17 Sep Le Marais and Notre Dame

On our second day in Paris, we visited Le Marais which is the Jewish district of this city. We took the metro to Bastille Station; merely a few stops from our hotel.

Today's Le Marais is a fashionable district with many restaurants, cafes and art galleries. It is also known for the Chinese community hence you can find many restaurants selling Chinese food. I wanted to shop at the vintage shops but we were too early as most shops only open at noon.

There is an old Parisian feel about this neighbourhood, the perfect place to spend an afternoon.

A landmark at Bastille

We did not bother with a map and just enjoyed the stroll. Somehow we ended at Notre Dame! (I did not use any flash so some of the photos will appear grainy).

 

Ta-dah! This is my favourite photo that I took at Notre Dame. 

 

We ended the day with dinner at a quaint Japanese restaurant. We chose this place because there is a newspaper article outside the shop. It was a simple dinner of Ramen, Gyoza and beer. I seldom drink when I am in Singapore but during this Europe trip, I either drink wine or beer (French beer, Kirin, Qing Tao & Heineken) almost everyday! 

16 Sep - Eiffel Tower and Bistro Le Champ de Mars

Our first stop was Eiffel Tower! The nearest metro station is Champs de Mars (Yellow Line).As we did not buy the tickets in advance, we decided to try our luck! As luck would have it, both the queue to the ticketing booth and to get into Eiffel Tower moved quickly so we did not wait long.

 

The weather was horrible. I think the temperature fell to at least below 10! It was too cold and I was hiding indoors, near to where the heaters are. The most wonderful thing was that I saw a double rainbow. Awwww!!

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed until night fall. While walking back to the metro, we saw this quaint restaurant "Bistro Le Champ de Mars" and decided to have dinner there. I like the onion soup! We barely touched the mains.

 

 

Hotel Bel Air, Paris

Address: 6 rue de la Voute, 12. Bercy - Gare de Lyon, Paris, France
Nearest Metro Station: Porte de Vincennes (Yellow Line)

We have read good reviews of the location of this hotel and decided to choose this for our 3 nights stay in Paris. Although the hotel is about 5 minutes walk to the nearest Metro, it is located in a quiet side street and may not be easy to find on the first visit. We were glad that we have downloaded the offline map and Paris metro on the ipad prior to arriving in Paris so we did not have much trouble finding the hotel. There are also supermarkets, cafes and restaurants nearby. We decided to opt out for the breakfast.

 

The passage way leading to the rooms is narrow. We stayed at Room 1 on the ground floor. There are two steps in front of our room and we had to be cautious not to trip. It is not usual to have steps in front of the room and we also noticed that the other rooms on the some floor do not have it.

The room is small but clean. Wifi speed is reasonable. There is a heater in the bathroom. 

 

Our only grouse is that we did not have a good sleep! The rooms are not sound proof; we can hear people talking next door. We were woken up several times as we could hear people returning very late and talking. It was a disturbance to us.

Apps - Paris Metro

From Orly Aeroport, we took the metro to Porte de Vincennes Station (Metro Line 1)

 

 

The main road is at where the man in orange is standing. Go down this flight of steps, turn right, walk about 3 minutes and Hotel Bel Air is on the left (opposite the road).

15 Sep - The Colosseum and Vatican City

It started raining very early in the morning and we could only wait in the guesthouse. As soon as the skies cleared, we headed for the Colosseum!  It is very easy to get to the Colosseum; take the "B" line Metro and stop at "Colosseo" Station.

 

The Colosseum was crowded with tourists. There were little stalls selling souvenirs. There were also people offering to be your tour guides and some people were dressed up as gladiators. These gladiators will pose for photos with you but I read somewhere that you need to pay them EUR5 for that. We had barely taken some photos of the exterior of the Colosseum when it started to rain heavily again. We decided not to enter the Colosseum. 

 

Come to think of it now, we should  have entered the Colosseum. Can you imagine how majestic this place was in the past?

 

The Colosseum also known as, the Flavian Amphitheatre is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome. It was the largest amphitheatre of the Roman Empire and is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering. It is the largest amphitheatre in the world. The Colosseum is an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It is one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions The Colosseum, like all the Historic Centre of Rome, Properties of the Holy See in Italy and the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980. In 2007 the complex was also included among the New 7 Wonders of the World. Source from Wiki.

 

 

We returned to the guesthouse and waited for the rain to come to a drizzle. Since it was our last day in Rome, we decided to proceed with Vatican City. Take "A" line Metro and stop at Ottaviano Station. To our dismay, it started raining heavily before we even reached the entrance of Vatican City! Despite that we had an umbrella, we still had to take shelter in one of the cafes outside Vatican City.

 

The skies finally cleared but there was a very long queue to get into the museum (the queue went almost half of the square). Just as we were contemplating if we should join the very very very long queue, it started to rain again. There were still tourists who continued to queue with their umbrellas. Such perseverance!

 

We decided to take a walk in the rain. The Vatican City is actually quite near to Spanish Steps. It was a really enjoyable stroll and we saw many beautiful buildings. However I was not able to take much pictures as it was drizzling. We finally took the metro from Spagna Station back to Termini Station. 

 

Vatican City, officially Vatican City State is a landlocked sovereign city state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome. It has an area of approximately 44 hectares (110 acres), and a population of around 840. This makes Vatican City the smallest internationally recognized independent state in the world by both area and population. In the city are cultural sites such as St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums. They feature some of the world's most famous paintings and sculptures. The unique economy of Vatican City is supported financially by the sale of postage stamps and tourist mementos, fees for admission to museums, and the sale of publications. Source from Wiki.

 

 

14 Sep - Spanish Steps and Ristorante Massimo d' Azeglio

We reached Rome on a Saturday so we decided to resume shopping and visit both the Colosseum and the Vatician City on the next day. They are actually at different parts of the City but we did not want to miss the shopping opportunity as most shops will be closed on Sundays. Neither did we want to lug along the shopping bags when we visit these attractions.

There are people standing beside the ticketing machines and asking for money. These ticketing machines are outside the station. But you can also buy your tickets inside the station.

It was very crowded at the Spanish Steps

Roasted chestnuts which is way overpriced in Rome. 

We had dinner at Ristorante Massimo d' Azeglio. The place is cosy. The waiter, Teodoro who served us was humorous and attentive. The dinner had made my stay in Rome a memorable one.  I ordered the set dinner and A ordered a salad and steak. We also had wine.

 

Ristorante Massimo d' Azeglio

 

Starter 1

Starter 2

Salad (al carte)

Linguine Pasta with anchovies, Eve's cheese and lemon (set dinner)

Grilled king prawns with seasonal vegetables (set dinner)

Steak (al carte)

 

Desserts bar (set dinner)

 

Impeccable service from Teodoro