Day 2 and 3: Paris

Although it was my second time visiting Paris, I was glad that the places that I saw, the photos that I took were different from the first time. Of course there are some sights which I went again, like Eiffel and Notre Dame. However, I did different things this time with different people. Most notably interesting was the boat ride along the river Seine as well as the 90€ Moulin Rouge musical. I remember telling YT that if I don’t do something different in Paris this time it would be a wasted trip.

On the whole Paris had not changed at all since the time in 2006. But the prices have been inflated like mad. The Kebab there now costs about 5€ plus when it used to cost like 4€. The touts that sell keychains apparently also study economics. Last time they used to sell 5 keychains for 1€ but now its being reduced to 3.

What I liked about Paris:
-Moulin Rouge: not because throughout the musical all the female performers were half-naked, but also because the music and the singing were great. It was also the first time that I saw a ventriloquist perform during the intermittent.

What I did not like about Paris:
-the touts were too blatant and aggressive. Glad they did not really bother us that much though, probably cos we're not couples or we do not have kids or we simply don’t have the rich look
-the very inaccurate map in terms of scales. Made us walk like crazy until we decided to fork out some €€ to buy the T-10 tickets the 2nd day… and I din dare leave my laptop at the hostel cos chances that I won’t see it again is high
-the hostel which we lived in was quite crappy, and more expensive than the one which we stayed in Rome. Thankfully we stayed there for one night only, although there was a time I did consider extending another night cos we had no accommodation for the 2nd night…..

…. And yes we slept on the streets on the 2nd night. Well not really that pathetic cos we were not alone. The reason why we did so was cos our flight was really early in the morning and the bus to the airport leaves at 6am, and there’s no hostel (but many stars hotels) near the bus park. So we spent the night there with some other likeminded people like us.

-bernard

We woke up early the next morning as we are supposed to catch 6.40am ICE train ride to Paris. Paris, in short, was a hectic and tiring leg of the Euro-trip. We walked and walked under the scorching sun with a map that did not truly reflect the distance between each monument. Things were not helped by staying in a stuffy and badly ventilated hostel room. It’s only slightly better than the construction workers’ dorms in Singapore.

Notre Dame

Visited lots of monuments but the highlights would be Moulin Rouge and the lighting up of Eiffel Tower at night. Overall, I would say that Paris is not my kind of place. Probably because I don’t study a lot of its history and maybe also the place lack a certain kind of awe for me.

Two days passed by rather quickly. And the climax of the trip was the night we spent on the streets of Paris. As we had to catch an early bus ride to the airport, the plan was to stay out on the streets till the time of the boarding. However, the wind for the night was particularly strong and the temperature easily hit a low of 10 degrees Celsius. We almost froze to death but it was certainly a once in a lifetime experience – though I hoped this was the one and only time.

Next up, ROME!!

~Pierre~

Paris! Now was I excited! I was hoping I could use some French there. Got on the nice ICE train to paris and I took out my phrase book to revise some simple conversational phrases. Oh man… I forgot so many things! L

We arrived in paris and took a very long walk to the hostel. The free map was so deceiving! The journey was so long. And with our heavy backpacks by the time we reached the hostel we were (or rather I was) almost dying! But no time for rest! We have to really make use of the time we had fully! We’re not only on a budget. We were on a time constraint! To cover as many things as we can in these two days I tell you… our legs suffered a great deal! But every drop of sweat was worth it! We had a nice dinner by the river seine and though it was expensive I enjoyed the food and the sights. It was a small cafe that sells Turkish food and we were like parisiens (or maybe tourists) enjoying our food by the roadside. Agenda 1 fulfilled!

After covering half of the river we went back to the hostel on foot again to get ready for Moulin rouge! We paid a good deal of money to get in and I was anticipating a great show. For the experience I think it was not too bad. But for the performance I was a little disappointed. The dancers looked tired and most of them looked really jaded and unenthusiastic. The lead performers did fine. But on the whole I would say for the experience it was worth it. The theatre was cramped but the design of the place was kept as it is cabaret style. Really nice. The champagne wasn’t to bad though. Sadly py fell asleep from the exhaustion of walking. I admit I too was trying not to doze off. The performance wasn’t all that bad. Just that I don’t understand why the girls have to keep flashing their boobs and the guys are properly covered! Hmph! after we got back to the hostel, although it was a but warm and cramped I fell into a deep sleep. Tired from walking.

The second day we decided to take the train instead and so it was a but less tiring. I loved just sitting on the cruise and looking at the sights. Not cos I was lazy! But most of the attractions are along the river! And the sights look much nicer from the river itself. Plus the cruise gave brief commentaries so it was enriching as well. I was glad we chose the right cruise company though. One with an open top. Though we baked in the sun but the sights looked much better without a shelter blocking us. And after a relaxing ride we had to go climb the Eiffel tower! Bs gave us the challenge of using the stairs instead of paying more to take the lift and we took it. Me and py almost died! And the very fit bs with 5 months worth if training just blazed through. Tsk. But it was all worth it.

Dawn turned to dusk and we had to start on our next adventure. Sleeping in the paris bus terminal! In order to catch a very early bus to the airport we had to forgo good sleeping conditions and sleep on the floor of the bus terminal! We wanted to seek help from “joyce” but she closes her shop at 2am! So we decided to just set up our camping site at the terminal and just try to sleep. Fortunately we weren’t alone! The insane timing of the first bus meant a lot of people had forgone their nice bed to spend the night at the terminal. Unfortunately though it was a freakingly cold night! Totally unexpected of paris in summer! Argh! I was freezing I couldn’t sleep! I couldn’t wait to get on the bus and then on the plane so that I could catch some shut eye! It was a long night but we made it through safe and sound. Cool.

~Yves~