La tour Eiffel
23 June 2008
I had a relatively slow morning. I visited the post office to get stamps and a small news stand to get postcards, as I was planning on climbing the Eiffel tower in the evening and I had heard that there was a post office at the top and that it had it's own postmark specifically stating that it was mailed from the tower. On my way back to the apartment, I stopped in a little shop and in my efforts to look more Parisienne I got myself a couple of shirts and a couple pairs of shoes - one pair of ballerinas, and one pair of sandals. I had planned on getting lunch at a little restaurant recommended by Jamie in her book and, more importantly, recommended by Isabelle; unfortunately, I ran out of time because of my putain d'atelier de rapport de stage. (I won't translate that word for word, because it's not very polite... I'll just leave it at my workshop for my internship report).
After the workshop, I met with a girl from my class, Sara, so we could prepare for our oral presentation in class that evening. This was the same project for which we had visited the 10e arrondissement a week earlier on Saturday. Class that evening was filled with presentations - we were the second of three. Usually a presentation takes about 15 minutes, and then Lionel spends about 45 minutes going over everything else in the text that he didn't feel was sufficiently covered... And with our 10-15 minute break in the middle of class and the fact that we usually start about 5 minutes late, that takes up the full 2 hours. With 3 presentations, he had to cut himself back from speaking quite as much. I would like to hope he wouldn't have needed 45 minutes after our presentation, and at any rate I hope this was the case. I think we did well, but we will see.
Somehow, it's hard for me to really stress too much about this class....... But, after all, it is summer, and who wants to study while they are in Paris, for goodness sake!
After class, Killian and I went to get food for a picnic on the champ de Mars just next to the Eiffel Tower. We got a baguette (of course) and then some kind of dry salami, and ham, and some kind of cheese, and cherry tomatoes, and peaches, and apple-litchi juice. A very good picnic!
We had hoped to be up in the tower to see the sunset, but we took a little too long getting our food and eating it, and then the lines were a little long, so the sun had already set by the time we got up. Nevertheless, the scenery in line was assez beau :
Et maintenant, je vous offre la même vue de la Seine et le Palais de Tokyo, à l'Ouest de la tour, de trois temps différents : And now, the same view looking to the West from three different times
It was really peaceful to watch darkness settle over the city, and the lights were beautiful. Here is a view looking South down the Seine :
While the city may be getting dark, the tower lights up :
And, more than that, every hour, on the hour, she sparkles. Lights flash for about 10 minutes. Here is a short video to give a small idea of what the lights are like :
It was a really pleasant evening - the temperature was just perfect, there weren't too many people as it was a Monday evening, and Killian and I always have a good time together. I found my post office (on the first floor) and the view from the second floor was great. Unfortunately we did not make it to the very top, because on the ground we bought tickets for the stairs, which only go as far as the 2nd level, and then we were too late to get tickets to ride the elevator to the top by the time we got to the 2nd level to buy said tickets. I have heard the view isn't really much better anyway, and I assume this would almost certainly be the case at night... or at least, I will tell myself this. :)
We climbed down around 11:45, and I made it home around 12:30. The days are certainly never short here!
I am aware of how far behind I am in my reporting, and I promise I will try to catch up soon... As soon as I am done writing my paper that is due in class tomorrow evening (yet again, so little motivation....) So with any luck,
A bientôt,
I had a relatively slow morning. I visited the post office to get stamps and a small news stand to get postcards, as I was planning on climbing the Eiffel tower in the evening and I had heard that there was a post office at the top and that it had it's own postmark specifically stating that it was mailed from the tower. On my way back to the apartment, I stopped in a little shop and in my efforts to look more Parisienne I got myself a couple of shirts and a couple pairs of shoes - one pair of ballerinas, and one pair of sandals. I had planned on getting lunch at a little restaurant recommended by Jamie in her book and, more importantly, recommended by Isabelle; unfortunately, I ran out of time because of my putain d'atelier de rapport de stage. (I won't translate that word for word, because it's not very polite... I'll just leave it at my workshop for my internship report).
After the workshop, I met with a girl from my class, Sara, so we could prepare for our oral presentation in class that evening. This was the same project for which we had visited the 10e arrondissement a week earlier on Saturday. Class that evening was filled with presentations - we were the second of three. Usually a presentation takes about 15 minutes, and then Lionel spends about 45 minutes going over everything else in the text that he didn't feel was sufficiently covered... And with our 10-15 minute break in the middle of class and the fact that we usually start about 5 minutes late, that takes up the full 2 hours. With 3 presentations, he had to cut himself back from speaking quite as much. I would like to hope he wouldn't have needed 45 minutes after our presentation, and at any rate I hope this was the case. I think we did well, but we will see.
Somehow, it's hard for me to really stress too much about this class....... But, after all, it is summer, and who wants to study while they are in Paris, for goodness sake!
After class, Killian and I went to get food for a picnic on the champ de Mars just next to the Eiffel Tower. We got a baguette (of course) and then some kind of dry salami, and ham, and some kind of cheese, and cherry tomatoes, and peaches, and apple-litchi juice. A very good picnic!
We had hoped to be up in the tower to see the sunset, but we took a little too long getting our food and eating it, and then the lines were a little long, so the sun had already set by the time we got up. Nevertheless, the scenery in line was assez beau :
Et maintenant, je vous offre la même vue de la Seine et le Palais de Tokyo, à l'Ouest de la tour, de trois temps différents : And now, the same view looking to the West from three different times
It was really peaceful to watch darkness settle over the city, and the lights were beautiful. Here is a view looking South down the Seine :
While the city may be getting dark, the tower lights up :
And, more than that, every hour, on the hour, she sparkles. Lights flash for about 10 minutes. Here is a short video to give a small idea of what the lights are like :
It was a really pleasant evening - the temperature was just perfect, there weren't too many people as it was a Monday evening, and Killian and I always have a good time together. I found my post office (on the first floor) and the view from the second floor was great. Unfortunately we did not make it to the very top, because on the ground we bought tickets for the stairs, which only go as far as the 2nd level, and then we were too late to get tickets to ride the elevator to the top by the time we got to the 2nd level to buy said tickets. I have heard the view isn't really much better anyway, and I assume this would almost certainly be the case at night... or at least, I will tell myself this. :)
We climbed down around 11:45, and I made it home around 12:30. The days are certainly never short here!
I am aware of how far behind I am in my reporting, and I promise I will try to catch up soon... As soon as I am done writing my paper that is due in class tomorrow evening (yet again, so little motivation....) So with any luck,
A bientôt,
Comments
I had seen the extra lights on la Tour, in the webcam, but didn't realize how fast they were flashing. (webcam refreshes every 10 seconds....)
Sounds like a very lovely evening.