first day paris

so here is our "Touch -Down" snap kunun :)

After touching down in Paris about 7am, we head our seperate ways with Philippe but we will meet up again later for dinner with the Sangs :)

so we head out to our Ibis hotel...FYI i love ibis hotel when it comes to one night stay in Paris as it is convenient and further more it is a 100% non -smoking hotel so you will always feel at ease no smokey smell and FREE Internet and nice breakfast as well :)

After a few hours of rest at the hotel we head out to down town paris for our Lunch. Saw this nice looking tree means that summer is approaching :)

Then on our way, we saw this which I find very appropriate for we are on our way to go and fetch the newly weds arriving at Gare Du Nord  with Eurostar from Londres.

While waiting...we decided to take pics of ourselves just to past the time :)

Us again and after finding out that the train is going to be delayed we decided to go have yamcha with philippe who is also at the Gare to greet the newly weds with us :)

Ahhhh...finally the newly wedded bliss couple arrived and the funny thing is i didnt see them and philippe and Ray are the once who saw them coz i'm too short and everyone was touwering over me and finally i got through and snap this candid pic of them just for rememberance sake :)

And then we head out to Hipopotamus for our dinner and the sangs belanja us...thank you so very much John and Millie and btw, the Tilaphia goreng was delicious no? i was so suprised to find it in the middle of paris and so we got that for dinner and it was fantabulous and terus reminds us of home....huhuhu

to be continued....

À bientôt

claritydefinesyou@gmail.com

14th of July, Paris France

I was thinking i can never be finished with my blogging over my trip to France and particularly on the 14th of July when we did so much and cover so many places in Paris for just one day... and then i thought maybe Picasa can help me with this and voilà! A collage of everything from Bastille, through Jardines, and monuments, historical statues and finally we end our sparkling 14th July celebration at the courtyard watching a concert close by to where the eiffel tower is to wait for the moment where the fireworks are lit up to mark the finale of the celebration for independence in France! Also, liberalism makes me thought of my mom as 14th of July also happens to be my mom's birthday this year i was unable to spend it with her but its the thought that counts :) And now i know where my mom's liberalism comes from hehehe she's quite a french person in this manner im afraid hehehe :) and btw, she LOVES cheese too :))

It was a moment to remember and will always be close in my heart as i felt like a teenager again and surely going on a date with someone very special and in this case i went with mon chérie, Raymond and it was an evening to remember indeed! The finale was a wonderful arrays from the fireworks along side the Eiffel Tower that was illuminated with thousands of bright coloured sparkles from the fireworks and was back with the sound of opera singers and it was truely magestic! I love every second of it and i must say i couldnt stop thanking mon coeur for insisting and timing it for us to experience the 14th of july together to the max!! des gross bisous pour toi mon coeur!! :))


click the picture for a Large view of the picture.

I leave you guys to thrill your eyes with this video i took of the grand finale of fireworks overlooking the eiffel tower, and the opera singing the back is the original sound from the recording i made of the scene and the sound system that night was also superb including the concert :)

Hope you guys enjoy watching the video!
Lots of love,
C&R

Canal St Martin, Bastile & Montmartre

Before coming to France i watched a movie called which literally translates as "The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain" I was really excited about it as it shows a lot of scenery on Paris and somehow after watching the movie i was quite intrigue with all of the sights i've seen on the movie especially when Raymond told me then oui bien sur, we can go to all those sights and realised your dreams of reliving the movie when we are in Paris! The moment he said that i was baming with joy and just couldnt wait to go to those places Amélie Poulain went and did things. So my journey to Montmarte was a memorable one especially when i can walk by the fruit market and where Amélie Poulain use to venture about in the story and also particularly to the cafe where Amélie was working! It was an awesome journey and i owed it all to mon cherié, Raymond :)

here is a bit of insight about the movie i picked up from Wickepedia. Amélie is a 2001 French film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou. Its original French title is Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain which literally translates as "The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain"; poulain is French for foal. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume Laurant, the film is a whimsical and somewhat idealised depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre. It tells the story of a shy waitress who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation.

The journey begins....

Before we reached the Canal St. Martin, these are the cafe thats just next to the Canal

And finally.....I present to you Canal St.Martin

Just looking at my face you would know i was estaticly happy with this visit to the canal St. Martin as i can recall in the movie how Amélie was when she was here....it was a wonderful great feeling!

The whole wide angle view of the canal

1st Mission accomplished!

Canal St Martin

After the long stretched of canal, we went to the end of the canal where its called Bastille. Its where they have a fairly large area for traders to sell their stuffs like a typical "Pasar-Malam" and its really beautiful! lots of varieties and colours and particularly the people are just so amazingly mixed with different cultures! Just simply beautiful!

Sea food area where a big french man was shouting and doing the auction for fish. Marché de poissons

Then you can find all sorts of traders there wine, socks, cheeses, olives and etc...i ended up buying three pair of socks for 2€ and a very nice bottle of wine ;)

Then i saw beautiful flowers...especially the sun flowers :)

and the food section where i saw some yummy chicken paella..was yummy indeed!

Then the next bit of the journey brings us to Montmartre

This little map was a big help indeed and it explains everything about where is where around montmartre and my advice is to look it up so that you will know where to go from there.


The ever so famous Moulin Rouge

And here is the cafe where Amélie Poulain works and if you look carefully bottom middle u can actually see my reflection on the mirror taking this picture hehehe :) And that is Amélie Poulain by the way :)

some shots inside the cafe and yours truly C & R :)

As we proceeded going uphill for about 10 minuted or so...we finally reached to the traders place and the area is full of painters who can do live sketches would have love to do one with Raymond but unfortunately time is not on our side so we proceeded to place where Amélie Poulain did a lot of screen shots here including the photomaton which i finally get to sample doing :)

here is a what we managed to do on this trip as i was really curious on this thing called photomaton so we got ourselves a taste of it :) look and see our own photomaton just like in the Amélie Poulain movie :)

Voilà photomaton! It is actually an automated photo taking kiosk :) hehehe

going through the heaps of painters around montmartre and they are all so beautiful ...

paintings encore!

i love what she was doing!

The Sacré Coeur Church ( Sacred Heart Church) , Montmartre, Paris

sights around the church

Having a picnic just after the cascade just below the church for the weather was really nice to just sit on the grass and enjoy the view

Some of the street performers performing nearby they were really great entertainers.

One last look at the church of Sacré Coeur

the view from the top of montmartre

view looking down.....

Had our late lunch at the La Chat Noir and it was exquisitely yummy! The cheesy jambon omelette was just out of this world! But my salmon in white sauce and pasta was just as good!

The streets heading back to our car close to the metro station

last but not least,
Yours trully
C & R

Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris

This is one of my favourite place the Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris! We have some time to spare before going to Versaille and so we went to Notre Dame which was not too far away from where we at and the location map below shows where Notre Dame is and how far it is from City Centre Paris.

Location map of Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris

The main entrance and whats on the wall...

here is the road where we parked the car and had to walk a little through small alleys which you can see selling stuffs for the tourist to feast their eyes on souvenirs and stuffs :)

The entrance of the cathedral with very pretty carvings and all...NICE!

When we went in there was Mass going on and i can see thru the fences that they were doing prayers and all, a very familiar feeling to me :) And everything look really ancient in there..heheh

some of the sights inside the Cathedrale.

here is pic of me with the pope! hehehe we close and yet far its just a picture of him hahaha :))

Then we decided to brave the sun a bit and play with the pigeons...

Some of the sights outside and closeby the cathedral...looks like autumn..but it aint autumn its summer!

Then I got hungry and so we went to this restaurant called Le Quasimodo Notre Dame where they sell yummylicious crepes...yummmmy :)

The crepes was exquisitely yummy..i had the one with the chocolate topping and mon coeur had the one with straberries....YUMMMM!!

It was a wonderful visit to the Notre Dame indeed, as i,ve always heard much about it and read and watch movie about it and finally i get to be here and it was awesome...takes my breath away and still leaves me in awe on how ancient this cathedral is. If you come to Paris Notre Dame is a must stop in your iternary. Thats for sure! ;)

Gent & Dame
C & R