Day 4:
- SIL and I went out at 10+am and walk to 233 rue saint Honoré again to find the Goyard shop. At the same time also went to a nearby shop to look for LongChamp bag which SIL need to help a friend to buy.
- End up both came out of the shops empty handed because the Goyard bag was not as nice as what I saw online, and the other shop did not sell the color my SIL wanted. It was not a Longchamp boutique, just a shop carries Longchamp and other brands.
- So we walk along the street to buy more souveniers for Hui's whole family and tabao Mcdonald back for lunch.
- Hui was at home looking after the kids making them happy and ensure they took their nap. :)
- The ladies returned back to the hotel around 1pm. The young "ladies" were still sleeping when we returned. Good job Hui!
- After the girls were awake, we left the hotel around 3pm to Parc de la Villette. It was a park which have some fun activities for the kids. In order to go this place, we need to walk pass Cites Des Sciences et de i'industrie (A place like Singapore Science Centre). After asking around, we found Parc was abit too far to walk to hence we hang around the park opposite Cites Des Sciences.
- We let the girls play and run around the park freely before we proceed for some meals inside Cites Des Sciences. The girls had porridge which I cooked in the morning to bring it out, while the adults had waffles and hot drinks.
- Left the place and went to underground shopping at Chatelet.
- Window shopping for 1hour or so I guess, and proceed back to hotel.
- Adults had Sodebo (pasta) for dinner while the girls drank milk and head to bed.
Day 5:
- Left the hotel at 10+am to our first destination - Jardin de Accalimation. This day, we strike out the idea to leave the hotel in the noon because we wanted to go 2 places. If was like yesterday, we could only be able to go 1 place.
- The place was not that difficult to find. Probably 10mins walk away from the metro (or RER?). I guess I have 2 very good walking street directory. I simply just follow them :)
- Elsie was asleep in the train and only woke up after we almost finished our breakfast in one of the cafe (near the entrance) of Jardin de Accalimation.
- It was a nice place for kids. It's like our local funfair with rides for the kids and games to play to exchange for soft toys or other little gifts. It also have a small area that rares farm animals (goat, cow, birds etc). The girls had learnt some new words there...."cow...mooo....goat....meh meh..." and ofcourse some of their already known words as they goes..."BIRD...DOG" when they saw them.
- Ofcourse, Chloe had the chance to ride on the carousel again. She wanted to try out so many other rides and kept saying 'chor chor...sit sit...'. But too bad, there are age limitation where many of the rides are for 3-4 years and above. Only selected are for their age, but with adult accompanied.
- They also had fun playing and chasing after bubbles which their GUGU bought at the toy shop there.
- We spent 1/2 a day there and left the place around 2 or 3pm for factory outlet shopping at Val D' Europe, 1 stop away from Marne-La-Vallee-Chessy (Disneyland). The train ticket to this station was quite expensive, $6+ euro per pax because it was considered the more expensive zone (zone 6). But like the locals at paris which always like to sit the ride for free by climbing or jumping over the gantry, we as foreigners decided to play cheat too. :)
- We paid for a cheaper fare, as if we are travelling to zone 1 or 2 for $1+ per ticket. When we reach Val D Europe, with that ticket we were not able to get out of the gantry. But if there is someone coming/going in/out of the gantry, we will chiong out before the door closed. Usually the gantry that was used for the wheelchair/stroller have bigger openings and the door will take longer time to close. Therefore as soon as that person came in or went out, we followed closely behind and Ta-Da! We were out of the gantry at a cheaper price ticket...haha...Do this at your own risk. Do not follow suit if you were in Paris and you are not comfortable or daring to do this :P
- Ok, so here we are at the Factory Outlet starting our journey for branded goods. LongChamp was our first stop and good grace..the bags were so much cheaper compared to local! But they are usually those out of season bags that were selling at a further discounted price off the retail price at Paris boutique. So LongChamp at Paris boutique is already cheaper than in Singapore. Can you imagine another 30% discount cheaper than Paris boutique? Hohoho...we bought $440 Euro worth of bags there! Some as gifts, some for personal.
- Move on further to Agnes B but the bags at the factory outlet were quite limited. The shop were selling more clothes instead. Other branded shops were also there, a whole stretch of them. But some probably if you buy in US will be much cheaper like the Polo RL.
- Left the place around 7pm and head back to hotel.
- SIL cooked macaroni pasta for the girls and adults. Another day ended again...
Day 6:
- My birthday!
- Morning, SIL went out alone to 404, Rue St Honoré to the LongChamp boutique to buy the bag which she need to help her friend buy. As it was a new color, therefore the factory outlet do not have it.
- So morning Hui & I took care of the kids and I cooked porridge for the girls as lunch and dinner (to be brought out).
- We fed the girls lunch, make them sleep awhile and got them dress up just before SIL came back. We had a target to leave the hotel before 2pm.
- Left the room as targetted and reach Eiffel tower as our first stop.
- Chloe fell asleep during the ride to Eiffel tower hence her face was covered in the photo when we took it infront of the tower. And when she's awake, we were already queuing up to enter and forgot about re-taking with the tower after we came out. Wasted!
- It was horribly cold at the 3rd level outdoor. Snap some photos quickly and went back into the indoor as I scared the girls could not take it. The view were breathtaking as usual but I guess the girls were too young to appreciate.
- It was my second time in the tower, but the experience at the 3rd level outdoor never fails to WOW me!
- Loiter around in the tower for some time and fed the girls milk before we started to descend down. Chloe was as friendly as usual to the Ang Mors and seems my girls were quite well-liked by them. During the few minutes time in the lift to descend down the tower, an angmor couple were playing with Chloe and it did kept her entertained for that couple of minutes. Anyway the girls were not shy at all and wave 'Hi' & 'Bye' to many angmors in Paris where ever we went.
- Left Eiffel tower and proceed to Champs-Elysees again for shopping as we still had some things need to buy from there.
- First to the disneyland shop to get 2 cups for the girls because I saw the design there on Sunday when we went to purchase the tickets, but couldnt find the exact cup at the shops in Disneyland.
- Then proceed to Agnes B boutique shop as SIL need to help friend buy a bag from there as well. I bought a bag from Agnes B as well because I just couldn't resist it. Although I was quite hesistant at first because the bag do not come in Black, only White. Anyway I still bought it as Hui keep sykoing saying it's not always we will be in Paris and the price was quite attractive as well. 95 Euro for that bag which might be selling like few hundreds in Singapore. I have a Agnes B bag, size slightly bigger which Hui bought for me in Singapore selling at $300+ before discount (He bought it when it was having sale!). Will go checkout in local see if the bag I bought do sells here and how much is it..haha..
- Left Champs-Elysees at round 7pm and took the train back to our hotel station.
- Because it was my bday, they insist we should have dinner at some restaurant this time round instead of those pathetic dinner in the hotel room.
- Settled down at a restaurant nearby our hotel for dinner. Guess it was the best dinner we had for the trip here! Service was very good as well.
- After we called the bill, the girls were given a stick of poky each from the waiter and a few packets of biscuits. Ofcourse the girls showed their seductive smile again with their little dimples and wave happily to the waiters, bitting their poky away!
- After the dinner, we hurried back to the hotel. It should be very cold since it was almost 9pm. But luckily we took all the small lanes and I guess the buildings in between us had helped to block away the winds.
- Back at the hotel, we cut the birthday cake which SIL bought when she was out in the morning. It was a very very nice cake but because we had such a heavy dinner, 3 of us could not managed to stuff the whole cake down. Although I hope I could, but stomach told me to stop before it explode!
- The girls had many bites of the cakes too to share the joy.
- We ate 1/2 of the cake and left the balance for tomorrow breakfast before we check-out.
- I brought the girls to bed while the other 2 were busy packing the luggage. We had to check-out by 8am as the taxi would be waiting for us outside the hotel to fetch us to the airport.
Day 7:
- Everyone woke up late as per planned!
- Rush like mad to stuff all last minute items (like toiletress, sleeping attire etc)into the bags.
- Suppose to have the leftover birthday cake as breakfast but end up throwing 1/2 the cake away because we do not have time to eat. Super heartpain because the cake was so nice! Anyway, I still managed to take a few bites out of the rushing madness! :p
- Managed to checkout hotel in time and board the taxi.
- Reached the airport quite early so that we could have time to claim for the tax rebate for the bags we bought and loiter around the airport.
- The girls were much more well-behaviour in the plane on the way back to Singapore.
- Arrived Singapore Changi airport around 7am (13th March) with the whole gang of Chua family waiting at the arrival gate for us.
This marks the end of our 7days 6nights Paris trip. Our very first trip with the kids. With this experience, I guess I could do it much better for our next trip.
Havent have time to upload the photos to shutterfly yet. Will post to blog again once I have uploaded them. Stay tune....
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Paris Trip - 5th to 12th March 2010 Part I
It's really not easy to bring a young toddler overseas, especially TWO which are of the same age! 13 hours in plane to Paris was not a pleasent one. Almost wanted to write to SIA to complain for the bad service by a crew lead but hold back. Luckily the flight back to Singapore was better, maybe because it was 3 adults to 2 kids then. And the cabin crews for that return flight provided so much better service compared to the earlier.
To that fat uncle cabin crew (think you are some teamlead of the crew or something) who was on duty in SQ333 on 5th March 2010 2355 plane to Paris, it was the latter crew team that saved your job. If I were to complain to SIA about what you had requested me to do due to a crying child, I assured you will be put on investigation and I pray you will lose your job!! You truely let me see the dark side of a reputable airline!
Enough said about that spoiler. Shall continue with my entry regarding about the trip...
The girls were very cranky during the first 3 days due to different time zone (7 hours behind Singapore time) which cause them lack of sleep, hungry because of the different feeding time and the coldness. 12pm - 2pm was the deadly timing to bring them out. During this period, they would start to go crazy until the 3 adults were very frustrated and almost wanted to call it a day and proceed back to hotel. But after they had managed to take their nap, the rest of the day would then be more peaceful and enjoyable. Therefore on the 4th day, we decided to change our itinerary to suit their body system. And indeed, the rest of the days were more manageable.
Arms almost sprain and broke with all 6 days carrying them while walking in Paris. Elsie, my super glue only allowed me to carry her and no others. Letting them down to walk was a complete waste of time because they just wanted to wonder around on their own without following our directions. I swear I had brought back some arms muscle by carrying a 10kg kid for so many hours a day. Straight 6 days! Not forgetting they were wearing so many layers of clothing which added more weight!
Getting them to wear layers of clothes before leaving the hotel room was also another horrible battle of war. Especially Elsie, everyday before stepping out of the hotel room was a disaster! She only started to understand that it was neccessary to put on so many clothings because of the low temperature out there after 5 days had passed in Paris. On day 6, getting her dress up was so much easier and she had happily adapted to the changes. But sad to say, just when the girls finally got settled down with the Europe timing, it also marks the end of our trip as the next day we will check-out and take the flight back to Singapore.
So to those who are planning for a Europe or US trip with young toddlers, pls plan at least a 2weeks trip so when the kids get settled down with the different timing, you still have 1 more week to start the real enjoyment with a less cranky child!
Here's the itinerary of our 7 days 6 nights trip in Paris with a temperature ranging from -3 to 5 degree C:
Day 1:
- Touched down at Paris at 6.40am. Hui was 15mins late to pick us up!
- Took the metro from the airport to our hotel: Citadines Saint Germain Des Pres Apart Hotel Paris. It was less than 10mins walk from the metro to our hotel.
- Get settled down in the hotel and left in the noon to visit the Cathédrale Notre Dame since it was near to our hotel.
- Took some photos and proceed for teabreak at some cafes nearby.
- Had crapes and hot chocolate while the gentleman had coffee.
- Walk around awhile and took the metro to Champs-Elysées to take photo of Arc de Triomphe.
- Went to the disneyland shop at Champs-Elysées to purchase Disneyland tickets for Monday (08/03/10).
- As the weather was getting colder, decided to return back to hotel.
- A relaxing day 1 as we didnt want to stress and tired out the kids.
- Had maggie mee for dinner and tried to make the girls to bed. Then the adults also slept early around 10+pm to recuperate from the jetlag (except the gentleman since he was in France 1 week earlier than us, so already adapt to the time zone!)
Day 2:
- Visited Musee Du Louvre after having breakfast in our hotel apartment. We had bought some bread, cornflakes and other groceries (to make porridge for the girls) from Carrefour on day 1, which is near to our hotel.
- We walked to the Lourve as it was only about 15mins walk away from our hotel.
- Elsie was very cranky in the Lourve starting 12pm onwards. So in order to settle her down and get her to sleep, we wasted alot of time in the Lourve.
- Had lunch at the Lourve while the girls were having their nap.
- After taking photo with the famous Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci and walking around the musuem, we left the Lourve and proceeded to Jardin De Tuilleries. It was a park and just 5mins away from the Lourve.
- The two girls had fun playing the carousel in the park and Chloe refused to get down, crying for more.
- Walked to Rue Saint Honore to find a shop call Goyard but it was closed on Sunday.
- Walk further to find a place for tea-break and leg rest.
- Settled for a cafe to feed the girls milk and the adults had a Croque Madame sandwich, hot chocolate and coffee.
- On the way back to hotel, found a whole street of shops that sell souveniers. So we bought some gifts and slowly proceed back to hotel.
- The ladies had the 1/2 loaf of bread (left over from lunch at the lourve) for dinner while the gentleman had maggie mee.
- As usual, settled the girls to bed and the adults also called it a day!
Day 3:
-Disneyland day!
- Weather was simply too cold that I find it so difficult to walk around.
- Nevertheless, did manage to take some photos with the characters (4 dwarfs out of 7). The rest of disney characters were nowhere to be seen because they usually started parade out individually in the morning. By 3+pm, all were preparing for the street parade show and hiding away from the crowds.
- Why 3+pm then we started to take photos? Because 12-2pm was the deathly timing, remembered?
- Anyway bought some clothings and stuffs for the girls in the disneyland shops, watched finish the street parade and we called it a day.
- Left disneyland around 6pm and took RER back to hotel.
- Again we had maggie mee for dinner.
* To be continued...*
To that fat uncle cabin crew (think you are some teamlead of the crew or something) who was on duty in SQ333 on 5th March 2010 2355 plane to Paris, it was the latter crew team that saved your job. If I were to complain to SIA about what you had requested me to do due to a crying child, I assured you will be put on investigation and I pray you will lose your job!! You truely let me see the dark side of a reputable airline!
Enough said about that spoiler. Shall continue with my entry regarding about the trip...
The girls were very cranky during the first 3 days due to different time zone (7 hours behind Singapore time) which cause them lack of sleep, hungry because of the different feeding time and the coldness. 12pm - 2pm was the deadly timing to bring them out. During this period, they would start to go crazy until the 3 adults were very frustrated and almost wanted to call it a day and proceed back to hotel. But after they had managed to take their nap, the rest of the day would then be more peaceful and enjoyable. Therefore on the 4th day, we decided to change our itinerary to suit their body system. And indeed, the rest of the days were more manageable.
Arms almost sprain and broke with all 6 days carrying them while walking in Paris. Elsie, my super glue only allowed me to carry her and no others. Letting them down to walk was a complete waste of time because they just wanted to wonder around on their own without following our directions. I swear I had brought back some arms muscle by carrying a 10kg kid for so many hours a day. Straight 6 days! Not forgetting they were wearing so many layers of clothing which added more weight!
Getting them to wear layers of clothes before leaving the hotel room was also another horrible battle of war. Especially Elsie, everyday before stepping out of the hotel room was a disaster! She only started to understand that it was neccessary to put on so many clothings because of the low temperature out there after 5 days had passed in Paris. On day 6, getting her dress up was so much easier and she had happily adapted to the changes. But sad to say, just when the girls finally got settled down with the Europe timing, it also marks the end of our trip as the next day we will check-out and take the flight back to Singapore.
So to those who are planning for a Europe or US trip with young toddlers, pls plan at least a 2weeks trip so when the kids get settled down with the different timing, you still have 1 more week to start the real enjoyment with a less cranky child!
Here's the itinerary of our 7 days 6 nights trip in Paris with a temperature ranging from -3 to 5 degree C:
Day 1:
- Touched down at Paris at 6.40am. Hui was 15mins late to pick us up!
- Took the metro from the airport to our hotel: Citadines Saint Germain Des Pres Apart Hotel Paris. It was less than 10mins walk from the metro to our hotel.
- Get settled down in the hotel and left in the noon to visit the Cathédrale Notre Dame since it was near to our hotel.
- Took some photos and proceed for teabreak at some cafes nearby.
- Had crapes and hot chocolate while the gentleman had coffee.
- Walk around awhile and took the metro to Champs-Elysées to take photo of Arc de Triomphe.
- Went to the disneyland shop at Champs-Elysées to purchase Disneyland tickets for Monday (08/03/10).
- As the weather was getting colder, decided to return back to hotel.
- A relaxing day 1 as we didnt want to stress and tired out the kids.
- Had maggie mee for dinner and tried to make the girls to bed. Then the adults also slept early around 10+pm to recuperate from the jetlag (except the gentleman since he was in France 1 week earlier than us, so already adapt to the time zone!)
Day 2:
- Visited Musee Du Louvre after having breakfast in our hotel apartment. We had bought some bread, cornflakes and other groceries (to make porridge for the girls) from Carrefour on day 1, which is near to our hotel.
- We walked to the Lourve as it was only about 15mins walk away from our hotel.
- Elsie was very cranky in the Lourve starting 12pm onwards. So in order to settle her down and get her to sleep, we wasted alot of time in the Lourve.
- Had lunch at the Lourve while the girls were having their nap.
- After taking photo with the famous Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci and walking around the musuem, we left the Lourve and proceeded to Jardin De Tuilleries. It was a park and just 5mins away from the Lourve.
- The two girls had fun playing the carousel in the park and Chloe refused to get down, crying for more.
- Walked to Rue Saint Honore to find a shop call Goyard but it was closed on Sunday.
- Walk further to find a place for tea-break and leg rest.
- Settled for a cafe to feed the girls milk and the adults had a Croque Madame sandwich, hot chocolate and coffee.
- On the way back to hotel, found a whole street of shops that sell souveniers. So we bought some gifts and slowly proceed back to hotel.
- The ladies had the 1/2 loaf of bread (left over from lunch at the lourve) for dinner while the gentleman had maggie mee.
- As usual, settled the girls to bed and the adults also called it a day!
Day 3:
-Disneyland day!
- Weather was simply too cold that I find it so difficult to walk around.
- Nevertheless, did manage to take some photos with the characters (4 dwarfs out of 7). The rest of disney characters were nowhere to be seen because they usually started parade out individually in the morning. By 3+pm, all were preparing for the street parade show and hiding away from the crowds.
- Why 3+pm then we started to take photos? Because 12-2pm was the deathly timing, remembered?
- Anyway bought some clothings and stuffs for the girls in the disneyland shops, watched finish the street parade and we called it a day.
- Left disneyland around 6pm and took RER back to hotel.
- Again we had maggie mee for dinner.
* To be continued...*
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Reached!
We have arrived in Paris safely on Saturday (6th March) at 6.40am CET. Weather is not as bad as what the news said. Sunny weather but the temperature range between 1-8 degree in the noon. At night and early morning can go below as -3 degree C. Therefore we will ensure we are back to our hotel before the temperature goes even lower in the evening, and leave the hotel in the late morning when the temperature goes up.
Just some previews of the photos taken on the first 2 days. More details on the trips will be up when I get back Singapore on Saturday 13th March.
Just some previews of the photos taken on the first 2 days. More details on the trips will be up when I get back Singapore on Saturday 13th March.
