Tuesday, December 02, 2014
Paris & London 2014 (Day 5)
Looks set to be Notre Dame today!
Before that. my friend wanted to visit a Chapel that was recommended to her by someone. Took us a while to find it but along the way, we came across this Chocolate Boutique that was called Jacques Genin. The chocolate there seemed to be lovely (the staff let us try the chocolate) and they have this interesting fruit gum jelly stuff. I bought the chocolate. Very nicely packed.
After the purchase of this most wonderful of foodstuff, we continued onto the Chapel that my friend wanted to visit. Along the way.. we stopped in a supermarket to buy bread to fill our tummies. Bread on the go, convenient and affordable!
We finally made it to the Chapel that my friend had wanted to get to, and I must say that the decor inside was really nice. the colour was a beautiful shade of baby blue / sky blue, white and some gold. Mass was going on so no photos!
After about 15 mins or so, we continued onto Notre Dame.
There is a quaint little bookshop near Notre Dame that we had noticed the other day when we made our rounds around the Notre Dame area. It was recommended by a friend and so it was decided that we would visit the place before Notre Dame.
The bookshop is called Shakespeare and Company and they sell both old and new books. On the upper level, they also have some nooks and crannies which seems to be for people to sit in and write. Quite a packed area that is absolutely full of books in every space that you could see.
It was a really unique experience, seeing books fill every nook and cranny from the floor to the ceiling in every direction imaginable.
After the bookshop, we popped over tothe cafe next door to have a hot drink before continuing on.
Notre Dame is really impressive. If you thought the outside facade was impressive, wait till you get inside. Really. The stained glass windows are beautiful and there are so many areas (I believe they are called chapels) within the main hall itself that it is mind boggling to someone like me who is not familiar with Catholicism.
Truly the magnifence can only be truly felt by physically being present in the cathedral.
The next item on our itinerary was the Arc du Triomphe. And so we headed off on the metro to view this monument. As we got there, we noticed that there were people who were dressed up in uniforms, so it seemed that there was going to be some sort of ceremony happening at the Arc. Turns out that it was a rather fancy affair with observers walking over tothe Arc from the Avenue des Champs Elysees. There were so many people, it felt so official. Not too sure what the ceremony was about, but I think it might be related to WWII, given that there was a significant number of elderly people. Then again i seem to have read somewhere that this might also have relation to Napoleon. Oh well. Anyway it was cold and the wind was biting. So after about 45 mins out there, we left before the ceremony ended.
We then went for Quick and Chips. This is a fast food restaurant whose poster we have been seeing for a few days. I wanted to eat the Chicken and Chips burger, so when we saw that the restaurant was available, my friend and I made a beeline for it. I must say that the chicken and chips burger was pretty unique and tasty. Such a shame that it is limited edition. Would be an interesting item to have on any regular menu, I reckon.
With such a filling meal, it was time to work off some calories and what better way than to stroll down the Avenue des Champs Elysees? Less than 5 mins later we nipped into a Yves Rocher and bought stuff! Yves Rocher is really quite nice and the trial packs are nicely priced at 5 Euros, so you could buy a series and try it out to see if you like it before committing to a full sized bottle. Naturally I bought some trial packs and I shall be using them while in Europe.
The Christmas market along Champs Elysees nearer to Place de la Concorde was alos a place where many good deals could be had and my friend finally had her crepe that she was planning to have in Paris. And that was a pretty nice ending to a rather full day.
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Before that. my friend wanted to visit a Chapel that was recommended to her by someone. Took us a while to find it but along the way, we came across this Chocolate Boutique that was called Jacques Genin. The chocolate there seemed to be lovely (the staff let us try the chocolate) and they have this interesting fruit gum jelly stuff. I bought the chocolate. Very nicely packed.
After the purchase of this most wonderful of foodstuff, we continued onto the Chapel that my friend wanted to visit. Along the way.. we stopped in a supermarket to buy bread to fill our tummies. Bread on the go, convenient and affordable!
We finally made it to the Chapel that my friend had wanted to get to, and I must say that the decor inside was really nice. the colour was a beautiful shade of baby blue / sky blue, white and some gold. Mass was going on so no photos!
After about 15 mins or so, we continued onto Notre Dame.
There is a quaint little bookshop near Notre Dame that we had noticed the other day when we made our rounds around the Notre Dame area. It was recommended by a friend and so it was decided that we would visit the place before Notre Dame.
The bookshop is called Shakespeare and Company and they sell both old and new books. On the upper level, they also have some nooks and crannies which seems to be for people to sit in and write. Quite a packed area that is absolutely full of books in every space that you could see.
It was a really unique experience, seeing books fill every nook and cranny from the floor to the ceiling in every direction imaginable.
After the bookshop, we popped over tothe cafe next door to have a hot drink before continuing on.
Notre Dame is really impressive. If you thought the outside facade was impressive, wait till you get inside. Really. The stained glass windows are beautiful and there are so many areas (I believe they are called chapels) within the main hall itself that it is mind boggling to someone like me who is not familiar with Catholicism.
The next item on our itinerary was the Arc du Triomphe. And so we headed off on the metro to view this monument. As we got there, we noticed that there were people who were dressed up in uniforms, so it seemed that there was going to be some sort of ceremony happening at the Arc. Turns out that it was a rather fancy affair with observers walking over tothe Arc from the Avenue des Champs Elysees. There were so many people, it felt so official. Not too sure what the ceremony was about, but I think it might be related to WWII, given that there was a significant number of elderly people. Then again i seem to have read somewhere that this might also have relation to Napoleon. Oh well. Anyway it was cold and the wind was biting. So after about 45 mins out there, we left before the ceremony ended.
We then went for Quick and Chips. This is a fast food restaurant whose poster we have been seeing for a few days. I wanted to eat the Chicken and Chips burger, so when we saw that the restaurant was available, my friend and I made a beeline for it. I must say that the chicken and chips burger was pretty unique and tasty. Such a shame that it is limited edition. Would be an interesting item to have on any regular menu, I reckon.
With such a filling meal, it was time to work off some calories and what better way than to stroll down the Avenue des Champs Elysees? Less than 5 mins later we nipped into a Yves Rocher and bought stuff! Yves Rocher is really quite nice and the trial packs are nicely priced at 5 Euros, so you could buy a series and try it out to see if you like it before committing to a full sized bottle. Naturally I bought some trial packs and I shall be using them while in Europe.
The Christmas market along Champs Elysees nearer to Place de la Concorde was alos a place where many good deals could be had and my friend finally had her crepe that she was planning to have in Paris. And that was a pretty nice ending to a rather full day.
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