A Weekend in Paris

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent this past weekend in Paris. One of Rui's colleagues from her lab drove us from Lübeck to the train station in Hamburg, and we caught the night train to Paris. We travelled in a "couchette" car, which has rooms with two triple bunk beds for six people. We coincidentally shared the room with Prajwal, a RISE Pro student (another DAAD program for grad students to have industrial internships in Germany) from India (and a grad student in the U.S.) who apparently was at the Dresden meeting with us. We also shared the room with an Indian IBM employee temporarily working in Hamburg and touring Europe, as well as a couple who I think were Norwegian and German, if I recall correctly. Prajwal was really interesting because he's a more adventurous traveler than most, and shared his stories and photographs. He often avoid trains and hostels, opting instead to hitchhike and find shelter using couchsurfing.com. Rather than only visiting European cities, he hiked to some of the most beautiful sights in the world, including glaciers and a secluded mountain in Norway (Kjerag) where there is a boulder wedged between two cliffs. He had some great photographs of him standing on the boulder, I'm a bit jealous of his experiences.

After getting some sleep on the train, we arrived in Paris in the morning (albeit about half an hour late). After figuring out how to buy a ticket, we hopped on the metro and met up with Rui's friend Rosie, who is working at the Pasteur Institute for the summer. Rosie managed to hook us up with a free place to stay, as her friend who was away for the weekend graciously lent us their flat. After dropping off our stuff, Rosie started showing us around Paris. After a brief stroll through the gardens near the flat, we took a walk by the river towards Notre Dame Cathedral. The sides of the bridge over the river near Notre Dame were covered with padlocks with the names of couples written on them. I've seen similar displays on other bridges in Europe, including in Lübeck, but none had as many as this bridge in Paris. We did not brave the long line to enter Notre Dame, but we admired the intricate gothic architecture from the outside. We continued exploring and found a piano available to the public as part of a campaign called "Play Me I'm Yours," and Rosie played a little piano for us. We soon made our way to  Le Marais, which is apparently both the gay and lesbian district and the Jewish district of Paris. Here we grabbed some falafel and ate it in a little park.

After lunch we continued exploring, admiring the grand architecture of the city. We found a public viewing of the Olympics, with red phone booths bringing a taste of London to Paris, but we did not stay for long. We soon found another park to relax in for a little while (Rosie had a problem with her foot and needed to stop and rest every now and then).

Eventually we made our way to the Louvre. I wasn't able to go into the museum, but I was amazed at how large the Louvre is from the outside. You could probably spend a whole week in the museum. By the Louvre I had my first glance of the Eiffel Tower from a distance. We planned to have a picnic by the Eiffel Tower, and soon found a grocery store to buy food for dinner. We bought a bottle of champagne (technically it was only sparking wine because it was a cheap bottle, and not actually from Champagne, France), some salami, chocolate, and some sort of pâté (I think it was duck meat). We found a bakery and bought their last two baguettes, and found a spot to sit in the grass near the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately the sunny weather we had all day changed into ominous clouds, but we had enough time to eat our food and drink our champagne before the rain came down. We waited for the rain to stop under a covered platform, and from there we saw the tower light up as it got dark. Lights quickly flashed on and off at different positions on the tower, causing the Eiffel Tower to glimmer. After the rain stopped, we headed back to the flat to change before going out again for the evening. We went to an outdoor club where we met some of Rosie's other friends. One of her friends was from Connecticut and had worked on a project involving EEG-based BCIs, very similar to what I am working on here (if you're wondering, I have so far failed to get good results, and now have less than a week to change that).  We did not stay at the club too late because we were very tired after walking all day (and strangely, the music outside stopped before 1 AM, even though most European clubs do not become busy until after 1).

On the first Sunday of every month all the museums in Paris are free, so we thought we might be able to go to the Louvre, although I expected it to be very crowded. Unfortunately, I had an alarm clock malfunction, and slept a couple hours later than I planned. After finally getting up, Rui and I first went to the Arc de Triomphe. The Arch is in the middle of a large traffic circle (Place Charles de Gaulle), and at first we didn't notice the underground tunnel to get to the arch, so we waited for a break in the traffic and ran across. We climbed to the top of the Arch, where we had a magnificent view of Paris. Twelve major roads meet at the traffic circle (and radiate out like a star), so the Arch feels very much like the center of the city. We had a great view of the Eiffel Tower, as well as the modern business district, La Défense, with its ultra-modern Grand Arche (built in the '80s). I also liked watching the large traffic circle below; I saw both a Lamborghini and Ferrari drive by, and was amazed by what I can only call "organized chaos" as traffic passed through the circle.

After visiting the Arc de Triomphe, we planned to meet up with Rosie again by the Louvre. Unfortunately, the lines for the museum were very long, and I did not have enough time to wait. We tried another art museum nearby, only to find lines that were just as long, if not longer. We gave up on the museums, and instead found a place to eat crepes for lunch. After lunch we took the Montmartre funicular (incline) to a hill in the northern part of the city. There we saw Sacré-Cœur Basilica, as well as a great view from the highest point in the city. We saw the nearby Moulin Rouge, and I grabbed a donut from a bakery and a panini. Soon Rosie had to go, and I did not have much time left before my train. Rui and I took the metro to Place de la République, but the square was under construction, so there wasn't too much to see. We sat in a park for a while before heading to the train station. There I said goodbye to Rui, before boarding my train back to Lübeck.

On the train I found that I was once again sharing a room with the IBM employee from India (I admit I forget his name, but he was very friendly). I also shared the room with a girl from Buenos Aires and a woman and child from Sweden (although the woman was originally from France). There was another guy in the room, I think he was French, but he did not seem interested in conversing with us. In the morning, the train arrived to Hamburg 80 minutes late, but I eventually made it back to Lübeck, getting to work very late. I spent a lot of time on trains this weekend, but it was great to visit Paris. You can see my pictures here.

This is my last full week in Lübeck, my trip has gone by very fast. This Friday I will take another night train to Munich, and I will return to Lübeck one last time Sunday night. Next Monday will probably be my last day of work, and I think I will spend Tuesday morning in downtown Lübeck for the last time, before heading to Hamburg. I will hopefully spend the night in Hamburg with another RISE intern, and then I will fly home Wednesday morning. It's crazy that soon I need to start preparing for my final two semesters at Pitt, but for now I will try to enjoy my last week in Deutschland.