Chapter 115 - Going to Sacre Coeur (2/2)

”Beanies and gloves aren't fashionable... ahahaha… people wear them because it's necessary.” Jean laughed at her, ”You've been in Europe for more than two weeks already, how did you survive without gloves and beanies all this while?”

”We were always in a heated space, and we rarely walked outdoor like this,” Finland just remembered that she and Caspar never took public transportation and very rarely walked outdoor; everything was made very comfortable for her, ”We did go out when we were in Spain and Portugal, but the temperature there was not as cold as in Paris. I could walk around without gloves.”

”Oh, no wonder.” Jean took off his gloves and placed them on Finland's hands, ”Just use mine, they are a little too big, but it's better than being cold. Later, when I see a shop selling gloves and beanies, I will buy new ones.”

He also placed his beanie on Finland's head.

”Thank you...” Finland smiled with gratitude.

They then walked hand in hand into the metro station. Indeed, after wearing a beanie and gloves, Finland felt much warmer. As a girl from the tropics, she struggled to get used to the winter in Europe because before coming there she had no idea at all what to expect. Luckily, she had Jean by her side.

The metro in Paris was very complicated for first-timers or tourists. There were so many different lines that were marked in color, then there were different types of trains that lead to different districts. The transportation cards available had packages that serve only certain districts or all districts with different prices. Enough to confuse people.

For people who weren't used to using public transportation, buying 10 metro tickets at once would be cheaper because the price was discounted from 1.8 euros to 1.4 euros per ticket and could be used for one way at any distance.

When they were queuing to get through the ticket gate, Finland was surprised when she saw the person in front of her suddenly jump over the ticket gate and did not stick a card or ticket on the scanner.

”What is he doing?” she asked astonished.

”Oh, that's someone who doesn't want to pay for a ticket,” Jean said. ”Maybe he doesn't have money. In Paris there are many poor and homeless people.”

”Oh...” Finland was surprised to hear that. She did not expect that in a developed country like France, there would still be homelessness and people who did not pay for tickets. In Singapore, no one would dare to ride the MRT without paying. They were all afraid of being caught by the police and subjected to large fines. ”Are they not afraid of the police?”

”Here in France the police rarely patrol the metro stations. In Germany it is a little bit different. In Germany, officers often patrol and enter the train carts at random intervals to check for tickets, because there are no gateways like this, so anyone can take the train without a ticket, but if they are caught during that random inspection, the fine can be huge.”

Finland learnt something new from her trip to Europe this time. When compared to France and Germany, apparently Singapore was really very orderly and organized. Singapore was a developed country that was not inferior to western countries.

The only significant difference would probably be that Singapore lacked the beautiful and magnificent old buildings that were hundreds of years old, like the buildings that could be found in Europe, because Singapore was a young country.

They chatted along the way and Jean told her the history of the place they were going to visit.

”Do you want to go up with the cable car or walk?” Jean asked when they arrived in the Montmartre area. This was the highest area in Paris and many people walked up this hill to exercise and warm their body. Therefore, Finland also decided to walk.

This was a decision which she would later regret.