Paris - Black & White

Paris is an amazing place even when it's in black & white... enjoy ^^

Notre Dame

Gargoyle @ Notre Dame

love the details

interior of Notre Dame

Joan of Arc

the Seine river flooded ;S maybe because the snow melted

hmm....where should i go?

some sculpture somewhere near d'Orsay Museum

the Louvre @ night

sketches of the Eiffel tower at a small art market near the Basilica of the Sacred Heart

Eiffel tower ^^

bottom detail

^^

drop a message if you like it! appreciate it alot

~ au revoir~

Budget travel

Many asked us, how do you guys travel? I can say that it's not the luxury type ><. We try to find the cheapest way of course.

It all started with finding a cheap flight ticket(that is the most expensive of all), if you can find any flight ticket you consider cheap, buy it!

here are 7 steps to a budget travel:

1. Flight ticket

if you are staying in Europe and would like to travel around the region, i'll suggest you easyJet (http://www.easyjet.com/asp/en/book/index.asp?lang=en) or Ryan air (http://www.ryanair.com/en) or Last Minute Travel (http://www.5vorflug.de/)

if you are staying in Europe and would like to travel to Asia or vice versa, try Zuji (http://www.zuji.com/) It's a cool website listing all the cheapest flight ticket on the date that you request. * If you want to save more, you can visit the airline company directly after you know which is offering the lowest fare. Another option is Air Asia (http://www.airasia.com/my/en/home.html)

2. Research

Do a little basic research on the destination you are heading. eg: site of interest, the distance, the transportation and etc...

3. Hostel

once you have listed every place you want to visit. Select a suitable hostel. How? you can try Hostel world (http://www.hostelworld.com/) you can sort you search by price, availability and rating of the hostel. Normally i would sort by price of course and then from there i would see the location and also the rating for cleanliness. Oh ya also you might want to read the comment of the hostel before you decide. *It's always important to find the one with a good location because if it's nearby to most of the places you want to visit, you save alot on transportation(trust me it ain't cheap)

4. Additional infos

It's pretty all set till your holiday but if you still worry (like me i like to make sure i have all the infos),try checking for informations of any season tickets or discount tickets for museums or 3-5 days metro ticket(depends how long you are staying and how often you'll be using it) sometimes we buy only if it's far away, other than that walking is the best way to see things ^^ . *check entrance fees and also the opening hours, you wouldn't want to queue for 2 hours and to find out the price is too high for you. >< * if you are flying at odd hours make sure you find ways to get to the airport.... you don't want to risk buy new flight ticket :)

5. Packing

normal luggage with roller? no problem if you are taking taxi to your hotel or hostel, if not you might want to buy a bag pack. why? unless you want to be carrying you luggage going up and down the stairs, squeezing in crowded place(the bus and metro) you be my guess. *if you travel within the limit of hand luggage....you can even save money and time, checking in your luggage

6. Weather

always check the weather few days before you are traveling, pack what is necessary and select your clothing smartly. Don't want to freeze to death or wearing long sleeves in 30°C ><

7. Check list

make are check list of all the things you want to bring, if you are the forgetful type @v@ *oh ya some hostel don't provide locks for the locker....make sure you bring 1 for spare.

with theses 7 steps you are good to go!

I love traveling alot, my longest holiday was 2 weeks in shanghai, huang san, shou zhou and hang zhou (not sure if i spell it right) it was awesome! Some people can travel for weeks, months even a year... i'm not in that level yet ><>

~ciao~

The Palace of Versailles

People said that if you go to Paris and not visit Versailles, you never been to Paris. Well frankly, i'm not that impress, Maybe i set my expectation too high. ><>

From our hostel(town), we took the metro then RER to get to Versailles. It's a long way(40 minutes-1 hour) so make sure you plan your time ahead oh ya and have a heavy breakfast :). We reach Versailles about 10am thinking that we might have a long queue for the tickets. To our surprise, there were these people standing outside of the RER station selling ticket.....So within 5 minutes we have our tickets. But then with tickets we still need to queue up to get in the palace. Luckily we were able to get in within 20 minutes. Yippy!

tip: if you want to visit Versailles make sure you have more then 4 days in Paris....coz you'll be wasting 1 day in Versailles.

ticket info you find out here --------> http://en.chateauversailles.fr/homepage there are many types of ticket sold there...we bought the ticket only for the palace.

at the front entrance. Statue of Louis XIV

Louis XIII's successor, Louis XIV, had a great interest in Versailles. He settled on the royal hunting lodge at Versailles and over the following decades had it expanded into onf the the largest palaces in the world.

The golden entrance

Versailles is one of the largest palaces in Europe. Since 1979, the castle is a UNESCO world cultural heritage

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 after the beginning of the French Revolution

luckily the weather was good (at least it was in the morning) :S

The facade of the Marmorhofs served as a stylistic model for the city side of the palace

one of the chapel. It was being remodel for quite a few times by the king

the tour starts with the introduction of the Kings and queens....relatives who and who

the hallway

ceiling painting...gorgeous

Bernini's sculpture of Louis XIV

marvelous @_@

^^ one of my fav pic

fire place

every ceiling drawings tells different stories

ceiling details

decos ~

the kind's bedroom...... He likes gold color.....i mean he REALLY like it

i've forgot what this room is for...... hm....

Marie-Antoinette gave concerts and balls here and kept her grand dinner service here. The royal couple "dined" in front of the court on Sunday and on the days when ceremonies were held

The Hall of Mirrors, look in the direction of the Hall of Peace

Marie-Antoinette

antiques....many of the furniture was lost during the French Revolution....but slowly now they are finding it piece by piece. Notice the small door? that is the door that Marie-Antoinette used it to escaped from 7,000 demonstrators marched to the Royal Palace at Versailles ^^

the queen's apartment....it was here, too, that the births took place in public: nineteen "Children of France" were born here

i like this room better.... ^^

the other copy of Napolean Crowning Josephine (same as the one in the Louvre) It's one of the most famous paintings in France.

these hall contains all paintings about the French war

very interesting....too bad i needed to go to the ladies....and they only have one at the entrance....damn! so didn't really pay attention :P

oh ya tip: before you start the tour..make sure you visit the restroom 1st...coz there ain't one in the palace :P

the details

one handsome looking chap...not sure who is he...maybe a general ?

the garden

i think in Spring it's more beautiful

Classical Baroque facade

view of the palace from the garden

the garden is freaking huge

the design of the fountains are really cool...it's not the typical angels or saints statue but sometimes more unusual..... here we have merkid ><

The pyramid fountain

sea creature and man with fish legs.... how bizarre, right?

The Dragon Fountain

one of the episodes of the legend of Apollo: the Phyton snake killed by an arrow shot by the young apollo. The reptile is surrounded bt dolphins and Cupids armed with bows and arrows riding on swans...cool

bird skating ><

way leading to Marie - Antoinette's estate

The Apollo Fountain one of my favorite .... thumbs up

it's a big fountain

cute trees

Latona Fountain

inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses, illustrated the legend of Apollo's mother and Diana protecting her children against the insults of the peasants of Lycia, and calling on Jupiter to avenge them. He heard their plea and transformed them into frog and lizards

overall view

We spend almost 1 day here, It's a beautiful place but never come in winter ><

if you want to see more of the Palace's interior.... there is a movie called Marie Antoinette(October 2006), the film took place here in the Palace.. very interesting!

~au revoir~