Paris In Contrast

I always see this guy on my way to school. He doesn't beg for money but surely appears to have some mental problem besides being homeless, too. One guy left him a banana while he was sleeping at this corner of a grocery shop. Maybe he gets some warm air by sleeping near the air con compressor grille...


This picture was taken on my compact camera... u can view it larger by simply clicking on it.

Last entry on Chateau De Versailles

(Part three)
This is the last entry about my visit to Versailles. I better stop here and skip some pictures, otherwise it will become too long! Anyway, the bicycle trip to Versailles was one of the best things I've done in France and if u happen to visit Paris, u should take the cycling trip to Versailles. Although it was a very tiring day which left me totally flat at our last stop - the Chateau, it was still worth all the effort. Imagine, the Chateau area is about 900 hectares and it offers very beautiful sceneries along your ride.



Being a public park, the grounds of Versailles is also ideal for walks...




There is the Chateau! Let's get there!




Chateau tu nampak je dekat... rupanya kena keluar and pusing, pastu kayuh another 20minutes nak ke main entrance...



Sculptures are aplenty at Versailles, as it is a very, very old city.



A panoramic view of the Chateau...



The Royal Chapel, our first stop inside the Chateau... I wonder how the pipe organ sounds...



We spent hours here, taking in each corner... En Arip lost in his own world, listening to the audio guide...



A peek out one of the Chateau windows...



In the Halls of Mirrors... All blings~~



The Royals' bedchambers... Marie Antoinette's on the left, and King Louis XVI's on the right.



The Hall of Battles...



The North Parterre... The summer really brought out the best tones of this ornate corner.



The day out to Versailles brought us home by early evening. This is the scene out the window at 8 PM... Still as bright as noon!

Dah takdir Yasmin...

I feel so touched on reading Yasmin's 2nd last entry (about the death of Teoh Beng Hock)

before she died... I told her in my comment, " Dah takdir maybe "...

and today, I receive the official announcement of her death... Al-Fatihah

Tu Resteras On T'Aime...

Took this at a corner of the Notre Dame...Some Parisiens still pray for Michael Jackson...

Prelude to Versailles

This is the ballroom or "Hall of Mirrors" the Chateau De Versailles or the Palace of Versailles. Such opulence and extravagance caused the French Revolution. No wonder... More pics soon!
Click here to read the stories

Petit Eiffel

Took this pic at 8PM with my DSLR & Speedlite...Anyway have a great weekend !

The Palace of Versailles

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif


(Part two)- Click here to read part one

I cannot say enough about the fun we had on our cycling trip to the grounds of Versailles. Strangely, the summer heat did not discourage us at all. But getting the right guide is most important - you do not want to end up with a boring one!



Managed to explore Versailles town and its marketplace... walking through its alleys and take picturesque photographs was really relaxing after a long cycle...


One of Versailles's quaint alleys..


How can you not enter a beautiful shop smartly dressed like this? I spy a little sign that says "SOLDES"!


A coffee roasterie? Someone spent quite a long time here... And blew 200 Euros buying freshly roasted Kilimanjaro! :P Me? I won't!


No... no el fresco dining today, as we are having a picnic by the canals of Versailles later on!


Versailles' marketplace. After picking up stuff for our picnic basket, we continued cycling to the Palace of Versailles!


Ned's bike, with a crateful of our picnic grubs. Ned was our cycle guide for the day.


And we set off to explore the palace and grounds of Versailles. Cycling in this country setting, with birds chirping cheerfully, really reminded me of this clip below...





Ned explaining to us, the history of Versailles. He was very knowledgeable about the reign of Louis XVI, although he is actually Californian! LOL.


Marie Antoinette's hamlet!


This was the "kampung" side of Marie Antoinette... She did a "Simple Life" ala Paris Hilton here behind the grand palace!


We moved on...




The Petit Trianon... Louis XVI's gift to this wife Marie Antoinette...


OK... let's head for the hubby's summer palace now...


The Grand Trianon... with a generous spread of pink marble from Italy!


After a lengthy talk about the Grand Trianon by Ned, we were ready for our picnic by the Grand Canal!


Our picnic spot at the far end of the Grand Canal... At the other end of the canal, is the Chateau. This, by the way, is a man made canal, dating back to the days of Loius XVI!


Everyone getting ready to sit down for the picnic...


A native boy at play by the canal...


Part of our picnic basket...


En. Arip taking in the sight...


A zoomed-in view of the Chateau, from our picnic spot. This spot was Mr & Mrs. Marie Antoinette's favourite, too... They spent their free time admiring the grandeur of the Chateau...


My bottle of yogurt...






The bicycles taking their rest... This was just the first half of the day... We had many more kilometers to cover!

Click here to read the part three!

New addiction!

I'll continue about my bicycle trip to Versailles after this entry, since I have too many pictures to choose from :P. I'm still selecting the best ones!

Anyway, my new addiction in Paris is coconut-flavoured Swcheppes! Labelled as an exotic drink, to me the taste is delicious but not truly exotic!


It's about 3.50 Euro a bottle (close to 17.5 MYR?). It's like a combination of coconut juice with 7-up!

The Palace of Versailles - Cycling to The Palace

(Part one)
This is last weekend's story, just before En. Arip went back to Malaysia. He had joined me and a few of my classmates on a trip to Versailles. And the best thing was, we went there on bicycle & train! And so far, this must be the coolest thing I've done in Paris!

The Palace of Versailles, or simply Versailles, was a royal château set on the grounds of Versailles, within the Île-de-France region of France. In French, it is known as the Château de Versailles.

Versailles is a suburb of Paris, some twenty kilometers southwest of the French capital. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.



The Fajr prayer time in Paris now is at 3.20AM... Since it's summer, the sky is completely bright by 5 AM. The sight of Eiffel Tower to me is simply fabulous, not blocked by any building due to its height. It can be seen clearly from virtually any angle. Took this pic at 6.30 AM, on my way to the meeting point to pick up my bicycle.



Our meeting point was behind this shop lot. As usual, all shops in Paris never fail to impress me with their brilliant display of merchandise in thier glass windows.



That was my bicycle! And I just luv the mural next to it, on a pillar. It's about the personal interpretation of the Eiffel Tower.



By 8 AM, everybody was ready and acquainted with their own respective bikes. We were so excited to be cycling to Versailles!



And there we go! Our first stop was the Javel station, which took us 15 minutes on the bike... and we had to carry our bikes into the train manually.



I was cycling and snapping picture!...



Cycling in Paris is easy, since we have bicycle lane on most roads here...



After cycling 15 minutes, we reached our first stop, the metro station. The most difficult part was carrying own our bicycle down to the railway flatform via the narrow staircase!



We were divided into groups, 4 bikes to a group, just to make easy up the access on the train.



This was how we parked and tied our bikes in the train so that they don't distrub or endanger other passengers. And some curious passengers actually spoke Japanese to me, as they thought I was a cyclist from Japan... hehehe LOL!



The view within the train, and out the train.



We were entertained by this musician on the train... And after a 30-minute journey, we reached Versailles! It has been a long journey and more distance to cover. We need to cycle again!



We continued cycling in Versailles...



... again and again, but I was really enjoying the ride and scenery!



We finally reached downtown of Versailles where the oldest market in France is located. We parked our bikes, and spent about one hour to explore the town and packed our food basket for a picnic lunch later.



The town is small, but the country's best cheese, ceramicware and wine are from here.



Local crafts can also be found here, and cheap, too!



We packed our lunch and freshen up a bit, since we have a few more hours to cycle... till afternoon!



What I like here the most is the signature, fresh orange juice - no water nor sugar added, just 100% pure oranges! And it tastes like heaven!, Too bad it was a bit pricey, about 8 Euro a cup (MYR40?) and you just can't enjoy as much as you would love to!



Click here to read the part two