Over the easter weekend of April 10-13, we decided to make a trip to Paris. Suppose to be one of the most romantic cities in the world and also a fashion capital.
The journey on the Eurostar from London to Paris was uneventful with a sandwich, juice and light sleep. After we arrived in Gare Du Nord in Paris, we went to the Metro station to take a train to our hotel. The trains were like cute, small dinky cars which kids play with. The station smelled like Kurla station, in Mumbai, after it has poured cats and dogs (yeah !! you got it). We got to the hotel alright and were all excited to go see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre museum, Champ Elysees and other interesting tourist places.
The first day (actually half) went off in admiring the beauty of the Eiffel Tower, that stood majestically across the river Sienne. Seemed like the entire world was there to see the Eiffel tower. A quick walk across the road led us to the banks of the river Sienne. It was a picturesque site with stalls on the river bank selling food and other knick-knacks, a group playing latino music and boats ready to ferry people across the river and along the must-go places in the city. We hopped onto one of the boats that took us to Louvre, Concorde, St Michael's Church and the Cathedral of Notre Dam, among other places. A glass of wine, on board the ship, with a light breeze blowing across my face was the icing on the cake.
On day two, we started from Arc De triomphe, which, in a nutshell is the India gate of France. Beneath it, was the Le Amar Jawan Jyoti de francois, with the fire burning in memory of soliders who gave their lives for their country, in the world wars. From here starts the fashion street of the world, The Champ Elysees. As we walked the long stretch, all the brands came together in one place. The Hugo Bosses, Louis Vutton's and Chanell's of the world were all present in one street. All we could do was stand and admire (nothing was affordable !!). As we continued our journey, we came across small gardens with colorful range of flowers. Then we reached the concorde and the entrance to the Louve. Little did we realize that it would take us more than hour to walk the gardens, to reach the actual museum. I have the greatest respect for art and painting and also for the Picasso's, the Michaelangelo's and Da Vinci's of the world and their work, but I am not big fan of paintings or museums, but there was a lady who lured me to the Louvre. A very pretty lady, who was the one reason for me being there, against all my interests. She was Mona Lisa. On the way to meeting her, I bumped into lot of paintings on the life of christ and some kings of France. Took me more than hour from the entrance to reach Mona Lisa. And there she was, majestically sitting inside a glass enclosure with a no-go area of 5 feet from her. As we came out, it almost dusk and we wanted to call it a day by enjoying a view of the Eiffel tower in the lights, from Trocadero. That was the most amazing site I had ever seen, with the lights shining in the dark night, enhancing the beauty of the Eiffel.
Day 3 had to be a bit light. We were not very keen on lot of walking, unlike the previous day. So took the metro to Sacre Coeur, a cathedral on top of hill. Looked like a huge cake with a nice cherry on top. A narrow street led us to the foothill. The street was full of shops selling knick-knacks, much to my delight and reminded me to the street leading to Mahalakshmi temple in Mumbai. Just that air smelt of crepes, chocolates and cheese, instead of the masala dosa and vada pav. After admiring the beauty of the cathedral, we headed back to banks of river sienne, for a late (very late, it was 4 pm) bar-be-que lunch by the river, under the warm sun, with some latino music for company. We spent the rest of the evening by the river.
Overall a very nice trip. All went according to plan and we saw all the places which were of interest to us, than trying to see everything. Now back to London and it feels nice to listen to the familiar english language, after 3 days. Goodbye to Paris metro and hello the jubilee line !!!! God bless us !!!
PS: For all culinary fans of my blog, there is more to come... watch out
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