Scene 7 - 26th June
We reach Paris early in the Morning on Saturday, 26th June 2010. I'm very very groggy now. Thankfully the other members of my party - Eugene, Gobi and Lase - are morning owls. Somehow they manage to drag me along to the hostel.
I have never stayed in a backpackers' hostel before - I have no idea what to expect. But the place is nice. They have free wifi; which is awesome; and there are 6 beds in the dorm. 4 of them are taken up by us, so we are the majorit. The other 2 are taken up by a German couple.
For a fleeting instant I think that I can practise my Deutsch with them. Then I hear them speaking and I realise that I'm in deep sh*t for my Deustch-Sprechen part of the journey i.e. Germany.
Nevermind; plenty of time to practise before the German leg of the trip. Plus there's Lase who speaks Swedish and a smattering (more than me I think) of Deutsch.
Anyway, after a long bus ride that spanned the whole night, we are all sticky and uncomfortable, so we all take a bath before chucking in our luggage at the luggage-storage room in the hostel.
Gobi's been to Paris before; so he more-or-less knows his way around the city. Plus he speaks French relatively fluently it seems. He claims Paris is small; but soon we realise that he was merely comparing it with the Overly Large London. Not the Normal-Sized Singapore.
We buy a panini and munch it along a sidewalk while planning out our stay in Paris.
For once I shall not spoil the surprise, so I won't say too much at this point.
Gobi says the stations on the Parisian Metro are all very close to each other, but we, being tired decide to nevertheless take the Metro to see the Eiffel Tower.
The Eiffel tower, in fact, is clearly visible from our hostel. In fact I'm pretty sure that unless you're standing INSIDE a building in Paris, its visible from anywhere in Paris. Its probably because its surrounded by really short buildings. I tell them Rome also has very short buildings - perhaps its this thing with Capital Cities of Major European Countries. I don't know.
Soon we reach the Tower itself - La Tour Eiffel. There's no way that pronunciation is reflected in writing, so right now I shall make it a point to say that I have no idea how the French pronounce anything. Its probably the most impossible language to pronounce. Personally I feel German is more 'ow you say pronounceable.
We want to go up. I mean; we don't "see" the Eiffel Tower unless we go to the top right? (There's a direct reference here to How I Met Your Mother. The TV Show).
But, as you see, the queue to go up to the top is pretty long. Seems to be that everybody bears that sentiment. Or it could be because it is a Saturday. It seems the Eurotrip's warning about the long queues outside the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower is true.
[Later, we realise that this long queue is because these two sights are practically the only thing nice about paris]
After two hours of Queuing in which I did think briefly about Queuing Theory we finally get to buy tickets. Which we get at student prices. It makes it almost worth it to skirt through all the touts selling mini Eiffel towers. I mean, come on, if I didn't buy it from the first 499 guys who approached me selling mini Eiffel Towers, why would I buy it from you? Seriously.
Anyway, after that, the queue to enter the elevator to ascend to the top of the Tower is relatively short. OR rather, fast. So, within no time, we're in the elevator.
The views from the top of the Eiffel Tower are very panoramic - we get to see Paris in its beauty. No dodginess, no touts selling mini Eiffel Towers, just plain hoardes of tourists who are busy Ooohing and Aaahing at the sights from La Tour Eiffel.
Paris is a beautiful city - I must admit that. We want to spend as much time as possible up there since it didnt make sense to spend 2 hours queuing for something and spend 20 min actually doing that thing. Even if we are Singaporeans and innately talented at queuing. Besides, there is a Swedish man with us. As well as an Brit who thinks he's Singaporean.
That's a joke. Gobi is not Brit.
He's Aussie.
He also gets us lost as we try to find our way back to our hostel. I can't navigate in Paris. Firstly, they haven't discovered or accepted the fact thatEnglish American is the lingua franca of the world. English is the lingua franca purely out of dumb luck that America was colonised by the British.
I notice that even where we DO find English in France, they do make it a point to emphasiZe the fact that they are speaking the American variant of English. Which I must emphasiZe, while understandable, I do not recogniZe as English.
Secondly, and more irritatingly, Paris seems to be built in a radial fashion. Which means the roads tend not to be parallel to each other. And you could walk along two roads that start off nearly parallel to each other, and end up vast distances apart. This phenomenon, while highly surreptituous and irritating at ground level, is very visible and beautiful from the summit of La Tour Eiffel.
Nevertheless, we are tired and hungry and desperate so we stop by at some place to eat.
Gobi is not comfortable eating here, and soon we understand why. It really is pretty dodgy and overpriced. I struggle through my meal - a phenomenon only occuring when I'm really full or the food isn't nice. To top it off, the cost of this lousy meal is quite high. Probably mid-price range in Paris, albeit, but it seems the quality is below par.
Ultimately Eugene sums up Paris as a 3rd world country. Gobi corrects him by saying its probably just a 3rd world CITY.
Personally in many ways it does remind me of Bangkok. Except in Bangkok, the people are nicer. And there is no Eiffel Tower.
Scene 8 - 27th June
Sunday! Church day!
Brilliant idea - Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady aka Notre-Dame. I check out mass timings - there's a mass at 11.30. So we decide to go down there. While I go to mass they could probably go look around the Cathedral. Which is also very famous.
Strangely I only know it for being the scene of the Hunchback of Notre-dame.
But first, we go back to La Tour Eiffel to take pictures.
As if yesterday wasn't enough. Eugene wants to take pictures from the garden outside the Eiffel Tower so that a particular shot can be obtained.
I think no matter how much we try, we cannot reproduce the Hollywood picture of the Eiffel Tower. OH well.
We still have about an hour to kill before mass starts; so we decide to walk to Notre-Dame. After all, its a scenic slow walk down the Sein in Paris.
Paris can't be that big right? Right?
Wrong.
By the time we reach Notredame, we're about half an hour late for the mass. Maybe we took the meaning of "slow walk" too literally. Besides there's a mega-long queue just to get into the church. To be honest, this queue was merely to GET INTO the church. Admission is free, and so there's no ticket office or such. And yet the queue to ENTER the church put the one outside the Eiffel Tower to shame.
So no way of reaching on time for mass. We decide to come back in the evening, for the evening mass. Perhaps the crowd would thin then; and perhaps we would be wiser and come earlier.
The biggest plus point of the failed visit to Notre-Dame was that it brought us to a very different part of Paris. And there was better and "brighter" food outlets there. Clearly Gobi was in a better mood as we enter this "bright" creperie where we had our lunch.
I do want to see the Arc du Triumph - I have no idea why. Its just famous; I have no idea why. Well, I have a rough idea - an arch to commemorate some sort of victory in some sort of battle during Napoleon's time perhaps. But as to exactly what it is, I have little idea. Yet, I figure that we ought to check it out. After all we do have time to kill before mass.
I now realise that Gobi likes beautiful buildings, as well as beautiful scenery. I think History (and Art) is lost on him.
Afterwards, we walk down Champs d'Elyses. Once more, I've heard of it many times before, even if till today I have no clue how to pronounce it. Or spell it for that matter.
In any case, the view of Champs d'Elyses from the Arc du Triumph is very beautiful.
I know what the Champs d'Elyses is famous for - it is Paris's upscale living hub. Not a place for two Indians and a Chinese guy and a Swedish guy who has convinced me that he's Chinese inside.
We still have time to kill, so we take a train down to Tuileries; outside the Louvre.
We hear some feedback from some Americans (accents give them away) that the Louvre is boring. We pause for a moment to think about this piece of advice.
Then they quickly demonstrate that they aren't the most reliable source when they say that the amusement park next to the Tuileries is a better choice.
We reach Paris early in the Morning on Saturday, 26th June 2010. I'm very very groggy now. Thankfully the other members of my party - Eugene, Gobi and Lase - are morning owls. Somehow they manage to drag me along to the hostel.
I have never stayed in a backpackers' hostel before - I have no idea what to expect. But the place is nice. They have free wifi; which is awesome; and there are 6 beds in the dorm. 4 of them are taken up by us, so we are the majorit. The other 2 are taken up by a German couple.
For a fleeting instant I think that I can practise my Deutsch with them. Then I hear them speaking and I realise that I'm in deep sh*t for my Deustch-Sprechen part of the journey i.e. Germany.
Nevermind; plenty of time to practise before the German leg of the trip. Plus there's Lase who speaks Swedish and a smattering (more than me I think) of Deutsch.
Anyway, after a long bus ride that spanned the whole night, we are all sticky and uncomfortable, so we all take a bath before chucking in our luggage at the luggage-storage room in the hostel.
Gobi's been to Paris before; so he more-or-less knows his way around the city. Plus he speaks French relatively fluently it seems. He claims Paris is small; but soon we realise that he was merely comparing it with the Overly Large London. Not the Normal-Sized Singapore.
We buy a panini and munch it along a sidewalk while planning out our stay in Paris.
For once I shall not spoil the surprise, so I won't say too much at this point.
Gobi says the stations on the Parisian Metro are all very close to each other, but we, being tired decide to nevertheless take the Metro to see the Eiffel Tower.
The Eiffel tower, in fact, is clearly visible from our hostel. In fact I'm pretty sure that unless you're standing INSIDE a building in Paris, its visible from anywhere in Paris. Its probably because its surrounded by really short buildings. I tell them Rome also has very short buildings - perhaps its this thing with Capital Cities of Major European Countries. I don't know.
Soon we reach the Tower itself - La Tour Eiffel. There's no way that pronunciation is reflected in writing, so right now I shall make it a point to say that I have no idea how the French pronounce anything. Its probably the most impossible language to pronounce. Personally I feel German is more 'ow you say pronounceable.
We want to go up. I mean; we don't "see" the Eiffel Tower unless we go to the top right? (There's a direct reference here to How I Met Your Mother. The TV Show).
But, as you see, the queue to go up to the top is pretty long. Seems to be that everybody bears that sentiment. Or it could be because it is a Saturday. It seems the Eurotrip's warning about the long queues outside the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower is true.
[Later, we realise that this long queue is because these two sights are practically the only thing nice about paris]
After two hours of Queuing in which I did think briefly about Queuing Theory we finally get to buy tickets. Which we get at student prices. It makes it almost worth it to skirt through all the touts selling mini Eiffel towers. I mean, come on, if I didn't buy it from the first 499 guys who approached me selling mini Eiffel Towers, why would I buy it from you? Seriously.
Anyway, after that, the queue to enter the elevator to ascend to the top of the Tower is relatively short. OR rather, fast. So, within no time, we're in the elevator.
The views from the top of the Eiffel Tower are very panoramic - we get to see Paris in its beauty. No dodginess, no touts selling mini Eiffel Towers, just plain hoardes of tourists who are busy Ooohing and Aaahing at the sights from La Tour Eiffel.
Paris is a beautiful city - I must admit that. We want to spend as much time as possible up there since it didnt make sense to spend 2 hours queuing for something and spend 20 min actually doing that thing. Even if we are Singaporeans and innately talented at queuing. Besides, there is a Swedish man with us. As well as an Brit who thinks he's Singaporean.
That's a joke. Gobi is not Brit.
He's Aussie.
He also gets us lost as we try to find our way back to our hostel. I can't navigate in Paris. Firstly, they haven't discovered or accepted the fact that
I notice that even where we DO find English in France, they do make it a point to emphasiZe the fact that they are speaking the American variant of English. Which I must emphasiZe, while understandable, I do not recogniZe as English.
Secondly, and more irritatingly, Paris seems to be built in a radial fashion. Which means the roads tend not to be parallel to each other. And you could walk along two roads that start off nearly parallel to each other, and end up vast distances apart. This phenomenon, while highly surreptituous and irritating at ground level, is very visible and beautiful from the summit of La Tour Eiffel.
Nevertheless, we are tired and hungry and desperate so we stop by at some place to eat.
Gobi is not comfortable eating here, and soon we understand why. It really is pretty dodgy and overpriced. I struggle through my meal - a phenomenon only occuring when I'm really full or the food isn't nice. To top it off, the cost of this lousy meal is quite high. Probably mid-price range in Paris, albeit, but it seems the quality is below par.
Ultimately Eugene sums up Paris as a 3rd world country. Gobi corrects him by saying its probably just a 3rd world CITY.
Personally in many ways it does remind me of Bangkok. Except in Bangkok, the people are nicer. And there is no Eiffel Tower.
Scene 8 - 27th June
Sunday! Church day!
Brilliant idea - Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady aka Notre-Dame. I check out mass timings - there's a mass at 11.30. So we decide to go down there. While I go to mass they could probably go look around the Cathedral. Which is also very famous.
Strangely I only know it for being the scene of the Hunchback of Notre-dame.
But first, we go back to La Tour Eiffel to take pictures.
As if yesterday wasn't enough. Eugene wants to take pictures from the garden outside the Eiffel Tower so that a particular shot can be obtained.
I think no matter how much we try, we cannot reproduce the Hollywood picture of the Eiffel Tower. OH well.
We still have about an hour to kill before mass starts; so we decide to walk to Notre-Dame. After all, its a scenic slow walk down the Sein in Paris.
Paris can't be that big right? Right?
Wrong.By the time we reach Notredame, we're about half an hour late for the mass. Maybe we took the meaning of "slow walk" too literally. Besides there's a mega-long queue just to get into the church. To be honest, this queue was merely to GET INTO the church. Admission is free, and so there's no ticket office or such. And yet the queue to ENTER the church put the one outside the Eiffel Tower to shame.
So no way of reaching on time for mass. We decide to come back in the evening, for the evening mass. Perhaps the crowd would thin then; and perhaps we would be wiser and come earlier.
The biggest plus point of the failed visit to Notre-Dame was that it brought us to a very different part of Paris. And there was better and "brighter" food outlets there. Clearly Gobi was in a better mood as we enter this "bright" creperie where we had our lunch.
I do want to see the Arc du Triumph - I have no idea why. Its just famous; I have no idea why. Well, I have a rough idea - an arch to commemorate some sort of victory in some sort of battle during Napoleon's time perhaps. But as to exactly what it is, I have little idea. Yet, I figure that we ought to check it out. After all we do have time to kill before mass.
I now realise that Gobi likes beautiful buildings, as well as beautiful scenery. I think History (and Art) is lost on him.
Afterwards, we walk down Champs d'Elyses. Once more, I've heard of it many times before, even if till today I have no clue how to pronounce it. Or spell it for that matter.
In any case, the view of Champs d'Elyses from the Arc du Triumph is very beautiful.
I know what the Champs d'Elyses is famous for - it is Paris's upscale living hub. Not a place for two Indians and a Chinese guy and a Swedish guy who has convinced me that he's Chinese inside.
We still have time to kill, so we take a train down to Tuileries; outside the Louvre.
We hear some feedback from some Americans (accents give them away) that the Louvre is boring. We pause for a moment to think about this piece of advice.
Then they quickly demonstrate that they aren't the most reliable source when they say that the amusement park next to the Tuileries is a better choice.
vs.
Louvre tomorrow, then.
This time, we leave the Tuileries on time and take a bus to Notre-Dame. Gobi's new favourite phrase - "We're getting wise".
We are wiser - the queue is all but gone; and we have arrived just in time. I go for mass while they go and wander about outside. Can't understand much during the mass - but at least can follow what's going on. So I follow the mass in English softly.
After yesterday's crappy dinner, we have agreed to let Gobi decide on where to eat. He picks a Thai food; which while obviously doesn't sell the food of Bangkok, serves up an affordable albeit tiny serving of Pad Thai that honestly tastes more like Fried Kway Teow.
Beggars can't be choosers - at least the place isn't underground; like yesterday's dodgy dinner place.
Scene 9 - 28th June
Very interesting discovery today - Jean's middle name is not Luigi. Gobi made that up. And apparently, Jean didn't bother correcting Gobi because apparently he was fed up of doing so. Perhaps that's option B on how to name people.
The highlight of today is the Louvre. The Louvre is probably the most famous museum in the world. So, in direct defiance of the unwitting advice given to us by yesterday's American fellow tourists, we decide to visit the Louvre.
Its not that we're very culturally inclined. Its just another of the sights of Paris that probably oughtn't to be passed up on. Ironically Gobi, having studied in Britain for the past 6 months, does get a free ticket - we don't. Unfair. But still, as Asians, we appreciate money saved. Its a beautiful thing.
The queue is suprisingly short - perhaps the simple explanation is that we went early. On a weekday. We barely queue for 5 mins. Excellent queueing model.
There are so many exhibitions in the Louvre. I particularly was interested in the Ancient Roman antiquities, the Mona Lisa, as well as the history of the Louvre. The architecture of the Louvre, to me, has a fantastic pull. More so than the perhaps meaningless antiquities (and even tombstones) that historians study to understand how life was back in the day.
Sometimes I wonder why they study how life was back in the day; and then I wonder if the future humans would actually bother to look back and see the antiquity that is the Cathode Ray Television and the Floppy Disk. Already today these antiques aren't the source of fascination for many people.
Spoken like a true engineer - always looking to the future.
I think Lase gets bored half way through, and besides he's off to meet his Indonesian friend from Sweden who's also in Paris. So he leaves early.
The sculptures were nice, though; some of the true masterpieces of the past are contained within the walls of the Louvre; which used to be a palace of residence for the Kings of France.
Before the rebellion threw them all out.
Anyway, a few hundred paintings later, all by various artists which we, being culture-less, do not appreciate apart from saying "Hey, that's nice!",
We finally arrive at the main attraction of the museum.
Her.
Mind you, there's a huge crowd that one has to push through in order to get close to her. Its quite scary; all the fuss about a painting of an unknown woman.
There is this one guy, who seems to be reproducing a painting from the gallery. Awesome stuff - some people are truly talented.
I'd honestly just take a photo; but this requires so much more skill.
More roman sculptures soon follow - amazingly beautiful stuff.
Here are some of the ones I, for one, prefer.
Statue of Cupid reviving his lover with a kiss.
Just plain awesome.
On the way to search for food, we get lost yet again. So we decide to go for the familiar and try the takeaway crepes near Notre-Dame. Its cheaper, and also different from the eat-in crepes that we had yesterday. So we take it and sit outside a garden just outside Notre-Dame and eat.
Another thing about the takeaway crepes: they're not filling. So we top it up with eclairs. I mean, you can't come to France and NOT eat eclairs. Right?
At night, after the soccer match, we go for a bike ride around Paris. Paris at night is very different. And cycling around Paris makes me realise that driving on the Wrong side of the Road is pretty hard. Especially after the first 3 times that Gobi cycles in front of an oncoming car. And the next 3 times that he turns into the wrong lane.
Ok, I exaggerate. But seriously, it's very different.
AND so is Paris at night. Well, you would expect Paris at night to look different than Paris during the day. Many a time at home I'd get lost on a route I'm very familiar with; only because I'm traversing it at night. But Paris at night is beautiful. And, its crowning glory, La Tour Eiffel, personifies this.
Scene 10 - 29th June
Today's original plan was to take the free Sandeman walking tours around Paris. The logic being that this tour probably can tell us abit more about the stories of Paris that are behind the beautiful statues and buildings.
Unfortunately the Sandman comes between us and Sandeman. We oversleep by quite a fair bit; and just decide to skip the tour. In fact, we even sleep past breakfast times. Probably the exertions of last night.
Anyway today is the last day of Paris; and I honestly doubt we'd spend more time here without going crazy. Gobi wants to walk around, but I tell him to save energy for Geneva because Geneva is beautiful in its own way.
Oh come on. Its Switzerland - synonymous with scenic beauty.
Its a mad rush to the train, mainly because this is the first time we're travelling by the Train; and also because we have no clue what platform the train is from.
I know I had a horrid time at Rome last time - but I'm beginning to appreciate Rome. Paris is pure disorganisation.
We just manage to get the train - Its a TGV. I remember reading about this when I was very young; that it was the fastest train around. Since then, of course, maglev trains have been developed which outstrip the TGV relatively easily. But still.. Highlight of the trip.
Interlude
On the trip from Paris to Geneva; we see hills. I tell (and convince) both Eugene and Gobi that they're the Alps. It was quite fun of course; especially when the real Alps showed their face.
Along the way, we also see the Longest Bridge in the World. We had just learnt about it while walking along the Tower Bridge. I do recall it clearly, because I also called it the ugliest bridge in the world. Though, come to think of it, many bridges actually share that honour.
In a couple of hours, we will reach Geneva - in the French speaking region of Switzerland. Still stuck with French. Damn.
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