Face it, the most exciting day is indeed your travel day. Our Emirates Flight was scheduled at 6 p.m MYT and we were thereby 2 p.m to check in our luggage. Check in went smoothly and by 6 p.m we were air borne. We arrived in Dubai as per scheduled to have our 6 hours long of transit. Be noted that if you have transit for more than 4 hours, you are entitled for a free meal coupon from the airport. Please proceed to the transfer counter to get the coupon - you can eat from chain restaurant such as McD, KFC and Texas Chicken.

Our flight to Paris was at 3 a.m Dubai time and we boarded the glorious A380 to Paris. It was huge, spacious, comfortable for an Economy class. For me, Emirates has one of the best airline foods and entertainment system.

We arrived Charles De Gaulle Aeroport at 7.50 a.m. Immigration was a breeze. Risau juga sebab Muslim kan, but Alhamdulillah diorang tak tanya pun. Our 1st hurdle in France was when the luggage collecting bag was stuck for 30 minutes - the space is small people, imagine how crowded. We then proceed to the airport train station to purchase our tickets and our Paris Metro pass. The RER only has 2 trains that serve different zone. CB was unsure which to take but we managed to confirm it with one of the passenger. When we boarded, a couple of ladies - tourist like us was separated because they hesitate to come on board - poor lady.

CB was in charge for Paris, so we just follow! We navigate through the metro system via gate Du Nord to get to the Chateau Rouge station - 50 m from hotel. Okay, this is when we learn the hard way. Metro in Paris are deep underground unlike Malaysian's LRT. Hence no escalators! Me and CB have to lift our 20 kg luggage each down and up the flight of stairs! We hate stairs since then. Berat gila, bayangkan dengan backpack Nadia yang 7 kg kat belakang. We reached the hotel and left our luggage so we can have lunch while checking in.

This is our room at Best Western

We ate kebab at the next block of our hotels - there's a lot of kebab place here. We shop for some food/snacks at the Carrefour next to the hotel. At 2 pm, we checked in, perform prayers and out again.

We proceed to Les Halles station for our 1st visit which is an old church - Paroisse Saint-Eustache. Build in 13th century, the Gothic structure of this church exterior is the same as the infamous Notre Dame. It is beautiful. This church was a huge complex and there are several modern art sculpture outside. We then stopped at Chatelet station to visit the Saint-Jacques tower. This used to be a church in 19th century - now only the tower left.

The Saint-Eustache Church in Les Halles. Look at that fine detail of the church.

Saint Jacques Tower.

We then proceed to Cite station to visit the Marche Aux Fleur - Flower market that is quite near to the Notre Dame. They offer a whole range of flowers and birds here. You can smell the scent of flowers metres away from the market.

The flower market

We walk to the Notre Dame and enters it. Notre Dame is situated by the Seine river and inside the church, you can see the beautiful stained glass of Notre Dame. The crowd was okay and there is no congregation happening there. We sat for a few minutes before coming out to the the Love Lock Bridge. Tak bawak padlock, mampu tengok padlock je. Dari sekecil sampai la sebesar gedabak padlocknya. 

The church facing the Seine

The famous Notre Dame. Quasimodo was not home, sadly.

Love Lock Bridge

We have our first excursion which is the Seine River cruise. We walk from Notre Dame to the other side of Seine to have dinner at a Turkish restaurant. I was planning to use the toilet here but cancelled after founding out it was flooded. We walk at the street where there were many souvenir shops. We stopped to buy few souvenirs. Here I bought 2 tshirts for 2 cousins and buy some magnets.

The river cruise was held at sunset, which is beautiful, unfortunately a little spoiled by the herd of school boys and girls having a field trip. My God, I cannot even here the commentator. Thankfully we can recognise some of the landmarks. We passed Notre Dame, Grand Palais, Lourve and of course the Eiffel Tower. This is our first sight! Of course everyone was excited to take pictures and videos.

The boat

Eiffel Tower during sunset

The weather in Paris is so unforgiving that evening, I think it dropped to below 5 degC. We did not wear gloves or any jumper - it was freezing cold and we soon regret it. I was numb all evening. After that, we walk and board the metro to the hotel so we can rest and have a good sleep for the next day.

Kitorang suka ajuk pronunciation dalam Metro. Yelah, Bahasa French ni, ejaan dia tak sama dengan bunyi. Boleh kata setiap station, mesti kitorg sebut2. Agaknya orang Paris pandang pelik je kan.