Paris
As promised, MC and I made a trip to Paris. It was not without its difficulties even to get there, but these were not exactly related to the trip itself. Bad omens were ShabuShabu's astute refusal to start the engine (the ADAC had to jumpstart the car, and the battery had to be replaced) and several hours ineffectively spent around the Kaiserslautern post office.
But then, we arrived in Paris alright and determined to have a happy new year.
And so it was. It was incredibly cold, windy, rainy at times, and outrageously expensive, but Paris is great any time of year. The last time I've been there was probably in 7th grade as a language exchange student, so freshing up on all the sights, museums, and churches was (American colloquialism ahead) all da hoot. More or less according the vague draft as follows, it were some foot-hurt-filled days.
The plan turned out to be slightly too ambitious, it turned out that (as heard before) France is no North America (and thus has no Internet anywhere), so lugging Oolong along was a weird idea, but still, with the tourist guide book in hand, it proved to be successful.
Fireworks on New Year were disappointing (basically nonexistent), but throngs of people were still trying to get to the Tour d'Eiffel on time.
Praying for no rain one day resulted in snow the next.
Parking was an adventure, but ultimately rewarding.
Stupidly enough, I forgot all but one of my credit and debit card PINs - so I had to pay for everything Euro-ish with my American account, in dollars.
I saw a guy in front of Notre-Dame who had an R1. I approached him, we nodded to each other, and we each went our ways.
The last day, desparate over still not having been to the Tour Eiffel, on the way back I drove straight to the tower. Against all expectations, we found a parking spot not even 50m away from the base, the ticket booth line was short (due to extreme cold, sure), and the view at Paris at dusk was spectacular. But frosty.
And although it has nothing to do with Paris, today I gave a short presentation about RONAF's 3D ultrasound to the surgical robotics winter school audience here at JHU. The faculty attending are to a large extent old acquaintances from 2003's Montpellier summer school. Although that "acquaintance" is rather unidirectional, I believe.
---
More pictures of Paris will follow. Today I am too exhausted from the last few days of Matthias (our Fraunhofer project partner) being here, doing experiments, and yesterday attending an extremely long kidney operation until very late at night that was far from successful in the end. But more to come.
---
More pictures of Paris have been added. Gosh, doing this in Blogger is incredibly time-consuming.
But then, we arrived in Paris alright and determined to have a happy new year.
And so it was. It was incredibly cold, windy, rainy at times, and outrageously expensive, but Paris is great any time of year. The last time I've been there was probably in 7th grade as a language exchange student, so freshing up on all the sights, museums, and churches was (American colloquialism ahead) all da hoot. More or less according the vague draft as follows, it were some foot-hurt-filled days.
Dezember
29. Pont Neuf 桥
29. Schiffahrt auf der Seine 赛那河
29. Pantheon 先贤祠 (offen?)
29. Tour d'Eiffel 爱飞尔铁塔 (9h30 à 23h45*; Dernière montée 23h00 (pour le sommet 22h30))
30. Louvre 卢浮宫
30. Place de la Concorde 协和广场
30. Galeries Lafayette
30. Printemps
31. Centre Georges Pompidou 蓬碧度 (December 24 and 31, the Centre Pompidou will be closed at 7pm. Tickets available until 6pm. The Pompidou Center is open every day, except Tuesdays and May 1, 11am-10pm.)
31. Musee d'Orsay 奥赛博物馆 (9.30-18 Uhr; 21.45 Uhr donnerstags; Montags Geschlossen)
Januar
1. Sacre Coeur 圣心教堂
1. Notre Dame 巴黎圣母院
1. La Defense 拉迪芳斯新城
1. Arc de Triomphe 凯旋门
The plan turned out to be slightly too ambitious, it turned out that (as heard before) France is no North America (and thus has no Internet anywhere), so lugging Oolong along was a weird idea, but still, with the tourist guide book in hand, it proved to be successful.
Fireworks on New Year were disappointing (basically nonexistent), but throngs of people were still trying to get to the Tour d'Eiffel on time.
Praying for no rain one day resulted in snow the next.
Parking was an adventure, but ultimately rewarding.
Stupidly enough, I forgot all but one of my credit and debit card PINs - so I had to pay for everything Euro-ish with my American account, in dollars.
I saw a guy in front of Notre-Dame who had an R1. I approached him, we nodded to each other, and we each went our ways.
The last day, desparate over still not having been to the Tour Eiffel, on the way back I drove straight to the tower. Against all expectations, we found a parking spot not even 50m away from the base, the ticket booth line was short (due to extreme cold, sure), and the view at Paris at dusk was spectacular. But frosty.
And although it has nothing to do with Paris, today I gave a short presentation about RONAF's 3D ultrasound to the surgical robotics winter school audience here at JHU. The faculty attending are to a large extent old acquaintances from 2003's Montpellier summer school. Although that "acquaintance" is rather unidirectional, I believe.
---
More pictures of Paris will follow. Today I am too exhausted from the last few days of Matthias (our Fraunhofer project partner) being here, doing experiments, and yesterday attending an extremely long kidney operation until very late at night that was far from successful in the end. But more to come.
---
More pictures of Paris have been added. Gosh, doing this in Blogger is incredibly time-consuming.
Labels: France, France 2008, France 2009, Personal, Travel
posted by PJS at
Friday, January 16, 2009
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