Friday, June 12, 2009
Day 8 highlights: The tower, the arc, and the hill
These three things pretty much sum up the programme for our second (and final) day in Paris. We've just about past the halfway mark of the entire trip and I hope you're not getting bored yet :)Being at the Eiffel was quite surreal for me. I mean, we see that familiar iconic tower all the time. To be standing under it is a very different experience altogether. And to actually be up on the tower was like amazingly breathtaking. Although we spent 3/4 of the time queuing for the elevators, it was all well worth it. From up there, the land is visibly massive and every building seems to have a specific colour code to follow.
More than just being architectural marvels, arcs in Europe have a lot more significance and story behind them. Usually built to commemorate a victory in war, the triumphal archs celebrate the ruler and many have elaborate carvings all round to narrate the war tales. The Arc de Triomphe, one of France's most recognisable monuments, honours the soldiers, particularly those who fought during the Napoleonic Wars. Engraved inside and top of the arc are names of all the generals and wars fought. Underneath the Arc is the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War I - a symbol of all those who have fought, died and gone unnoticed in wars.
The hill at Montmartre is the highest point of the city and to get there, we had to walk up about 200 steps (which kinda sounds simple, but the steps were really really steep). And when we arrived at the top of the hill, we saw a comfortable air-conditioned tram service bringing passengers up the slope. Ggrrhh! Anyway, all these are not as important as what's on top of that hill. We worked it out for the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur - another well-known Catholic site in Paris.
So there you have it, this is Paris. I'd say it's absolutely stunning on the outside but a little rotten on the inside. Not that everyone we met was rude and nasty, but I think we'd encountered enough of them in the two days to form this ugly perception. Hope I'll get a chance to see other parts of France in future and change my mindset of them. Au revoir for now!
