..............The Days in Manchester............: Rome by day, and Paris by night.

Paris, France (but in France, you say Par-rie)

If you'd ask me out of all the cities I have visited again, which is the best.. I'd say "Rome by day and Paris by night".

To be honest, Paris doesn't look impressive during the day. At all. But at night, it becomes a totally different city. Some call it the city of love, others call it city of lights. It is indeed very colourful when night falls.

Did you know...

...that Paris is the top tourist destination in the world?
...they have the biggest mountain in Europe called Mont Blanc?
...that they are large producers of wine especially champagne?
and champagne can only be called champagne if it comes from the champagne region?
Otherwise they are known as sparkling wine.
...France was once an empire under Napoleon? His story is also another interesting one. something similar to Hitler when he tried to take on Russia and over extended himself and caused the empire to crumble.

Before we went to France, people said that the French were quite arrogant and snobbish. Like they refuse to speak English even though they are perfectly fluent in it. Then our guide tried to defend them saying that they are just proud, as in proud of their country, language and culture. They were never dependent on anyone in the world, thus they are proud of themselves. Well, Eugene's verdict is, they are just arrogant, proud, unfriendly and not very nice people. They refuse to help you even when you try speaking French and they brush you off very abruptly. So if you ever plan on going to France, bring and map, and learn how to use it.

Okay, the French people are quite into sports, like football and cycling. In football, they are perennial giants producing superstars like Platini and Zidane, and in cycling, their annual tour de France is a crowd puller, even though cycling is plagued with doping scandals.

They are also into their foods. Very particular about the food they eat, and that's why food there costs a bomb. And they have something called the Michelin Star. Its the first time i heard of it, but its one of the, or the highest honour a chef can get. If a chef is awarded a Michelin Star, his restaurant will not only be packed with people, the prices on the menus can also double.

Then there is the beautiful Eiffel Tower. In the day, it seems quite ordinary, but at night, it is spectacular. The Eiffel Tower is about 321m high and on the stroke of every hour, it has a lights display for about 10 mins. The tower is fitted with close to 2 million light bulbs for this light display. Quite magnificent when you see it.

Thats about it for my tour of Europe. The last set of pictures of Paris. Enjoy.

Behind Wenqi is Hilton hotel. It was where Princess Diana and Dodi started running from the paparazzi which ultimately ended in a car crash. You know the rest.

The Arc called place di Carrousel. Outside the Louvre. The Louvre was a palace used by the Kings of France, and each king expanding the palace when the ascended to the throne. Thats why the Louvre is SUPER LARGE.

The famous glass Pyramid of the Louvre. Its the main entrance. The Louvre holds almost 61,000 art pieces, sculptures and works most notably the Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo da Vinci.

Notre Dame Cathedral. Made in Gothic Architecture, this church took 20 architects, and 180 years to finish. Many important people have held their funerals in there, most notably, maybe to the French, King Louis the XIV, one of the most popular and successful kings in France.

We were really tired of running around, so we decided to play at the playground at Notre Dame.

Musee de Orsay. It is a museum that holds mostly impressionist art from famous artists like Monet and Renoir. We didn't go in though. We don't even know who they are.

Arc De Triomphe. It was ordered to be built by Napoleon, who wanted a historical monument to march his armies through. It was never completed until after the French empire collapsed. Later on, to commemorate those pilots who gave their lives for France in WW1, a pilot named Charles Godefrey flew his plane through the Arc and it was big news back then in 1919. It is also at the head of the Champs Elysee.

Champs Elysee. The main and shopping street of Paris. It is one of the most ATAS or fashionable places to be seen in Paris. It is also fashionable to walk down (away from the Arch di Triomphe) the Champs Elysee and not up because Hitler when he conquered France, made his soldiers march up the Champs Elysee through the Arc. But when the allied forces re took France, the german soldiers ran down the Champs Elysee.

Palace du Luxembourg. It has a famous golden roof. I can't remember why.

And last but not least, the Effiel.

The Effiel Tower is painted in 3 different shades of copper among the 3 different sections. This is to give the viewer the same colour effect when he sees the tower. Apparently there is something to do with how the light reflects off the tower, and giving off a different shade.

Effiel by night.