Eiffel Tower checked!!!!!!!!
Yes I went to Paris last weekend and it would be one weekend which I would remember for a lifetime to come. I know it’s a bit clichéd but I had one of the best times I ever could. And the parts that I would cherish always aren’t the ones where I saw the museums, cathedrals or the churches. They no doubt are worth a trip to Paris anytime but it was the way we went about seeing them that made it more fun.
We did not have a place to live in Paris and it was only because of the two girls (Nikky and Surbhi) and Dev that we able to escape spending the night on the footpath. Thanks a lot to you all. Also can anyone guess the room number we got? It was 420, as if God was telling us how to spend the rest of the weekend. The heading is copied from Nikky’s status message.
First things first. Eiffel Tower is as beautiful as you have read/heard/imagined it. For it was more than what I could have dreamed for. When on top the entire Paris seemed to be sprawled at my feet. The setting Sun casting shadows, the lights which seemed to illuminate the entire city and romance in air was simply overwhelming. The lush green gardens and vintage monuments seemed to take out breadth away. We were simply glued to the view and I don’t remember the number of time we were awed and awed again. The scene seemed to be getting more beautiful by each passing minute. No wonder its where all the lovers want to come at least once (me included).
The second most famous thing in Paris would be the Mona Lisa or the Museum of Louvre. The museum is mind blowing and the paintings and sculptures are beyond works. But Mona Lisa was a bit disappointing. For starters it was a bit too small. Also too many people around it made it more difficult to see it, also it seemed as though the that there were paintings that were as good or maybe better, but then what do I know of art. And also we went to places like Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame, La Defense, Sacre Coeur, Museum d Orsay and many other places like all tourists do.
But what excited me were the roads that we crossed, the dinners we had and the metros we took.
The first dinner we had was after a whole day of journey without food. It was about 1 at night and all the places were closed. So all we could get was bread, that too from a shop that almost closed jus moments before we entered, and we ate it with aaloo ka sabzi. That sabzi tasted amazing and the silence with which we ate it spoke as to how hungry we were. The second day we walked through a large part of Paris and were hungry like raccoons. So we found the nearest supermarket (and believe me it’s not easy to find one in the heart of Paris) and brought bread, jam, cheese, yoghurt and juice, (This would be our menu for lunch and dinner for the next two days as well), and we ate in near a fountain on the bench again in pin drop silence. The 4 storied sandwiches of Sapta Da won’t be forgotten in a hurry. The toppings were salted peanuts, cheese, jam, biscuits, yoghurt and juice (yeah juice). By the end of the weekend we had realized that yes people can live on bread and jam and cheese.
Another thing that stands out is the road that we crossed to see the Notre Dame (or Gateway to India as we nick named it). It was a six lane road and we could not see any zebra crossing (because there was none). So what do we do? So looked right, left and right again and ran across the road. With all the cars and bikes coming at us we all had our hearts in our mouth but still we continued amidst the honking of horns. On reaching the other end we started laughing, more so because there was a subway to cross the road which we hadn’t seen earlier. Also after coming back on the road to find a metro we covered 270° and crossed 6 red lights where as we could have found it in two red lights had we started to move in other direction, again the laughter wouldn’t stop.
Now comes the metro. It’s what keeps Paris running. It will take you to every nook and corner of Paris and that what we did; only we did it for free. We would jump the ticket checking machines, ask someone to open the exiting door then enter through it or follow some other person who had the decency to take the tickets. It was exciting. Once we jumped the machine in front of the ticket booth and the train was stopped at the next station. We thought we were caught and even contemplated getting out. With each passing second we were getting more nervous. But luckily after 5 minutes the trains started and we heaved a sigh of relief. Pheww.
And this is how I visited Paris, running, jumping, laughing, eating bread, in awe and pleasantly surprised. At the end we realized that we had gone through parts of Paris that many times that we could recognize structures from afar, could find you a super market anywhere and explain to you the map of metro like the back of my hand. Had fun and will remember it forever.
We did not have a place to live in Paris and it was only because of the two girls (Nikky and Surbhi) and Dev that we able to escape spending the night on the footpath. Thanks a lot to you all. Also can anyone guess the room number we got? It was 420, as if God was telling us how to spend the rest of the weekend. The heading is copied from Nikky’s status message.
First things first. Eiffel Tower is as beautiful as you have read/heard/imagined it. For it was more than what I could have dreamed for. When on top the entire Paris seemed to be sprawled at my feet. The setting Sun casting shadows, the lights which seemed to illuminate the entire city and romance in air was simply overwhelming. The lush green gardens and vintage monuments seemed to take out breadth away. We were simply glued to the view and I don’t remember the number of time we were awed and awed again. The scene seemed to be getting more beautiful by each passing minute. No wonder its where all the lovers want to come at least once (me included).
The second most famous thing in Paris would be the Mona Lisa or the Museum of Louvre. The museum is mind blowing and the paintings and sculptures are beyond works. But Mona Lisa was a bit disappointing. For starters it was a bit too small. Also too many people around it made it more difficult to see it, also it seemed as though the that there were paintings that were as good or maybe better, but then what do I know of art. And also we went to places like Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame, La Defense, Sacre Coeur, Museum d Orsay and many other places like all tourists do.
But what excited me were the roads that we crossed, the dinners we had and the metros we took.
The first dinner we had was after a whole day of journey without food. It was about 1 at night and all the places were closed. So all we could get was bread, that too from a shop that almost closed jus moments before we entered, and we ate it with aaloo ka sabzi. That sabzi tasted amazing and the silence with which we ate it spoke as to how hungry we were. The second day we walked through a large part of Paris and were hungry like raccoons. So we found the nearest supermarket (and believe me it’s not easy to find one in the heart of Paris) and brought bread, jam, cheese, yoghurt and juice, (This would be our menu for lunch and dinner for the next two days as well), and we ate in near a fountain on the bench again in pin drop silence. The 4 storied sandwiches of Sapta Da won’t be forgotten in a hurry. The toppings were salted peanuts, cheese, jam, biscuits, yoghurt and juice (yeah juice). By the end of the weekend we had realized that yes people can live on bread and jam and cheese.
Another thing that stands out is the road that we crossed to see the Notre Dame (or Gateway to India as we nick named it). It was a six lane road and we could not see any zebra crossing (because there was none). So what do we do? So looked right, left and right again and ran across the road. With all the cars and bikes coming at us we all had our hearts in our mouth but still we continued amidst the honking of horns. On reaching the other end we started laughing, more so because there was a subway to cross the road which we hadn’t seen earlier. Also after coming back on the road to find a metro we covered 270° and crossed 6 red lights where as we could have found it in two red lights had we started to move in other direction, again the laughter wouldn’t stop.
Now comes the metro. It’s what keeps Paris running. It will take you to every nook and corner of Paris and that what we did; only we did it for free. We would jump the ticket checking machines, ask someone to open the exiting door then enter through it or follow some other person who had the decency to take the tickets. It was exciting. Once we jumped the machine in front of the ticket booth and the train was stopped at the next station. We thought we were caught and even contemplated getting out. With each passing second we were getting more nervous. But luckily after 5 minutes the trains started and we heaved a sigh of relief. Pheww.
And this is how I visited Paris, running, jumping, laughing, eating bread, in awe and pleasantly surprised. At the end we realized that we had gone through parts of Paris that many times that we could recognize structures from afar, could find you a super market anywhere and explain to you the map of metro like the back of my hand. Had fun and will remember it forever.
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@ankur ab yaad hi nhi aaya wo dekhne ka :)