So it's been a while since we have had internet access. We are now currently in Florence, Italy. It's our last day here and I already feel like we have done everything. I don't think there is much else to do which is why we came back to our hotel to search the internet on things to do in Florence. But while I have some time, I figure I'll write a little about Paris.
First off, Paris is so far probably the best city that I've been to. The metros are very easy to use and the city has lots to see and do. The women all dress very well and I love them all. Whoever invented knee high boots should get a nobel prize or something of similar value. Now that I'm in Italy, I've noticed the food here is better than in Paris and from what I've seen, cheaper as well. Not to say French food isn't great. I may not have been eating the right things, as I can not read French and just ordered random items from the menu.
DAY ONE
On our first day in Paris, we visited a lot of sights. We first stopped by the Moulin Rouge. We chose to stop by in the day time because Poon said that area was shady at night and we could get jumped. After getting off the metro and standing in front of the Moulin Rouge, the area looked fairly safe and the Moulin Rouge looked quite unimpressive. It is definitely something you want to see at night while it is lit up.
We then walked down the Champ Elysees and grabbed a bite to eat at some pannini place. Luckily we stopped and ate because while we were inside the restaurant, it started to rain heavily. We watched the masses of people try to flee the storm as we happily drank our espressos. On a side note, Poon doesn't drink espressos with sugar, he drinks sugar with a hint of espresso. I can't believe how much sugar he can fit in such a tiny cup.
The Luxembourg Gardens were next on our list. The gardens are very tranquil and a pretty cool place to just hang out. I remember feeling pretty stressfree as we walked through and took pictures. There weren't many flowers blooming yet. I guess we just took our vacation a little to early. If I lived in Paris, I think I would visit the Gardens a lot.
The last place we went to was the Eiffel Tower. During the daytime, the Eiffel Tower is quite unimpressive looking. It's pretty much the same shade of brown all over and just looks plain. However, during the night, with all of it's lights on, it is very beautiful. Like us and every other tourist in Paris, going up the Eiffel Tower is on the to do list. This left us waiting in lines for about 3 hours trying to go up and down the tower. Waiting in line for 3 hours is bad enough, but we were stuck between two high school groups; one from Canada and one from the USA. They ended up singing each others National Anthems, trying to see who could be the louder group and we were stuck in the middle of it all. No wonder europeans have such a bad stereotype of Americans. I just tried to act like the typical Asian tourist, taking photos, so that I would not be mistaken for one of them. Rui just stood there and everyone already knew he was straight from China. Once we got to the top though, the view was quite nice. Pretty much all of Paris is lit up and you can see everything.
I think I'm going to nap now. I'm sure Poon will add more later.
-Ed
DAY TWO (added 4/11/08)
On our second day, we visited the Arc de Triomphe, Musee d'Orsay, and Notre Dame. Apparently, elevators weren't invented when the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame were built and so we had to walk to the top of both using "stairs". There weren't even escalators, can you believe it?
The Arc de Triomphe has a pretty good view of the city. We went there early in the morning and so there weren't too many people there. The Arc de Triomphe is surrounded by a large roundabout and on the day that we went, apparently Red Bull thought it would be a good idea to have some 50+ very attractive women drive some 50+ Red Bull Mini Coopers around in a circle. I enjoyed the sight but as one would think, this caused a huge traffic jam and the French police were soon at the scene. We left the Arc de Triomphe while watching the police give tickets to each Red Bull mini. After all the commotion that Red Bull caused, we didn't even get a free Red Bull. Damn them.
We then went to the Musee d'Orsay. Now art isn't something that I'm particularly knowledgeable about and so all I can say is that I saw some Monet's, Manet's, and Renoir's, being that those are probably the only three artists I knew there. Some of it was impressive, others were not. I pretty much define impressive by whether I can create the same thing or not. 20 foot tall landscapes... impressive, a statue made of stale bread... not impressive.
Our last sight was Notre Dame. Notre Dame was either the most or second most impressive cathedral we saw. There is so much to see, inside and out. The detail of every aspect of the cathedral is quite impressive. We even got to see the stairs leading up to where Quasimoto rescued Esmerelda.
DAY THREE (added 4/11/08)
For our last day in Paris, we decided to visit the Musee du Louvre. From what we have read, it takes about a week to see everything in the Louvre. We saw everything in about 5 hours. Maybe I don't appreciate art as much as I should, but when you see thousands of paintings, it's hard to know which ones to focus on. The Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and the Egyptian Mummies were the highlight of the museum. Every exhibit was pretty much packed except for one which we stumbled upon, the history of African Art. When we walked into it, it was completely bare of anyone, including the museum staff that usually watches guard to make sure we don't touch anything. I guess African Art isn't very desirable to see. We thought it was pretty cool though.
So after walking straight for about 7 hours we finally got on an overnight train that took us to Rome. We shared a coachette that had room for 6 people. When we entered the coachette, we noticed that there were only two beds and 6 seats. We wondered for a long time why there weren't 6 beds, being an overnight train and all. It wasn't until we woke up, an hour into the train ride, that an Italian couple showed us how to convert the 6 seats into 4 more beds. As we were being mesmerized by such an amazing act of ingenuity, the wife started to laugh at us because we didn't know there were more beds. They continued to laugh at us some more throughout the night as "other" things continued to happen.
-Ed
Paris
Day 1
The train from Amsterdam to Paris was suppose to be high speed. It turns out high speed trains in europe are not really very high speed at all. It was about a 4 hour train ride to paris. We had a little bit of trouble finding our hotel, but it wasn't too bad. Arriving at our hotel we began to realize that English is not commonly known in the city. The receptionist at the hotel did not speak English.
We took the metro to the Moulin Rouge.... This was not impressive at all. It looked like a run down vegas casino. After about 5 minutes we took the metro to the Arc de Triumphe which was very impressive. Walked down the Champ Elysees and stopped for lunch. We ate sandwiches at a local cafe... and surprisingly enough I had my first espresso. It was quite bitter, but then I figured out the perfect ratio for every one spoonful of espresso you need two spoonfuls of sugar.
After lunch we continued down the Champs Elysees then tooko the metro to Luxembourg Gardins. Ed seemed to be very impressed by it... but to me it looked like any other park with statues. I was impressed by the large palace and the pantheon located nearby. We went to a random cathedral which turned out to be beautiful and then we headed to the Eiffel Tower.
We saw the Eiffel Tower and decided to come back at night. We went ate at a local cafe. I figured out the best way to order food on a french menu was to twirl my finger around until it landed randomly on something affordable.
After dinner we went back to Eiffel Tower. Getting to the first level of the Eiffel Tower was very easy, but getting to the top is another matter. We waited in a two hour line to take the elevator to the top and then we waited for another 1.5 hours to go back down from the top of the Eiffel Tower. It is a very cold wait. This concluded our first day in Paris.
Day 2
Our stupid alarm clock (my cell phone) didn't go off... We woke up several hours late.
We headed to the Musee de Orsay... supposedly one of the world's finest museums. Really none of us know anything about art so... I can't say whether I agree with that or not. I will say that the museum is very poorly laid out since its a former train station, and was very difficult to navigate.
Following the Musee de Orsay we ate at a cafe behind the museum. The food was just Ok. I was very impressed at how dogs are allowed everywhere in france. A huge german shepard walks up to my table then goes to his right ful place behind the bar. This is a rather upscale cafe.
We went to the cathedral de Notre Dame. It was spectacular. I don't even know how to describe it... I think it was among my favorite things we saw in Europe. After touring the inside of the cathedral we decide to line up to go to the top. While we were in line Rui runs across the street and returns with a Crepe in his hand. A ham crepe of all things. He hands it to me then runs back across the street grabs another one then hands it back to Ed.. this repeated. It took Rui about 20 minutes to get 3 crepes for us... After the 2 hour line we finally get to enter the towers. We walk a couple stories and it ends in a gift shop. We are all pissed! Did we just wait 2 hours to go the gift shop. After about ten minutes of waiting in the gift shop we are informed that they are opening the area to continue up the towers. It is not an easy walk going through those towers. If you've ever seen a movie with stairs leading to dungeons thats what we walked through... about 15 stories of that.
After the cathedral we returned to our hotel and searched for an authentic French restaurant.... This was not an easy task... We walked for about an hour until we spotted Chez Papas. We ended up ordering 4 dishes that were basically stews. Food was not great, wine was even worst.
Day 3
The only thing on our itinerary for the day was the Louvre. We woke up late again thanks to my stupid cell phone alarm. We had museum passes so we never had to wait in line at any attraction. Ran through the museum, accidentally saw the Venus de milo... then ran the Mona Lisa. We wandered around for hours saw the egyptian mummy my only request. Then we decided to leave for lunch... but we couldn't find the exit.
Ed saw an exit and started trying to push through it only to be yelled at my a black women... I assume he was trying to take the emergency exit, but really we have no idea what she was saying.
After lunch Rui was too tired and he left to go sit on the bench for a couple hours, while Ed and I wandered some more. It turns out that the Louvre is part of an indoor mall so we stopped in the Virgin Records. We listened to French pop. I bought some french chocolate at the candy store next door and bought eclairs in a bakery, then we headed back into the Louvre where I fell a sleep on a bench.
Later that night we boarded our overnight train to Rome. For some reason apparently Ed doesn't know what a toilet looks like... I had to go to the bathroom so I asked Ed where it was as he had just returned. He points in a direction I head there ... but theres only a women's bathroom and a wash room. I come back and ask him again, he points me at the same direction. So I go back there and I really have to go so I just go pee in the women's bathroom. It turns out that Ed was very confused because he actually went into the wash room, which has no toilet at all and peed in the sink thinking that was a toilet... I don't know how he managed to get confused since it clearly looked like a normal sink.
-Poon
