Oui, Oui to Paris! My French weekend!
My first trip to Paris, what an awesome weekend!!
Le’ Palais de Eiffel?!
This weekend, we went to Paris, as you’ve probably guessed by now, fun was had! I must say I’m happy about earning the pound, as going on the Australian Dollar and eating/drinking out would be prohibitively expensive. Imagine a country where you can get a glass of wine at a restaurant for about $2-4 AUD, and then a cappucino or orange juice for $10-15. Whack I tell you.
It’d help knowing just a little bit of french though, I could probably manage France and Western Europe on my own, but I don’t know how non speakers could go to random parts in Russia/China and expect to get by, as it’d be very difficult. I went for a walk on Saturday afternoon on my own for about an hour and the whole time I was out and about, I didn’t see or hear any English people or their accents, feelings of nakedness swept over me. Soo I went to a corner shop and bought beer, Heineken and Kronenburg in fact. The Heini’s came in little fist sized kegs. I liked them. And wine! So cheap, how come I have to pay 4-8 pounds for some relatively crappy wines here in London when there’s a ton of different types in a corner shop there for 1-2 Euro a bottle! I don’t care how bad some of them are, there’d have to be at least a few gems on the shelf. Give me a week there and I’d find out.
French signs are no problem though, they read almost like English (Anglais…. See, I learnt something). Somethings were still funny to look at though. At the base of the Eiffel tower there was a company/building/office titled:
The society of exploitation, I’m sure there cause was worthy, like a Nike factory who makes Oroton Wallets in the night shift.
Confound it man, T’as une tête a faire sauter les plaques d’egouts and Vous êtes aussi utile qu’un frein à main sur un canoe.
Some of Paris’s underground has rubber wheels, which is certainly a nice change to the “BADOM, BADOM” and shudder as I almost get knocked off my feet in London. It seems faster to get around on too, the stations are close together, and I get the feeling it’s not nearly as larger spread as is London, but I might just be an ignorant tourist though. It’s also hot as all hell, and stinks like nothing else. I’m serious. I can remember thinking Bali was dirty and smelly. Paris and its underground are even worse I’d say, if not for the fact the roads are swept, hosed, burnt and bleached (Maybe) all the time..
.I’m not sure what the crime rate is like, but my first impressions are:
- if it can be damaged, it will be;
- if it can be graffitied, scratched or paintballed, it will be;
- if it stands in the one place for any longer than a few minutes chances are it will get urinated on (mostly walls and tree’s though);
- if a vehicle is left on a quiet street it will be painted and have its tyres slashed.
Very surprising, I found. We’ve had a whole lot of talk recently about how the London 2012 Olympic logo is great (or not so, as 90% of the population seem to think) because it represents new age, and London’s roots in Graffiti. Maybe I need to visit some other parts of East London or something, but I’ve mostly found public transport to be clean 90% of the time, and not much graffiti/vandalism around the place. Paris is covered in it, its absolutely everywhere.
Ah well, it may be dirty, and smell like the used and abused pisser at the Cottosloe Hotel after a summer Sunday session, but it was certainly beatiful on the other hand. If you want a breath taking, 360 degree view I highly recommend the Eiffel Tower, well worth the 11.50 Euro’s entrance. I’ts proabably not the best thing if you’re weird with heights, but its a must do:
And here’s me, with the most expensive beer I’ve bought, I think.. A 1Litre Schtein (spelling?!) of Kronenburg 1664 for 14 euros (~$20AUD):
Bring on Oktoberfest!
Au Revior, Con!!
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