My last night in Berlin was spent swapping luggages (remember our 1-wheeled large suitcase fiasco?), looking for Rome accommodation, and trying to decide between a shuttle coach or risk a taxi to our hotel (we have 3 large suitcases and 2 small ones, plus 3 randomly sized plastic bags [one of which contains entirely of German junk food MUHAHAHHA]… and that’s not including my brother’s and my backpacks! I was a bit worried that they wouldn’t all fit into a taxi).

I think I got about 1 and a half hours of sleep that night, but then again, none of us really got that much sleep. So, it came as no surprise that all four of us were nodding off now and again while we were transiting on the Metro. We were lucky that we didn’t miss any stops!

There were a couple of hiccups along the way, but nothing we couldn’t handle. However, one really big hiccup left us stranded in the hallway of our relative’s building because there were lots of confusion about which unit number it was (we were given the access code and keys, but no unit number) and if it was really that building. It should have been straight-forward, really, as there was only one Giang in the entire building, but dad came back saying that the keys didn’t fit.

I told dad that we were in the right apartment building (how else would the access code and key work?) and that unit 202 should be our relative’s (who, which I think I should add, are on vacation in Toulouse so we have the place to ourselves)… and that it didn’t make any sense why the key didn’t fit!!

I think we were loitering around there (with my parents kind of wandering around, in and out, of the building) for a good 30 minutes (and with various of nice people trying to help us find the correct apartment number) before I had enough and exclaimed, “It doesn’t make any sense!! Here! Let us try the door again.”

Guess what? It fitted. *sighs* Then we found out that the elevator was broken and so had to lug our suitcases up to the second floor. *double sigh* lol

Anywho, after doing a spot of grocery shopping and lunch, we tried to find our way to the Metro station. A very nice lady stopped and asked us if we needed any help. She not only told us where to go, she took us there and made sure we bought the right tickets and everything! =D So very sweet.

Our first stop: The Eiffel Tower!

It was a bit disappointing to see that we came at a time that they’re doing maintenance on one of the pillars, but it’s still rather pretty and Eiffel Tower-ish hahah

What I didn’t notice or see last time I was here was the sheer amount of guys selling cheap Eiffel Tower keyrings and statues. “1 for 1 Euro… *we walk by* 3 for 1 Euro! Okay, okay, 5 for 1 Euro!!” I was very tempted in turning back to take up on his deal, but they seemed a bit dodgy… especially when I saw a handful of them high-tailing out of the area.

I wondered where the police they were running from were and about 10 minutes later I saw them:

Okay, they’re definitely not normal police people – I would so definitely run if someone like that was coming near and I was doing something wrong. We saw them at the airport as well when we went to pick up our luggage. Both times it was the female nonchalantly holding onto a big ass gun and both times it kinda freaked me out a bit. Eep.

A mandatory Eiffel Tower shot:

And of course we headed up the tower too (after a 45-minute line-up during which we saw a protest! … and you can see why it took us 45 minutes!! Crazy, it was like that with all three pillars!)…

The day wasn’t exceptionally clear (or sunny), but you can see the Grand Palace (the massive glass-domed building) and off in the hazy distance, sitting on a lonely hill top on the left of the picture, is Sacre Coeur.

It’s amazing how densely packed the city looks as well (does Sydney look like that??) from up top…

The sun was setting over the Seine (or at least I would like to think it was, if it weren’t for all those clouds!)…

This is where we’re headed off to next, the Palais De Chaillot, where it has several museums in it and… a cinema aquarium? *puzzled* Maybe it’s just an aquatic cinema… Anywho, it is a pretty good place to take photos of the Eiffel Tower…

I saw someone scrawled something funny, but too entirely true…

SC-238 sent the troopers out to the next rendezvous point for any sign or clue from Stormy. CT-275 hoped that bringing the blaster would somehow entice him out, but looking around, they didn’t see anything Stormy-related…

Pont D’Iena is the bridge that connects the Eiffel Tower and Palais de Chaillot; its beginning and end is lorded over by a couple of statues – one of which caught my eye…

Upon reaching Palais de Chaillot, the troopers were given a dressing down by SC-238 for not being able to find anything about Stormy (much to their dismay). Gunner, wholly oblivious to the lecture going on behind him, whooped enthusiastically at the view – they don’t have anything like this at home!

I found this rather strange:

Standalone petrol pumps?? Though come to think about it, I don’t think I’ve really seen a petrol station actually in the city at all, so I suppose it makes some sort of sense. =P

Some of the older (or perhaps just random?) Metro entrances has these fancier designs…

I quite like them and whenever I think of Paris’s Metro, I would think of these entrances; they seem to be from the 1920’s or 1930’s… or something (I’ve never been good at decor movements lol).

This is what a typical Parisienne subway station would look like if it was clean and didn’t have hundreds (okay, seemingly hundreds) of people on it:

So, we were making our way towards the Arc de Triomphe – we had it in our sights! – when dad got distracted by these old guys carrying flags.

“I think it’s a parade!” he enthused and dashed off to take photos of them. We sighed and followed suit.

I think it was a memorial of some sort, but after googling for a bit yielded nothing about a memorial being held on 21st February (or maybe my keywords sucked haha). They had to stop traffic for about 10 minutes for the procession and boy, there were some testy drivers when it was over.

I think I’m starting to get slightly obsessed with day/night shots:

We were so tired by this time that we pretty much fell into a deep sleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow, despite having a cold, cold apartment.