Galeries Lafayette

Galaries Lafayette is one of the shopping spot for the rich like the Arab Sheiks.

Aiman and my husband on the pavement taking the night view. There's a lot of stall outside.

Outside is a medieval building. Inside? A mixture of old and new.

One special thing about this junction in Lafayette is that it is the meeting of six streets instead of the usual four. Can you name another place in the world that have six streets in a junction?

Inside the Galeries Lafayette is a mixture of old and new. Ultra modern shopping complex inside a medieval building, complete with a lush dome.

On the ground floor there's a lot of make up and perfume booths. Paris is famous for its perfume.

The dome that leave me gasping the first time I saw it.

The setting is more like an opera house than a shopping complex.

My beloved husband and Aiman.

At the background you can see a lot of clothes hanging for sale.

At one of the stall outside. Selling favourite items for tourists.

Everywhere are medieval buildings that didn't portray the modern architecture inside. This is Paris - medieval outside but modern inside.

Sacré Cœur on Montmarte Hill, Paris

Montmartre is a hill 130 metres high, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank, primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit.

Along the road to the hill are a lot of shops, including souvenir shops. I find souvenir shops here are among the cheapest in France.

You have a choice of climbing the stairs or riding the Montmartrobus (electric bus of Montmartre).

Mesmerized by all the buildings on the slope of the hill.

Thank you dear husband for a trip to Paris. Anniversary present after 20 years of marriage.

Montmartre means 'mountain of the martyr'; it owes its name to the martyrdom of Saint Denis, who was decapitated on the hill around 250 AD.

Having a nice time.

The name of the building is Sacré Cœur.

La Defense, Paris

The Center of New Industries and Technologies (CNIT) was built and first used in 1958. These "first generation" skyscrapers were all very similar in appearance, limited to a height of 100 metres (330 ft). In 1966, the Nobel Tower was the first office building built in the area. In 1970 the RER line A railway was opened from La Défense to Étoile. In the early 1970s, in response to great demand, a second generation of buildings began to appear, but the economic crisis in 1973 nearly halted all construction in the area. A third generation of towers began to appear in the early 1980s. The biggest commercial centre in Europe (at the time), the Quatre Temps, was created in 1981. In 1982, the EPAD launched the Tête Défense competition to find a monument to complete the Axe historique, which eventually led to the construction of Grande Arche at the west end of the quarter. During the same period, hotels were constructed, the CNIT was restructured, and in 1992 Line 1 of the Paris Métro was extended to La Défense, which made the area readily accessible to even more of the city.

Aiman and my husband inside CNIT.

Infront of Grande Arche. The open lift is in the middle of the building going to the top. A great national design competition was launched in 1982 as the initiative of French president François Mitterrand. Danish architect Johann Otto von Spreckelsen (1929–1987) and Danish engineer Erik Reitzel designed the winning entry to be a 20th century version of the Arc de Triomphe: a monument to humanity and humanitarian ideals rather than military victories. The construction of the monument began in 1985.

The Arche is almost a perfect cube (width: 108m, height: 110m, depth: 112m); it has been suggested that the structure looks like a four-dimensional hypercube (a tesseract) projected onto the three-dimensional world. It has a prestressed concrete frame covered with glass and Carrara marblefrom Italy and was built by the French civil engineering company Bouygues.

The two sides of the Arche house government offices. The roof section, exploited by Stephane Cherki, is an exhibition centre. The vertical structure visible in the photograph is the lift scaffolding. Views ofParis are to be had from the lifts taking visitors to the roof.

In Paris, we are staying in La Defense. It was transformed into a commercial area starting from 1958. In La Defense, the scenario is different. No more medieval buildings but modern skyscrapers. Technip building is one of them. My husband is currently working in Technip Paris for a short stint. The Grande Arche you can see in the middle is in vertical line with the historic Arc de Triomphe far away. A splendid town planning.

Aiman and my husband walking along the vast concrete area. There's a few artistic sculpture like the one on the left. Buildings in France are never really square. Either they are triangle or even if they are square, they are not cut at 90 degrees exactly. The edge looks like 60 degrees or something like that. The commercial buildings don't have curtain to cover its glass wall. So everything is transparent. No hanky panky business inside the office.

Aiman and my husband in front of the 'finger'. You can see the details in the sculpture with all the lines. Wonder how they mould it to the exact grid.

There a big railway station underneath all the big buildings. In Paris the trains move underground.

The 'finger' at night. A spectacular sight.

In front of 'The Dome' that housed an ultra modern shopping complex. There's even Bata Store inside selling shoes with European designs. Nice to see the familiar logo.

Cruise along Seine River, Paris

There's a lot of boats for tourists to cruise along Seine River in Paris. The boat will stop at all the tourist spots in Paris and passengers can hop out to visit each spot. Then they can hop in the next boat using the same ticket.

It was a very windy Sunday and not many people went out. Certain parts of Paris had hurricane. It was heaven to get inside a closed boat and out of the cold windy air that can cut through your bone. Now I can understand why Europeans like to visit hot countries like Malaysia.

Aiman walking along the river bank. Each day we walked miles and miles but since the air is cool, it's not tiring. For a boy of 5 years old, he has a lot of stamina.

Most buildings in France are not allowed to do any renovation to its exterior. Only the interior can be renovated. This is how they maintain their identity. As they say a city without old buildings is like a city without a past.

I think most buildings like this housed a lot of apartments.

Even a super boy has his own limit. Taking a nap in the ferry.

Behind is Notre Dame, one of Paris landmark.

It took 180 years to built Notre Dame.

Most buildings along Seine River looks like the belong to the same era of time - in the past. Part of Paris identity.

Louvre Museum

The Louvre Museum or Great Louvre, or simply the Louvre — is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited museum in the world, and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of Paris, France and is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the1st arrondissement (district). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet). The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) which began as a fortress built in the late 12th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are still visible. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace.

In 1672, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of antique sculpture.

During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum, to display the nation's masterpieces. Of course, Mona Lisa is kept here, making Louvre a favorite visiting spot.

The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being confiscated church and royal property. The Louvre is made even more famous by Dan Brown novel 'The Da Vinci Code' which science have proven as fiction. Christ or Prophet Isa does not belong to European blood line.

From underneath, inside the building. The other end of the triangle.

A peek at the architectural design.

Apple store is at the opposite end. I am a follower of Apple technology, having own some of its gadgets. iPad is still not displayed yet.

Aiman is always full of actions. Down here, there's an entrance to the museum and lots of shopping spots.

Eiffel Tower

Watching Eiffel Tower at night. Never dream of this. Located in Champ de Mars in Paris. Watching it at night is sentimental.

The Eiffel Tower, which is the tallest building in Paris,is the single most visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year. Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the tower was built as the entrance arch for the 1889 World's Fair.

The tower stands at 324 m (1,063 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-story building. And while the Eiffel Tower is an iron structure, and weighs approximately 10,000 tonnes, it actually has a relatively low density, weighing less than a cylinder of air occupying the same dimensions as the tower. Sound unbelievable? Believe it!

At around 7.30 every evening, the tower will glitter for about 15 minutes. A picture won't do justice to the light show. Have to watch the video.

The tower has three levels for visitors. Tickets can be purchased to ascend either on stairs or lifts to the first and second levels. The walk to the first level is over 300 steps, as is the walk from the first to the second level. The third and highest level is accessible only by lift. Both the first and second levels feature restaurants. However when we visited it on 28th February 2010, the tower was closed due to strong wind. Strong enough to push Aiman. We later found out that France had hurricane on that day and some parts are flooded. Luckily no flood in Paris.

The picture of a happy family.

Now is the transition between winter and spring. In winter the ground is full of snow. In spring it is full of grass. As of now, there is no more snow and the grass is just about to show itself.