Grande Mosquée de Paris

On our last day in Paris, we decided to visit the grand mosque of Paris. I've been to Paris a few times but I've never been to the mosque. So, we took the opportunity to visit the mosque :)

The Mosquée de Paris is a beautiful 20th-century mosque that closely resembles those of Marrakesh. You can visit our post on Marrakesh to verify this :D

The minaret is so like the one in Marrakesh! 

The central courtyard in the mosque

Look at those wall.... really remind me of Morocco! Very, very nice!

Made of reinforced concrete, the mosque was decorated with mosaics, wood carvings and wrought iron brought from Morocco. It's really beautiful!

 Moorish garden in the mosque... very, very peaceful.

There's a hall near the garden... probably for events and gathering.

Dek leka appreciating the beautiful mosque, we were late to catch our flight! Like seriously! We walked like mad with heavy bags to the train station. Not only that.. the ticket vending machine chose not to accept cash on that day... making us more kelam kabut.. huhu! Not only that... the escalator that we used also chose not to operate on that day.... sheesh! Really, really frustrating.... seriously we were so panicking... takut tertinggal fligt! We ended up reaching the airport counter just 1 hour before our flight scheduled. Luckily we were allowed to check in and we ran frantically to the gate which was quite far - Paris airport is really huge!! :P

But hey, we were not the only late passengers... haha! I guess this is normal in Paris eh? :D

It was a full flight. TV broken (no wonder our tickets were so cheap... lol!). Did not manage to book halal food but alhamdulillah there were shrimp noodles for dinner and omelette for breakfast. Alhamdulillah, thank you Allah for making this journey an easy one... :)

Bonjour à nouveau Paris

We are in Paris again! :) This time around we stayed in Ibis Style at Château Landon. Big room with 4 beds... just nice for the 4 of us.

Once settled down at the hotel, we ate lunch at Bodrum Restaurant - a halal restaurant which is located right in front of our hotel. So convenient! Ate pizza, burgers and fries but forget to snap pics.... lapar sangat la tu... lol!

Later, we decided to cuci2 mata at Lafayette - the grand shopping mall! 

Moi has been to Paris a few times... but this is my first time in Lafayette :D

The Galeries Lafayette offers all the latest fashions... all the expensive branded items! A flagship of the brand in Paris... you name it - LV, Prada, bla bla.... all those expensive brand are sold here! 

So what did I buy? Errr... nothing... hehe! Blame it on the high exchange rate!! Rasa tak sampai hati nak keluar duit bila convert the currency to Malaysian Ringgit :D

After wandering around in Lafayette, macam tak ada arah tujuan... so we decided to visit another place that we've never been before - the Luxembourg Garden, or Jardin du Luxembourg.

The Jardin du Luxembourg is the biggest park in Paris, covering a massive 22.5 hectares, but it’s not just a pretty public park. It also happens to be attached to a beautiful 17th-century palace - The Luxembourg Palace. The Luxembourg Palace, or Palais du Luxembourg, was built in the early 1600s for Marie de Medicis, King Louis XIII’s mother. Although virtually nothing of the original interior remains intact today, the exterior is largely as it was when it was first built. The palace actually served as the precursor to the Louvre Museum in the mid-18th century before being used for a short time during the French Revolution as a prison. Napoleon later called it home, and it was during this time that the Luxembourg Palace first became the place where the French Senate met.

When it was getting darker, we left that place and went here instead... 

Not a nice place to bring the kids :D But we did not actually enter this place :D

To those who do not know Moulin Rouge is actually a cabaret. The spiritual birthplace of the modern form of the can-can dance... not a good place for us moslem to go definitely. Ni saja la ambil gambar dari luar... huhu. There was a demonstration or something  going on in front of this building. Demonstration on 'saving the Palestine' I believe. I saw lots of Muslims sisters and brothers doing the demonstration. Police are around to ensure the safety of the area... so yeah, all were good ;)

Next, shopping time! A few souvy shops at his area... 

As usual, saya tidak membeli belah pun... En Suami and anakanda izzaty jer yang mencari souvies... 

** to be continued **

18th Anniversary in Paris ❤️

From Ho Chi Minh city, we arrived in Charles de Gaulle airport at around 6am in the morning. Weather was very nice! Temperature that morning was 9C and it increased till 18C in the afternoon. Very nice!

And hey, it's our 18th anniversary ❤️ 

And we are in Paris!!!
How cool is that? :)

The kids were excited... as they said they did not get enough of Paris before :) We have booked our ride from the airport to the Paris city with EasyBus (subsidiary to EasyJer) via online. It's very cheap! Around €11.75 for the 4 of us! Cheap eh? ;) The trick is to book the tickets online.

Bonjour encore Paris! Il est bon d'être ici! :))

Hello again Paris! It's sure good to be here again :)

Waiting for our train to our hotel.

Our hotel this time is Citadines Place d'Italie Paris. A 2-minute walk from the Place d'Italie metro station, very convenient for travelers like us. Put our luggage at the hotel and we began day by exploring the Sunday market which was located right in front of the hotel.

My girl in front of our apartment hotel - Citadines Hotel

Sunday market

Bought some pastries and ate them for breakfast at the nearby park.

Olalaaa… the pastries were yummeh!!! 

Since this is the kids' 2nd trip to Paris, we decided to go to places that we've never been before. First, we paid a visit to the famous Notre Dame.

Notre Dame is a historic Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. The kids watched the Disney movie 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' years ago (though they can't remember the movie :P),  so we brought them here to see the place.

No other building is so associated with the history of Paris as the grand Notre Dame!

The South Rose Window

Great monument of Pope John Paul II in front of the South Rose Window of Notre Dame

'Love Locks' at Pont de l'Archeveche

The West front - 3 main doors with superb statuary, a central rose window and an openwork gallery are important details.

Next, Eiffel Tower!! Of course the kids had seen the Eiffel Tower in our previous trip.... but hey, it's EIFFEL TOWER! How can we NOT visit Eiffel Tower when we are in Paris!! It's a must! Tak kira lah brapa kali pergi pun... hahaha!

On the way to the metro station, we cross over this building - Conciergerie, used to be a prison in Paris. Located on the west of the  Île de la Cité, this former prison used to keep hundreds of prisoners during the French Revolution era.

And here is the super famous and the icon of the romantic city - Eiffel Tower ;)

Do you guys know that Eiffel Tower is named after the engineer who designed the built it in 1889, Gustave Eiffel? It was originally built to impress visitors to the Universal Exhibition of 1889 and was meant to be a temporary addition to the Paris skyline. It also used to be the world's tallest building until 1931, when the New York's Empire State Building was completed. Now, the tower is the symbol of the romantic city of Paris. 

By then, we are already tired and hungry. So we decided to go back to our hotel to check in, perform prayers and have lunch.

Our apartment in Citidines Place d'Italie is quite nice and cozy.

We have one bedroom with a queen bed and a bed-sofas in the living room which are just nice for the 4 of us :) The ladies got the comfy bed whilst the guys slept on the sofa-bed :)

There's also a cozy kitchen in the apartment. Masak apa? Haha… just heated the instant nasi lemak from the Brahim packet  :D

The view from our apartment.

After lunch and prayers, perut dah kenyang... tanggung jawab pada Ilahi pun dah dipenuhi, we went out again. This is my 3rd time in Paris, and I've never ever experienced cruising on the Seine River. Told my hubby, since it's our anniversary, I'd like to do so on this special day :)

The cruise depart from the Eiffel Tower. So while waiting, sempat la posing maut :D

Nak gak selfie… haha :D

And wefie…. :D

And these pics are to mark our 18th anniversary ❤️

To my husband, my best friend, my other half...

Thank you for accepting me for who I am.

I love you soooo much!! *muah!* *muah!*

Happy anniversary darling husband... To more wonderful years… insyaAllah ❤️

Alhamdulillah… we got to spend our 18th anniversary with the kids this year

One pic using InstaWeather to mark the weather and date of our visit to Paris 

Our cruise was scheduled at 5pm. I had asked my new boss in Maybank Islamic who had lots of experience traveling in Paris, which time is better to cruise the Seine River - night or day? He said day! So okay… I think 5pm is just nice :)

Seeing the romantic city of Paris by boat was such an amazing experience! I would recommend it to those visiting Paris! We got to see many highlights of the city along the river such as the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Musee d'Orsay, Notre Dame, ect. The cruise last for about an hour and I really enjoyed the beautiful sceneries while letting the wind blew my face :)

At Notre Dame

The Louvre

Approaching the magnificent Pont Alexandre III deck arch bridge. 

The bridge connects the Champs-Élysées quarter with those of the Invalides and Eiffel Tower. 

Last but not least, upon Izzat's request, we visited Arc de Triomphe. We've been here during our previous trip but since Izzat requested it... layan je lah :)

That's a long post for a one day activity eh? 

There sure are lots to see in Paris! Penat wooo to cover as much as we can in one single day! Anyway, we need to have good rest that night as we had to catch an early flight to Santorini the next morning. 

Well, it sure is one of the most memorable anniversary celebrations for me :)
Thank you Allah for all the blessings…. I feel blessed… syukur alhamdulillah…