kat turn kami. bayaran nak naik adalah 11.50 euro. tapi kalau takat nak naik sekerat je, murah sikit kut. tapi gua takde la kedekut sangat nak naik sekerat je kan. mana bley naik sekerat-sekerat beb, paris ngan seremban bukan macam seremban ngan nilai 3, boleh datang anytime.
lepas beratur beli tiket, kena beratur nak naik lif pulak. life dia ada 2 tingkat. gua naik yang kat atas sket. lif dia bole tahan laju jugak pastu kena transit untuk naik ke part lagi tinggi. takde apa sgt bley dilihat sebab fogs. tapi boleh tengok guna teropong. haaaa, part-part guna teropong ni gua kedekut sket...
gambar kat atas ni ditangkap di platform paling atas la kat menara eiffel tu. lubang grill dia besar-besar boleh hulur kepala tengok bawah kalau tak gayat. gua tak buat la sebab gua taknak la buat perangai bukan-bukan kat tempat orang. mak gua marah nanti. nampak tak seine river kat belakang tu? biru je air dia kan? cantik!
lepas puas buat perangai orang malaysia kat atas tu, kami pun turun beramai-ramai. buat perangai orang malaysia plak kat bawah. jangan tanya perangai apa. tengok gambar kat bawah ni je dah tau perangai apa.
sampai baring-baring tangkap gambar...hish hish!
so, lepas settle semua benda yang dihajati di eiffel tower, kami pun berjalan pulang ke metro station berhampiran. perut pun dah bergendang meriah, kami ke strasburg untuk makan tengah hari. jangan main main beb, gua belasah kari kambing kat paris. dekat berapa bulan tak makan kari, akhirnya dapat gak makan kari. food portion dia memang banyak, nasi macam nak melimpah-limpah. subaidah kat ayer keroh tu bole kata tertinggal pat lima tiang jugak la kalau nak dibandingkan dengan kedai ni punya portion. zul kata ada bangla basuh pinggan kat kedai ni reti cakap melayu. huhu!
ni salah satu gate yang ada kat sini. taik burung bersepah-sepah. kat sini pun ada orang mintak sedekah. so becareful jugak la kalau orang muka cam middle east, comot-comot sket tanya, "do you speak english?". diowang ni rude gila kadang-kadang.
hari dah agak petang, jadi kami pun cepat-cepat bergerak ke destinasi terakhir kami. museum louvre. museum ni dibukak free every first sunday, so memang kena la dengan hari yang kami pegi ni.
museum ni sangat la besar. kalau nak explore semua section dalam masa sehari, mintak maaf la ye tuan-tuan. lainlah kalau ada kaki yang kuat atau kowang sebenarnya tak la minat sangat nak tengok artifak-artifak atau lukisan dan sculpture yang dipamerkan, tapi nak gak datang. gua sempat pegi few sections je sebab hari dah petang, nak mengejar train lagi nanti. ahh!
antara sculpture yang terkenal yang dipamerkan kat museum ni adalah venus de milo. goddess cinta bak kata orang rom yang dah kudung tangannya. bukan kudung sebab apa, tapi hilang tak dijumpai. kalau datang museum ni, kena buka minda luas-luas sebab almost all sculpture dia memang naked atau tutup sikit-sikit je. pepaham la yek.
hall yang mempamerkan lukisan-lukisan pun sangat la luas. tak terpandang! diowang divided kepada banyak sections. lukisan-lukisan dia sangat halus, macam hidup pun iya. kaler dia sangat soft adunannya. orang? tak boleh nak cakap! ramai macam ulat taik. painting yang dipamerkan, allergik dengan flash camera. kalau tangkap gambar dekat-dekat, ada bunyi alarm. hish! tp camera still boleh bawak tak macam museum kat tempat kita!
bilik yang paling crowded macam ada party adalah bilik yang ada lukisan mona lisa. kecik je painting dia minah tu. tapi orang ramai macam ada magnet pulak kat situ. maybe sebab dia dah dikomersilkan terlampau-lampau sangat. siap letak dalam kaca tu dengan security guard. tak boleh pegi dekat-dekat. ha, ni la bilik yang kurator museum tu mati dalam da vinci code.
museum ni bertingkat-tingkat. sikit-sikit tangga, sikit-sikit tangga. lepas tu panas gile. mungkin sebab orang terlalu ramai. temporary exhibition pun banyak. oh ye, dalam masa beberapa tahun lagi, akan ada satu ruang khas yang akan mempamerkan kesenian islam. best kan?
jadinya....lepas semua orang puas bergambar, menjelajahi mana-mana section yang sempat. kitowang pun beramai-ramai pulang.
sampai kat station gare du nord, platform train tatau lagi lagi sebab takde pun terpapar kat board hitam belakang tu, so kena tunggu jugak.
penamat trip ke paris adalah bila aku dengan selesanya dapat duduk kat seat dalam ketapi. hilang semua penat (tipu!). sempat pegi thalys bar lagi kat dalam tu. abis da citer pariss.. :D
first destination that night, hard rock cafe paris. ok ok, i know some of you are probably giving me 'that' look now and furthermore, i never been to hrc kl, owkay. but then, i think its pretty good plan too since it received support from the whole group where almost everyone ended up buying something at the rockshop. i bought two tees and received a complimentary gift from hrc, guitar shape tomato squeezer or something? i dont give a damn and it looks hideous too. no, we didnt dined in there since we still need to catch metro to see eiffel at night! eiffel at midnight to be exact. 
im not sure what is the name of the metro station that we stopped at since it was mike and zul who navigated our way. but its not really far actually from a good spot where you can get a good view of eiffel from the other side of siene. the tower was brightly lit up with maybe thousands of light from every corner of tower. it was such a breathtaking view and suddenly my heart pounded with disbelief. funny, but i really pinched myself since i couldn't believe my eyes that i was standing in front of the tall tower that i previously could only see in postcards, magazines or tv. it just so beautiful and inviting and i hardly could take my eyes off of it.
we spent sometimes by the river bank to snap more photos of the tower. and all of sudden, the thing that i wish never happened, is happening. my camera (borrowed from azhan, actually) was running out of battery and how dumb i am, i didnt bring the battery charger with me to paris. that mean, if i ran out of battery now, i would also have no photos tomorrow. i knew i'm in a deep s**t (need to sensor some curses since i think mom and dad is also reading my blog now, :P) dan terpaksa la berjimat-jimat. so i am so sorry for the lack of photo's quality. night photos consumed a lot of battery energy for the flash light. gosh! turned out every face in my night photos bermisai-misai!
the atmosphere was pretty happening up there at the terrace. young people were hanging out with their crowds, couples kissing everywhere (perhaps it made the kiss special to them since its in front of the eiffe, for bottle sake) and there are street vendor trying to sell souvenirs at a very low price and we can even bargain. i've learnt the trick of bargaining that night and ended up buying eiffel miniature at a price that i am so satisfied with.
at midnight, the light from eiffel went blinking beautifully and after the show, we walked back to the nearest metro station to head back to our hotel. there were series of funny incidents happened on the metro. first was when the metro didnt stop at the station we want and 5 of us (jess, brenda, zul, marwan and me) trapped inside the train while mike, mat and azli has already got out at the next station. its because the door stucked and the train has started moving. there were hell lot of running around to catch the next metro back to the station where mike and the rest were waiting for us. and more running to catch the metro that head to the station we want to go. i felt like if i ran more that night, i could break my legs and start walking with my hands. to make it worst, after we hopped in the right metro there were no empty seats available.
ada sekali gua sampai terhantuk kat tingkap sebab terkejut time dia selisih ngan ketapi laju yang lain. view sepanjang perjalanan takde apa sangat nak diceritakan sebab lalu kat countryside, ada meadow yang menghijau, pastu kat satu tempat tu gua ada nampak windfarm. busan tak busan, sib baik ada mp4 ija bole jugak gua layan rilo kiley sambil melayan perasaan excited. 
sampai kat gare du nord station dalam pukul 10 lebih. perkara pertama gua buat bila sampai mesti la amik gambar ngan kepala ketapi thalys ni kan. hehe! hati memang excited. senyum je pagi-pagi tu.
lepas sesat barat, maka sampai le kami ke hotel tu. dekat pintu dah tergantung sign no vacancy. tapi sebab kitowang dah book, dengan konfidennya kitowang pegi kat frontman cakap nak check in. muka dia punya terkejut. episod tragis kisah hotel pun bermula. katanya, travel agency yang uruskan booking hotel kitowang tu tak forwardkan dekat dia booking kami. lepas en lee kautim apa tah ngan mamat frontdesk tu, dia pun tukarkan hotel budak-budak ni ke hotel lain. hotel baru ni jauh sket dari hotel kitowang. tempatnya macam style lorong haji taib pun ada.
hotel ni star dia macam nak taknak je ada. aku tak tengok le keadaan bilik tapi dengar citer diowang, tangga nak naik atas tu bole tahan berdebar le. memang tragis. untuk mengelakkan berlakunya perkara yg sama kat hotel dak-dak pompuan, kami terus gerak balik ke hotel de paris. minah kulit hitam tu still lagi kat front desk.
dengan terbelinya tiket metro ni...maka, bermulalah pengembaraan 8 enthusiastic travellers from malaysia yang dah kenyang makan nasik...di paris!
