六月， 2012： 艾菲爾鐵塔， 巴黎， 法國

After coming up from the catacomb, it is time to go see the tower, Eiffel's tower.






But first, I need to check out the train leaving for Italy. Gare du Nord, the north station, is the kind of hugh station where the train station criscrosses with the metro subway station. It is also on the way to the tower, so I decide to find out about tickets, timetable and rail passes over at the Gare du Nord. This gare also serve as the gateway to France for visitor coming in through the channel tunnel. The EuroStar from England stops at this station.


These days, the train to England stops in St Prancras station in London. But, many years back, when I first took the EuroStar into London, the trains stopped in Waterloo station. I thought it was rather undiplomatic on the English side to have a visiting train from France stop in Waterloo. After all, Napoleon suffer one of his biggest defeat in the hands of the Brits down at Waterloo. Sometime in October, a BBC correspondent sent back a dispatch comparing Gare du Nord with St Prancras. He wasn't aiming to be diplomatic either, starting the article with: "Anyone who uses the Eurostar regularly gets to know the station at either end pretty thoroughly, so I do not think I will be the first traveller on the line to make the following observation - St Pancras: Gem. Gare du Nord: Dump." I am not sure how great London is these day, but I wouldn't go that far as to describe the Gare du Nord as dump. That article concluded with "I feel it now. St Pancras is a better destination than the Gare du Nord." I guess it meant, by extension, London is a better city than Paris.

The queue at the railpass counters were long and slow. But that was to be expected. This being summer, hordes of tourists doing the circuit were probably flying into London and then descending down south into Paris. I do feel the information dished out by the railway staff left quite a bit to be desired, though, especially when compare to the German railway. Some of the info were wrong and misleading. When I asked if Greece is still a valid destination under the Eurail pass scheme, I was told it wasn't. Although Turkey is. I was given a Interrail pass map, which shows that the statement was correct. When I ask if the map were valid for Eurail pass, I was told it was. Well, none of that turn out to be true. What is exasperating is that the lady in the counter simply come up with these wrong info off the top of her head, without even bothering to pull up a screen on her PC to check. I decided it would be better to sort out other source of info before handing in the cash for the pass.

Off to the tower then.

I was not impressed at first sight. The lower half of the tower was blocked by trees and it looks pink to me, a dirty shade of pink.
 
But as I got closer, it became apparent why a seemingly simple structure came to be the icon of this city. The is sometime about the symmetry of the structure, and I guess the setting by the Seine helps. Not to mention that the city planners has not allowed other building to tower over it within the proximity.

It was not surprising that a long queue had already formed for the climb up the tower. Didn't help matters that there was a "technical incident".

But I guess any visitor who venture out to Paris in summer would sooner or later get use to standing in line at any of the more popular sites. Even when leaving the country, it was another long queue at the custom to get an exit stamp on the passport. Ironically, there were no queue at all in any of the Paul restaurants I saw in Paris. If you have been to Takashimaya when Paul first settled in, you understand the irony.

The tower was built in time for the Paris World Expo in 1890. The Expo was where great advancement in science and invention was showcased. Thomas Edison was one of the visitors. On one of the horizontal beam of the tower, the name of some of the greatest inventors, discoverers, engineers and scientists can be found. They are big enough to be visible from streetlevel, you just need to look up. These are name that some of us grown to hate after a course of O-level physics. These were names that gave units to physical properties, like Ampere to electric current. The building of the tower may look chicken feet to us these days, but it probably would not have been possible without the advancement in metal forging, engineering and electric lighting. Imagine lighting it up with gaslight. It must have been exciting times for those fortunate to visit that expo, and marvel at all the groundbreaking inventions. I can't get myself excited about the Shanghai expo, what is it in there that would get anyone excited? 動態清明上河圖？ The Little Mermaid plucked from Copenhagen? And Armstrong is dead, and we still have not made that return trip back to the moon. We have lower our collective expectation so much that all it take to excite us is for Apple to release another version of their iWhatever. All it takes is for a young man to make it to the front of the Apple shop queue on product-release day for him to make front page news. Doesn't he have a life? Assuming he doesn't, haven't he at least discover the joy of masturbation yet?......Opps, sorry, I got carried away with my rumbling.....

In this way, the expo and the tower was symbolic of the dawning of a new era. At least one detective writer went further. In "The Paris Enigma", the tower was actually a threat to the occultists of the day. On such a bright summer day, the theory may sound a bit far-fetch, but remember that 1890 isn't that far removed from the year when Jack the Ripper was terrorizing London.

 
If comparison can be made of the two stations at the ends of the English Chunnel, maybe I can attempt the same for the two towers: the Eiffel and the tower of London. The Eiffel is light and modern; while the London (with its stories of royal prisoners and killings) is dark and medieval.

I made my way across the Seine to the Right Bank. The left bank is supposed to be about poets, philosophers and artistes. I haven't been on the left bank long enough to know if this still hold true. But what immediately greeted me on the right bank were what used to be royal residents. Of course, France has long since been a republic, so that royal residents I see now are mostly used as museums and art gallery.

Almost 7pm, but the sky is still bright. Would love to have stay around for the tower to light, but this being summer, that would by at least 2 more hours away.
 
I head back to the hostel. Before we leave the tower, a Decauville railroad was built for the 1889 Paris Expo. I couldn't find sign of the track, so I assumed they were removed sometime after the Expo was over. And also, Mr. Eiffel, before he gained fame with the tower, his day job was that of a railway bridge designer.
 
The St. Christopher's hostel is by now party central. The Euro 2012 games is playing on the screen in the common room. Strangers meeting in the pub on the ground floor were having their beer and exchanging traveller tales. The beds were mostly empty as my young roommates headed out for their nightout. 
Those who were still in the room were putting on their makeup. I felt too old for this scene. I decide to check out the next morning and find myself a hotel room. Not that there was any room for me the next day.