Paris! Mon amour!

A weekend and a few evenings in Paris

Towering glory!

Second honeymoon

It was the perfect opportunity for a second honeymoon. We were in a long-distance relationship then, with hubby shuttling between Pune and Chennai every month. With my new promotion at work, came an opportunity to attend a 2 week training in Paris. (Yay!!! That’s right.. Paris!!!). But what’s the point of travelling to the most romantic place on earth, if you can’t take your love with you. And thus we made the perfect plan - a weekend and a few days in Paris.

For the cynical soul, Paris is an over-rated European location with people thronging to visit the tourist spots. But for the mere mortals and romantics, it’s a place of magic – be it the neatly laid out streets, the not-so-daunting buildings, river Seine and of course, la tour Eiffel. (Though, the omnipresent smell of cigarette smoke was a put-off sometimes!)

Since I had to be at work during the day, we scheduled our sight-seeing in evenings and weekends. If you are not the kind who would love to spend a lot of time researching different websites and coming up with the perfect itinerary, websites like visitacity is a boon to you. All you have to do is select an itinerary which is tailor-made or pick and choose places and make an itinerary of your own.

The unimportant lonely days

Paris is my first international travel destination – one of the perks of working for a French multi-national company. (Srilanka is not still considered ‘international’ by many Indians. Check my Srilankan honeymoon itinerary here). Having already visited Paris once before, by then I knew what to expect in my second visit. But little did I know that Paris in July is radically different from Paris in December. (I had briefly visited Paris once before, though I did not have much time to explore the city then). All the blacks and greys have given way to floral prints and bright colors everywhere. And it was actually hot during the day. To top it all, the length of the sunny hours was way long from about 6:30 AM to 9:30 PM and it made me wonder what do people even do with all the time they got during the day! This is what a person who has lived close to the equator all her life would think when encountered with such polar plays and change of seasons that is so common place near the poles.

I stayed in Novotel Suresnes Longchamps since it was at a walkable distance from my workplace. I observed that this hotel was very close to river Seine and I had to walk along the river everyday to reach office. Such a great way to start and end the day!

The first thing I did as soon as I reached hotel room was connect to the hotel wifi and check for Indian restaurants nearby. My Indian palate already started craving for sugar and spice and all things nice. And BINGO! I found just what I was looking for in the name of ‘Tajmahal restaurant Indien’. With all the expectation of a 3 year old going to a toy shop, I picked up my bag and ventured out for some much needed Idli Dosa, assuming that any Indian restaurant is bound to have a mandatory ‘South Indian combo’. Realisation dawned when I entered the ‘Indian’ restaurant and found out that I can’t even communicate with them in English or the little broken Hindi I knew, that the experience is going to be different. It must be one of those thousand other languages and cuisines of India that I am unaware of. And so hesitantly I ordered something which I thought was a safe bet – vegetable biryani. Having tasted only Hyderabadi and Dindigul biryani so far, I couldn’t exactly place this biryani to any part of India, not that I am a connoisseur of biryanis in any way. After a tough ordeal between my tongue and tummy, I finished my plate of food with much gratitude to my mom’s cooking. I made a mental note then that ‘All  that glitters is not gold and all that sounds Indian is not necessarily my-kind-of Indian’ So for the next 2 weeks, I decided to make do with the infinite varieties of world cuisine Paris had to offer. One of my colleagues even made me try Wasabi and I, with a smirk on my face, a raised collar and folded up sleeves saying ‘Indians can handle any amount of spice’, tried the same only to be hit on the head by wasabi’s fiery taste and had my olfactory sense gone for a toss for a few seconds. 

Hubby’s day out

Day 1

Hubby was to reach Paris late evening on a Friday. Since the Paris metro is world renowned for its ease of understanding and commuting, I instructed him to take one from Charles De Gaulle airport to La defence. He had also diligently got himself a Lebara sim card for use in Paris sans data connection, though. The place I stayed was a tram ride away from La Defence and I was to meet him at Les Quatre Temps shopping mall which is above the metro station. After the customary re-union selfies and sifting the entire mall and food court, we decided to head to the hotel. A tip to all those frugal travelers out there – buy your gifts to friends and family from Auchan (and the like) super markets in Paris. You can thank me later for all the Euros you saved and for all the happy smiles you received from your folks. 

The colossal Grand Arch at La Defence seemed to be welcoming us into its arms and we could only marvel at its grandeur and gape at it in wonder.

Lost and found

Soon we realized that it was too late in the day even by Parisian standards and not a single cab was to be in sight. And while trying to find our way to the hotel we strayed too far away from La defence metro station that we found ourselves in the midst of nowhere in a few minutes. Internet connectivity in our mobile phones got conspicuous by its absence. Just when we were about to give up all hope of finding a solution and sleep on the pavement, we decided to try our luck one more time. We approached a stranger, a twenty something guy with whom we managed to communicate in a combination of sign language and broken English. To our surprise, the nice French guy seemed to know a Hindi song from a Bollywood movie he had watched long back and was quite good at singing it too! Presently he also walked with us for about a kilometer and took us to a tram station nearby which would take us to Suresnes. Having thanked him profusely, we boarded the tram and reached our hotel all the while marveling at his good-will and altruism.

Day 2

Next day saw us taking the now-so-easy tram/metro ride to Trocadero. At the risk of sounding clichéd, it is indeed true that Paris is best explored on foot. And Trocadero is the place where anyone who has ever been to Paris takes the customary picture of themselves with Eiffel tower in the background. Its elevated platform provides the perfect vantage point for such an endeavor. Even a kilometer away, Gustave Eiffel’s magnum opus beckoned us to it with all its glory. We kept walking towards it, all the while absorbing the beauty around us. This being the mother of all tourist places, there are lot of options to take a souvenir or two – be it the miniature Eiffel tower key chains in gold, silver and black which are sold at 5 keychains per Euro or the local artists creating caricatures of willing tourists or the pop-up stores that sell a variety of Eiffel tower merchandise (handbags, fridge magnets and so on). And then we crossed the Pont d'lena (Pont in French = Bridge in English) over the ever-so-beautiful river Seine. Batobus, which is the river shuttle provider in Paris offers hop on-hop off service which can be availed here. For those who are short on time and still want to get an overall picture of the place, river cruises are a blessing. But, we, then, opted to marvel the metal tower in front of us!

Batobus on river Seine

Eiffel tower

Eiffel tower is a vision to behold up close. For an indifferent soul, it’s just a plain tall steel structure. For a connoisseur in architecture and engineering, it is a beauty in wrought iron weighing 10,000 tons. Even the Nazi operation of Eiffel tower during World War II couldn’t leave much of a dent on the iconic structure. 

Tour de Eiffel

There are 3 levels in the tower and 2 ways to surmount the same – by stairs and by lift. We, being the not-so-extravagant type, opted to take the stairs. (But for going to level 3 from level 2, lift is the only option). It is quite taxing to climb the 600 odd steps (I was panting like a dog every few floors and had to catch my breath more often than I care to admit!). For the not-so-adventurous sort, taking the life is the easier option. But I forgot all about my shaky legs and wheezy breath the moment we reached the top third level. The view! It is truly a feeling of being on top of the world.

View from Eiffel tower - level 1

View from Eiffel tower - level 2

Breathtaking view from the top level of Eiffel tower

The descent was much easier. But we could already hear each other’s tummy rumbling with hunger pangs. After munching on the street food from near Seine, we continued to roam near Champ de Mars. A long stroll brought us to Ecole Militaire presently (we were content in just clicking a few pictures from outside ) and we decided to take a metro to Louvre-Rivoli.

Louvre

We reached Louvre so late that entrance to the museum holding the painting of the enigmatic Monalisa was closed for the day. (Hubby visited it a few days later when I was at work and bored me in excruciating detail about various paintings he had seen). 

The Louvre

Spoiler alert! Being a Dan Brown fanatic, I was more keen on finding the final resting place of the Holy Grail and was surprised and a little angry when nobody treated the inverted pyramid with the reverence due to it, what with it being a pointer to where the chalice was. (I sure do take my Dan Browns seriously!)

The inverted pyramid at Louvre

We walked past the historic Comédie-Française and entered the Jardin des Tuileries (Tuileries garden). As the evening was setting in, there were people with friends and families having picnics and lazing around. Paris being a hub of art since time immemorial, we also caught a few budding artists painting their hearts out into their colorful canvases. After sitting down for a cup of Chocolat chau (Hot chocolate), we proceeded to trudge again.

Comedie Francaise

Tuileries garden

We reached Place de la Concorde where the Big wheel is put up during Christmas season. But the jewel of this place is the Fontaine de la Concorde, which has found a position in many Indian movies.

At Fontaine de la Concorde

On the other side, we reached the Avenue des Champs-Élysées which is well known for its restaurants, high-end shops and theatres. The shops here are high-end of the highest order!

A few hundred steps more and we ended our trail at Arc de Triomphe, another iconic structure defining Parisian architecture and history.

We found a new meaning to the term drop dead tired by then. When we couldn’t move any more, we called it a day ‘Julie & Julia’ style and gorged on plates full of Bœuf bourguignon and the like at a nice cozy restaurant and headed back to the hotel.

The iconic Beef bourguignon

Creme Caramel 

Day 3

Château de Versailles

After the tiring Saturday, all we could do was hit the snooze button and continue to curl up under the sheets. But the thought of King Louis the IV and his grand Palace of Versailles dragged us out of the bed and got us going. 

A 40 minute train ride later we arrived at Versailles – Rive Droite station where hundreds of people poured out of the train, into the platform and onto the streets. Unlike most other tourist places, the tourist department here had deputed volunteers to help the unenlightened lot like us. With their help we got our tickets and proceeded to wait in the longest queue one could imagine. Now waiting in a queue is not new to us, but waiting for an hour and a half and also being baked by the relentless Sun is totally another thing to endure. 

At the Palace of Versailles

Who ever thought Europe is always cold seriously needs a lesson in climatology. Europe has summers and summers can get hot just like anywhere else. So add/remove layers to your clothing rather than dressing up for the ‘apparently’ ever-so-cold European weather.

And so, after an hour of waiting and complaining and wishing we had not hit the snooze as many times, we finally entered the air conditioned area of the King’s realm prior to the French revolution. I have always been wonderstruck about the French royalty since the days I read The Scarlet Pimpernel at school and have wanted to see the trail of luxurious life led by the infamous Marie Antoinette. The State apartments, the King’s apartment, the Queen’s apartment were all ornately decorated and laid out in geometric precision. 

King's apartment

The furniture and upholstery provided a peek into the grandiose life led by the nobility. And then we reached the place I had been waiting to see for so long - Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors ). Having worked for world renowned French glass maker then, I was so proud to note that the mirrors used in this complex are made by Royal Glass Works which is a precursor to present day Saint Gobain. The mirrors used here bear testimony to the workmanship of the Venetian / French glass makers of the 15^th century.

Hall of mirrors at Palace of Versailles 

Mall-hopping

After lazing around the picturesque and well-manicured garden for a while, we decided to take the train back to Paris. After an evening of mall-hopping, visiting Galeries Lafayette, an icon of French luxury shopping (the term luxury is an understatement here!) and Printemps, a mall has a whopping 7 floors space for men’s shopping (Yes! That’s right! Mall for men!) and has an iron bridge connecting its 2 buildings, we called it a night.

At Galeries Lafayette

The next morning was the beginning of work week for me and hubby had his own plans of solo sight-seeing.

Day 4

The routine for the next 2 days was that my husband would go out alone during the day and we would meet up at a rendezvous during the evening for a sumptuous Parisian dinner. And so when I was slogging away at work, hubby visited Le Marché aux Puces – the flea market at Saint Ouen. In his opinion, it is best to visit the flea market little later in the day so that all the shops are open and if you are lucky you could find some really curious stuff in here. I heard from my local friend that they even buy cloths here for want of cheaper price. He also visited Grevin’s wax museum to pose with models of celebrities. Next he took Europe’s fastest elevator up the Montparnasse tower – it takes less than 40 seconds to ascend up 56 floors where there is 360 degree observation deck providing breathtaking views of the city.

View of Eiffel tower from Montparnasse tower

We met for dinner near Champs Elysees and I had my first Häagen-Dazs ice cream in an outlet there. (That empty ice cream cup is one of my souvenirs from the trip!)

Oops! Forgot the name! It was a duck dish, though.

Italian ham and melon

Day 5

This day was devoted to history and architecture and saw my husband visiting the Pantheon – connoisseurs of art and architecture would marvel at the Greek influence on the structure; Louvre museum – he somehow couldn’t leave Paris without paying homage to Monalisa; Notre Dame – this Gothic structure is best visited during evening with the setting Sun in the background.

The Pantheon

Crowd inside the Louvre

Monalisa at a distance!

We spent our last evening together in Paris roaming around the streets of Paris hand in hand and talking about the awesome experience we had.

Day 6

After a lone lonely river cruise to sum up the entire trip, hubby packed his bags and left for India.

View from a cruise boat

The return

After a few more evenings of taking leisurely evening strolls by the Seine and exploring Puteaux, I had to leave as well, though with heart full of memories.

In the words of Ernest Hemingway,

“There are only two places in the world where we can live happy: at home and in Paris.”