Paris Trip: Notre Dame Cathedral - April 2014

I went to France on April 2014 for business trip + honeymoon. Yup..I'm just married..Haha..like you care.

Me and my other half went to several places, one of it is Notre Dame. Its on the central of Paris. This place is one of the must visit place in Paris. Its was a very nice weather that day, not too chilly like any other day. I can even wear my not-so-thick Parka. My first impression of that place was like Wow..Its wow because of so many people (children and tourist) there. We barely get to take picture without any human body in it, in fact we don't have any of the picture. Well that's not bad after all, its one of Paris attraction, of course there are a lot of people there. 

I love the place, it has an amazing architecture. The building was surrounded with neat landscape and beautiful flowers.

   

How to go there:

* Because the hotel i stayed is near by Gare Du Nord station so my direction will start at Gare Du Nord station.

Stations: Gare Du Nord - St. Michel Notre Dame (RER B - blue line)
Zone: Zone 1 (Paris)
Fare: 3,25 € (One Way)

Direction:
From Gare Du Nord, look for RER B line (blue line). Take the train to Antony/Massy Palaiseau/ St Remy direction. St. Michel is only one stop away from Gare Du Nord station. Exit at St. Michel station. There are a few exit at St. Michel, i don't remember which exit is the nearest to Notre Dame but as long as you exit at St. Michel, you will find your way to Notre Dame. Trust me, we did.

Personal Experience:

• Its crowded when we got there, probably because of school holiday. Spotted school children playing treasure hunt.
• The place is quite smelly, only at the entrance. Smell like pee, in fact almost all of the metro stations i transited/stopped smells like pee. 
• If you are Muslim, there are a few Lebanese restaurant where you can buy Halal food along St. Michel side walk.

Tips:

• Because its too crowded, beware of your belonging.
• If you planned to tour around France in different Zone, its better to purchase 1 day pass which covers Zone 1 - 5.

South Korea: Namsangol Hanok Village

Namsangol Hanok Village is a traditional Korean village. It quite interesting to find that the hanok village is actually located in between modern buildings in Chungmuro. 

I was there on last spring, the village is full of cherry blossom tree. It was beautiful, especially when wind blows, the petals falling like snow, and scattered on the road like carpet. Its totally amazing. There is no cherry blossom in my country so i deserve to feel amazed.

 

Below is the information i took from Visit Korea website. 

Directions

Subway  Chungmuro Station (Seoul Subway Line 3 or 4 Exit 4 Walk along Hanongmaeul-gil st. for 5 minutes.  Bus  Take Bus 104, 105, 263, 604, or 7011.  Get off in front of at 'Twegye 3 (sam)-ga Hanongmaeul' Walk to the exit4 of Chungmuro Station, then along Hanongmaeul-gil st. for 5 minutes. Operating Hours 09:00 ~ 21:00 April to October: 09:00 ~ 21:00 November to March: 09:00 ~ 20:00 Closed on Tuesday Hanbok Experiance One of the attraction here is the Hanbok experiance. For us tourist, we definitely excited with the offer but unfortunately, we (me and the rest of the rombongan cik jijah participant) didn't get the chance to try out the Hanbok because it was closed. Damn!!!

Here are some info of the Hanbok experience offered at Namsamgol Hanok Village.

Fee: KRW 3,500

Time: 11:00~17:00 (closed on Tuesday)

For more info please visit : http://hanokmaeul.seoul.go.kr/ (Korean)

Tips:

• Bring along some 'jajan', biscuits or water. You'll get exhausted from the mild uphill and downhill walk.
• Avoid TUESDAY if you plan to visit this village.