Travel Like Olivia: Europe Trip Day 1 to 6 - Paris : Cathedral Notre-Dame -> Arc de Triomphe -> Champs-Elysees -> Eiffel Tower-> Louvre -> Mont St Michel

Day 1 :

Finally I'm traveling far far away! Going for Europe for a training and also personal trip. I'm bringing a small luggage and a hand carry baggage for this trip because I will be traveling to quite a few places so the smaller, the better and easier to move around.

Dinner at the airport food court before going to the gate.

Arrange by company so I got no other choice but to take Air France. Personally I hope it's Singapore Airline! Haha! The limit of the Air France is only 23kg and I'm prepared to come back with a over weight luggage after 3 weeks in Europe!

First time to Europe and good luck for my 13 hours flight! Never take such a long hour flight before though, hope I will survive through!

First meal in the flight.

Breakfast time! Which means it is reaching soon! I actually sleep all the way after my in flight dinner till my breakfast!

Good morning Paris! Landed and the sun in Paris just rise to welcome us!

Ok... We survived the 13hrs flight! Now all we hope that we wouldn't have any jet lag.

My travel style is to grab all maps from the airport if it's my first time to the country!

Off to our hotel at Saint Germain! Cab from airport is about 65 euro. Not cheap but lucky it's a company trip so it's claimable. Anyway even if it's not claimable, share among 3 person is still ok to take the cab, but of course if I'm traveling alone and have a tight budget, I will take the airport train as the train will stops at Saint Germain station too.

Reach our hotel, Citadine St Germain. It's still too early for check in but they manage to get one room for us so one of us checked in and all the rest just leave our luggage in first.

Address : 53 ter Grands Augustins St, 75006 Paris, France
Website : http://www2.citadines.com/en/france/paris/saint_germain_des_pres.html

View from the room. The Siena river is just outside the hotel!

Off we go to tour around as this day is our free day and we will not have anymore free time for the next 5 days.

Arts piece and books selling along the road side.

Cup of warm chocolate for a chilly day while walking to our next destination.

As it's a Sunday when we landed, and so basically almost everywhere in Paris will be close on a Sunday.

There is only a few place that will be open on Sunday and Notre-Dame Cathedral is one of them. It's walking distance from our hotel too.

Operating Hours : 8am to 6.45pm ( Mon - Fri )
8am to 7.15pm ( Sat and Sun )
Address: 6 Parvis Notre-Dame - Pl. Jean-Paul II, 75004 Paris, France
Website : http://www.notredamecathedralparis.com/

Maybe because it's a Sunday or maybe it's a must visit in Paris, the Cathedral Norte - dame is flooded with humans!

Candid shot while planning where to go next.

What a peaceful Sunday morning! Always hear people saying how bad Europe is but it seem ok for me ( maybe for now ).

Pass by this place but not very sure what it is. Haha! Anyway nice building.

Saw people crushing some colorful cubes in front of the unknown building and found out it's actually ice cube!

Continue walking and realize there is a lot of fruits stalls around. All the fruits looks fresh too. Didn't get any anyway, because I didn't want to carry the fruits around for the whole day!

Those we read my blog should know I love to take picture of dogs I see!

Lunch time! Not sure where to eat so we randomly pick one small and cosy restaurant, Le Rempart, which is along the way.

Operating Hours : 7am to 1am
Address : 15 Rue Saint-Antoine, 75004 Paris, France
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Le-Rempart-409844655772505/

The staff actually bring the whole menu board to our table for us to read! Haha!

The restaurant was empty when we were inside but suddenly a big group of people came in and start to stand at the bar counter. Thinking that they are here to have a beer or wine but actually because it's cold outside so they came in to have a cup of coffee. Surprise to see them standing to drink their coffee instead of sitting down on the empty table!

Finally got my daily coffee fixed!

We bought the 10 tickets at the cheaper price and share among the 3 of us.

Hello Bastille!

From the exit sign, you should know where are we heading next!

Ta da! It's the Arc De Triomphe!

Operating Hours : 10am to 11pm
Address : Place Charles de Gaulle, 75008 Paris, France
Website : http://www.paris-arc-de-triomphe.fr/en

Champs Elysees!

Champs Elysees is the only street with shops open on Sunday too so it's very crowded on Sunday.

Woo hoo! Lamborghini for rent?

Look at queue to get into Louis Vuitton! It's crazy!

Heard that Zara is super cheap in Europe so went in to check it out. Didn't get anything because it's even cheaper in Barcelona and since I will be going to Barcelona soon, I will buy there!

WHAT?! Even long champ is having such a long queue?!

My advice to Europe is don't drink too much water cause the public toilet in Europe need to pay to use them. 50cents euro ( SG$0.80) is not cheap! Use the toilet every time you finish your meal in a restaurant does helps to save all those toilet money.

Pass by this unique building and was wondering where does this secret garden leads to.

Walk through the secret garden and ta da! It actually lead us to a very big Abercrombie store!

I know it's dark in this picture but the store is actually a very vintage looking store! Very European old building look.

After admiring the Abercrombie store, we walk our way to the Eiffel's tower which seems to be quite near to where we are.

Ok, after some walk we saw the Eiffel tower nearing.

And here we are! Introducing the famous Eiffel tower which is a must to take picture with when you are in Paris isn't it? Manage to take a picture of this 4 elderly chilling under the Eiffel tower! So cute!

Operating Hours : 9am to 12am
Address : Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 Paris, France
Website : http://www.toureiffel.paris/en.html

Haha! Since we are already here we shall do the typically touristy pose!

Time to head back the hotel for check in.

Call me mountain turtle or whatever but I'm impress by double decker train! Haha! We only have double deck bus in Singapore...

Back again to check in to our individual room.

The pantry area..

The study table and bedroom..

And the bathroom...

Dinner time! Was quite late already and the restaurant that the hotel staff recommend has no more table for 3 person so we decided to just walk into any restaurant that has the table for us. Too hungry and tired to choose already. Haha! We ended up having dinner at Vins et Terroirs.

Operating Hours : 12pm to 3pm, 7pm to 11.30pm

Address : 66 Rue Saint-André des Arts 75006 Paris

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Vins-et-Terroirs-189825574386760/

Cheers for the first night in Paris!

Ok after dinner and back to hotel to prepare for tomorrow's training.

Day 2:

Breakfast time!

Walking to our office from the hotel. Pass by the Siena river but is it because we are starting our training so the sky become gloomy? Haha!

A view not everyone get to see! Cause it's from our office ( don't try to find your way up there to see cause you can never be able to )! Haha!

Anyway, survive through the first half of the training and it's time for lunch!

In France, all meal shall ends with a cup of coffee or tea!

Goat cheese!! I never thought I will like goat cheese as I've never eaten before but it is so yummy!

Day 1 training end and its dinner time! We choose this restaurant, Le Hibou, which is near to our apartment too. Even though the training ends, we can have our free time but we still choose to have dinner together! Good to have people around the same age for training as we can have fun together.

Operating Hours : 8am to 2am ( Sun - Thurs )

8am to 3am ( Fri and Sat )

Address : 16 Carrefour de l'Odéon, 75006 Paris, France

Website : http://lehibouparis.fr/en

After a good meal together, back to hotel! Had some relaxing apple tea before going to bed.

Day 3:

Good morning! That's my pretty colleague Nataliya from Russia! Wefie first before heading off for our training!

Raining morning... Is it common to rain in Paris?

Beautiful place!

Beautiful place but it's a secret place! Haha! Sorry that this cannot be shared.

Vintage car matches the place so well!

Le garden! I think if I have a garden like this I might spend the afternoon drinking tea and do nothing there.

That's my colleagues from all over the world!

Introducing Mr Tel Aviv, Uriel, Miss Russia, Nataliya and Miss Singapore ( me.. Haha.. )!

Walking over for lunch.

It's lunch time at the Cote Bac!

Operating time : 11.45am to 2.30pm, 6pm to 11.45pm ( Close on Sat and Sun )

Address : 30 Rue du Bac, 92600 Asnières-sur-Seine, France

Day 2 training ended! Hunting for dinner!

This restaurant, Le Petite Perigourdine is highly recommended by Uriel as he came here before and he can guarantee the taste! Everyone don't mind giving it a try so we asked for a big table for 10 and obviously they do not have.

Operating Hours : 12pm to 11.30pm

Address : 39 Rue des Écoles, 75005 Paris, France

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/La.Petite.Perigourdine/

Not having a table so we went other place to have a look to see if their menu attracts us but we ended up coming back to this restaurant. The waiter told us that we might need to wait for quite sometime and so we sat outside to wait.

Very hungry but still hanging on there!

Cheers!

The waiter bought us this ( not sure what is that ) for us to eat ( for free!haha! ) cause we really waited outside for almost 45 mins.

Finally they got a table for us!

Finally my starter is here at 4.10am Singapore time!

This onion soup is soooooooooo yummy! I don't like onion but i totally fall in love with this soup!

The duck is not bad too.

Woohoooooo! This Aligot ( cheese mashed potato ) is yummy too!

I don't eat beef but from what they say, the steak is very good.

They serve salad too if meat is not what you want.

Dessert time!

Suddenly the whole shop lights off and we thought that the restaurant is going to close soon ( a hint to ask us to leave? ) but actually there is a birthday surprise for 1 of the guest there.

Aw..... look at the cutie sharing the same dinning table with his human! Not possible to happen in Singapore unless we are at the pet cafe or at home.

Not sure what is this next to the door but was staring and reading those names while waiting for everyone to settle their individual bill. Oh ya, a tips for billing in Paris is you can order the food together with all your friends, but you can choose to pay separately by letting them know which is the food you are paying and they will split the bill for us.

Day 4:

Good morning! Nice weather today and we are walking over to the famous and a 'must visit' place, The Louvre. It's a place that everyone will visit if they comes to Paris.

Operating Hours : 9am - 6pm ( Close on Tuesday )
Address : 75001 Paris, France
Website : http://www.louvre.fr/en

Ta da! The famous pyramid! The weather is so good that all my photo doesn't require any filter ( anyway 95% of my photo in my blog is unfiltered... )!

Ok, it's not easy to take a picture with the pyramid without anybody trying to fit into your photo but I guess I am lucky enough to get this shot!

Who painted the sky?! Such a beautiful sky!

Haha! Selfing?

Introducing Miss Indonesia, Alin and Miss Italy, Martina!

Beside Alin and Nataliya, introducing Miss Belgium, Jessica!

Walk back to our hotel for our mini bus and heading off for lunch!

Lunch time at Montparnasse 1900! This place is there since 1900?!

Operating Hours : 12pm to 3pm, 7pm to 12am
Address : 59 Boulevard Montparnasse, 75006 Paris, France
Website : http://www.montparnasse-1900.com/en/

This restaurant really has a very rich historical feel. They serve very traditional french food.

Their onion soup is nice too!

Foie gras for appetizer!

Sea bass for main. Not a fish lover but it taste ok to me.

Walk over to the Montparanasse station and from the station, we are heading to Mont St Michel so we took the high speed train to Rennes.

From Rennes station, we took a bus to Mont St Michel. Pass by this beautiful place with the cow eating grass freely and the cotton candy cloud above!

Here we are at our hotel, Hotel Mercure after 1.5 hour bus journey.

Address : Route du Mont Saint Michel, 50170 Le Mont-Saint-Michel, France
Website : http://www.mercure.com/gb/booking/hotels-list.shtml

The view outside my room.

My room..

The bathroom.

Went over to the supermarket but they are closing in 10 mins time so I didn't manage to get anything from there.

Since we can't shop in the supermarket, we shall walk around to take pictures! Love this place, so laid back, so peaceful, so relaxing!

The Asia team welfie!

Dinner at Le Pré Salé which is inside our hotel! But before that, group photo together first! ( It's a welfie btw, thanks to the selfie stick! haha! )

Operating Hours : 12pm to 2.30pm, 7pm to 9.30pm
Address : Route du Mont Saint-Michel, 50170 Le Mont-Saint-Michel, France
Website : http://www.restaurantlepresale-montsaintmichel.com/en/home

Oh my! It's goat cheese again! YUMMMYY!!.

I normal will not choose lamb chop if I got a choice but since this time round I got no choice so I shall have a try. This lamb is very different from what I thought. It is actually very nice without those smell ( don't know how to describe those smell )! Heard from them lamb at St Michel is very famous due to the grass the lamb ate there are different so their meat taste better. Not sure is it really due to the grass but I have to say the lamb is really good.

Apple pie for dessert!

We can welfie any time... any where... even in the middle of the road, while waiting for the free shuttle bus to Mont St Michel.

Quiet and peaceful night! Ok, maybe not so quiet because we are making a lot of noise there. Haha!

Bus is here!

Here we are at the Mont Saint Michel! Total darkness around it! The Mont St Michel is actually on the sea and you will be able to see when it's day light and high tide.

Operating Hours : 9am - 7pm ( May - Aug, Last admission at 6pm )
9am - 6pm ( Sept - Apr, Last admission at 5pm )
Address : 50170 Mont Saint-Michel, France
Website : http://www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/index.htm?lang=en

Walking inside Mont Saint Michel. It's late and all shops are already close but we can stay inside till 12 midnight.

Haha! And the craziness starts! Oh ya that's Mr Germany, Ali and another Miss Belgium, Mimi at the back!

Group photo again before heading back to the hotel.

How to take picture in a total darkness? Iphone's touch light! Haha! Any way took the shuttle bus back to hotel and time for a good rest!

Day 5 :

Good morning! It's breakfast time!

Check out the hotel and head off to the training place.

This is how my training place looks like! But again it's a secret place and sorry again for not able to disclose it!

Watching those horse from the far running about can help to destress a bit.

This place totally no filter needed and you can feel the fresh air from the picture!

Training ends!

Bus back to Rennes station.

Bye beautiful place! I will definitely miss this place more then Paris.

Still early for the train so coffee time!

Back to Paris.

Back to Hotel Citadin! Re check in again and my room become smaller... So sad! Haha! Anyway I'm alone so any size to me is big enough.

Dinner for the last time with my international colleagues.

Pass by Margherita and they have a big table for all of us so we went in.

Operating Hours : 9am - 1am

Address : 17, rue de l'Ancienne Comédie Paris

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/margheritasaintgermain/

Cheers! Had fun with this group of people!

The pizza all looks so good!

My black truffle pasta!

Day 6 :

Good Morning! Sun rising at the siene river and it's our last day of training! (YEAH!!!)

Took the subway to somewhere and there is actually live performance in the cabin!

Here we are at the Les Sablons station and we will be walking over to the Foundation Louis Vuitton.

Not sure if everyone are allow visit the Foundation Louis Vuitton house or only corporate can, but I do see tickets selling in their website.

Operating Hours : 12pm to 7pm ( Mon to Thurs, Close on Tue )
12pm to 11pm ( Fri )
11am to 8pm ( Sat and Sun )
Address : 8 Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, 75116 Paris, France
Website : http://www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr/en.html

The view from the top inside the Foundation Louis Vuitton.

All the artist's art piece in the museum.

Walking through the rainbow!

Very last group picture!

Packed lunch! Even the packed lunch look so atas ( high class ) in Paris?

Last view of this view and training officially ends! Which means my solo trip is starting tomorrow! Yeah!

Went shopping after training. Printemps is located next to Galleries Layettes. But I found that the things here are more expensive.

Nothing to buy from Printemps, so we walk over to the famous Galleries Layfette to continue shopping. I didn't manage to get anything because I'm going to travel around Europe for the next 2 weeks so I shall get things I want after I'm back to Paris again.

Printemps Operating Hours : 9.35am to 8pm ( Sat to Wed, Close on Sun )
9.35am to 8.45pm ( Thurs )
Address : 64, Boulevard Haussmann 75009 Paris – France
Website : http://departmentstoreparis.printemps.com/store/haussmann/

Gallerires Layfette Operating Hours : 9.30am - 8pm ( Close on Sun )
Address : 40 Boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris, France
Website : http://haussmann.galerieslafayette.com/

The very last dinner with the rest of them who hasn't gone back home. Jaja restaurant is also one of the recommended place by Uriel.

Operating Hours : 12.30pm to 2.30pm, 7.30pm to 11pm ( Mon - Sat )
12.30pm to 3pm, 7.30pm to 10.30pm ( Sun )
Address : 3 Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie, 75004 Paris, France
Website : http://jaja-resto.com/