5-Day Paris Itinerary on a Budget - Day 1 & 2

Paris Day 1: 24th May 2018 Thur

Gare du Nord

We took the Eurostar at 4.31pm (London Time) and arrived at 7.47pm (Paris Local Time) in Paris at Gare du Nord. Do note Paris is 1 hr later than London.

We walk to the Airbnb and spend the evening settling down. Do note the entrance you are suppose to exit, otherwise you will need to walk one big round outside Gare du Nord to the other exit.

Paris Day 2: 25th May 2018 Fri

In the morning, around 9.45 am, we explored Rue Montorgueil. Morning was cooling, so a scarf or a jacket is still advisable.

We saw dog walkers. There was a dog who took the lead of another dog. How cute!

The dog leads the dog

There were bakery shops so you could buy breakfast if you haven't ate anything before you come out. 

Perhaps it was early weekday morning, the streets was rather quiet. 

Wouldn't recommend coming here again though cause seriously speaking, there wasn't much to see or do. 

We walked to the French king Louis XIV equestrian statue at Place des Victoires (10.30 am). It was just a statue in the middle of the road. 

French king Louis XIV equestrian statue

After another 10 minutes walk, we went to Palais-Royal. Part of it was under renovation though.

Les Deux Plateaux - Time to take photos!

Saw Les Deux Plateaux, more commonly known as the Colonnes de Buren.

You can feel the sun beating down on your flesh but if you stand in the shade it was cooling. The difference was quite obvious. Try it, and you will get what I mean. The coolness is different then that in Singapore when you stand under the shade. 

If you can't stand the heat, stand under the shade!

We entered Louvre through Carrousel Entrance. 

Even the lamp have iconic images

But we decide to exit to see Tuileries Garden first. It was very sunny and the floor was sandy. There wasn’t anything much to see too, a bit of a disappointment. But from here, you can vague see the Eiffel tower. 

We went back to the Louvre and ate Mcdonalds for lunch there. Mcdonalds at Europe have different menu and the price was much more expensive than in Singapore. But we wanted to try and see the difference between Singapore Mcdonalds and Paris, so there we go.

Macdonald

There wasn't anything special about Macdonald at Paris.

Walked through this Entrance for security check before you can even buy ticket to get inside 

After lunch we entered the Louve (1.30 pm). The entrance fee is 15 Euros. 

In the Louvre, we saw many famous artwork: The Winged Victory Statue (Winged Victory of Samothrace), Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, The Coronation of Napoleon.

The Winged Victory Statue

The Winged Victory Statue - side

The Coronation of Napoleon

You can't get too close to it. 

There were space at the side to view Mona Lisa. However, as many people were there, we weren’t too comfortable to hog the place to admire the picture.

Mona Lisa

There were of course many other artwork.

Even the ceiling have detailed artwork

I would feel that it doesn't really matter which sequence you decide to see, cause there will surely be swamp of tourist. It wouldn't really matter. The crowd was still acceptable to me.

After we exit Louvre (5.50 pm), we took the photo of the pyramid from the road opposite. There were peddlers around so be careful.

Louve

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

We took the metro to Pont de Bir-Hakeim. You can view the Eiffel Tower on the way to the station.

View of Eiffel Tower on the train

At Pont de Bir-Hakeim there were a few couples taking wedding photos and models taking picture too.

It drizzled a little but luckily stopped after awhile.

Pont de Bir-Hakeim

We walked to see Statue of Liberty. It was a 13 minutes walk but the weather was cooling so it didn’t feel too bad. At the end of the path we saw the back of the Statue across the road. We almost thought that was it until it struck me that maybe there was an underpass. And true to it, we walked back a short distance and saw stairs. We took the stairs down, walk under the bridge and see the front of it!

Statue of Liberty

Along the stairs were the river. You can see the Eiffel Tower here too.

I think this view is also nice

We walked along the Pont de Grenelle to the mall, Beaugrenelle on the right. We used the toilet and fill water bottle with the tap in the washroom. We looked around to see if there were any affordable meal. I saw Singapore Mifen selling in the restaurant for 12.90 Euros! We decide to check out the grocery stall instead.

 

Then we entered Monoprix to see if we can grab anything for dinner. In the end, we didn’t buy anything.

However, our luck seemed to run out. It started to rain when we were making our way to Eiffel Tower. Hence, we have to skip the trip to Eiffel Tower. We eat at a Japanese restaurant that we found on the way around 8.20 pm. 

After dinner, around 9.30 pm, it was still raining. We decided to brave the rain and run to the latest metro.

It was so much colder when it rain!

~*~*~*~

Summary

1. Rue Montorgueil
2. Place des Victoires
3. Palais-Royal
4. Les Deux Plateaux
5. Tuileries Garden
6. Louvre
7. Pont de Bir-Hakeim
8. Statue of Liberty