Paris
Last Friday happened to be September 27, the holiday for the French-speaking region of Belgium. The school was closed, and with the weekend we had exactly three days off. On the train back from Amsterdam the previous week, we decided on this trip to Paris. The members of this trip were: me, zfn, lsd, and wyd.
Overall feeling: I like Paris so much. I love Paris.
Here, I deeply felt France’s cultural confidence.
Day One
Early Friday morning, we first took a train to Bruxelles-Nord station, then transferred to a FlixBus directly to Paris. The main reason we took a bus was still poverty. The fastest option was the Thalys train, but it cost 99 euros. The bus only cost 15 euros, with the downsides of being less comfortable and slower. By the time we arrived in Paris, it was already 1:30 p.m. We first bought a three-day Paris public transit travel pass for Zones 1-3. Paris is divided into many administrative districts, but the transit system is divided into five zones, similar to Beijing’s Second Ring Road, Third Ring Road, Fourth Ring Road, and Fifth Ring Road. When buying tickets, you can choose three zones or five zones. Three zones basically satisfy most travel needs, except Monet’s Garden in the northwest and the Palace of Versailles in the southwest.
We did not choose to go straight to the hostel to drop off our luggage. Instead, we pushed on and began sightseeing in the city. We visited Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Pantheon in order, had an authentic French dinner in the evening, dropped off our luggage, and then visited the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.
Notre-Dame Cathedral was still under restoration after the fire, so we could not visit inside. We only paid our respects from a distance to this most famous church in Paris. Notre-Dame can be considered a Paris landmark, made famous around the world by Victor Hugo’s work. Even though it was damaged, it is still a must-visit place for tourists to take photos. We took a group photo in front of Notre-Dame. From the side, we could see the restoration project. Previously, from the news, I did not really understand the true extent of the damage. Only when seeing it up close did I realize that more than half of it had really been destroyed. The restoration will need to continue for several years. I hope I will have the chance to come here again.
The Pantheon is where the French nation commemorates its national greats. In the crypt lie the remains of many people familiar to us, such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Hugo, Marie Curie, and Charles de Gaulle - his remains are not there, but his name is. Its status is somewhat like China’s “Babaoshan”.
The Pantheon is located on high ground and is quite magnificent compared with the surrounding buildings. On the portico above the main entrance are carved the words “To great men, the grateful fatherland.” Here, we also felt Paris’s kindness for the first time. With our Belgian type D visas, we counted as young people aged 18 to 25 residing in Europe, so all state-maintained museums and attractions were free. The later Arc de Triomphe, Louvre, and Palace of Versailles were all free too. The Eiffel Tower gives half-price tickets to all Youth aged 12 to 24.
The main hall uses murals to tell the story of Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris. It also displays the famous “Foucault pendulum”; in 1851, Foucault used this pendulum to prove the rotation of the Earth. I had only seen photos of it in textbooks before, and now I was standing right there. That feeling was quite wonderful.
After finishing the visit, everyone was already starving. So we went to eat French food.
French cuisine can be considered the heavyweight champion of European dining, synonymous with high-end food. In the past, only nobles had the time and money to eat like this. It is divided into appetizers, main courses, and desserts, and a meal takes about an hour. Although the portions are relatively large, because the meal takes so long, we could still finish it. We had three French meals in Paris, and I ate three duck legs.
At night we visited the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.
The Arc de Triomphe is a famous patriotic education attraction. Let us wish our motherland a happy 70th birthday from the Arc de Triomphe.
Seeing the Arc de Triomphe reminded me of the scene in Mission: Impossible - Fallout where Tom Cruise rides a motorcycle around it. Perhaps because we came here at night, it was not as magnificent and splendid as I had imagined. After climbing a long staircase to the top, we could see the night view of Paris centered on the Arc de Triomphe. The streets spread out radially, and the Elysee Palace and Eiffel Tower in the distance were clearly visible.
The Eiffel Tower at night was truly beautiful. The whole tower was surrounded by bright yellow lights, and at each hour constantly flashing white lights appeared. After checking that the Friday metro would not close until 2:45 a.m., we continued playing without worry. The Eiffel Tower itself also stayed open until 12:45. In fact, when we returned to the hostel, it was already 1 a.m.
Although visiting the tower area and the Champ de Mars is free, you must buy an elevator ticket to go up. Fortunately we were still young, so it only cost 12.7 euros per person.
The observation area of the tower is divided into the second floor and the TOP. The TOP is the true top of the tower, while the second floor is the top of the base. From the top, we could overlook the whole city. The Paris night view was fully in front of my eyes, and dopamine kept being released in my brain. People coming here to propose, take wedding photos, and do intimate things came one after another. We even encountered all of them. The only thing to note is that it is very windy on the tower, so wear more at night. We were blown into complete fools.
Day Two
Today’s schedule was mainly walking.
We visited the Louvre, Place de la Concorde, and the Champs-Elysees, and took a boat ride on the Seine.
The Louvre is the first of the world’s three major museums, and also the museum with the largest annual number of visitors in the world. The other two are the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the British Museum in London. They are all from powers that colonized and plundered the world, and in their museums you can see treasures from across the world, including plenty of treasures taken from China. I was fortunate enough to visit the British Museum in 2016. Counting the Louvre, I have checked in at 2/3 of them. I hope I have the chance to visit New York in the future.
The Louvre contains the “three treasures of the world”: the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. The Mona Lisa in particular has a very long queue, and each person’s viewing time is limited. The whole museum is huge. If you had time, spending three days visiting would be no problem. Since we were only ordinary tourists, we mostly skimmed through and checked in at the key collections. Here, you can really see many works you had only seen in textbooks before, such as Liberty Leading the People from history textbooks, The Coronation of Napoleon, the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and I. M. Pei’s pyramid from the cover of high school English compulsory book 3.
For lunch, as usual, we ate French food. I continued eating duck.
After lunch we went to Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Elysees for a walk. Place de la Concorde was not as large as I had imagined, and there was only one “Monument to the People” to see. The Champs-Elysees is next to the Jardins des Champs-Elysees and also adjacent to the Elysee Palace. This is where the French president lives and works, so security was tight and we could not enter the park at all. We were very disappointed.
After a short rest on the avenue, we walked to the pier on the Seine to take a boat ride.
The Seine became famous in China because of Jay Chou’s “Love Confession”. Being able to take a boat on the Seine felt wonderful. The city of Paris first developed along the Seine, so most historical sites and landmarks are located on both sides of the river. Because I was too tired, I fell asleep as soon as I got on the boat and did not wake up until it was almost over. Out of the 14-euro boat ticket, I probably slept through about 10 euros’ worth, so it was an expensive but good-value nap. Fortunately I did not miss the Eiffel Tower at the end. The Eiffel Tower in daylight has a different kind of grandeur. It perfectly shows how great France’s steel production capacity was after the Second Industrial Revolution. Seeing the tower from the river reminded me of the Red Alert mission where the Soviet army magnetizes the Eiffel Tower. The game designers really were ingenious, combining this famous tower with the Tesla Coil.
Day Three: Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles was the absolute theme of today, and it did not disappoint after we spent a whole day on it. Because the pass we bought earlier only covered within three zones and could not reach the Palace of Versailles in zone 5, we bought return tickets to Versailles in the morning. Transportation to Versailles is very convenient; the metro can go there directly. In fact, walking from central Paris to it would only take four hours. When the French Revolution broke out, it was angry citizens from Paris who surrounded the Palace of Versailles and forced the then-king Louis XVI to Paris, ending the history of Versailles as a royal palace and symbol of royal power. A song I like very much, Viva La Vida, describes Louis XVI’s fate from a first-person perspective. Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were also guillotined by the National Assembly for treason.
After arriving, we found there were many visitors. Just queueing at the entrance took more than an hour. As expected, we still entered for free.
The famous Hall of Mirrors. In history textbooks, the founding of the German Empire and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles both happened here.
Louis XIV reigned for more than 50 years and represented the peak of royal power. The Palace of Versailles was also completed during his reign and became the king’s palace and symbol of royal power. His portraits and sculptures can be seen everywhere inside the palace. Historically, he was also a very narcissistic person, comparable to our Lord Qianlong.
Day Four
Because wyd had class in the afternoon, we chose to return to Liege on Monday morning. We checked out of the hostel early in the morning. Since the three-day pass had expired, we bought a one-way ticket to FlixBus’s Bercy station. Then we took the bus back to Brussels, killed lunch at KFC inside Nord station, and took an IC train back to Liege.
When departing from Bercy station, we encountered a small incident: a man tried to block our bus from leaving the station with his body. It seemed he had some demand, but we did not dare ask. The station security guards tried to persuade and remove him, and the two sides repeatedly pushed against each other with their bodies. After some twists and turns, we were finally able to leave the station.
There are still many unreasonable troublemakers here. We need to pay attention to our own safety, avoid contact with them, and seek police help when necessary. If you are driving yourself, do not open the car door or windows. Lock the doors and wait for help.
I ordered a six-piece chicken wing meal at KFC. Because I was quite hungry, it tasted pretty good. But the more I ate, the more I missed the spicy wings back home. The fried chicken wings here are somewhat like spicy wings, but the flavor is worse.
Belgium has GO PASS tickets that are convenient for students taking trains. For 53 euros, you can take 10 rides, but only for domestic transportation, meaning IC trains.