Paris tour - The Louvre

We alighted at the Concorde metro station. The weather again was good, and the traffic was yet to pick up. After asking directions, we walked for about 15 minutes and reached the gates of a huge park. Most part of the ground was sandy. It was spotlessly clean though. We took some photographs and admired the various sculptures placed there. We then walked ahead and came to a much greener part of the park. This was a tulip garden. The lawns looked beautiful and even more did the different kinds of tulips cultivated there. It was really silent there, except for the birds chirping. Again, the sculptures around there were magnificent.

After enjoying the sight, sound and smell of the tulip garden, we crossed a duck pond and went over to see a tall erect structure. This was an Obelisk. History says that it was presented to the French by the Egyptians. The inscriptions and symbols on that Obelisk cleared any doubts that I had. The Arc du Triumph was visible at a distance. It is said, that when Napoleon Bonaparte won his battles, his army would enter the city through that Arc. The road that lay between us and the Arc is the famed Champs Elysees. We thought of going there later in the day.

We turned back and walked towards the Tulip garden and then crossed a street and stood in front of a gigantic building. It wasn’t its height but the length that amazed me. We were witnessing the world’s largest art museum THE LOUVRE. We entered a glass pyramid in front of the Louvre. This served as the entrance. We bought tickets and then began our journey through the history of art.

For the next five and a half hours, we saw arguably the most aesthetic things man has ever made. Still we could cover just about 20 percent of the Louvre. People say, it takes about a week to completely tour the Louvre. We saw Spanish paintings first then some sculptures. Then we moved on to the French art galleries. There was so much to see; each work of art in a class of its own. We were relentlessly clicking away with our cameras. We also saw some art students getting lectures from a professor. Some of them were sketching the portraits they saw there. I marveled at their wonderful ability.

We next went to the Italian section. The paintings continued to impress me. But, what stunned me the most were the paintings made on the ceilings. Complete to every single detail, it left me and I’m sure many others there in a daze. We then came to a grand hall, which was extremely crowded. We entered it to discover that it was where the great Leonardo Da Vinci’s work of art was on display. Mona Lisa stared us in the eye. There was security fence kept there about 15 feet from the painting. It’s about a 4 by 3 feet big portrait of a (I don’t know if I can call her beautiful) lady. Cameras kept flashing. People just didn’t seem to get enough of Mona. Well, in my opinion it’s just another painting. Run of the mill, I’d say. I thought the other paintings in the Louvre were much better. Nevertheless, we too clicked quite a few of her pictures.

We then saw some more of Da Vinci’s work, and moved ahead. We saw the Egyptian sculptures, some Persian work of art, and so on. We then came to the English art gallery. Here we saw the coronation crown and other precious jewels of the Queen. I was stunned for a second, as I stood in front of things worth millions. We then toured the chambers of Napoleon. It was regal. On one of the ceilings hung a chandelier, which was easily the biggest I’ve ever seen.

We wrapped up our visit, with a trip to Babylonia. This was a section where paintings and historical notes were preserved. All of them, referred to Babylon; a city which was believed to be heaven on earth, the most prosperous one which every king wanted to have.

There was a lot more to be seen, but we ran out of time. With a hope of revisiting it sometime in future, we left the Louvre. It was exhausting, but well worth it. We then went to Champs Elysees, had some snack at a side walk café and just strolled around to see shops of some of the biggest brands in the world. No wonder it’s touted as the most expensive street in the world. Shopper’s paradise; provided you have that much to spend. One of our friends we made in France picked us up from there. We did some more sight seeing around Paris. It was almost midnight when we reached our hostel. We immediately fell asleep, and we had to as the next morning we had planned to visit DISNEYLAND.

Paris tour - Eiffel tower

1400 hrs; the weather was sunny and Paris looked beautiful. We started our tour of Paris, with the map held firmly. There was a chill in the air, as you would expect in European countries, but it felt refreshing. There’s hardly any pollution. Just then I smelt a stench in the air, which brought me back to earth. We were just passing a fish market. The stench was bearable now. Psst... I love fish; especially the edible ones. My manager also is a non-vegetarian so we both stood there looking at the varied species of fishes and other sea creatures. After gulping the imaginary dishes, we carried on walking.

The Eiffel tower was in sight. I was getting excited, and my feet started moving faster. After crossing many buildings and streets, we arrived at the lawns next to the tower. Trust me friends; it is an absolutely amazing piece of engineering marvel. A steel structure that’s humongous which will leave you in awe. I took some photos. My joy knew no bounds when my manager said, about going to the tower top. He readily went ahead and stood in a queue to buy tickets to the top.

Meanwhile, I went to a stall nearby and bought a hotdog. I was a little tired; hence I sat down on a bench right under the tower and started eating. People of all kinds were present there; each one of them eager to reach the top. I was quietly munching at the hotdog, when I heard a female voice. “Do you speak English?” it asked. I looked up and nodded.

In front of me stood a tall, slim white girl, who handed me a letter. It read that she was from Bosnia her father was suffering from leukemia and needed help. I got up and said, “I don’t have much money!” and I searched my trouser pockets. I did find some money, but it certainly was not enough to cure her father’s cancer, if that was true by the way. I gave it to her. I almost felt her lean towards me. It was nothing else but anger. Forget THANK YOU, she instead cussed me in Bosnian or god knows which language and walked off. I looked around, and sat back again to finish my hotdog.

My jaws hurt, as I wondered why the bread was so hard. I was dying to eat some Indian food. Nevertheless, we got the tickets and we waited for the elevator to arrive. It did and a good number of people got in. Next, it started the ascent which wasn’t the normal straight up, but rather a steep climb. This is to accommodate with the shape of the tower. There are 4 such elevators in each of the tower’s foot. Anyway, we reached the 1st floor, and even from there the city looked sensational. We were at quite a height. We took some more snaps and had to be careful with our cameras slipping away with the gale that was blowing. We circled around to do a complete sight seeing.

We were still not satisfied. We next bought tickets to the absolute top of the tower and reached there. I just couldn’t believe my eyes with the view from up there. You just got to be there to experience it. We clicked away with our cameras, this time more careful with the wind getting stronger. Again we circled around and came next to a glass room. Inside that room stood 3 men absolutely motionless. I pressed my nose against the glass and watched. Only after a close look did I realize that these were wax statues of Sir Eiffel.

It was almost a couple of hours that we had spent on this tower. Our tummies had started complaining and we willy-nilly started our descent back to ground. Once down, we made plans for the next day. We decided to visit the Louvre. For those who don’t know; it is the world’s largest art museum. We walked back to our hostel after having dinner and slept soundly. Mona Lisa was waiting for us and we had to see her next morning.

A "NICE" Experience - Train to Paris

It was about 5.30 am, when I handed over the keys of my room and checked out of Novotel hotel in Nice. My manager stood next to the cab we had summoned and after we both got in, the cabbie sped his Renault towards the Nice Railway Station. After a 20 minute drive, we reached the station. I was startled at the exorbitant fare that was charged. It was a ripping 35 Euros (roughly 2240 INR). Anyway our train was to depart in about 15 minutes hence we didn’t bother too much. I was bubbling with joy at the prospect of reaching Paris, which was our destination. The announcement was made and we boarded our train. This was a double-decker TGV. Train Grande Vitesse is what the French call it.

We had window seats on the top deck. After settling into our seats, I just looked around. Tell you what; the interiors were magnificent. I was compelled to take some snaps of them. I got up to take a stroll along the gangway. I walked a few paces and turned back. The seats were really good and on one of them sat a cute girl. She had a beautiful smile and was talking something in French to her mother. I just could not take my eyes off her, and she looked at me and smiled. I asked her mother if I could take a picture of her daughter. She readily agreed. The moment I focused my camera on her, this little SIX YEAR OLD held the back of her left hand under her chin, rested the right hand horizontally and smiled straight into the lens. What a pose! I thanked her and her mom, patted her head and walked back to my seat.

I bought some refreshments as we approached Marseille. The TGV seemed just like our desi express trains until now. I was later told that from Nice to Marseille the tracks don’t handle high speeds. After a 5 min halt in Marseille the train started again. I hoped and prayed for the train to pick up some speed. Slowly, the train gathered momentum and after about 5 minutes, the TGV was hurtling at a speed which I had never traveled before. 300 plus kmph; I was told later. The amazing thing about this was near zero turbulence. A cup of coke kept on the foldable tray next to my seat, stayed undisturbed. 900 kms and five and a half hours later we alighted at the Paris railway station. The little 6 year old girl smiled again as she disappeared into the Parisian crowd.

We stopped at the nearest enquiry counter. It was really pleasing to see the lady over there, help us although her English was broken. She guided us to the Metro station, handed us the Paris tour map and wished us a pleasant stay in Paris. We then reached the metro station and boarded the train to reach Voluntaires, where we had done our reservation in a youth hostel. A ten minute walk from the metro station took us to Aloha hostel. After making the payment, we dumped our luggage into the luggage room. After resting for a while we started our tour of Paris on foot.

The little 6 year old. :-)