I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 437: European Paradise

Schmidt wandered the brightly lit streets of Paris until 2:30 in the morning, when intense fatigue finally overwhelmed his excitement and urged him to return to the hotel to rest.

That night, he bought countless fashion items, health products, and handicrafts. The servant beside him was exhausted from carrying all the bags, so he had to hire a teenage boy to help carry the things.

The "Palace Garden" hotel where Schmidt stayed was very luxurious, and the suite was already equipped with gas lamps, emitting a dazzling light like the sun. This alone made him feel that it was a correct decision to spend an extra 3 florins to stay there.

He looked out the window at the Parisian streets dotted with countless stars, and felt that this place and Munich were in completely different worlds.

He thought of the clean, bright streets, the bustling crowds, especially the fashionable and beautiful French beauties, and the dazzling array of exquisite goods in the shop windows. He savored the fresh aroma of shrimps, oysters and nuts - that was the North African-style feast he had just eaten.

His servant threw a pile of things on the table, rubbed his cramped arm, and followed his master's gaze toward the bustling city night scene outside the window. He couldn't help but exclaimed loudly: "Oh, I think, maybe this is what heaven looks like?"

Schmidt did not laugh at him for being naive as he usually did, but nodded subconsciously.

At 6 o'clock the next morning, Schmidt, who had slept for only three hours, was awakened by the hotel waiter knocking on the door: "Mr. Schmidt, you asked me to remind you this morning. It's already 3 o'clock."

"Oh, yes, thank you."

Schmidt got out of bed with difficulty, washed quickly, and went out with his servants to the Royal Palace.

Several people from the Bavarian Chamber of Commerce were already waiting in front of the Royal Palace. Mitt hurried forward and politely greeted these old acquaintances.

After a while, music sounded all around, and the French Minister of Industry Mirabeau made another long speech. Then, accompanied by the release of white doves, the door of the Royal Palace was slowly opened.

Schmidt, holding a VIP letter, did not queue up like other tourists, but entered the Royal Palace directly through a special channel.

When the garden of the Royal Palace appeared before him, his eyes widened instantly.

He had participated in some expositions and exhibitions before. For example, Austria had frequently held the "European Expo" since more than ten years ago. The UK had also held similar events, but those expositions were nothing more than luxurious country fairs.

Workshops or merchants displayed some good products in the exhibition hall and enthusiastically sold them. The government organized nobles and wealthy people to visit, and then held some banquets and dances, and finally closed successfully.

But at this moment, what Schmidt saw before him was not a "country fair" at all, but an extremely magnificent venue of various countries separated by tall wooden walls or gardens.

From the Austrian Pavilion, which was the closest to him, he saw miniature Hofburg Concert Hall, St. Stephen's Cathedral and other landmark buildings. The North African Pavilion next to it was arranged to look like a Mediterranean port, and a model of the Roman Colosseum was vaguely visible inside [Note 1].

When he and other distinguished guests from various countries entered the Austrian Pavilion, what appeared before them was Austria's iconic industry - glass products.

However, unlike the simple display of goods in the past, what is displayed here is a complete set of glass production process models, and several craftsmen are demonstrating the operations for everyone.

When he saw a colorful glass wine jug that was created after an extremely complicated process, he instantly felt that it had a soul. Behind it were displays of industries such as leather tanning and iron smelting...

In the past, when Schmidt attended such exhibitions, he would just glance at the exhibits and at most praise the fine workmanship of an item.

Today, he stayed in the Austrian Pavilion for more than an hour, until ordinary visitors had poured in, and then he reluctantly followed the signs and walked towards the adjacent Dutch Pavilion.

Here, Schmidt was quickly attracted by the demonstration of the shipbuilding process, and when he saw the newly designed inland cargo ship by the Dutch, his eyes suddenly lit up.

As the second largest shipping operator in Bavaria, he immediately realized that this type of ship could reduce his costs significantly.

He hurriedly went forward to ask the people from the Dutch Pavilion for information such as the address of the factory that manufactured this kind of boat, preparing to buy a few after the exhibition.

However, after hearing what he said, the expo staff nearby immediately smiled and pointed out to him that there was a business hall on the second floor of the Royal Palace, where detailed information about all the items on display could be obtained, and even contracts could be signed directly for transactions.

After Schmidt paid a small deposit, a waiter took him to the business hall. He immediately saw lawyers and bank employees waiting to serve him at any time...

Before lunch time, Schmidt signed a letter of intent with the shipyard and paid a small deposit under the witness of a lawyer. The money was directly remitted to the Netherlands through a French bank, which was extremely convenient.

When Schmidt returned to the main venue of the expo in the Royal Palace Gardens, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart: It turns out that exhibitions can be held in this way!
At the same time, in the various exhibition halls of the Royal Palace, visitors from various countries were also expressing similar exclamations: "It turns out that exhibitions can be like this."

“It’s absolutely amazing!”

"It's worth coming to Paris this time. It's really an eye-opener."

Joseph was also completely expecting people to be shocked. Just kidding, the various commercial activities and exhibitions in the 21st century have already matured beyond their maturity. He just copied the exhibitions he had seen. For this era where the World Expo would not appear until half a century later, it was a complete dimensionality reduction attack.

In this expo, everything from the layout of the exhibition halls of various countries, to the content of the demonstrations, to the production of models, was planned by him, so naturally everything was excellent.

This is because the preparation time was relatively tight. Otherwise, if we had added some national costumes, songs and dances from various countries, and even added in some delicacies from various countries, the effect of the expo would definitely be more sensational!
The next day, when Schmidt finally visited the French Pavilion, he was stunned on the spot -

Visitors sit on a tour bus pulled by a steam engine and automatically move along a track around the exhibition hall.

Inside the huge exhibition hall, there are everything from high-pressure steam engines to new automatic looms, from luxurious and comfortable carriages to new synthetic board furniture, from gas street lamps to advanced steel smelting...

He was dazzled by the large number of novel inventions, all kinds of products were exquisite and beautiful, full of high-end feeling. After only a few hours of visiting, the image of France in his mind was instantly raised to a higher level!

[Note 1] The Colosseum here refers to the Colosseum of El Jem, which was built during the Roman rule of Tunisia and is located in the suburbs of Susa.

(End of this chapter)