Day 9: Paris

It was New Year's eve in Paris and we were looking forward to the countdown with great anticipation... or was it what it was supposed to be? Later in the evening, we would experience what was going to be an absolute nightmare.

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Chateau de Versailles is undoubtedly the best palace I've ever visited in Europe. Not surprisingly, it is listed as an UNESCO World Heritage site. Stunning, glamourous, breathtaking... these are just some of the superlatives which describes the palace.


The front courtyard of the palace.


The fountain behind the palace. Notice that the body of water is frozen over.

The garden behind the palace is huge. If not for the constant freezing wind, we would have explored the entire garden.

Usually, such palaces don't allow photos to be taken. Versailles Palace isn't an exception. However, the problem is, the No photography sign is so inconspicuously put that most tourists basically ignored it. The numerous flashes from the cameras were so overwhelming that the staff were left helpless.

Can't blame anyone. Monkey see monkey do. I restrained myself from taking pictures, choosing instead, to obey the rule. However, after seeing so many of them doing otherwise, I decided to "join in the fun".


A visit to Paris isn't complete without the Eiffel Tower.

Heading back to Paris, we headed for Eiffel Tower straight away. When it was first built for the World's Fair in 1887, it was met with protests, considered to be an eye-sore by the French. It was nearly torn down and eventually saved from demolition.

Without Eiffel Tower, I don't think I'll even visit Paris!

The queues to go up to the tower were very loooooooooooong. There are 2 options available: Take the stairs, which will be obviously cheaper, or to take the elevator to the 3 different platforms. The higher you go, the more you pay.

Tip: The cheapest option to get to the summit is to climb the stairs to the 2nd platform. It costs 3.50 euros if I don't remember wrongly. The public isn't allowed to climb to the top platform for safety reasons. From the 2nd platform, pay an additional 4 euros (I think so) to get to the top. If you want to get to the summit from the ground floor, it will cost you 8.50 euros, I think.

Anyhow, we decided to climb the tower the day after for whatever reasons which I can't remember.


My favourite shot of the tower from Palais de Chaillot

Arc de Triomphe is another well-recognised landmark of Paris. Located at Place de l'Étoile, it must be the most hazardous roundabout in the world, with 12 or 13 roads meeting at this point. No road markers mean that drivers need to be extra cautious. Oh boy, Napolean must be mad to locate his arch at such a crazy place!


I reckon this to be the world's craziest roundabout!

Champs Élysées is one of the most famous streets in the world. The huge Louis Vuitton store is also located here. You can earn yourself some bucks in this store by helping Chinese nationals to buy LV bags. Basically, each tourist is on limited purchase. So there's a limit on the number of bags you can buy. When they have attained their limit, these Chinese nationals are willing to pay you the tax refund if you help them buy. Sweet!

However, I'm here as a tourist, not to earn money.

The whole stretch of boulevard is lined with expensive cafes, cinemas, fashion, high-end shopping and a MacDonald's outlet which we frequented for its free toilet. By the way, free toilets are extremely rare.


Down Champs Élysées with Arc de Triomphe in the distance.

Place de la Concorde is another major square in Paris. The Obelisk of Luxor stands on top on a pedestal, with carvings showing the machineries involved in transporting the monument. Given the technological limitations of that time, it was by no means an easy feat.


The 3000 year old Egyptian obelisk.

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The metro was free from 5pm onwards on New Year's eve. Trains will run througout the night on selected lines and the free ride was extended all the way til noon the next day. The authorities probably wanted to encourage the public to use the subway instead of jamming up the roads in anticipation of the massive crowd for the New Year's bash. The state of emergency was still enforced throughout France so going for the countdown wasn't exactly a good idea. (In late October, the riots were instigated by the deaths of 2 teenagers in a power station when the police tried to arrest them.)

Shiok! I thought. Not the riots but the free metro.

By 6pm, the whole stretch of Champs-Elysées was brimming with heavy police presence. Too many of them really unsettled my nerves although they were a great deterrence to potential trouble-makers.

Common sense will tell you that the Eiffel Tower will be the best spot for the countdown. With fireworks in the background, everything would be romantically spectacular. Or so I thought.

We reached Trocadéro metro station at 11pm. From here, Palais de Chaillot commanded a great view of the Eiffel Tower. The station was already bursting at its seams as people tried to squeeze for space. We didn't walk, we were being pushed along together with the crowd. Amid the mass of people, sporadic commotions broke out when the police arrested trouble-makers.

We got ourselves an unobstructed view of the tower as people started to gather around us. Luck was with us as the skies were clear. With the tower lighted up, it looked so magical and we were full of expectations and anticipation of what was to come.

A small incident unsettled a couple during the night. As a cute Japanese girl was posing for a shot for his boyfriend, she was instantly surrounded by French punks who wanted to pose for the picture as well. There must be at least 6 or 7 of them. They scattered away when the police stepped in. I could almost see the tears in her eyes as she hugged her boyfriend for comfort.

Too kawaii lah! But I pitied her.


This picture was taken from my first visit to Paris in 2004. Just wanted to show where we stood at Palais de Chaillot.

A few minutes before the end of 2005, small fireworks were set off by different sections of the crowd. Some emitted whistling sounds as they shot up into the night sky. Others crackled brightly, attracting awe from the people.

The only signal to the arrival of 2006 was when the tower burst into a sea of sparkling lights (the tower sparkles on the hour mark every night). Small scattered fireworks were still set off and nothing more.

Gosh! What an anti-climax? Where's the countdown? Where's the HUGE fireworks? What's with the small and puny scattered fireworks?

After lingering around for a few more minutes, we decided to leave since hordes of people were leaving as well. Returning back to Trocadéro metro station was the obvious option since it was the nearest train station to us.

People were shoving and pushing as we trodded back to the station. Come on! When the front isn't moving, pushing from behind doesn't help.

When we were only a few metres away from the metro, there was a sudden surge of people leaving the station. The station was already overloaded and the people were turned away by the police. In response, a group of punks at the back started to push violently, screaming something at the same time. The people in front stumbled forward, threatening to crush the old and the young.

I grabbed Gretel and seeked some breathing space. We managed to squeeze ourselves from the chaos, a safe distance away from the mayhem. Boy, even with police and sirens wailing loudly, there was nothing much the police can do.

As we emerged from the crowd, we could see parents comforting crying children and young ladies crying. Some of the old folks stumbled and fell when the crowd started to push.

If some pranksters were to shout bomb!, I couldn't imagine the catastrophic outcome.

We tried our luck with other train stations, which were closed due to overloading as well. We managed to catch a train at Invalides metro station, only to realise that it had brought us to a stop where the metro lines were closed. So we had to wait for another hour before we could take another train back to our hotel.

A train ride from Trocadéro that usually takes 20 minutes to head back to our hotel took us 3 freaking hours!

Safe in our hotel, we were glad that the nightmare was finally over. We hit the sack between 3 to 4am, absolutely beaten.

Bloody hell! So much for romantic Paris.