Paris, France Tour 2008

    Europe, a continent which I’ve been dreaming of to step into since childhood and France, the most wanted destination to be visited by tourists, I didn’t expect to visit Paris as soon as I’m still in college. But I’ve done it; I’ve visited Paris, the land of love. It was perhaps one of my most memorable experiences I’ve ever had in my life.

It’s a dream come true! From the time that we are having meetings about the tour, I’ve been so excited to step into the land of another continent. Then came the visa interview, where all my dreams were at stake, this is the moment where I would know if it would come true or not; and yes, we were all accepted to travel to France.

From that time on, I’ve been very excited to fulfil my dream until the day it came, March 14, 2008 where we were departing Manila to Bahrain. That time, I still can’t believe that we are departing to France; it’s really like a dream come true. We had a very long flight and stop-over at Bahrain for 9 hours. We walked around the city and slept a bit then went to the airport for the next flight to Paris.

            It was getting near.

We were 9 hours away from the land I’ve been dreaming of to step into, Mico and I just can’t believe that we were actually near Paris at that time, this is not my first trip outside the country but this is my first trip outside Asia and I’m not with my family, I’m with my friends which make it more memorable for we rarely travel with friends outside our own continent and it was a once in a lifetime experience.

    After 9 hours flight, we have arrived Paris! The land of love, the country which most tourist would dream of to step into. After arriving at the airport, pictures were all over our group, I have talked to some of French people for I can understand a little because I have had my French lessons in school. The first step I’ve taken out of the airport, I still can’t believe I actually am in Paris already, the weather is not the same, the ambiance, the surroundings is very much different, and we’re not in the same continent anymore.

We rode the bus to our Hotel, I looked around outside, for I love sceneries and I appreciate so much the scenes outside, all directions are written in French, the people outside are French, the restaurants we passed by have French names, everything, in French. After around 30 minutes, we arrived at our hotel and we checked in at Hotel de France, we fixed our things and get ready for the whole day tiry yet fun tour. We walk to Gare de Lyon to buy our ticket, have some pictures and rode to the historical Notre Dame de Paris, take some pictures then went to La Defense and then to Eiffel Tower. Eiffel Tower, the most famous attraction in Paris, its just awesome, just by looking at the structure and knowing that it was only built for two years, I just can’t believe how they finished it, I mean, it was from 1887-1889, where technology is not that vast yet as today, how would they build an iron tower that fast? It’s just remarkable. After a very tiry day, we went back to our Hotel via Metro and rested. At dinner time, my roommates and I tried to find something to eat outside, walked in the streets of Paris, ended up eating Panini, a very delicious “Jamaican Patties” like of food, it cost php300 for a piece and could fill 2 stomachs already.

    On our 2^nd day, we went to Eiffel tower again to try to get into the top but we ended up buying ticket for the afternoon schedule and we went to Musee De Louvre, where paintings are precious, this is where we have seen the painting of Mona Lisa and other important things of the civilizations of the world.

After it, we went back Eiffel Tower to experience going up. I didn’t expect to go up for its too high when you look from below and I can’t imagine how cold is it on top, at around 3-5pm, we went up the tower by elevator and while going up, it has gotten colder and much colder and I forgot to bring my gloves. When we reach the top, the wind is very strong and the coldness is just unbearable, I enjoyed the scenery which one could see the whole Paris from above, I took some pictures of the scenery. I think we’ve only spent less than an hour on top taking few pictures and we went down already. I together with Mico and Mikey asked permission to walk on our own that evening and we started to walk from Eiffel Tower until Arc de Triumph and Champs Elysees.

It was the first time we walk on our own, we wanted to experience how it like was to be walking in the streets of Paris without a guide, and we just used the metro map and walk. We were amazed for we were just walking in the streets and we didn’t expect to arrive at another attraction which is the Arc de Triumph; the city is just full of attractions and very accessible. It was also our first time to ride in the metro on our own, so we had adventures of being lost and it was just fun. The next day was the day for Phil. Embassy and Institute Vatel, the partner school of DLS-CSB SHRIM and after, we went to Arc de Triumph to take pictures with the group and then walked in the famous streets of Champs Elysees, after which we went on our own again and ride a metro to see the Notre Dame de Paris at night. The attraction is just very different as compared when in the morning. We went to the side streets afterwards to buy some souvenirs and ate at Subway then went back to the Hotel to rest. 

    The 4^th day, we went to Chateau de Versailles which is outside Paris to see the beauty of nature being taken care of.

While walking towards the Notre Dame de Paris

The long line before getting in the Chateau was worth it, for the scenery was just tremendous. The cold weather matching with the scenes outside the chateau, the grasses and trees being trimmed very well, the building being taken care of, made the whole place just awesome and outside chateau is very relaxing and refreshing that we were not able to make it to the group picture. After which, the three of us found something to eat because we were all hungry after a long half day, we headed to Buffalo Grill to have our lunch. It was our first times to eat at a fine dining restaurant at France were they serve bread and salad for free for our appetizer and then our main course. We headed on our own that day and we went home early for my departure to Lourdes, Southern France.