Where do we go from here...

NB: Know this entry was a long time coming. Was having some problems getting the pics uploaded, but have figured out a much easier (and faster!) way of doing that now, so it should be smooth sailing from here on. Enjoy!

Over the next few days, we had a great time exploring the city with RX as our guide. We ate a lot, laughed a lot, and spent a lot (haha...) but we had a great time and we hope to come back soon again. To cut a long story short, I'll attempt to do our trip in snapshots, so here goes... ...

04.05.11:
Eiffel Tower,

Tuilleries,
École Militaire,

Notre Dame,

Galleries Lafayette,

Champs De Elysee & Arc De Triompe

Avenue Montaigne

05.05.11:
Window shopping along Rue St Anne,

Breakfast/brunch from Stohrer,

The Louvre,

(More) boutique-popping along Rue Saint-Honoré and Rue de Rivoli.

Escargots, Bone marrow, steak tartare, lamb chops, steak at Boucherie Roulière,

Bateaux-Mouches Seine River night cruise

That ends our last evening in Paris. It was a great time catching up with PS and RX and taking things slowly. Not to mention the goot food and great (albeit slightly cold) weather. What a wonderful start to our long-awaited trip!

On to our next stop: Frankfurt, Germany!

Landing in Paris-Charles De Gaulle Airport was messier than I expected it to be.

I only remember navigating through the throngs of people looking equally lost, and following all the signs to the main train station only to realise that all the ticketing machines there (still!) did not have english options. Guess not much has changed from when I last visited those many years back. After some minor confusion, we asked around with some tourists and managed to find ourselves in the queue to pick up tickets for the RER B line to head to meet PS and RX in the city.

Once we reached the platform, there was a kind Parisan whom noticing that we were travellers, helpfully told us that the train at the current platform was a non-express train, and that if we waited 3 mins, the next train arriving would be an express train that would get us to the city faster. On that advice, we promptly boarded the next train and arrived at our destination without any further hassle and in good time.


RX met us at the pre-arranged train station and got us settled in at the apartment, then we all headed out to a neighbourhood cafe called "Au Roi Du Cafe" for some yummy duck, steak and salad... Yumm!

This was followed by a walk in the park in an attempt to get rid of all the excess calories and take in the sights.

One thing that i must really mention is the Dog Poop! The streets are littered with it. You see, in Paris, there doesn't seem to be a ruling regarding clearing up after your pet has done his morning business. So owners will just bring their pooches out for walks, let them relieve themselves anywhere, and just walk off after that. Am also not sure how often the streets are cleaned since you still do see poop everywhere u go. In short, one must really be terribly careful where ur next step is, for fear that you will end up treading down the 'wrong' paths. o_O

The day ended with us meeting up with PS for dinner at this wonderfully quaint restaurant, where i hear u need to make reservations wayyyyyy in advance to secure your dinner table. Their speciality is the "Confit De Canard" (Duck confit), which had a really nice melt-in-your-mouth kinda texture and tasted like many hours of seasoning had been spent on it. Portions were surprisingly large (for French fare) and I had to enlist help from the hungry men to wipe off my portion.

After the wonderful food and inviting warmth of the restaurant, we stepped back into the chilly evening and made the walk back to the apartment, passing by Parisans clutching still-warm baguettes under their arms, nibbling as they walked on to their next destination, to unwind over a cup of digestive tea and to cozy up around the telly before turning in after our first fulfiling day in the breathtaking capital of France.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, in about 10mins, we will begin our descent to Frankfurt Airport. The weather in Frankfurt is ....."

Finally, 12hr 45mins after jetting off from Changi airport's T3, we landed safe and sound in Fraport, Frankfurt Am Main's nice, spacious and large airport, at around 8pm local time. Armed with our 2 (reasonably small and largely unfill suitacases in tow, we traversed the airport trying to confirm that the Air France counter was closed for the day, else we would have much liked to have checked in our luggage there and then.

To our dismay (and kinda as expected) the counter WAS closed, and hence we proceeded to make our way to the bus bay, where a large group of people were already waiting for one of the many airport shuttles that go back and forth ferrying tourist to various establishments. You will realise that there are MANY hotels who label themselves 'airport' hotels, but not all are close enough in proximity to truly be considered as such to the weary international traveller. Nonetheless, after a few minutes in the cold, we spotted the large shuttle bus emblazoned with the words Intercity Hotel across the sides and on the front in nice LED lights. As it was relatively late in the evening, 8-ish, 9pm, there were only a handful of people who got on with us, so we easily got our luggage on and sat down. Mind you the bus was pretty comfortable, typical of a new SBS bus with a large section near the middle door redone with luggage racks that guests could store there luggage on. The ride was short, about 10-15mins at most and we reached Intercity in high spirits.

Check in was smooth, they only changed the room once, at our request due to a faulty lock in the first room, and we chucked our luggage and gamely proceeded to the bar to grab some food and Beer!

This was proceeded by the freshly baked Pizza and Panini which we gobbled down, tired and hungry as we were, and as a result (& which you will realise the trend soon enough) forgot to take any pic of the food.

Satisfied and full, we headed back to our room for an early night, stopping of at the front desk to confirm our places on the first 5am shuttle to the airport since our flight to Paris was at 7.25am the next morning. The room was comfortable and the beds soft and inviting and before long, we fell into dreamland.

The next morning, it was a quick check of the room and luggage, then out to the main lobby to settle the check out procedures and wait for the shuttle.

It was a chilly morning and a crowd was quickly gathering behind us such that when the shuttle came, it was quickly filled. *Phew!* Luckily we booked a place early!

Check in at the airport was also smooth and we boarded our 1hr AF france bound for the Land of Lovers!

We've decided that since we came back and there seems to be nothing much to look forward to, we will proceed to do a day-by-day recount over the next month on what we were doing exactly 1 month ago.

Hopefully this will help us relive the experience and bring everyone else on our journey as well. It's been a

Spectacular
Amazing
Exciting
Eye-opening

past month, and we're both looking forward to revisiting each place, sight, smell and taste in the upcoming months!

We're glad you've chosen to come along with us on our journey and please feel free to leave us a msg as we go along!