And then there was Paris
Paris, France - yet again a site for mixed emotions... it's amazing how much your preconceived ideas of a place/country can effect your experience. Even before I arrive in Paris I was singing the sour note... having to leave Interlaken and forfeiting the chance to go skydiving, ahh well - as has become my motto, "You can't do everything", or "I'll do that one next time".
I had booked accom the night before from Balmers, so had no idea what the place would be like, but atleast I knew where I was going (kinda). Got on the metro and headed for my stop - emerging from the subway I was surrounded by a feeling of "why the hell am I here?" - this place was ghetto city and by the time I had walked halfway to the hostel that was confirmed with the street corners being crowded by groups of young middle eastern / indian men and a couple of real shazza's to boot - just a little unsettling for our poor little traveller.
So anyways, found the hostel and checked in... not exactly the best hostel I've seen, actually it was kinda crappy... but I still haven't heard anyone speak of a 'good' hostel in Paris.
Sunday morning I got up and headed into the Louvre, expecting to spend the whole day there. Luckily I pretty much walked straight in, no lines - now that's a good omen for the day! Headed straight for the Mona Lisa, and as can be seen from the pictorial post - I came, I saw, I photographed. Now to be perfectly honest, it was kinda cool to stand there in front of arguably the most famous paiinting in the world, but it's still just a painting... (no comparison to 1 foot of fresh powder snow, or natures most beautiful creation - an individual snowflake, perfect in it's fractal symmetry... anyways off topic there). Wandered around the Louvre for a good 4-5 hours (spent most of that time in the Egyptian section), by which time I was mentally drained and really ready for a change of scenery.
So left the Louvre and walked up the Champs Elysees to the Arc De Triomphe (once again see photos). Pretty amazing setup, it's just this massive arch in the centre of a roundabout that has about 6 lanes of crazy-ass drivers and 12 main streets converging upon it. In the centre of the arch is the monument to the unknown soldier from WWI... kinda moving actually.
After hanging there for a while I hopped on the metro and headed for the tower - might as well knock over these things in one go!! I arrived there around 4:30pm to find somewhat of a police blockade not letting anyone within a one block radius of the tower... after a couple minutes of standing around I asked one of the french guys (obviously a waiter from the restaurant at the tower) what was going on - he just replied "Threat of bomb". Well damn!
Clearly nothing actually happened as the tower still stands (it seems it is still safe from the likes of Team America!!). So anyways just headed off and walked around the southern banks of the Seine and 'took in' the Parisian life... was kinda joyful actually as it was sunday afternoon and there were heaps of people playing in the parks, kicing the soccerball etc - normal people, living normal lives... life just doesn't really change much no matter where you are from i guess!
Anyways, Monday I got up and headed to the tower again. Walked up the first two storeys as it was heaps cheaper, but it was like over 600 steps... ohh my gawd! Then had to line up on the 2nd floor to catch the elevator up anyways. The towers is over 1000 foot tall, so the view was unreal - even though the city was clouded in a haze of smog... yay for big cities! Tripped around the south bank again for a while, then checked out Notre Damme.
Tuesday was up early and headed to the airport... confusing as hell! Charles De Gaulle is massive, and there is two RER stops.. luckily i chose the right one and managed to find the right terminal... sooo many terminals!!! Unfortunately I found it too quickly and ended up with about 3 hours to sit around doing nothing in the airport. Ohh - interesting note for the day: They had this "biometric visa" station for people ariving back in the country - looked like they were just fingerprint scanning people with this special visa on their way back in... not really sure what was going on, but seemed kinda high tech.
So anyways, in London staying with Nick now. Finally got to see him after his no-show at Oktoberfest. London info can wait till I have done a bit more... later.
I had booked accom the night before from Balmers, so had no idea what the place would be like, but atleast I knew where I was going (kinda). Got on the metro and headed for my stop - emerging from the subway I was surrounded by a feeling of "why the hell am I here?" - this place was ghetto city and by the time I had walked halfway to the hostel that was confirmed with the street corners being crowded by groups of young middle eastern / indian men and a couple of real shazza's to boot - just a little unsettling for our poor little traveller.
So anyways, found the hostel and checked in... not exactly the best hostel I've seen, actually it was kinda crappy... but I still haven't heard anyone speak of a 'good' hostel in Paris.
Sunday morning I got up and headed into the Louvre, expecting to spend the whole day there. Luckily I pretty much walked straight in, no lines - now that's a good omen for the day! Headed straight for the Mona Lisa, and as can be seen from the pictorial post - I came, I saw, I photographed. Now to be perfectly honest, it was kinda cool to stand there in front of arguably the most famous paiinting in the world, but it's still just a painting... (no comparison to 1 foot of fresh powder snow, or natures most beautiful creation - an individual snowflake, perfect in it's fractal symmetry... anyways off topic there). Wandered around the Louvre for a good 4-5 hours (spent most of that time in the Egyptian section), by which time I was mentally drained and really ready for a change of scenery.
So left the Louvre and walked up the Champs Elysees to the Arc De Triomphe (once again see photos). Pretty amazing setup, it's just this massive arch in the centre of a roundabout that has about 6 lanes of crazy-ass drivers and 12 main streets converging upon it. In the centre of the arch is the monument to the unknown soldier from WWI... kinda moving actually.
After hanging there for a while I hopped on the metro and headed for the tower - might as well knock over these things in one go!! I arrived there around 4:30pm to find somewhat of a police blockade not letting anyone within a one block radius of the tower... after a couple minutes of standing around I asked one of the french guys (obviously a waiter from the restaurant at the tower) what was going on - he just replied "Threat of bomb". Well damn!
Clearly nothing actually happened as the tower still stands (it seems it is still safe from the likes of Team America!!). So anyways just headed off and walked around the southern banks of the Seine and 'took in' the Parisian life... was kinda joyful actually as it was sunday afternoon and there were heaps of people playing in the parks, kicing the soccerball etc - normal people, living normal lives... life just doesn't really change much no matter where you are from i guess!
Anyways, Monday I got up and headed to the tower again. Walked up the first two storeys as it was heaps cheaper, but it was like over 600 steps... ohh my gawd! Then had to line up on the 2nd floor to catch the elevator up anyways. The towers is over 1000 foot tall, so the view was unreal - even though the city was clouded in a haze of smog... yay for big cities! Tripped around the south bank again for a while, then checked out Notre Damme.
Tuesday was up early and headed to the airport... confusing as hell! Charles De Gaulle is massive, and there is two RER stops.. luckily i chose the right one and managed to find the right terminal... sooo many terminals!!! Unfortunately I found it too quickly and ended up with about 3 hours to sit around doing nothing in the airport. Ohh - interesting note for the day: They had this "biometric visa" station for people ariving back in the country - looked like they were just fingerprint scanning people with this special visa on their way back in... not really sure what was going on, but seemed kinda high tech.
So anyways, in London staying with Nick now. Finally got to see him after his no-show at Oktoberfest. London info can wait till I have done a bit more... later.
posted by Yoda at 20:25
2 Comments:
hey when do you get back?
November 13th - Sunday
in the arfternoon
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