Europe Trip - Paris, France - Part 2

Bonne journée from Paris! This blog post represent the last day of our Europe trip! Our last day's activity involves visiting the Eiffel Tower up close, visiting the Arc de Triomphe, the city of Paris and lastly, shopping! An interesting experience we had underneath the grand Eiffel Tower. Conmen/pickpockets acted as surveyor, asking us to fill in survey form and donate money with a piece of paper. But guess what, underneath the paper their hands were poking our pockets, unsure they were signalling us to donate or trying to fondle our pockets to see what's valuable inside.

The city of Paris is big indeed. Even the roundabout around the Arc de Triomphe is huge! 

Saw people riding Segways around Paris, I want to experience that too!

Few friends and I decided to explore the city of Paris thoroughly on our free-and-easy day while others went to shopping in La Fayette for branded stuff like Longchamp handbags and perfumes. Although plenty of walking required, I did not regret with my choice to stray away from the shopping pack!

Palais Garnier, an opera house, stunning.

I have no idea what these cute thingy are called!

Supercar + nice view = Perfect

Not sure what building is this but the posters on the building is rather intriguing.

After watching a popular Hong Kong drama called 冲上云霄2, everyone was so hyped up about Pont de Arts, a pedestrian bridge which crosses the River Seine. Lovers will attach their padlock on the fences of the bridge, which is said to be able to secure their relationship. To believe or not to, is your call :)

One of the stories I've heard in my childhood is Hunchback and the Notre-Dame, where the story is inspired by the Notre-Dame Cathedral. I guess the only hunchback in the photo below is me :(

A beautiful park at the back of Notre-Dame Cathedral WITH WI-FI!

Louvre Palace. Home to myriad of valuable arts and the one-and-only Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci. (Do you think that the 'real' painting is hidden somewhere by the government, just like what is shown in the '2012' apocalyptic movie?) Best thing is, entrance is free for students!

Give Louvre Pyramid a 'like'!

Long, long corridors awaited us with many magnificent painting and arts displayed proudly for the admiration from the public. 

We had to pass through many corridors and painting to get to the gem of Louvre - Mona Lisa. What's special with the Mona Lisa painting is that it seems like she is staring at you no matter you look at her eyes from any angle!

Huge painting were displayed at the opposite of Mona Lisa, for our admiration as well.

Another art worth mentioning in the Louvre is this carve. Looks like a soft mattress underneath but it's a solid art! Brings carving into another level!

After hours of exploration, we joined back with our tour group and continue to explore Paris while sunset is arriving soon. Our tour guide is generous enough to let us witness the Eiffel Tower light up at dusk, and lots of photos were taken while waiting for it to happen!

In Paris with love...

You won't believe how much effort we put in to capture this moment! A friend of mine made the love shape with his fingers while I mount my camera in his arms. Wait, did I said 'his'??!! LOL!

The final group photo before we leave Paris and back to the UK! It was a great trip with everyone!

So here it is, the last photo from our Europe Trip, the Eiffel Tower with its light on, illuminating the whole steel structure to the world. 

There we were at Calais again, boarding our ferry back to the UK, this time around we spent some time in the on-board store where perfumes and chocolates are sold at reasonable price, duty-free! Bought a Guylian chocolate for my aunt at 4 Pounds, but I found the same Guylian product in Malaysia costs RM40! What an extortion...

Sorrow filled the bus as we headed back to Sheffield, a feeling of emptiness engulfed me too. Thankfully, my friends enlightened the atmosphere by singing and all of us sang along! It was momentarily like High School Musical in the bus! 

NEXT - Scotland!

Europe Trip - Disneyland

Disneyland, to me it means the 'Happiest Land on Earth'. It can make a bunch of grown ups in their 20s happy and fall asleep with a smile on their faces. We grew up with the company of Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy, that's why seeing these characters (in abundant!) in Disneyland made us relived our childhood again! By the way, the main entrance is very far from the parking lot, but the environment around it is beautiful enough to make you feel the distance is shorter than it really is.

Some say the castle of Disneyland is inspired by the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany that I've covered previously. I can't really see the resemblance, but then both castles have their own distinctive design. Must take photo with it in the visit to Disneyland! 

Disneyland is a huge place. Kids will be lost here if unsupervised. It's so big we didn't know where to begin with! 

After a short walk explore here and there, we reached the Indiana Jones roller coaster ride. Oh my, it's what I've feared the most. Roller coaster with 360 degrees turn which can caused me to have reverse peristalsis (in other word, vomit) easily. I love roller coaster, but I don't like the feeling of losing gravity, it sends everything in my stomach up in an uncomfortable way. I was like 'f***' when I saw the first 360 degrees coming!

Next ride is the Pirates of the Caribbean, a ride in a slow moving roller coaster in the dark.

The number of rides and games seem infinite, it will be forever for me to describe every game we played here. So, let the photos do the talking!

Must take photos with your favourite Disney characters! Here's Goofy!

Even my whole lunch set is filled with images of Goofy.

3D movie experience with Captain EO featuring the late Michael Jackson with his alien crews.

Deceived with the Hollywood sign which actually is just a backdrop. Well played with the optical illusion!

This Hollywood Tower should be renamed as the 'Horror Tower'! You'll have a slow vertical ride up to the top, and then a door will open in front of you, showing you the view of Disneyland. While you are admiring it, you'll plunge to the lower ground at high speed!

The turtle ride, not at turtle speed at all!

Super huge popcorn which you can't finish with even 3 movies!

Cinderella's high heels. At an exaggerated price! Don't lose your high heel again Cinderella, they are costly!

Can I have them all! I like Nemo, Mickey & Stitch!

Imitating Donald Duck's portrait. Big time fail! Hahaha!

Ever wonder how's the wonderland which Alice visited looks like? Here it is!

A view of Disneyland Paris from a tower in the Alice's wonderland. Beautiful!

The cups ride. My mom told me it's my favourite ride when I was a little kid, but I will feel nausea after a ride in the spinning cup now...

It's a happy world!

Even the McDonalds looks more unique in Disneyland!

When the evening came, a grand parade was held on the main streets of Disneyland where all of the Disney characters that you can name will go on a parade, with dance and music of course!

Watching the characters dancing and interacting with the audience brought out the kid in us! We are still a kid in heart!! We couldn't help but to dance and sing (and hum) along with them!

Very swiftly came the night time, where the land of happiness quiet down, but just slightly. Probably awaiting for the magnificent night show of firecrackers and movie projected on the castle.

This is what I mentioned about the projected movie on the castle! The whole castle is used as a backdrop to display the movie! It was a long show, a satisfying way to end the night. 

What happened after the show was horrendous. Me and few friends were lost while trying to find our way to the parking lot, where our tour bus was waiting for us all. The path leading from the parking lot to the entrance of Disneyland looks so different in the night compared to daylight. We called some of our friends (we are still using UK's prepaid telco and low on credit!) who successfully made their way to the bus, desperately asking for their direction. After getting the right direction, we sprinted like there was a zombie pursuing us! I swear I've never ran for so long in a long long time!

NEXT - Paris part 2!