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Monday, April 17, 2006

Yuvee's Eurotrip!

Maybe this is what being young means...you go for a one week trip without much sleep, came back, and still have the energy to go on shopping sprees 2 days in a row. However, I finally allow myself to rest for the whole weekend, staying over at my friend's, cooking, eating, sleeping and of course, knitting(I just taught her how to knit).
Anyway, about my trip, the first day was quite an adventure I had expected. We landed in Milan, look around us, and wonder if we've caught the wrong flight.
With 2 big luggages in tow, we searched desperately for a place to stay. I was pretty sure it was to no avail, since we clearly came in the wrong time, when there were football matches and exhibitions around.
I guess that lady luck was with us. We were eating in good ole McDonald's when one of my friend spotted a Chinese lady. It's amazing and deeply touching for me how strong the bond of race is. She took us, 3 strangers, to Chinatown. Not the safest place in town, but she managed to find us a cheap room in somebody's apartment(it's illegal, anyway).
The room itself was just bearable, thought with no light and exposed window, but there were 6 men in the other room who were gambling whole night, enough to made the 3 of us slept as close to each other as possible, and not taking shower for 3 days(first time for me, I managed to wash my hair in the basin though).

The second day I spent most of my time trying out the seating places in Prada, LV, Armani, Gucci, etc, while my friend did her shopping(Prada has the most comfy seat, by the way). Not my favourite way of spending a day. I did manage to learn some Italian though, especially on how to read the menu ;D

We spent our last few hours in Milan taking some pictures,
before finally boarding on our train to Paris, where we spent 7 hours in.
That night was spent in a cheap hotel that's called, very descriptively, "HOTEL".

In the morning we woke up to start our days in Paris, and I'm deeply in love.
Blogger won't upload my photoshopped collage, so here's a list of stuffs we did in Paris:









-ate creme brulee for breakfast, yummy!
-went to Montmarte Sacre-Cour and witnessed a huge mass
-ate crepes while walking down Champ-elysee
-hang out with Schumacher and his buddies
-saw the cutest car ever
-saw Arc de Triomphe
-bought another crepe from a Monacoan man who spoke Korean
-went to Eiffel Tower...love it!
-played carousel opposite Eiffel tower
-ate a huge cotton candy
-stare in amazement as lights twinkle all over the tower
-went to Gallery Lafayette
-bought the most expensive eye serum ever(and found out it's 20 euro cheaper in the airport, grr!)
-got asked by some Chinese ladies to buy LV bags for them(for sale again, I suppose)
-yummy mussels for lunch
-visited Louvre(huge, but seriously lacking toilets)
-saw the MonaLisa in person, though in a crowd of hundreds
-ate a nice 3 course dinner and drank wine(cheered for our future!)
-watch Paris night view from Montmarte
-got myself a cute Eiffel earrings
-only to find a 4 times cheaper pair the next day

Last day in Paris
-separate myself from my friends
-went on a journey to find Paris LYSs!
-first stop, La Droguerie

-got snapped at for taking pic(oops!)
-got snapped again for taking the beads myself(double oops!)
-finally got a great personal service and bought some beads, buttons and yarns





-second stop, Pelote


-went in, asked for nearest cash machine
-came back, fondled yarns, and of course bought some
-nice, friendly service
-ate a crepe with chocolate ice cream and chocolate sauce nearby

-third stop, got lost trying to find Phildar shop in ledru-rollins
-gave up after about half an hour wandering about

-last stop, Phildar in Place Monge

-thought I was in a wrong place, more than half of the shop is for clothes
-finally found the yarn section, quite small but well stocked
-bought 14 balls of Aviso to knit one of the cardigan in the latest Phildar mag, either 30 or 33, got the buttons for both
-bought about 10 balls of various yarns. If you know me, you'll know that I'm guilty for buying odd yarns without any idea what to do with them
-bought a nice bag of acrylic on sale, surprisingly nice and soft
-got a wool wash too
-nice and friendly service too

-by then my feet were very sour and I had spent 6 hours straight walking, yarns can be really heavy, you know.
-met my friends at the hostel, and they inform me that they only have 2 euro left
-had to pay for dinner, had just enough to pay for taxi to airport the next day

I'll go to Paris every weekend if I could....love it! Can't wait till next holiday, must visit Venice, Florence, Rome, Brussel, Nice...the list is quite endless, hope I could visit them all during my 3 years here.
Anyway, many thanks to Polly for the Paris lys guide ;).

8 comments:

alltangledup said...

wow!!! sounded like you had a great time!! But what about photos of your purchases?

Unknown said...

Yeah what happen to your yarn. Dying to see what you bought :) Glad you had a great time though.

Anonymous said...

wohooo..yarn porn please please please :) Nice caps and so glad tat u've been there..when is my turn? haahaha

Anonymous said...

Glad you are back, safe and sound. I hope the yarn got back safely too?

mona said...

Yuvee, the best thing about being a student overseas is you can get to see the sights at a relatively cheap price! You look like you had great fun and that's one hell of a yarn binge. Good on you!

Mimi said...

Sounds to be an adventurous and a memorable trip. I spy the clapotis and the curly scarf as a companion to this trip! ;) Great photos and you look so cheerful!
Oh, you must share your treasures from this trip!

tanti said...

hi.welcome back!!
want to see the stash you got.. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for a vicarious trip! What I wouldn't give to go on a shopping trip like that! :-)