Some of my first thoughts and impressions after arriving Paris.
I’ve been in Paris for 4 and a half days now and I continue to be in love with this city. Paris is such an amazing city: I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it. It is such a lively, vibrant and in some instances chaotic place that landing here after being in Munich for almost 6 months is somewhat of a cultural shock; but one which I’m enjoying. Munich is a very quiet, calmed and tranquil city where people are on the most part very proper, they talk very low, everyone follows all the rules, and everything works the way it should. In Munich the streets are impeccable, the metro stations are clean and you can hear a needle drop after 10 o’clock at night on any given day (unless you are in the area around Mariendplatz or Kulfabrik which is where all the clubs are located). In Paris on the other hand there is always something going on. Cars and motorcycles make a lot of noise as do the masses of people walking up and down the streets…no matter the time of day. The metro stations, and in some instances the wagons themselves, always have some sort of street performers playing all kinds of instruments or just singing to a tune played on their portable audio/CD player…with the intent of “making every ones trip on the train more enjoyable”-according to them- and of course to collect some money at the end.
On Monday I get out of my hostel/hotel and walk towards the closest suburban train(RER) station to head to the city. I’m currently staying in the suburbs about 25 minutes from the city center by train. I get to the train station and I thought I was walking past the Haunted House in Disneyworld. “How appropriate” I said to myself, thinking that Halloween was only 2 days away. The place is somewhat run down and creepy….but I’m making this judgment based only in looks: the place does not feel unsafe at all…it’s just that it would appreciate some pressure cleaning and some paint. I guess I had gotten used to the train stations in Bavaria which all look like a house taken out from the tale of Hansel and Grethel. So I purchased my weekly ticket and insert it into the reading machine that gives you access to the train’s platform and I put it away in my wallet. I get off on the “Invalides” station to connect with the subway. To get out of the RER section of the station I have to once again get my ticket out of the wallet and insert it in a machine so that it lets me get out and I put it away. I walked, and walked and walked through all the underground hallways which connect the RER line with the subway line until finally reaching the entrance to the subway…and guess what….I had to once again get out my ticket and insert it in a machine to gain access to the subway. At that moment I remembered this is the modus operandi of the train system in Paris and I was going to continue going thru the same exercise of getting out my ticket and then putting it back into my wallet. It was then that I realized how much I was going to miss the honor system in Munich. See…in Munich you do not have to insert your ticket into any machine in order to gain access to the trains. You just get on the train without any type of control because you are honest enough to purchase a ticket before getting on and not riding without one. Of course there are random controls done by employees of the Munich Transportation System who dressed in civilian clothes get on a wagon and start asking for tickets. If you do not have a valid ticket you are fined 40 Euros on the spot, no excuses accepted.
So what have I been up to this week other than trying not to loose my wallet or my train ticket from all this taking out and putting it back in? I chose the language school I will be attending and took the placement test. I will be starting school on Monday morning and at least for the next 3 weeks I will be doing an intensive course from 9AM to 1PM Monday-Friday. The teacher then recommended that once I finish the 3 weeks to take a combination of a less intensive course with some writing, grammar and pronunciation workshops depending on how I progress. So we’ll see. I’m really happy and excited about the school. It has a great atmosphere and everyone seemed very nice. I spent most of the afternoon there on Tuesday (taking advantage of their free wi-fi) and I already met a couple of people with whom I’ll have lunch on Monday. I’ve also been looking at places to live but I still haven’t found one. The ones I’ve seen are extremely expensive for what they are. I know this city is very expensive but I think if I give it a couple more days I should be able to find a better place. In the meantime I’ll continue to stay at the hostel/hotel.
And then I’ve also managed to do a little bit of sightseeing: I went to the Eiffel tour and walked to the Arc de Triomphe, the Pantheon, spent some time at the Champs Elysee yesterday (it was a holiday here but all the stores along this street were opened) identifying the stores I will shop in once I win the lotto, the Opera house, and taking advantage of the good weather by walking through some typical Parisian neighborhoods.
The weather thus far has been great, definitely a big improvement from Munich were the temperature was between o and 4 degrees Celsius on my last 9 days and where I did not see the sun during those same 9 days. Here it has been a mixture of sunny and cloudy days. However during the day I can survive with no problems by just wearing a sweater and then only wearing my coat at night.
I’ve been in Paris for 4 and a half days now and I continue to be in love with this city. Paris is such an amazing city: I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it. It is such a lively, vibrant and in some instances chaotic place that landing here after being in Munich for almost 6 months is somewhat of a cultural shock; but one which I’m enjoying. Munich is a very quiet, calmed and tranquil city where people are on the most part very proper, they talk very low, everyone follows all the rules, and everything works the way it should. In Munich the streets are impeccable, the metro stations are clean and you can hear a needle drop after 10 o’clock at night on any given day (unless you are in the area around Mariendplatz or Kulfabrik which is where all the clubs are located). In Paris on the other hand there is always something going on. Cars and motorcycles make a lot of noise as do the masses of people walking up and down the streets…no matter the time of day. The metro stations, and in some instances the wagons themselves, always have some sort of street performers playing all kinds of instruments or just singing to a tune played on their portable audio/CD player…with the intent of “making every ones trip on the train more enjoyable”-according to them- and of course to collect some money at the end.
On Monday I get out of my hostel/hotel and walk towards the closest suburban train(RER) station to head to the city. I’m currently staying in the suburbs about 25 minutes from the city center by train. I get to the train station and I thought I was walking past the Haunted House in Disneyworld. “How appropriate” I said to myself, thinking that Halloween was only 2 days away. The place is somewhat run down and creepy….but I’m making this judgment based only in looks: the place does not feel unsafe at all…it’s just that it would appreciate some pressure cleaning and some paint. I guess I had gotten used to the train stations in Bavaria which all look like a house taken out from the tale of Hansel and Grethel. So I purchased my weekly ticket and insert it into the reading machine that gives you access to the train’s platform and I put it away in my wallet. I get off on the “Invalides” station to connect with the subway. To get out of the RER section of the station I have to once again get my ticket out of the wallet and insert it in a machine so that it lets me get out and I put it away. I walked, and walked and walked through all the underground hallways which connect the RER line with the subway line until finally reaching the entrance to the subway…and guess what….I had to once again get out my ticket and insert it in a machine to gain access to the subway. At that moment I remembered this is the modus operandi of the train system in Paris and I was going to continue going thru the same exercise of getting out my ticket and then putting it back into my wallet. It was then that I realized how much I was going to miss the honor system in Munich. See…in Munich you do not have to insert your ticket into any machine in order to gain access to the trains. You just get on the train without any type of control because you are honest enough to purchase a ticket before getting on and not riding without one. Of course there are random controls done by employees of the Munich Transportation System who dressed in civilian clothes get on a wagon and start asking for tickets. If you do not have a valid ticket you are fined 40 Euros on the spot, no excuses accepted.
So what have I been up to this week other than trying not to loose my wallet or my train ticket from all this taking out and putting it back in? I chose the language school I will be attending and took the placement test. I will be starting school on Monday morning and at least for the next 3 weeks I will be doing an intensive course from 9AM to 1PM Monday-Friday. The teacher then recommended that once I finish the 3 weeks to take a combination of a less intensive course with some writing, grammar and pronunciation workshops depending on how I progress. So we’ll see. I’m really happy and excited about the school. It has a great atmosphere and everyone seemed very nice. I spent most of the afternoon there on Tuesday (taking advantage of their free wi-fi) and I already met a couple of people with whom I’ll have lunch on Monday. I’ve also been looking at places to live but I still haven’t found one. The ones I’ve seen are extremely expensive for what they are. I know this city is very expensive but I think if I give it a couple more days I should be able to find a better place. In the meantime I’ll continue to stay at the hostel/hotel.
And then I’ve also managed to do a little bit of sightseeing: I went to the Eiffel tour and walked to the Arc de Triomphe, the Pantheon, spent some time at the Champs Elysee yesterday (it was a holiday here but all the stores along this street were opened) identifying the stores I will shop in once I win the lotto, the Opera house, and taking advantage of the good weather by walking through some typical Parisian neighborhoods.
The weather thus far has been great, definitely a big improvement from Munich were the temperature was between o and 4 degrees Celsius on my last 9 days and where I did not see the sun during those same 9 days. Here it has been a mixture of sunny and cloudy days. However during the day I can survive with no problems by just wearing a sweater and then only wearing my coat at night.
1 comment:
Hola querida!
Que pasa con las fotos?
hacia dias que no abria el computador,que pena me esta cogiendo ventaja el blog,esta noche me tengo que desatrasar.
Un beso y Happy thanks giving
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