Hello Paris, The City of Love... Not!

We pushed off to Paris very early in the morning the next day, excited about our trip. Since the journey was rather near, we chose to travel by train, Eurostar, so we could enjoy the scenery along the journey. We thought it would also be a good experience for the kids.
Once we reached Eurostar station in London, I needed to go to the toilet, but when I asked for direction, the French workers there seemed a little unfriendly. I dismissed it, thinking they were busy.

Anyway, once we reached Eurostar Gare Du Nord train station, we kept our luggages at the station so we could move freely to explore Paris.

Then, we pushed off to Paris city to see for our own eyes, the magnificent Eiffel Tower! But before we reached Eiffel Tower, we passed by a massive jam at one of the roads in Paris. Despite all the honking, the driver at the very front refused to move. Then, one angry driver just drove on the pavement and drove past all cars!

We were all surprised! Macam gini punya orang pon ada. Tskkk.

Then, we reached Eiffel Tower. The moment I laid my eyes on it, I was in awe. It was as if I couldn't believe that it was actually in front of me! Speaking about being all jakun. :P Of course, camwhoring here was a must! :P

Finally, a group pic of all 3 families with my father and mother in law! :D

In between, there were also cartoonists that offered to draw our pictures with Eiffel, for €30. My husband and I declined, but unfortunately, they managed to persuade my brother in law. Apparently they were not allowed to see the result until they pay the money. And when they saw the result.., let's just say, they weren't very happy with it. :P

Eiffel at night.. cantik kan? :) I even managed to breastfeed Adeena in style in front of Eiffel! Haha.

After trying some crepe nearby the Eiffel, (it's just beside the carousell, sedappp sangat!) we then decided to go on a cruise ship.

During the cruise, we saw magnificent architectures standing proudly in front of us.

After the cruise, we decided to head home, and that's when the episode happened. We went back to the train station to collect our luggage. Everything was fine, until it was time for us to queue to board on the MRT to Val D' Europe. You see, traveling in groups has its downside, one of it being messy. So many bags and strollers and kids to look after, and the next thing we know, one of our luggages (my BIL's to be exact) is gone! It happened in just a blink of an eye! He was queueing with his luggage right next to him, then he turned to assist other families with their luggages, and the next thing he knew, the luggage was no longer there!

We looked frantically for it, but it was no where to be seen. We even lodged a report at the authority there, but nothing could be done. CCTV did not pickup anything. Most of the French people there insisted to talk in their language, even when we told them we couldn't understand them! They were not only unhelpful, they were stubborn!

It was not a pleasant first-day experience for us in Paris. In fact, while waiting for the men to look for the luggages, the ladies waited at a corner with the rest of the kids, luggages, and strollers. While waiting, there was even a fight at the terminal itself, it was scary! I thought this was supposed to be the city of love? What love is this? All we see from the start is rudeness, stubbornness and violence! Yes, the city may be beautiful, but sorry to say, I can't say the same for the people there.

Lucky thing there wasn't anything major in the luggage, so my BIL's family ended up getting themselves new clothes to wear on the next day. Kesian kan! But at least it gave them the ticket to shop for new clothes in Paris la haha.

By the time we reached Val d'Europe, it was already midnight. We were still very affected of what happened earlier, that we were so glad to finally reach our hotel, Hotel L'Elysee. It felt like we finally found our safe haven to seek shelter in!

Tip: Decide where you want to spend your time the most at when you're in Paris. For us, it's Disneyland. So we chose a hotel near Disneyland. Hotel L'Elysee seems to be the perfect choice because it's only 15 minutes to Disneyland by bus, and just 5 minutes to La Vallée Village, the factory outlet store.

The kids slept almost immediately once we reached.

So that's how our first day in Paris went. Let's just say, it failed to give us the good first time impression la ok. But the next day was a better day - a visit to Disneyland! (To be continued)

Goodbye London!

10 days in London seem to fly by so fast and the next thing we knew, we were down to the last 2 days in our stay in London. The second last day we were there, we decided to make full use of whatever time we have left to explore the tourist attractions in London that we have yet to visit.

We started the morning with a visit to Greenwich Market.

We actually wanted to look for gifts and souvenirs for our friends and family but didn't know which of the stores in London that offers variety of choices with good price to choose from. After googling, we found that Greenwich Market is one of London's best sources for arts and crafts, unique gifts, and rare antiques and collectables, so to Greenwich Market we went!

You can find book stalls (that sells books for as low as £3 no kidding! I got one of my Sophie Kinsella's here :D), and many handmade & unique crafty materials here in Greenwich market. They also have small boutique shops that sell adult and baby clothes surrounding the market.

That's Mr Humbug candy shop you see back there - the shop is so cute, I couldn't resist asking my husband to pose for a picture! :D We couldn't find what we were looking here though, but what we did find is this fresh, homemade Brazillian Churros that taste so, so good!

All of their churros are freshly made so you can imagine the freshness and warmness of each churros at every bite! Instead of dipping, the caramel/chocolate syrup are inserted in the middle of each churros, so it melts in the mouth in each bite you take. You can even ask for half caramel, half chocolate syrup in each churros so you get the best of both worlds in one churros!

If you'd like, you can also coat the churros with cinnamon powder. At first, we ordered for just 1 set just to try them out. After trying them, we ended up getting another 5 sets hahaha. The best thing is, buy 6 get 1 free, so we had 7 sets of churros that morning! :P So, so good I tell ya!

Before we left Greenwich Market, we stopped by one of our favorite places to shop in London - Marks & Spencer Simply Food. Over there in London, M&S Simply Food is like mamak shop here, you can find it everywhere.

The best thing about it is, it has all the food you want - breads, fruits, chocs, cakes, truffles, sandwiches, salads, pizzas -- basically anything you can think of!Sighs just thinking about it makes me miss London already.

See what I mean? Endless and endless of choices! But the best thing about M&S Simply Food is that they have a section called "Prepared Meals", where they have pre-cooked chickens, seafood and pastas, ready to eat!

But of course we could only picked those seafoods ones, but that's good enough!

Looks good, don't they? :D Oh and they also had this really cool self-service cash counter, where you scan all the items in your basket, then slot your money into the machine according to the total amount shown. Super smart, super efficient! Sighs I only have good things to say about the store, really. :P

After that, we then headed to central London again. First stop, was the Green Park.

Serene. That's all I can say. Serene, green and clean. I don't know how, but they manage to keep the park really clean, we can hardly find any sampah around the park! And there was always someone sweeping the grass to sweep the fallen leaves away. Efficient okay. Kalau dekat Malaysia.. (you complete the sentence yourselflah :P)

Dried maple leaf!

Just as we were about to leave the park, we saw an extremely cute squirrel running across us and we kept squealing and trying to lure him to come closer to us! The people there must have thought we were a bunch of weird jakuns, but c'monnn, how often do you come across cute brown & grey squirrel like this in Malaysia right? :D

Comel kannnn! :D After that, we left the place and stopped by the famous Buckingham Palace for a picture.

Checkout the guy with the oversized hat. Always have wanted to see this guy in person! :D Wanted to go up close and make funny faces and crack the guy up, too bad the place was gated!

Anyway, the day was getting dark so we picked up our pace and stopped by the Trafalgar Square for more pictures.

There is also a wishing fountain there where people throw money and wish for something they want, hoping for it to come true! Ishhh. Kurafat, kurafat :P Some sources say that the coins are collected by the Greater London Authority and it is assumed to be for charity, but hmmm.. who knows right? Heh.

After that, we rushed to Camden Market to get the souvenirs we were looking for. Camden Market was awesome, but not exactly a place you'd want to bring your kids and family to la to be honest. Tempat tu macam "gelap" sikit, if you know what I mean. Lebih kurang Petaling Street dekat sini lah, senang cite. Banyak kedai tatoo and rare items dekat situ jugak. (Images below Googled)

Yeay, a souvenir shop, finally!

Anyway, something exciting happened while we were here. Well, exciting for us that is hehe. Just as we were about to leave the place, we actually bumped into my elder sister's in law's family that happened to be there at the same time! Ha kalau dah jumpa orang sekampung, memang riuh ah satu Camden kan! It really is a small world after all. :P

Once we said goodbyes, we headed back home, feeling all tired and ready to hit the sack. But not before dropping by more London's iconic attractions, like the Eye of London.

Notice I was not wearing any winter jacket at that time, because again, we were so tired and couldn't wait to get home so I couldn't be bothered with jackets and all! Tapi nak amik gamba jugak, so tinggal je lah jacket dalam kereta. Them jackets are really troublesome I tell ya!

Then, we stopped by the Palace of Westminster to take a picture with the famous Big Ben. See that clock tower at the back of us? That's Big Ben!

Yes, me without my jacket again hehe. After that whole day of just walking and going places, we finally headed home.

The next day, we spent the whole day at home, just resting & packing our luggages to our next destination - Paris! But before we left for Paris, that night, we stole some time to visit some of London's iconic attractions, like the Harrods building.

And Selfridges &Co. (People kept asking us to checkout Selfridges, and we did -- twice! But both times we came, they closed early! :((( Oh well maybe next time. Err, next time? :P )

And that wrapped up the places and memories we had in London. Hectic, freaking cold, but definitely fun :) Next up, would be my update on our experience in Paris! Not exactly the "city of love" we had in mind, but.. well, I'll reveal why in my next update! ;)

Until then! <3