So! My parents and I went on a trip to Paris and London. We have all never been and I'm super excited for my parents especially because it would be their first time there.
The upcoming posts cover a 9 day 8 night trip to London Paris. People told me aiyo why you only travel to 2 places should go more. But for various reasons I think this arrangement worked best for my family and I really got time to explore each city.
So.... PARIS
Flew to Paris and landed in the Charles De Gaulle airport. When we were in the aircraft we were given some priority queue thingy and we went to a shorter queue for customs. Cleared it in about 20 mins, but I think the main queue was really much longer. Luggage wasn't there when we arrived so we waited another 15 minutes.
Tip: PLEASE USE TOILETS ASAL I.e as soon as you land. The further you go the chances of a toilet gets slimmer. My dad wanted the toilet after customs but there was only a single handicap toilet for guys when the ladies had a long long queue. Aiyo
After collecting our luggages we went out and went to this exit 24 where there was a blue queue area to queue for licensed taxis and a guy at the front to help assign taxis. Even better, there was like glass coverering the area, keeping all the touts away once you enter the queue. Before exiting the terminal itself there were ppl touting private cars and airport transfers. No need okay. We really got a taxi quite quickly and the price is flat rate of €50 to left bank and €55 to right bank (I think). So even though we took 1 hour to drive to our hotel (coz we suay kena peak hour) it was still the same price which is great la.
Tip: go for official taxis at the airport from exit 24, the blue queue thingy. When we reached our hotel we couldn't check in. Zzz coz too early. So we walked over to Printemps and Galaries Lafayette nearby to shop.
To me ah to me. Printemps and Galaries Lafayette was boring and pricey and atas. Mum had a better time shopping here because things are mostly catered to the ladies. I can't even differentiate the two for you. Sorry :/
Mostly I found the rooftop at GL most interesting because you can see the Eiffel tower. The rooftop of Printemps was closed for renovations when I'm there. Here are some views on the top of GL. Yes, you can see the Eiffel Tower from up here! But it was foggy the day we arrived booooo :<
Also, GL is quite stunning architecturally because of their dome ceiling and all the details to the ledges of each floor.
Shopping wise though, probably coz sleepy and tired, I felt it was too atas for me. Even though these are brands I've not seen before. Each mall is also quite big spreading across a few building which made it even more tiring.
We ate at the food court of GLF which was located on the fifth floor. Nothing to recommend. Just that the food wasn't all that good for the first meal in Paris. Yucks
We walked past an Asian food restaurant on level 5 and it was surprisingly very crowded! Not sure what the name was but you can check it out and let me know ahah whoops
Tip: surprise. Toilets in Paris shopping malls are usually only located on one floor in the entire building. Soooo locate it first and check if it requires coins for entry. Thankfully GLF toilet on the fifth floor was clean spacious and required no loose change.
Cute hor the toilet
To be fair there was the 5th floor itself that was quite interesting with all these barang barang kinda things haha. But I personally find the other mall we visited had all of these AND MORE
On the way to Printemps and GL we stopped by this small bakery called Viennoiserie Patisserie
(2bis Rue de Sèze, 75009 Paris) and wah. The pastries are really good ^^ everything was on display so you can just point out what you want and pay up.
I don't even know what this is but it is sweet with jam, flaky and absolutely delicious. The crossaint was delicious also.
Nearby was a Zara home (2 Boulevard de la Madeleine, 75009 Paris) that we went into to explore. It was pure aesthetic goals man so nice. I didn't buy anything because a lot of things related to home decor are quite heavy and I did not want to buy heavy things back to Singapore.
We also explored this Carrefour City nearby along Rue de Caumartin, good for grocery shopping. We didn't realise till later that Monoprix near Printemps was also another supermarket to get stuff at. Just to give you an idea what is in the carrefour...
We headed back to the hotel to take a nap and to rest, and then we were going to the Louvre!