The world, called Paris!

It was the late hours of the 10th of April, 2009. It was a historic moment of grand proportions for me. A bunch of us were heading towards the grand, old city called Paris. The city needs no introduction. Instead, I would explain the place I live in. Toulouse is about 600 Km south of Paris.

My spirits and energies were unnaturally high (as usual). As we stepped out of the building, we saw that it was raining bad. We were pretty sure that if we walked all the way to the Metro, we would get drenched to the bone. And that's what eventually happened. Trust me, rain in Europe is cold! Not the perfect start to the tour, eh? Never mind, it was going to get better than I ever imagined. :)

We took a late night train since the flight timings were not comfortable. This was the first time ever that I sat in a train in Europe. I wanna say, trains here are less of trains, and more of bullets with people inside them.

Had a pretty comfortable, yet sleepless journey. The Paris railway station was huge. 20-odd voie (platforms). It was exactly as i had imagined. Busy, bustling with people, with omnipresent tall, huge, wide security men.

The trip was just for three days, so we rushed underground to take the metro passes (we got a steal-deal on that). Made a bee-line to Palais Royal Musee Du Louvre. What a place! Everything about Louvre is grand. The front facade, grand. The entrance gates, grand. The size of the museum, super grand! Even the size of some of the paintings was gigantic. Some were about 15 feet high and 20 feet wide! Imagine someone painting on such a huge canvas. Great art with such great precision! Then, of course, there's the Monalisa. The magnum opus of Monsieur Da Vinci. :) After we were done with the museum, we were really tired and hungry. They say, if you spent one minute, just one minute, on every articraft present in the Louvre, it would take you 4 months to complete it. :)

After Louvre, we went to the hotel to check in. It was far-far away at the end of Paris! Anyway, freshened up a little bit and out on the streets of Paris again. Our next destination was St. Chappelle, known for the intricate art-work on its huge glass window panes. Unfortunately, we were a little late and couldn't go in. So, we went to a place called Conciergerie. It was something like a prison, where important people were imprisoned. Creepy place.

Destination next, the face of Paris, the ever-so-gorgeous Eiffel tower! There is something magical about the structure. You take a million pictures of her and then, you'll want to take 'just one more'. We stayed by the tower for about 4-5 hours, through the evening, into the night. Then we took a boat ride on the Seinne which showed us around a lot of places. Many historical structures are along the river-side.

one of my better shots in Paris.

Dinner was an enjoyable experience too. We went to a place called La Chappelle which has loads of Indian restaurants. I must tell you that I ate masala dosa here! That's right baby! MASALA DOSA!!!! After 3 months! :) :)

Day 2. Wanna be a kid again? Welcome to Disney Land and Disney Studios, Paris! A world in itself. Amazing rides in the place. Well, the place is not totally about kids. There are some rides which even adults would think twice before taking. :D Some of the scariest ones were 'a free falling elevator' and 'a roller coaster in pitch-black darkness' :D At the end of the day, I had not the energy to even walk to the exit. Yet, I managed to reach the city (Disneyland is 30Km from the city) and have dinner in La Chappelle again. :)

On day 3, we covered the beautiful St. Chappelle church, which we missed on the first day, Champs Elysee and Arc De Triomphe. On the main road of Champs Elysee, you can spend millions of Euros in a matter of minutes without much difficulty. Well, there was nothing particularly great about the Arc De Triomphe.

All in all, it was a great and a wonderful trip with some truly memorable moments. Visiting Paris was one of my millions of dreams. Very happy to have realized it.Very thankful to God. About to realize another one. Buying an SLR camera. ;)

Cheers!

P.S. Missing my country. Missing family and friends.

Toulouse Tales

22nd January, 2009. It was a clear, bright and a sunny morning. My spirits were at an all-time high. Something huge was about to happen. Little did I know that things were going to be very different in the next five hours.

I was in the city of dreams, the most populous city of my country. Mumbai. It is a city that you would fall in love with, on your first visit to the place. I had the opportunity to fall in love with it, twice. ;)

Its a couple of weeks later later now and I am looking at the coast of Mumbai flying away from me. Suddenly, I am surrounded by these wonderful people, who are polite beyond normal levels. It is a wonderful experience.

Hailing from a country of tropical climate, I was quite used to calling a temperature of 10 degree centigrade as 'cold'. My first experience with real cold was in the Sciphol Airport, Amsterdam. I felt something was terribly wrong and the weather cannot possibly go that cold! As soon as I came out of the airport, here in Toulouse, the blast of chill air that came onto me knocked the wind out of my lungs. It felt like knives were being pierced into my body. An experience worth penning down!

Today is particularly cold. As I came out of my building, I glanced at the temperature meter and it was flashing -3 degree centigrade. Fortunately, it was not windy today, which is very common here. They sky was very clear today, almost completely cloudless, again which is not very common.

Generally, it is still dark when I reach the bus stop in the morning. I see the same sweeper, sweeping the exact same place every morning, the same old lady cycling away etc., It gives me a feeling of Deja Vu.

As the bus zoomed across the city I could see the sun rise while its beautiful golden rays bathed the whole city. The brick buildings and the leafless trees looking wonderfully beautiful.

As a child, I had been to garages where there is some heavy-duty work going on, on automobiles. But now, I realize that an aircraft hangar and the aircraft assembly and repair building are much bigger than a garage. :D Great, working in an office where, in the backyard, huge steel birds are being manufactured.
That's new for now. I am really looking forward to having a good time in Europe.

Cheers!