Day 1: The Start.

Bonjour!!

After a 14hr flight of constant turbulence, unexciting movies, unstoppable toilet flushing sounds, and consistently interrupted sleep, we finally touched down in PARIS on the 15th of January at around 6:35am Paris time (1:35pm, when we should have ended our usual Friday timetable, HAHA) . The sky was still dark for once in many of our lives. And so after collecting all our luggages, off we were to pick our exuberant and handsome tour guide, Monsieur Gee=D

First stop was the Arc De Triomphe (central star): the main junction of 12 different roads!! It's a 150ft tall architectural marvel dedicated to Napoleon to celebrate his victories, though sadly, he wasn't able to see the completion of this marvel. Spending around 20 minutes there, we braced our first winter harshness in Paris at 0 degress celsius. We had a few Rudolphs around and lost feeling in our ears.

After the Arc De Triomphe, we drove to the square at Ecole Militaire to have a picturesque view of the Eiffel tower. Half of the 1000ft tall Eiffel tower was hidden by fog that shrouded most of the city. Not long after, we were flocked by (most probably illegal) souvenir merchants that wanted to sell their key chains to us. After buying a few, they grew in numbers and became more aggresive in their persuasion. Rather unnerving experience I must say.

The next stop was Musee De Larmee. The burial home of the bones of Napoleon Bonaparte. A little bit of a European history lesson: Napolean Bonaparte was the King of France for 11 years, and had won 8 major battles, before losing at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium. He was captured and exiled to an English Island off the Indian Ocean called St Helena. It was only after 20 years after his death that the English returned his bones back to France, where it is now buried in the Musee De Larmee. Furthermore, this place was a hospital for veterans of war and is now currently housing 30 injured soldier. The architecture of the place remarkable, with a golden altar of Jesus Christ in front of Napoleons tomb. It is hard to believe that the the French, 300 years ago, could muster skills enough to build an enormous magnificent structure of solid PURE gold and carved lime stone. The details of the Animals and Humans were very precise.

Lunch was really French. French bread, French soup, French chicken and French fries.

We visited another highly criticized art museum after lunch. Musee De Pompidou is made of aluminium pipes and glass in the midst of traditional limestone buildings. The contrast in design between the building and the whole of Paris was amazing. It houses many modern art pieces, many of which were explicitly in the nude, sexually connotated or arousing. For obvious reasons, we shan't post the censored pictures here. It is amazing to know that the Parisians are really appreciative and open minded about such art. There were even little ones seen listening attentively to an art lecture or simply sketching the portraits in the musuem.

Finally our last stop was none other than the Eiffel Tower of Paris. We were so excited walking from the Pompidou to our bus, but it was such a kill-joy to have our bus engine die on us. The boys had to push the bus in the cold winter to Mr Tay's dismay(=. Thankfully a second bus arrived in the nick of time.

We made it to the second floor of the Eiffel tower(about 140m above the ground), where the view was spectacular with the entire Paris city skyline to take our breaths away. Of course, we HAD to take a thousand pictures(= We decided to walk down the stairs from the top. Grand Stand practice in France! It was pretty exciting to feel the winter wind against our cheeks as we climbed down the endless flights of stairs. Amos was particularly afraid of heights and refused to look down. After a long ordeal we finally made it down to the ground floor. And to think there were actually people walking up.

Then it was dinnertime. French bread, French soup, French chicken. But no French fries. We had French potatoes instead.

It's been a long day and we're exhausted from the jet lag, the cold, the touring, and the sleepless plane ride. So, au revoir!!