Grevin Wax Museum

In between my hectic work schedule at Paris, I just had a look at news-feed of indiafm.com. In one of items it was mentioned that Shah Rukh Khan(SRK) had come to Paris for inaugurating his wax statue at Grevin mueseum. According museum's site SRK had taken some timeout from his IPL schedule and fulfilled his promise to visit the Wax museum. As soon as reading the news the place got added to my 'to-visit' list. The visit got materialized on May 8th(national holiday in Paris) with Hussu and Gaurav Jain.

Museum Entrace

The entry fee was 18.5 Euros ... double the fee of Louvre museum! For a while we thought of skipping the museum but decided against it as we won't coming to Paris every other day. The first section of museum was 'Hall of Mirrors', there we witnessed a light and audio show for 10 minutes. It was really presented in a creative way.

With Julia Roberts and Sean Connery

After the light show from the adjacent hall, the statue-darshan started. First we came across statues of Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Julia Roberts and also of Elton John playing piano. Then we came across a mini-audi in which there were statues of some French personalities. The only noted personality in the hall was Jackie Chan. In the hall one hilarious thing happened. In a few chair some sitting statues were placed. In order to take rest Hussu sat in between the two statues and unknowingly mirroring the pose of one of the statues next to him. A group of european tourist thought Hussu also as a wax statue. All of them burst into laughter as soon as they realised that Hussu is a human!

Amelie Mauresmo

In the subsequent halls we came across statues of Sports Personalities such as Michael Schumacher, Amelie Mauresmo, Zidane. Arstist such as Da Vinci, Picasso. Political head of states such as Sarkozy, Bush and also of French astrologer Nostradamus. In between the hall some scenes of Frecnh history - French revolution, Battle of Waterloo were depicted.

Battle of Waterloo

Three people with three cameras became really irritating as each one of us was particular of getting a snap in his own camera. Also Gaurav was very mush particular for getting his snap in such and such a compostion. He had some no-so-good camera and it made my job even more miserable.


Lastly we entered a big hall and in the beginning of there was a statue of Mahatma Gandhi. In the same hall other prominent statues were of Marlyn Monroe, Charles de Gaulle, Michael Jackson, Pele, Albert Einstein. we though where is Shah Rukh Khan ? Since the statue was recently inaugrated it was placed in the one of special subsection. In first impression the statue was not as sensible as per our expectations. The long hairs made it look more artificial. Next to statue there was a LCD and in which Om Shanti Om movie was getting played. We had a brief photo session standing next to the statue. I was indeed a mission accomplishment for us.

with Shah Rukh Khan

In level-1 of the same hall there was a section dedicated to illustrate the process of making wax-statue through charts, photos and videos. Finally before leaving the hall we had one last glance at the statues especially of SRK.

Thus the visit to Grevin Muesuem came to end. The visit was a different experience but 18.5 Euros really expensive if we take into account the variety of personalities on display. From different angle, the visit made me realise that I am taller than many famous personalities !

Paris biz trip retrospect and related thoughts

Finally I am back to Bangalore from Paris after 28 days biz trip. More than work the trip was more dominated by Visa extension and other non technical issues. The major plus point of the trip was that I stayed in Paris during core spring season. This is second consecutive year(last year it was Korea) I have stayed in spring season in a temperate region. Pinks flowers, Tulips and Strawberries ... a bliss indeed !

Hussu Mia - the saviour:
He was both technical and non-technical relief for me. Non-technical because he got more than 20 kgs of food items from India which was sufficient to cooking for me have Indian food.

Regarding Work:
I can write thousands of word about this and effects I had because of non technical issues. But as per blogging ethics we should not write about one's company, work and customers. So I don't want to discuss about it further.

Regarding Accommodation:
Because of non availability of rooms, the hotel stay was big adventure this time. First 3 days I stayed in Hyatt, next 2 days in SuiteMDB, then again back to Hyatt for 5 days and remaining days in SuiteMDB. Hyatt Regency is a good posh hotel with flashy building. All that this is fine but apart from high frill facilities, good breakfast and there was nothing worth to mention about the stay. The hotel is next to A1 expressway, so there are no parks and shops nearby. In contrast the stay in SuiteMDB was quite pleasant. The most important thing was that there was attached Kitchen facility, also there was some kind of park nearby and a grocery store which used to be open on Sunday too till 12 noon !

Places I saw this time.
As the work was very hectic, officially we used to work on Monday-Fridays between 9 am to 9 pm and on Saturdays 10 am to 6 pm. After coming back to hotel also we used to work and we were expected to do night-outs too(which I hate the most). We used to get some free time on Sunday, but all the commercial places used be closed, so I had hardly had any purpose to go out. Since we were staying near Airport, the train ticket to downtown cost 8.2 Euros one-way ! it has sufficient enough to dampen the enthusiasm. However the day before leaving i.e. March 8th was a public holiday on account of World-War-2 victory day. We used the holiday to the fullest and explored many commercial places and monuments in Paris. More about this in separate post.

People who became friend
The hero my Visa extension story Kuk-Han became a good friend to me. Got to appreciate her efforts and the way she got me off the boarding gate on the 'dramatic Tuesday'(April-22). While interacting with her, I got to that she is person without a 'Pause button'. She used to talk on and on, also on while driving to the prefecture many a times she used to miss a turn as she used to be busy explaining something.

Side effects of Visa extension

Since my Visa was initially valid till April 22nd and I had planned to do many things after coming back to Bangalore. With the last-minute visa extension I had to cancel many programmes.

Sarpass Trek: This trek conducted by YHAI I was supposed to go with Jatin and his friend. The reporting day was on May 4th. I had kept the booking open till last week of April. Finally I canceled my booking on 27th April. But I didn't get any refund since by the time I canceled the time was past 12 midnight IST.

Indian Premier League: A billion dollar cricket extravaganza. I followed each and every news item during the build up for the league and also blogged about the same with Aditya and Raveesh at unofficialipl.com. Just a few days before the league my travel got confirmed and I missed out glitzy opening ceremony at Bangalore and missed matches of first-phase. Now I am back to witness second phase of the league and planning to see a match of Royally Challenged team of Bangalore.

Mandolin Srinivas Concert: It takes place at Fort High School Grounds every year in April-May. After missing the concert for last 2 years, this time I had promised to my friend Ajaysimha that I will be coming. But unfortunately I missed the concert this year too.

What I almost missed ?

Karnataka Elections Voting: Usually I follow elections like anything and hardly I miss out any news items related to election. This is more obvious because the DBMS project in my college was related to Indian Elections. This time being out of Bangalore I missed out many TV programmes related to elections. The only silver lining was that I came back to Bangalore on the election day itself(midnight of previous day). The first thing in the morning I did in the morning was going to polling booth and vote ! What a coincidence ? it seems I came to Bangalore to vote.

Kalyan varma's photography workshop: I had confirmed my participation for the June workshop as slots in May workshop were already full. On Friday 2nd May Kalyan mailed me that a slot has come up in the May workshop. I replied to him explaining the situation and kept the slot on hold till Tuesday afternoon Paris time. When I was about the mail him that I won't be able to make this time. Then all of a sudden an official mail came that I have to return back to Bangalore. As I already said that I came back on Friday midnight and next day got up early in morning(without having proper sleep). After voting I straightaway headed to the workshop venue at 10 am. It was nice intensive and interactive 2-day workshop without a dull moment. I hardly dozed in the workshop due to lack of sleep.

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.

Paris's Signature: Eiffel Tower

Every major city has a signature place like for New York it is ‘Statue of liberty’, for Sydney it is ‘Opera House’, for London it is ‘Big Ben clock’ and for Paris it’s obviously ‘Eiffel tower’. So before landing in Paris, I had decided that I will be visiting Eiffel tower first.

Nearest Metro Stations:

• Champ de Mars Tour Eiffel(RER-C)
• Bir Hakeim(Line-6).

To get there from CDG Airport:
CDG Terminal-2 to St-Michel Notre-Dame by RER-B; St-Michel Notre-Dame to Champ de Mars Tour Eiffel by RER-C

Worth thousand words !

The visit materialized in a bit dramatic way. After taking rest most of the times on Sunday, the next day I got up very early. Still my body was biologically in Indian time zone. I went to the lobby for breakfast bit late at 9.45 am, as it was crowded most of the times. After a few minutes the in-charge there came and said that the buffet is going to close in 5 minutes so please hurry up. After gulping my breakfast, I came back to my room. Then, Jiwon informed me that I can’t go to office as my laptop doesn’t have necessary security software for net connection to work. Therefore, I was advised to work from hotel itself. I started off with my work and this continued for next three days.

Staying indoors for 3 days

By the third day(i.e. Wednesday, Feb-6) because of lack of physical activity, I became very frustrated and decided to go out for two basic reasons, one to have some different food(had got bored of Maggi and MTR stuffs) and the other that I badly needed fresh air however cold it may be. One major problem was that my hotel was in the outskirts and there were no commercial establishment nearby. The nearest train station was in airport terminal. Before leaving, I read a few lines from wiki travel page of Paris and went thru official site of public transport ratp.fr. Then, I took hotel shuttle to the terminal-2 of CDG airport.

First I checked whether something is available to eat in the airport. At the Paul outlet, no vegetarian stuffs were available. So I decided to take Metro train to some station in heart of the city. The good thing in Paris that you can buy a tourist pass Paris Visite, which will be valid for specific number of days. After doing estimation that I would be doing sightseeing in weekends also, I decided to go for a 5-day pass (cost 47 euros) valid till Sunday midnight.

Comparison with Seoul Metro

I took the metro map, analyzed it for 5 minutes and decided to go 'St Michel' station expecting that there may be something vegetarian to eat inside or outside the station. I boarded the stationary train and it departed in a few minutes. The experience of traveling in Paris metro was bit different to that of Seoul Metro. The coaches are designed to have more seats and in case one has to stand there is nothing to hold on. The doors don’t open automatically, one has to press button when the train stops at a station but it closes automatically.

Lost in St. Mitchel

I got down at St Michel and moved up two levels up to find some food shop. I looked around and everywhere 'Sortie' 'Sortie' something was written. No proper shops were there. With frustration I immediately changed my plan and decided to see Paris’s signature place to make my time and ticket worth. I looked into metro map and decided to transfer to another line. A few meters walk led me into a station of other line. The coaches of the train in this line were bit narrower. I looked into the metro map and no route corresponding to current station was there. I tried to see the boards around to check which are next stations on both sides(which is a common thing in Seoul Metro), no such boards were there. I talked to a guy and told him I want to go here, showing a station near Eiffel tower. He replied that I am at the right station.

So happily I boarded the train and looked into list of stations mentioned inside, but none of stations mentioned there were in my metro map. The station names were Odeon, Mabillon etc. After a 5-6 stops I got down at ‘La Motte Picquet Grenelle’ station and came outside the station. My gut feeling was saying that the station is somewhere near Eiffel Tower. I asked a person that where is Eiffel tower ? simultaneously doing actions in hand. He smiled and showed me the way non verbally. After thanking him and started my walk towards the tower. After walking for a 5 min, top 10-20 metres of the tower with lighting display appeared behind a building. In first impression the tower looked very small compared my imagination, may be because of relativity i.e. in photographs it usually looks tall relative to objects around it.

I continued my walk and approached the tower through a jogging park where many health conscious people were burning calories. As I stepped near the base of the tower the lighting display stopped and I had wait for 40 minutes for the next lighting display. A guy approached me from behind with chum-chum sound and asked ‘Chahiye Kya ?’. I was stunned for a moment, he was a guy from Punjab and was selling Eiffel tower key chains. I bought a few key chains from him and continued my exploration. The queue for the elevator was very long, so I dumped idea of going to the top.

Managing without Tripod

In search of food, I crossed the road and Seine river other side of the tower. There I found a small shop and bought a chips packet for 3 Euros! Besides that there was a monument and many people on the terrace balcony of it were having glimpse of Eiffel tower. It seemed like a good view point for Eiffel tower. Eating chips I walked to the viewpoint which was brimming with people. I somehow found a place for myself along balcony compound. Since there was some more time for next lighting display I continued with my photography experimentation. As the handheld snaps were coming very blur, I cribbed myself for not carrying a tripod. Then, for workaround I placed my cam on the balcony wall which was sufficiently wide and took the snaps for Eiffel tower in longer exposure. It came out very well. While shooting the snaps I recalled a line from a recently read article about the tower 'Initially during construction, the structural engineer was criticized for the weird design, now the same design has turned into symbol of the city'.

Tower Lighting

At 7 pm, the lighting show started and it lasted for 10 minutes. It was breathtaking experience and hardly could have eyes off it, but somehow I managed shoot a 2 minute video and the same is embedded below. In case you know Russian, listen to running commentary of some tourists around me :)



After lighting, it was time to return, and I enquired for nearest Metro station. The station name was Passy and again it was not there in my metro map. I caught an Afro gentleman and asked him how to go to St Michel station. He directed my query to a person in the ticketing window. That person took a small metro map and instructed me encircling the stations. He said “You are at Passy, take Line 6, get down at Raspail, changeover to Line 4, and you will reach St Mitchel”. I followed his instructions and reached St Mitchel.

Arrow Mark confusion

'St Mitchel' station looked like a different place to me than evening. Now I had to take a train back to 'CDG Terminal-2'. I asked a shopkeeper. He took out a paper from his billing machine, drew two vertical lines with dots in between and wrote encircled B on the sheet. He tried his best, but only I understood that I have to proceed straight. I reached a station where some doubles decker trains were moving. I told to myself “Oops! where am I?, which is this line”. Being alone I got even more frustrated. One more confusing thing was arrow convention. Till that day, I had seen ‘up arrow’ to proceed forward but in Paris it is other way ‘down arrow’ means proceed forward !!.

I walked further ahead and found an opening, in which escalators were leading further down. I proceeded downwards and finally I reached the station which at I had got down in the evening. With confirmation I got into a train to airport and reached 'CDG Terminal-2' station without any confusion. From there I took ‘every 20 min shuttle’ back to the hotel.

It was end of eventful, memorable outing initiated by ‘desire for sandwich’ and later transformed into visit to Paris's signature place Eiffel tower. Even though there were minor hiccups (i.e. I got lost in a weirdly designed metro station of Paris), my long wait for Eiffel Tower darshan ended.

Bonjour Paris !

“Events do not happen; they already exist and are executed on a time machine”. This quote by Einstein is very much applicable to my Paris trip. The business trip to Paris was supposed to be my first travel outside India. But something else was written in the script. I want to share many flashbacks including a trip to Mumbai for France Visa interview. But let’s start with actual Paris trip i.e. the thoughts which are fresh in my mind.

After a lot of uncertainties, finally my travel got confirmed. I had to fly from Bangalore on 3rd Feb by Air France at 2.30 am. To be on safer side I left my home at 10.30 pm(2nd Feb). While leaving, my subconscious constantly troubling me that I have forgot something very important. On the way to the airport while descending Richmond Circle, a bell rang !! that I have not taken node lock license device, without which I won’t be able to work. I immediately requested taxi driver to go back to my home. He nodded and took a turn. Thank god it strike me before getting to the airport, seriously subconscious mind is really powerful.

After taking license key device, I reached airport at 11.30 pm, exactly 3 hours before the scheduled departure. The queue to check-in was not very long. Everything seemed to be fine, my luggage was 23.7 kg. But the Air France lady said my luggage is overweight for 1 month stay. She asked me to make it 22kg. I removed the security seal and took 4-5 ‘ready to eat’ pack handed it over to my mother in visitors gallery and some clothes I stuffed into my cabin bag. Before going to the check-in counter I made sure that my luggage was below 22kg. Finally check-in was done and I had boarding pass in my hand.

Enthusiasm of going to Paris was there, but somehow curiosity and excitement of first trip was not there. While filling the immigration form in first floor a girl sitting to next to me asked many clarifications. She was traveling abroad for first time on an onsite assignment to Philadelphia. After immigration and security check I made phone calls to my friends. After sometime a guy came and sat next to me, the curiosity on his face was very much revealing that he was traveling by air for the first time. I had brief chat with him. He was from Bosch and was going to someplace in Germany for 3 months. Then, the discussion came to the point that he will be landing in new airport after 3 months.

The wait for announcement for boarding continued. As I was seated in front of security clearance section, was just observing the body language of different people undergoing security check. One person’s face seemed to be very familiar to classmate Rohith. In fact it was Rohith Kumar, it was nice have a known person as co-passenger. I was even more delighted, when I got to know that he was also going to stay in Paris for business trip, and may be a potential mate for sightseeing in weekends.

The boarding call came. It was done in reverse order of row numbers. Since my seat was in front the call came in the last. The person sitting next to me was a Technical Architect from NXP and was going to Amsterdam. Major part of journey I had technical discussion with him and he asked me many curious questions about my project.

At 8.30 am(Paris time) the plane landed. Sitting in the aisle seat I missed the view of city while landing. After coming out of the plane in the sky bridge itself police checked our passport for the valid visa. Then for immigration stamping and baggage collection we took airport’s automatic train to the other terminal. After stamping I waited for 20 minutes next to baggage belt. Rohith got his bag early as he had checked in later than me(LIFO strategy).

The accommodation for me was booked at Hyatt Regency. From the airport there is Hyatt’s shuttle to the hotel every twenty minutes. From information counter I got the exact place to board the shuttle i.e. gate 4. As soon as I came out Gate-4, I started shivering like anything as the temperature was 2 degree. Thankfully the shuttle came in within one minute and was relived from further torture. Also, the good morning wish of the driver made me comfortable and the feeling of alien land was erased in a jiffy.

At 9.30 am, I reached the hotel. After completing the formalities, the house keeping person (Simon) showed the way to my room. After finishing ablutions I called up JiWon and he told me to take rest. I slept for 2-3 hrs, got up and had a Spinach sambar rice(ready to eat) for lunch.

Later Jiwon showed me ‘LG lounge’(opposite to my room) and other facilities of hotel. In evening he took me Regency into which only privileged customer of the hotel have access. There I had pastry and coffee. Later I came back to my room, prepared noodles at the lounge for dinner and slept early as I had to be ready early in morning for going to office.

100th post: B2B from Paris !!!

Hurray !!! This is 100th post of this blog. One more milestone achieved.

Many of friends were asking me why there were no updates for a week on this blog. Well, I wanted to post something special for this post. I was on a business trip to Paris and was looking forward to post about the same for the 100th post with a photograph. I didn't had proper resources in Paris to upload the photograph so decided to publish the post when I am back to Bangalore(B2B).

Here is one of the snaps of symbol of Paris i.e. Eiffel Tower.



From next post onwards, I will be posting experiences of the trip. Things about Paris documented very well in the internet, so will keep my posts as precise as possible.