"Be Brave. Take Risks.
Nothing Can Substitute Experience."
- Unknown
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| Louvre, Paris, France |
Day 5 - Sunday, 18 June 2017
BONJOUR! :)
So, basically I will have a whole day for today in Paris. I was alone and planning to go to Pantheon, at first I planned to go there by Metro but when I went out from my friend's home, the weather was very nice so I decided to walk from Les Gobelins area. Found a local market along the way where the local people are busy shopping in this market and it's just really nice to stroll around that area.
Heading to Quartier Latin (Latin Quarter), why they named it Quartier Latin? Because it's the place where the first University, Sorbonne University and some colleges were located, we may can say this Quartier is the heart of student Paris. And during the Middle Ages, scholars spoke latin, courses were in latin so the district was called "Quartier Latin". At there, you will spot this big building called Pantheon, did I tell you that everything in Paris is really big? and yes indeed. Pantheon was originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve and after some changes they combines liturgical functions with its role as a famous burial place with most important people were buried there. (source : here)
The surrounding area was very nice and it's also amazing because you can see Eiffel Tower from there. So many beautiful buildings start from in front of Pantheon with City or Town Hall Mairie Du 5e Arrondissement, Pantheon Sorbonne University etc. It costs 9 euro if you want to go inside Pantheon, they are open from 10 AM - 6.30 PM from Apr to Sep and closed at 6 PM from Oct - Mar.
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| what a sunny perfect day to stroll around Paris! :) |
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| found this market along my way |
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| a bike that you can rent wherever you see this, cool! |
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| mostly buidling in Paris will have balcony and looks nice if they put flowers |
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| Pantheon, such a big building |
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| Do you see Eiffel Tower in this picture? |
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| Entrance Fee for Pantheon, 9 euro |
I walked again towards Notre Dame Cathedral and I also stopped by at a small church where there was Sunday service at that time since it's Sunday then I visited Shakespeare & Company Book Store, if you love books (or not) you should go this place! You will find this place is so attractive, the smells of books when you enter, crampled and stacked on the shelves. Shakespeare and Company is an English-language book stores located in Quartier Latin, on the banks of the Seine, opposite Notre-Dame. It's opened since 1951 and some people said it is still the same. The original store opened in 1919 and moved to larger location in 1921 and it was a gathering place for the great expat writers of the time—Joyce, Hemingway, Stein, Fitzgerald, Eliot, Pound—as well as for leading French writers (source : here). There is also Shakespeare and Company Cafe located just right next to the book store, so Coffee and Books, well perfect :)
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| small church that I found along my way, they are having Sunday service |
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| Shakespeare and Company Cafe |
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| inside the Cafe |
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| the bookstore just next to the Cafe |
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| inside the book store and you will smell the books |
From there I crossed the road and Seine river to check out Notre Dame Cathedral. This Cathedral is soo beautiful even you can spot it from far away, looks stunning. Notre-Dame de Paris means Our Lady of Paris, to enter this beautiful Cathedral is Free and they are open from 7.45 AM - 6.45 PM except Saturday and Sunday from 7.15 AM. Too bad I didn't go inside because the line was very long. It was sooo hot on that day, strolled around the area, passing Pont de l'Archeveche and from there I was heading to Louvre.
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| Seine River :) |
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| wonder why they put locks over there |
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| Notre Dame |
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| Notre Dame Cathedral |
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| around the Cathedral |
If you need free WIFI along the way you can find some H&M store so just go inside one of them to have free Wifi like I did because I need to check GPS. For sure you can't miss Louvre building when you go to Paris, one of my reason to visit this place and I won't miss it because I saw Louvre from an opening scene in recent Wonder Woman movie haha.
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| a book stall on the street |
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| find H&M to get Free Wifi :p |
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| it's Louvre Museum by the way |
Louvre museum is the world's largest museum and historic monument in Paris. I thought it's Rijkmuseum but comparing with Louvre museum, well this one is so so big, and actually the admission fee is cheaper than Rijkmuseum, 15 euro, if you interest with museum maybe you need to spend whole day there even more to see all of it. Some people came only to see Mona Lisa, one of the famous painting in the world.
Louvre Museum is located on the right banks of the Seine, there are approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory until 21st century. I was walking from Notre-Dame to Louvre Museum but if you take Metro just get off at Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre on line 1 or 7. It was really nice around the Pyramid, so I took pictures around before enter the pyramid.
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| what a nice building! |
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| so far I love this Louvre area :) :) |
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| the water looks so refreshing |
The pyramid that you saw is the entrance, I heard you can also enter from the shopping mall but when I came, there was no line so I entered from the pyramid. I planned to get in but when I already getting inside, after walking quite a lot so I decided to sit down there, grab Chicken sandwich at Paul for lunch (5.7 euro) and enjoying free Wifi and aircon inside. I was thinking it might being kind of rush to explore the museum so I decided not to get in and save this spot for my next visit if I go to Paris again. Anyway, still it's so crowded so watch your belongings.
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| The Entrance for Louvre Museum |
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| Entrance Fee is 15 euro |
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| get your ticket there |
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| Paul insiide Louvre |
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| Chicken Sandwich 5.7 euro from Paul Cafe |
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| Aircon inside is definitely helps after hot weather from the outisde |
When I want to take picture in front of pyramid, there was this nice Korean girl helped me out and she said just put your bag here, and I put my bag on the ground near her but she's too focused taking my picture and she kind of step forward while my bag started being out of reach, and I saw a lady walked toward my bag position, not rush but like nothing happened so well just in case I run and took my bag directly before that lady reach my bag position :D I didn't being so mean but still I need to be aware.
I met a friend at Louvre and from there we crossed the street and passing a square located in front of Le Louvre des Antiquaires which made me interested to see people gathered there and dancing, it looks so fun and I can stay there to follow their moves if I go there again haha. Going inside Le Palais Royal and the park behind it and it's just interesting area especially the park.
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| let's dance! |
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| Le Palais Royal |
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| what a nice Park |
We took Metro from Concorde (1.9 euro) to Pigalle Metro Station to go to see Moulin Rouge, this area is almost similar like red district in Amsterdam, I can see all about sex shops there haha. We already at Montmartre area which is famous with this church called Sacré-Cœur where you can see Paris from the top. It need effort to go there because Montmartre is located at the top and quite steep. I love the ambience in here, so different with around Eiffel Tower or Louvre. Sacré-Cœur is a dome white church, completed in 1914 and the architecture is so amazing, another big building in Paris but this is very nice.
My friend want to take me to see the rooftop from one of shopping mall there but it's closed already yet most shopping mall also will be closed soon, because it's Sunday so they will closed sooner like 7 PM when except Sunday they will closed at 8.30 PM.
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| I feel like I want to eat everything! :D |
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| yummm yummm! |
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| yummy! :D |
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| inside the Cathedral around La Fayette area, L'eglise de la Madeleine |
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| Galerie La Fayette Haussman |
So, we decided to go to Pompidou Centre, taking Metro line 7 from Chaussée d'Antin La Fayette Station to Chatelet Station, We passed this Hotel de Ville, the city hall of Paris and it's another big yet beautiful building in Paris. Pompidou, it's interesting to check this area because I can feel this place is another side of Paris where young people gather there and all I can feel is Youth energy full with Art, Music and Cafe there. Thanks to my friend, we can go to the rooftop inside Pompidou Centre for free, yay! I felt burned up there because it's very hot on that day but from the top we can see Eiffel Tower, there's also restaurant on the top, fancy but still affordable price.
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| what a nice Hotel! Hotel de Ville or City Hall of Paris |
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| remind me of Berlin |
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| Pompidou Area |
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| Looks nice! |
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| Pompidou Centre adn we will going up there! :) |
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| what a fancy restaurant on the roof top :) |
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| we can see Eiffel Tower from the top :) |
Another thing that I realize in Paris is their cafe, most of them will have a lot of space for terraces and that's so Paris. We also having a drink while sitting on the terrace in one of restaurant over there, Beer 4 euro and what a big glass, like 0.5 litre. Heading to the banks of Seine, where most of people did variation of dance, such a good place to chill out on weekend and from there heading back home to get my backpack and going to Port Maillot Bus Terminal to catch my bus heading to my next destination, Switzerland.
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| trying to be like Parisian, sitting on the terrace of restaurant :D |
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| what a big glass of Beer! @_@ |
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| Wanna try Bistro on the bus? :D |
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| Dance like nobody watching! :D |
A bit drama happened (again) on that night because I almost missed my bus, thank you so much to Wulan that helped me out on that night, she companied me to the Port Maillot Bus Terminal, because my bus will leave at 11 PM. She was fasting on that day because it's Ramadan time. First drama, we entered the wrong entrance because I can't buy single ticket there so she was so nice to buy single ticket for me at another entrance while I waited there. Second drama, the time was so short and the bus terminal located not that close from Metro station, and we still need to find where the Bus terminal is, she helped me bring my small backpack because I had 2 backpack, trolley and small backpack. We ran on that night to catch my bus and phew, I can still catch my bus. It was very tiring and I sweat a lot plus I haven't ate my dinner yet but and it's already 11 PM, very late dinner, thankfully I still have my sandwich.
Tips. You need to estimate the time and don't forget to eat on the right time, I was too relaxed yet not really prepare it. So I almost late and when I get on the bus, I sweat too much and so hungry, I am just afraid if I am going to be sick because I ate so late like that because I had stomache but thankfully I am alright.
Couldn't thank more for both of them especially Pierre who let me stay on his couch and companied me around Paris and I felt I saw lot of things in Paris because of him and Wulan, for that night, it was so short time meeting up but again thank you so much you guys!
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| me, Pierre and Wulan :) |
There are actually lot of things to see in Paris, since Paris is a big city! I still need to go to Versailles, Louvre Museum, Disneyland Paris, etc. So, one day I might be back. Last but not least, thank you for reading my blog post and I'll see you soon in Switzerland! Bye Paris! :)
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