Just Back from Paris

By Victor Leung

Paris. The Romantic city. The Monuments. The Luxury of Kings.

Having spent a few days in London, the Eurostar provided a simple way to get to Paris where we spent the first of 4 nights. First thing we did was see one of the many cabaret shows in town - the one we picked was the Paradis Latin. Lots of dancing and singing and the host was well versed in quite a few languages. That was a good start to what was a sightseeing extravaganza.

Most of the monuments were within easy walking distance from the metro rail network so it wasn't too difficult to get around. The Eiffel tower was just an amazing feat of human architecture. As cameras were snapping away I just stood there in amazement. Having taken more than our fair share of photos, we went to Champs-Elysses where we saw the Arc de Triomph, built in the 1800's by Napolean as a tribute to the French Army. Initially we got stuck trying to work out how we cross the street to view it up close before realising that there was an underground path!

We spent a whole day at the Louvre. Now here is sightseeing at its best. We spent the better part of about 5 hours visiting all the different rooms. And having read the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, it was hard not to get excited in visiting the various monuments and having all these questions and thoughts in your mind. By far the highlight was the Mona Lisa which was housed in a room on its own. It was like the Oscars as people clambered over each other to get the best shot of the Mona Lisa. As it got darker into the late of night it did feel a little bit creepy, especially with all the statues and paintings on the walls seemingly looking at you. For those of you who have read the book I did actually manage to inverted pyramid.

Another highlight was our 1 hour trip to Versailles - the home of King Louis XIV. One word to describe it. BIG! This was an enormous palace which you had to see to believe. In times past, Kings really did live in luxury this place was testament to the riches of Kings. The rooms were decked out in grand splendour and the paintings told stories of battles won and lost. The backyard of the palace consisted of the royal gardens that stretched for acres.