Paris Day 1 Part 2: Arc d Triumph, Champs Elysses, Eiffel Tower, Sacred Heart

We arrived at Arch D Triumph by metro.. took some pictures of the Arch on the outside..

This arch is situated on top of a roundabout where there r 12 lanes around it..so it pretty seems like a huge traffic mess..

We took an underpass to get directly under the arch.. the architecture of the arch as can be seen here..


From here, we can see the Grand Arch.. again thks to my 10 time optical zoom..

the 3 archs all lie on the same straight line.. so if u walk down a straight road from grand arch til the end, u will pass by the 3 archs..
the 3rd n the smallest arch can be seen in the picture here..

Its behind the long tall obelisk called the Concorde.. it was taken here by the French from Egypt.. behind the third arch will be the Louvre Museum..
We walked along Champs Elysses, one of the world's most famous shopping street.. rental here is also super high..

we heard from SC's friend that in the Louis Vitton shop along Champ Elysses, there r some ways to make a quick buck.. he mentioned that his friend earned 70 euros just by buying some LV bags for some Chinese ppl.. the LV store limits purchases of its products n they check passports of the customers.. and ppl from China will usually try to buy a lot of LV bags back to China to sell but they r limited by the rule.. so wat happened to SC friend is that some Chinese ppl approach him n passed him 2000 Euros to buy LV bags for them.. in return, they gave him 70 Euros.. of course hearing of this incident, i tink why not try our luck at the LV store..
SC mention that its very hard to miss the LV store.. when i reached, i understand why..


next picture is me trying out the stitch function of my camera.. not working very well.. but u get the idea of how showy the LV store is..

but however, the store along Champs Elysses is closed n have moved to another street.. not giving up on the idea of earning a quick buck, we proceeded to the other LV store..

take a look at its showcase outside the store n the prices... wooo...


well no such luck, no one approach us to buy for them.. n surprisingly the LV store is packed with Chinese, Japanese tourists.. the items are not very cheap loh.. but the store is still packed with ppl actually buying the stuff not just look-see..
we got out of the store n proceeded to the Metro..

Paris post box..

along the way to the metro, we passed Princess Diana memorial..
this highway is where Princess Diana was killed in the car accident a few years back.. the picture shows the entrance to the highway.. the car accident happened just beneath us..

Some tributes to Princess Diana written on the wall..

this served as a memorial to PRincess Diana altho its original purpose is to celebrate the millenium or smt like that but it just happened to be placed at this spot so it was used as a memorial as well..


The Eiffel Tower from far away.. the problem with Paris (not actually a problem) everything is so big here from the archs, palaces, eiffel tower etc.. that they all seem so near but when u try walking towards them, it takes half an hour to an hour.. crazy..

we proceeded to SC's old home in Paris where his friend is staying in now.. decided to take a rest from today's long walk..

SC advised me n LL to go to Eiffel Tower now so that we could take nice pictures in the evening.. while he could have dinner with his friends, do some catching up n he will meet up with us later..
We then proceeded to Eiffel Tower..


the queue to get the tickets to go up the Eiffel Tower is crazy.. so many ppl..


haha finally got my ticket.. not very cheap though buy aiyah once in a lifetime leh..

View from the top..

Every hour from 6 or 7pm onwards when it gets dark.. the Eiffel Tower will glitter for abt 10 minutes.. its a very nice sight..

Its freaking cold high up on the tower n its also very windy.. i took a video of the glittering Eiffel Tower.. nice but very noisy due to the wind.. could hear ppl gasping when the Tower starts to glitter on the hour..
Click here to watch 'Glittering Eiffel Tower'
Evening shot of the surroundings

Nice evening sky n the moon..

We went all the way up to the Eiffel Tower.. its crazy.. u have to queue up to get into the lifts to go to every level.. the first lift brings u up to the 1st level n the 2nd level.. u have to get off at the 2nd level where u have to take another lift up to the top level.. ticket pricing depends on which level u go... higher up u go the more ex it is..
Nite shots from the very top of the Eiffel Tower..
Note the blue streak of light.. its just spotlight from the Tower.. there r 2 spotlights on top which will rotate around the tower with blue illuminating streaks...


View of the football stadium from the top.. they looked so small as if they r in a video game n i m controlling them... cool..

We got off the Eiffel Tower.. even getting down by lift, u have to queue.. just too many ppl..
we took some more shots of the glittering Eiffel Tower from outside..

We met up with SC so that he could bring us to another famous Paris landmark, the Sacred Heart cathehedral.. very nice cathehedeal.. unique n diff from the other many churches we saw in Europe..