巴黎的地方菜市场 *Morning Market in Paris

那天早上醒来后，因为时间紧促，我们只好在旅馆附近逛逛。原来旅馆附近早上有个小菜市。菜市上卖的菜很多都是我没看过的，在英国也没看过。但感觉上巴黎的菜和水果比英国的贵很多。其实想真正的认识一个地方的人文、文化，最好不过的就是逛他们当地的巴杀。

在菜市里，我们买了一个很香的cheese葱油饼试。真得很好吃。逛市场后，我们便check out，然后拉着行李到附近的餐馆吃早点、点心之类的。吃完早餐后，搭巴黎的火车(RER)到巴黎飞机场，就这样我们告别了巴黎。

I always belief this: the best way of getting to know a place, the culture and the life style is by visiting their market. The same morning before leaving Paris, we visited a market near by the hotel. Things looked fresher and with more varieties, however the price is way more expensive than what we could get in UK.

Bought a few pieces of onion-cheese pancake, it tasted good and smell good too! After visitig the wet market, we went back to the hotel and dragged our langanges to a near by restorant to have our breakfast. After breakfast we took Metro to the airport, and we said bye to Paris!

很好吃的葱油饼哦！Onion cheese pancake

Tomatos

Oysters

At airport's Metro station.

浪漫城之旅－圣心教堂 *Trip to Basilique Sacre Coeur (23 May 08)

圣心教堂是我们在巴黎的最后一站。由于圣心教堂建在山上，到了目的地后我们又得再排队搭吊车上山。乘坐缆车需要付一张的Metro车票的哦！还好我们通常都是买日卡或是一整本的车票，所以我们只要用已经付了费的卡就可以了。年轻有劲的不妨用走路的方式走上山，可以有不一样的体验。我们上了缆车后，头一抬就可以看到圣心教堂了。

当初建立圣心教堂的目的是为了纪念58,000在法国与波斯战争中殉职的兵士们。如今它成为巴黎的其中一个教堂，一个当地人相信象征耶稣圣心的教堂。除了教堂，最吸引游客来这里的是可以站在山上看到一整片的巴黎。当天不但游客多，也有表演者在梯级间表演唱歌，表演者还和游客们互动，你一句我一句，很好玩！就这样，我们结束了巴黎之旅。


Basilique Sacre Coeur was our last visit in Paris. This cathedral was built up on a hill. The actual purpose of building this holy place is to serve as a memorial for 58,000 armies who faught and died in Franco-Prussian War. Today, it serves as a popular landmark in Paris and people believe it is built dedicated to the sacred heart of Jesus.

Due to Scare Coeur is built up high on a hill, besides following the staircases, visitors could also take the cable car to reach to the top. However each ride requires a Metro ticket. Luckily we always bring either a daily Metro Pass or a whole book of Metro tickets.

Although it was late, many were still remain up on the hill. I guess these people must be waiting for sunset. Frankly speaking, this is the best place to view the sunset in Paris. Many may like to spend their evening on Eiffel Tower, but if I were given another chance to visit Paris, I will definately waiting for sunset at Sacre Coeur.

Facinating view of Paris. Many were waiting for sunset...

Statue of Joan of Arc.

The crowd was enjoying the performance and singing together with the guitarian. I sat down and join the crowd too! It was very entertaining!

Video of 'La Bamba'.

Basilique Sacre Coeur.

浪漫城之旅 - 浮罗宫 *Trip to the City of Romance - Musee du Louvre (23 May 08)

对浮罗宫这个名字不会陌生吧？浮罗宫是法国的国家博物院，有看过达文西密码的朋友们应该会对这个地方有印象。虽然浮罗宫没有英国的瓜家博物馆大，面积是632,300 平方尺，一供收藏了35,000间物品，但来这里参观浮罗宫的人却比去参观英国国家博物院的人还多。在吸引参观者这一方面，浮罗宫可是全世界最受欢迎的博物院。

因为里面收藏的物品都来至不同的国家，各自都有不同的背景，浮罗宫把这些收藏品分开组成了8个不同的主题：埃及收藏品、西方一带的收藏品、罗马历史与收藏品、伊斯兰教艺术、雕像、摆设品、油画及画像。

说真的，在浮罗宫里最吸引我的收藏品无非是他们的油画及画像。虽然英国国家画展中心也有很多漂亮的油画，但我终是感觉到那些作品没浮罗宫里的作品漂亮。也许是因为浮罗宫建筑物的室内设计吧？浮罗宫里的画都是挂在长长的走廊，而走廊的上方都是透明的玻璃镜，引进了最自然的光。也许就是因为这样，让我感觉到这里的画比较漂亮。浮罗宫可是很慷慨的哦！游客可以随心所欲的拍油画。要是在英国国家画展这样做，肯定早就被人家敢出门了！:)

其实，浮罗宫建筑物的设计比博物馆里收藏的东西还要出色。浮罗宫的整个建筑物是偏长方形的，三个角落各自建了一栋长形的建筑物（被分为3个wings: Sully Wing, Richelieu Wing 和Denon Wing)，另一个角是空的，可以直接通到大街去。这一群建筑物的中间有一个很大的广场，最重要的，也是常吸引游客拍照的就是广场中间的三角形玻璃。在浮罗宫外面看，这个三角形的顶尖是朝着天空的。但一进去浮罗宫后才发现原来这个三角形的地下并不是平面的，有的却是另一个倒立的三角形，也就是顶尖差一点就着地的三角形玻璃。值得一提的是，这个三角形玻璃的建筑师是个美国华侨 - I.M.Pei。即使到了今天，还是有很多建筑师对这个I.M.Pei 的建筑设计和计算感到十分的惊叹。

*进门票是8.50欧元一人，但因为我们买了museum pass, 所以我们只向他们显示我们有pass 就可以进去了。听说星期日是免费的。进门就是在三角形玻璃那儿。


Those who love 'The Da Vinci Code' movie will definately won't forget the scene taken at Musee du Louvre. Musee du Louvre is the national museum of France. It is built on a 632,300 square feet land and today it has collected 35,000 pieces of historical items. Although Musee du Louvre does not collect and exhibit items as many as British National Museum, it is the world's most visited museum.

Musee du Louvre is divided into 8 different galleries according to 8 different themes: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan and Roman; Islamic Art; Scrulptures; Decorative Arts; Painting; and last but not least Prints and Drawings.

Among all the collections, oil paintings attracted me most. Although I have seen some oil paintings it in British National Art Gallery, I still prefer paintings in Musee de Louvre.

Frankly speaking, nothing is more attractive than the architecture of Musee du Louvre. 3 edges of this area are surrounded by a long strecthing building (Sully Wing to the east, Richelieu Wing to the north and Denon Wing to the South). The main entrance that connects to the main street is situated on the west. The plaza is built in the centre of these buildings, and there is a glass-made triangular in the centre of the plaza. If seeing it from the outside of the museum, you may find the triangular is pointing to the sky; in other hand, if seeing it from the inside, you may find another triangular at the same location, but this one is pointing downwards, just a few inches from the floor. Until today, many architects are still amazed with I.M.Pei's designed. I.M.Pei is a China borne American citizen, he is the architect of this marvelous architecture.

*Admission fee is 8.50 euro per person. We bought museum pass, therefore we were not required to buy any more tickets. Main entrance is at the glasspmade triangular.

Museum du Louvre - picture taken from the back (cos we went in from the back).

The piramid at Musee du Louvre. Mum was hiding her face under her sweater... I guess she was trying to avoid direct sun shine! :P

Huge piramid.....

This short video shows the overview of Musee du Louvre.

Photo taken from inside the museum....

We were quite rushing that day... hubby was wondering which gallery should we start first. This photo was taken in the lobby of Musee du Louvre. I planned to snap a photo of glass-made triangular (from the inside), but it was too crowded, so I decided to give up!

Haha.... hubby is always so naughty!

We were in the gallery of 'Sculpture'.

This is one of the painting placed on the ceiling. You may find the whole ceiling is decorated with such amazing painting.

Sculpture of Ceaser.

Another nice drawing on the ceiling...

This short video shows part of the ceiling in Musee du Louvre.

One of the walk ways in the gallery of 'Painting'.

On the right, the area that was surrounded by the crowd - that is where 'Monalisa' is placed. Unlike the other painting, 'Monalisa' is well protected. 'Monalisa' is placed in the hall centre, the painting and the whole wall are covered with another layer of glass, guarded by a few security guards, and visitors are allowed to see this painting only from far. Due to the crazy and pushing crowd, I didn't go near and didn't have a chance to snap the photo.

The huge painting at the far end is facing right to 'Monalisa'. Dad didn't want to squize with the crowd just to see 'Monalisa'.

Well, it's time to search for location of the next destination!

Buildings opposite Museum du Louvre.

浪漫城之旅 - 巴黎圣母院 *Trip to the City of Romance - Notre Dame (23 May 08)

‘钟楼怪人’这个故事应该听过吧？巴黎圣母院就是这则爱情故事的地点，也是巴黎的其中一间历史较久的罗马教堂。这个教堂绝对是另一个骇人的艺术杰作。教堂的外观雕满了密密麻麻的石像。仔细一看，原来石壁上的每一个脸孔都是不同的，而且每一个都有不同的表情。

巴黎圣母院里的建筑设计也蛮惊人。高高的天花板，墙壁周围也很多stain glass。最吸引我的就是教堂里面那高高的天花板了，因为很高的关系，着教堂给了我一个非常奢华的感觉，好高贵好美。我们到访巴黎圣母院那天刚好神父和当地居民都在做礼拜，来祷告的人很多，来观看教堂的游客也蛮多。巴黎圣母院被誉为巴黎最特殊的历史建筑物之一。它的高度是295尺，于1163年开始建立，1345年才完成这浩大的建筑工程。


Have you ever heard of the story of 'Hunchback of Notre Dame'? Yes, the story was written based on Notre Dame in Paris. Notre Dame is one of the oldest gothic church in Paris and it is believed that this church carries the finest arts among all churches in the country.

I was speechless when I first saw the architecture of this building. The handcrafted arts was so fine and nice. You may notice that each crafted faces on the wall are different (yes! amazingly a face never appears twice!) and each were crafted with different facial expression.

Not only the out look of Notre Dame looks interesting, the interior design of this church is also very amazing! The ceiling was built high and the walls are decorated with stain glasses. The high ceiling gave me an impression that this holy place is very grand and luxurious. The overall height of this building is 295 feet. It took almost 2 centuries to build Notre Dame, from year 1163 to year 1345.

All faces are different! Amazing isn't it?

This is what I meant, the high and tall ceiling of Notre Dame.

The statue of Joan of Arc. She was a young women peasant who helped France by leading soldiers againts English. She was killed due to being accused as a witch. Today, Joan of Arc has become a national heroine of France and a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, including Notre Dame in Paris.

Next to Notre Dame is a high street full of survenior shops, and this area was crowded with people. We bought some surveniors from here, including 4 pieces 8X10 scatches of Eiffel Tower and Arch de Triomphe. Besides that, each of us also bought either a panini or egg tart for lunch. I could still remember the taste of egg tart I had, it was so delicious. The tart was huge and I couldn't finish it by my own. Later, we continue our journey to Museum du Louvre.

Behind is Hotel de Ville, the city council.

The river of Ile Saint-Louis. We walked along the river side to Museum du Louvre.

Another photo of Ile Saint-Louis.

You could find 2nd hand books, all kind of old stuff, classical post cards and posters & etc along river side. It is a very interesting place to explore.

I have bought two Moulin Rouge post cards from this stall.

These are some of the 'classical nude posters' sold at the river side.

If we could spend more days in Paris, we would have taken the cruise to tour around this busy city.