PARIS

Here is the story of my friend who went to Paris...

We took an AIR BERLIN flight from Vienna to Paris which was quite ok. We had great visions of CDG airport but alas we were sent to Terminal 3 which is a kind of punishment meted out to people who travel on budget airlines. From there we took the metro to Gard du Nord, the central station from where we made our way to our - for the lack of words – COMPACT hostel room.

A word of caution about European hotels – they are SMALL. Please do NOT have any illusions of big grand asian kind of rooms. They are small and just about 3 people can fit in and with luggage you can’t but help bumping into each other!!!! And the bathroom is best described in the words of CIRCUIT in the film MUNNABHAI ‘ aandhar aate aate hi khatam ho jata hain ’.

Nevertheless since we had no intentions of spending more then sleeping and changing moments in the room, it was ok.

Since it was pretty late by the time we settled in we went for a small stroll around Montmatre and got our bearings.

It was a Sunday night and the next day was a holiday for the Summer Solstice. What a crowd was there on the roads. I guess all the Viennese citizens might have come here coz there was hardly anyone on the Vienna roads when we left. Also the weather here was excellent and summer had fully set in.

The street café’s were full, kids were playing in the parks, couples were doing what all couple in Paris do – kissing, hugging and expressing their undying love for each other. I just love the way they sit at café’s and can chat endlessly ( interrupted only when they need to kiss each other ) and expressively whilst they smoke. All through our trip I was thoroughly impressed by the way Europeans look forward to summer.

Paris is also a melting point of kinds, quite similarly to London. You have a lot of immigrants from French colonies who have made Paris their home. So to find a ‘typical’ Parisian as shown in movies can be quite difficult. Also this has led to various kinds of cuisines being available to sample. All over Europe, barring the UK I feel there is one staple dish that can be found and that is FALAFFELS / SHWARMA / DIRTY KEBABS / GYROS..same dish other names. Apart from the ubiquitous Pizza that is.

I have never had to mess up my diet as during this trip. There was bread, bread and only bread. No doubt there were options but from a backpacker’s point of view it was quite difficult to get a decent veg wholesome meal. Lucky for us we got one in Vienna.

We hit the sack as we had a hectic day tomorrow and had to cover all the sights and Paris is not a small city.

Early in the morning after much bumping into each other we headed to the Notre Dame, what a magnificent place that is. Post that we walked around the Siene river and since it was an added holiday there were hordes of people everywhere including on the borders of the river. They were sunbathing, rollerblading, cycling, playing the guitars….and doing what all Parisian couple love to do..kissing!!!

We chilled there for some time and then walked to the Louvre. Whilst walking we took in the sights of these small stores that are interspersed through the banks selling antique books, photos, postcards etc run by some very quirkily dressed people. Wish I cold have bought half the stuff they were selling as it was awesome.

I don’t think anything can prepare you for 2 sights in the world – the LOUVRE and the EIFFEL TOWER. both have been photographed extensively and are very well known but to see it in the real is totally another experience. If u want to enhance the experience many times over, then see them in the night when they are lit up….you will flip out.

However for me Paris is about people and people watching. I did a good share of that when I sat at the steps of the Sacre Cour with some cheap wine and a pack of chips for about 3 hours or so. It was a holiday and everyone, including the locals were out. They carried their music, wine, food etc and had a great time singing and dancing. Sitting at the steps was a great experience and totally out of the world.

We also did the ‘touristy’ stuff like walk from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe ( hope my spelling is right ) through the Champs de Eleysses, a bit over rated as per my opinion.

What I also enjoyed were watching the match with the general public on a square where a huge screen was put up. Nothing like it. Though we did go to Roland Garros to get in the atmosphere. I was hoping that we would get cheap tickets but somehow today was’nt my day. They going for 300 Euros a piece and that was like ¼ my travel budget. So we got a couple of pictures outside the centre court and walked away happy with the knowledge that we at least got till here and thanked god for all his blessings.

I also liked chilling at the Place de Concord where there was this huge open air concert happening and the public was out in full force.

Apart from that I would say though Paris is a great city, it is a city not for me. maybe because of the over hype and over expectations that the name Paris has conjured up since time immemorial that one expects far too too much from this city.

So we took a train to Amsterdam.

[get this widget]