Paris: part 2

Since a dear nephew of mine has an interest in the Eiffel Tower and his parents don't seem very eager to take him there personally, I figured I better do that bit next. We did a whole lot of walking in Paris (and Carrie recalled doing the same during her previous visit). Hence it was important to plan our days carefully and not schedule more outings than our feet could handle.

On a semi-related note, five days was a great length for a stay in Paris. We could go see a couple of things each day without getting too tuckered out (though we did anyway), and the best vacation is always an unhurried one. The Marriott hotel offered free coffee each morning until 10AM and only once did I manage to get up early enough to nab one (I actually had 4 or 5 that morning to make up for the ones I'd missed). Not too big a deal, it was North American coffee. But it should give you an idea as to what kind of tourists we can be. (Although if we had been in a hostel, we would be out of there ASAP.) But I digress.



The Eiffel Tower outing was on a day with little else planned, just in case it proved to be gruelling. We had decided long before that we would take the stairs rather than the elevator. The stairs can be taken only up to the second of three observation levels, so we only got to the second level, which isn't even halfway up the tower. There are 359 steps to level 1 and then 360 more to level 2; we didn't even break a sweat... and we saved money (elevator costs way more).

So, not terribly high (especially if you've visited the CN Tower), but it's still cool to look down at the many ants waiting in line and perhaps laugh at them... that's what they get for sleeping in and arriving to long line-ups! Either way, the people down there made cool line-up patterns whether they knew it or not.



Luckily we went on a Tuesday, so it was probably a lot quieter than it was over the preceding Easter weekend. But yes, we still had to stand in line ourselves for a bit (note to future visitors: the stair line is much shorter than the elevator line). We happened to be behind a New Zealand couple temporarily living in London; they proved to be entertaining and we saw them a few times afterward up in the tower. Plus now we have somewhere to stay when we visit New Zealand one day.

Anyway, the view from the first level was nice; the view from the second level was even nicer, if a little hazy; I imagine the view from the top level would have been stunning, but they should have had the stairs open so too bad for them. Or us.



The view down was pretty cool but so was the view up. Yes just a bunch of metal... but it looked so climbable! (Hmm... that really doesn't look like a word.)



Once we climbed back down (the stairs), we basked in the sun in the park at its base. Then we wandered to the end of the park to get a nice picture of the tower... and lo and behold, guess who was there?! Asterix himself! It was cooler than that time we met Tintin. Asterix let me get a picture of him with Carrie, and somehow his dog snuck in the picture too. And yes, it's really him. Else he wouldn't have a shadow.

Paris: part 1

Well time surely does fly. It feels like I just finished blogging about Milan but that was already two weeks ago. And now there's more to yak about. We spent Easter weekend in Paris, five glorious days of clear blue sky and mid-20s temperatures. And just so you know, it's been like that here in Geneva ever since. Maybe I'm just not summer-acclimatized yet but it's getting distractingly warm while I work during the day, and opening the window at night hardly delivers the expected cool breeze. But while I long for summer to be over, I expect you all to fully enjoy your snowstorms and near-zero temperatures. Heehee.

So... Paris. Very nice city (probably helped that the weather was nice). Carrie had been there before with her sister Michelle, but the city left a better impression this time around. Comparing to the recent Milan visit, we definitely noticed how much easier it is when you know a bit of the local language. Paris is pretty 'big': whereas the GTA (Toronto's metropolitan area) has 5 million people, the urban area around Paris has 10 million in half the area.

I love stats, as some may have noticed while reading our blog. Well, perhaps that's all the statistics I'm going to offer about Paris. Perhaps from here on I'll merely dazzle the readers with wonderful photos of our adventures in the City of Light. Aaaand perhaps not. We'll see.

Carrie found lodging for us by bidding at Priceline.com for hotels in the area (you offer some amount for a number of nights, and they either accept or reject your offer). We lucked out and ended up staying at the Marriott for most of our stay. It was in a very quiet neighbourhood, and less than a 10 minute walk to the subway. Perfect location!

First stop: the Avenue des Champs Élysées of course. A wide street with wider sidewalks and crazy traffic circles... what a zoo. So what brighter move than to pause in the middle of the street for a nice pic of the Arc de Triomphe? We didn't climb up the monument since it costs money and, well, if you're going to pay to climb you may as well find something higher.



We wandered on and came to the Notre Dame cathedral. A nice structure but the Duomo in Milan was fresh in our minds so the front of this cathedral didn't blow us away. You could climb up this one too, but... the time wasn't right. We looked around inside and saw the massive (and apparently renowned) round windows; as is to be expected from interior pics of cathedrals, the photo I took isn't great (well, why blame myself??).



I must say that the picture taken outside from the back of the cathedral is much more spectacular, more for the scenery than the building itself:



At some point in our visit we made our way to Montmartre, a hill that is one of the highest points in the city. Atop it is the Basilica of the Sacré Coeur, a landmark that can seen from many parts of the city. The area sports quite an artistic community, with Picasso, Monet and others having worked there. Nowadays it is crawling with street artists, hoping to paint someone's portrait or a landscape. As a wise man must surely have once said, "One tourist's pain in the neck is another's delight." While we didn't mind admiring their work, as tourists we were their prey so we couldn't walk through the area without being approached numerous times. Anyway, the basilica was worth the hike up the hill to see up close and enter but not itself worth climbing (or so we assumed).



Nearby a mime or something was standing at the side of the road. Most people didn't realize it was a person, it was very white and stood very very still. Aren't mimes supposed to try to find their way out of glass boxes or something?

Milan part 2

Part 2... make yourself a cup of coffee.

While travelling to and from the hotel, we always passed a big fancy-looking building that we eventually had to check out. The place happened to be a huge cemetery, the Cimitero Monumentale. This is where many notable and wealthy Milanese are buried. The main building was the gallery, where in some places an entire room was devoted to one memorial/tomb and in other places the walls were covered with tombs and plaques and memorials right up to the ceiling.



We took a walk on the grounds beyond the building, which was 60 acres of very fancy artwork indeed. Elaborate sculptures all over the place, and mausoleums as big as houses. Not sure if it's a Roman Catholic thing or just an Italian thing, but they sure put serious money into graves! The row-house mausoleums even have addresses and sit beside roads, making it look almost, but not quite, like a regular community. There were some plain burial plots but not too many; I imagine there are other cemeteries a little less lavish for those who can't afford to 'live' here.



A strange place to be a tourist? Not at all; there were several busloads of people there at the same time we visited, and walking tours were being given. I did, however, seem to be the only one taking pictures...

Elsewhere in the city we stumbled across a skeleton. It was covered with a tarp so we didn't get to see the whole thing. My, what big feet it has...



So apparently it's the work of the late Italian sculptor Gino De Dominicis. (I just stole this pic off the Internet.) If you look closely, you might just join me in concluding that this skeleton is the late Pinocchio.



The next day or so, we had an aerial view of said skeleton when we climbed to the roof of the church right beside it. Which brings us to Il Duomo di Milano.



The Duomo is the major cathedral in the city. The second largest Gothic cathedral in the world, it is faced completely with marble and is amazingly detailed. It holds 40,000 people.



Inside are the usual boatloads of 'books for the laity' and we didn't spend much time inside. Instead we chose to go to the roof, which is accessible by elevator or stairs. Stairs were cheaper so that decision was easy.




The Duomo faces the main city square which is generally teeming with people and seagulls. The gulls tend to fly pretty low sometimes; I suspect they're used to flying unhindered at an altitute of just over 6 feet, so they and I both flinch when suddenly my fat head is in their flight path. I didn't get hit though. And we didn't get pooped on; surely that must happen, but we weren't witness to any such episode.

Off to one side of the square are two covered streets whose intersection is an octagon. This is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, an important step in the evolution of the modern shopping mall. The roof is arched and made of glass and steel. Some very famous brand names grace these particular streets; as we walked through the intersection, I noticed three of the stores at the prime location of the intersection itself: Prada, Louis Vuitton, and... McDonald's of all things.



The covered street leads from the city square to the world-famous opera house La Scala. It's not very impressive to look at, so I didn't even take a picture. We strolled by it to hopefully get a peek inside, but it seems that, unless you're attending a show, all you can do is pay to get into the adjoining museum, which I have to say isn't our cup of tea. We did run into a scalper who had front-row seats to the evening's opera performance for only 100 euros each, but that was a little too steep for us; besides, front-row seats are generally not the best vantage point.

We did a bit of window shopping after hours (much cheaper that way), finding ourselves in the trendy district with the big names in fashion: Armani, Versace, Fendi, etc., etc., all cool stuff if you're into paying $2500 for your next handbag. At least we saw what Milan is known for.

Our final stop was Lake Como, which is a resort town in an area where apparently many celebrities have lakefront retreats. It was nice and relaxing; we took a boat tour to a few nearby towns and went for a hike for a nice view of the area. Fun to experience, not much to talk about. Have some pictures.

Milan, Italy

This past weekend we spent a few days in Milan. The second largest city in Italy, the city proper is small but densely populated, with 1.3 million people; the urban area has about 4 million. Milan is 3.5 hours from Geneva by train.



Fortunately it rained only at night, although some sunshine would have been nice.

Milan Central Station is rather large, with 24 train platforms side by side that are covered by massive steel canopies over 340m long. A third of a million people go through each day. Too bad much of the interior (away from the platforms) was under renovation... I'm sure it would have looked impressive without all the scaffolding and junk; in fact, it's supposed to be tied (with New York's Grand Central) for the title of most beautiful station in the world.

Milan is rather old, having been founded around 600 BC. Back in the day it was a round walled city, and the circular patterns of the roadways around the old centre are very much evident today. Here is a typical shot: plenty of old monuments and churches, the ever-present graffiti, roads often made of stones rather than asphalt, and no shortage of tram lines.


The demographics of Milan were somewhat surprising. We saw plenty of Japanese tourists, but there has been an unusual number of immigrants from Asia lately and this is quite noticeable. Apparently on par with other cities in northern Italy, Milan's population is quite old, with 30% of the residents over 60.

Milan's transit system is very good (subway, trams, buses). Transit lines extend far outside the city centre. Stats are comparable to Toronto transit except everything is over a smaller area and thus a little more usable. The streetcar we happened to use to go back and forth from our hotel was a little old and rickety... slow noisy uncomfy rides in an old crate with wooden doors; we saw nice new trams but those weren't going where we wanted to.

And transit prices... ahhh. A one-hour pass for the entire system cost only 1 euro (about $1.50), and a day pass was only 3 euros. Much cheaper than Toronto. Scads cheaper than Geneva. I suppose after living in Geneva, plenty of things will seem laughably inexpensive to us.

The amount of traffic in Milan was horrendous. With great public transit, a zillion moped users, and plenty of cyclists, there were still far too many cars on the road. The road... just one painted line in the middle is enough, to separate one direction from the other; as for the number of lanes: well, however many you can fit between those lines. Poor foreigners think they're on a nice wide road and drive in the middle of the "lane"... until a barrage of car horns tells them otherwise very quickly indeed.

I must say I haven't seen so many Smart cars anywhere. The place was crawling with them. On more than one occasion, we saw a parallel parking spot too small even for the length of a Smart, so the car was just parked nose-first to the curb. (I suppose that's the next best thing when you drive a car you can stick in your pocket when you're not using it.) Double parking was also very common, with the apparent belief that if you double park but keep your hazard lights on while you go to a restaurant for two hours, the poor sap you've boxed in won't mind waiting for your royal highness.

Speaking of restaurants, we went out a few times to eat. It's normal to have a cover charge of 2 euros at any restaurant, meaning that the moment we sat down we'd already incurred $6 on our bill. We surmised that this might be due to the fact that people easily spend two hours at a meal, so customer turnover isn't quite as high as in Canada. At first prices seemed a little steep, but it's helpful to note that prices include a tip and taxes (which in Canada adds up to 30% to a bill (no I'm not very Dutch)). We figured that since a tip is included and not something servers need to earn, the service would be sub-par. This was definitely not the case, although we had to get used to never being disturbed by a waiter for an entire meal unless we called one over.

We stayed at Hotel Mozart, which is a few km from the city centre but easy enough to get to and from. It was a nice quite spot, with an interesting street market right around the corner on Saturday that we checked out. Breakfast at the hotel was amazing: cold food only, but an excellent selection of fresh fruit, breads, pastries, and much more. And all free.

Well that took forever. Part 2 some time this or next week... and with a few more pictures too. Posts are no good without pictures.