'Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.' Luke 2:11

This is one of the stained glass windows in St Severin Church that we saw in Paris. This church doesn't boast the grandeur of Notre Dame and it pales in comparison to St Chapelle with walls made of stained glass windows depicting 1134 biblical stories, but it was my favourite church in Paris. Maybe it was because St Severin Church is not publicised as a tourist attraction, and hence the place wasn't swamped by throngs of tourist snapping shots everywhere. I remember I was in the middle of a conversation with Jon and Kenny while walking into this 6th century church, but we started talking in whispers once we were inside the church. It was so quiet, so peaceful, so sacred. And I was reminded once again of that song Facedown by Matt Redman which starts off with 'Welcome in, to the courts of the king, I've been ushered in to your presence'. And that was how exactly I felt. The whole place just took my breath away. I was in the side chapel when the pipe organ (apparently one of the finest in Paris) in the main sanctuary began to play. and it was such an experience just sitting there enjoying the organ music, admiring the ancient architecture and giving thanks to God for every blessing he gave.





I won't say that Paris was an eye-opener, coz that'll be an understatement. It wasn't only the tourist attractions that were so memorable, but it was the whole experience starting from booking our own tics and accomodation, to navigating our ways around when we couldn't understand a single word of French on the signboards, and not forgetting trying to fend off some really dodgy and unpleasant characters in Paris. Had great fun spending time with Esther and old friend Atan, getting to know Kenny better, and seeing ShengYeeng open up so much (I never knew she could talk on and on for so long).


Eiffel. Honestly, it didn't look that great during daytime. But during the night, when every single 'tiang' is illuminated, it's just breath-taking. And thanks to Jeng, he told us that something happens at the strike of 12 every hour. True enough, the whole tower sparkles at the strike of 12 and continues for another 10 mins. Interesting fact of the day: maximum sway at the top of Eiffel is 12cm.


Arc de Triomphe - war monument of Napoleon I right in the centre of this crazy round-a-bout which is at least 5 lanes wide, except that it doesn't have any lane markings at all, and basically, it's just one crazy jam packed round-a-bout where we saw cars on the verge of colliding with each other. It has 12 avenues exiting from the round-a-bout. Me and Kenny ran to the middle of each avenue when it was green man and snapped 12 shots of 12 different angles of the arc. and this is a shot of us standing right in the middle below the arc with the camera placed on the floor.



Outside Notre Dame.


Inside Notre Dame.
Built in the age when there were no internet, TV, radio, good food, etc etc to distract people from building such great wonders.


Sainte-Chapelle. It still baffles me how people of the 13th century can come up with such ideas to draw 1000 over biblical stories on just plain glass and surround the whole church with it. and how did they manage to paint every single detail up to the character's eyes, the creases in the cloaks they were wearing, and their facial expressions? absolutely mind blowing.


Musee du Louvre.
Wow.
wait let me say that again.
WOW!
I never ever knew a painting can speak so much volume. And bear in mind, we're just normal people with no artistic eye viewing a painting with callous minds. but we were still drawn in awe of so many paintings. there was this one painting, think it was the Coronation of Empress Josephine by Napoleon I. the 6 of us stood in front of it for at least 5 minutes, just taking in the whole painting. it was amazing!
Mona Lisa was...eerie. At first when I squeezed past the throngs of people and got to the front to get a good view, I was thinking: what? that's it?? but the longer I stood in front of the painting, the more creepy I felt. it was as if she had this secret smile and she knew every single little thing about me. but otherwise, the portrait was actually quite disappoiting.
there was one single theme that kept appearing again and again in countless paintings - the story of Jesus, from his birth, to his resurrection.
we spent a whole day in the museum, but i think we barely viewed a quarter of everything there. apparently, if you spend just 10 secs on each art, it would still take you nearly 4 days to cover everything.

ultimate chocolate experiences in Paris. I'm sure Esther will blog about it. so read hers.



the only thing I miss about Paris is their Baguette. Had that for nearly every meal. Somehow it just taste different. hard crust soft inside. yum. the last night we decided to splurge a bit and went for more high class dining. that was where you find the 'eat all you can' profiteroles shown in the pic above. to make the whole trip more memorable, the waiter came with 9 shot glasses and a bottle of cognac just when we were about to leave and said it was on the house. wow! pity the cognac was really very very strong, until it kinda burns your throat when you sip it. but really warmed us up.

Backpacker's hostel we stayed in was really cozy. all us loved the free breakfast. and it was the time when you'll see people of all nationalities coming down to the dining area, which had stone walls and was shaped in a dome.


God was indeed at work from the start of our trip up till the very end. we had to spend a night in London's Waterloo Station waiting for the early morn Eurostar to Paris. Initially I thought we'd have to rough it out in the freaking cold train station filled with drunkards and beggars. and i was really getting worried coz we were all shivering and there were all these weird looking people walking around. but at 1am, the security came and gave us instructions to the empty Eurostar arrival hall, which was so much warmer and at least had seats for us to lie and catch a nap. and to wrap up the whole trip down south and Paris, Jon's relatives let all 6 of us crash in their place in London when we came back. There was even char kuey teow, fried vermicilli and spring rolls waiting for us on the table when we arrived at their house. how blessed can we get???

Well, am I glad or am I glad to be back in Dundee! After 4 days in Paris, I understand why people say it's the best and worst tourist place to go to at the same time. Really missed the sun, the clear sky, the safe streets and friendly folk of Dundee. yeap, Dundee has made me loyal.

Merry Christmas folks! Have a great time honoring Jesus' birth this season!