From Paris to Rome

The train ride from Paris to Rome is about 15 hours. We took an overnight train with sleeping berths. The cheapest berths have 6 beds (they called it couchettes) in a cabin. We opted for the 4 in one cabin for privacy. The fare is of course a lot more. I remember paying around 500 euros for 4 tickets. The 6 bedded ones will cost 300 euros for 4 persons, but then you risk having to share the cabin with 2 strangers. Its worth paying the fare as we not only save one night's hotel rate but also save one day's travelling. We expected to reach Rome at 10 am but had to endure a 2 hour delay because of workers strike in Rome. On reaching. we walked straight to the hotel, checked in and took the metro to the main sight seeing area of Rome. Most of the places are easily accessible and with a map (provided by the hotel or you can print some from google), you can go anywhere!

Our first stop was the must see destination, the world famous Trevi Fountain, made famous by the many hollywood movies and the song, Three Coins in the Fountain.

The Spanish Steps (Piazza Spagna) , also a famous landmark, is within the same vicinity.
And when in Italy, of course we made sure we sampled the famous Italian food. We tasted so delicious pasta there that when we went back to Malaysia the Pizza Hut pasta tasted so horrid by comparison!


The Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps are very near to Piazza Navona, where you can see street performers. There are many restaurants in the square. Its here we had our delicious Italian food, not forgetting the famous ice cream gelato!

The Roman Pantheon is also within walking distance. But I think the Paris Pantheon is more impressive, even though the interior is actually quite nice, too.

On the next day, we went to another must-see...the Coliseum!

The Roman Forum and Platine Hills are all within walking distance. Also the Hero's monument, where you can see the Roman Changing of the Guards. Its actually nicer than the London one, I don't know why its not much publicised

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You need to spend at least half a day for these places.

After this, we went to the Vatican city for lunch and visited St Peters Square and Basillica. St Peters Basillica is the world's largest cathedral. When you're inside, don't miss out on one of the most famous works of Michelangelo...La Pieta, a sculpture depicting the body of Jesus in the arms of his mother Mary after the cruxificion.Don't forget to join the queue of tourists who wait in line to kiss or touch the foot of the bronze statue of St Peter to ask for mercy and forgiveness. We're not Christians but nevertheless we touched the foot, too. The right foot is now so worn out after all the touching that the toes are no longer visible , only a stump remains!To those who intend to visit the Basillica, be aware that they have a strict dress code: no bare shoulders and knees. There will be officers stationed outside and also at the door to make sure this is followed. Just bring along a shawl or jacket if you insist on wearing your singlets in the hot summer days. You wouldn't want to go all the way there and have to stand outside and wait for your friends!
We had 2 nights and almost 2 days in Rome. On the third day, we took a train to Pisa..........

Second stop - Paris

As this was my first visit to Europe, Paris was inevitably one of the choice locations to visit. Staring from London, we moved on to Paris via the Eurostar. The tickets are cheaper if you book in advance. If you book from the Eurostar website, you get to choose seats. If you're traveling in a group, it would be nice to select seats facing each other with tables in the middle for you to have your meals. There is a cafeteria in the train but we bought food at the St Pancras Station and ate on the train. The Eurostar arrives in Gare Du Nord, so if you are looking for a hotel you should consider one near the Gare du Nord or any one which is near the metro stations.

To move around in Paris, the metro would definitely be the best mode of transport as the metro stations are everywhere in the city. We used the Paris Visite Card which costs 20 euros for 3 days. It is definitely much cheaper than buying trip tickets because you'll be using the metro a lot. Another option would be to get the day pass. It depends on your itinerary. You can also get 20% discounts on certain entrance tickets including Arc du Triomphe and the Pantheon.We arrived in Paris in the afternoon, checked in at the hotel and still had time to go sight seeing as sunset is 9 something. Our first stop was Place de La Concorde.

Here you can see the beautiful Jardin des Tuileries
A very common sight in many parts of the park and also in other parts of Europe.

and also walk across to the Louvre.

Next, we went to Arc du Triomphe .

The climb up the stairs can be tough for some people, but the view from the top is worth the trouble. And there are many interesting exhibits inside.
From here you can stroll along Champ Elysees.

The good thing about visiting Paris on your own is that you get to see the places at different times of the day. On our first day we enjoyed the evening and night view of Eiffel Tower. The best view of the famous landmark is from Trocadero. From 9pm the twinkling lights are turned on for 5 mins at every hour.

On our second day, we visited many places. Starting from the famous Notre Dame Cathedral, we went to the Jardin Du Luxembourg and then walked to the Pantheon which is a few minutes walk away. The inside of the Notre Dame and the Pantheon is a sight to behold. The Pantheon is in the Latin Quarter where the Rue Mouffetard Food market is. You can have lunch at the many restaurants in the area or get some pastries and sandwiches from the bakeries there. After lunch we went over to Eiffel Tower. You can pre-book tickets online and skip the queues.

The entrance tickets to the Louvre are discounted on certain days. We planned our trip to visit on Wednesday at 6 where the tickets are priced at 9 euros. I think its free for those under 26 yrs. Inside the Louvre is where you see the famous Mona Lisa painting and many other famous works. While waiting for 6pm, we hopped over to the famous La Fayette shopping centre just to check out the priceWe didn't buy anything there but took our dinner at their 4th floor. There suddenly you see so many fellow tourists..from Malaysia and Singapore, because its where you can get cheap food..McDonalds!

After the Louvre, we took a sunset cruise on the River Seine. And sunset means we start at 945 pm!

On the third day, we visited Sacre Coeur, walking distance from our hotel.But to go up the hill, we took the Funicula train. The Paris Visite Card comes with the fare. Our last destination was the Les Halles shopping area. This is where you can get real bargains.

After that we headed to Gare du Bercy to take the overnight train to Rome.

Europe- First Stop London........

Since it was our first trip to Europe, the first thing that came to our minds was London. Actually the idea of making a trip to Europe started because Air Asia launched the flight to London. But when we actually went on the trip, we didn't fly Air Asia. The fare advertised was quite misleading. We found out that it was actually cheaper to fly SIA or some Arab airline instead, especially when they have promotions on. Our fare was RM3400 return, all in, including the flight from Penang. And also includes meals on board, super entertainment and service not to mention the experience of flying Airbus 380!

London was our first stop partly because of an invitation from my friend for us to stay in his place in London. It was so nice of him to meet us at the airport and letting us have a room at his place for three nights. If you are making a first visit to London and Europe, I would suggest staying at a B&B at the King's Cross Station area. If you move around by train in Europe, always check out the accomodation around the train stations...it will save a lot of time and hassle. This site gives good info about accommodation in London, http://www.londontoolkit.com/ .

The St Pancras Station from which you take the Eurostar to Paris is connected to King's Cross Station. While you are there it'll be fun to take some photos at the 9 3/4 Platform which is supposed to take you to Hogwarts, according to the Harry Porter stories.

Our first impression of London was that it's quite a dirty place. Later when we visited our places in Europe we found out that the other places are not any better. So different from places like Singapore and Japan. When you are at the train stations and the train itself you'll notice the obvious difference between Singapore's cleanliness and London or Europe. And you see graffiti everywhere, especially public and tourist places.

That aside, what's nice about London? Besides visiting the famous landmarks like the River Thames, Big Ben, Tower Bridge you should visit the museums and some of the palaces and castles. I was rather disappointed about the Changing of the Guards. This "must-see" is actually very much over-rated. The mammoth crowd made viewing difficult. And even if you get to see the full view, its really nothing impressive at all. But tourists (like us) still flock to see the ceremony which is performed daily in summer.This link will give you all the info you need about the schedule. http://www.changing-the-guard.com/Maybe it would be a better idea to visit the Guards Museum and take a photo with the wax soldier instead.To make full use of your visit to London, you should do your research and planning ahead. For my first day, we visited the "free" places. A good start would be theWestminster area. Here you can see the Big Ben and the Parliament Houses, Downing Street, Buckingham Palace and St James' Park. After seeing the Changing of the Guards, walk to the nearby famous Trafalgar Square,where you can also visit the National Gallery and the Portrait Museum.

Next you can go to the Museum of Natural History. You will need to take the Tube from Leicester Square to South Kensington on the Piccadilly Line. Its useful to learn about the transport first before visiting a place. Even though Tube maps are available at every station, its better to plan well ahead. That way you save a lot of time. Check this out: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/Since you would be travelling around quite a bit, it would be much cheaper to either get an oyster card or day pass.

From the Museum you can walk to Harrods then maybe have a picnic at Hydes Park.

On our second day we used the London Pass. http://www.londonpass.com/. It costs 40 pounds for a day pass. Supposedly there is no limit to the number of places you can enter but of course you won't have the time to go to many places. We used the pass for the Shakespeare Globe Theater,(1o.50) The London Bridge Experience Exhibition,(21.95) The Tower of London,(17.00) the River Thames Cruise,(13.50) and Hampton Court Palace.(14.00) which adds up to almost 80 pounds but it was quite a bit of rush. We didn't finish the London Bridge Experience Exhibition tour partly because the second part was supposed to be quites scary but mainly because we had not enough time. We went in the Tower of London, had lunch there, but didn't go in to the individual exhibition rooms. There is a 20% discount on food for pass holders, so we saved on food also. The River Thames Cruise was worth it. But by the time we got to Hampton Court, some of the scheduled shows were over. Nevertheless, we still found the palace building and grounds awesome. We were among the last to leave the palace! After that we went souvenir shopping at London Crest where each pass is entitled to a 5 pounds discount, that means 20 pounds discount and all you need to do is buy at least 20 pounds and show your pass.

On the third day, we took the Eurostar to Paris. Make sure you allot some time at the station to look around and also buy food to eat on the coach. When we booked online, we chose 4 seats with a table in the middle. It was quite fun having lunch on the train to Paris.

The next post will be on Paris.