Christopher Harrod

Paris
March 2007

Hello People,
When we last left our intrepid hero he had just arrived in London, jet-lagged and confused. That was October 2006. By March 2007 I had been in London for over four months, and hadn't been out of the city. Friends kindly gave me a one way ticket to Paris (were they hinting at something?) and I felt duty bound to obey. However I sneakily bought a two way ticket and gave the one way ticket to a friend. At the beginning of March, I reported to Waterloo station and climbed aboard Eurostar. This is an amazing beast - built by the French, it crawls through Kent (the British rail system isn't able to sustain the train at speed, or there are some bylaws or something), then through the channel tunnel (20 minutes) then across France in a very short period of time. The British terminus of Eurostar is shirtly to move from Waterloo to Kings Cross - St Pancras. People here joke that it is to stimulate French tourism - as they hate arriving in London at a station called "Waterloo". Presumably the English joke about Eurostar because it actually works, unlike the English rail system. In France, Eurostar travels at up to 300 kph. When a eurostar train passes, going the other way (closing speed 600 kph!) the sound is a series of rapid windy beats, like the Dolby Sound adverts in picture theatres.
I am not certain but I think Eurostar travels via Lille to Paris (Gard du Nord), and in so doing traverses miles of flat French terrain, punctuated by odd looking hills, woods full of crows nests (on the bare tree branches in March, the crows nests look like odd, untidy balls of twigs) and tight little villages. The outskirts of Paris have some sort of shanty town, or possibly allotments. I am still not sure which. After a bit of help in Gard du Nord (I asked for help from a counter lady in broken French, and she responded with "What do you want" in English. A little French is useful, particularly if it aggravates French people into helping you) I took the Metro to my hotel - about 15 minutes walk from the Eiffel Tower.

(1) The Eiffel Tower, Paris

That night was all about watching bad French TV (the USA drama "The Dead Zone" dubbed into French), and after midnight, going for a walk. Which is how I found myself in The Parc de Champ du Mars (the park around the Eiffel Tower) at 1am, just in time to see a Lunar Eclipse. No-one else seemed to notice, being red-blooded Frenchmen, they were too busy riding Vespas and kissing their girlfriends. I did find the Crazy Horse on Avenue George V - in the 1970's it was considered to be a trendy cabaret, but now it just looked tacky.
After a long sleep I lunched in a local restaurant (the Restaurant le Carnassier), then headed out on foot to explore the city. Long queues stopped me from climbing the Eiffel Tower, but it was interesting to watch the elderly Frenchmen playing petanque at its base, and the French soldiers patrolling this national monument (weapons at the ready). Wandering along the Seine I got to see homeless shelters under the bridges, and huge metal rings set into walls above the river. I am not sure of their purpose - mooring perhaps, or a method to move boats upstream? Anyway, after a bit of a walk I came to the Pont Alexandre III - adorned with gilt Pegasi (the French are big on gold leaf, it seems) and other statues. Across the river is the Palais de la Decouverte (which looks a bit like a glasshouse, and is now some form of science museum).

(2) Pegasus, Pont Alexandre III, Paris

A wander along the left bank of the Seine (Rive Gauche) heading upstream, presented me with the Seine-side book sellers - cool art books, postcards and military and science fiction books. Across the river was a huge building that turned out to be the Louvre. Further downstream I came to the Ile de la Cite (Island of the City). I found out a few interesting things I had not previously heard about. The Isle de la Cite was probably the first occupied part of what would one day become Paris - which makes sense - in prehistoric times, an island in a fast flowing river is an easily defensible position - with water supply, hunting grounds and later farming areas close by. The island once harboured a Roman settlement. The island now hosts the Cathedral of Notre Dame ("The Cathedral of Our Lady", but ironically Babel Fish translates this as the "Cathedral of Our Injury"), a statue of Charlemagne, and the southern tip of the Island is a Holocaust Museum. Crossing the river to the sound of a Jazz band, I passed the other island in the stream (the Isle de Saint-Louis) to the right bank (Rive Droit).
(3) Seine River, Paris

From here it was straight to the Louvre , only to be confronted with mile long lines. Wandering round the exterior of the building was an experience. I could see ancient stone statues through the windows, and admire the beautiful statuary on the exterior of the building. In one place there is a parade of famous Frenchmen, high up on the wall, including Vauban (the engineer that built French fortresses like Verdun), Cardinal Richelieu and others. I came across a plaque trumpeting the fact the building was lit by the French power company, and someone had graffitied underneath "For the purpose of a discoth�que". Nearby was the glass pyramid and I got a nice picture of the fountain, pyramid and a wing of the old Louvre building.
(4) Notre Dame, Paris

Next it was past a gold statue of Joan of Arc , and past Napoleon's version of Trajan's Column (the Colonne de Vend�me , in the Place de Vend�me) and then on to the Place de la Concorde , complete with the Obelisque of Luxor. This, not surprisingly was an Egyptian obelisk, topped with gold leaf. It was a gift to France from the viceroy of Egypt, Mohamed Ali, presumably in replacement for Cleopatra's Needle, which was nicked by the English from Napoleon, after he had pinched it from Egypt. One good thing a revolution gives you is the ability to make a clean sweep. The centre of Paris is a good example - with the broad boulevards and beautiful public spaces. It seems it is easy to remodel the centre of a city, if anyone who objects get sent to the Guillotine. Maybe this method could be used to make the centre of London more livable.
From here it was a trip up the Champs-�lys�es to the Arc de Triomphe . There it was fascinating watching Gypsy / Romanian beggars working the crowd for money. Thereafter I retreated to the Bistro de Linois for dinner, tired and with blistered feet. Thereafter it was a Metro trip (le Metro est Vert!) to the Gard du Nord, and a Eurostar trip back to London.
Kind thoughts,
- Christopher

(5) Louvre, Paris

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Hello People, When we last left our intrepid hero he had just arrived in London, jet-lagged and confused. That was October 2006. By March 2007 I had been in London for over four months, and hadn't been out of the city. Friends kindly gave me a one way ticket to Paris (were they hinting at something?) and I felt duty bound to obey. However I sneakily bought a two way ticket and gave the one way ticket to a friend. At the beginning of March, I reported to Waterloo station and climbed aboard Eurostar. This is an amazing beast - built by the French, it crawls through Kent (the British rail system isn't able to sustain the train at speed, or there are some bylaws or something), then through the channel tunnel (20 minutes) then across France in a very short period of time. The British terminus of Eurostar is shirtly to move from Waterloo to Kings Cross - St Pancras. People here joke that it is to stimulate French tourism - as they hate arriving in London at a station called "Waterloo". Presumably the English joke about Eurostar because it actually works, unlike the English rail system. In France, Eurostar travels at up to 300 kph. When a eurostar train passes, going the other way (closing speed 600 kph!) the sound is a series of rapid windy beats, like the Dolby Sound adverts in picture theatres. I am not certain but I think Eurostar travels via Lille to Paris (Gard du Nord), and in so doing traverses miles of flat French terrain, punctuated by odd looking hills, woods full of crows nests (on the bare tree branches in March, the crows nests look like odd, untidy balls of twigs) and tight little villages. The outskirts of Paris have some sort of shanty town, or possibly allotments. I am still not sure which. After a bit of help in Gard du Nord (I asked for help from a counter lady in broken French, and she responded with "What do you want" in English. A little French is useful, particularly if it aggravates French people into helping you) I took the Metro to my hotel - about 15 minutes walk from the Eiffel Tower.	(1) The Eiffel Tower, Paris
That night was all about watching bad French TV (the USA drama "The Dead Zone" dubbed into French), and after midnight, going for a walk. Which is how I found myself in The Parc de Champ du Mars (the park around the Eiffel Tower) at 1am, just in time to see a Lunar Eclipse. No-one else seemed to notice, being red-blooded Frenchmen, they were too busy riding Vespas and kissing their girlfriends. I did find the Crazy Horse on Avenue George V - in the 1970's it was considered to be a trendy cabaret, but now it just looked tacky. After a long sleep I lunched in a local restaurant (the Restaurant le Carnassier), then headed out on foot to explore the city. Long queues stopped me from climbing the Eiffel Tower, but it was interesting to watch the elderly Frenchmen playing petanque at its base, and the French soldiers patrolling this national monument (weapons at the ready). Wandering along the Seine I got to see homeless shelters under the bridges, and huge metal rings set into walls above the river. I am not sure of their purpose - mooring perhaps, or a method to move boats upstream? Anyway, after a bit of a walk I came to the Pont Alexandre III - adorned with gilt Pegasi (the French are big on gold leaf, it seems) and other statues. Across the river is the Palais de la Decouverte (which looks a bit like a glasshouse, and is now some form of science museum).	(2) Pegasus, Pont Alexandre III, Paris
A wander along the left bank of the Seine (Rive Gauche) heading upstream, presented me with the Seine-side book sellers - cool art books, postcards and military and science fiction books. Across the river was a huge building that turned out to be the Louvre. Further downstream I came to the Ile de la Cite (Island of the City). I found out a few interesting things I had not previously heard about. The Isle de la Cite was probably the first occupied part of what would one day become Paris - which makes sense - in prehistoric times, an island in a fast flowing river is an easily defensible position - with water supply, hunting grounds and later farming areas close by. The island once harboured a Roman settlement. The island now hosts the Cathedral of Notre Dame ("The Cathedral of Our Lady", but ironically Babel Fish translates this as the "Cathedral of Our Injury"), a statue of Charlemagne, and the southern tip of the Island is a Holocaust Museum. Crossing the river to the sound of a Jazz band, I passed the other island in the stream (the Isle de Saint-Louis) to the right bank (Rive Droit).	(3) Seine River, Paris
From here it was straight to the Louvre , only to be confronted with mile long lines. Wandering round the exterior of the building was an experience. I could see ancient stone statues through the windows, and admire the beautiful statuary on the exterior of the building. In one place there is a parade of famous Frenchmen, high up on the wall, including Vauban (the engineer that built French fortresses like Verdun), Cardinal Richelieu and others. I came across a plaque trumpeting the fact the building was lit by the French power company, and someone had graffitied underneath "For the purpose of a discoth�que". Nearby was the glass pyramid and I got a nice picture of the fountain, pyramid and a wing of the old Louvre building.	(4) Notre Dame, Paris
Next it was past a gold statue of Joan of Arc , and past Napoleon's version of Trajan's Column (the Colonne de Vend�me , in the Place de Vend�me) and then on to the Place de la Concorde , complete with the Obelisque of Luxor. This, not surprisingly was an Egyptian obelisk, topped with gold leaf. It was a gift to France from the viceroy of Egypt, Mohamed Ali, presumably in replacement for Cleopatra's Needle, which was nicked by the English from Napoleon, after he had pinched it from Egypt. One good thing a revolution gives you is the ability to make a clean sweep. The centre of Paris is a good example - with the broad boulevards and beautiful public spaces. It seems it is easy to remodel the centre of a city, if anyone who objects get sent to the Guillotine. Maybe this method could be used to make the centre of London more livable. From here it was a trip up the Champs-�lys�es to the Arc de Triomphe . There it was fascinating watching Gypsy / Romanian beggars working the crowd for money. Thereafter I retreated to the Bistro de Linois for dinner, tired and with blistered feet. Thereafter it was a Metro trip (le Metro est Vert!) to the Gard du Nord, and a Eurostar trip back to London. Kind thoughts, - Christopher	(5) Louvre, Paris