Day 4: Paris

Versailles Lake

Our last day in Paris!  We started our day off leaving for Versailles at 9am.  It was only about 30 minutes outside of Paris on the double-decker metro train but the line we waited in when we got there took a little over an hour.  It had to be the longest line I’d ever seen—at least half a mile in length—wrapping around the courtyard of the chateau.  The inside was naturally impressive although strikingly similar to Windsor Castle.  I was more impressed actually by the gardens!  We walked all the way over to Marie Antoinette’s Estate but didn’t have enough time to go inside it unfortunately (plus there was another long line outside it).  So we left Versailles and went back to Paris in time to catch a boat tour with Bateaux Mouches!  We then hurried over to the Trocadero Gardens for a few jumping pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower (how could we have forgotten them?).  Brendan also realized that he had forgotten to try macaroons which he had wanted to do there so we got the most delicious chocolate macaroons after walking do the Champs-Elysees.  Another thirty minutes of walking and we were already back at the hotel to grab our bags before grabbing the metro from Gare de L’Est over to Gare de Lyon.

We boarded the train with ten minutes to spare.  Just as the train should have been leaving an announcement (in French) came over the loud speaker but since I’d assumed it was saying “oh we’re leaving now…” I didn’t bother paying attention until I saw everyone groaning and collecting their things.  Someone said we were switching trains.  I’d love to tell you why but I never asked hah.  We settled in to our new train and coasted away into the dark for two hours.  I’m hoping that Italy and Germany have trains as comfortable as the TGV!  The seats were great and had plenty of leg room (which Brendan was loving).

Around 11pm our train arrived at Gare de Lyon Part Dieu where we stared at a map and then a few ticket machines before figuring out how to take the tram.  A kind gentleman showed us the way.  We took the tram through a seemingly dismal area before crossing the Saone River into what appeared to be a much nicer area of Lyon.  As soon as we stepped off the train we found our way to a square filled with tents of homeless people.  Perhaps it was just our paranoia but it seemed like one guy was following us so we waited by a hotel for him to go away.  We went around the corner and finally found our way around the station to the other side.  As we came down the escalator we passed another camp of homeless people.  We made it perfectly safely to our hotel which is incredibly comfortable!  It’s a really nice place called Hotel de Normandie.  If you read the next blog post you’ll find that Lyon is a perfectly lovely city though :)

Thanks for reading!

The Chapel (left) and the Hall of Mirrors (right)

The front of the chateau.

The gardens

One of the many long pathways of the gardens

More of the lake

Notre Dame from the boat tour

Brendan and I on the Bateaux Mouches tour.

"Island of the City" with Notre Dame

One of the lock bridges.

Grand Palais

Delicious chocolate macaroons!

The hotel we stayed in (left) and me at the Trocadero Gardens (right).

Eiffel Tower Pics

Jumping Pics

Day 3: Paris

Coldplay Album in the Louvre?

A theme song for this post.  Ignore the video... I didn't make it haha.

I love Paris.  I actually didn't have high expectations for it despite it being, well, Paris.  Generally speaking (even though I've been here before) you might hear that the people here are rude or that the city is dirty.  I think Brendan and I have maybe just been very lucky that all of the people we have met have been quite friendly and we lucked out with a nice little hotel, beautiful weather, no unfortunate incidents really.  But I'll start at the beginning of the day.

Today was our last full day in Paris and it started at Notre Dame.  We waited in line for maybe 45 minutes before heading up to the top of the bell tower which was very cool!  I didn't expect the inside (holding a bell that weighs just over 13 tons) to be made of wood.  You get a wonderful view of Paris just before stepping through a small door (perhaps the inspiration for the hunchback?) in the interior up a small set of stairs to Emanuel, the biggest bell in the tower.  I think it said it takes 16 men to ring it.  We descended and then entered the Cathedral (unfortunately and awkwardly in the middle of mass).  We weren't alone, there were hundreds of tourists doing a lap around the Cathedral with us which seemed unusual during a mass but I suppose they are used to it.  I listened closely for "Notre Pere qui est au ciel..." but I think they were doing the readings which I sometimes struggle to follow in English anyways.

We then grabbed our hired bikes (again) and cycled over to the Louvre to view the Mona Lisa (of course) among other works of art including the painting that was used on the Viva La Vida album cover (the best!).  I was in the Louvre only six years ago but had forgotten a few things about it.  For one, I had forgotten about the amazing architecture.  I nearly spent more time looking at the walls and ceilings (vaguely reminiscent of the rooms of Windsor Castle) than I did the actual art work.  It also smelled like a church making me wonder a) did someone walk around the place with incense, b) is this just what marble and paint smell like, or c) did all these paintings just absorb the smell of incense from their many years spent in the field?

Our next and last stop (we spent quite a bit of time at the Louvre and Notre Dame) was the Eiffel Tower which took about 2.5-3 hours.  Naturally the line there was incredibly long  as well (about 45 minutes to an hour) but I made friends with a french gentleman in line in front of us from Montpelier.  He didn't speak much English but I managed to hold a decent conversation with him for the better half of our time spent in line.  I'm not sure but I think the French are generally appreciative when people can speak their language.  Either way this guy was super nice!  He showed me a picture of some sights in Montpelier and when he showed me a bull fighting ring I said (in french), "hey!  I've been there! I think... 6 years ago!" (actually... to this day nearly!)  I hadn't recalled having traveled to Montpelier but we traveled to a lot of cities on the high school french trip so it was a bit of a blur but the bull ring seemed pretty unmistakable...

We opted to walk up 328 stairs to the first floor where you can read all about the history of the tower (i.e. it was originally red, weighed 10,000 tonnes, and housed Mr. Eiffel in his apartment atop the tower) and the buildings in the area that one could see from this floor.  Then we climbed more stairs coming to a grand total of 669 stairs to the second floor before taking the elevator up to the top (280m).  Naturally the view was incredible.  You could even see a replica of the apartment up top!

We headed back down and over to the Latin Quarter for a delectable three course meal in a french restaurant called Le Perraudin where Hemingway apparently ate once.  I had pumpkin soup, boeuf bourguignon, and apple tarte!  Sorry dad but beef has never tasted so good!  It seems that a lot of the seating leaves you very close to other people which I kind of like!  We were seated next to two Australian filmers in Paris for work and next to them was a young french couple.  The man had studied in California so when we were a bit lost or confused he kindly helped us.  I really like meeting new people in each city.  After dinner we began searching for a bike stand when we stumbled across a used book/CD store selling books for as cheap as 0.20 euro!  I got Harry Potter books 3 and 4 and (after having visited Notre Dame of course) Victor Hugo's Bossu de Notre Dame (Hunchback of Notre Dame) so that I can practice reading french.  I've already started Harry Potter 3!  Looking forward to tomorrow--thanks for reading!

Brendan climbing through the Notre Dame tower door and the bell at the top.

 

The view from the top of Notre Dame.  I forgot to mention the gargoyles!

The Louvre

Look at these rooms!!

The inverted pyramid (left) and biking along the Seine to the Eiffel Tower (right).

We ran into some UCL kids (Brendan's friends) in front of the Eiffel Tower.

One of the bike racks (which always seemed to be either full or empty...) and the stairs up the Eiffel Tower.

View of the Champ de Mars and the original stairs of the Eiffel Tower.

Fun fact!  The dotted blue line is the Eiffel Tower.

Shadow of the Eiffel Tower

 

L'Arc de Triomphe

Why hello!

The original Eiffel Tower (model).  Brendan and I are in the reflection.

La Sorbonne.  Fun fact #2: Brendan can get eduroam (UCL wifi) near any french university because they use it too!

The books Brendan and I got!

Day 2: Paris

We're still in Paris and will be for another two days doing all the touristy things of course.  Today we began at the Catacombs which is basically my dream place (mmm sarcasm..).  It's about 21 meters underground, really small and dark, and has only one way out which is at the end of a 2km (1.25 miles) walk through the tunnels of the ossuary.  The skeleton part actually didn't bother me.  The initial room had posters explaining how millions of years ago the space we were in was covered in water and then became a quarry about 200 years ago.  Unfortunately it collapsed once in a while (just what I wanted to know) and was eventually chosen as the site for the new resting place of overcrowded cemeteries.  Notre Dame was apparently made of stone from this area of which 1/800th (of the quarry) was now the ossuary.  The worst part of these cramped tunnels was the echo of the dripping water.  One cool bit about it though was that I could read the majority of the poetic quotes about life and death etched into stones on the walls (putting my AP French Lit. to use hah).  The thousands of skeletons neatly stacked with skulls facing you was pretty interesting as well.

We stepped out into broad daylight and clear blue skies (perfect weather today) and moved on to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery where we saw the resting places of Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Moliere, Proust, and Chopin (only one of those people is French by the way).  I forgot to mention that we rented bikes for the day (only 1.70 euro!) so actually we got to ride through the streets of Paris from spot to spot which was a lot of fun.  We rode to the Arc de Triomphe to see the tomb of the unknown soldier and then on to Montmarte for a view of the city.  Our last stop was the Eiffel Tower at sunset where we took a million photos and then watched the light show that occurs for five minutes every hour on the hour at night.

Finally we took the metro back to our hotel where I greeted the gentleman at the desk in French and asked for the room key.  He said, "ah you speak French perfectly!"  When I came back down with my computer to write this post he continued to ask me how I learned french and where I was from, etc.  I told him I was the worst student in my french class because I actually study engineering and focused more on math and sciences.  He asked me what kind of engineering I studied at which point I was using Google translate for every word such as biomedical, mechanical, devices, prosthetics, etc.  He said he was still impressed.  Eight years worth of studying french evidently paid off.  Boomtown.

Brendan in the tiny tunnels and a wall of human bones.  Picture that for a mile!

Left: Me biking around Paris (Brendan's photo).  Right: This photo was actually an accident... haha

 Left: Jim Morrison  Right: Moliere

Left: Oscar Wilde  Right: Cherry Blossom

Left: Brendan on a nice path through the cemetery  Right: Proust

 Sacre Coeur atop Montmarte

 

An attempt at a panarama.  The crowd is enjoying the sunshine and a busker/guitar player.

Tomb of the Unknown Solder under L'Arc de Triomphe

Snagged some crepes (right) before watching the light show at the Eiffel Tower.

Tried to get the blur of the moving cars... :)

The glitter of the light show!

 

Grabbed the metro back to Gare de l'Est.