24 Dec 2009
Maybe the long vacation has taken its toll on us, as we felt a little lazy to wake up early in the morning to explore Paris but rather sleep in till 0930 and sometimes 1000hr. Should I attribute this to the comfortable bed that they provide us in the Paris Marriott Champ Elysees? Perhaps…
We are supposed to head to Gare du Nord early in the morning about 0530hr to take the Eurostar to London. I have booked a one-day tour there and have made plans to meet up with my colleagues in the UK and all. Due to the terrible storm in the UK and some technical issues, the Eurostar was stuck in the channel and many passengers were stranded. The next news was that there would not be any trains departing from London to Paris or beyond and to add salt to injury, twenty thousand odd passengers are stranded in the London station waiting for a train (Any train) to head back to their respective hometown to spend Christmas with loved ones. In view of this, I have called Viator to cancel my booking and requested for a full refund. Thank God that I’ve got my full refund and to make way for these people to head back to their hometown. Why should I do that? Well, firstly, even if I get to go to London, it doesn’t mean that I could get back to Paris on the same day so why jeopardize my holiday on that? Secondly, I am only going on holiday whereas many of these people on the queue is heading back to spend one of the most important day of the year with their family and loved ones, why hog the precious seats? So, off with London and exploration continues in Paris.
Anyway, we took things easier from this day on and that is precisely the beauty of going Free-and-Easy! It is about time we hit the famous Louis Vuitton shop on the Champ Elysees 3 days after our arrival in Paris whereby most people I knew would do so the minute they step out of their hotel. My wife wasted no time in browsing through the items on display and approached one of the staffs on duty and the response she got was “I am sorry but I already have a customer on hand, please wait”. I heard it was the custom but nevertheless we approached an Asian looking lady for help and wa la, got it there and then! It happens that she is from China and speaks our lingua franca so our transaction is smooth and the service that we’ve got was what we are familiar with. It has been agreed between my wife and I that we will use my AMEX Krisflyer credit card whenever possible for our Europe trip as it allows us to earn Krisflyer points for further flight tickets redemption via Singapore Airlines. After paying for and collected the item, I handed the LV handbag to my wife and told her “Merry Christmas!” She took a few steps backwards and gave me “The shocking look” as this is the most expensive gift she has ever received from me… hmmm… is that a good sign or otherwise???
Anyway, we took things easier from this day on and that is precisely the beauty of going Free-and-Easy! It is about time we hit the famous Louis Vuitton shop on the Champ Elysees 3 days after our arrival in Paris whereby most people I knew would do so the minute they step out of their hotel. My wife wasted no time in browsing through the items on display and approached one of the staffs on duty and the response she got was “I am sorry but I already have a customer on hand, please wait”. I heard it was the custom but nevertheless we approached an Asian looking lady for help and wa la, got it there and then! It happens that she is from China and speaks our lingua franca so our transaction is smooth and the service that we’ve got was what we are familiar with. It has been agreed between my wife and I that we will use my AMEX Krisflyer credit card whenever possible for our Europe trip as it allows us to earn Krisflyer points for further flight tickets redemption via Singapore Airlines. After paying for and collected the item, I handed the LV handbag to my wife and told her “Merry Christmas!” She took a few steps backwards and gave me “The shocking look” as this is the most expensive gift she has ever received from me… hmmm… is that a good sign or otherwise???
We then headed back to our hotel to drop the goodies and next, we are going to the sub-urban area in Paris, Mont Matre. We did quite a bit of gift shopping for the folks back home here. Along the way, we also frequented the local bakery, cheese shop, wet market and the famous Moulin Rouge. We only took a quick snap of the Moulin Rouge as the entrance ticket costs a whopping €120 per person… errr, no thanks for that, at least for now.
Beautiful array of delicious cheese
I got my mum a whole block of Brie and it was simply fabulous!
I have to admit that the initial whiff of the cheese puts me off but the taste of it is heavenly!
Night wet market. Didn't buy anything so have to take this ala paparazi
One of the many pastry/bakery shops found in
each and every corner of Paris. This one is near to Mont Matr'e
The famous Moulin Rouge
The outcome of our gifts hunting for the day. It costs us all in all €500!!!
We ended our day with pipping hot steamboat again! It is truly an enjoyment to be able to enjoy a hot bowl of soup after strolling in the cold for the whole day. One good thing about this hotel is that the supermarket, Monoprix is just beside the hotel and we could get all the ingredients we wanted to whip up a proper meal for the two of us! Enjoy the photos!
Comfort food! Love it to bits!
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