Early Spring I

It's Spring now - definitely! On friday Locarno measured 23.8°C! Imagine: 30°C in Summer is really hot in Switzerland and now in January we have almost 24°C... In Schaffhausen we have pretty warm 15°C and everywhere you can see blossoming flowers and hear birds singing. The previous weekend I went to the Lindli for the first time in 2007. It was a sunny day with almost no wind, so I took off my sweater and sat there reading in the t-shirt. I made it into the local newspaper, as a journalist wrote an article about the mild weather and saw me sitting there...

Last week it was pretty stormy as the hurricane Kyrill sweeped over Europe. Once as I was outside, it was as I would walk into a wall because of the wind. And besides it was pretty dangerous as many trees or branches crashed down on the streets.

Recently I bought an 80GB iPod in black! I know 80GB is much, but so I can use it as external harddisk...

On sunday evening we went to the cinema and watched the swiss movie "Breakout" with Stress, Melanie Winiger and Max Loong. So yesterday I was pretty tired at uni but fortunately my some lectures were cancelled, so me and my friends went drinking something at bQm.

Maybe I have to finish our Paris story: New Year was a beautiful day and we again went to the Eiffel Tower, later to the Pantheon and besides we just strolled around. The next morning we had to get off very early to get to the airport. In Basel we went to Starbucks again and in Zurich once again, where we met my cousin and talked a bit, as he also was in Paris during High School.

Paris VI

After our first night at the new hotel, we intented to climb the Eiffel Tower. There was again a pretty long queue... So we had a devilish plan :-) We went along the queue and took some pictures and slowly but surely we fused with the queue... We paid 3 Euro entrance fee and climbed up to the first and second platform. We didn't went up to the third one on 274m as it was quite foggy and the sight was limited. But anyway, we had a superb view over Paris!
Later on, we strolled around the neighborhood and found some small food markets and we really felt the french atmosphere!

As it was New Year's Eve, we bought some Champagne and went home to relax a bit, before we intended to go to the Champs-Elysées to watch the firework. But as we were again on the streets it rained cats and dogs. We decided to drink coffee somewhere, couldn't find one but a Chinese Restaurant! After a delicious dinner we went back to the hotel and took a bath with Champagne...

Besides: The firework was cancelled!

Paris V

In the morning of the following day we had to check out at the hostel and check in at the Hotel Belfort in the 11th Arrondissement. This hotel was on a calm street but still not far away from the metro stop Voltaire. We had everything there: A big supermarket, a bank, small fruit shops and many bakeries. The room and the bed in the hotel was bigger than the other one and we even had a bath.

We were very happy it wasn't that cold anymore, no, we felt as if it was spring already because now the temperature was far over 10°C. So we just walked around the 11th arrondissement and we soon came to the Bastille, a prison, known because of the storming on July 14, 1789, which is considered the beginning of the French Revolution. This date is now the French national holiday.


We walked and walked and soon we were at the Place de Vosges, the oldest square in Paris. We again saw the Notre Dame from behind and decided to see the Pigalle at night before returning to the hotel.

Paris IV

The third day started as the second ended: Bloody cold! It was around -2°C but with a strong, icy breeze that made the felt temperature decreasing to -7°C. As we had warm clothes we didn't care and went to the westernmost extremity of Paris, to La Défense. It's the largest business district in Europe and lies on the Historical Axis, which begins at the Louvre in the centre of Paris and crosses the Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe. Maybe the most important building at La Défense is La Grande Arche. It should represent a 20th century version of the Arc de Triomphe and was completey in 1990.
The Arche is almost a perfect cube and it has been suggested that the structure looks like a four dimensional hypercube projected onto the three dimensional world.

As it was that cold we had a coffee at Starbucks and wrote several postcards for our friends. As it was still sunny, we decided to take the metro to the possibly most recognized monument in the world: The Eiffel Tower. Including the 24 m antenna, the tower is 324 m high. At the time of its construction in 1889, the tower replaced the Washington Monument as the world's tallest structure, a title it retained until 1930. The queue was so unbelievable long we walked on by to see Les Invalides, a complex Louis XIV initiated in 1670, as a home and hospital for aged and unwell soldiers: the name is a shortened form of hôpital des invalides, the hospital for invalids. Tired of the coldness and getting hungry we took the metro to Les Galeries Lafayette, a big departement store with a beautiful dome in the middle.


As soon as it was 18'o clock, we went to the Louvre because on fridays everyone under 26 will get free entry. We only had to show our passport and in no time we were amid hundreds of paintings and sculputres. We were pretty tired, so we just wanted to see Leonard da Vinci's oil painting Mona Lisa!
In the hostel we met some Austrians as they were cooking in the hostel kitchen. Suddenly a deafening alarm siren went off. It was the fire alarm because of a pan that was was too hot. A few minutes later the fire brigade was there with three cars and the whole hostel was in trouble... :-)

Paris III

After a bloody cold night in the hostel, we got our free breakfast with bagettes and coffee and then climbed up to the 130m tall Montmartre Hill, that overlooks Paris.
Sadly it was pretty foggy and we couldn't see that far. We went into the well-known Basilica of the Sacré Cœur that was built from 1876 to 1912. Its white dome is a highly visible landmark in the city, where just below it artists still set up their easels each day amidst the tables and colorful umbrellas of Place du Tertre.
We walked around the narrow streets and found many galleries, artists and cafés. Famous artists, such as Dali, Monet, and Picasso had studios or worked around Montmartre.
Then we looked for the Café "Deux Moulins" on Rue Lepic 15, where the movie "Amélie" was set. It was so crowded with folks, we had to wait 40 minutes until we finally got our Café crème and Crême brûlé.
From the café it's just a short walk to the famous cabaret Moulin Rouge in the district of Pigalle. Then we took the metro to Place de la Concorde and walked to the Champs-Elysées and on the way we took some photos of L'église de la Madeleine, a huge church, of the Palais Royal and the major tourist attraction Notre Dame. It's widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture.


Finally we went to the Centre Pompidou, where the French national modern art museum is located. The building structure is very distinctive: The coloured external piping is the special feature of the building. Air conditioning ducts are blue; water pipes are green; and electricity lines are yellow. Escalators and elevators are red. White ducts are ventilation shafts for the underground areas. Even the steel beams that make up the Pompidou Centre's framework are on the outside.
Besides there are some very nice paintings shown: All in blue. You need much time to see every detail... :-) But it's not my duty to judge modern art...

As we were getting very tired we found a Starbucks right around the corner and had a coffee.

Paris II

This time I decided not to travel with a direct train to Basel but with a stopover in Zurich. In Basel we met a friend of mine and went to Starbucks to chat and drink some coffee. Then we took the bus to the EuroAirport.
The flight was pretty short and we could see a beautiful sunset from the sky. In Paris we took the train to Gare de Nord where we took the metro to our hostel on the Montmartre Hill. We just left our baggage there and went on the way to the Tour Montparnasse, with 210m the tallest skyscraper in France. The 58 floors of the tower are mainly occupied by offices, while two floors are open to the public: The 56th floor with a restaurant, and the terrace on the top floor. Up there, we had an absolutely stunning view of Paris!


Back on the ground, we bought something to eat and went to the Champs-Elysée and walked up to the Arc de Triomphe where we took the metro back to our hostel.

Paris I

This morning we came back from our awesome holidays in Paris! It was just pure pleasure being in the capital city of France! We experienced that much during our six day trip: We went on top of the Tour Montparnasse, on the Eiffel-Tower, had another stunning view from the top of the shopping mall Galleries Lafayette, walked along the Champs-Elysées, climbed up to the top of Montmartre to see the Sacre-Coeur, went into the famous Notre-Dame, had free entry to the Louvre and much more... We even witnessed a fire alarm in our hostel. But I'll soon post everything in chronological order.