Blind Date - Paris (Day 2)

I discussed with hubby in the morning that we should at least fulfill one of princess ’ wishes. Either to go up the Eiffel or see the Mona Lisa. It’d have been so disappointing for her if she didn’t get to do either. Her choice was the Eiffel. So we had an early start after breakfast and made it to Eiffel before 9.30am, when the ticket office opened. We weren’t prepared for the sight that greeted us though. Seems everyone thought the same and there were long queues already when we arrived. However, they managed to join a relatively shorter queue than the rest so it wasn’t that bad.The ticket prices were approximately €4.80 (adult) & €2plus (kid). They went both ways in a lift. Princess got a postcard from the post office at the first level of the tower, for her teacher. It would have cost less down below but it was something she wanted to do.

Having gotten the visit to Eiffel out of the way, we made our way to Pompidou Centre. Princess expected to see some fire-eating guy there as she was introduced to him in her book – Holly Goes to Paris. Unfortunately there was no such person. :P

On our way to the bus-stop to catch the bus to Champs Elysee, we stopped by for a Quick little lunch and found ourselves stranded in the area. There was a protest going on and all the roads were blocked off. We walked an extremely long way to where our hotel was and no vehicles were in sight. Worst was that we had to meet up with our new friend A, and her hubby S, in Champs Elysee for tea. Yikes!

As we were very close to our hotel, we decided to go back for a rest and wait for the mob to clear. Apparently it was a protest by the teaching staff and their students to not cut jobs. By cutting down on teachers, the class sizes became bigger and I guess that would affect the teacher/student ratio.

A was keen to meet up with us and wanted to come by our hotel, but there really wasn’t anything where we were staying. So we didn’t want them to go all that way. We arranged for another timing to meet and made our way there by cab. The streets were still cleared of vehicles but having walked further down more, we came across a road opening and flagged down a cab. But before that, we picked up some crepe for princess.





We were finally on our way. Our first stop - Louis Vuitton, to meet the lovely A at the entrance. She was really nice. She and princess hit it off on the word ‘go’. In fact, it was little princess who insisted we had to go meet this new auntie friend. Of course the intention to go Champs Elysee was for the sole purpose of visiting this boutique. A informs me that it’s her fourth time that week visiting LV as she’s been having guests from Singapore. She also told me that the ‘Neverfull’ range has a long waiting list in Singapore and that was exactly the one I was looking for, something casual. The price is 30% less than what one would pay in sgp and on top of that, we get a tax refund of 12%. However, she says that most French do not like this label and that it’s only for the very rich, too showy. Thankfully I didn’t have any Chinese tourists approach me to buy anything for them. According to A, she was once given cash upfront to buy a certain item for a tourist, as Camemberu warned. ;) Each customer is only entitled to purchase 2 items.

Following that, we went over to the Disney Store and met up with A’s hubby, S. A nice guy who isn’t your typical French man, all suave, but rather someone I felt comfortable with. Princess had shopping money given to her almost 2yrs ago by granny and aunt L when we were home for Christmas. It was meant for her trip to Disney so she could buy things. She saw an Ariel swimsuit and a bag as we entered the store and wanted to get them. It was a good thing she did because when we headed over to Disneyland, none of the items I was eyeing in the store in town was available in Disneyland. L So no regrets there.

We sat down to tea with some drinks and pastries at Paul’s. A ordered some crouchettes and they were lovely.

We ended off our meeting with a walk down to the Arc de Triomphe and took some photos. Unfortunately we had to leave abruptly when princess started having a nosebleed right in the middle of our picture-taking.

It was really wonderful meeting up with you, A. Hope to see you soon in Singapore.

That evening, hubby went out to get us some savoury ham & cheese crepes for dinner. They were oh-so-good!

We were in Printemps yesterday and came across a booth selling La Duree macarons. Couldn't resist getting half a dozen of them. Just as well, as we never made it to the cafe. They were delightful!