Our very first tour was the famous Notre Dame Cathedral. It was an awesome sight. It so humongous that it seemed to stretch from one block of the street to the other. The carvings on stone and mason were beautifully done. No wonder, it was considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in the world. How it was built at first, then later how it was restored and saved from destruction after French Revolution was way beyond comprehension.
Right after this, we headed to the District 13 in Paris, the French Little Saigon to have lunch. It was teeny tiny bunch of shops on a couple of narrow streets to form an Asian community, mostly Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants, nothing special. The dishes were pretty modest to compare with our Little Saigon in the U.S.
After the second day in Paris, we learned a very important lesson, carrying some coins was a must. You'd need them for any public restrooms, things we took for granted in America. Here in Paris particularly, and in many countries in Europe, you had to pay to use the public restroom. The cost for one time entrance was staggering, between 1 to 1.5 Euro, equal to almost $2.00 per use. If you had a bladder problems, you'd better pushing a whole cart of coins with you!
After a quick lunch, we were heading back for our next stop. The Seine river during the day was as good as a river can get any where in the world. It's totally different when compared with the Thames river in London even though it was no longer looking natural.
It's more like a man made river in order to catch the eyes of tourists. There were quite a scene on both of the river banks. Historic buildings were every where. There were too many of them to remember in a few trips let alone just one. I gave up after a while because they were simply so difficult to memorize. Sitting on top of a slow open deck boat on the river allowed me to view almost all of Paris included the Eiffel Tower up close. You would really appreciated seeing the construction detail of this famous wonder. Simply put, words won't do justice in describing this one of the kind beauty.
Parisian's pastime was real simple. People just had to find an available spot along the river bank big enough to spread out a bath towel then lay around lazily on a warm sunny summer day. For some, hanging out under a shade of a tree was good as well.
The tour took almost 45 minutes. The boats went under at least 6-7 over pass bridges. There was a special bridge worth to be mentioned here, the Love-Locks on the Pont Des Arts.
I wished I had known it in advance so I could have walked hand in hand with my true love (my wife) on this bridge and performed the task thousands had done before me. (The couple would attach an initial-engraved padlock to its rustic metal rails. As the man does so, he then tosses the key into the Seine River as he confesses his undying love for his woman).
How about THAT for romance?!
Well, that is exactly what I witnessed atop the Pont Des Arts Bridge in Paris! Thousands of padlocks in various shapes, sizes, and colors, etched with the initials of their love-infused owners, had been affixed to the bridge. (The Pont des Arts is a pedestrian bridge that crosses the Seine River and links the Institute de France and the central square of the Palais du Louvre).
We took a little break before going to Sacre Coeur Mont Martre. It was on top of a hill, but hidden from view. At the bottom of the hill was the Boulevard de Clichy, which was lined with bars, sex shops, peep shows, night clubs and a few kebab shops. It was in a slump, a kind of ghetto area, with many adult entertainments, shops with illicit sexy images of women, most of whom were scantily clad. The most famous is the Moulin Rouge. I tried to get a couple of tickets there, but they were also sold out for the rest of the week.
The Basilica was a pretty sight, with its 3 domes shot straight up in the air. Walking around in Mont Martre and I discovered gardens, steep streets and splendid Paris views. The place was jam-packed with tourists from all over the world.
Many shops, restaurant on the bottom of the churches' steps were owned and run by Middle-Easterners. The prices were very steep. The streets were infected by T-shirt shops and trinket peddlers.
There were so many stores with big red Sale Signs to attract customers. The quality of the clothing sold here were so poor. All were imitation. Right in front of the gate to the basilica, streets hawkers, peddlers hustled to sell cheap trinkets or imitation of Louis Vuitton, Channel hand bags for a few Euro. They all came from some of the poorest countries in Africa.
No comments:
Post a Comment