France 2012 - Part 4 - Mont St Michel

So, its already my 5th day in France. On 5th August we didn't go anywhere because Nico did BBQ party at his place.So far so good, raining and cold. Its funny cos sometimes i think there's someone turn on and off the rain switch. Its pour for 5 min then stop. After one hour its start again for 5 min and stop. So nothing much you can do in this weather.

We decide that we going to Mont st Michel today. As i am a muslim im scared that this post will create discomfort to some people. Mont st Michel is an old church which is one of most treasured monument in France. Let see it as monument shall we, something like Arc de Triomphe or Louvre and stop see it as a church. 

We left home at 6.30 in the morning and Nico packed some pasta for our lunch. When he 1st packed food for our lunch in Paris i was wondering why he do that since we can eat outside in the restaurant. But obviously this is something that everybody do there. Packed your food is so much cheaper then eating out. It will be weird if we do it in malaysia since you can get food everywhere and cheap. We eat outside most of the time and only pack our food here when we go to picnic. 

It took us around 2 hours to reach Mont st Michel in Normandy from surzur by car. We left early in order to avoid crowd and since we didnt know how long we going to be there. It was a sunny day, almost as hot as in malaysia minus humidity. So we reach there before 9 and parking was almost full. When we park our car, we received this flyers on  how to get there. 

There are 2 option, either you can walk or take feeder bus provided. We wanted to walk before that until we saw that it will took us 40min walk from carpark to the church, 40min!!!! So we choose to take bus. 

From carpark its already 10 - 15min walk to the bus stop. They make us walk around so we might go to their souvenir shop and hotels which situated around the bus stop. Its pretty inconvenient for disable and old citizen when they can have bus waited directly from carpark. Expect long queue but thank god that they have plenty of bus and their service is quite fast. You only have to wait for 5 min to get into the bus and it will take you directly in front of mont st michel.  

Mont st Michel is huge and so beautiful. Remember that part in twilight movie were Edward try to kill himself during carnival at the volturi? So this place is something like that. The entire village is there and its situated on the sea and accessible by road. Its a low tide when we were there and be careful if you want to walk around. When water start to rise the surrounding area can be full in water in 3min. So make sure you know where you going and the tide condition before you walk around. 

 (Row of shops when you enter mont st michel)

 (The abbey)

 (Garden on top)

(sea all around)

 (Narrow walkway in between shop)

France 2012 - Part 3 - Nico Home

We took TGV around 8.30am to Brittany (Bregtane) on saturday the 4th and ticket cost us around 175 euro person since it was a peak season. Our journey are smooth and fast. Nothing much can see along the way except field and more field. I get excited to see hays everywhere since we don't have this in Malaysia. We arrived in Brittany around noon. It was cold since its been raining the whole journey. Nico live in Surzur which is another 20min drive by  car from train station. 

It was windy and cold. As my clothes are more suitable for summer (i expect lot of sun and not lot of rain) i was freezing to death. Short walk to the car feel like eternity. Nico's friend fetch us since we didn't tell his parents that we coming for the party. We wanted to surprise his mom after one year and to see their expressions. Its my 1st time meeting his parents and i was quite nervous. 

Nico live in a small town call surzur. We didn't find time to walk around the town but they have an old church which look nice and a quite neighborhood. My 1st impression was, the place is quite and where is everybody. His home surrounded by corn and barley field, when we arrived his mom was doing some work outside the house and not really sure whose coming. When she saw nico came out of the car she's burst into tears and been hugging him. His dad wasn't home at that time and after received a call he immediately came back. When he hugged nico i can see how proud he is with him.

Since we are in Brittany and these people are french, his dad suggest to have apero (drinking session) as early as lunch. We chat a lot during lunch and i was a bit upset cos i cant make conversation since they speak little english and i speak little french. Nico become translator most of the time. Nevertheless i received a very warm welcome from his family and i didn't feel so awkward as i expected. 

Culture different is something that i try to adapt very fast. French people really proud with what they have so if you want to see their house, just let them know and they will be more than happy to show you around. I get a tour around the house, field and nico's dad workshop. I've been told that most people who live there are farmer. Nico told me the reason he want to be engineer was because there's a construction site in front of his house which at that time only have one excavator and nothing much build. So i make fun of him saying how one excavator can change him. ^_^

People in Brittany well known for their ability to drink like crazy and didn't get drunk and they eat a lot of pork. "Je ne manger pas le porc", is the 1st thing nico teach me so there wont be any incident of me eating pork since i am muslim. Before i eat anything i will ask what in the serving and thank god both party respect each other. When his parents took us dinner outside they make sure we take seafood or at least no pork in my plate. 

Eating out in France are usually a special event. Most family will cook at home since eating out consider luxury. Unlike here in malaysia where you can get food anywhere and everywhere with cheap price. 

Kissing each other cheek is a way of greeting in France. Usually you have to kiss at both cheek BUT if they consider you as family you have to do it 4 times, twice at each side. So you can imagine how many people kiss me and i kiss. 

During apero, when they cheers with the glass its really important that you look them in the eyes, its consider impolite if you didn't look. One thing that i don't understand until now they sure love standing and standing a lot. Even when they are inside the house and chairs available, they will form a circle and talk. Its look like they only can seat when dinner is ready and invited by the owner. Its a mystery that i need solve. 

 (Small lake in front the house)

 (View from entrance)

 (i think thats not lavender)

(family pet - Bexsy)

 (Their barley field)

(i get a chance to ride this when the harvest barley)

France 2012 - Part 2 - Paris

On Friday 3rd of August, our real sight seeing start. We start our day with pain au chocolate, croissant and madelines. When you in France you have to try their patisseries which simply the best. No nasi lemak, roti canai but i think i can live just eating pain au chocolate. ^_^

So, here we are at Louve. Long queue to go in but its quite fast. Seeing sea of human there remind me of the movie 'Night in a museum" when they re-open the museum. Louve is really big, the triangle glass that you see is the main entrance and the building around it is actually the museum. 

There are extensive collection of art at Louvre. They have painting hanged from wall after wall and an area separated for french, italian, spanish painting. There are section for sculpture, painting, egyptian and heard they going to open an area for islamic art.(this is the only area we manage to visit) Camera are allowed in french museum and chateau but you not allowed to use flash in order not to ruin the painting and art display. 

Among all the painting, Monalisa was well guarded. Only there that i learned leornardo da vinci have lot more better drawing than that monalisa alone. Lot more good painting from famous painter and about people that i didn't know. Among all the painting you can see the famous Napolean Coronation painting which is 10m wide x 6m tall. What interesting about this painting is, they have the same exact copy of the entire painting somewhere in France. Its funny when me & Nico saw the painting and tell to each other that we have see this before. We immediately google to find out which the original one and why they make a copy. 

Im not the type of person who crazy about art but i do appreciated them. Honestly i didn't know any of these famous painter & sculptor and if you ask me to choose between painting and sculpture, i choose sculpture. For me painting can lighten up your wall but sculpture will brighten up or dim the mood for the entire place. We initially plan to visit Rodin museum to see his work but unfortunately we didn't have time. Even though day are longer in France during summer everything is closed latest by 8 except for bar and restaurant. So in order to see everything we have limited time at each place. 

We then plan to walk all the way to Arc de Triomphe. Pass the arc, the garden and then we stop at concorde for picture. What i love about Paris is they really preserved their buildings. I've been told by my tourist guide that you cannot simply paint or decorate the house or shop that you bought as you want. There's no funny color and everything look almost identical. Its funny that you will feel that there's nothing change much from their 150 years building with a new one. Even the new building look old. 

Nico asked me if i want to take subway since its a long walk to Arc de Triomphe, i said no and wanted to walk since it didn't look far. But hell yeah, its damn far. But then im a tourist and i can walk. ^_^

(Doesn't look far isnt it?)

The famous Champ Elysee (its pronounce chomp-are-lay-zee) was crowded with tourist, expensive shop and cafe. My advise, don't buy any souvenir here since its cost double the normal price. I found out that buying from official shop at every place are much cheaper. 

You don't need ticket to go to Arc de Triomphe but you need one if you want to go on top of the building. Paris view from up here is stunning. This monument is actually remembrance for those who fought and died during french revolutionary. If you come at the right time you can see army marching and some ceremony involve. To get on top, there's no other way except taking stairs. Its cost 10 euro. 

(View from top of Arc de Triomphe)

Its almost 8 when we go to Galleries Lafayette. The shop almost close and nothing much we can do.If you want to buy cheap souvenir you can get it from here,not inside the store but outside. There 2 small store selling souvenir right at the traffic light. trust me, its really cheap. When we back to Lafayette a week after i get a chance to go inside but sadly i cant afford anything. Everything are designer store, expensive and full with chinese. 

Around 10min walk, you can go down to Hard Rock Cafe. Well, since we malaysian really like hard rock cafe t-shirt as souvenir i took the opportunity to get one for myself. Ladies tees cost appr 25 euro. 

France 2012 - Part 1

U know what, dreams do come true. I always want to go to Paris to see Eiffel Tower and i  get the opportunity last august when we went to France for Nico's mom birthday party. My dream was to see Eiffel Tower but i end up seeing so much more than that. 

This trip was initially plan to surprise Patricia (Nico's mom) since it was her 50th birthday celebration and Nico want to go home after one year living in Malaysia. So the plan was to stay a week in Brittany (Nico's hometown), 3 days in Paris and the remaining days will be use to sightseeing around. 

I didn't packed anything warm for me since it's summer. Well, it shouldn't be cold isn't it. I arrived in Paris on  2nd august evening after 15 hours long flight. Flew with Qatar Airways since its the cheapest fare when we booked it and i love it. They keep on serving food the entire flight from KL-Doha-Paris and by the time i reach Paris i was so full. 

At Paris airport everything went smooth except they asked me if i have money and wanted me to show them. For what reason, i didn't know. I was supposed to flew with Nico but he have to go back to Paris first for a training. Honestly, i was a bit worried since its my 1st trip to europe, they didn't speak english and my boyfriend not with me. But well yeah, i survived. 

We stay at colleague place at Rue St. Maur, really appreciated him for letting us staying there or else we have to spend money for hotel. His apartment at 2nd floor and no lift around. So Nico have to carry my heavy bag upstairs. I really love his place cos its perfect for single guy or couple. 

So, my 1st night in Paris, what should i do? I was extremely tired and jet lagged. I didn't sleep at all in the flight because too excited. Nico make dinner and i decide what to do while taking shower. So finally, we off to see Eiffel Tower. Its my dream after all to see it. I put on my long dress and hell ya, its cold outside. 

Thank god i have my tourist guide with me cos i am 200% confused with their subway line and zoning. We definitely change stations once or twice to get there. If im not mistaken, we took around 20min by subway to get there.

There's a few thing that i don't like with Paris subway. No escalator at the station (unless big station and imagine you have to carry your luggage up and down the staircase), their subway was old, noisy, fast and scary. Its good when its fast but with all the noise from its track its really scary.

Nico took me to Trocadero station. When we walked out of the station i still didn't see any Eiffel Tower. He said its around the corner and its funny cos i was holding my breath., so excited and nervous. Then nico asked me "are you ready?" and when we turned to our left i can see Eiffel Tower stood so proud and look so glorious. Its feel like christmas in summer. The view was breathtakingly beautiful and everybody gone wild when they turn on the sparkle light on the tower. For me night view is so much better than day view but it still good either way. You'll feel wow from the architecture and how big the structure is. 

There's a lot of tourist of cos and everybody fight for a good spot. You can buy pirated Eiffel Tower key chain here. Just look for a black guy and you need to bargain hard here so you can get 4 or 5 nos key chain for 1 euro. 

I will never forget my 1st night in Paris as i looked at my boyfriend and said thank you. The feeling was so overwhelming and i can believe that my dreams come true. You have to see it to believe it.