Hello all!
I have taken a long break from blogging because I had been busy planning my Swiss-Paris trip (which I already have taken flight to do and it was a really awesome experience). Being me, I'm really bad with directions but I was glad my parents were spontaneous to go free n easy with me.
Doing a free n easy trip is great because you get to spend a lot of time to do what you needed to do and I guess I was also led to believe that I've saved a bit on travel expenses by taking chance on my discounted tickets (which is quite a bummer to use).
Switzerland has been more than amazing - my first snow experience and the beautiful views that I couldn't have brought home with me by pictures, but these pictures I've captured could bring me some good memories in future when I look at them.
I had one too many sausages in Switzerland really, oh yes, and Snitzels.
We visited 2 beautiful mountain/alps - Mt Pilatus and Jungfraujoch top of Europe which the latter was a pity because we met with very bad weather and a -4 degrees when we were up there so we couldn't walk out since it was snowing heavily. People were reallyyyyy nice n helpful, like seriously, they spoke perfect English I couldn't help but be impressed, and Swiss is beautiful and well-maintained (ie. clean) so it's like a european Japan for me. No tourists scamming stuff, but of course, I would say there's a good price to pay - Swiss is a VERY expensive city to visit and stay in. My hotels cost a good SGD400-500 a night for a 3-4 star but it's all good for what we saw.
Paris is more of an adventure. I couldn't register the whole paris metro mapping thing so going everything was me bringing up the map and looking at it though I only stayed 8 mins from Eiffel.
Met many nice people in France who helped us with our luggages, sometimes with directions. Paris is one place with really beautiful and old sights but a real pity - I'm afraid I still do not like Paris as much as a city - and I'm not sure why they kept targeting dad (or they might think Chinese looking Dads carry more cash but truth is cash is with mom & me :p)
I would like to write these down if you wanna visit Paris:
- Rode on the metro going from sacre couer (line 2- Anvers) and it was crowded as usual. 2 female teens were trying to pickpocket from mom and dad. Unzipped my mom's backpack for the easier to reach compartment (of course she had nothing in the front pocket since her wallet's deeply buried in the main compartment), and one of the girls had her hand reached into my dad's jeans (pocket). Dad was alert so nothing was pickpocketed. Shame on these girls.
Be very careful on the way to Sacre Couer and back. Montmartre has these people trying to tie a friendship band around your wrist and ask euros from you. Just be very careful around that area.
- We stayed on Rue Cler (i love that area - bustling with good restaurants and pubs at night), on the mainstreet but there were always some punks trying to ask for cigarettes. Well, Dad got tired one day and refused to give him anymore of those sticks, and he tried to act punk. Went away after he saw us going back into the hotel.
- While we were at Tuileries' Rue Saint Honore shopping for mom's bag, a woman picked up a gold ring and asked dad if he dropped it. Dad said no so the woman asked if he wanted it. He grew suspicious so he tried saying why not, and woman asked him for euros (well we all know the story). So Dad refused and she then asked him for a bottle of coke which Dad also refused. Dad walked away to look for us to tell us what had happened. I would believe if Dad brought out his wallet to buy her the coke she wanted, she would have snatched and ran. The gold ring could be just an item she picked up from somewhere, or stolen from.
- At Paris airport waiting for our flight, we sat down to have lunch at Mac's which is the only restaurant I could find open on a Sunday at Terminal 2C. Dad got approached to buy a guy a meal at Macdonld's but that man only spoke french, so Dad couldn't understand him and shook his head to tell them he didn't know what he was saying. Dad only knew what happened when another man in suit bought that guy a meal in Mac's. Dad later saw that same guy (who asked for the meal) when dad went out to smoke because that guy was smoking too. Hmmm..
Other tips to Paris:
If you can, avoid taking the line from CDG airport to town especially in the night. If you're 2 or more people, just take a taxi though I know it cost a lot (my cab from rue cler to airport cost 55 euros for 3). I've heard a lot of people whom I've met in Paris/heard gone to Paris got robbed/pickpocketed on RER B train. The train and train stations are not luggage or wheelchair friendly anyway, lots of stairs that annoyed me much.
For bags- I highly recommend Galleries Lafayette (most brands are there but i doubt they're very well stocked for the amount of tourists you see in there) and Rue Saint Honore (Mulberry, Balenciaga, Miumiu are there). I don't do LV but if you like it - I think the 4 levels store in Champs Elysees will be the highlight because they have really good customer service.
Up to here, when I think about Balenciaga, I wished I had bought the classic city but I stopped myself. Oh well, might get it next time!
Other than that, I'll prepare a pictorial entry next, and hope you enjoyed this wordy one! Ending with one of my sentimental notes I posted on FB:
因为去了巴黎，没有太多的自动扶梯，所以我们走了很多的路和梯，
走楼梯也慢了。。我曾经很依赖的父母渐渐因时
而急性子和坏脾气
No regrets about this trip - because I managed to let my parents see Europe with my own efforts :)
JS is in TW doing his solo trip - and I'm left to sleep alone in my room in Dubai. Boo :-(
We visited 2 beautiful mountain/alps - Mt Pilatus and Jungfraujoch top of Europe which the latter was a pity because we met with very bad weather and a -4 degrees when we were up there so we couldn't walk out since it was snowing heavily. People were reallyyyyy nice n helpful, like seriously, they spoke perfect English I couldn't help but be impressed, and Swiss is beautiful and well-maintained (ie. clean) so it's like a european Japan for me. No tourists scamming stuff, but of course, I would say there's a good price to pay - Swiss is a VERY expensive city to visit and stay in. My hotels cost a good SGD400-500 a night for a 3-4 star but it's all good for what we saw.
Paris is more of an adventure. I couldn't register the whole paris metro mapping thing so going everything was me bringing up the map and looking at it though I only stayed 8 mins from Eiffel.
Met many nice people in France who helped us with our luggages, sometimes with directions. Paris is one place with really beautiful and old sights but a real pity - I'm afraid I still do not like Paris as much as a city - and I'm not sure why they kept targeting dad (or they might think Chinese looking Dads carry more cash but truth is cash is with mom & me :p)
I would like to write these down if you wanna visit Paris:
- Rode on the metro going from sacre couer (line 2- Anvers) and it was crowded as usual. 2 female teens were trying to pickpocket from mom and dad. Unzipped my mom's backpack for the easier to reach compartment (of course she had nothing in the front pocket since her wallet's deeply buried in the main compartment), and one of the girls had her hand reached into my dad's jeans (pocket). Dad was alert so nothing was pickpocketed. Shame on these girls.
Be very careful on the way to Sacre Couer and back. Montmartre has these people trying to tie a friendship band around your wrist and ask euros from you. Just be very careful around that area.
- We stayed on Rue Cler (i love that area - bustling with good restaurants and pubs at night), on the mainstreet but there were always some punks trying to ask for cigarettes. Well, Dad got tired one day and refused to give him anymore of those sticks, and he tried to act punk. Went away after he saw us going back into the hotel.
- While we were at Tuileries' Rue Saint Honore shopping for mom's bag, a woman picked up a gold ring and asked dad if he dropped it. Dad said no so the woman asked if he wanted it. He grew suspicious so he tried saying why not, and woman asked him for euros (well we all know the story). So Dad refused and she then asked him for a bottle of coke which Dad also refused. Dad walked away to look for us to tell us what had happened. I would believe if Dad brought out his wallet to buy her the coke she wanted, she would have snatched and ran. The gold ring could be just an item she picked up from somewhere, or stolen from.
- At Paris airport waiting for our flight, we sat down to have lunch at Mac's which is the only restaurant I could find open on a Sunday at Terminal 2C. Dad got approached to buy a guy a meal at Macdonld's but that man only spoke french, so Dad couldn't understand him and shook his head to tell them he didn't know what he was saying. Dad only knew what happened when another man in suit bought that guy a meal in Mac's. Dad later saw that same guy (who asked for the meal) when dad went out to smoke because that guy was smoking too. Hmmm..
Other tips to Paris:
If you can, avoid taking the line from CDG airport to town especially in the night. If you're 2 or more people, just take a taxi though I know it cost a lot (my cab from rue cler to airport cost 55 euros for 3). I've heard a lot of people whom I've met in Paris/heard gone to Paris got robbed/pickpocketed on RER B train. The train and train stations are not luggage or wheelchair friendly anyway, lots of stairs that annoyed me much.
For bags- I highly recommend Galleries Lafayette (most brands are there but i doubt they're very well stocked for the amount of tourists you see in there) and Rue Saint Honore (Mulberry, Balenciaga, Miumiu are there). I don't do LV but if you like it - I think the 4 levels store in Champs Elysees will be the highlight because they have really good customer service.
Up to here, when I think about Balenciaga, I wished I had bought the classic city but I stopped myself. Oh well, might get it next time!
Other than that, I'll prepare a pictorial entry next, and hope you enjoyed this wordy one! Ending with one of my sentimental notes I posted on FB:
因为去了巴黎，没有太多的自动扶梯，所以我们走了很多的路和梯，
走楼梯也慢了。。我曾经很依赖的父母渐渐因时
而急性子和坏脾气
No regrets about this trip - because I managed to let my parents see Europe with my own efforts :)
JS is in TW doing his solo trip - and I'm left to sleep alone in my room in Dubai. Boo :-(
