UK & Paris (Part 2) - Shonan Boy's Adventures

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UK & Paris (Part 2)
6 November, 1996 - 13 November (for 8 days)

Part 1 <===> Part 2 <===> Part 3

Part 1	London, Windsor Castle, Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, The Monument, Trafalgar Square, House of Parliament, Big Ben, British Museum, Hyde Park
Part 2	Eurostar, Paris, Montmartyer, Concorde Plaza (Place de la Concorde), Louvre Museum (Musee du Louvre), Champs-Elysees Avenue (Avenue des Champs-Elysees), Arch of Triumph (Arc de Triomphe de L'Etoile), Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel), Champ de Mars Park (Parc du Champ de Mars), Notre-Dame Cathedral (Cathedrale Notre-Dame)
Part 3	Bath Spa, Royal Crescent, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Castle, New Town, Old Town

About UK
The formal name of UK is "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". Great Britain island consists of "England", "Wales", and "Scotland". These places and Northern Ireland is called "UK".

In Japanese, this country name means "Igirisu", it is very short name. "The language of English" means "Eigo" in Japanese.

During Industry Revolution, the atmosphere of London had been smoggy. To light a stove was forbidden. People lend their houses by the week. Some owners of lent houses furnish luxury curtains and carpets, and they want to collect expensive house rent. The people who will lent it can negotiate furniture and house rents. For example, I do not need this curtain... LON PAR

9 November (4th day)

One-day Trip to Paris on the "Eurostar"
In the morning, I took the "Eurostar", and it was the first time to take a international train. At first I took the underground to Waterloo station, and proceeded to Waterloo International station of the Eurostar. It is only for Eurostar, different from Waterloo station of British Rail. All seats of this train are reserved. Passengers should check-in at least 30 minutes before departure time, then need security check before boarding.Since November 2007, the "Eurostar" trains have been changed departure and arrival station ; "London St. Pancras International". (about 2:15 between London and Paris)

I took the train 9010 the "Eurostar" at 08:23 bound for Paris Nord. It had run at 60km/h for about 15 minutes, then it ran 160km/h. As trains that had already departed were delayed, my train was also delayed. It made a brief stop at Ashfold International. Passengers cannot get off in UK domestic portion on the Eurostar. I saw the Eurostar for Brussels Midi arrived later at the next platform. My train departed from Ashfold International, and approached "Channel Tunnel (Euro Tunnel)". I saw the big machine which build this tunnel on the right. And I saw the station of "Le Shuttle" near tunnel. Passengers of Le Shuttle can board by car, and stay in their own car.

This tunnel was not difficult to construct. On the contrary, it was too difficult to construct Seikan Tunnel in Japan because there are many fault line and many kinds of rocks under the ground. And it took about 30 years to construct it. In the Euro Tunnel, there is only one kind of rock, and it took only 6 years to construct.

My train ran at 160km/h in the tunnel, and went out in about 25 minutes, and ran France.

ex-London Waterloo International station

Fire Broke Out in Channel Tunnel
When I said to my boss I wanted to take a vacation, he said I could take it the day I expected to travel after 2 weeks. As I was not free, I could go to UK & Paris the day I expected. If I make a travel the day my boss said, I could not go to Paris. Because a fire broke out in Channel Tunnel on 18 November 1996, almost all the Eurostar had not operated for a long time. Luckily I could go and back the day.

Arriving at Paris
This train arrived at Paris Gare du Nord, 7 minutes late (12:30), 12:23 at scheduled time of arrival (494 km, about 306 miles). Time difference between London and Paris is 1 hour, and it took 3 hours from London and Paris.
The Jew was sent to Auschwitz from this station by farm animal freight car during Nazism.

There are some Paris stations, such as Nord (north), Sud (south), and so on. After I arrived at Nord station, I exchanged my money into French Franc (Euro at present). Long lines! And I proceed to a ticket office of municipal subway station of Metro. Long lines!

the "Eurostar" arrived at Paris Gare du Nord

Difficult to buy a Metro Ticket
When I bought a carnet (10 tickets, 46 French Franc at that time), I said to a station staff in French "Un carnet, s'il vous plait." But I did not understand what he said in French and his body language. His body language was like "good", but I found it meant "one" later. And he showed me a coin of 1 French Franc, nevertheless I did not know what he meant. So I said "I did not understand what you said" in English, and he gave me a carnet and change. He meant that he wanted to give me 55 Franc if I gave him 100 franc and "1 Franc". It was crowded. Also exchange counter was crowded.

It took about 1 hour, from I got off the Eurostar, to take the metro. It was only about 6 hours to take the "Eurostar" for London. Unfortunately on the way to Montmartre, Metro line 2 did not operated at the moment, and I could not change trains. So I walked from there, looking the stores and houses on the street. It was elegant.

penguin Be careful when taking Metro!
When you take the metro, insert your ticket in the automated ticket checker. And doors will open of it after you pick up your ticket. When you get off and go out, there is no automated ticket checker. Open the door for exit. But do not trash your ticket before you go through exit door. Sometimes ticket inspectors examine passengers' tickets. If you trash it, you should pay a penalty.

There are gang of pickpockets in metro. Women with their baby also pick other people's pockets. Please stand the place where is not so crowded, and sit down on the bench at the platform as long as the bench is vacant. If there are some people around you in the train, please go to the place where is not crowded because they may be gang of pickpockets.

Even if you can not speak French, remember the words "exit (Sortie)" and "transfer (Correspondance)" and toward --- district (Direction)" at least. And you can take the metro with ease.

Montmartyer and Sacre Coeur
seen from coffee house

Montmartyer
Arrived in Montmartyer, I had a lunch at the coffee house on the foot of this hill, looking at the hill. Then I went up the stairs of it. After I arrived at the top, I found the cable car that I could take by metro ticket! I thought "Too late!"

The word "Montmartyer" means "Mont (hill)" and "Martyer (martyrdom)". I saw Paris city widely here. There is the Sacre Coeur (Basilique du Sacre Coeur) on the top of hill. It is 83 meters high, 100 meters deep. And there is the Tertre Plaza (Place du Tertre) by it. There were many artists in the making, and they asked tourists they draw tourists faces and sold. Some of them asked me, "Oh! You are good-looking!" (an empty compliment?). I also found Japanese male artist. Going down the hill, I went toward next sightseeing spot by Metro. Canned soda were sold at the Metro station, it was extremely expensive (10 Franc at that time)!

Concorde Plaza ..........(Place de la Concorde) It was begun to built in 1748, and completed in 1763. Luis XVI and Marie- Antoinette were guillotined in 1793 here. There is famous museum "Louvre museum" near it. From Concorde Plaza and Arch of Triumph, it is famous place where there is the Champ-Elysees Avenue.	Louvre Museum .......... (Musee du Louvre) Unfortunately I could not enter because it was closed the day. This museum is very famous in the world, and was established more than 200 years ago.

Champs-Elysees Avenue (Avenue des Champs-Elysees)
This avenue is 2 km long, and 100 meter wide. Since 1828, it has been under the control of Paris city, and gas streetlamps and fountains were furnished. The view in front of this photo is the Arch of Triumphe.

Arch of Triumph

Arch of Triumph (Arc de Triomphe de L'Etoile)
In 1806, Arch of Triumph was begun by Napoleon's suggestion, and completed in 1836 after his death. Though he could not go through it, in 1840 his dead body in coffin returned from UK went through it. It is 49.54 meters high, and 44.82 meters wide. I saw beautiful sculptures under the arch. They say the drivers who drive the rotary in Arch of Triumph for the first time cannot go through it, because it contains 5 streets. While there are many cars here, drivers like this go around this rotary over and over again!

the ceiling of the Arch of Triumph

Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel) &
...Champ de Mars Park (Parc du Champ de Mars)
Eiffel tower was completed by Eiffel in 1889 for Paris Exhibition. At first it was disliked by many people, and they thought it was ugly. It was expected to take apart. But it has been used as people found it was useful for radiotelegraphy. We cannot imagine Paris where there were not Eiffel Tower, can we? Of course there are elevators in this tower, leaning to one side. The park where there is Eiffel Tower is "Champ de Mars Park".
painting

Notre-Dame Cathedral
..........(Cathedrale Notre-Dame)
This Cathedral in Cite island in Seine River was begun to build in 1163, and completed in 1345. It is the Gothic architecture of beginning.

Dangerous Scene to Board TGV?!!
I went back to Paris Nord station. TGV and Thalys (at 300 km/h) are also depart from this station. At first Thalys goes to Amsterdam (Netherlands) via Brussels (Belgium). At present it also goes to Germany via Brussels. terrestrial glove I saw a woman trying to board a departed TGV. This train do not accelerate easily. Even though it was moving at the platform, a station staff opened the door of this train with hand-power from platform. I thought it was too dangerous and incredible. But she could not reached it because she had big luggage.

Back to London by Eurostar
From Paris Nord station, I took train 9055 the "Eurostar" bound for London Waterloo, and it departed at19:19. It was darker outside train. I did not lights outside train while I saw the scenery seen from this train. There are few houses in the farm. Sometimes When I saw lights of line, I found they were streetlamps of speedway. I bought a canned Sprite and sandwich, they amounted to 30 French Franc (about 900 Japanese Yen at that time)?!! In comparison with them selling in Japan, these prices were three times! I paid by French Franc of cash. At present we pay in Euro, we can pay by UK currency.

This train was supposed to arrive at London Waterloo at 21:13, actually it arrived at 21:01 (12 minutes earlier than scheduled time of arrival). As international train travel is easier than international flight, we should not forgot to bring passports. In comparison with flight, immigration of train is easier.

Fighting against a Bee!
Before I arrived in my room, I bought a UK speciality "Fish & Chips", and ate it in my room. Moon

When I took a bath, bathroom was untidy. I wondered. When I moved a curtain, I found a bee I saw the day before. The reason why it was untidy was that a housekeeper ran away to see a bee. I did not want to be with that bee, and I worried when I would be stung by that bee. I was compelled to fought against that bee! I killed it by slipper.

Part 1 <===> Part 2 <===> Part 3