Welcome to the blog of Can Sar, a Stanford CS major. This blog is made up of my thoughts on Computer Science and the computer industry, as well as ever exciting tales from my life.
I am blogging this from a keyboard that is mostly normal, with a few notable exceptions, that are making it difficult to type. Please excuse any stupid spelling mistakes, they are probably not my fault.
The last three days have been incredibly hot. Two days ago we reached a maximum temperature of 39 Degrees Celsius, which is the record for at least the last 10 years. Because of the heat it has been impossible to spend the entire day outside, so Nora and I usually try to leave early, go back to the hotel around 3 or 4, cool down, and then leave again in the evening. Fortunately, Paris at night is a lot more beautiful than during the day anyway, so it is not that much of a problem. Unfortunately, the nights are not much colder than the days, the only difference is the lack of direct sunlight, the temperature is pretty much the same, which makes sleeping very difficult.
2 Days ago
We went to see the Eiffel Tower, which was very nice. We decided to not to the top because of the terrible line at the elevator and our refusal to deal with the possibility of fear of heights. Oh, and they hqd a fire up there 2 weeks ago.
After that the heat started affecting us, so we decided to go to St. Germain des Pres, which turned out to be a bad idea, due to the non existence of air conditioned restaurants in that part of Paris. We walked to the Quartier Latin, where we were so overcome by hunger, that we had to settle for a restaurant without air condition. We then hoped that some shade in the Jardin (garden) du Luxembourg would help against the heat, but that turned out to be insufficient. After sitting there for a few minutes we realized that we had to return to the hotel. Oh, and it was a Sunday and all stores were closed, so we had little to drink.
After cooling down in the hotel, we tried going outside again, and were surprised to find that the weather had improved to the point where staying outside without burning to death was possible. We took a train to the Gallery La Fayette, which is in a nice part of town, and was closed. Unfortunately that nice part of town did not have any restaurants. We wandered around, walked to Les Halles, then to the Louvre, then along the Seine to Notre Dame and the Quartier Latin, where we found an excellent Italian restaurant. We sat there until around midnight watching the people walking by.
1 Day ago
Overwhelmed by the heat we went to Les Halles, a large shopping mall that is mostly underground, but still flooded in light (due to ingeniously arranged windows), and fortunately air conditioned. Nora allmost flipped out when she saw that they have a La Redoute store there, which apparently is a mail order company where everyone in Austria who has a sense of fashion orders their stuff, mostly because there are no fashionable clothes in Austria. Nora found a really nice jersey, which was reduced by 50 percent, and as we went to the cash register, the store clerk announced that everything in the store would be reduced again for 2 minutes. In the end we got the jersey for 7.50, not bad!
We stayed in Les Halles for at least three hours, mostly because of the air conditioning, and went into pretty much every store. They had a very nice electronics store, where they had pretty much every Apple model available, which is very rare in Europe. It looked like people were a lot more fascinated by them than by all the PCs for sale. I wonder how Apple will fare in Europe in the future.
After the shopping we were in definite need of a break. In the evening we went to La Defense which is a large square with lots of really nice sky scrapers surrounding it, and a really impressive building called La Grande Arche. The place is the largest technology center in Europe, and was definitely worth a visit. The Arche is on line with the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre, so if you had really good eyes, you could stand under the Grande Arche, and see from there to the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre. After that we went to the Eiffel Tower, which is about a hundred times more beautiful at night than during the day. We took lots of pictures, which came out surprisingly well. Digital photography is great.
Oh, and we got some news regarding driving school. I'll add them to the extended section. They make for quite some reading, check them out.
Today
Today we went to La Fayette, where all the newest French fashion is sold. Our opinions of the place were quite mixed. The best thing about it was the powerful air condition. The architecture of the building was great. The clothes were definitely overpriced, and not THAT exceptional. Overall, its a nice place to go to look at clothes, but not to buy them.
After that we went to Le Marais, which is supposed to be a really nice part of Paris, but we didn't quite make it to the nicer places, before the heat started overwhelming us again. We took the metro back to the hotel, but did get to see the wonderful Bastille metro station, which is located right on top of the Seine, so you can see the water while waiting for your train. The Bastille itself was completely destroyed long ago.
Now we will probably be heading for the area around Notre Dame, and walk along the Seine, which, at night, is full of tourist ships. Tomorrow is our last day in Paris, and I'm not sure whether I will have internet access for quite some time. So if you want to email me, email me today. Till later. Oh and check out the extended entry.
Driving School Updates:
Our driving instructor quit his job, because he apparently found a better one.
We will arrive in Vienna on the 28th of August, and have our theoretical exam on the 5th of September, so far so good. Due to the lack of space in our driving school, we will have to take it at a different school.
We will have to take all our lessons with a different instructor.
We will have our practical exam on the 10th of September, which is really early.
Because of this, we will have to change the dates for most of our driving lessons.
We will have to take a lesson almost every day in order to fit them all in.
We will have to go the the driving training a lot more often in order to make up for the lack of time. Fortunately Nora's mom is willing to take us.
I will not be able to retake the exam in case I flunk, because I would have to wait another 2 weeks to take it again. By that time I will be in the US. So I really hope I do not flunk the exam. About half of the people taking the exam flunk it.
Wish us luck!