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Written Works by Hosun Lee
London Travel Journals
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The Title of This Journal
(...I Was Too Lazy to Come Up With a Real Title)
by Hosun Lee
Last weekend, I went to Paris as part of a FIA 305 trip. I
spent a rather hectic weekend in the infamous "City of Lights."
FRIDAY
A quick primer. A french franc is equivalent to $4.60, but
it's quicker to do the math by diving the franc by 5. I like the
franc. The 50 franc note is really cool, with a picture of the
Little Prince on it. The 10 and 20 franc coins are also neat,
since they're duo-colored. Finally, there is the centime, which
are thin, gold coins. 100 centime is equal to one franc.
I did my currency exchange at the American Express branch at
Whitely's. Keep in mind which country you buy your money in. It's
cheaper to buy francs if England if you're using the pound, but
it's cheaper to buy francs in France if you're using dollars.
Contrary to popular opinion, AmEx (at least at Whitely's) does
*NOT* provide commission-free exchanges to cardholders.
PARIS, DAY ONE: Getting There.
We were going to Paris via Eurostar. It was my first time on
it, and it was neat. It was like getting on an airplane, with a
similar level of security. However, the trains themselves weren't
anything to write home about. The outside of the train presents a
very sleek, modern-looking machine. The inside looks like an
ordinary train. There were about 36 of us sitting in second-
class, including the professors and chaperon.
The car was where I encountered the biggest problem. It was
decent, but there was one thing that the engineers neglected...
..leg room. Most of us were sitting in four-person tables. It
sounds good, but it also means that you inevitably end up kicking
the people across from you. It's convenient if you think the
person's a twit, but I wasn't that fortunate.
Besides that, nothing else happened. It was a train ride,
what did you expect? A cow lying on the tracks or something?
PARIS, DAY ONE: Okay, We're There.
We were immediately struck by a striking similarity to
London. It was raining and it was dark. After arriving at Gare du
Nord around 11:40am, continental-time, we hiked 15 minutes to our
hotel. After resting for an hour and a half, most of the group
followed Professor Reuter on a walking tour of Paris.
PARIS, DAY ONE: Okay, Now What?
Our principle method of travel was the Paris underground,
the Metro. Of all the underground rails I've been on, the Paris
Metro gets the award for being the most efficient. The trains
always come from your left, so you don't have to look around to
find the trains. They also come at frequent intervals, meaning
you don't have a long wait. I didn't see any signs of signal
failures or dead trains, and the ride was smooth and quiet.
If you're going to use the Metro, make sure you buy a
Carnet. A Carnet is a pack of ten one-way tickets, good up to a
year (despite what the BTA may want you to think, they didn't
come up with the idea). It costs 46 french francs, and it's
cheaper than buying individual tickets. You may not even need to
use the Metro. Paris is a very compact city, and it's possible to
cover the major sites on foot.
Our first major stop was at umm..some building whose name I
forget (sorry Professor Reuter). It was white..and had doors and
windows, as well as tourists. It was the type of building that
most architects would create after spending a weekend
experimenting with paint fumes. In other words, it was bizarre,
yet neat. Sadly enough, my fondest memory was lying down in a
comfortable lounge chair which was covered with pony hair.
The walking tour ended with a stop at the Eiffel Tower. The
Tower is considered one of the world's greatest feats of skill. A
testament to architecture, the hollow tower stands 1058 feet
tall. It is reputed to be one of the most exciting places to be
in. I wouldn't know, I didn't go up the tower. The ruddy rain
kept pouring. Once-in-a-life-time experiences are nice and all,
but I'll be damned if I do them while I'm cold and wet.
PARIS, DAY TWO: Look Ma, No Hands! (or arms, as a matter of fact)
The second day in Paris was basically a free day. We had a
quick coach tour of some of the architecture around the city.
Some of the highlights were:
Visiting Jim Morrison's grave. Now, I have never actually
listened to any of his songs, but I thought it was cool to go see
his grave (I got a photo of myself next to his tombstone). We saw
Notre Dame from the outside, and visited a memorial to French
Jews who died during World War II.
I decided to spend the day catching up on everything that I
missed the day before, which meant covering the city in half a
day. Fortunately, Paris is a compact city, and using the rail
system, you can cover it in a day.
My first stop was the Cathedral of Notre Dame. It took me a
bit to get there, because I got lost on the underground. I ended
up walking halfway across the city to the cathedral. It wasn't
bad though, I walked right along the Seine River, and it was
magnificent. The view along the river is awesome. Try it.
It is at this point that I learned one of the darker truths
of Paris. The drivers are all lunatics, uncoordinated, frothing
and raving lunatics. Lunatics who would make my flatmates look
like well-adjusted citizens. For one thing, the drivers never
seemed to pay attention to the stop lights or crosswalks. Well,
actually, that's a lie. They did see the stop lights, but as a
friend of a friend said, in Paris, the cross walks are there so
that the drivers can run you down in a neat row.
I don't know, maybe the Parisians suffer from a rare form of
color-blindness where they can't see red if it's on a stop light.
Or maybe they just hate the world and spend their weekends
running down tourists (not a bad hobby, actually). I don't know.
I suppose that technically speaking, I had the right of way, but
somehow, that's not a comforting thought as I envision myself
lying on the hood of a Volkswagen. So if you're planning to cross
any streets in Paris, make sure that you're the fastest runner on
the face of the earth, either that, or wear lots of padding and a
helmet.
I did manage to get to Notre Dame, and amazingly enough, it
was with a minimal number of bruises. Getting inside the
cathedral is easy enough. The queues are long, but the admission
is free. It took me about three minutes to get inside one of the
most renowned cathedrals in the world. I have to admit that I
wasn't all THAT impressed. I'm getting rather jaded on monumental
churches and buildings, but Notre Dame was still worth the time.
I also took a detour into the treasury (you have to pay, but they
have student rates) where I got to see the bones of some people
who were probably really famous (although I wouldn't recommend
trying to invite any of them over for dinner). The Crown of
Thorns (or A Crown..) is also supposed to be in the treasury.
My second stop was at the Louvre, since I love being a
conformist and doing stereotypical tourist crud. I had been to
the Louvre before, but I didn't really remember much of it.
Getting inside the museum was an experience in itself. It's a
huge building, easily dwarfing some palaces. There is a gigantic
courtyard with a water fountain. It's a very comfortable place to
relax in. The main entrance is through a large glass pyramid. If
you look through it, you'll see a small city underneath, with a
bustling underground center, full of shops and restaurants.
I spent about three hours or so at the Louvre (yes, I did
see the Mona Lisa, and no, it didn't profoundly affect my life or
give me a new and deeper understanding of humanity). Keep in mind
that there are things there BESIDES the Mona Lisa, in fact, that
painting is one of the least fascinating things there (at least,
in my opinion). The collection of egyptian artifacts, roman
sculptures, french paintings, and just about everything else is
enough to suck up all of your time. Oh, and I saw that really
famous statue of the lady with no arms, Aphrodite, or Venus or
Wonder Woman...I forget which one she was. I think the sculpture
was done by on the Ninja Turtles though, Michelangelo.
Afterwards, I headed off to the Pompidou Center. It's right
next to Rambuteau metro stop. It was the most interesting place I
visited. The building is a testament to architectural genius.
There are no pillars, stairs, or other obstructions inside. In
fact, all of the support structure and escalators are on the
outside. It's like looking at a giant, colored erector set. Next
to it, there is a water fountain with a menagerie of sculptures.
The sculptures look like refugees from an impressionist painting,
and at night, they light up and spout water.
It costs nothing to enter the center, although some of the
exhibits do have an entrance fee. The center has one of the
largest, and arguably most technologically advanced public
library in the world. There is also a completely automated post
office, where you can buy stamps, weigh packages, and ship it to
any country you choose. It also has several art museums, some of
which are there permanently. When I went there, there was also an
exhibit of works done by American photographers, as well as
artifacts from Japan. The inside of the building is difficult to
describe, the building itself is a huge work of art.
The Pompidou Center is neglected in some of the travel
guides I've seen, but it shouldn't be. It's either one of the
most, or possibly the most, visited attraction in Paris. And if
you need further incentive, there's a Barclay's Bank and ATM
right next door (believe me, you'll need it). It's worth it to go
there just to ride the enormous outside escalators.
The day was capped off by a night-time visit to the Eiffel
Tower. Around 9:30pm or so, I was able to stumble towards it.
After a day's worth of walking around the city, I was ready to
collapse, but I knew that I just had to go up it. My reputation
as a stereotypical tourist depended on it.
Going up the tower will cost you anywhere from 12-56 francs,
depending on how high you want to go up. If you want to go all
the way up to the top, you'll have to pay 56 francs. Otherwise,
you can go up to the first or second level. The queue is a bit of
a wait though. I think I waited around 10-15 minutes. Only two
elevators are working right now.
If you do plan to go up, do *NOT* do it in the afternoon.
Not only will the queues be annoying as all out, but that's not
when you get the best view. The tower is open until midnight, and
there's a reason for it. The view from the top of the tower, down
at the brightly-lit city, is one of those things that you'll
never forget. Well, unless you do it every day for a month or so,
in that case, it'll probably get annoying as heck.
Every level of the tower is a museum. There are audio-visual
presentation, mock-ups and signs explaining historical notes. And
of course, there is a gift shop on every single level, several
gift shops, as a matter of fact. There's also a post office, but
it's closed until April. Finally, there is a restaurant up at the
top, but the prices are outrageous, and the food isn't.
The top of the tower consists of a small room, and a
balcony. Inside the small room, there is a map of the city, as
well as markers telling you where world capitals are, and how far
they are from a certain point. Then, you can climb up some short
stairs and easily spend an hour or two in the wind.
NEXT: More Ninja Turtles!! And Royales with Cheese!
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