Day 2 - Prague (Stare Mesto)

26 Feb 2010

Paris-Prague
After breakfast and checking out of Holiday Inn Express, we board the 'Black Bus' to Roissypole.

We had a little bit of a trouble finding CDG Terminal 3 in order to check in for our flight to Prague. Initially, we thought Terminal 3 was located in the same building where the bus dropped us off but that was not the case.

In order to get to Terminal 3, we had to walk for about 7 minutes from Roissypole, first by following a 'blue' coloured pathway which took us to the outside of the Roissypole building where we could see the bus terminus on our left. Thereafter, we had to cross a road and then walk along a subway (tunnel) in order to get to the terminal building. (Note: In France, they used the 'down' arrow on their signs to indicate that you should move forward, not for you to find an escalator / stairs to go one level down!).

Our journey to Eastern Europe proper began with Smart Wings, flight QS1035 from Paris CDG Terminal 3 to Prague. The flight was good and we were even served complimentary sandwiches and drinks.

Prague
We arrived at Prague International airport at about 10.15am. Prague airport is clean, very functional and with clear signage. We took an airport car, which came with a fixed rate of CZK650 (about EUR 28) to our hotel, ACCOR Century Old Town. Although the Czech Republic is member of the European Union, they still use their own currency, Czech Crown (CZK).

Tip
Do not exchange a lot of CZK at the airport, just change enough to pay for your transport to your hotel. You get better rates in the city area (namely around the Celetna area of Stare Mesto). Look for money changers with 0% commission. Most money changers put up an attractive rate but they also charge a commission. We also encountered a lot of touts who claim that they offer better exchange rates than banks / money changers (we simply ignored them).

Stare Mesto (Old Town)
Our day starts with exploring Stare Mesto (Old Town district), which is about 8 minutes walk from our hotel. Czech may be a republic, but Prague has two kings - pork and beer. The pork knuckles and sausages were brilliant. Just a few doors away from our hotel is the Palladium, a large shopping mall where we could find food, ice cream and to get ourselves momentarily 'thawed'.

Roast Pork

Beer is cheaper than water or Coca-Cola, therefore choosing my beverage during meals was a no-brainer. Czech Beer (Pilsner Urquell) costs about CZK 33 for a pint at most restaurants. Buying a 6 pack from the supermarket was even better. CHEERS!

The picture below shows a skilled blacksmith at work. He's got some nice works like bells, but rather pricey. A simple bell costs about CZK459 (equivalent to SGD 40.00). So, we did some window shopping at his shopping cart.

Skilled Blacksmith at Old Town Square

We took pictures consist of day and night views of the Church of Our Lady before Týn. It is a beautiful old church and one of the main symbols of Prague. I prefer the night photo, though.

Church of Old Lady before Tyn, (day view)

Church of Our Lady before Tyn - night view)

One of the unique things we saw at the Old Town Square was the Astronomical clock. The clock itself is unique and we saw hordes of tourists gathered around the clock to watch its hands move at the hour and also to hear a trumpeter signaling the start of the hour.

Astronomical Clock

Day 1 - Paris (Tour Eiffel)

25 Feb 2010
No visit to Paris is complete without paying homage to the magnificent Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower). We took a slow walk from Les Invalides to the Eiffel Tower, which was not too far away. Thankfully, we had some brief sunshine. However, due to the earlier rain, the path leading to the Eiffel Tower was rather wet and muddy.

No explanation needed here

On arrival, I had decided scale Eiffel Tower by stairs to the 1st and 2nd floors, a decision that I would regret later. Joyce waited for me at the foot of the tower while I made my climb. It was a torturous EUR 4.50 climb for me (I promise to keep fit and start exercising). I can tell you that I wasn't the only one gasping for breath. Please click on the embedded short video clip to see what I had to go through.

The views from the 1st and 2nd floors of the Eiffel Tower are awesome (see below) and well worth the climb. If you're not as fit as me (ahem!), please take the lift.

Bird's eye view of the Seine

After our visit to Eiffel Tower, we took a walk towards Trocadero. Along the way, we were touted by young children and adults, majority of them of African origin, into buying souvenirs. It was a totally different sight ten years ago. We had a brief 'bladder break' at the Trocadero Metro station before taking the train to Champs Elysees (Charles de Gaulle Etoille station).

Champs Élysées
Champs Élysées was busy as it was Friday night and plenty of people walking around even though it's cold. Our mission is just to hang out, have dinner and do some window shopping. The Arc de Triomphe stood majestically in the midst of walking Parisians and tourists alike.

Me and Arc de Triomphe in the background

We walked into a few boutiques like Louis Vuitton to momentarily escape from the cold weather and to our surprise, the clientele were mainly Asians (from China) - you could also hear them a mile away. After dinner (believe it or not, we ate at McDonald's), we took the metro to Châtelet - Les Halles station and connect to our RER B train back to Roissypole. We had an early night as we would be travelling early the next day.

Avenue des Champs Élysées

Day 1 - Paris

25 Feb 2010
We arrive at Paris CDG Terminal 1 at about 6.40am. Immigration clearance was brisk since the queue for non-EU passport holders was relatively short. The trip to our hotel, Holiday in Express CDG Airport was more eventful.

CDG Shuttle
We took the CDG Shuttle to Roissypole (located next to CDG Terminal 3). The CDG shuttle platform was accessible via a lift located at the back of the Information counter at Terminal 1. Initially, we thought it was a shuttle bus, but it's actually an Inter-Terminal aerotrain service, similar to the Skytrain in Changi Airport.

Roissypole
Roissypole itself is not CDG Terminal 3, it is located adjacent to it (about 5 minutes walk) as we found out on Day 2. Roissypole consists of platforms and terminals for RER B trains and bus services connecting CDG airport to the city and beyond. It was a little confusing trying to look for the shuttle bus that goes to Holiday Inn at first and the attendant at the control station was not helpful either (the arrogant bastard refused to speak English). Fortunately, we found some helpful staff from the Roissy bus customer service.

Black Bus
The shuttle bus platform is located on the opposite platform of the CDG shuttle (Look for the sign that says 'Hotel Courtesy Bus'). The bus that would bring us to Holiday Inn Express was called the 'Black Bus'. (Note: That's the name of the bus company, not its colour!).

The journey on the 'Black Bus' to our hotel took about 12 minutes. It was a free service that goes to airport hotels such as Park Inn, Marriot and Holiday Inn. Quite a number of business people took the Black Bus as well.

Our hotel - Holiday Inn Express CDG Airport

To the city
After checking in, we waited at the hotel lobby for the 'Black Bus' to get us back to Roissypole in order to catch the RER B train to the city. We bought Paris Visite day tickets, which costs EUR 18.40 per person, and covers unlimited travel on RER, Metro and buses within Paris zone 1 to 5. The usual return ticket from the airport to the city already costs about EUR 17 per person, so Paris Visite made sense to us.

Note: In my opinion, buy Paris Visite ticket only if you are staying near the CDG airport area or planning to do lots of travel on the metro and RER, otherwise a 'carnet' of 10 tickets which costs about 11 EUR would be a better option to stretch your EUR.

The RER B took about 45 minutes to the city due to some minor delays along the way. We got off at St Michel / Notre Dame stop to have some lunch and visit the Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Lunch
We had a pre-lunch snack at a local bakery that we found by chance when we took the rue Xavier Privas exit from the RER.

Our pre-lunch snack

Lunch was a 3-course set meal at the Symposium Restaurant, located at 29, rue de la Huchette. Our set lunch cost EUR 8.50 per person and consists of mussels, followed by spaghetti or roast chicken and chocolate mousse. It was good, but not great. However, one can't complain when paying EUR8.50 for a three course meal in the heart of Paris. The mussels from Brussels were definitely better.

Lunch @ Symposium Restaurant

Notre dame Cathedral
Notre dame (literally means 'Our Lady' in French) Cathedral is really beautiful and well preserved. We were mesmerized by the beauty of the architecture, both inside and outside the cathedral. Our day pictures would have been better had the weather been on our side. It was gloomy and raining. My good friend Marcel lamented that I bring crap weather wherever I went. I'm beginning to believe his words.

Notre Dame main entrance

Inside the Notre Dame (facing main altar)

After praying in the Cathedral and enjoying its beautiful interior, we headed for Invalides to visit Napolean's final resting place.

Les Invalides
We took the RER from St Michel / Notre-Dame and exit at Invalides. The journey from the train station to the Invalides campus took a while as it was raining cats, dogs and elephants and the cold weather didn't help at all. We thought we could find a covered walkway, but there wasn't any to be found and we lost our bearings a little. Thankfully, the rain subsided a little and we could make our way to Invalides on foot with the help of my brolly.

Les Invalides (background)

Invalides used to be a campus containing a hospice, convent, hospital and factory. Today, the campus grounds is a tourist attraction consisting of Eglise du Dome (Dome church), the tomb of Napolean I, Musee de l'Armee (Military museum) and the Cathedral of St Louis.

Eglise du Dome @ Invalides

The entrance fee to Napolean's tomb and Musee de l'Armee cost EUR 8.50 per person. Musee de l'armee houses an impressive collection of rifles and military outfits used by the French army. We also saw a lot of foreign army personnel, mainly from the Ukraine and Africa, visiting Musee de l'armee.

Tomb of Napolean Bonaparte
Napolean's tomb is located within the orifice of Eligse du Dome. The sarcophagus is impressively large for a small man. Within the sarcophagus are five successive coffins made from tin, mahogany, lead, lead again and ebony. Napolean's remains were brought back to Paris from the island of St Helena in 1840.

Napolean's final resting place

Cathedral of St Louis
The design of the Cathedral of St Louis was inspired by St Peter's Basilica, Rome. While not as grand as Notre Dame, Cathedral of St Louis is beautiful in its own right.

Main Altar of St Louis' cathedral

The dome as seen from inside

Check out our visit to Eiffel Tower in my next post.

Day 0 - Singapore

24 Feb 2010
Here's Joyce chilling out at Singapore Airlines lounge in Changi Airport while we wait for our flight to Paris on SQ334.


We didn't get much sleep on board though.

Eastern Europe here we come..

After working our butts off for the whole year, Joyce and I decided to take a 2 week break and visit Eastern Europe (Thank you Singapore Airlines for the flyer miles).

We will be visiting Paris, Prague, Krakow, Budapest, Vienna and Salzburg before heading to Frankfurt to return to Singapore. Hopefully the weather gets warmer by end Feb / early March.

Thankfully, visas are not required for Malaysian Passport holders to enter these countries. Whilst Czech Rep, Hungary and Poland are members of the EU (under the Schengen Agreement), they still use their own currencies instead of EUR.

We will be blogging our journey, hopefully on a daily basis. Stay tuned.