Pont de l'Archevêché - Love Lock Bridge Near the Notre Dame

My Husband and I are at the Lisbon airport waiting for our flight to Barcelona, Spain. Unfortunately, our flight is delayed - the plane is experiencing technical errors.

We just spent four relaxing days in the city of Lisbon, Portugal, which I plan to blog about once I finish all my thoughts on Paris - working on one city at a time, hopefully in chronological order.

Anyhow, on the second day of Paris, we did a vespa tour with Left Bank Scooters. It was the first time I rode behind My Husband on a vespa. We had our own personal tour guide, Terry, on his own vespa that we followed. For three hours, Terry took us around all the major attractions of Paris and helped take pictures for us - he was wonderful.

Upon my request, one of the places we visited was the love lock bridge of Pont de l'Archevêché. In my opinion, it's one of the prettiest bridges in Paris because it has Notre Dame as its backdrop. This bridge is one of my favorite places in Paris. Lots of love in the atmosphere as you're surrounded by thousands upon thousands of love locks locked onto the bridge. Lovers abound, smiles and laughter - you can taste the romance. You'll witness couples locking their love lock and taking selfies together. I'm such a sucker for these things - I jumped with joy and hoped My Husband was just as excited about this as I was - he smiled and offered to run down the street to purchase a lock. 

I first learned of these love lock bridges via a very popular Hong Kong soap opera, Triumph in the Skies II. Lots of scenes in the soap opera were set in Paris during the winter, especially on this very same bridge, so this gave me an extra feeling of giddiness because I felt like I was a part of this soap opera (fortunately, without all the drama). As I looked into love lock bridges, I read that it only started occurring as recent as 2008 and that it's not just popular in Paris, but in many places all over the world. Lovers declare their love for one another via a love lock and either throw the key away or keep it for themselves.

Anyhow, I followed My Husband so that we could purchase the lock together. I wish I came more prepared and brought a lock from home instead (a friend of mine did that when she visited Paris with her beau last year). Our lock cost 8 euros - it wasn't big, but it sufficed. I wrote our names, the date and all that lovey-dovey stuff onto the lock. We finally returned to the bridge and decided to put our love lock onto a giant lock that says, "Love has no locks" - oh, the irony. We were lucky enough that Terry helped photograph us putting our lock on and throwing our keys in the seine river.

Our lock came with three keys - we each threw one into the river and decided to keep one to throw somewhere else during our honeymoon excursion. As Terry was waiting for us, we felt it impolite to have him wait any further, so after a few selfies, we left. I fell in love with the bridge, so My Husband said that we could return again tomorrow after we took a tour of Notre Dame (and we did!). 

A failed attempt at making a heart with our two hands.

When in Paris, this is a definitely the place to visit if you're with your significant other or if you're a sucker for romance like I am. I sigh dreamily when I think back of the short and sweet moments My Husband and I shared on this bridge. 

Paris, France - Honeymoon

Paris - city of lights, city of love, city of romance - people have such wonderful things to say about this city, and I have to admit, it's all true. I've been yearning to pay Paris a visit for a while now, and although My Husband (as of last month!) has offered to take me there for vacation, I've rejected his kind offer because I wanted to save my first visit to this place for something special - our honeymoon :)

Paris has lived up to all my expectations - the food, the romance, the beautiful architecture on every corner I turned - this city is so enchanting. And in December! I am terribly fearful of the cold, but I survived my five days of December in this city. The temperature each day was no more than 40ish degrees (Fahrenheit)! I consider ourselves to be quite lucky because it didn't really rain all that much - and even when it did and I was freezing, it was still all worth it.

Anyhow, I realize I have been lazy about posting on this blog. I am going to turn over a new leaf because I am truly looking forward to documenting our entire honeymoon trip. I will write and My Husband will take the photographs. Without further ado, some pictures from our first day in the city of lights:

We took the RER B and switched to the metro to our hotel in the 7th arrondissement. Our hotel was about a 15 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower. 

Loved the balcony that came with our room. Seems like balconies are a huge thing in Paris. 

After we settled down, we strolled around our neighborhood and stumbled upon the musee l'armee (army museum), which wasn't too far from our hotel - about a 10 minute walk. We decided to pay a visit. 

Inside of the dome church is the tomb of Napoleon. 

Outside of the dome church - a courtyard that extends to all other exhibitions of the museum.

Night fell by the time we finished touring the exhibitions.

It rained and it was cold, but it felt so wonderful. I was prepared because I remembered to pack us an umbrella :)

With no game plan, we continued walking and discovered Rue Cler - a street full of shops and restaurants. After a fourteen hour flight (our plane got delayed), we were feeling very tired, so we walked into the first restaurant we saw and ordered away - 

Onion soup, oysters (I read that it's a big hit for the French during Christmas), moules-frites (mussels and fries) and confit de canard (duck confit). Again, the French lived up to expectations - very flavorful and delicious. The oysters were from three French places that our waiter recommended (and I can't remember and pronounce), but so-very-fresh! Overall, this French meal (actually, all of our meals in Paris) beat any French restaurant or bistro we've had in the states. 

The view from outside of our hotel. Cold and tired, we went back to our hotel for a good night rest. 

Not in Paris anymore, but will continue to update. Please stay tuned!

Tokyo Skytree

It's been more than 10 days since my last post, but it's not only because I'm lazy, it's also because I spent five relaxing days in Oahu, Hawaii - and I took some beautiful pictures that I can't wait to share!

But I digress - I would like continue sharing the beauty and joy of Japan first. :)

During our trip in Tokyo, we relied on our Tokyo Guidebook. The Tokyo Guidebook highly recommended that tourists visit the Tokyo Skytree. The Tokyo Skytree is the tallest tower in the world. The tower is quite new and modern, and according to our Tokyo Guidebook, the tower was completed in February 2012 and open to the public in May 2012. It is one of the fairly new attractions in Tokyo. With that said, we knew we had to make a visit!

On the way to Tokyo Skytree

After we finished visiting a temple in Asakusa, we walked to Tokyo Skytree. The picture above doesn't seem too far away, but in reality, I believe it was about a nice 20-30 minute stroll.

There is a brand new shopping center that's connected to Tokyo Tower. Whilst exploring this shopping center, I saw someone carry a "Cheese Garden" paper bag. I am utterly in love with anything cheesy (literally and sometimes figuratively). I didn't know what it was (could've been a clothing store for all I knew), but I knew I had to find this Cheese Garden. Finally, we stumbled upon the restaurant level, where Cheese Garden was discovered.

Assorted cheesecake from Cheese Garden

So Cheese Garden is a bakery cafe that sold assorted cheesecake and coffee. Instead of ordering one slice, I opted to get a taste of all five of their flavors pictured above. Although the name of the flavors of the escapes me, I remember my favorite slice was the top left hand corner. Ahh - I love Japanese cheesecake!

After a nice stop at Cheese Garden, we got our hands on more finger foods and shopped around. Before we knew it, it was nighttime already, which was the perfect time to get a nice city view of Tokyo.
 

A view of Tokyo Skytree

Our ticket to enter Tokyo Skytree

Night view from Tokyo Skytree

 

 

Night view from Tokyo Skytree with the Bear

Night view from Tokyo Skytree with the Rabbit

Having a romantic moment

Bear & Rabbit :)

Tokyo Skytree was a fun visit. Visiting the Skytree can easily take up half of the day because of the large shopping center, the many restaurants, and the tower itself. I was initially hesitant on going because I am afraid of crowds. People on tripadvisor.com mentioned that the lines to get into the Skytree are horrendously long. Luckily for us, we didn't encounter large crowds or lines.

 

The view itself was nice, but not breathtaking. Comparing the different skylines we've been fortunate enough to enjoy, Tokyo is not too memorable. I think one of the more memorable skylines we've enjoyed are Shanghai and Hong Kong. Both are beautiful when looking out from above. Nevertheless, I would recommend visiting the Skytree just for the experience itself. 

 



Japan - Shibuya, Tokyo

Shibuya, Tokyo is definitely a hip and happening place. I always like to compare metropolitan cities that I visit with Hong Kong cities. Shibuya reminds me of Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. People are trendy and there's lots of nightlife going on - bars, restaurants, dessert shops and more.

Filmmakers tend to shoot their scenes in Shibuya. I recognized some of the streets and shops in Fast & Furious 6. 

Shibuya crossing is claimed to be the busiest intersection in the world. All vehicles are stopped in all directions to let pedestrians cross. Pedestrians are coming from any and all directions - east, west, south, north, northeast! - you get the drift. Living in a suburban city in Los Angeles, this is such a rare occurrence. Downtown Los Angeles isn't even crowded during working hours. Even when I was in Hong Kong, there wasn't as much people at there were here.

Shibuya Crossing

Shibuya Crossing

Shibuya Crossing

As you can see, lots of people waiting to cross. And this was only one direction out of six!

Shibuya Crossing

Shibuya Crossing

We crossed the intersections many times and stood at different directions.

Shibuya Crossing

I think the picture above is a good depiction of the swarms of people crossing the streets.

Shibuya Crossing

Here we are at a different direction again. Lots of people waiting!

Here, I thought I'd give the photographer some credit :)

Shibuya Crossing - Shibuya 109 pictured

At another direction of Shibuya crossing, where we captured Shibuya 109. Shibuya 109 is a large department store that sells primarily women's clothing and accessories. Clothes are usually very trendy. I remember visiting it back in 2008 - I felt excited because I had read so much about the different shops located in Shibuya 109. And there were many choices to choose from - that's actually not good for me because I tend to get indecisive when given too many choices - anyway, back then, I did do some shopping at Shibuya 109. This time around, I opted to spare my man the boredom (and also my wallet!).

Inside streets of Shibuya

So finally, we left the Shibuya Crossing and did some exploring. It's a pity that our Japanese sucks. There were many restaurants that we wanted to try, but the language barrier was too difficult to overcome.

Our Tokyo Guide Book brought us to this building that was filled with izakayas. Izakaya is a restaurant that serves alcohol and Japanese styled tapas. When we reached the building, we had to take the elevator to the third floor. Upon exiting, we entered izakaya heaven. Unfortunately for us, everyone there only spoke Japanese. No English was spoken. No picture menus were available. All of the foods listed on the menu were in Japanese. With our limited Japanese, we tried to order by pointing at the dishes of people next to us, but our server only smiled and said something we couldn't interpret. After exchanging lots of smiles and hand gestures to no avail, we gave up and left. In retrospect, I wish we had tried harder. :(

Inside streets of Shibuya 

No worries, even though we didn't do izakaya in izakaya heaven, but we still did izakya and enjoyed the next favorite thing on our list - ramen!

Yummy ramen noodles

As previously mentioned, I really like ramen noodles. My Boyfriend loves ramen noodles. We each had a bowl everyday - no joke. My Boyfriend claims that we wouldn't be able to enjoy such a delicious bowl in Los Angeles. It's true - Los Angeles has its popular ramen establishments, but the ramen in Japan is tastier. From the soup, to the firmness of the noodle, to its fatty pork - it's not easy to cook a perfect bowl of ramen noodles!

Anyway, it's been a little over a week since my last post. Hope y'all are still holding tight for my updates - my goal is to blog a couple times a week or at least once a week... so until next time :)

Japan - Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Tokyo

I was surprised by the number of shrines that Japan has. In many corners and small streets, we accidentally discovered shrines. Especially in Kyoto. In Tokyo, there weren't as many shrines, but there are some that are famous and worth the visit. The Meiji Shrine is pretty famous and considered a touristy spot. Of course we had to visit this shrine!

The Meiji Shrine is dedicated to the deceased Emperor Meiji and his wife. According to what I read at the shrine, Emperor Meiji was loved by the Japanese and under his ruling, the country was quite prosperous. 

So how did we get here? We took the Tokyo Metro and exited at Harajuku station.

At the exit of Harajuku station

Harajuku was just as I remembered it from 2008. Not much has changed since then. Silly me - back in 2008, I had no idea what shrines were, let alone that there was this Meiji Shrine. Fortunately, I was given a second chance. Upon exiting the station, Meiji Shrine is on the right hand side.

Direct translation of the Kanji: Shrine Bridge

Walking towards the Meiji Shrine

At the entrance of the Meiji Shrine 

The torii leading to the Meiji Shrine

A torii is a Japanese gate. I learned that all Japanese shrines have a torii (pictured above) that leads to the actual shrine. It's also how I was able to tell the difference between a shrine and a temple. The buddhist temples don't have a torii.

The road leading to Meiji Shrine

I love how Japan is so modern yet so much of its culture is retained. The road to the shrine was very peaceful and calming. The road was lined with big, tall trees. It was like the city didn't even exist. It was the perfect weather because it wasn't too hot. I believe it took about 30 minutes to walk to the actual shrine. We visited this shrine around noon on a weekday, which worked out great because there weren't any crowds.

Beautiful sake barrels donated to the Meiji Shrine

Beautiful sake barrels donated to the Meiji Shrine

After a nice stroll, we finally reached the entrance of the shrine. Before entering a shrine, the Japanese believe that one must cleanse the mind and body. In order to do so, each shrine is equipped with water and mini water scoops for people to use at the entrance. The practice is to use your right hand to pick up the water scoop, scoop some water, and pour some water to rinse on your left hand. After you rinse your left hand, you switch and rinse your right hand. Thereafter, you cup your left hand, pour some water on your palm, and touch the water with your lips - not in your mouth and definitely don't swallow. Finally, you use both hands to hold the water scoop and hold it up vertically to let any excess water roll down. After those steps, I was cleansed!

Preparing to cleanse my mind and body before entering Meiji Shrine

Meiji Shrine

Meiji Shrine

Very simple architecture. I love the minimalist style.

Here I was trying to read that sign, trying to comprehend what the giant rope symbolizes. Alas, the three years of Japanese failed me.

Wishes

For about ~$5.00 USD, you can write your wish down!

Writing our wishes down was my favorite part whenever we visited shrines. Most Japanese shrines sell wooden tablets (known as ema in Japanese) where people are able to write their wishes down. Meiji Shrine sold these for about $5.00, which is reasonably priced. Visiting the shrines are free and the sales of ema help to support the shrine financially. These wooden tablets are hung at a designated area where the god will receive the wishes. Many wishes I read touched my heart - people wished for their children, their loved ones, for a healthy life. Some even wrote hoping a lost loved one will come back to their life.

We bought an ema and wrote our wishes and aspirations down too. We also promised to come back again if our wishes come true - so Meiji Shrine, we hope to see you soon again :)