Firstly, the dreaded cold has indeed materialized keeping my streak of getting sick at the worst possible times alive (i.e. exam time, new england championship time) but I am soldiering on with many tissues and gallons of OJ. Secondly, the french decided it would be a good idea to rearrange all the keys on the keyboard in order to do confuse the germans during WWII so expect typos.
A few words on the paris metro... Upon my arrival in Paris I decided there were two things I wanted to do despite my cold and short stay: see Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. Luckily there are trains that go everywhere you could want in this large city. I was able to get to Notre Dame with no problems, very nice, don' t get your wallet stolen, and don't pay for a tour since you can just follow one once they start and pretend you're not paying attention. From there I returned to the metro station in the hopes of going east toward, perhaps, one of the most recognizable and popular attractions in France if not the world. Now, most metro lines in any other city run on two or more tracks and have trains that go in, and this is important, both directions. Not so on the giant yellow main line in the heart of Paris. This line boasts a bevy of trains all with cute 4 letter names like Jill, Dame or Elsa and all the information in the station suggests that all these trains go to the Eiffel Tower and even give the times they will (supposedly) arrive.
WRONG
In a further effort to confuse the Germans every single train on that line goes away from the Eiffel Tower. I know this because I got on three different trains each claiming to be going toward the Tower and each one brought me further away. Now at this point I am getting frustrated so I decide that maybe the French have tapped into a fourth spatial dimension and all the trains do actually go to the tower by going away from it. So I hop onto the next train claiming to go to the Tower and after 20 minutes realize that french physicists are no better than american ones and that I am now at the outskirts of the city surrounded by euro pop and bad hair cuts. Amazingly there is one station that didn't get the memo about confusing the hell out of tourists and when you cross over to the other side of the tracks there are indeed trains that go the mythical other direction. By divine providence alone I managed to reach this station and after another hour I actually reached the Eiffel Tower. There were lots of tourists there and I wondered how they all got there until I tried to use their public toilettes and realized that they'd all probably been there since before WWII waiting to go to the bathroom. I could spend another hour writing about these toilettes but that would just upset me :) So I reached the Eiffel Tower but unfortunately I arrived too late and they had stopped selling tickets to the top. I wasn't going to walk in my condition so I said a silent f you, took some pictures and amazingly made it back to my hostel, no journey to the center of the earth necessary! (Jules Verne was French, that was a really good reference... come on)
Now I am waiting for the the train to Switzerland. Hopefully I will find someplace to stay tonight. I might splurge on a hotel considering my illness we'll have to see. Needless to say I need some down time so that I don't return to the states with this disease and get quarantined at the airport. Send me healing vibes and I'll buy you all keychains!
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1 comment:
Jacob,
Sorry about your cold. Take care of it. Paris really is nice even though it may not seem so to you. The Metro to the Eiffel Tower is a bit tricky. There's only one line that comes close if I recall, and it is hard to find. I don't know about the quantum physics problems with the direction of the trains. At least you saw some French neighborhoods. Switzerland is probably just what the doctor ordered after all these European cities. Splurge if you feel like it. You only live once. Enjoy the Alps!
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