Today we continued exploring Paris on our own. First of all, we
decided to buy a prepaid SIM card since there is not much public WiFi
available. Tariffs for mobile internet were surprisingly high. Then
we went to Panthéon, observed the famous Foucault pendulum and
visited tombs of the great Frenchpeople, such as Marie and Pierre
Curie, Louis Braille, Victor Hugo, and Alexandre Dumas. It was a bit
weird to notice several crypts fully packed with remnants of
once-powerful statesmen of Napoleonic times of whom no one remembers
nowadays.
Then we encountered the main problem for tourists in Paris: enormous
queues before every 'must see' place mentioned in guide books. So
after admiring the Notre-Dame cathedral from the outside, we decided
to buy a time-stamped ticket for the next day.
We returned to Panthéon to climb its observation deck from which one
can see many other Parisian iconic attractions. After that, we went
to Bastille (which was dull) and Grand Opéra. We didn't go inside but
sat on the stairs in front of the magnificent building and listened
to a street singer who gathered several dozens of hearers. Even
funnier was a homeless man, who pretended to sing the same song using
a can of beer as a microphone standing just before the actual
musician. Although he was dirty and a bit drunk already, he seemed so
organical part of the performance that nobody expressed any disgust.
That's a contemporary culture when we use Grand Opéra facade as a
stage for passers-by with no name and are completely happy with
that:)
We reached the Triumphal Arc when we saw a tremendous column of smoke
raising from far away. We started reading the news and soon realised
that we were not going to the Notre-Dame cathedral the next day.
Neither the next week or even month:(
We ended the day near the Eiffel Tower. Well, not a really pleasant
place to be near. Sellers of souvenirs everywhere, crowds of people,
seemingly endless queues to the tower itself. We went a bit astray,
took a suboptimal route, and returned to Palaiseau only around
midnight to discuss the fire and watch the 'Altered Carbon' series
which we started with our host during his stay in Moscow. I didn't
like the series much. Probably, I'm not a real sci-fi fan.
