Woke up early in the morning to catch the 6am Coach into London Victoria station. Upon arrival into the city, there was the typical rush hour traffic of any major city hub, but the traffic inside of London was manageable. With everyone going towards the core, it was very easy for the coach to find the right lane to get us to our destination. Once at the Coach station, the proximity to the Tube station is still a good walk, approximately 400m. But with many people on the streets it’s was still fast paced with everyone moving in an orderly fashion. The Underground works because they allow the public to enter in many entrance/exit points. At a busy hub such as Victoria it is even more essential for orderly fashion and queuing. In the British culture it is normal for people to wait in a cue for a short period of time, but when it becomes long that is when it becomes unbearable. On the effort to save a couple of pounds I opted to get on the tube after 9:30am. The Underground also accounts for peak-hour premium to discourage unnecessary travel during the hours of 5-9:30am. As such, I just waited the extra 15 minutes and was on my way towards St.Pancras Station.
St. Pancras was a terminal set-up for international travel. Within the last century they created the English tunnel in order for the easy commute of cars, trains, Lorries to have fast and efficient means of transport across the English Channel. The check-in was typical stamping of passports and X-rays the luggage, nothing out of the ordinary. After 2 hours we arrived into Paris (Nord) and met up with TN.
From the Train Station towards TN apartment was a quick metro ride with changing of the lines made it very smooth. Dropped of the luggage, rested for an hour and decided to embark on the Paris sightseeing tour to experience everything that was missing the last time I was here.
The theme for the day was Stairs, Ariel Views and Student lifestyle. In France, there are many attractions that tourist love, with those that are quite famous. As an EU citizen between the ages of 18-25, you are encouraged to go into these attractions and experience history. TN is currently in Paris to study for 1.5 years and has a student card. I, not being a student, am not entitled to these benefits… So what do we do? Take another student card from a fellow Asian and use it as ID. It worked! Some places asked for additional ID, but we didn’t have any on us, but they still let us enter.
First stop of the evening: Notre Dame along with 400 steps, a great view of the city and gargoyles to make the trip a worth wild experience. FREE! But it was the journey up the narrow stairwell that makes it hard to travel up. Upon the ascent, it boggles the mind to try and think about the number of people that go into the Attraction every day of the year. How many people have also stepped on these steps and seen this site. Notre Dame is always a wonder to be at and is amazing to see how it never fails to have a huge line-up.(NOTE: this shot was inspired by KC! when she was in Paris)
The opportunity to experience the bell, the steps and the view, was a great way to start the trip. Next up Arc du Triumph. Same idea of steps, not as many but inside of the building was the museum of the Arc. A little bit of history mixed with statues and other memorials of the fallen soldiers of those wars. Got our tickets but decided to go to the top at night time to get the cityscape in lights. Even though the weather was cold, with temperatures of 9 with strong winds, it did not deter us from going and walking on Bd. Haussmann towards the infamous Gallérie Lafayette. Upon walk, TN explained that Haussmann was the famous designed who created the balconies of the apartments and MADE it such that on the 2nd and 4th floor is where the wealthy live. Great architecture still preserved to this day.
At night we arrived back to the Arc and experienced everything inside of the monument.
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