travel starts with photography

Chapter 123 Montparnasse Tower
"What's that place?"

Chen Xing pointed to a tall building and asked.

"Montparnasse Tower." Abel said, "the only skyscraper in our old Paris city, which is ugly to all Parisian buildings."

"Why? I think it's fine."

"The reason is similar to that of the Iron Tower. The building is too abrupt in the ancient city, and it is not a pure landmark building like the Iron Tower. It is a building that can accommodate people to live and work. It does not destroy the cityscape at the same time. Design sense, so, he is really ugly."

Parisians pay too much attention to the appearance of the city.

Abel continued: "If Boston City Hall hadn't saved his life, he would be the ugliest building in the world."

"But he should be the best place to watch Paris."

"It's true, we have a famous person who hates this building, but he is always seen drinking in the bar on the top floor of the Montparnasse Tower, and asked him why, he said, because only here, you can't see Montparnasse from the window. Nass Building."

"Let's go and see."

Chen Xing didn't think this building was ugly, although it was indeed out of tune with the surrounding environment, so what?
Which country lacks such buildings?

As a viewing platform, the height of this building is definitely qualified.

Because of the distance, the two took the subway again. If you want to visit as many attractions and museums as possible in Paris, you must buy a monthly pass for the Paris Metro. The price of 79 euros seems a lot, but as long as you take it frequently, you will be fine. You'll find he's really cheap.

If you travel for a short time, there are also weekly tickets and ten-time package tickets.

It was two o'clock in the afternoon when they arrived at the Montparnasse Tower, and the two had just had a meal in the restaurant at the exit of the subway.

The AA system cost only 11 euros on average.

This price made Chen Xing realize that food consumption in Paris is actually not expensive, and the only thing that is expensive is the cost of accommodation.

The adult ticket for the Montparnasse Tower is 17 euros. When you go to the observation deck, you can see that there are glass windows on all sides. Outside the window is today's panoramic view of Paris. It is cloudy and fog-free. Although the view is not as wide as that of a sunny day, it is It's also a different kind of atmosphere.

There are many tourists on the viewing platform, from all over the world, but it is not an exaggeration to say that one-third of them are Chinese.

There was a tour group with about 20 people. Most of the tourists were aunts and uncles, and a few were young people in their 30s. As for younger tourists, they prefer to come to Europe alone, even if they don’t know French or even Do not understand English.

Today's mobile phones have translation software, and the speed of real-time translation is very fast. Although it is a bit troublesome, at least it can communicate with foreigners.

This saves several years of learning a foreign language, which is very good.

Chen Xing stood behind the group of tourists and listened for a while. The tour guide was a Frenchman who spoke Chinese and was introducing the building.

"There are two viewing platforms in this building. The first one is here. It is an indoor viewing platform. You can see a lot of digital devices here. These devices are interactive and have a Chinese version... Hey, You are not my guest, please don't listen behind."

For a moment, the uncles and aunts all looked back at Chen Xing.

This……

You are too careful!
Abel doesn't understand Chinese, so he doesn't know what the tour guide is talking about, but he can tell from his tone that it's not a welcome sentence. He walked up to Chen Xing and said, "Is this how you treat tourists who come to our country? You treat my customers What did you say?"

"Is this your guest?" He froze for a moment.

He thought that Chen Xing was the kind of person who came to Paris alone to travel, and he said that in order to prevent him from listening to his commentary for nothing.

You said you have a guide, so why are you running to me?
"Of course." Abel nodded.

"Then I'm sorry, I thought... anyway, I'm sorry, sir." He said to Chen Xing in French.

His tour group is all Chinese tourists. He only drove him away in Chinese a minute ago. It would be too embarrassing to apologize to him now. He will lead this group for the next two days. If the prestige is lost, There will be a lot of disobedient tourists in that team.

So he apologized in French.

As for whether Chen Xing could understand or not, he didn't care, anyway, this woman must understand.

Chen Xing nodded to the man, and said to Abel: "Let's go, let's go to the observation deck above."

This was a misunderstanding, and he didn't have the time to talk to others here. Taking advantage of the good light, it was time to go to the outdoor viewing platform on the 59th floor of the building to watch Paris.

It's just that his impression of Paris has been slightly lowered.

When tourists come to a strange city, everything they encounter in the city will affect the tourists' evaluation of the city. For example, when Chen Xing met Abel, Abel's rich knowledge and views on China, and even his good looks , let Chen Xing have a good impression of Paris.

The words of the male tour guide also gave Chen Xing a relatively stingy impression of the Parisians.

As for what he will think of this city later, it needs to meet more people and things to decide.

Continuing to go up a few floors, the two came to the second viewing platform of the building. There is an open-air balcony here, and a clearer, unobstructed picture can be taken with a camera.At the same time, there is also a cafe called The 360 ​​Cafe.

The name of this coffee shop can be directly translated into Chinese, called 360 full-angle coffee shop.

Many tourists with cameras took pictures of the Eiffel Tower on this floor. Chen Xing first ordered two glasses of French, then left the dining table and went to the outdoor observation deck.

As soon as he stepped out of the glass door, Chen Xing felt the wind on the platform was very strong. Some people brought tripods up, but the weight of the camera itself was too small to hold back the wind, and none of the tripods could stand up. The wind blows away.

But one person's tripod stood firmly on the platform, motionless.

Because his lens is too big, more than [-] centimeters, it looks like an adult's forearm length.

This kind of lens is not to mention shooting landscapes, even if it is used to shoot the moon.

Chen Xing watched the camera for a long time before walking to the guardrail and looking at the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

Looking at Paris from here is a bit like looking at the ground from an airplane. The environment is very high, and the surrounding buildings are very short. It is easy to appreciate the artistic conception of the mountains and small mountains in the ancient poems. The only tall building is the Eiffel Tower. .

Abel said before that it is disharmonious to have such a tall building in Paris, but looking out from this building, the Eiffel Tower appears as a whole among countless ancient houses.

Paris needs a tall building, a landmark.

Judging from Chen Xing's location, the Eiffel Tower is a very suitable landmark.

Parisians hated the Eiffel Tower from the beginning, and later liked the Eiffel Tower, mostly because the Montparnasse Tower was established, and it has a perspective to view Paris from a height.That's why Parisians will start to like the Eiffel Tower and be proud of it.

But from another angle, what about viewing the Montparnasse Tower from the Eiffel Tower?

Then maybe what you get is not pride, but real abruptness.

It is difficult to make a high-rise building beautiful, and it must not be too modern while being beautiful. The more modern a high-rise building is, the more it does not blend in with the overall style of Paris. Therefore, it is reasonable for Abel to say that it is abrupt. It is useless for viewing the Eiffel Tower.

Chen Xing held the camera steadily to take pictures of the iron tower in the distance.

Cloudy days also have the advantage of cloudy days. When you go home and adjust the color, you can get a very stylized work.

On the way, Chen Xing also went to see the camera with the big lens.

Of course, this kind of lens is not for taking a panoramic view of Paris. From the viewfinder, you can see that the place where the old man took the picture is the Arc de Triomphe, and the angle is very good.

Chen Xing looked at it for a while and asked, "Excuse me, are you shooting time-lapse?"

The owner of this camera is an old man in his seventies, with gray hair and a thin build.

Hearing Chen Xing's question, he nodded and said, "Yes, I want to record the scenery of the Arc de Triomphe during the day. Where are you from? You can speak French very well."

On the contrary, Chen Xing could tell that he was not French, at least not Parisian.

"Hua Xia, what about you?"

"Huaxia, oh, that's a good place, I'm from America, you can call me John."

Chen Xing switched to English and said, "Xing, nice to meet you."

John stood up straight and said with some surprise: "Hey, you also speak English very well, with a New York accent. Have you ever lived in America?"

"No, I practiced it myself."

"Then you are really a genius. I used to live in New York, and I came to France to settle down after I retired."

The two first chatted about photography for a while, and then talked about what John had seen and heard in Paris.

Abel came out and said, "Xing, have you taken the picture yet? The coffee is getting cold..."

Chen Xing invited: "John, let's have a drink together."

John agreed without thinking at all, and the camera was left outside the glass window, making Chen Xing's heart beat faster... He had wanted a lens like this for a long time, so that he could stand far away and take pictures on the top of the snow mountain. The scenery is definitely an artifact for someone like him who loves the outdoors.

Even with low utility.

Who would take such a big guy with him to climb a snow mountain?
"Didn't you take the camera in?"

"Don't worry, no one will touch him, there are cameras everywhere."

He wanted to take pictures of the Arc de Triomphe for a day, how could he take the camera back just after noon?And it was boring to stay here all the time. I happened to meet someone like Chen Xing who could speak American English, which reminded him of his hometown.

Back at the table, John ordered an Americano.

Americano is what China often calls black coffee, which is very bitter, no matter how much sugar and milk are added, it will be very bitter.

The French coffee that Chen Xing and Abel ordered before is just the opposite of the American style. It is a small cup of espresso, which tastes very fragrant and tastes good.

After sitting down, John and Chen Xing continued the previous topic and asked, "So, you are a professional photographer?"

"Yes, the best geographic magazine in our country will soon publish a group of my works, so I should be able to call myself a professional photographer, right?"

John laughed and said:
"Haha, as long as you can make money, then you are a professional photographer, but I think you seem very young, younger than those foreign students from Huaxia in my school. Are you on a graduation trip? Have you considered it in the future? To the United States?"

"I don't have the idea of ​​going to the United States for the time being, and it's not a graduation trip. I didn't go to university."

(End of this chapter)