Paris and Vienna 2013

April 23, 2013 at 3:23 PM · Filed under Uncategorized and tagged: Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Laduree, macarons, Mont Saint-Michel, Notre Dame Cathedral, paris, trip, Versailles, Vienna

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Feeling: 

Oh mannnnnnn. OHHHHHH MANNNNNNNNNNNNN. Where do I even begin? It’s going to take me 28763823 years to upload pictures onto Facebook because my pictures are like 3.5MB each. Darn you, high-definition! I dread starting work.

I regret to say I didn’t have time to blog each day on my vacation. I only did the bare minimum point form sentences, so I’ll paste that here in a bit. But oh maaaan. In short, I had a good vacation. I’d give it a 7.5/10. But in case you didn’t know, I went to Paris for 5 days, then Vienna for 4, and then back to Paris for another 4 days. Unfortunately my days in Paris could have been better. The weather was terrible and rainy and windy and of course I didn’t pack warm enough clothing. Interestingly when I went to Vienna it was sunshine and clear skies all 4 days.

I guess my verdict is I enjoyed Vienna more than Paris. I had too high of an expectation for Paris. I didn’t expect people to be rude and uninviting. It didn’t matter their profession either, they just had this vibe that radiated “don’t talk to me because you can’t speak French”. No offence if you live in Paris, but seriously, after my visit, suddenly people everywhere are amazingly polite. I also didn’t appreciate people smoking every other square metre.

Using Paris as my comparison, my stay in Vienna was extremely delightful. The people were friendly, the streets were clean, and I just got the impression that people in general loved their city. The only downside was, like Paris, people smoked everywhere.

ANYWAY without further delay here are my crappy point-form typed up blurbs.

Day 1

• Bad flight, horrible service. Wouldn’t get us water, mixed up mom’s meal and drink, general bad attitude from the flight attendants.
• Got to hotel at around…11am? Checked in and after fussing with the adapters and charges went to grab some noms at a place called Chez Luigi. Went back to hotel and crashed.
• At around 6 we went back out to explore the streets.
• Saw a random church, lots of ppl smoking everywhere.
• Saw a chocolatier place, parents bought 2 meringue thingers (1 euro each) . Tres yummy. Chilled at starbucks. Tried their mocha, was yummy.
• Went to a department store and super market, bought spices. Saw lots of pretty chocolates.
• Bought a mini macaron, holy cow so delicious. (0.7 euros). Dad bought more pastries.
• Dinner at…a restaurant 110 steps away from our hotel. Waiter decided on his tip by keeping 10 Euros for himself when our meal cost around 48 Euros. I had onion soup, some of my dad’s pasta and some of my mom’s ribs/steak/meat thing.
• Back at hotel now and I should probably sleep. Hopefully tomorrow it’s not as cold. I packed summer clothes, eat me.
• Still having trouble with DSLR. Wish I was pro.

Day 2

• Snap, did so much today.
• Visited the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, Louvre pyramid, Cleopatra’s needle, and Arc de Triomphe in one day. Mad walking. And the subway system is getting progressively easier to navigate
• Found my long awaited LADUREE on Champs Elysees, the location that I wanted to go to the most XD!
• Parents didn’t mind dining there for a bit either, it was an awesome experience. The restaurant is gorgeous. Their macarons are to die for. I kept their sugar packets, napkins, chocolate and place mats as souvenirs. I AM A HOBO.
• Took a lot of pictures today. Over 500 8D!

Day 3

• Woke up relatively late. Actually I woke up at 5:30 because my mom said if we wanted to go to England, we’d have to get up early. Anyway, fell back asleep.
• Left to go to the Palace of Versailles, and realized I forgot my SD card T_T Had to go back. Thankfully we were just 2 subway stops away from our hotel.
• SO the PALACE OF VERSAILLES IS GORGEOUS. Omg. It’s enourmous and sooo detailed and pretty and HNGGGGGG and fancy and GAH.
• When I become a millionaire, I am buying the palace. Though it’s probably worth 238762837823 trillions.
• Oh did I mention THERE WAS A FREAKING LADUREE beside the giftshop?! My mom bought a keychain and I bought some sticky notes haha
• After that uhhhhh stopped by a McDonald’s to catch our breath and get our bearings.
• Then decided we’d go to this high-class department store called Printemps.
• Got there at around 8, and omg, everything was crazy expensive. A pen was like 300 Euros and I saw this dress I liked for 5300 Euros >.>
• THERE WERE ALSO 3 MORE LADUREE PLACES HERE. OMG. OMG. I snuck pictures hnggggg.
• Okay I shall stop my legs are tired. Clearly that is relevant to my typing skills.

Day 4

• Stopped by the Disney Land entrance because my mom wanted to take pictures.
• Went to an outdoor outlet place. It was so boring. They were all expensive brands.
• Went to the indoor mall right next to the outdoor outlet and bought lots of cute macaron things BAHAHAHA from an amazing home furniture/decoration store. Seriously, it was like  my favourite store.
• Expensive dinner. Why are waiters so rude?

Day 5

• 5 hour bus ride to Mont Saint-Michel. What. I would not have agreed to go if I knew one way would be 5 hours. My mom lied to me. She told me it was around 2.5 hours one way.
• Rainy day, super windy and cold.
• I guess it’s a neat place. It reminds me of Helm’s Deep. Did a lot of walking. I would have really enjoyed myself if it weren’t for the horrid weather.

Day 6

• Arrived in Vienna!
• Hotel room is beautiful! I love the mirrors and how the toilet is separate from the bath. Also there was free chocolate on my pillow 8D
• Great weather we’re having. The sun is shining and it’s warm. WOOT!
• My parents are sleeping the day away so I’m on the Internet.
• After lots of thinking, went to a Mozart / Strauss concert. Not bad at all. The hall looked a lot better on the pamphlet, though haha. But yes, I like live orchestras without all the microphones and amplifiers. Just the original volume and sound, how it was supposed to be.

Day 7

• Awesome complimentary breakfast! I could get used to this. 4 star hotels are great.
• Shopped around the streets.
• Bought 3 cute porcelain bunnies.
• Saw lots of pretty shoes for extremely good prices but I have way too many shoes already T_T!
• Attended another concert, this time at the hall MOZART PERFORMED IN. Small place, but still awesome. Girl that was playing the cello is too pro for words.

Day 8

• Shopping day~

Day 9

• Went to Schonbrunn Palace! I’M SO MAD THEY DIDN’T ALLOW PICTURES. WHAT. Geez, they allowed it at the Palace of Versailles! T_T!
• Went to the world’s oldest zoo and saw giant pandas! They were snoozing indoors because it was soooo hot today.
• Shopping times.
• Ate some cake that my mom was raving about but it was so bland and normal. Apparently my mom said the recipe is 1000 years old and WE HAVE TO TRY IT BECAUSE IT’S FANTASTIC. What a lie. Honestly she believes everything she reads about on the Internet. It’s called Sachetorte. IT WAS SO NORMAL. I want my money back.

Day 10

• Back to Paris. Wasn’t excited :(
• Our hotel. Uh. Is. Um. Small. And our room is slanted. Hmm.
• Didn’t do much because we couldn’t think of where to go. Just explored our area. We’re about a 10 minute walk from the nearest subway. Saw a giant train station. Wanted to get last minute tickets to England but it’s like almost 400 Euros per person one way :( Also the neighbourhood our hotel is in is sketchy.
• BUT BUT finally found a restaurant with great service and food! I had the BEST PANNA COTTA EVER.

Day 11

• Went to Montmartre and visited the Sacred Heart Basilica. No pictures were allowed, but it’s pretty.
• Saw all the street artists. They’re all so pro! I felt really bad for them because no one was buying their paintings. UNNOTICED TALENT. They all need deviantART accounts and the money will fly to their pockets.
• Shopping shopping.

Day 12

• Went to visit the Eiffel Tower once again because it was slightly better weather than last time.
• Also actually went up close to the Arc de Triomphe. Last time I only took pictures across the street. It’s massive! Wanted to go up but the line up for tickets was insane.
• AND AND AND of course LADUREEEEEEEEEEEEE ONCE AGAINNNNNNNNNNNNNNN~

Day 13

• Decided to give La Defense a visit. It’s the more modern part of Paris.
• Went to the mall. Surprise surprise.
• Then went to the mini shopping place under the Louvre! I didn’t know about its existence.
• Since it’s Sunday, 99% of restaurants are closed, so we decided to go to the more touristy areas for food. Went back to the Eiffel Tower for the third time, BUT THIS TIME AT NIGHT! Enjoyed a yummy dinner and finally saw the Eiffel Tower glowing. IT ALSO SPARKLED LITTLE BLUE SPARKLES FOR ME. And by for me I mean, I have good timing.

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