On 20 March 2014, we took the 11.55 pm flight out to Paris, embarking on our 11 days 9 nights trip to Paris & London. However, the MH flight was delayed for half hour. An hour after took off, we were served meal, gosh at say 1.40 am we were having our supper! This flight took 12 hours to reach Paris so we were provided with 2 meals and 1 snacks. The other meal was only served 2 hours before our flight going to touch down Paris airport.
I was able to watched three (3) in flight movies on board.
We took a cab to Kyriad Paris Hotel situated at Gare du Nord upon arrival which cost us Euro 70 for the four of us, hubby's business partner and wife.
Ignoring the feel of jet lag, as we were early and not able to check in yet, we left our luggage and then hop onto to Paris L'Open Hop on Hop Off bus which stop located at the street behind the hotel, touring the yellow line areas. After we finished, we went back to our hotel for check in and rested for half an hour before we went for lunch at Cafe Du Nord nearby. Then off we went again onto the bus yellow line and changed to green line to Eiffel Tower. We adjourned at Eiffel Tower and took lots of photo. The queue was long to go up the tower so we skipped. We managed to get back the bus back to hotel and have dinner in Jumbo Chinese Restaurant, the food 5/10.
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| Eiffel Tower |
The hotel though small but clean and comfortable and just a mere 3 minutes walking distance to the train station. It was Euro 99 per room per night. The Hop on Hop Off tour coach was Euro 36 per pax for 2 day pass.
The next morning, after breakfast at Paris Nord Cafe, we went to green line routes. The first stop was iconic Lourve where one of the attraction was the exhibit of the Da Vinci painting of Mona Lisa. The entrance ticket cost Euro 12 per person. We then proceeded to Lover's Bridge aka romantic chain bridge Pont des Arts. We saw lots of couples there and also two guys kissing!
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| Lourve |
We went shopping at Champs Elyssess Avenue where you could get all the branded stuff, bought bags at the largest LV Boutique which showcase latest collection of LV mechandise and also visited the Arc De Trompe. You may stop at 12 or 11 of green route for Champs Elyssess Avenue. Lunch was at a Belgium Restaurant, Leon de Bruxelles, same street at LV Boutique, famous for their fresh mussels. We went onto Eiffle Tower, last stop back to yellow line stop 58 at Lafayette, Asians friendly shopping centre, what else, of course more shopping.
Nothing much for blue and orange routes except that orange line could bring you to Chinatown. Attractions that we missed out as we could not resist more shopping were Basilique and the red light district at stop 52 and 51 respectively. At Basilique, you need to walk uphill so that u could get a hill view of the entire Paris city. As for the red light district, the famous landmark was the Moulin Rouge Windmill which we saw but did not make a stop.
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| The freshness of Mussels at Leon de Bruxelles |
It was just a short stay at Paris, we will be back!
On third day, we intended to visit Marche Saint Quentin and while waited for its opening, we went for morning breakfast at McD. After the visit, we checked out from our hotel and went for our check in to depart for London on Eurostar train. Ticket cost Euro 76 + Euro 2 booking fee per pax. Train departed from Paris Gare du Nord at 11.07 am and arrived London St-Pancras at 12.30 pm.
Our hotel was Hampton by HIlton London Waterloo situated at Waterloo Road. The room cost us £126.65 per room per night. We bought the oyster card with £10 credit and £5 as deposit as we intended to take tube to hotel. We went for Victoria line towards Brixton direction, southward bound. Then changed at Waren Street to Northern line southward bound to Waterloo. Hubby's another business partner with his wife and son were already there in Hampton Hotel but were not able to check in first since we were early, so off we went to Chinatown for lunch. After lunch, we visited Big Ben Tower Clock, London Eye and then went shopping at Oxford street before dinner at Goldmine Restaurant at Queensway, a chinese restaurant owned by Malaysian Ipoh Chef. The food was real good and we met up with a relative of hubby's business partner, a student in London.
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| London Eye |
Next morning, our rented 9 seater van was sent to our hotel. For 2 days rental cost us £330.93 with the 7 of us so it was £47.30 pound per person. First stop was Stonehenge - a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, about 2 miles west of Amesbury and 8 mies north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is the remains of a ring of standing stones set within earthworks. You need to purchase ticket to view the area which cost £14.90 per adult. It was free last 3 years when our friend was there.
Then we travelled to Bath, a city in the ceremonial county of Somerset in Southwest England, Castle Combe, a small village in Wiltshire, England and the beautiful Bourton-on-the Water - a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England that lies on a wideflat vale within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding natural beauty. Bourton-on-the Water was the place that my hubby been to years back and had been wanting to bring me here.
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| Bath |
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| Castle Combe |
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| Cotswold Gateway Hotel
After a long day journey, we put a night at Cotwold Gateway Hotel at Cheltenham Road, Burford. Burford is a small town on te River WIndrush in the Cotsworld hills in West Oxfordshire, England. It cost us £85 per room per night stay inclusive of buffet breakfast which was very good. We had our dinner at one of the chinese restaurant nearby but the food I would rate 4/10.
The next morning after our morning breakfast, we bid goodbye to this little English hotel and went to Oxford. We wanted to visit the production process of Mini Plant in Oxford but since it was full and without booking, we only managed to visit its exhibition area of various models of Mini Cooper.
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| Shopping at this store in Oxf |
Then off we went to UK Bicester Factory Outlet for branded stuff shopping, cheaper here but not the latest stuff and light lunch before we return back to London. The four of us checked in back to Hampton by Hilton Hotel whereas the other three checked into another hotel which was a complimentary stay.
The next day, after our breakfast, we travelled by DLR train to ExCel London for IPEX 2014 exhibition. After that, we went back to hotel to put materials collected from the exhibition prior to our lunch at Chinatown and more shopping at Oxford street.
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| One of the booth at ExCel London |
After some light meal, we wet for Mamma Mia at Novello Theatre. We had our seat at Grand Circle which cost £50 per person. The performance was good.
The next morning, our meeting point was Waterloo & City line of Waterloo station. We visited Tower Bridge aka London Bridge, then to St Paul's Cathedral.
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| Tower Bridge |
We had lunch appointment at Chinatown with our niece who had settled down in Cambridge and nephew's girlfriend who was studying music there too. We then proceed to Harrods for more shopping and we excused ourselves as our niece wanted to take us for English afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason. Our niece recommended TK Maxx, a cheaper priced shopping store. As for dinner, this time we tried szechuan food in China town and met up with one of the relative of hubby's another business partner.
On Friday 28 March, we gathered at the Westminister Station's Distric & City Line Westbund platform as we were heading to St James Park for Buckingham Palace and Greenwich. At Buckingham Palace, we managed to view the changing guards which started at 11.30 am. You need to find out the day which they have this changing guards because they dont have it everyday.
We had another round of mussels at Leon de Bruxelles before our Michael Jackson - Thriller Live at Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London. The ticket cost £41.50 per person where the seats were at B2 Dress Circle area. We only had our dinner after the performance, wanted something light such as noodles to share but the waiter at the Chinese Restaurant insisted we must ordered to at least a minimum of £8 per person.
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| Greenwich - Meridian Line
The next day, after our late breakfast, we checked out from our hotel at 12 noon. We had a 12 seaters bus to take us to Selhurst Park Stadium to watch the live 3 pm Crystal Palace vs Chelsea football match. The ticket cost us £131.80 per person, it was indeed a good experience. After the match, we were sent by our driver to London Heathrow airport for our flight departing to Kuala Lumpur at 10.00 pm via Malaysia Airlines, a 13 hours flight home.
Yes, we did go to its casino in Chinatown and won some money!
Overall, it was a great trip with great companions.
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