2015.05.08 Sainte-Chapelle (Paris, France)

These are the new high-tech public washrooms of Paris.

I'm all for more public washrooms (because Paris really do need them - judging by the smell in certain metro stations, public urination is a huge problem).

But (you knew it was coming), waiting for these washrooms can take an unbearable amount of time due to the extensive wash-sterilize-dry cycle after each use.

Hygiene is certainly necessary but when a cycle last a solid 5+ minutes, which may not sound long, but adds up quickly.

Saint-Chapelle

Located next to the Palais de Justice, Saint Chapelle served as the royal chapel. It was commissioned by Louis IX in the 13th century, for the purpose of storing the recently purchased relic Crown of Thorns.

The church was heavily damaged during the Revolution and was restored in mid-19th century based on previous drawings and plans. But luckily, over two-third of the original windows survived.

The church is split into two levels. 

The lower level chapel was for the common residents of the palace

Saint Chapelle is definitely one of the more unique churches I've seen on this trip.

Brighter and less sombre than the stony Notre-Dame.

Just look at that amazing ceiling with the painted fleur-de-lis.

Heading upstairs to the upper royal chapel...

... where you're just completely and utterly blown away

(none of my photos could do the chapel justice, so the above is from wikipedia)

There. Are. No. Words.

Can't forget about the floor now, can we?

Some of the cool things we encountered on the way back to the hotel.

Drinking fountain

 

Fontaine Saint-Sulpice

2015.05.08 Notre-Dame and its Bell Towers (Paris, France)

Seems appropriate to start the post here. 

Point Zero marks the center of Paris.

I won't go into too much details about the visit to Notre-Dame since it's a revisit. Just a few thoughts.

What? Stained glass windows can be opened? Mind blown.

Towers of Notre Dame - another item off the "To Do" list left from my previous Paris visit. Due to the towers' popularity and limited capacity, we got in line a good thirty minutes before opening time. By the time the gate opened, the line was wrapping around the block.

While waiting, this guy showed up.

The vaulted ceiling of the gift shop/ticket office.

So. Many. Stairs.

It was a difficult climb, made worse by the nausea-inducing spiraling stairs.

When I saw this dude, it was all worth it.

 Known as Le Stryge ("the vampire"), he is the most famous of all Notre-Dame grotesques (gargoyles, a sub-classification of grotesques, have sprouts).

Left: belltower, Right: some of the corners can be a real tight squeeze

It would have been so much nicer without the ugly metal netting, but I suppose safety first.

Look at them, aren't they just fantastic? From where did the craftsmen conjure them up?

We even got the chance to enter and climb up inside one of the bell towers.

So awesome. But I'm glad we were gone by the time the bells started to ring.

Fantastic views.

We then proceeded up an even narrower and steep staircase to the top of one of the bell towers. Everyone was only allowed five minutes, so no loitering. I felt somewhat bad for the guard up there - having to climb up/down all those stairs everyday, probably multiple times too.

Serendipitously, there was a bread festival happening just across the Notre Dame. So of course, we had to check it out. 

Nothing beats the smell of freshly baked bread.

Tiny wheat stalk bunches. Such a French thing to do.

Snack/Lunch: baguette and apple tart from the festival.

2015.05 Interlude: Camera Troubles (aka "really, I brought this entirely upon myself")

Someone or some article said that given the rate technology is advancing, personal electronics should be upgraded every 2-3 years.

I do not subscribe to that school of thought. If anything, I am the antithesis of device upgrades. Call me sentimental or frugal, but I use my electronic devices until (sometimes, even beyond) their breaking point.

This is the story of my camera woes on this trip.

To be honest, this camera has been through A LOT. It's been my trusty travel companion for more than 15 years. I haven't always treated it nicely - it's been dropped and shoved into bags sans its protective case more times than I'm willing to admit .

When the camera started making sad gear-grinding sounds zooming in/out just before the trip, I should have just let it go to pasture. But instead, I decided to resuscitate - take it apart and try to fix the problem.

And you know what, cleaning and some minor greasing did the trick. And I even managed to put the camera back together without too much of a problem. Okay, somehow there was an extra screw left over but the camera was working so I didn't want to mess with it any more.

I digress. This story is not about my fixer-upper camera falling apart in the middle of the trip. It's about how rapid technological turnover can be an extreme inconvenience (as in, screw you over when you need it the most). Case point: Apple's sudden switch from the 30-pin to lighting connector.

The source of my technical woes all started with my camera's adaptor cable.

The culprit. 

When traveling, my iPad is used as a storage device when the camera memory card is full. So imagine my disbelief when I couldn't find the adaptor cable needed to transfer the photos. After much denial and some frantic searching, I had to accept the fact that I had either lost the cable or had forgotten it altogether.

It will be fine, I calmed myself, I'll just get another memory card. I'm sure things like this happen all the time. And Paris is a metropolitan city, there are bound to be electronic stores all over the place. Easy-peasy.

The hotel's receptionist was nice enough to point me to one of the biggest chains, FNAC.

Think Best Buy meets Indigo

So after the group visit to the Picasso Museum, I headed to Les Halles - shopping mall+metro station. With my abysmal Franglais (which is a real thing, btw. Wikipedia says so.), I managed to find a retail clerk who spoke enough English to help. Alas, FNAC only carried the more common SD and microSD cards, and not the SanDisk Memory Stick PRO Duo I needed. At this point, she gave me a sad look and suggested I try Darty, another electronics chain nearby.

So to Darty I went searching. After some missteps in the underground mall and help from a nice security guard, Darty was found. But alas, despite the wall of camera memory cards, they did not carry what I needed.

I was at a loss.

[Sidebar 1]  
In retrospect, how is it possible that both stores carry Sony cameras but not compatible memory cards? Or compatible adaptors for microSD cards? HOW?!?!
[End Sidebar 1]

One of these would have saved me from so much grief.

Not even the wonderous jewelry room at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs could lighten my mood. As I made my way back to the hotel feeling dejected, an idea came to me. If I could just get a memory card reader, I should be able to connect it to the USB adaptor and transfer the photos to my iPad.

Re-energized, I quickly ran (not an over-exaggeration in this case) to another FNAC (made it just minutes before closing) and was able to find a compatible card reader. Yes! Finally, things were starting to look up.

I plug everything in (memory card to card reader, reader to adaptor, adaptor to iPad). An electronic monstrosity. Yes, the light on the card reader is on. A good sign.

And then, this.

So many many swear words come to mind.

Undeterred, I thought to attempt to upload the photos to Dropbox/Google Drive using the hotel's public computer. It didn't work - the computer was set up for select functions only. The receptionist on duty, seeing my woe, was kind enough to offer the office computer (even though I get the distinct sense that she really wasn't allowed to do so).

But Murphy's Law (and my own stupidity) kicked in - I could not, for the life of me, remember my Google/Dropbox password.

Usually, this is when muscle memory kicks in and saves the day. But as I learned the hard way on this trip, the French do not utilize the QWERTY keyboard. Some keys even have 3 symbols. Just to access the "@" symbol took some trial and error.

WTF?!?

Accolades to Google and their security. It made me jump through so many hoops (sample security question: when did you first start using Google service and which Google service did you use?) when I tried to reset my password. Even after I jumped through the hoops (some guesswork were involved. I mean, who actually remembers when they first started using Gmail?), it still wouldn't let me reset my password. Guess I didn't provide enough proof that I wasn't a hacker but rather just an user who needs to re-evaluate her over-reliance on password autosave.

At several points, I seriously considered just buying a new camera in Paris.

As a Hail Mary, I went back to FNAC the next day (thank goodness it was open, given it was holiday) and bought an USB key. A different receptionist on duty wouldn't let me use the office computer but was kind enough to transfer the photos.

A good 15 minutes on tenterhooks later, success.

I can't say how just relieved I felt. And all this done inbetween a full day's schedule and checking in at our second hotel. Also, did I mention it was raining that day?

Savior. 

I tried looking for familiar brands like Kingston or Sandisk but found only this.

[Sidebar 2]  
One thing I've noticed in Paris is that the retail clerks take a long time with their customers. They don't just answer your questions but conduct an actual conversation, which is great if you're not in a hurry, like I was.
[End Sidebar 2]

Postscript: going through photos now, a lot of the photos of museum artifacts sadly turned out quite blurry. At first I thought my pre-trip tinkering might be at fault, but I realized now that one of the settings wasn't quite right. Again, no one to blame but myself.  

Looks like this camera will go on for just a little while longer.