Last evening in Paris

Monday, 11th Feb 2008, it was finally confirmed that I have to leave Paris by next available flight after I got an official mail. JiWon left to Korea around 11 am. After saying goodbye to him, I finished the formalities and other miscellaneous things related to work. By 3 pm, I was all set to explore Paris for the last time.

First I decided go to Roland Garros Tennis Stadium. With partial information from stadium’s official site and google maps I got to know that the stadium is somewhere in south-west of the city and the nearest train station is Porte d’Auteil. The trains I took to reach the place CDG-2->St. Michel(RER-B); Cluny La Sorbonne->Porte d’Auteuil(Line-10).

Meeting with a French Lawyer

While traveling from CDG-2 to St.Michel I met a French elderly gentleman, a lawyer by profession. He was talking to someone on phone in English. After he ended his call, I just broke the ice by asking “Are u from England”. He reciprocated with humoristic response and the conversation continued. He asked me "Are u from India ?" and expressed his desire to tour India. He talked about Goa, Rajasthan and Coconut trees on sea shore. I was amused that he knew so much about India. He talked about Gandhi to latest personalities such as Lakshmi Mittal and also talked about India’s recent breakthrough in automobile industry – Tata Nano. Then, we discussed about France, French language. He also asked me the reason for me to be in Paris. Finally, he got down at Paris Nord station and wished me all the best.

Roland Garros

After two stations, I got down at St. Michel station, came out of the station and took some snaps around Notredam. After that, I walked upto Cluny La Sorboune station and took a train to Porte d’Auteil. I came out of the station and discovered that the landscape was completely different from the homogeneous architecture of heart of Paris. Besides exit(sortie), I saw a board Musee de Roland Garros and followed the direction indicated by it. After walking a km, I reached the stadium entrance. With enthusiasm I asked the security “Is this the museum of stadium”. A frank reply came "Monday close, come tomorrow". I told him I am flying tomorrow morning, so he allowed me go inside the premises to take some photographs. In the campus some construction work was going on for the forthcoming French Open Championship. The museum and the merchandize shop were closed. One of small court was open and I took some pictures in it. After spending 5-10 minutes, I came out the campus thanking the security.

Then I returned to Porte d’Auteuil station. The problem with Porte d’Auteuil is that it has one-way line so I had to do a round about. I took following trains to reach Montparnasse. Porte d’Auteuil->Boulogne Jean Jaures(Line-10); Boulogne Jean Jaures->La Motte Picquet Grenelle(Line-10); La Motte Picquet Grenelle->Montparnasse Bienvenue(Line-6).

Montparnasse

Outside the station there was a huge skyscraper atop which one can witness 360 degree view of Paris. Before going to the mall I entered into the adjacent mall and did window shopping for a while. Majority of the items in it were expensive and I gave up plans of buying. Then came to the base of the building and bought ticket of Paris 360 for 9.5 Euro. The automatic lift took me to 56th floor shielded with glass. The view was good but I couldn’t capture because of reflection from glass shield. For ten minutes I saw lighting of Eiffel and it was third time in a week I was observing the hourly evening spectacle. Later, moving around on the same floor, I came to know that I can go up further. By stairs I ascended 3 floors to reach open terrace of 59th floor. The night view from there was just amazing. But I had to bear cold winds while witnessing the breathtaking view. Then one funny incidence happened.

59th floor - 'Ki Ki' incidence

In order to capture the view in my cam I had to put my camera in self timer mode. As soon as pressed the button the “ki ki” sound started and the security person in a cabin on the same floor became very conscious. He ran towards me to observe what I am doing. Looking at expression on his face I made out why he was cautious like that. He would have suspected the “ki ki” sound and the flickering light of the camera to be some bomb. Oh my god, these Parisians have become very paranoid about terrorism they are suspecting each and every Asian. I ignored him and carried on with my business of capturing the view. After many trials I was successful. After accomplishing the thing I came down and out of the building. I searched for a retail store around the place and found a big store by name ‘Monoprix’. There I bought chocolates for my colleagues and friends.

Then I took following trains back to CDG Terminal-2. Montparmasse Bienvenue->Paris Nord(Line 4), Paris Nord-> CDG-2(RER-B). I came back to hotel by shuttle and had ready-to-eat for dinner. After that I packed my luggage partially and slept for the day.

Journey back to Bangalore

The next day, I got up very early and checked out at 8.30 am by completing the formalities. I took 8.40 am shuttle and got down at 2E terminal. I was very much afraid of luggage being overweight, courtesy chocolates which I had bought from Monoprix. Thankfully the weight was around 23 kgs and the correspondent didn’t tell anything as my cabin bag was small.

I took automatic train to reach the boarding terminal E57. Before boarding I did some tit-bit shopping in duty-free shops. The scheduled 11 am take off was delayed because of ATC strike. I had got a aisle seat, middle seat was empty and next to next was a lady. She was traveling US from her daughter’s place and had transit in Paris for 4 hours. She asked about my trip and other details which she was curious about.

I didn’t get sleep in the entire journey. In the beginning I read International Herald Tribune. In that I read tragic news that Seoul’s mourns loss of its national heritage - Namdaemun Gate. It was a shocking news for me. In later part of the journey I read Feynman’s ‘Surely u are joking’. At 1.15 am IST the plane landed in Bangalore. I had to wait for my baggage for 30 minutes and by rented taxi I was back in home at 2.30 am concluding short and sweet business trip.

Louvre Museum: A visit in fast track mode

Sunday Feb-10th 2008, it was almost certain that it would be my last weekend in Paris. So after sight seeing on previous day we(myself and Rohith) decided to visit Louvre Museum, the next important destination in Paris after Eiffel tower. Many Parisians often say that the visit to the museum requires a lot of homework and to see all paintings and sculptures in detail it takes months! Due to time constraints we decided to see the museum in fast track mode.

To get to the museum from CDG terminal-2, I took the following metro route CDG-2->Paris Nord(RERB); Paris Nord-> Gare de l'est(Line-4); Gare de l’est-> Palais Royal Musee du Louvre(Line-1).

As per the plan, I reached North Entrance of the Museum around 12 noon. But Rohith was not present there and I waited for him. While waiting, I met the same ABCD guy(speculation) whom I had met on the previous day. He requested me to take his photographs and he took some for me also. In the process, we got to know about each other. He was a Charted Accountant working at Ernst & Young - New York, and of course he was born and brought in Mumbai(my speculation was not correct). After brief chat, he went inside and I continued to wait for Rohith. Time was 12.30 pm and still no signs of him. I went inside till the pyramid of the museum. The place was brimming with Chinese people, many of them were on holiday because of their Lunar new year.

The wait continued. I took my photos in front of the pyramid from all angles with help of other tourists(from America, Turkey, Germany, Ghana etc) and in turn helped them by clicking their pictures. Finally, at 1.15 pm Rohith came and the long wait was terminated with a big relief. He was stuck somewhere on the way as the train had stopped at a station due to technical reason for half an hour.

Together we got inside the pyramid, passing through the security check. After that esclators took us to lower ground floor of the museum. In the reception area we took plan cum information brochure of the museum and bought entry tickets (9 Euros per head). Wile scanning through the brochure, we realised that the museum was really big than we expected. It had three sections(Richelieu, Sully, Denon) with four levels. First we went lower ground floor of Richelieu in which there are various French sculptures. While entering we came across counter for the audio guide(cost 6 euro). Since we had time constraints and may not be able see everything in detail so we didn't opted for it. The French sculptures section was initially exciting but it got monotonous after a while. We just surfed thru the stuffs and ascended to 1st floor to enter into Napoleon apartment section. The major highlights of this section were queens glass dressing table, furniture of dinning room.

After spending a lot of time in Napoleon section, we decided to change tracks and see only the important things. Our first priority was cynosure of the museum – Mona Lisa a famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. We looked into the plan of the museum and found out that the painting was in 1st floor of the Denon section. Enroute to Mona Lisa we saw some stuffs in Renaissance section and Apollo Gallery where we saw crown of Louis XV. Then we entered Italian painting section, we started of seeing some painting and again it became repetitive may be because we were in a hurry. And finally our mission was accomplished when we reached the Mona Lisa hall. Unlike other paintings it was covered it bullet proof glass and surrounded by railings. The painting was surrounded by many people capturing the lady in their cameras. It’s definitely the most photographed painting in the world.

After seeing and capturing Mona Lisa we headed to Café Mollien in the corner of French paintings section. There we had coffee for 4.5 euros and it was sufficient to fill our stomach for that moment. After that we continued our fast exploration and saw many Greek ceramics collections. Then we entered Egyptian civilization section. This section was like a museum within museum. It had everything about Egyptian civilization from mummies, pyramids to statue of Ramsys. The accessories used for cooking, fishing and other important activities were also on display. After spending more than one hour in this section, we entered Greek section on ground floor. In between we lost the way and entered Medieval Louvre and History of the Louvre section. By the time we came back to Greek section it was 6 pm and one of the volunteer said time over.

We came of the hall and out of the pyramid concluding our fast track visit and hoped that we will have ample amount of time allocated for Louvre in next visit to Paris. We exited from the west entrance of the museum and proceeded towards the Concorde junction. There we had a brief photo session and took silhouette photographs of Eiffel tower which was a distance 1-2 km. By the time we were done it was nearing 7 pm, so we waited till 7 pm saw the lighting of Eiffel and finally decided to conclude the day’s proceedings.

For return journey to hotel I went to nearest Metro station Concorde and took following trains to reach CDG Terminal-2, Concorde->Saint Denis; Saint Denis->Paris Nord(Line4); Paris Nord-> CDG 2. From CDG I took shuttle back to Hyatt.

Photographs are shared at Picasa album - Louvre.

La Chapelle, Paris : Indian Market

After Saturday’s sight seeing, as per instructions of Rafique(owner of a Pizza restaurant in Blanche) we got down at La Chapelle station(M-2 Line). After coming out of the station, we witnessed many Asian people walking around and having a curious glance at us. Some were roaming around casually in lungies and sarees.



Our business was to find a grocery store. Immediately, after crossing the road in front of the station we came across a store by name G&Co Supermache and below the name it was written ‘Epicerie Indienne, Ile Maurice, Sri Lakaise’. Proceeding further we saw many similar stores and some name plates were written in Tamil. Also there was a saree shop by name Chennai Silks!




Randomly, we got into one of the grocery stores and were really amazed to witness comprehensiveness of the store. In the store anything and everything Indian grocery item was available i.e. stuffs such as rice, dal, tamarind, pickles etc.

It was more amusing to see stuffs such as Maggi noodles, chickies(groundnut sweet), colgate toothpaste, and Medimix soap for sale!!!




Seeing our excitement one of the shopkeeper(a old-man) had a chat with us. He asked many usual questions such as where are you from? Why are you here ?. With usual response, in addition I enquired him that "is there any south Indian restaurant here ?". While responding he made a weird face and said “Everyone is a Sri lankan here, no north India, no south India. However you can find a Pondicherry restaurant in next cross”. Well, he was really pissed off by my words and anyways it was not our fault. Then, after buying the stuffs we thanked him and proceeded to the Pondicherry restaurant.



In the restaurant, we were welcomed with greetings in Tamil. Since I don’t know Tamil, I just reciprocated by giving a nice smile. The menu of the restaurant was completely in French(I mean the language). The items were expensive after multiplying by 60. Since we were having proper fresh Indian food after a week we just ignored the price. I had veg thali(7.5 Euro) and Rohith had biriyani.

After the dinner we decided to return to our respective hotels. For one hour we had forgotten that we were in Paris ! since the feeling of the place was as good as that of any Indian city. So in Paris, La Chapelle is a must visit for every Indian for obvious reasons.

Weekend sight seeing in Paris

After sufficient homework and discussion with Rohith, the plan was to meet on Saturday(Feb 9th) at 10 am at Eiffel tower. I left hotel by '8.40 am shuttle' to CDG Terminal-2. From there to reach Eiffel, I took a round about route to avoid St. Michel station. The route was CDG-Terminal-2 to Paris Nord by RER-B, 10 minutes walk to La Chapelle station thru internal connection, La Chapelle to CDG Etolle by M-2 and CDG Etolle to Dupliex by M-6. I was supposed to get down at Bir Hakaeim(nearest to Eiffel) station but the train didn’t stop there. After getting down at Dupleix, I walked for 15 minutes to reach base of tower. As soon I reached there Rohith approached me. He had arrived there just 2 minutes back. Our timing was perfect.

Eiffel tower

First we discussed about the height of the tower. Rohith too was surprised that the tower looks very small in initial glance relative what it appears in photographs. Next agenda was to take our photographs in front of the tower. Near the base of tower the entire tower was not coming in a single frame. So we walked to the middle of the adjacent park. The photo session went on for a 15-20 minutes. Thanks to good photography sense of Rohith, I didn’t have to spend much time explaining him to get the desired picture.

Then, it was time to get on top of tower. As per the advice of NYT travel we dropped the idea of going to the top by elevator after seeing long queue. Instead we chose to take steps upto level 2. For that also we had to pay 4 Euros per head. As it was cold climbing steps was not very taxing, but it got monotonous in later stages as the view was blocked may be to prevent someone from attempting suicide. At Level-1 in a food stall Rohith had a sandwich for 6 Euro as he was damn hungry. Looking at the prices I decided not to have anything and I was not so hungry also, courtesy free breakfast of Hyatt. At the same level there were a few videos put on display explaining about history of Eiffel tower. Adjacent to the video section there was a shop dedicated to Eiffel tower. It had everything from key chains to big tower models with automatic lighting. But the stuffs there were bit expensive relative what were available downstairs. For example the cost of a keychain was 2 Euros whereas it was 50 cents downstairs. We decided to buy one or two of them just to compare with the one available downstairs.


Next we ascended to level-2. At this level the down view of the park was very nice. There were series of trees without leaves. I just imagined how breathtaking it might be during spring season. After taking snaps on all four sides we decided to go downstairs. At the base of tower an Asian guy(seemed to be ABCD by accent) approached us and enquired about nearest metro station. The explanation to him turned into a small discussion. This created a doubt in minds of security person who was standing nearby. He just stared and stared at us. Well, the recent threat to blow-off Eiffel tower seems to have changed the attitude of French people a lot. They are now suspecting each and every Asian. We took a few more snaps of the tower. While doing photography several Arab females came towards us with a slip asking 'Do you speak English?'. As per wiki-travel's advice we had to ignore these people. But how? I responded to them speaking in Kannada, they immediately turned away from me with frustration.

Arc de Triumphe

Later after buying the key chains and other stuffs at a mobile shop we decided to go to Arc de Triumphe. We walked upto nearby Passy station and from there took M-6 line train to CDG Etolle. I seemed to have got used to Paris Metro by that time after the St. Michel horror a few days back. At CDG Etolle we came out from the nearest Sortie i.e. exit and found a large ‘India-Gate’ type monument, famously known as Arc de Triumphe. Here a couple requested me to take their photograph. They were looking like Indians, but I was surprised to here from them that they were some South Africa (may be of Indian origin).

The next agenda was to go to Indian market. Rohith has got info from his colleagues that it is somewhere near Blanche. But the road towards Louvre Mueseum seemed to be very happening as many people were walking on it. We decided to walk on that road until we get a metro station. The name of the road was Champ de Elysess it is one of the major commercial areas of Paris with many shops. At a major junction we came across a monument Grand Palais and also a metro station. We badly needed to go to a toilet to answer nature’s call. Around Grand Palais there was no facility. Then we went inside Champs Elysees metro station and there also we didn’t find any. Then we decided to go to Blanche and hoped to find a toilet there. The metro route was Champs Elysees->Place de Clichy by M-13 and Place de Clichy->Blanche by M-2.

Blanche - Moulign Rogue

After coming out of Blanche station we found world’s famous ballad theatre Moulign Rogue. I had heard that it is very hard to get tickets for the shows and also it is very expensive(90 Euro) too. We just took photos in front of the theatre entrance and proceeded as daemon ‘search toilet’ was still running in our heads. Thankfully we found a box toilet at the end of the road. Now the next problem how to use it ? There was a slit to put coins, but we didn’t know how to start. A passerby French gentleman came to our rescue. He told that the toilet was paid previously but now it is free. After usage the door closes automatically and flushing is done automatically. Then only it will be usable by other person. Well, the procedure took about 10 minutes and finally ‘search toilet’ daemon was killed with a relief.

Then we walked around in search of Indian market. There were many pubs around in which they had put up a banner live screening of rugby match – Italy v/s France. As we feeling hungry we thought of having food at some eat-out. While searching a man approached us with a visiting card of a night club(can’t recall the name). He introduced himself to be manager of that night club, and showed a photo of a female behind that card. He said that the female will be dancing tonight and we can be part of the party. Then he asked us to come to the club for a 1 minute free demo. Well, the warnings in wiki-travel strike me, it required a lot of effort from our side to escape from him.

A few steps ahead we found a pizza shop. The owner of the shop was a Bangladeshi, his name of Rafique. There we had mushroom pizza and fresh French fries to quench our hunger. After having who, what, where Q&A session with Rafique, we told him about the experience with a night club manager a few minutes back. He cautioned us that Blanche and nearby Pigalle area are very unsafe, and requested us to move out of the place before gets dark. Then we enquired him about the Indian market. He replied that it is there near La Chapelle station, and one can get all the Indian stuffs there.

Montmartre

Before going to Indian market we decided go to Montmartre, so we took M-2 line from Blanche and got down at Anvers. From the station Montmartre is 100 meters uphill walk. This place is natural highest point of Paris and one can witness the beautiful view of city of lights. There is a Basilica atop the hill. We reached the place at dusk and waited for the sun to set and lights to come on. In the mean time we went inside the Basilica, it was really very big with hundreds of benches and photography was prohibited inside. We thought of lighting candle but later dropped the idea as the cost was 2 Euros. We sat there on the benches silently for 15 minutes. After coming out we watched performance of some freelance singers singing some English songs. After sunset we witnessed illuminated skyline of Paris. Frankly speaking the view was not that much exciting as the major symbol of Paris - Eiffel tower was missing from the skyline.

La Chappelle

After spending half an hour we decided to go to La Chappelle Indian market( a separated post is required for the description). In the market Rohith and bought some grocery stuffs and we had dinner at a Pondicherry Restaurant at the same place. Then it was time go back to our respective hotels. We walked towards Paris Nord station thru internal connection from La Chapelle station. For the next day(Sunday) we planned for Louvre Museum as it might be my last weekend in Paris. We decided to meet at the museum entrance at 12 noon. Then, Rohith took a train to his place and I took a train to CDG-Terminal-2 and thus the eventful Saturday came to an end. Thankfully I had a company, because exploring the places alone is very boring.

Homework after St. Michel horror

Previous post Paris's Signature: Eiffel Tower

After getting lost in St. Michel station, I thought of doing thorough homework before going for sight seeing in weekend. I read RAFP site, wikitravel page of Paris and New York Times’s feature article 36 hrs: Paris top to bottom and gathered very useful information.

A few excerpts from the articles.

• The Metro network of Paris is heterogeneous. The two major networks are city(‘M’) trains and sub-urban(‘RER’) trains. [the map which got from CDG Train station had only RER trains routes thereby creating a lot of confusion].
  
• When the train arrives, the doors may not open automatically. In such a case, there are handles located both inside and outside the train which you have to push in order to open the door.
• One has to be careful while moving in night time because law and order is not so good. In the crowded trains pickpockets are active. Also in places such as Pigalle famous for adult entertainment there is chance of people getting fooled due to exorbitant bills.
• Beware also of distraught-looking women and children asking if you can speak English. You'll be presented with a card or letter with a story explaining something like "My mother is in hospital in another country terminally ill. I'm stuck in Paris with no money and I need to visit her." You´ll encounter them at the major train stations (such as Paris Nord) and also at most major tourist attractions. Even on the Champs-Élysées. They are also prevelant around the Arc de Triumphe near the Embassy of Qatar.

Also I learnt a few important French words like Sortie (means Exit). It’s the word I wanted, a essential thing when using Paris Metro.

On Friday evening(Feb 8th), all of a sudden Rohith pinged me on gtalk. We discussed about what all we can see in the weekend. I told him that I have already seen Eiffel Tower and I may have to return to Bangalore next week. Then the discussion came to meeting at some place that evening itself, but as it was already late and we were staying opposite ends of the city, we had to drop the plan.

Then we started planning for the next day. I shared all the information I got from wiki travel and NYT travel sites. He also discussed with me information he got from his colleagues. We decided to meet at a place known to one of the person, as he didn't had mobile phone. It boiled down to meet at 10 am at the base of Eiffel tower(only place I knew properly at that time).

Continued in next post.

Amazing series win Down Under

Team India led by MS Dhoni have beaten ODI world champions Australia in their own den by defeating them back to back in two finals of Commonwealth Bank Series. This victory will be cherished for a long time by Indian cricket fans. Incidentally it is first Indian victory in last 6 years in a ODI series involving after three or more teams ! The last one was Natwest Series victory against England in 2002.

A few observations

• The major credit for the victory should go the captain MS Dhoni for making bold decisions, like opting for Piyush Chawla and Praveen Kumar to play in finals, which took Aussies by surprise.
• Some person made a statement recently that Aussie cricketers time their retirement perfectly. Like Shane warne did in Ashes Series last year and Glenn McGrath in 2007 ICC world cup. Unfortunately one of the greatest wicketkeeper Adam Gilchirst couldn't do the same.
• Sachin Tendulkar came to the party at the right time, his effort was similar to the one he did at Sharjah against Australia in 1998. He delivered after receiving a lot of criticism from former players, especially from his buddy during initial days of career Sanjay Manjrekar in a column in TOI.
• It was nice to witness reliable bench strength of India. Many people got injured in the course of series but the reserve players grabbed the opportunity with both hands. When Zaheer got injured Ishant came, when RP Singh got injured Praveen Kumar came in and delivered exceptionally well.

• As Sunil Gavaskar said Indians should not be very much carried with the victory there should be retrospection also. The major issues are poor ground fielding and not able to accelerate in later stage of the innings. Many players got out due to poor shot selection.
  
• Finally kudos to Harbhajan Singh for keeping himself cool after all the unfortunate controversies. His ball did the taking in the both the finals where he got rid of his favorite friends Andrew Symonds and Mathew Hayden.