Hi, friend! How have you been? Oh, it has already been October!! I have been working for the TOEIC, the Humorous Speech Contest, and other presentaions at the Toastmasters etc… I have TONS of stories to tell you! But before those, let me finish my SUMMER trip journal!!On the morning of July 14th, you could hear this conversation betweem my hubby and I in a (small) hotel room in PARIS.
Keiko:"Common, honey! Wake up!! Today is our first day in Paris!!"
Tom:"Are you serious? We just came here from London yesterday…we need sleep more..."
K:"No way! Paris is a BIG city!! We have many many places to go to!!"
It was almost the same conversation at the first day of London!!
July 14th is a special day for France. On the same day in 1789, enraged citizens attacked the Bastile jail. The Bastile fell, and it meant, the French Revolution became successful! In France, the day is called Fête de la Fédération or just Quatorze Juillet (Jult 14th.)
But in Japan...it is famous as a French Revolutionary Day!!
Keiko:"Wake up! Today is the French Revolutionary Day, so we can see a splendid parade along Ave. des Champs Elysées(シャンゼリゼ大通）!!"
Tom:" We should? I don't like the crowd...OK! I'm going!!"
Thus, with a pleasant agreement(?,) we took the Metro to get to Arc de Triomphe(凱旋門）. The Metro was already crowded. Just following the bunches of people, we went throught the exit of the Metro. Shortly after, THE ONE jumped into our eyes...
THE ONE!! The Arc de Triomphe!! Hey, this is a significant architecture in Paris!!
However...Mmmmm...that was not the REGULAR Arc deTriomphe! The one with tanks & armies!!
"Of course this is why today is the French Revolutionary Day! It makes sense!" We muttered & started to walk again.
The parade was supposed to start at 10:00am. We arrived at the Ave. des Champs
Elysées at 9:30am. Oh, crap! We were late to get good positons? Some children were held up by their fathers and kept in higher positions like "on the" telephone boxes!!When we looked up, there were many spectators in the windows of the higher buildings along the street. From offices, apartments...not only along the street, but also "up the street," many people were looking forward to the parade!!
Then, we noticed...not all of them were "spectators." We saw several cops who leveled their guns to look for people like terrorists!! Can you see them(two cops between the trees) from the picture??
" Hey, it 's really serious!!" My hubby and I became tense. They had to do so... The new French president, Nicolas Sarkôzy, would participate in the parade, and he invited some international VIPs.
SO, that meant we could see Mr. Sarkôzy! That's exciting! We waited, waited, and waited....
At 10:30am, the parade didn't start. We mistook the time schedule? But the American couple next to us saw the time table, and it said " The parade starts at 10:00am!" Then, the roar of planes exploded, and people got excited. Wow!! The airshow started!!!Several planes flew along the Ave. des Champs Elysées, and left the smoke like tricolor(red, blue, and white)!
"It's beautiful! It is the beautiful prologue of the French revolutionary parade!!"
However, the parade still didn't seem to start. My hubby finally gave up and left the crowd to find a seat, but Europeans were so patient!! They didn't complain (or I just didn't understand what they were talking about), and kept smiling & waiting!
Around 11:15am, the parade finally started!!
(By the way, in the right picture, can you see Zinedine Zidane, who is a French succor hero? He is SO popular in France that he appears in many advertisements!)
"Yeah! Come on, Mr. Sarkôzy! Where are you!??" I said to myself, but...several minutes later, the parade stopped.
The soldiers on the parade talked with each other, just looked relaxed. Actually, the parade was intermittent!! They started, stopped, and started again...
I, a Japanese girl, felt my limit of patience. Maybe French people might be so flexible...in a good meaning and a bad meaning...
"It's enough! I don't care about Sarkôzy! Let's get out of here!"
I took my hubby's arm, and left the crowded place.
"
So, where should we go today?"
Because that day was the French Revolutionary Day, many things were so irregular!! Most shops and museums were closed on that day. We went to the Place de la Bastile because it was the most meaningful place for the Revolution, and there were shopping streets which opened at the day!
Here is the Place de la Bastile(the picture.) Around the place, there is Opéra Bastile which is the ne
w opera theater.
It was almost the end of the opera season, so there were many French poeple who made a line to get tickets for the last show!
Then, a cavalcade started...
"Oh, it's good! This is also the French Revolutionary parade, but here,the Bastile is not so crowded!"
Then, my hubby whined his voice and said, "I'm hungry, Mom... I want to go to MAC's! MacDonald's!!"
"Seriously? There are many fashionable cafes and fine Japanese restaurants. We have plenty of MacDonald hamburger shops in America... OK! I'm going!!"
We saw the big sign of the Macdonald, and it was written "200M devant Prochain juin"
I knew the French word, "devant" was "ahead." "We are lucky! There is a MacDonald shop 200 meters ahead!!"
We walked, walked, and walked... But we couldn't find it! Finally, we went back and saw the sign again. I looked up the meaning of the next line, then we knew... "Prochain juin" meant "Next June!!" I should have studied French more...
However, my hubby has a special sense of smell. He said, " I can smell MacDonald's! Follow me!"
Five minutes later, we found a small MacDonald Restaurant inside an office building!! His sense of smell was amazing!
Can't he use it for more helpful things??
Since we woke up early to watch the French army parade, finally we could have seats and be relaxed in MacDnald's, a very American fast food restaurant. The American restaurant? But actually, that was different from the one in America...
Off course we could eat hamburgers, but most of the French ordered small hamburgers and big salads. In American MacDonald shops, most people have pops, like Coke or Sprite, and they are refillable. However, almost all Parisienne(women in Paris) ordered a small bottle of Evian! Water! Those small daily efforts affected their beautiful figures? My hubby and I looked at each other's big bottles of Cokes...
Anyway, we think we burned the calories of the hamburgers and Cokes because we kept walking even after lunch.
We looked through a flea market, some unique shop streets, and advanced toward Île de la Citê(シテ島.) While we were walking, I found many nice crêpe shops or pâtisseries... But we felt like "We need to do our mission! Do sightseeing as much as we can!!"
Therefore, we didn't have a break.
The closer we came to the Cathédral Notre Dame de Paris, the bigger the cowd became. Recently, I heard Île de la Citê was popular among young French people because there were many fashionable shops! When Napoléon Bonaparte had the coronation ceremony at the Cathédral Notre Dame de Paris in 1804, he must never have imagined this area would become such a youthful place!
However, in front of the Cathédral, so many tourists packed in to take pictures of the beautiful religious building. We also took pictures, trying to avoid the crowd.
At last, we took the Metro to get to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower! The symbol of Paris!! When I saw the shape, I almost forgot my long-walking-fatigue.
"Look at this! Here it is ! We ARE in Paris!!"
In contrast to me, my hubby wasn't excited at all.
" What is the difference between the Eiffel Tower and the Tokyo Tower or Sapporo TV Tower?? All of them look the same to me!" "Shut up!! The difference is IT IS IN PARIS!! Girls just love Paris!!"
We intended to climb up the Eiffel Tower to see the Paris secenery. However, because that day was an IRREGULAR day... the Eiffel Tower closed much ealier than usual! They would have a big consert in front of the Eiffel Tower. Oh, that's the Champ de Mars （シャン・ド・マルス公園）was so crowded with people who tried to get nice seats!
We decided to come here again, and went to see the Hôt
el des Invalides(アンヴァリッド）, a former hospital where Napoléon Bonaparte slept in a grave!! But the atmosphere around the Hôtel des Invalides looked IRREGULAR... We didin't know "the regular Invalides,"but it was obvious! Because there were 
many soldiers who stood by to do something around the place!!
Being a little bit afraid, we walked toward the Hôtel des Invalides. Then, we saw... the French Army Show!!
We saw some banners saying, "Armée de terre( Land of the Army.)" It sounds scarly, doesn't it?
There were many tanks,helicopte
rs, etc, etc... The friendly soldiers let the children ride in them!
Look at the picture! Yeah, children? Yes, children and an unfamiliar? Asian...
Before the parade at the Ave. des Champs Elysées, soldiers did the same thing. They had taken pictures with children, and given rides in the tanks. Maybe it was to teach them the patriotic spirit. But I was scared! If many French children dreamed of being a soldier, and wanted to fight with other countries... Maybe I took it too seriously??
Beside serious me, my hubby said it loudly in Japanese.
"So, the Frenc
h Revolutionary Day is "Look-at-us! We-are-so-strong" Day? I didn't know that!!"
"Yeah! Come on, Mr. Sarkôzy! Where are you!??" I said to myself, but...several minutes later, the parade stopped.
The soldiers on the parade talked with each other, just looked relaxed. Actually, the parade was intermittent!! They started, stopped, and started again...
I, a Japanese girl, felt my limit of patience. Maybe French people might be so flexible...in a good meaning and a bad meaning...
"It's enough! I don't care about Sarkôzy! Let's get out of here!"
I took my hubby's arm, and left the crowded place.
"
So, where should we go today?"Because that day was the French Revolutionary Day, many things were so irregular!! Most shops and museums were closed on that day. We went to the Place de la Bastile because it was the most meaningful place for the Revolution, and there were shopping streets which opened at the day!
Here is the Place de la Bastile(the picture.) Around the place, there is Opéra Bastile which is the ne
w opera theater.It was almost the end of the opera season, so there were many French poeple who made a line to get tickets for the last show!
Then, a cavalcade started...
"Oh, it's good! This is also the French Revolutionary parade, but here,the Bastile is not so crowded!"
Then, my hubby whined his voice and said, "I'm hungry, Mom... I want to go to MAC's! MacDonald's!!"
"Seriously? There are many fashionable cafes and fine Japanese restaurants. We have plenty of MacDonald hamburger shops in America... OK! I'm going!!"
We saw the big sign of the Macdonald, and it was written "200M devant Prochain juin"
I knew the French word, "devant" was "ahead." "We are lucky! There is a MacDonald shop 200 meters ahead!!"
We walked, walked, and walked... But we couldn't find it! Finally, we went back and saw the sign again. I looked up the meaning of the next line, then we knew... "Prochain juin" meant "Next June!!" I should have studied French more...
However, my hubby has a special sense of smell. He said, " I can smell MacDonald's! Follow me!"
Five minutes later, we found a small MacDonald Restaurant inside an office building!! His sense of smell was amazing!
Can't he use it for more helpful things??
Since we woke up early to watch the French army parade, finally we could have seats and be relaxed in MacDnald's, a very American fast food restaurant. The American restaurant? But actually, that was different from the one in America...
Off course we could eat hamburgers, but most of the French ordered small hamburgers and big salads. In American MacDonald shops, most people have pops, like Coke or Sprite, and they are refillable. However, almost all Parisienne(women in Paris) ordered a small bottle of Evian! Water! Those small daily efforts affected their beautiful figures? My hubby and I looked at each other's big bottles of Cokes...
Anyway, we think we burned the calories of the hamburgers and Cokes because we kept walking even after lunch.
We looked through a flea market, some unique shop streets, and advanced toward Île de la Citê(シテ島.) While we were walking, I found many nice crêpe shops or pâtisseries... But we felt like "We need to do our mission! Do sightseeing as much as we can!!"
Therefore, we didn't have a break.
The closer we came to the Cathédral Notre Dame de Paris, the bigger the cowd became. Recently, I heard Île de la Citê was popular among young French people because there were many fashionable shops! When Napoléon Bonaparte had the coronation ceremony at the Cathédral Notre Dame de Paris in 1804, he must never have imagined this area would become such a youthful place!
However, in front of the Cathédral, so many tourists packed in to take pictures of the beautiful religious building. We also took pictures, trying to avoid the crowd.
At last, we took the Metro to get to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower! The symbol of Paris!! When I saw the shape, I almost forgot my long-walking-fatigue."Look at this! Here it is ! We ARE in Paris!!"
In contrast to me, my hubby wasn't excited at all.
" What is the difference between the Eiffel Tower and the Tokyo Tower or Sapporo TV Tower?? All of them look the same to me!" "Shut up!! The difference is IT IS IN PARIS!! Girls just love Paris!!"
We intended to climb up the Eiffel Tower to see the Paris secenery. However, because that day was an IRREGULAR day... the Eiffel Tower closed much ealier than usual! They would have a big consert in front of the Eiffel Tower. Oh, that's the Champ de Mars （シャン・ド・マルス公園）was so crowded with people who tried to get nice seats!
We decided to come here again, and went to see the Hôt
el des Invalides(アンヴァリッド）, a former hospital where Napoléon Bonaparte slept in a grave!! But the atmosphere around the Hôtel des Invalides looked IRREGULAR... We didin't know "the regular Invalides,"but it was obvious! Because there were 
many soldiers who stood by to do something around the place!!Being a little bit afraid, we walked toward the Hôtel des Invalides. Then, we saw... the French Army Show!!
We saw some banners saying, "Armée de terre( Land of the Army.)" It sounds scarly, doesn't it?
There were many tanks,helicopte
rs, etc, etc... The friendly soldiers let the children ride in them!Look at the picture! Yeah, children? Yes, children and an unfamiliar? Asian...
Before the parade at the Ave. des Champs Elysées, soldiers did the same thing. They had taken pictures with children, and given rides in the tanks. Maybe it was to teach them the patriotic spirit. But I was scared! If many French children dreamed of being a soldier, and wanted to fight with other countries... Maybe I took it too seriously??
Beside serious me, my hubby said it loudly in Japanese.
"So, the Frenc
h Revolutionary Day is "Look-at-us! We-are-so-strong" Day? I didn't know that!!"The night of the French Revolutionary Day was also IRREGULAR.
Many eople enjoyed the concert in front of the Eiffel Tower, or danced all night long in the Place de la Bastile!! I want to say, "Oh, that was really exciting! I felt like I was une Parisienne!!" But in reality, we didn't have the night activities. We watched the TV program of the concert in our confined hotel room. I took the left picture from TV!!
We stayed two days more in Paris! What will happen next!??
1 comment:
You write very well.
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