Will Around the World

Day one of jetlag: this morning I woke up at 6:30. While the others were still asleep, I amused myself by shooting pictures of the Salvation Army dormitory across the way. This colorful building was designed by Le Corbusier.

Salvation Army (Cité de Refuge)

When everyone had woken, we left for Versailles. I was looking forward to seeing the palace in person because I had studied it in an architecture class in college. Versailles far exceeds what I had imagined it to be (based on slides I had seen).

Versailles

Who's the dude on the horse?

Queen's apartment

Inner courtyard

Detail of chamber ornamentation

What wasn't in my mental picture of Versailles, though, was a current of tourists that I had to wade through to get through the palace. Also disappointing was the Hall of Mirrors. This historic hall — where Louis XIV would pass through every morning to give his subjects an audience, and where the armistice ending World War I was signed — was undergoing renovation. Almost the entire hall was covered by scaffolding and construction equipment.

Hall of mirrors

Although the palace was lavish, I was even more impressed by the estate. Versailles's gardens are immense and yet every square foot is manicured. Admission to the gardens is a steal at 3 €. (Admission to the palace, 20 €, is highway robbery.) The gardens inspired me to revamp my own modest landscaping at home, which was languishing from my creative drought.

Garden	More impressive when the fountains are on
View from palace apartment	Looking back to the palace

In the evening we returned to Paris and visited Chinatown. Paris's Chinatown is a decently sized district of markets and restaurants operated by Chinese and Southeast Asians. It reminded me of the Chinatown in Oakland, California, but without the rank odors and the garbage. In one way, Chinatown is more hygienic than the rest of Paris; we shopped in one market where each item of produce was tightly wrapped in plastic. For dinner, we went to a Laotian restaurant named Lao Lanxang. The dish I ordered — a spicy beef arrangement served cold — was quite good.

I was impressed by Paris's ethnic diversity. During my visit I saw a number of Asians (more outside Chinatown than in) and I saw even more Africans. In fact, Tim's apartment building neighbors an apartment or housing project that is occupied completely by African immigrants. Biracial couples are not an uncommon sight throughout the city.

After dinner, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. It is divided into three floors. The first floor holds a restaurant; the second floor is an observation deck. From there you change elevators and ascend to the third floor, located at the top. Naomi, Nancy and I bought tickets for the third floor, while Tim waited on the ground.

Taken at 9:33 PM

The Eiffel visit started innocuously enough — the girls and I waited only five minutes to get to the second floor, where we were treated to a splendid view of the city at dusk. We should have been satisfied with that view, but instead we, wanting to get our money's worth, got in line for the elevator to the top. We waited in line for forty-five minutes. When we got on the elevator, which has clear windows, we got a bit of a thrilling ride, but this momentary excitement flitted away once we arrived at the top, for we saw an even longer line for the elevator back down! I strongly advise anyone who visits the Eiffel Tower to avoid the temptation to "go all the way". All told, we waited in line almost two hours.

Unemployment in the French underground economy hovers at 0%

Toward Trocadéro and La Defense

At 10:33 PM, twenty minutes into our 45-minute wait for the elevator

As we, deflated from waiting so long for so little, were about to board the elevator for the ground, I heard a chorus of teenage shrieks. After the brief commotion ended, I heard whispers that a celebrity had been spotted. He turned out to be a musician, and he was joined by his girlfriend. Despite the private nature of their visit, the tower's staff insisted on moving them to the front of the line. (We rolled our eyes.) The rocker put up a perfunctory resistance, and then as he was making arrangements with the staff, I talked to his girlfriend. I found out his name was Matt Skiba and his band, the Alkaline Trio. I hadn't heard of either (nor had anyone else in the elevator). We returned to terra firma at 12:15 AM.

# posted by billklee @ 14:31