Paris, France - Part I

Fashion, Fondue, Fromage, fine wine and flirtatious Frenchmen, oui, oui, I've finally arrived in Paris after 5 hours journey by train from Neustadt. It was rather amusing to note that as soon as we crossed the border into France, the public announcements in the train also changed language accordingly.. I half expected a french soldier to show up with a box of typical french clothing for us to change into as well (you know...buret and thin and skin tight stripe shirt for the boys and 3/4 coats and knee length chic skirts for the girls).

As I walked outside, I was half expecting one of the city's familiar landmark, like the Eiffel Tower or the Arc dé Triumphe to appear before me. Instead, a sight of total traffic chaos greeted me. Vechiles, old and new were emitting black fumes thick enough to smokescreen the low rise old renaissance period buildings nearby. If I thought I was going to hear an accordian music accompanying someone singing a french folk song, I would instead have to make do with all the hoots and toots of the busy Wednesday evening traffic in the city. It is weird (and scary) to see 4 lane traffic in the middle of the city without any road lines separating them. It is nothing short of a miracle that there weren't any accidents from the way cars, motorbikes and pedestrians zigzagged, overtook, cut across one another in heading home from work. I know its a paradox but it was like orderly chaos or something. I remarked as such to Raphy (my badminton french correspondent....yes, from that same geeky badminton website if you must know...) when he picked me up. He gave me a "ahhh, c'est la vie" kinda smile and said "I wonder what you will make of the round-about at the Arc dé Triumphe then"...started to open my mouth to ask and thought better of it...

Raphy (short for Raphael) is a reporter who also runs a french badminton news website. He and his wife have kindly offered to put me up at their spare apartment which so happen to be just across from their own one, so that's handy. Hah! I laugh at the Flying Escargot or whatever the French's backpacker equivallent is. My apartment is located about 15mins subway train ride away from Paris central. As someone who has never been on a subway train before and would be doing so for the first time in a country she has never been in and who do not speak its language, I think it can be classified as a death wish.. Anyway, had a test run that evening when I followed Raphy into town for his badminton practice. It wasn't so bad once you get the hang of it..

Was also keen to practice my French which I studied for one year at University. So started with the usual 'bonjour' and 'bon soir' to the subway ticket seller but he could probably tell from my desperation to sound French that I was but a tourist and he gave me a polite smile before casually muttered in English, 'good evening to you too miss'. Zut!!

29th September

Did a bit of research in the morning as to where to start the sightseeing. Even this in itself was a bit of a mission as there's simply so many things to see! Raphy was working but another French badminton correspondent, Ming offered to meet up and show me around. So took the sub into the city and had a walkaround. In general, you see a good mix of local French ppl and those from Seneagal, North Africa or Morroco. Almost all of them are as you expect in the fashion capital of the world, very well dressed, chic and sophisticated for the adults, and trendy, street style cool for the 'lil adults'.

Like Amsterdam and Neustadt, people here I noticed light up quite a bit, not so much in subway trains, but certainly on the streets and in restaurants /cafés. Talking of which, it's interesting how you can see a café, clothing or shoe store like every 2nd or 3rd shop but you can't hardly see other types of outlets, including a Vodafone store. Also, I noticed there's a few McDonalds but no KFC in sight, which I found to be rather odd.

I've also discovered that in France, there are certain advantages of being a woman. Most French women are nice to you because of the shopping mecca sisterhood ("ohmygawd, where zid you get zhose pair of zelicious shoes?") and as for the men....charming and definitely flirt alert material ladies! Observe: I got lost trying to find Ming's restaurant where I was suppose to meet him and so I asked this taxi driver who happened to be standing outside his taxi, for directions. He said "oh madammoiselle, let me take you there for it would ze such great injustice to zee such a beautiful girl like yourself unhappy because you are lost" Smooooooth.. After realising he wasn't going to take no for an answer, I relented (he was harmless, just flirtatious). I insisted on paying when he dropped me off and he refused saying "ahh madamoiselle, you've already overpaid me with your smile", and without skipping a beat, I replied, "where's my change then?"

Anyway, since Ming has a car and we agreed it would be pointless for him to show me just the inner city as I could walk around for that, he decided to take me to the Versailles, the former Imperial residence to the French monarch. Our drive there was quite pleasant. While it was a cloudy day with the sun breaking through once a while, it was certainly warm. We drove past Champ Elyseé and then on to the motorway before arriving in the outskirts of Paris, less chaos, but still same style of old buildings, smoky air and stylish locals, that was until we pulled over at the entrance to the Versailles, the japanese tourist 'army' were disembarking from the 8 tourist buses, all armed with their favourite weapons of choice, an umbrella and the latest digital camera Japanese yen can buy! Ming took a look at the tourists and said how lucky I was that it's the low season. Upon noticing my disbelief expression, he went on to explain how he once had to queue for more than 3 hours just to get a ticket during the summer months and there were at least 20 busses around then. Have to remind myself I'm not in Kansas anymore, this is Oz!!

Ming advised I would need at least 3 hours, at which point I almost choked on my mint..you're kidding right, 3 hours for one area? He shook his head, pushed me out of the car and drove off. Upon approaching this gigantic palace, I began to take Ming's estimation seriously. The humongous palace is divided into the King's state apartment (more like a castle than an apartment!), the Queen's, the Hall of Mirrors, the Hall of Battles, servant quarters and the Donach (name given to the heir to the throne)'s apartment. To give you and indication of the size of this palace, the King's apartment for example consist of his bed chamber, his drawing room, throne room, dining room, drawing & music room, 8 living rooms named after the Roman Gods and Goddesses, a ballroom and his guardroom. Each size of the room is probably on average, 200 square metres. Now, times that by 3 and you just covered the living quarters for the royals. The interior of the palace can be summed up in two words - Excessive Opulence! Once you have toured through the many gold gilded rooms with renaissance paintings on its ceilings and hand crafted oriental and greek furnitures, you began to understand why the Revolution took place! I took many photos but unfortunately, since I'm only allowed 10mb disc space per month for my pics on this website, I have to limit the number of photos. Don't worry, any photos you don't see here has been saved onto a CD disc.

As I was heading into the last room in the palace, the magnificent Hall of Mirrors, the state ballroom filled with mirrors and crystal chandaliers (trying to picture Louis the XIV dancing to "stayin alive"), my cellphone rang and it was Ming saying the 3 hours were up and whether I was ready to go, already???!!! I haven't even been to the garden yet? Not wanting to hold him up, I said I'd have a quick look at the garden before we go and whether he could give me an extra 20mins or so. His response was a really loud guffaw of laughter. He wisely said that I would need at least an hour for a 'quick look' and I was like, how long does one need to appreciate a garden? Sheesh. Once again, he said he will ring again in an hour and hung up.

Still smarting from the conversation and marching decisively towards the garden, I was muttering to myself thinking Ming probably thought I needed more time because he expected me to be walking slowly and underestimating my fitness. I entered into the garden and thought, yeah...ahah! Just as I thought...no worries to see everything in 20 mins. So I proceeded to walk around leisurely even, taking pictures and then I spotted a fountain and walked towards it to have a closer look when lo and behold! Standing at the end of the fountain and looking down, I saw this...

Garden my ass! Pardon my french..but this is no garden?! it's another country! Ok,ok, exaggeration but at least an estate. Basically from the palace right to the end of the 'grand canal' is a 60 minutes walk! I didn't walk all the way but walked a fair way. The Estate was covered with manicured lawns, purple and pink bougan-villas, lines and lines of well cut hedges tastefully broken only by life size sculptures of Greek and Roman heroes and heroines and to complete this mix of landscape masterpiece and grandeur are the fountains, ranging from the simplistic small round shaped ones to the more sophisticated well designed oval shaped ones. In one, there was a bronze and jade sculpture of several warriors on carriages drawn by the winged horses, poseidons emerging from the waters, half out of the water, half submerged, very impressive.

View of the palace taken in front of one of the fountains.

When Ming rang, I sounded abashed in asking for another 30 mins which he understandably and happily obliged. I was surprised to find that I was truly exhausted by the time we drove off living behind the massive and vast estate of Versailles. Ming then asked, where next? It was only 5pm after all and I wasn't sure so I left it to him to surprise me. He drove back into the city and along the way, we drove through the 'tunnel' where Princess Di crashed her car and died years ago. Before we even arrived, I knew straight away where we were heading. How could I not notice the enchanting and enormously imposing Eiffel Tower looming in front of me. Ming dropped me outside Palais de Chaillot, which is located across the river from the Tower. This place is apparently the best place to take pictures of the Tower. It's funny how prior to getting there, I've told myself I wouldn't be trigger happy with the camera when I see the Tower or any of the other famous landmarks in Paris because we see it so often on TV and those travel shows, surely it was not going to look any different in real life? Boy...talking about being wrong, which I'm beginning to see happened a lot for me since I've been in Paris. It is hard to explain the sense of humility and awe I experienced when coming face to face with this infamous monument. The clouds had cleared, the sun's evening rays bathing over the entire scene of the Sien river, its calm water glistening like jewels, its beauty undeniably dwarved by the stunning and breathtaking sight of the tower, standing erect and proud against the backdrop of a cerulean blue sky....priceless indeed! Ok, 15 shots of the Tower later...(I know, I know..weak!) I slowly joined the queue with the others to go up to the 1st stage of the Tower. There's 3 stage. While I only paid for the 1st stage, I was happy to discover that you could save that extra 3 euros by climbing the stairs to the 2nd stage (instead of catching the lift). My mom had trained me well... As there aren't that many high rise buildings in Paris, the entire city was visible from the viewing platform either on the 1st or 2nd stage. Here you get the 360° view of the city in its entire magnificence! I could see the Arc de Triumphe, the Notre Dame, the course of the Sien river and the mini bronze model of the Statue of Liberty located by the bank of the river. After an hour or so of walking around and the effect of walking all day at the Versailles and climbing the 356 steps from 1st to 2nd stage of the Tower, I was ready to collapse in exhaustion.

Walked most of the way back to the centre of the city before catching the sub back. Had a bit of a mini drama as I forgot the name of the metro station where I was suppose to get off. After getting off 2 wrong stations, I finally and thankfully managed to find my way back to my apartment for a well deserved rest. Tomorrow, I will be dedicating the entire day to the Louvre, le museum extraordinaire. Can't wait....

Voilà!!