27/06 Paris, France

 

Today woke up at 0930. had a little free breakfast  cereals, hot chocolate, croissants in hostel. I sat with the couples who met last night during cooking and had a little chat with them and they were funny. Today agenda was to go to Eiffel Tower and Arches.

When I got out, the weather was quite sunny but the forecast it would be a bit rainy. So my first stop was Eiffel Tower. I took a train as it was quite far away from my hostel. I bought a ticket which was just €1.7 to go, which was quite unexpectedly cheap. Then, The train system was quite clear so i could go to Eiffel tower without any problem.

There was a great meadow in front of the tower where many people took photos of it. I took many too hahah and a Polaroid too.

A Russian couple coming from Moscow asked me to take pictures and his wife seemed not satisfied with his photos skill and asked me twice to take photos of her. Hahahh, she said I was professional.. Um.. practice makes perfect. Then, I went to buy tickets to climb the tower. I paid 4€ euro to walk to the 2nd floor. There was a long quene for the ticket to the top by elevator.

It was a bit tiring to climb to the 1st floor. On the first floor I saw the underneath of the tower and lifts to the top. There were also transparent floors and some people were scared to step on it. Wow, it was quite high and I tricked some girls next to me by making sounds of breaking floors Hahah.

Then, I kept going up till 2nd floor. The view was nice but not beautiful as the buildings nearby looked dilapidated but I could see the rivers and bridges nearby which was nice.

I spent around 30mins on the terrance. Then, I walked downstairs and went inside some sourvenir shops but did not buy anything. There were many tourist under the Eiffel tower. Tourists were everywhere.

 

Then, I walked to the Arch which was built during Napoleon period to celebrate the victory.  The arch was surrounded by roads and I thought I needed to cross the road to it which was hard as it was quite busy.

 

Then, I realized there was a tunnel leading to the Arch. Before going up to the top, I went to see the Arch first. There were many french words on the wall. Perhaps were some Commanders died in the war. The arch was much larger and more beautiful than other arches. I have seen.

Then I went back to the tunnel and asked for a free student ticket. Then, I started to walk upstairs which was again quite tiring. I went to the first floor where u could also see many different gates around the world which was very interesting. Then, I walked to the second floor where had a sourvenir shop. I read some history of the arch and then keep walking upstairs. I got to the top. Wow very windy.... the view was nice. I could see the Eiffel tower and few of the main roads, all of which had trees built on both sides.

I spent around 20mins up there and walked downstairs to 2nd floor to take a lot at the aourvenir shops. I still have not made up my mind what wedding gifts I should buy. Actually I found a clock was quite nice but giving a clock as a present was not good in Chinese culture... Perhaps I found something else more suitable tomorrow. Then I walked to the ground floor

 Once I left the exit, some older and former solders came and a ceremony seemed to be held soon. I stayed here to watch some of it. More people came to the area and most probably were the relatives of their beloved who died in the wars.

Then I took another Polaroid with the arch. And it qas around 1800. and museum was already closed. I then went to one famous bridge near the Eiffel tower and took some photos again.

Around 1930, I went back to hostel by train. Cooked the same things as yesterday. After dinner, I bumped into the girls from Northern Ireland who now were staying room 12. They were very nice and we chatted for about 1 hour. Few of them wanted to have a Chinese translation of their names. I google search and wrote their names to them and they were happy to see their Chinese names. Hah. I really liked them and they were young and funny. Around 0130, we said goodbye to each other cuz they left tomorrow morning. When I got back to my room, a thought popped up, why not took a picture with them!! I knocked their door and luckily they still not yet slept. We then went downstairs and I asked the reception to take photos for us.





They said my English was good too. Hahaha. Perhaps my English has been improved graudually.. So nice to meet people around the world like Northern Ireland this time!!