Travel Log: Paris (and Versailles)
Feb. 24th, 2010 12:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gnineLast week the 'rents came to visit me here in good old England, and together we did quite a bit of sightseeing, including Cambridge, Highgate Cemetery (both of which I might post about later) and, most excitingly, Paris! It was my first time going to France and seeing as French was my first foreign language to study, starting back in 7th grade, this trip's been a long time coming! (Not that I remember practically ANY of my French. It was so pathetic, I kept reaching for it and coming up with Japanese instead, which sooo didn't help. Well, except for the fact that we ran into like a billion Japanese tourist in the two days we were there, so actually, I did make good use of my language skills...just not the French ones :-p. Oops!)
Because my parents were only visiting London for a week, we decided to do only one night in France, arriving early in the morning on Wed (and when I say early, I mean our train was at 5:20 am, and we were suppose to be at the station half an hour to forty five minutes early to go through immigration, so yeah...you do the math! :-p At least St. Pancras Station, where the Eurostar leaves from, is only an 8 minute walk from my dorm...even so, UGH!) and leaving late Thursday night. So while we only had the one night, we made sure to get our full two days worth. Two VERY FULL days! Keeping in mind the day's heinously early start, we did not actually get back to our hotel for the night (though we dropped our stuff off a bit earlier, but then went back out again) until 11:30 pm on Wed. VERY. LONG. DAY. Fun, but looooong!
Upon arriving in Paris, we first set about trying to find an ATM, a task the proved ultimately futile, the station (the very big, very central, highly trafficked station) did not believe in ATMs. There was one currency exchange booth, which did not help us very much, as we only had a few pounds on us, as we'd all figured we could just easily take out money once we arrived. Oh, how naïve we were! (Seriously, I've been in train and subway/metro/tube stations all over the globe. They've all had ATMs. In the States, in Japan, Bangkok, everywhere. Handy, useful ATMs. But one of the biggest central hubs in Europe?...No. Of course not. Cause that might be useful! :-p)
Finally finding a metro ticket machine that would take my card (my UK one, wouldn't take any of our American ones cause of the whole 'chip' thing and oh all the different banking and credit card systems, know that I LOATHE you!) we headed down in the direction of Notre Dame. But, still needing money, once we got there, there was further wandering about the streets of the Latin quarter for a bit till finally locating a bank. (After that epic quest, for the rest of the trip, when ever one of us spotted an ATM, we'd all double check we had enough money, not trusting we could find one later if we ran low...) But, in our meanderings, did get a pretty picture of a fountain we ran across:
"
Next we were off to Notre Dame. That was one of the top things I've always wanted to see in Paris, and it so did not disappoint!
And one must always remember to look up!
Inside was just as spectacular:
If crowded. Very crowded. Especially since it was Ash Wednesday and mass started while we were there:
Which of course meant greater numbers of people, and certain areas restricted. But, as I told my mom, so worth it for the organ and the singing. Damn but that place has great acoustics! Also in attendance was the Arch Bishop:
Back outside, it'd started to rain, and the near-freezing temperatures meant it was too icy to climb the stairs up to the towers. Alas. Walked all around the place. And mom got a nice pic of me and dad:
Going past the cathedral, we walked to the point of the island. And looking out on this:
All I could think of was Highlander. Duncan's barge would be just about in the center of that pic! (I can't help it...the fan girl in me never fully shuts up! ^_-)
After Notre Dame, we made our way to Sainte Chapelle, another cathedral on the island, but much much smaller. But with just as impressive, if not more so, stained glass and exquisitely painted wood work!
Energies flagging a bit, we took a late lunch/early dinner of Chinese food (I have a thing about trying Chinese food in various countries. It amuses me how different it tastes every place I've gone, yet over all "Chinese" seems to be one of the most ubiquitous cuisines) and then it was off to the Louvre.
Upon arriving, we bee lined it for the Mona Lisa (it was getting late by this point, and we were all tired, but knew we didn't want to miss that, if nothing else), as did apparently everyone else in the museum:
Following a brief, very jostled viewing, in hopes of avoiding 'accidentally' committing parricide (seeing as the 'rents both read this journal, I'd be hesitant to use that particular phrasing, except for the fact that while using my computer to check their email, the search page for "Matricid and Patricide" was still open from when I'd tried fiding the term referring to both. Awkward! ^_- But, seeing as I've already gone through it once with them, what's the harm using it again? ^_- I love you, mommy and daddy! *huggles* ^_-) I split with the 'rents for a bit to wander the museum on my own. It was during this time I came across two lovely pieces by Michelangelo:
Now, just the other day, I was reading something that was saying how some scholars debate that his "love of the male form" was in a more platonic, aesthetic sense only. Um...yeeeeeeah. *checks the pics above once more* Platonic my ASS! Gay, so sooo gay!
And of course, there was also the Venus de Milo:
What can I say...I tried to smile, I really did. But god, we'd been going strong for like 14 hours by this point! Ah well, at least the crowds were small enough here to even get a picture with it! (And then there was the fact that I couldn't help myself. It's a famous statue and I should have so many *reasonable* associations, but all I could think of was GetBackers. I mean, that arc is so cracktastic, LITERALLY, it just kinda sticks with you! ^_-)
Leaving the museum (which looked even prettier at night):
We hopped on a bus to our hotel. It was on the ride that this happened:
It's a bit hard to make out, but that car is parked directly under a sign warning about an immediate tow zone. The reason being that if a car is parked there, buses can't make the turn. Which we couldn’t. And thus were stuck blocking a four way intersection for a good five minutes, while people on the street tried to find who owned the car. As we had been able to get seats on the bus, I was greatly amused (after the day, and all the walking involved, if we'd been standing, further delays would have been many things, but amusing *not* among them! ^_- As we were seated, it was freakin' hysterical!)
Dropping our bags off at the hotel, we headed back out for food and had a wonderful meal at a local place. The food was delicious, the atmosphere perfect and our waiter friendly. Following dinner we walked to the Eiffel Tower, our hotel being only a few blocks from it.
Despite the mist obscuring it for most of the day and still, even up close, leaving the top hazy, it was amazing!
Hard shooting at night, but Dad got a pretty nice one of me in front of it:
Because of the cloud cover, we decided to skip the top viewing platform
(not being able to see it from the second level indicated the views, or lack there of, that we'd get if we did go up), but what we could see from the second level was plenty amazing:
I never get sick of views like this, especially at night. Anyone who's travel with me knows I love heights. Like, a LOT. The weather was iffy, it was rather chilly up there and I was exhausted. But that didn't stop me from enjoying the hell out of it:
Finally, going on midnight, we got back to our hotel and crashed. Hard!
The next morning, after sleeping in a bit later than planned (a mutual decision reached after the exhausting previous day...and me and dad's natural resistance to early mornings ^_-) we headed out to Versailles.
As my father the historian kept pointing out, Versailles was the palace that all the kings, queens and nobles of Europe always tried to measure their places up to, and were found lacking. And um, yeah, I can see why!
A couple shots of the exterior, just to give an idea of the size and grandeur of it all:
Front:
And back:
And one of the wings and the start of the gardens, taken from the window of another section:
And then there were the interiors. Marble and gold leaf and murals and just...Yeah. Impressive just really doesn't begin to describe it:
Note the crowds in that last one. It doesn't get much more off-season than when we were there. And it was a Thursday, which is suppose to be one of the least popular days of the week for viewing. And there were still that many people. I can not even imagine what it must be like during peak season!
And then there were the gardens. As big as the palace itself was, the gardens were bigger. Much much bigger. Sooo big...err *cough*. Anyway, they were expansive. And even in the dead of winter, truly beautiful! (Though I really, really want to go back sometime in the spring or summer. Skip the palace and just spend the day exploring the gardens. It would take a whole day. Or more!)
And here's a view of the palace from the gardens. We weren't even half-way into the gardens at this point! Like I said, BIG!
This was a path we were walking along toward the Grand and Petite Trianons (smaller palaces intended for the queens and royal offspring slightly removed from the main palace). That whole road ahead is just one section of the grounds!
Compared to the main palace, the Grand Trianon was almost...quaint. And by that I mean, look how tiny and plain it is!
*cough* Yeeeah....^_-
And the rooms were so much more...livable:
Finally, as the sun was setting, we wound up hoping on a small little bus/tram thing heading back to the main palace from the Trianons (yes, it was a long enough walk through the gardens that they ran shuttle services. Which was packed full by that time of day, and was an extra expense, but so very very worth it. What can I say, it'd been a long two days! ^_-) And that was Versailles.
Returning to Paris, and Gare de Nord, we got stuck on a packed train for a while, stopped at a standstill between two stations. Not fun. At all. And in the crowds, I'd gotten separated from the 'rents, so across a sardine-can like car, mom and I started trying to silently sign our frustrations. Good times...oh wait, NOT. People here in England keep asking me about the public transportation, how great it must be compared to the States. And like in London, France's metro system is equally extensive and useful. But...um...it's not Japan. And yeah, crowded trains are rather ubiquitous, but usually they at least run smoothly (if not scarily on time). And judging from the expressions of the Parisians packed around us, this unscheduled 15 minute stop was not particularly unusual. :-p So um...Europe's public transport? In general, one hell of a lot better than the States. But next to Japan...it falls a bit short. What can I say, I'm spoiled now! ^_-
Finally escaping the train, we grabbed a quick dinner and then it was back on the Eurostar and off to London once more. Do love the fact I can hop on a train a short walk from my dorm and emerge a few hours later in another country!
All in all, a fantastic, if hectic trip!
Oh, and if anyone's curious to see the rest of my Paris pics, just click on any of the photos, they'll take you to the full picas album. (And by "the rest", I mean those that I've uploaded. Which is only a very, VERY tiny percentage of what I took, seeing as I managed over 600 photos in two days....um...yeah. That's crazy even for me. I blame the 'rents. Usually when I'm traveling with neechan, she doesn't take any photos. But as both my parents likey the camera quite a bit, each time they stop to shoot something, I figure I might as well, too, and thus wind up snapping waaaaay more than normal. Well, also...It's PARIS! How could I not?! ^_-)
Because my parents were only visiting London for a week, we decided to do only one night in France, arriving early in the morning on Wed (and when I say early, I mean our train was at 5:20 am, and we were suppose to be at the station half an hour to forty five minutes early to go through immigration, so yeah...you do the math! :-p At least St. Pancras Station, where the Eurostar leaves from, is only an 8 minute walk from my dorm...even so, UGH!) and leaving late Thursday night. So while we only had the one night, we made sure to get our full two days worth. Two VERY FULL days! Keeping in mind the day's heinously early start, we did not actually get back to our hotel for the night (though we dropped our stuff off a bit earlier, but then went back out again) until 11:30 pm on Wed. VERY. LONG. DAY. Fun, but looooong!
Upon arriving in Paris, we first set about trying to find an ATM, a task the proved ultimately futile, the station (the very big, very central, highly trafficked station) did not believe in ATMs. There was one currency exchange booth, which did not help us very much, as we only had a few pounds on us, as we'd all figured we could just easily take out money once we arrived. Oh, how naïve we were! (Seriously, I've been in train and subway/metro/tube stations all over the globe. They've all had ATMs. In the States, in Japan, Bangkok, everywhere. Handy, useful ATMs. But one of the biggest central hubs in Europe?...No. Of course not. Cause that might be useful! :-p)
Finally finding a metro ticket machine that would take my card (my UK one, wouldn't take any of our American ones cause of the whole 'chip' thing and oh all the different banking and credit card systems, know that I LOATHE you!) we headed down in the direction of Notre Dame. But, still needing money, once we got there, there was further wandering about the streets of the Latin quarter for a bit till finally locating a bank. (After that epic quest, for the rest of the trip, when ever one of us spotted an ATM, we'd all double check we had enough money, not trusting we could find one later if we ran low...) But, in our meanderings, did get a pretty picture of a fountain we ran across:
"Next we were off to Notre Dame. That was one of the top things I've always wanted to see in Paris, and it so did not disappoint!
And one must always remember to look up!
Inside was just as spectacular:
If crowded. Very crowded. Especially since it was Ash Wednesday and mass started while we were there:
Which of course meant greater numbers of people, and certain areas restricted. But, as I told my mom, so worth it for the organ and the singing. Damn but that place has great acoustics! Also in attendance was the Arch Bishop:
Back outside, it'd started to rain, and the near-freezing temperatures meant it was too icy to climb the stairs up to the towers. Alas. Walked all around the place. And mom got a nice pic of me and dad:
Going past the cathedral, we walked to the point of the island. And looking out on this:
All I could think of was Highlander. Duncan's barge would be just about in the center of that pic! (I can't help it...the fan girl in me never fully shuts up! ^_-)
After Notre Dame, we made our way to Sainte Chapelle, another cathedral on the island, but much much smaller. But with just as impressive, if not more so, stained glass and exquisitely painted wood work!
Energies flagging a bit, we took a late lunch/early dinner of Chinese food (I have a thing about trying Chinese food in various countries. It amuses me how different it tastes every place I've gone, yet over all "Chinese" seems to be one of the most ubiquitous cuisines) and then it was off to the Louvre.
Upon arriving, we bee lined it for the Mona Lisa (it was getting late by this point, and we were all tired, but knew we didn't want to miss that, if nothing else), as did apparently everyone else in the museum:
Following a brief, very jostled viewing, in hopes of avoiding 'accidentally' committing parricide (seeing as the 'rents both read this journal, I'd be hesitant to use that particular phrasing, except for the fact that while using my computer to check their email, the search page for "Matricid and Patricide" was still open from when I'd tried fiding the term referring to both. Awkward! ^_- But, seeing as I've already gone through it once with them, what's the harm using it again? ^_- I love you, mommy and daddy! *huggles* ^_-) I split with the 'rents for a bit to wander the museum on my own. It was during this time I came across two lovely pieces by Michelangelo:
Now, just the other day, I was reading something that was saying how some scholars debate that his "love of the male form" was in a more platonic, aesthetic sense only. Um...yeeeeeeah. *checks the pics above once more* Platonic my ASS! Gay, so sooo gay!
And of course, there was also the Venus de Milo:
What can I say...I tried to smile, I really did. But god, we'd been going strong for like 14 hours by this point! Ah well, at least the crowds were small enough here to even get a picture with it! (And then there was the fact that I couldn't help myself. It's a famous statue and I should have so many *reasonable* associations, but all I could think of was GetBackers. I mean, that arc is so cracktastic, LITERALLY, it just kinda sticks with you! ^_-)
Leaving the museum (which looked even prettier at night):
We hopped on a bus to our hotel. It was on the ride that this happened:
It's a bit hard to make out, but that car is parked directly under a sign warning about an immediate tow zone. The reason being that if a car is parked there, buses can't make the turn. Which we couldn’t. And thus were stuck blocking a four way intersection for a good five minutes, while people on the street tried to find who owned the car. As we had been able to get seats on the bus, I was greatly amused (after the day, and all the walking involved, if we'd been standing, further delays would have been many things, but amusing *not* among them! ^_- As we were seated, it was freakin' hysterical!)
Dropping our bags off at the hotel, we headed back out for food and had a wonderful meal at a local place. The food was delicious, the atmosphere perfect and our waiter friendly. Following dinner we walked to the Eiffel Tower, our hotel being only a few blocks from it.
Despite the mist obscuring it for most of the day and still, even up close, leaving the top hazy, it was amazing!
Hard shooting at night, but Dad got a pretty nice one of me in front of it:
Because of the cloud cover, we decided to skip the top viewing platform
(not being able to see it from the second level indicated the views, or lack there of, that we'd get if we did go up), but what we could see from the second level was plenty amazing:
I never get sick of views like this, especially at night. Anyone who's travel with me knows I love heights. Like, a LOT. The weather was iffy, it was rather chilly up there and I was exhausted. But that didn't stop me from enjoying the hell out of it:
Finally, going on midnight, we got back to our hotel and crashed. Hard!
The next morning, after sleeping in a bit later than planned (a mutual decision reached after the exhausting previous day...and me and dad's natural resistance to early mornings ^_-) we headed out to Versailles.
As my father the historian kept pointing out, Versailles was the palace that all the kings, queens and nobles of Europe always tried to measure their places up to, and were found lacking. And um, yeah, I can see why!
A couple shots of the exterior, just to give an idea of the size and grandeur of it all:
Front:
And back:
And one of the wings and the start of the gardens, taken from the window of another section:
And then there were the interiors. Marble and gold leaf and murals and just...Yeah. Impressive just really doesn't begin to describe it:
Note the crowds in that last one. It doesn't get much more off-season than when we were there. And it was a Thursday, which is suppose to be one of the least popular days of the week for viewing. And there were still that many people. I can not even imagine what it must be like during peak season!
And then there were the gardens. As big as the palace itself was, the gardens were bigger. Much much bigger. Sooo big...err *cough*. Anyway, they were expansive. And even in the dead of winter, truly beautiful! (Though I really, really want to go back sometime in the spring or summer. Skip the palace and just spend the day exploring the gardens. It would take a whole day. Or more!)
And here's a view of the palace from the gardens. We weren't even half-way into the gardens at this point! Like I said, BIG!
This was a path we were walking along toward the Grand and Petite Trianons (smaller palaces intended for the queens and royal offspring slightly removed from the main palace). That whole road ahead is just one section of the grounds!
Compared to the main palace, the Grand Trianon was almost...quaint. And by that I mean, look how tiny and plain it is!
*cough* Yeeeah....^_-
And the rooms were so much more...livable:
Finally, as the sun was setting, we wound up hoping on a small little bus/tram thing heading back to the main palace from the Trianons (yes, it was a long enough walk through the gardens that they ran shuttle services. Which was packed full by that time of day, and was an extra expense, but so very very worth it. What can I say, it'd been a long two days! ^_-) And that was Versailles.
Returning to Paris, and Gare de Nord, we got stuck on a packed train for a while, stopped at a standstill between two stations. Not fun. At all. And in the crowds, I'd gotten separated from the 'rents, so across a sardine-can like car, mom and I started trying to silently sign our frustrations. Good times...oh wait, NOT. People here in England keep asking me about the public transportation, how great it must be compared to the States. And like in London, France's metro system is equally extensive and useful. But...um...it's not Japan. And yeah, crowded trains are rather ubiquitous, but usually they at least run smoothly (if not scarily on time). And judging from the expressions of the Parisians packed around us, this unscheduled 15 minute stop was not particularly unusual. :-p So um...Europe's public transport? In general, one hell of a lot better than the States. But next to Japan...it falls a bit short. What can I say, I'm spoiled now! ^_-
Finally escaping the train, we grabbed a quick dinner and then it was back on the Eurostar and off to London once more. Do love the fact I can hop on a train a short walk from my dorm and emerge a few hours later in another country!
All in all, a fantastic, if hectic trip!
Oh, and if anyone's curious to see the rest of my Paris pics, just click on any of the photos, they'll take you to the full picas album. (And by "the rest", I mean those that I've uploaded. Which is only a very, VERY tiny percentage of what I took, seeing as I managed over 600 photos in two days....um...yeah. That's crazy even for me. I blame the 'rents. Usually when I'm traveling with neechan, she doesn't take any photos. But as both my parents likey the camera quite a bit, each time they stop to shoot something, I figure I might as well, too, and thus wind up snapping waaaaay more than normal. Well, also...It's PARIS! How could I not?! ^_-)
