卢浮宫, 埃菲尔铁塔 (Louvre, Eiffel Tower)

6月27日，星期三 Wednesday, Jun 27th

终于在巴黎了，PJG的许诺终于实现了 😀

I’m truly in Paris! PJG’s promise finally came true 😅

昨天下午离开伦敦，坐了欧洲之星火车直达巴黎，火车的行驶时间大概2个小时，非常轻松，一路上有很多隧道。到了巴黎后，我俩买了2套10张一套的地铁车票，坐了两班地铁到了民宿的住处。房主来到楼下接我俩上去，简单的介绍了一下她的公寓，厨房，卧室，洗手间看起来都不错，她还给我俩准备了一个法式面包棍。 这里的床是一个特别的床因为它是圆的！ 还挺舒服的。 房主好像是一个专门给小丑演员化妆的，所以她的房间有很多各种小丑的画，海报和小雕塑等，很有意思。 这个民宿位于拉丁角，是一个比较热闹的地方，5分钟走路的路程就有很多咖啡馆，饭店和酒吧等，特别方便。这个楼里有一个老式的电梯，只能容纳两个人，和赫尔辛基那个差不多，稍微先进一些，因为电梯门是自动开关的。我俩的房间在三层，有一个小阳台，可以坐在那里喝杯茶或是红酒，然后观赏楼下来来来往往的行人和车辆，很有意思。

We left London yesterday afternoon and took a two hour Eurostar train to Paris – It was really easy. There were many tunnels along the way, including the famous one, the Chunnel underneath the English Cannel. After arriving in Paris, we bought two sets of ten subway tickets (called a Carnet) and took two subway lines to get to the AirBNB. The owner came downstairs to meet us and briefly introduced her apartment. The kitchen, the bedroom and the bathroom looked good. She also prepared a French baguette for us. The bed here is a special bed because it is round! Though still quite comfortable. The homeowner seems to be a makeup artist dedicated to clowns, so her room has a lot of clown paintings, posters, and small clown sculptures. It’s very interesting. This homestay is located in the Latin Quarter and is a very lively place. There are plenty of cafes, restaurants and bars within 5 minutes walking distance; all very convenient. As with the Helsinki place, there is an old-fashioned small elevator in the building, which can only accommodate two people – similar to Helsinki but is slightly more advanced because the elevator doors are automatically closed. Our place is on the third floor and we have a small balcony where we can sit and have a cup of tea or a glass of wine and from there we can watch the coming and goings of the pedestrians and vehicles. It’s very interesting.

巴黎，这个充满了浪漫，神秘，时尚色彩的地方，我终于在这里了。离开了大都市伦敦到了另一个大都市巴黎，一路上我在想，巴黎会和伦敦有什么区别？ 。一下了火车，进入到巴黎，顿时那种神秘和浪漫的味道扑面而来，似乎那些法国著名画家近在咫尺般，那完全听不懂的语言，那完全看不懂的文字，那些经常在电影中看到的在咖啡馆门前的一排一排的座椅，和坐在那里享受惬意时光的人们，让我对巴黎顿生喜爱。就像10多年前第一次去香港，去那个我众多神圣偶像出生和生长的地方，对巴黎竟然有了那种很神圣的圆梦的感觉。

Paris, the place full of romance, mystery and fashion colors; and I am finally here! Having left the London metropolis to another metropolitan city, Paris, along the way I wondered, what is the difference between Paris and London? Will it be the same, only with a different language? After taking the train and entering Paris the mysterious and romantic taste suddenly came alive. It seemed that all those famous French artists were in close proximity everywhere. The language that was completely incomprehensible to me, strange new words, many often heard in the movies. The rows of seats that I saw in front of the cafe and the people who sat there for a pleasant afternoon coffee made me immediately love Paris. Just like the first time I went to Hong Kong more than 10 years ago and we went to the place where many of my beloved movie idols were born and grew up, I feel like I am having a treasured dream in Paris!

卢浮宫博物馆 – The Louvre Museum

今天早上去了大名鼎鼎的卢浮宫博物馆，PJG早在几个月前就已把门票买好，原本门票是下午1点，我俩早上大概9点一开门就去了，想看一下是否会允许我俩进去，因为4点我俩还要埃菲尔铁塔。结果非常没有问题，博物馆似乎并不在意，而且凭票可以在一天内出入三次呢。

This morning we went to the famous Louvre Museum. PJG had already bought tickets a few months ago but the original ticket was for a 1 PM entry. We went there early, about 9:10am to see if they would allow us in early, mostly because at 4pm we also had tickets to the Eiffel Tower (a major screw up by PJG 😂) But it turned out, there was no problem at all – The museum didn’t seem to care.

卢浮宫博物馆，怎么说呢，太有历史了，太富丽堂皇了，太大了，太有气派了，（就不在这里记录历史了，在网上很容易找到。）是我见过的最大气的博物馆了，可以把多幅经典的艺术作品放在一张墙面上展出，我以前从来没见过的，真的是大包眼福啊。而且这里有蒙娜丽莎，维纳斯雕像等等原版。PJG和我在这里看了5个多小时，还只是略识皮毛而已。

The Louvre, how to describe it? It’s so historical, so grand, so big, so stylish, my words could never do it justice. It’s enormous with massive classic works of art on every  wall – I have never such a place  before. It is really a big deal. And here, the originals of the Mona Lisa, Venus statues, and so many others. Although we visited the Louvre for more than five hours; I still feel we have only scratched the surface.

卢浮宫曾经是法国国王的居住地，下面是三张图是路易十四曾经用的会客厅，华盖等，对比在伦敦看过的英国国王威廉三世的宫殿，法国国王真是奢华啊。

The Louvre was once the residence of the King of France. The following shows Louis XIV living room and bedroom canopy. Compared to the palace of the King William III, which we saw in London, the king of France’s rooms are truly luxurious.

在卢浮宫能够见识的东西太多了，花个几天在这里都不会重复的，能够感受到这么庞大的博物馆的一点皮毛就很知足了  😀

There are way too many things to be seen in the Louvre and even if we spent a few days here you would not see the same thing twice! As we say in China, “you can feel a little fur” – meaning we have only scratched the surface of the treasures here.

埃菲尔铁塔 – The Eiffel Tower

接下来去了大名鼎鼎的埃菲尔铁塔，做地铁几站地直达。PJG也是提前几个月就买好了门票。 塔底下周边在进行不知道什么修建项目，倒是成土飞扬不是很容易走进入口。埃菲尔铁塔有312米高，曾经是世界最高人造建筑，当然现在的高楼大厦是越建越高。 铁塔建于1889年，为显示法国的建造技术，作为巴黎世博会的一件展品而建，只是当时是遭到一些艺术家的批评的。如今成为法国，巴黎的地标性的建筑，每年吸引着世界各地的游客参观。在炙热的大太阳下，排队的人很多，PJG和我大概等了半个小时，终于上了塔顶。看到美景后，觉得那个等待真是值得的。

After exhausting ourselves at the Louvre, we took a 30 minute subway to the famous Eiffel Tower for our 4pm ride to the top. There was a lot of construction around the bottom of the tower, not sure what they are planning to build, but it is not easy to get into tower courtyard.

The Eiffel Tower is 312 meters high and was once the tallest building in the world. Of course, there are many other taller buildings now. The tower was built in 1889 to show French construction techniques and was built as an exhibit for the Paris Expo. It was criticized by some artists at the time and considered an eyesore. However, it is now a world landmark and attracts visitors from all over the world every year. In the hot sun, many people were lined up, and we probably waited about a half an hour for our time slot before we were finally at the top of the tower. After seeing the scenery, it was more than worth the wait in the hot sun.

在塔上可以对巴黎的市容全貌一览无余。

From the tower, you have a full 360 view of the city of Paris.

今天好累啊，走了一天，天气很热。现在是半夜11点，我也懒得检查上面的错别字或是不通顺的句子了，晚安吧。明天PJG要租车，开车在巴黎周边去几个他父亲曾经游览过的地方，很期待。

It was so tiring today and the weather was very hot. We left at 8am and it is now midnight and I can’t be bothered checking for typos or coherent sentences. Good night. Tomorrow PJG rented a car and we will drive through some northern towns above Paris to visit several places his father had visited in 1949. He is looking forward to it, I am looking forward to sitting in the passenger seat for some rest!