Paris is a very sepcial city - and because the Parisieenes - who except for the street people - are multimillionaires - insist on keeping it that way. Paris is encircled by a numbr of new and no doubt ghastly cities but Paris itself is kept low rise - apart from a ghastly mistake in Montparnasse. Signs are kept samll and to the ground floor of the building so the architecture speaks for itself. So much so the put up signs directing you to garges to buy "Essence" as they are bloody ner invisible. Even with the signs I spotted one yesterday after seeing 4 lots of signs.
And Paris is particularly lovely in spring with all the fresh growth on the trees. Tomorrow is Mayday which is a holiday in France but I had nor recognised the significance in my planning.
However back to yesterday. L'Open Hop on Hop off have 4 circuits of the city - I manged 3 and a half of them. The commentary is good but if you do come to Paris I would recmmned spending 4 euros extra for the 2 day pass.
My first change of bus was at La Madeline. The whole place is fenced off like they want to keep visitiors out and then on the 4th side I found the entrance. It is a beautiful church. I am puzzled by the 1914-18 memorial in the church - it lists just 2 hundred names. With my almost non-existent French and the attendants limited English (and also expect knowledge - she is there to sell souvenirs) I couldn't etablish how much of Paris these names came from but I did wonder if maybe a lot more New Zealand blood proportionate the populations was spilled than French blood.
I next went to Notre Dame and attended, but did not receive, mass. I am unfamiliar with the catholic ritual anyway and add the language barrier and I missed many of the cues but still found the main ones - 2 which I knew no French responses so responded quietly in English. I was offended by someone takimg photos from within the congregration. And also by the vast number of tourists who refused to respond to the signs scattered everwhere calling for silence.
I paid my 4 euros to visit the treasures but with all interpretation in French I did not understand the signifince of most.
Back on the buses for 2 loops to South to Montparnasse/ St germain and East to Bastille/Bercy before returning to the grand tour along Champs Elyesee - which in places is looking a bit commercial - but then thry probably are some of the most exoensive strores in the world - aroud Arc 'd Triomphe and on to "Tour EiffeL". This is where I discovered the queues I had been talked about - an hour to get in the climb the stairs - evidently it took less time to get to the fron of the escaltor queues. The 655 steeps to level 2 where a challenge. I bet a orange juice with an 11 year old boy he couldn' beat me to level 1 - he won by 3 starts but could have managed 15 or 20 if he had tried harder. I lost him almost immediately so didn't pay out/ I did those steps without a breather but not the next 300. Tried to by food using a discount voucher from my bus but they wouldn't honour it.
Another queue for the trip to level 3 - the obligatory photos and then queue to return to level 2. Delight no queues for the lift from Level 2 down.
Nearly 3 hours at Eiffel Tower and the last bus on the Montemarte grand Boulevards circuit had left. That gave 2 options - 1 The Metro, 2 Walk. And by now it was raining rather than just light drizzle it had been while I was at Eiffel Tower. Umbrella hawkers appearred from nowhere - and I suspect the umbrellas would do the same. They looked flimsy.
Looking Northeast from Eiffel Tower. Arc de Triomphe to left. Place de la Concorde bottom right, Champs Elyesse runs between them - sorry about clarity it was raining
Anyway I decided to walk back to Place de la Republique noticing delightedly that the Hard Rock Cafe was on the route. Only a 25 minute wait for a table. The food is I think franchised - certainly not French. Music was awesome. Marketing was great too - they sould me a souvenir glass because the glass featured on the souvenir glass was a Hurricane. How could I pass it by - but I don't think amy of the money was supporting Wellington Rugby. The waiter was a football man (the round ballgame) and hadn't heard of them. Gwen and Eva also scored clothes. Pity they will grow out if them log before they know what it means - but it may bever mean anything to their generation.
On the walk (about 45 mins) from Hard Rock Cafe back to the Hotel I saw some of the underside of Paris. Got proposition by a prostitiute (nothing rare about that for men wlaking alone) asked for money and saw homeless people sleeping where they could find some shetler from the rain including a family with 1 child on a mattress under one of the rare shop verandahs.
Not much of playing the pilgrim in this day (apart from taking time out for the mass).
And Paris is particularly lovely in spring with all the fresh growth on the trees. Tomorrow is Mayday which is a holiday in France but I had nor recognised the significance in my planning.
However back to yesterday. L'Open Hop on Hop off have 4 circuits of the city - I manged 3 and a half of them. The commentary is good but if you do come to Paris I would recmmned spending 4 euros extra for the 2 day pass.
My first change of bus was at La Madeline. The whole place is fenced off like they want to keep visitiors out and then on the 4th side I found the entrance. It is a beautiful church. I am puzzled by the 1914-18 memorial in the church - it lists just 2 hundred names. With my almost non-existent French and the attendants limited English (and also expect knowledge - she is there to sell souvenirs) I couldn't etablish how much of Paris these names came from but I did wonder if maybe a lot more New Zealand blood proportionate the populations was spilled than French blood.
I next went to Notre Dame and attended, but did not receive, mass. I am unfamiliar with the catholic ritual anyway and add the language barrier and I missed many of the cues but still found the main ones - 2 which I knew no French responses so responded quietly in English. I was offended by someone takimg photos from within the congregration. And also by the vast number of tourists who refused to respond to the signs scattered everwhere calling for silence.
I paid my 4 euros to visit the treasures but with all interpretation in French I did not understand the signifince of most.
Back on the buses for 2 loops to South to Montparnasse/ St germain and East to Bastille/Bercy before returning to the grand tour along Champs Elyesee - which in places is looking a bit commercial - but then thry probably are some of the most exoensive strores in the world - aroud Arc 'd Triomphe and on to "Tour EiffeL". This is where I discovered the queues I had been talked about - an hour to get in the climb the stairs - evidently it took less time to get to the fron of the escaltor queues. The 655 steeps to level 2 where a challenge. I bet a orange juice with an 11 year old boy he couldn' beat me to level 1 - he won by 3 starts but could have managed 15 or 20 if he had tried harder. I lost him almost immediately so didn't pay out/ I did those steps without a breather but not the next 300. Tried to by food using a discount voucher from my bus but they wouldn't honour it.
Another queue for the trip to level 3 - the obligatory photos and then queue to return to level 2. Delight no queues for the lift from Level 2 down.
Nearly 3 hours at Eiffel Tower and the last bus on the Montemarte grand Boulevards circuit had left. That gave 2 options - 1 The Metro, 2 Walk. And by now it was raining rather than just light drizzle it had been while I was at Eiffel Tower. Umbrella hawkers appearred from nowhere - and I suspect the umbrellas would do the same. They looked flimsy.
Looking Northeast from Eiffel Tower. Arc de Triomphe to left. Place de la Concorde bottom right, Champs Elyesse runs between them - sorry about clarity it was rainingAnyway I decided to walk back to Place de la Republique noticing delightedly that the Hard Rock Cafe was on the route. Only a 25 minute wait for a table. The food is I think franchised - certainly not French. Music was awesome. Marketing was great too - they sould me a souvenir glass because the glass featured on the souvenir glass was a Hurricane. How could I pass it by - but I don't think amy of the money was supporting Wellington Rugby. The waiter was a football man (the round ballgame) and hadn't heard of them. Gwen and Eva also scored clothes. Pity they will grow out if them log before they know what it means - but it may bever mean anything to their generation.
On the walk (about 45 mins) from Hard Rock Cafe back to the Hotel I saw some of the underside of Paris. Got proposition by a prostitiute (nothing rare about that for men wlaking alone) asked for money and saw homeless people sleeping where they could find some shetler from the rain including a family with 1 child on a mattress under one of the rare shop verandahs.
Not much of playing the pilgrim in this day (apart from taking time out for the mass).
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