Illin Design Diary: PARIS

Bonjour! I am in Paris! I’m in Paris, mom! =D Arrived at the airport. The weather is quite chilly and was still okay for me. It was actually sunny outside but only when the wind blows, you will get goosebumps. We took the bus to our hotel. Along the way, I opened my eyes big and began analyzing Paris. A totally different world to me.

The highways, roads, bridges and vehicles

Cute electrical cars are common here ^^ And also the driver position is on the left. In Malaysia, its on the right.

Wide accessible pedestrian walkways and tall buildings

Notice the long bus?

One of the shopping mall in town with rhythmic windows

Every buildings consists of fine details and sculptures making them so majestic and beautiful even if it was a simple grocery shop or office

Wide roads with underground drainage system. No manholes and open drains here and there like Malaysia.

Checked into Park Suites Hotel in Villejuif. The lobby is quite small and straight to the elevator when one enter lol. There is a restaurant downstairs though. The interior is cosy and welcoming. The hotel is 5 min walk to the nearest tube station which is underground so it is very convenient for people to get to anywhere easily. The staff here is friendly and helpful too. Once they gave my friend advise and tips on how to get to the destination that we are heading in Paris. The only thing was that the TV, every channels are in French so I just watched the graphics and series without understanding the story lol.

When I checked into my hotel room, the air cond was not working except for the heater but winter was not here yet so I decided to open the windows but couldn’t not open them cuz it was different. EVERYTHING is different when you are in a different country lol. So it took me about whole 20 minutes to figure out how the windows work wth @_@

Front view of Park Suites Hotel

Entrance. Notice the elevator?

Building opposite

There is a hypermarket beside (the glass windows on the right) named Casino where we normally buy our needs and dinner due to the cheaper price compared to eating outside

Simple linear facade beside the entrance

From here they looked like a doll playhouse to me lol

This is probably how Eiffel Tower was built

Kitchen area

Living area with a cute dining table. Forgot to take photo of the bed cuz I was too busy figuring out the windows (refer to my post above) lol. It was actually a Queen size cozy foldable sofa bed. The living area is linked to the main bedroom since 4 people are assigned to 1 room so I decided to occupy the living area.

I had no idea I'm suppose to turn the bottom small stick rather than the entire stick (-_-)''

The window open when you turn the stick and close when you pull the stick down. Just as simple as that lol. I know I'm not that smart alright

View from above

No its not a transformer. It's a trash bin =)

Here we are heading towards the Tube station which was located underground. How cool is that =D It was nothing like LRT or KTM in Malaysia. Even the tunnel was well decorated and finished.

Notice the polished brickwork?

Passing dividers after tickets are validated

Ticket machine

Notice how the advertisement boards arched following the shape of the tunnel? How awesome. Not to mention the yellow brickwork too

Reached town to hunt for lunch and sightseeing

Extruded facade reminds me of my relief model

At Letrentehui 38 cafe

Nice ambience and relaxing atmosphere

Outside view from inside

Cheese pasta. Taste weird due to the olive oil

What is definitely not to be missed when you are in Paris is:

EIFFEL TOWER!!

I can’t believe it! The freaking tall skeletal iron structure in right in front of me! It is located at Champ de Mars and is the main icon of France, the most recognizable structures in the world. The tower consists of 81 storeys. Only 3 storeys are open for visitors. There are restaurants and souvenir shop available with accessible stairs and elevator. Thanks to smart engineers and architects, this structure produce an industrial feeling with all the steel frames and iron structures.

Inside the elevator. Pardon the dirty glass lol

One of the floors

Amazing construction of iron and steel frames

Smoking bin

Beautiful trees. I have no idea how the leaves managed to stay close to each other although they were from different branches. A rare sight indeed. One for all and all for one!

Notice the cable car thing?

There are always pigeons in the street

View from above

Binoculars to catch closer views

Notice tiny people in the field? Yes it's that high from here

Carriage waiting for me? (* o *)

Our journey continued and we came across the town.

Even the lamp post is sculptured

With traffic light attached to it

Gold letters inscribed on marble stone

At first I was wondering what these are until I see the man opening the cover of these containers

They are stalls storage. A good thought of saving space and convinience

Another finely sculptured building with canopy-like roofs

A different style of stall. Looks like a coffin to me lol

Description of the coff..I mean stall

Prism-like shaped stall with vandalism

Look at how it is clipped to the wall

A rider with his horse

Cute cars are common here

Shops in the street. Notice the finely sculptured balconies above?

Entrance door with round window and sculptures

Brackets and bay windows

Souvenirs

Monotone colors

Striking colors

And we came to Notre Dame, a famous historical religious cathedral with Gothic style.

At this moment my face was like (0 o 0)....

The details and sculptures are incredibly insane

Flying buttresses, arches and rose windows

Sculptured statues like gargoyles were located outside to act as column supports and water spouts for water run-off during rainy day

Sculptured lamp post

The grand facade. Sculptured individual statues surrounding the pointed arch. Can you believe that each of the statues are different in terms of face, body and position? How magnificent! Really salute the sculptors