Bichblog goes English

Werte Leserschaft dieses schönen Blogs,

anderthalb Wochen sind nun seit dem Spiel des ruhmreichen BVB in Marseille vergangen. Über die Geschehnisse dort ist genug geschrieben und diskutiert worden, sodass wir uns dazu nicht weiter zu äußern brauchen. Die beiden frankophilen Bichs, Herwig und Horst-Kevin, nutzten jedoch die Gelegenheit zu einer Bildungsreise ins wunderschöne Paris. Doch damit nicht genug, vor Ort konnten wir eine australische Reiseführerin engagieren, die uns endlich einmal die wahre Geschichte der Stadt näherbringen konnte. Klug wie wir sind, haben wir sie die Erlebnisse des Tages aufschreiben lassen, um euch an ihrer Weisheit teilhaben zu lassen. Vergesst also alles, was ihr bislang über Paris gelernt habt und erlebt hier im Bichblog die große geführte Schnurzel Sightseeing Tour durch Paris. Das Beste an der Sache: Sie kostet euch keinen Cent! Wenn wir den Namensgeber der Tour damit nicht glücklich machen, wie dann? Aber lest selbst und huldigt der Autorin:

 

PARIS

By Hayley McHayley

 Paris. The city of love. The city of lights. The city of chance meetings. And who should I meet in this star-studded medium-to-large sized town? None other than two of the Gebrüder Bich and the most famous two at that! The one with the glasses and the one with the hair. Imagine my surprise when I should run into these world-famous stars below the Great Paris Tower! And so, after a little swooning, giggling and photo taking on my part as head of the Australian branch of the Gebrüder Bich fanclub we decided to set out together (or rather I was asked to remain several paces behind) on a tour of the great capital of France.

Paris, known by locals as Paris, is an ever expanding metropolis along the Great Paris River which has been home to many philosophical and literary movements as well as advances in fashion, design and culture. One of the most notable periods in Parisian history was of course la belle époque which saw the invention of the bell, a great milestone in human history and precursor to the buzzer.

Finding ourselves below the very monument that is the Great Paris Tower we decided to make it our first port of call and learn a little of this magnificent structure’s history. The Great Paris Tower, over 800 metres tall, was erected in 1952 by the Romans in honour of one of France’s most famous monarchs and Grandmother to the current Queen of France, Marie Antionette. When told that the people were starving and had not enough bread to eat, this ever charitable and inventive monarch replied simply: “let them eat cake”. And that is exactly what they did. And what celebrations there were in the streets that night. How the people were merry and laughed and ate and drank. And so it was that when the Romans arrived in France at the end of the Second Great War in 1952 they erected the famous Great Paris Tower, which, unbeknownst to many, is entirely made of matchsticks. It is today considered one of Paris’s finest historical treasures.

Once our necks were too sore from gazing skywards at this fine structure we decided to continue our journey onwards to the the Great Paris Church. In the centre of the town, on the Great Paris Island in the Great Paris River, stands the Great Paris Church. Built well over a century ago this magestical edifice is of the equine school of art, a period which saw for the first time a strong movement towards the arts and notably towards architecture and design by the horse population of Paris. Construction first began on this Great Church in 1839 and the original workers were said to have been paid in bales of hay and cubes of sugar. Having only their hooves to work with, this edifice was labour intensive, but today remains one of the great beauties of the equine architecture movement, a school which was renowned for its stable structures. The period unfortunately was but short-lived as horses were at this time being replaced by automobiles and the engines just did not seem to possess the same perception of beauty as their equine counter parts. The main architect behind the Great Paris Tower, Jacques Horserton III, was unfortunately wrongly arrested after a rather heated manifestation just shortly before the termination of the Church and was, despite protests, sent to the glue factory where he worked until the end of his short life in 1861. It has since been noted as one of the saddlest days in art history and a statue has recently been erected in the square before the church in his memory.

Wishing to pick up our spirits after such a depressing tail, we decided to make our way to the Moulin Rouge, the world-famous Sex-O-Drome and Paris’s famous postcard quarter where the finest and most inexpensive postcards can be found and generally purchased for a small fee, or child. It was really in this neighbourhood that we were able to rub shoulders with the locals and get to know the vibrant and colourful and always welcoming people of Paris. They shared their stories with us, we laughed, we cried, we yawned.

O Paris, what beauty you have shared with us. What wisdom. What passion. What excitement. With such a sense of belonging and fulfillment (and on my part a hair sample of both the Gebrüder Bich for my private collection) we decided to leave our tour of Paris there and make our way through the labyrinth of pristine streets and alleys Paris is famous for and head towards our respective lodgings, our minds and hearts full of new wonders and experiences and longing to know more of this town which is much more than just the capital of France, but the capital of the world. Even more than just that, it is our own individual capitals, for really when you think about it, is not Paris inside each and every one of us? Or is that just indigestion?