You can't not like this city..

This entry has got probably nothing to do with dance, but coz my recent emotions have been so affected it deserves to be written..
People did say Paris is a city of romantic couples, which is why I did not want to go alone! But had to due to tragic reasons.., nevertheless I felt very brave and packed my bags, took a map and hit the tracks. Eurostar was amazing, not that I remember the journey or the scenery as I slept through most of it, but yeah it was quite smooth for a high speed train!

Reached Gare du Nord, was greeted with Bon jour everywhere I went, was awesome! decided to take the metro, the ticket lines were crazy, I read the prices and other information, I stood casually, I felt oh I know how this works, you see I’ve travelled in so many metros before in Delhi, Kolkata, London, I was suppose to be on top of it, until I took probably an hour changing different trains, walking through endless lengths of narrow tunnels, figuring out what exit was in French, thinking 'oh Sortie sounds like sweet name of a stop' when Sortie did mean exit! It really did take me a while to realise that everything was written in French and I had to crack codes on my own.. Boohoo, but I loved it, felt like treasure hunt! hee

Anyway I started with Notre Dame Cathedral, oh so beautiful, I felt almost silly gaping. An added advantage is that it is on the banks of river Seine, so the views are just spectacular. The interiors are as intricate as the exteriors. And of course the stained glass windows, curvy iron gates, carved wooden balconies and an orchestra rehearsal! Apparently they were to perform the same night at the cathedral with tickets that I can’t afford, so I just sat there like a typical Indian and heard most of the rehearsal.

Then I decided to hang out a bit. Well yeah the lamp posts were gorgeous, but even the traffic light posts had carvings on it. I mean even the bridges are carved, a bridge I saw near Eiffel Tower had huge carvings, say like a story, every 5 meters! Plus the gap between from one carving to another would also have substantial carving.




Anyway I next saw the Eiffel Tower, which looked exactly how it looks in the several photographs, except in reality it has many more people around it. I some how got to the 2nd floor of it and figured out the road I needed to take to get to Arc de Triomphe, well it did look like a 3D Paris map so might as well! Came down bought myself an extravagant ice cream with Citron and pistachio (it was getting hot I swear!) and walked towards Arc de Triomphe. Ive always wanted to see the Arc de Triomphe, it's coz when I was young and mum had returned from France she had brought a miniature model of it and to me it looked like the India Gate. So I use to call it the French India gate! Now that I had reached it I had to get a photo clicked with it. So you know I started fattoing the little French phrases I knew to some random girl, Bon Jour, Well I’m not going to type it coz my French spelling is definitely not correct but I said 'I don’t speak French, do you speak English?' in French (I did I did) and got my self a photograph, and then 'Thank you oh no Merci' hee I did that very often, never remembered to say Merci straight away. The one thing I didn’t like about the 1st day of my trip was asking random people to click pictures for me. I mean I am sure they didn’t mind it as they are use to it, but I felt a bit needy, but who cares!



After that I walked down the famous Champs Elysees, where the glitterati hangs out and you can also spot some truly artistic buildings. I did spot one, except it looked like a broken glass wall, but it was quite interesting coz I saw it and then saw it again and then saw it again.

I was alone, so it made me realise I had lot more time than expected. My full attention and concentration was dedicated to sight seeing! So then I decided to go see Moulin Rouge, which reminds me more of Nicole Kidman than the theatre itself. But it looks exactly how it is in the movie and I couldn’t believe I was looking at it right in front of me in reality!

Aah that was a long day.. Finally sat in the underground and went back to my student hostel. Did you know some of the metro trains (RER) are double decked? I obviously went and sat on top no matter how tired I was! And I think their trains are much smoother than London underground trains. However London tubes are more organised with everything is labelled and the Brits are very conscious about safety regulations. But I also feel the Paris Metro engineering is more scientific and intelligent, okay this argument is never going to end.

DAY 2

This was the most fascinating day! It was a bit rainy and I stood in the Louvre courtyard at least 2 miles away from the entrance in a queue. It WAS crazy! Well what do you do then, you can’t keep taking pictures or listen to the conversation of the people standing in front of you in the queue, so you start a conversation of your own. Now this girl was standing behind me and was alone to, and so I asked her to take a picture for me and then didnt stop talking. Though she was a bit loud at first, I felt like saying calm down girl! She turned out to be very knowledgeable and interesting person. She’s doing her PhD in Economics and has been to Paris 5 times! Iam not kidding 5 times! It was her fifth visit to Louvre. It seemed she had completely fallen in love with the city. She knew more French than me (actually anybody would) and gave me a guided tour around the city! And then I didn’t even have to ask random people to take my pictures in the city! Oh I am kidding; she really was wonderful and made the other half of the trip worthwhile!

So we toured around Louvre, saw the Mona Lisa, of which I annoyingly didn’t get a single unshaken picture. It was so crowded. hmph. anyway we saw all four floors and got so exhausted by the end of it that we had the same urge to get out of it as we did standing in that queue to get into the musee (French for Museum). You must see the pictures, ill put the link at the end of the post i.e. if you survive till the end of the blog entry!
Actually there isn’t much left, I spent around 5 hours at the musee, and tried to see everything, although Iam so sure vie missed lots of corridors. What fascinated me the most was the way Napoleon lived! His apartments are unbelievable. I am sure he ate with a gold spoon, I mean silver would be tacky. Another really gorgeous look about the Lovre is the glass pyramids. They look so coherent together, the modern pyramids and the traditional Louvre building. The Pyramids also have that metallic Eiffel tower feel to it and looks very elegant. I also saw the upside down pyramid which literally glows because of all the light that comes through. And I also saw Dan Brown's Holy Grail! ha ha There is definitely something magical about that area though, doesn’t feel real.



Anyway after Louvre, it was a relief to get out and breathe some fresh air and drink Kira (Jam and wine apparently) at a cafe on a pebbled street. I was just getting excited sitting there and Julia just thought I was a freak.

Then we took a walking tour, as Julia didn’t believe in using any kind of transport. We saw Pompidou, a structure in which every element of utility was outside the building. Along with the staircase, elevator, phones, was also the ventilation and drain pipes. We also saw the City Hall, A flower market, the Opera house, Palais Royal, French balconies, a Chocolat shop, the Luxembourg park, the Parliament and phew, all walking! My feet were moaning! But it was all worth it! I think I saw much more of Paris walking and Julia was a great guide, she knew everything.


Finally came back to the hostel, picked up my luggage went back to Gare du Nord (this time quicker) caught the Eurostar. I was expecting to sleep through the journey but I was way too excited about how my holiday turned out to be so awesome and to be honest I still am excited! I am so glad I went to Paris and I would LOVE to go 5 more times!