Sharing our free & easy honeymoon experiences in Europe from 6Sept13-21Sept13- Day 1 in Paris (6Sept-7Sept13) Part 2

 On the 7th of Sep13 after we arrived in Paris airport, the first unfriendly person we met was out of our surprised. It was the custom staff at the airport. As i passed through the gates to get my passport chop, i showed the custom staff the letter of excusing me from xrays as i was pregnant as i wasn't sure whether the entry gates have any xrays radiation. The custom staff make faces & spoke some words in France which i do not understand & went on to chop my passport.I have no choice but to walk pass the gate taking my own risk thinking maybe he does not know how to read English. When my husband joined me shortly he realized that my passport was not chopped properly as it overlap with other chops causing the dates unable to be seen. Then we saw a woman in uniform who speaks English so we approach her to help us get another chop to ensure we can leave the country safety on our last day. She brought me back to the custom staff who chop my passport & he unwillingly speak in France again put a new chop date on a new page of my passport. I guess that was the worst custom staff i have ever met after travelling to few countries. We realized later that my husband's passport was chop wrongly on arrival too but luckily they did not give him any trouble for that. We went on to find the driver that will pick us up and send us to our hotel. As it was still early for check-in, we put our luggage at the hotel and rested at the lobby as i was really tired after the long flight. We waited for about 45 mins & we were allowed to check-in early and rested about an hour plus before we start to explore Paris. We went to explore their rail & train services and we manage to find our way to The Louvre Museum. It took us some distance to walk from our hotel to the railway station which they call it Metro. The Louvre Museum was a beautiful & one of the biggest museum in Paris.

 We took many photos inside & outside of the museum. The ones we took inside the museum was only 1/4 of it and sometimes we may pass by the same portrait a few times not realizing it. The few best spot at the museum are the Mona Lisa portrait, the last supper portrait and the triangles structure outside the museum. After viewing most part of the museum, my foot were quite sore. Not forgetting to mention, we met a rude man in the museum too. He does not wear uniform so we guess he was not the staff at the museum but just a public like us but he is a French. I unintentionally touched one of the sculpture & he came to me saying something which i do not understand in a unfriendly expression . His gesture told me that he is scolding me so my husband & i went on to see other sculpture, ignoring him. Later then we realized that everything in the museum are not allowed to be touch. At that moment, i felt slightly offended too by the rudeness gesture of the people that we met on our first day in Paris. In order not to spoil our own mood since we spend so much to travel here we took it as a part of their culture difference and we continue to enjoy ourself exploring Paris by our foot. I know many people have visited Paris few times or many times but i also think that there are alot of people who are less fortunate that do not have much chances to travel overseas. There is always plenty of chances and ways to make it happen. As we walk out of the museum we came to a big & beautiful park nearby. There are many beautiful parks in Paris. Many people like to spend their time with family, love ones & their lovely pets especially dogs sitting in the park enjoying the cool weather.There are many beautiful sculptures in the parks too. As we walk down further, we could see from far the Eiffel Tower and the Arch of triomphe. As we will be taking of wedding photo by the Taiwan Bridal that we engage, the next day therefore we decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower and then return to our hotel to rest. It was quite a distance to walk to the Eiffel Tower, along the way we walk pass the Lover's Bridge, Pont des Arts,

where many couples will put their locks on the fences & throw the keys away or into the river. They believe that by doing that their love will be locked together forever. We just took a few pictures there & we continue walking. It was really good to stroll along the rivers of Paris, enjoying the beautiful scenery, bridges & buildings. As we were nearer to the Eiffel Tower, we saw a florist shop with beautiful sunflowers, roses & other flowers. My husband & i went in to have a look & he bought me a bouquet of 10 pink roses as it was very cheap. It was the first time he bought me flowers & initially i planned to bring the dried flowers back to Singapore to keep for memories but in the end the rose buds came off when we reach home. My husband said never mind, i will buy you more flowers in Singapore next time. As we reach the Eiffel Tower, we saw many people queueing to either walk up the stairs or to take the elevator to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Walking up the stairs is free. After a day of walking in Paris street, we were both pretty tired especially after the long flight. We took pictures at the Eiffel Tower & proceed to the nearest Metro which is quite a distance away to make our way back to our hotel. The Eiffel Tower is one of the world's famous attraction, worth visiting. We saw many tourists form different countries there, like India, Parkistans, Japan, China & UK/US. It was a pity we did not get to meet any Singaporean there throughout our stay in Europe. As we took the metro back to our hotel, the transferring of the different colour code lines to different destinations was not difficult to understand after awhile. The train and the train stations were pretty clean even though there is alot of dustbins available. The train travels at quite a relatively smooth and fast speed therefore even if it was 20 stations away, we can reach our destinations in about half an hour. As it was around evening time, the train was not too packed & people were seen with luggages and pets like big dogs were allowed to be on the train. We also noticed there are certain stations where the doors will not open , if there is a passenger outside , they could just press on the green button on the door to open it. The green buttons are available on the inside of the door too. As we reach the metro station, we walk back slowly to our hotel. Our hotel was quite a cosy one good enough for sleeping. The best i like about it was that the place was very quiet and we had a great rest that night.

   

Sharing our free & easy honeymoon experiences in Europe from 6Sept13-21Sept13- Day 1 in Paris (6Sept-7Sept13) Part 1

   My husband & i have been trying to get more sleep & rest since we came back from Europe due to the long flight effect, people call Jet-Lag i guess. At first we were not quite used to the time difference and the weather back here, we often woke up at night hungry or awake. We thought maybe next time we should consider taking a transit flight rather than direct flight from Singapore Airline though their services was good and we were so full throughout the whole flight. A transit flight could maybe allow us to rest a few hours from continuous sitting in the flight for 12hours. On our night flight to Paris on 6Sept13, we had a terrible night in the plane especially me . I was having terrible backache few hours after the departure with stomach bloatedness & cramps due to my pregnancy. As it was a night flight , of course all the passengers hope to get some rest or sleep before we reach our destination. Unfortunately, most of us were not able to, as our cabin have a few parents with young babies who take turns to cry throughout the whole flight journey. The worst is there was one particular parent despite the crying of their child, also created other sounds like searching the plastic bags, opening the cabin luggage door many times loudly. We can see the frustration of all other passengers who are affected & what about a pregnant mummy like me. Luckily my husband was there to give me comfort , massaging my back for me & walking me to the toliet & the cabins to relax alittle. When we were having breakfast in the plane , i told my husband i don't think in future i will bring my baby on a flight trip till she is older as it will not affect us & others as well in the plane.

  We took many many photos during this trip mostly about the scenery and the things we saw in the museum. It will take me awhile to upload all the photos to facebook as the files are so big. I like to emphasizes that by sharing these blogs & photos in facebook is not an act of boosting or a way to criticize others . It is merely our way of sharing our experiences & to keep us in memories of the things & places we have been together or with our love ones perhaps few years later as we look at the photos & blogs again. 

 Some of our friends told us we were so brave to travel by free & easy especially during my 5 to 6 months of pregnancy and just the two of us only. We were also glad that we were back to Singapore safe & sound. Travelling to overseas with a tour group or even with a few friends or family is definitely more safe as people tend to be nice to a group of people even though they may not like you . They cannot afford to offend those people especially from the tour group as they may get to earn commission when they started to buy alot of things. Different people have different objectives when they travel overseas. For me & my husband, our objectives this time round to Europe is to experience what the people there experience and how people think of Singapore especially in a big country like Europe. I will gradually share more later about the things and people that we met along the way. Well other people may have different experiences from us but if you ask me what is the best part i like about this trip, i would say it is the time my husband & i spend alone in a country where everyone were strangers to us. The process of supporting each other to find our ways using the map & asking people on the street for directions. Finding the most suitable food to eat & drink to ensure each meal is worth spending. Enjoying the cool weather & scenery which is different from Singapore and enjoying the moment of quietness and stress free time during our holiday. We also enjoy shopping & window shopping in Europe. To us luxury is only a choice but not a must. If we always focus on luxury & branded stuffs , then we will tend to forget about the people who are still suffering in hungers & poverty all over the world. I will continue sharing our experience in part 2.