Last Reflections of Paris

I'm already at the second city in Switzerland now, and I better write this down before I forget.

I had many preconceived ideas of France, French people and French food before I set foot there. But all those notions were wrong wrong and WRONG. Here are a few

You know how people hark on about how well the Parisiennes are dressed? I wasn't aware of this until I read about this in Mamamia and later French Essence. Then in London, Yang comments, "People dress so well over there. It's not possible to overdress." So I had a very set idea of what to expect when it comes to dressing before I arrived in Paris: literally every woman will be impecably dressed and I can spend a day at a cafe just watching people walk by in my very own personal fashion show. I'm not exaggerating!

Then I got to Paris, and what a let down!! People dress just like you and I. Granted, the average French passer-by dresses ever so slightly better than the average Sydney-sider. And also granted, I did see some very well dressed women, but they were mostly grandmas and it was on extremely rare occasions. But overall, the standard I expected, the standard where the fashion shines that so brightly it rivals the Eiffel Tour at night, was not met.

I met a really cute French man on the train to Switzerland and he asked me about my thoughts on this topic. He also believes Parisienne women dresses well: "That's only in Paris". But then he also qualifies the generalisation that it is not everyone!

Before I came, I heard from multiple reliable sources (and by reliable I mean people who have been to France) about French bread! and how you can never eat bread like the ones in France. Pfft!! I had better bread in Switzerland! But this may be because I really believed in the talk abt baguettes, and hence I only had baguettes? But still, why do people go on about baguettes when they have the hardest shell? You need serated teeth to bite through it.

And overall, I thought Parisians were quiet nice. Not arrogant and resistant to speaking English (ironically, the only instance of rudeness and "speak Fwench" I encountered was at an info desk at Galleries Lafayette). But, as the cute French man on the train tells me, that is only in Paris, people really don't speak English outside Paris.

Oh also, DOG POO!! I thought they were going to be all over the place, and I'll literally have to dance around the path to avoid stepping into a pile, but I didn't see any! Maybe I stepped in them, or maybe as Yang tells it, "They're really small and hard to see, because all their dogs are small"

Paris J'adore

A beautiful day along the Seine

Today was suppose to be my rest day, and by rest day I mean a shopping day, but overall not too much strenuous activity. I have been constantly on my feet since arriving in Paris, to the point my soles are always in pain.

On Day 3, I ascended the famed Notre Dame Cathedral to stand aside the gargoyles overlooking Paris. It is a very famous building, but I was not all that impressed, the inside was boring - I found the Notre Dame in Montreal to be much more breath-taking. And as for the gargoyles, well, they are just that, gargoyles. So much for waiting in line for 45mins in the sun!! On the contrary, the Pantheon was a quite awe-provoking. [I think I've figured it out - where as the Notre Dame is for Cathelics, the Pantheon is for (other) Christians - correct me if I'm wrong]. Anyway, it was a very big and grand building, inside was simply decorated in white. On each wall, hung a large painting, the ceiling was covered with individual fleur-de-lis carvings. In the middle of the space was Foucault's pendulum which he used to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth (and tell time!). The decor struck just the right balance, without entering into the overpowering richness of the rooms at Versailles (more about that later).

What the Pantheon looks from the outside, and no it's not Washington's Capitol

What I've noticed in Paris, and in London for that matter, is that there is a lot of parks for public use in the middle of the city and they would be filled with locals sitting under a tree, reading books, chatting with friends and....just general lounging. It reminds me of 中山公园 sans the fun rides. The Jardin du Luxembourg was quite a big park - the building infront of it is now used as the French Senate, but the garden itself is open for public use. Anyway...lovely place, had quite a community vibe throughout, it even had tennis courts and a place for kids to ride ponies. Wish we had more of those in Sydney.


The next day was an artistic day - I visited the Musée du Louvre and Musée d'Orsay. Not that I'm particularly into art, but at least I can say now, I have seen the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. And I must say...against all of what I've been told, the Mona Lisa wasn't so small - about A3 size? and yes the immediate vicinity of the painting was cordened off, but we didn't have to line up for it and we could use flash photography. But...the Louvre wasn't really my cup of tea, my favourite of the day was the Monet collection at Orsay, I particularly love his use of colour.

Orsay - a gloriously renovated old train station

I chose Saturday to go to Versailles, because they have fountain shows on the weekend. The Château de Versailles was, for me, much more about its vast expanse of meticulously planned gardens, rather than its lavish, opulant and over-the-top palace. I spent a good five hours exploring the fountains and its many individual gardens within the large garden area and visiting the Grand and Petit Trianon (places the royals go to get away from Versailles) and the little farm Marie Antoinette built to...amuse herself. I thought the farm was super cute, actually, they still keep farm animals and plant vegetables there. The rooms of the palace...what can I say? Every inch of it was decorated with carvings, gold, and paintings, and every inch of it was saturated in rich colours. But it was a bit too much, to the extent it evoked a very 压抑的感觉。

The imposing gold gate

The Hall of Mirrors, where the significant historical events of the proclamation of the German Empire, as well as the signing of the Versailles Treaty, took place.

The garden to end all gardens

Which brings me to today. After all the walking (esp yesterday, a good 8 consecutive hrs on my feet), I was just going to have a light day at Galleries Lafayette after visiting Saint Chapelle. But the good Lord had other plans for me. I had to walk in a big circle to find Saint Chapelle - reputed to have the largest tinted windows in Europe. Unfortunately the front part of the chapel was ungoing renovations so I couldn't get the whole effect, so I ended up having to buy a postcard with the whole window to compensate. I felt ripped off. When I got to Galleries Lafayette, I had to walk around in another circle around the building trying to find an entrance. Having failed that, I asked about how I can get in, only to be told it was closed today. The largest department store in Paris is CLOSED on Sunday! I'm having trouble getting my head around that, that's even worse than Australia!! So...I had to change plans, and since I was in the vicinity of Montmartre, I decided to bring forward my plans for tomorrow and go to Sacré-Cœur.

I got on a bus at Opera (which was magnificent btw, I contemplated going inside to listen to an opera, maybe in the future, with my mum) and was thinking how lucky I was that I just happened to get on a bus that serviced to Sacré-Cœur. Unfortunately I got off 2 stops too early, which meant more walking and cancelled out any advantage gained by getting on the right bus. But along the way I met a nice Japanese couple, who I ended up spending the rest of my Sacré-Cœur adventure with.

Sacré-Cœur...I had never heard of this place before coming to Paris. It would not have ranked high in my itinerary had not a girl I met in choir told me about how beautiful it was and the magnificent view it offered of the rest of Paris. How true she was! You can only appreciate its beauty when you're standing at its feet and gaze up at its pure brilliance. From the outside, it reminds me of a mix between the Taj Mahal and Washington's Capitol, hehe. Inside the Basilica there's a big surprise. I climbed the dome...for €5 and 300 steps, it offers a cheaper option than the Eiffel Tour and, because it sits on the highest hill in Paris and is on the northern edge of the city, offers a full panorama of the city.

Doesn't it seem surreal?

In front of the Moulin Rouge, a group of kids sat on top of a fan, cooling down in the hot Parisian summer. The little boy in front is super cute. After much inner turmoil debate, and with the blessing and encouragement of my mother, I mustered all my courage and went inside to buy a €150 ticket to see cancans, feathers and bouncing titties. But they are sold out until Thursday! What recession?

At Sainte Chappelle, these girls are trying to make either a star or angel (they say angel, I think star!). Uber cuteness!

Paris

I arrived yesterday on the Eurostar train. It took a little over two hours. I sat next to this French girl who had been working and studying in London for a year, and she told me lots about Paris. She also got me to write "我的名字是" on her hand (like a tatoo) cos she likes Chinese characters.

It took me a long while to get from Gare du Nord to Bastille, where I live, because I waited in line for nearly half an hour to activate my Eurail ticket (which I didn't end up doing) and book my seats to go to Bern next week. Then getting to the Metro station was another challenge with my masses of luggage and unending stairs. Luckily there were some men who were willing to help (one was a police man who looked ANNOYED as he approached me to take my bags, he was sighing and shaking his head!!). But....eventually I made it to my accommodation. It's 1 minute away from the Place de Bastille.


I was quite exhausted so I just explored the street I lived on. Also, significantly, I had my first baguette. It was nice...but very hard, by the end of the stick my teeth were hurting from the incessant chewing. Also had a croissant - it was so soft and sweet, just biting into it, knowing of all the buttery goodness inside makes me happy.

Today I went on a walking tour. (I had three different breads for breakfast - a cheesy baguette thingy, pain au lait and pain au chocolat. talk about carb overload!!) It started off at Place de Saint Michel and we walked westwards towards the Place de la Concorde, stopping at numerous signficant sights such as the Notre Dame Cathedral, Louvre, Tourilles Gardins, a bridge where lovers put their locks on, Royale Palais, Shakespeare & Co bookstore (the only bookstore in Paris that sells English books), Pont Nerf (which means New Bridge, but ironically is the oldest bridge in Paris. It's so called because at the time of being built, it was the first stone bridge.

Concorde...significantly, this monument was not stolen by France, but was a gift

Upon conclusion of the tour, I walked along the Champs Elysee towards the Arc de Triomphe, looking for one special store. Then to the Eiffel Tower (apparently it glistens everynight at 10, 11, 12 and 1 but I couldn't be bothered staying that late), THEN made my way back to the Concorde (and catching some wonderful sights along the way like the Hotel des Invalides and Pont Alexandre III.

Pont Alexandre III, a really beautiful and ornately decorated bridge.

Hotel des Invalides

This was my dinner, I bought a big one (the raspberry one in the foreground of the first pic) and 8 little ones. Major sugar overload!! but it's SOOOO beautiful, especially the big one I got, it was rose-petal macaroons with raspberry in between: the macaroon was soft and fluffy with a nice cross between chewy and crunchy (just a tad bit) and the raspberry was so juicy). FYI these were from Laduree, the special store I was referring to before.

Some realisations of Paris
- it's hot and traffic is loud, people like to ride on motorbikes and the police like to sound their sirens when they reach a red light
- Parisians are not as mean as their reputation, they do speak English when they realise your French is...well non-existent.