Paris Day 1

Typing this out in my hostel in Zurich, Switzerland!

Here's how my trip to Europe is meant to be:

- Paris, Zurich & Munich with my friend Sarah

- then back to Paris for Christmas with the French side of my family

- then Stavanger (Norway) with Viva Leng

Spent the first night in Paris alone as Sarah was only going to reach a day later. Chilled a bit at the hostel & went shopping alone, was pretty alright! Think I'd be ok doing a tour round Europe myself & meeting new people at hostels along the way (which is what most of the other travellers there were doing, many were travelling for over 2 months straight).

Was borrowing my friend's luggage & she wasn't kidding when she said she though I could fit into it hahaha. I didn't take this one though because I thought it was just way too huge!

Anyway I flew via KLM, with a short 1.5hr transit in Amsterdam & hopped on to Air France after that to Paris! My flight cost around S$1500. Knocked out the whole flight because I was having the flu & took a lot of drowsy meds :/ It's a shame because I love long-haul flights!

Mandatory wing-tip photo hahaha.

Took the train from the airport to central Paris!

Decided I was going to take a taxi from that stop to my hostel, instead of changing to the metro & walking. My suitcase turned out to be 20kg... Anyway taxi cost 11 Euros which I thought was still passable. And well worth avoiding the physical hassle haha.

Sight that greeting me upon stepping out of Gare du Nord!

(That's one of the major train stations, which also has lines that go to other parts of France)

That was actually the last day of nice sunny weather >:(

The following days all we saw were grey skies & rain >:(

Checked into my hostel (St Christopher's Paris, highly recommended) & freshened up!

Then... went to to hostel's restaurant to finish my blog draft for USS T_T haha

Average meal - Caesar salad (no chicken) at 9 Euros, Coke at 3.50 Euros

Inside the hostel's toilet! This is actually the handicapped toilet, I began using these then found out there are cubicle ones that we're meant to use but I decided I didn't want to :X

But anyway I was on the 3rd floor (which means 4th, because the reception is considered level 0) & the lift wasn't working my ENTIRE stay, so no handicapped people to contend with anyway.

And yes I carried my 20kg suitcase up 3 floors. I almost died.

Where are the damned guys when you need them?! >:(

New bunny/cat ear beanie! 

You don't know how many times I heard "meow" or "lapin" (French for rabbit) when I was out... T_T

With my coat. Frankly in winter I feel like there's no point even dressing up underneath it haha.

I might as well just wear jeans & alternate 2 tops for my entire 3-week-long trip haha.

So anyway I headed out around 5pm! And it was already dark :/

It's winter so the sun sets really early!

My hostel is along a river!

~ red nose ~

Got these gansta-ish gloves (like in movies I only ever see poor people in ghettos wearing them) cause I prefer having my fingers uncovered so that I can take photos haha. Gloves are inconvenient sometimes.

Burrowing my nose into my coat.

Random shops around my hostel area!

I kind of think we were in a more poor-ish part of Paris :x

Because there were a lot of immigrants & immigrant-related shops :x

If you didn't know, France does have an immigrant-ghetto-enclave problem; more so than other European countries because it adopted an open policy to immigrants for many years so we have a huge number of foreigners & integration can be quite a sticky issue.

Haha Chinese food! Kind of wanted to try Chinese food overseas just to see the standard.

Ate at a Chinese restaurant in London once actually; was pretty meh.

Headed to an area called Chatelet because it's along La Seine (big river) & has a lot of shopping!

Too dark to see touristy stuff.

Took this picture only because I vaguely know who Sarah Bernhardt is - if I'm not wrong she was a famous French singer. I know this from reading French comic books haha (Lucky Luke).

Not sure if someone graffiti-ed the eyes or it's really peculiar mold...

(M) for the Metro! Hate how hard it is to spot metro entrances from afar T_T

Some artsy-fartsy art workshop/exhibit/showcase.

Super cute items at H&M! How come we don't have these in Singapore! :O

I bought the hand cream set just because the packaging was so cute.

Couldn't take anymore pictures because I got scolded :(

Finished shopping & went into a PASTA BAR! :O
It's basically like Subway where you get to pick your pasta options!

Omgggg when are you coming to Singapore dammit?!?!
I love pasta!

Got a set! The pasta comes in a box that can be packed up for takeaways.

The pasta + drink + big macaron cost a total like 11 Euros I think?

By Singaporean standards it's not cheap (approx S$18+) but by European standards it's average.

Looking kind of boyish here...

And a random picture I saw of roadside construction.
"Le quartier en mouvement" - the neighbourhood in movement/change

If you were wondering, I speak French with everyone (shopkeepers, receptionist etc) in France!
It's only if my friends are around I sometimes use English so that they can understand, but that's only if the salesperson is capable. If I see them struggling then I use French & then they're super relieved haha.

Some tourists came up to me too to ask for directions, enquiring first if I spoke English haha.
I wonder why they picked me? Asian-looking means I'm more likely to speak English? Lol.

Also got hit on by some middle-aged dudes as I was walking back alone to my hostel -_-
It was 2 guys; one said "bonsoir" (good evening) to me as I walked out of the metro & they were walking in. I smiled & nodded (it's super common to greet strangers in France, people commonly do so even if you're just walking past) & crossed the street.

Then I stood there & was lost for a bit, wondering which way to go. And suddenly they popped up behind me wtf. Meaning they had stopped to watch me as I walked away, decided to walk out of the metro (they were walking in) & crossed over to find me wtf. Then after they gave me directions, the guy asked to hang out -_- And asked for my email -_-
(declined to both if you were wondering hahaha)

And... the next day I bumped into him again wtf! Like in a totally different part of Paris!
Wtf where got so suay one?!

Ok g'night, hope we finally make it for the hostel's free breakfast tomorrow morning ~ lulz