Fables and Reflections: Chronicles of France

Hey people!!

I'm really really sorry for putting this off for so long. Its been a heck of a week since returning from France. Let me just grouse a bit about my studies first, s'il vous plait.

I had 2 midterms on the week after my return from France. So, in order to prepare for it, I had to carry around my file of notes for 2 subjects (it must have weighed 1 kg!! Way too heavy for my 10Kg bag!! But add I must, for I already feel guilty that I am not staying in Lausanne to study...)
Yea, I know you are doubting my ability to study during the trip, but I must say that I tried!! In the end, I only managed to study finish one subject (operating systems) which was pretty good, considering my only time for studying were during the flights, train rides, waiting in LOOOOONG queues in Paris, and the little time I had before bed.

Don't ask me how the midterm for Operating Systems went, though. I'ld be too depressed to tell you... Conversely, the other subject that I DIDN'T study so hard for (Graph Theory Applications) came out pretty ok. 20/30. Not impressive, but my teacher said that I did well (my teacher is a very nice lady, that's why). In any case, it was way better than I expected.

But anyway, I know you guys are itching for me to get on about France, so settle yourselves comfortably with a cuppa and some chocs or biscuits. For your comfort, please turn off all beeping devices and read this in a well lit room with the screen about 50 cm away from your eyes.

Let the story begin....

Long long time ago, or rather about 2 weeks and 2 days ago, 3 friends and I boarded a really early train to Geneva Airport to catch our flight to Paris. Initially, I was worried that my huge-assed backpack that weighed 10kg would not be allowed as a handcarry bag onto the plane. Luckily, after much pushing and punching, I managed to squeeze the bagpack into the measuring space for hand-carry. The 10kg bagpack was a little snug in the corners, but fit it did. And so, it was ok to be brought on flight.

The 1-hour flight was uneventful (what else could you say about 1-hour flights?) and we landed in Paris at around 8 plus in the morning. After spending too much time in the airport to settle some stuff (like to buy our transport passes and get maps and information) we finally arrived in the paris Paris!

We went straight to touring the place and I found out why people kept calling Paris the city of romance (or smth like that, I think). For one, the streets were just lined with buildings and trees that look really postcard worthy. There were so many statues and decorative carvings around the city. It was like the kings just decided to litter the city with statues of themselves and various carvings just for the fun of it. The trees are also something note-worthy. This particular species that line the streets of Paris has leaves that are translucent and so, instead of a shadow, the tree casts a green hue on the ground. Very romantic if you are at a park with those trees as shade.

Really, Paris is almost as bad as Rome when it comes to touristy spots. Like Rome, you could virtually turn round the corner of a neighbourhood and go, whoops, there's another monument/statue/cathedral to see. Its almost annoying in that sense. They just have so many bloody monuments!!

Sigh.... Ah well, back to the main story, if you are not bored.

To cut a very long day short, we didn't really visited a lot of places, but we did walk past or spotted many attractions (well, you can't really miss the Eiffel Tower thats sticking out over the short european buildings...). The highlights of the day was the Notre Dame de Paris.

Boy oh boy, the Notre Dame is one magnificent cathedral. Definitely a must-see in Paris, or France. Just the exterior of it is spectacular already! It must be, since we walked like 3 times round the cathedral and taking pictures of it from most possible angles. Yea... we didn't mind circling the cathedral so many times since it was so magnificent.

The interior of the cathedral was amazing as well. I don't take many pictures of the interior of churches and cathedrals as a habit but I had to stop myself from taking too many pictures since I had to reserve space for the remaining of the trip. However, my camera does not work best under the dim conditions of the cathedral interior. Thus, sadly, I had to delete all the pictures that were too horribly taken to be seen.

We also climbed up the bell tower of Notre Dame, the same towers where Quasimodo prowled in Victor Hugo's famous novel.

The experience was breath-taking. Literally.

Imagine this: Carry 10 kg of luggage on your back and wander through the streets of Paris for 3 hours. Then, climb up 400 stairs of the Notre Dame's bell towers with the same bag in ultra narrow, claustraphobic-inducing stairways and medieval stone steps. Imagine my euphoria when I came out and someone told me that I had to climb another 200 steps up!

Now, if you can't catch sarcasm, before, I'll tell you blatently that I felt like punching the face of the guy who said "Pas fini. Allez, allez!" (not finished yet. Go, Go!).

But believe you me, the view at the top is definitely worth the excruciating climb.

It was of a good weather that day in Paris and so we could see very far off the city. The top of the tower could be traversed, so we could get like a 270 degrees view from there. It was really great to be amidst the gargoyles and the saints of the cathedral's facade, looking down on what they have been staring at over the horizon. Not to mention that I can now boast of climbing 400 steps and making my way gingerly down after that with a 10kg backpack on my shoulders!

Ah... Due to time constraints (or rather a biological need to sleep immediately), I would have to continue this tomorrow. But in all, this concludes my first day in Paris. Well, almost, since there's more on the first day than just this but I need to leave this for tomorrow.

Most of you would have finished half of your cuppa already. Perhaps you can put it into the fridge to enjoy for part 2 of Jiehui's Chronicles of France.

For now, some pictures of the first day...