Les journées européenes du Patrimoine

Or in English: European Cultural Heritage Days. These took place last weekend and I have no idea whether there were any celebrations or special events in Germany - here in France, however, it was a big deal, with the free Metro newspaper dedicating several pages on what to do all over the country. I stayed in Paris, but still used the opportunity to see some places I wouldn't have otherwise.

So on Saturday, I went for a free tour of the Hôtel de Ville, the mairie of Paris. Its interior design is very impressive and really not that far from Versailles - I doubt that the mairie of Munich has anything nearly as extravagant as this. In order to show citizens how their hard earned taxes are spent, there were several halls in which different groups of craftsmen working within the mairie explained their daily routines and showed some of their tools. I especially enjoyed the stand of the cleaning ladies which featured several brooms and toilet paper ;-).
The actual office of the mayor, although huge, was pretty modern and not nearly as pretty as the assembly hall.

You might argue that I've had my fair share of churches and cathedrals during the last month, but I still maintained my average of one church/week and visited the basilica of St Denis on Sunday. As St Denis is outside of zone 2 (which is what is covered by a normal Pass Navigo), I advise you to get off at Basilique St Denis (they don't check your ticket when you leave the metro), visit the church, then head south for a quick photo of the Stade de France and go back downtown from St Denis Porte de Paris, which is the last station within zone 2 on metro No. 13.
The basilique is well worth the trip (I especially enjoyed the colourful glass windows) and it's of course the burial place of most of France's kings and emperors. This, for example, is the tomb of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette:


More photos!

La Madeleine and Père Lachaise

Just wanted to share some photos from my last weekend with you ! For a change, I stayed in Paris and therefore had plenty of time to discover some new places. On Saturday I went to the Opéra and did some window shopping in the Japanese quarter there (J took me out there for dinner on Friday and I've discovered that traditional Japanese cuisine is much more my cup of tea than sushi). But what really impressed me was La Madeleine. It was originally intended to be a Greek temple honouring Napoleon's troops, but after he lost in Russia, this didn't seem to be so appropriate anymore, so they converted it into a church instead. They kept the temple style, however, which gives the place a very unique atmosphere indeed. Instead of the usual Catholic bits and pieces, there are lot of huge stone statues just like The Goddess of victory over at the Louvre. And the altar is just soo ... stylish. One of my favorite churches so far!

On Sunday I took the métro to Belleville. I actually only wanted to go the parc there to get yet another bird view of the city (note to myself: make a list with the best places to do so), but when I emerged from the station I was like "怎么到了中国?" (which means: how the heck did I get to China?). It turned out that Belleville is yet another international part of Paris, Little Shanghai, to be precise. In fact I found that it had much more atmosphere (and better stores) than the actual Chinatown in the 13e where I went yesterday, but maybe that's just because I didn't expect it.
Anyways, I made it to the parc (and can recommand you to do so, too, when you happen to pass by), but my ultimate goal that day was the cemetery of Père Lachaise. In fact [oh no!! I'm starting to talk French English!!], my mum had been nagging me for ages to go there because when she went there (admittedly some time ago) it was THE cats' paradise in Paris. Not anymore, though. I met exactly one cat and believe me, I did a fair share of walking in order to find them! But I wasn't disappointed because the cemetery itself was well worth the trip. As you've probably noticed, I'm all about "the atmosophere" of a place and Père Lachaise has plenty of it! It's totally different from the neat, look-who-hasn't-weeded style that is common for modern German cemeteries. Instead, once you step off the main road, you find yourself in a cluttered maze of tombs without names, once-gorgeous-but-long-since-gone mausoleums and the odd hole waiting to be filled. Not creepy at all, just very tranquil and soo interesting!

More photos!

Paris j'adore!

It's not that I'm here on holidays. I mean, there are a lot of good reasons for me being here: I'm doing an internship for which I'll get credits back at my university in Munich; I'm (kind of) continuing a class which I took last November; and last but not least it's good (and necessary) to brush up my French, considering I'll definetely need it sometime in the future. But let's face it: the reason why I'm REALLY here is that at some point last summer I decided it would be cool to spend some time in Paris. And it turns out I was completly right :-). So let me give you five reasons why it's so awesome to be here:

• Baguette, ficelle, flûte ... I prefer white bread anyway and the French have mastered it like no one else. Even the cheap stuff from the supermarket is much better than most of the so called baguettes in German bakeries, not mentioning the heaps of good bakeries you find on every other corner.

• The metro. Well, I can understand if some people don't like it and in some stations it's quite dingy, but it's certainly got a charm of its own. And part of this charm is that you NEVER have to wait more than ten minutes - in most cases only two or three. Add to that a very dense network with plenty of interconnections and you know why buying a Pass Navigo is a good thing after all.

• The parcs. Admittedly, having a garden of our own, I don't spend much time in public parcs in Munich, but I doubt nonetheless that they are as plentiful and varied as here. Yesterday I discovered Arènes de Lutèce, an ancient Roman amphitheatre in the heart of a residential area and nowadays a popular place for football and boule.
  
  


• La Seine. I personally find it quite astonishing if a place can actually keep up with its photos. In times of Photoshop I've lost a lot of my confidence in photos. But then, you wander along the quais of the Seine, you cross over a bridge - and there it is, the most kitschy-postcard-view you can imagine. And think of all the places to have pique-niques!

• The houses - they are just soo beautiful! I'm really not the kind of person that likes wandering around willy-nilly, but Paris is an exception, so I've taken it as a habit to explore the town after work. And it amazes me every single day.

Now that I come to think about it, I realize that I've had all those feelings when I came to the city for the first time. Back then, I must have been about ten or eleven and finally seeing Paris, about which I had read and heard so much, left a very strong impression on me. However, this feeling wore off during my following visits - I already "knew" the city and was keen on seeing new places. When I came back last autumn, I hadn't been here for four years and in the meantime, had visited a lot of other places, most of them in China and Asia. And while I absolutely love China as a country, none of the cities there has ever filled me with awe like Paris does - now that I've found the right perspective again.


PS: I definetely need to get one of those T-shirts. I mean, "I love Paris" is nice, but not really French, n'est-ce pas?

Strasbourg

Me voilà de retour de Strasbourg! I had a fantastic weekend in this cute city near the German-French border. It's only about two hours by train (TGV) from Paris and I've passed it several times on my way from or to Paris, but somehow I never had the time to get off. The only reason I finally made it there was because my dear brother had a competition in a small town on the German side of the border and my family and I thought it would be fun to meet somewhere in between - good choice!

I took the iDTGV early on Saturday morning. As its implicated by its name, this train is a TGV (high speed train) with some special features. iDTGV carriages are usually added to a normal TGV and are always in the second half of the platform which you can access only with a valid ticket. That's pretty neat because it spares you waiting for the controller once you're on the train. iDTGVs are divided in two areas which you choose when you book your ticket online (and we're talking of fully online-booking where you can print your ticket yourself - not like the one "online"-tickets you still have to print at a vending machine). iDZap is also called family area because you're allowed to talk as loud as you want to. They also have promotions going on there and you can rent entertainment equipment like PSPs or portable DVD players. The other area is iDZen where of course, you're not allowed to use your mobile. They even turn off the lights when you're travelling early and specifically ask you to speak quietly.
I don't know whether I'd go to iDZen when travelling together with someone, but being alone it was very comfortable indeed and my current cross-stitching made some good progress.

Once I arrived in Strasbourg, I met up with my family and bf and we conquered our hotel "Le Grand Hotel". As our rooms weren't due to be ready till 3.00 pm we set off for a first explorationary walk through the city centre - and got a little disappointed. It seems that Strasbourgians aren't exactly early birds (okay, it was already around noon) and it took us a while to find a café that was open AND not just a libanese fast-food. Admittedly, later that day we made it down to the more southern part of the isle and had a very good shopping experience (my bf enjoying the various Pimkie-counterparts for men which still haven't found their way to German shopping malls), so it's not that you can't spend both money and time in Strasbourg ;-). Dinner was French pique-nique style (there's a Monoprix at the nothern side of Place Kleber, if you'll ever need to find a supermarket in downtown Strasbourg).

Today, with no shops except for souvenir stalls open we had time enough to do some sightseeing. The cathedrale is superb, I like it even better than the one in Amiens although this one has not been declared a World Cultural Heritage Site (on the other hand, all of Strasbourg's city center has).

The Petite-France district is also every bit as picturesque as I was told beforehand. In a way, it's a European version of Fenghuang with lots of small bridges and traditional houses - though half-timbered and not in Miao-style.

As for culinary experiences, we didn't miss Tarte flambée (the thinnest I've ever eaten) and found a delicious gelateria (on Rue du 22 novembre, right opposite LaFayette). I was a little puzzled that Alsaciens claim "Bretzel" to be a local speciality, so I had to try one of these too - but honestly, it's a very cheap copy of the Bavarian original recipe!! I'd recommend you stay with baguettes *g*.

Okay, that's it for now. Have a busy week ahead of me (Friday was my first day where I really worked from early till late - nice change!). Don't forget to check out the rest of the photos!