4 Things I Like About Airports

I found airport as an interesting place. Some reasons why like to be in the airports are:

1. Sight seeing

Most airports have shopping area, some even have lots of them! Duty free shops are mostly found in the airports. Sometimes they offer cheaper price than shops in the cities. The stuff sold in the airports are sometimes can be difficult to find outside, for example wines and perfume (original ones) are difficult to find in Indonesia.

2. Waiting time - Reading, sleeping, listening to music
Sometimes i have to wake up very early to catch a flight. In that case, i always feel sleepy. If so, i get to bearding area as fast as i can and take a nap there. Or, i will have the time to read my favourite books while listening to music. Make use of the boarding time will bring an excitement activities. Sometimes we can meet old friends in the airport or even new friends, while waiting, we have to keep the chances open ;).

3. People watching
 Airports means travelers, traveling in groups or solo. It's very interesting to see different types of people or families in the airports, their fashion styles, their carriages, how they handle the children or parents. There are people who loves taking pictures, lovers, or friends. It's always amusing to see all of those.

4. Airports means going somewhere!
What i like the most about airports is the feeling it gives to myself, the feeling of excitement that i am about to go to another place, means holidays! Aaaahh.... the excitement that in 2 hours, 3 or even 13 hours more, i will be in a different city, country or continent. Moreover, if i go abroad, the immigration in the airport will stamp my passport :), more stamp collection added!



 

Europe Series - Bonjour Paris! (Part 2)

The second day, i took the busy metro (subway) in the busy line. I had to stand up among tall people. I was a bit confused where to look, i mean, how i should position my head. The best i could do was looking down, looking over my left shoulder. Antoine took me to the meeting point, forget the line name, but i had to wait for Thierry and Ros in front of Virgin music shop.

I had to buy another ticket, but this time Antoine helped me and instead of the day pass, i bought the zone 1-3 ticket, and it was only 4 euros. Hah! that's was much cheaper. But i couldn't have that from the airport to Paris because the airport is in zone 5. The farthest is zone 5, and the most expensive.

So, i met my team, and we explored around a bit. That day i prepared more, i got my rain coat, water bottle and was wearing longer pants and t-shirt with sleeves.

Me in complete costume, minus the hat and the rain coat :).

This is another area in Paris, the post modern.

We went on the metro to go to Musee D'Orsay. Actually we wanted to go to Musee de Louvre, but Antoine, Maud and Thierry said that the museum is unhuman, won't be able to see all in a day. So, Musee D'Orsay was a good choice.

The metro line we took to go to Champs-Elysees and Musee de Louvre.

The exit bars, we have to tap the card and it will let us go through.

Inside the metro line 1.

The road sign that tells we are close to Musee D'Orsay.

We spent almost 5 hours there. There was a special exhibition from Degas, a French painter who liked to paint nude women. But it was a good one to see. This museum was a train station long time ago.

Inside the museum. The roof and the big hall are still kept in orginal shape, the train station.

The entrance fee for Musee D'Orsay is 12.50 euros, that's including the special exhibition. So many paintings and sculptures made by famous artists. I was a bit overwhelmed with the art work, didn't really have time to see and interprete. I could only spend 30 secs to 1 mins enjoyed one. The art teachers i know must be drooling to visit this museum.

After Musee D'Orsay, we went to see Musee du Louvre, the most visited Art museum in the world ( in 2011, there were more than 8,8 millions visitors). However, we canceled to go because the line to enter the museum was very looong.

The queue in Musee du Louvre.

So we ended up just relax outside the museum and having a photo session.

Posing in front of Louvre with Ros.

The building at the back is some part of Louvre's building.

Yoga pose

 After the long walk that day, we were hungry. And this time, Thierry didn't make any sandwiches, so we bought our lunch. I bought ham sandwich, yuuuumm...

We ate lunch in a park. There are many parks there, and free, and no food sellers around. It's really a relaxing place. And that time we had some sun, after cloudy and cold morning.

The first sun i had in Paris. Even it was just a sandwich, it tasted so delicious.

We were resting in the park for a while, then headed up to Notre Dame de Paris. On the way, i saw a beggar with a dog. One of my friends said that some people keep a dog for a pet because the governement gives money to people who have dogs.

Beside the beggar and the dog, i saw some roll royce cars were parked. There was a wedding in that area. So, i had the picture of the car taken, with me in it :).

I found everything in Paris at that time was so interesting, including the trash bin, or plastic. Paris uses plastic bag for trash dump instead of bin because it's more simple and practical.

Arriving at Cathedrale Notre Dame, it was around 6pm, but the day was still bright.  No fee entrance (Yay!). The church is so beautiful and well maintained.

The outside of The Notre Dame.

The inside, so beautiful.

After the Notre Dame, we walked again to another church close by. I forget the name, but Thierry said it's popular among people, especially the youngsters for relaxing (what? a church for relaxing?) Well, the front side is grassy field where people can sit and enjoy the view and sunshine (when there is sun).

The view from the church.

There was a perfomance by some guys. These guys were cool, they played ball on the wall with music in the background.

Then, we thought of going to another place, but on the way the rain was falling. Quite hard, so we had to stop. Lucky me, we stopped at a souvenir shop. Well, i ended up buying some things, just fridge magnets, each was 3.5 euros, I asked for discount, and i got 2 for 5 euros plus bonus Eiffel key ring :).

Then i saw a wine shop, we stopped there and the view was jaw-dropping. Hundreds of wine from all over famous wine regions, with unbelievable price (compare to indonesian price). You can get one bottle for 3 euros only!!!!

The price of these wine made me wanted to buy some. *edited by Tisa.

After the rain was a bit lighter, we were heading to Thierry's apartement. We had dinner there, the sun set at about 10 pm, and i stayed until 11.30 pm.

I had so much fun there and had a great memory. Thanks to Antoine, Ros and Thierry - who took 2 days off of work to be our guide. I am going to come back, because i left a part of my heart there.