We had a Pfingsten public holiday on Monday, then a 1-week holiday for the rest of the week for uni break, almost thought we'd get stuck in Stuttgart for the hols cos we were too busy planning our hol in Switzerland just the week before so cheap tickets were all kinda gone.. Phew, luckily found cheap TGV train tickets within france on offer during that period.. =) So off we went (Winnie and I)!!
We travelled to Strasbourg first, quite a small city in France that's near to Germany... At certain points in history they were actually under Germany, so it's got some german influence and some of them speak german too.. Heard it's quite a nice place, so decided to pay it a visit hee.. Finally reached there about 11am, after the exciting episode of being chased off the train halfway through, cos we honestly forgot about Baden-Wuerttemberg tickets only being valid after 9am on weekdays haha... Purposely woke up at an unearthly hour so we can take the early connection there, but ended up reaching late still haha..
Us in our hostel.. CIARUS... Quite happy with it, cos it's rather organised, clean, bright, and serves a rather good spread of breakfast... 21 euros per person per night in a 6-bed female dorm..
Walked around Strasbourg... Went into a few churches... Quite a number of them actually have explanations printed out in all different languages for visitors to read while walking around the church.. Find it quite cool... ;)
Petite France... Found a postcard of a painting of a slightly different angle of this exact place haha...
Choucroute -- the french word for Sauerkraut!
More prettiness of Petite France... 
The Cathedral that seems to be the main attraction of the town.. =P Goth... Doesn't it remind you of the one in Prague? ;)
The Parliament of the European Council... Doesn't that cylindrical glass building look like a modern-day Colosseum?
Me and my dream hat! Always liked hats ever since I was a kid.. =P Was almost tempted to get one, if not for the price and not going to be wearing it much anyway..
After our amazing race run to catch our train, we're off to Paris! TGV trains seem newer and posher than the DB's ICEs haha... And best of all, the colour scheme is purple! =P
After a long deliberation over which tranport tickets would be the most economical and nasty customer service (our hotel's stop is in Zone 3 despite a ticket sales lady insisting that it's in Zone 4), we finally bought the week pass for Zones 1-3 called the Carte Orange... Only snag was that we needed a photo to stick on the identity card... So Winnie tore her photo with her cousin and I tore my useless Aufenthaltserlaubnis (hope the Customs don't hold it against me the next time I fly haha)... Hilarious lah.. Showing off our cards in front of the main train station...
ur super shagged looks after manouveuring through the Paris metro and RBR system with our heavy luggage (best of all is that there's no escalators or lifts at most stops)... Finally at Epinay sur Seine, but still need to search for our hotel from there...
Our bed! Woohoo.. ;) Arty-farty photo of slept-in bed with our bags representing each of us haha...
Couple photo in our bed! haha... Quite a nice, clean, simple and cheap hotel, only thing is that it's quite far from the city centre...
HDB neighbourhood? That's the neighbourhood where the hotel is in haha... Welcome to the non-touristy part of Paris!
First stop: Eiffel Tower!
Us at the highest level of the Eiffel Tower! 12 whooping euros per person for the lifts up here.. -_-'' But the view was good, and you're in Paris man!
Went further down to get a photo with the Statue of Liberty, but apparently the next bridge was a bit too far already haha... Nontheless.. ;) Yes, that tiny thing at the foot of the Eiffel Tower...
Us in front of the tower itself, and the ubiquitous tourists in the background haha...
Can you believe it? The Sainte-Chapelle was on strike! Haha... So everyone was refused entry...
No wonder even the traffic light red-men strike such an angry pose haha...
The Notre Dame!
Inside the Notre Dame Cathedral...
This priest gives confession in sooo many languages! My my... There was even a priest approaching visitors in whatever language they speak and providing them with an explanation sheet in whatever language on the biblical story sculptures... Makes one feel proud of the catholic church sia.. ;) Not just a church that's turned into an empty shell for tourists to gawk at... 
Petite Luxembourg... Nice park to break for a picnic.. ;)
Gangster-head spotted smoking cigar in park! Haha... One of our favourite snacks... A bit like love letters rolled with fillings like haselnut or chocolate inside...
Found this composition of 2 old ladies chatting animatedly in front of the pond amusing.. ;)
Rushed to this garden to find out that the only interesting thing is that everything's symmetrical...
Nope, I didn't just flip the above photo...
Found these in a shop window.. How sweet..
Arc de Triomphe... These europeans are really fond of all these triumphal arcs eh... Seen them practically everywhere -- Spain, Italy, France...
Hotel des Invalides.. Nope it's not a hotel for invalides.. =P We almost thought it was a hotel so almost didn't visit it... Ends up being a military museum, with a church behind where Napoleon is apparently laid at...
Paris' version of Orchard Road!
Didn't go to Disneyland Paris, but at least went to Disneyshop Paris haha... Got scolded by the staff for taking photos, so this is a sneak shot muahaha...
Introduring...Winnie the Pooh!! So fits her lah, especially with her new-found craving for honey ever since she came to Germany haha... (No staff came to stop us when we were taking this photo though, weird)
The Louvre Museum.... Free for under 26s on Fridays 6-10pm! Woot!! More money-saving schemes muahhaa..
The highlight -- Mona Lisa! It's quite amusing that it's placed in this gigantic room with gigantic paintings hung all around the walls, but everyone's crowding around this tiny one in the middle haha... It seems almost insignificant in terms of size..
The grounds of the Louvre Museum at dusk.. Was super tired after only going through a tiny section of the gigantic museum, left slightly before 10pm...
We dropped off our luggage at the Paris main train station (for an outrageous 5 euros per piece!) And trooped off to Mont Matre neighbourhood.. Moulin Rouge in the day... 
Sacre Coeur.. Sacred Heart church.. Our famous amusing photo haha.. With tourists all in action as our backdrop... ;) We were eating our Pate on the steps when a group of Singaporeans suddenly approached us and asked us to help them take a photo with the church, then chatted a bit and seems like one of them is actually a friend of our friend who's also doing SEP in Stuttgart! Small world! No idea how they spotted us amongst all the other tourists though haha..
The steps up to the church.. Quite a nice white church, though a bit young... Rather disgusted by the guys hanging around at the foot of the steps trying to slit tourists' throats with that tourist scam of making friendship bands for them... They can get quite rude and insistent when you refuse, but just gotta be firm, oh well..
Boulangeries abound! We were popping into every bakery we could spot to look for ok-priced and delicious-looking pastries haha... 
Finally, I settled for a Choquette... Super light and delicious!! Quite amazed that Delifrance actually bakes a good version of it! Winnie had a quiche that was also ooh-la-la.. ;)
Enjoying our Macarons on the train back to Strasbourg! The chocolate one was really really good.. According to both of us at least... Kanna still insists on swearing by the coffee ones haha... A sweet close to our France trip! =D
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