Ram's Travelog: April 2006

Bon Jour.. Mesdames et Messieurs..
I am just very lazy when it comes to new posts and this sorto post takes quite sometime to put together... Finally, I have logged my trip to paris a month back...

Timeline: March 4th week, 2006

I had a great time this week. Last time when I came to attend a training, I had very little time to explore this wonderful city. But this time around, I had plenty of time to walk around and see some of the famous monuments in Paris and just roam the streets of Paris, hop on and hop off the Metros and RER's(Fast trains) from Point A to Point B. It was just fascinating, that you can go anywhere with very little difficulty with just the help of a map. Its like a dream come true, though I really never dreamed so much of visiting Paris, dunno why and pls. dont ask me, why not. Def. Heard from friends and read in a few books, but being there and seeing it, was totally a different experience.

Veni, Vidi, Felix Sum... (rough translated as I came, I saw and I am happy).. Blame google, if this translation is wrong :-o)

Let me try to summarize my visit in Chronological order...

Day-1: Since we(Fellow trainees and I) were staying in Robinson near Clamart, and this happens to be in Zone 3 for RER, we bought a weekly pass for RER Zones 1-3(works out cheaper this way). In Paris, it seems, you need a ID card with the Weekly and Monthly pass with your photograph on it and you need to write the card number on the ticket so that only you can use it. We didnt take it so seriously, for which we were fined later, which cost us more than the ticket itself. The train system is so good in Paris just like London. You can use any combination of Metro trains or RERs to go from one place to other and signs are so clear that its very easy for tourists. Though I cant say the same about French people. Sometimes they come off as very difficult people because you are an outsider and you dont speak french, but there are very nice people too, like one of our fellow trainee, who guided us in the city, though her guiding skills were still questionable, at times :-o).

Well anyways.. we took the RER to St. Michel. There is a fountain at St. Michel, which is very famous rendevouz point and a common meeting place just like Piccadily Circus in London. Its the start point for many a dates and many meetings and get togethers. From there we walked the Latin Quarters or 'Quartier Latin' as it is called in French. This is bunch of narrow streets of cobble stones with lots of eating places and curious shops all around and cafes etc etc. Its a very intersting place. You can find diferent cuisines fo different budgets. We walked the whole place and dined in one of them. French wine with dinner is a must. I would highly recommend. On our way back, we had the famous French streetside Thin Crepes. Those Sweet Chocolaty Nutella Crepes were so delicious.
Yummy.. the taste is still lingering on...

Day-2: This was a very interesting evening. The company had arranged a special evening for the trainees. We were taken for a boat cruise along the river 'La seine' and dinner on the boat. It was a nice boat and had a posh feeling to it. Apart from us and few others, we could not find many young people in there. Either it was too boring or very expensive. Anyways, the start point was the Eiffel tower and we go from there on the river on one side , come back and go on the other wide and finish at Eiffel tower. So we pretty much see many of the monuments along the river incluing the smaller version of the Statue of Liberty(the bigger version was gifted to the USA by the French after American Independence). The Eiffel tower was so majestic and glittering in the night, as it usually does. It was a full course meal on the boat, starting with champagne and some salad for starters. Then we had main course and later bread and cheese. All along we had a steady supply of Rouge(red wine) and Blanc(white wine). I would say that was the most stylish dinner I have ever had so far in my life, the french way. The way back to hotel was pretty interesting with some 'spirited' conversations.

Day-3: It only gets better, as they say... Some of the trainees(pretty girls:) who work in the Paris office had arranged for a Dinner and Salsa night for all of us that evening in a very trendy Latin Bar. Before the dinner we decided to walk "Avenue des Champs Elysees" (the Main street of paris - within quotes).. Pronounced as "chanz elisees" If you are in paris, you ve got to walk this street and ofcourse see Eiffel tower and all the others. We started off at "Arche de triomphe". This structure looks somewat like our India gate in New Delhi. The art work on the pillars were fantastic. The view from top of this is really magnificient. All roads converge on to this center point. You can see the planning

and vision of the architect back in the 18th and 19th century when they sketched it. These roads are really wide even by todays standards. The street Champs elysees is such a nice and big street where you can see many famous shops like Mercedes, Peaugot and big fashion names. Only the rich shop here. Walking along the street, we came to "Place de la Concorde". Its the famous center where they used to have the Guillotine executions in the past. Then the roads leads us straight to the Famous Obelisk before the "Musee de Louvre". We walked the Garden of the museum known as "Jardin de Louvre". It was really huge place and big garden, Tuileries garden. People say you need many days to see the entire museum. We saw the Glass pyramid of the museum from outside, took a few photos and then walked towards "Bastille", the place famous for French Revolution. Then we went straight to the Restraunt for Dinner. It was a nice and trendy place with three levels. We had a sumptuous meal with good french wine and then we danced Salsa until they closed for the night. It was pretty late when we got back to Hotel.
Day-4: Since this was the last day of the training, some of them left in the evening. Some of us outsiders stayed back until the weekend to see more of Paris. We went to famous Montmartre district to see the "Basilica of the Sacré Ceur". It was really beautiful in the evening.

We had a great view of the entire city from the steps of the Sacre ceur. We went inside this chapel and then walked the streets of the Montmartre, where many painters were there trying to sketch the beauty of Paris from the hill and also the basilica itself. We had a nice dinner in a Italian place there and we walked down to the Pigalle-known for its rather infamous sex shops and the Moulin rouge. We had to take couple of photos in front of the famous Moulin Rouge. Afterwards, We took the metro back to the Center and then RER back to the hotel to prepare ourself for the next day. Most of us took Friday off so we could tour paris a little more.
Day-5: I had to change hotels because it was my day off and I had to change out of the Company Hotel to a cheap Motel near La Defense, business district of paris. Couple of my friends helped me carry my stuff to my new room. Once I dumped my stuff there, we went to see the "Grande Arche de la Defense". It is one of the newly constructed Modern arch. It doesnt compare with the Grand Arch de triomphe, but gives a different view of paris city from its top. From the top of this arch, we get a clear view of the city. The road that leads from here goes all the way to the Arch de triomphe and then becomes the Champs elysees and then to Louvre. Then we went back to St. michels and met others and we all started walking towards the "Jadin de Luxembourg". This was really big garden with many statues and palace of luxembourg nearby. We walked around,

took a few photos and relaxed for a while. Then we went to Montparnasse district, known as intellectual and artistic life according to Wikipedia. We went on top of the "Tour Montparnasse" to get a better view from the top of this sky scraper. From the top of this skyscraper it was just a magnificient view of Paris-Le magnifique. Unfortunately weather was not so kind to us, clouds and mist hanging around and having a evening party all by themselves hiding the wonderful view. Once it cleared a little bit we got a clear view of the city in the night and also a beautiful view of the glittering "Tour Eiffel". The tower is lit up all through the evening and night. At every hour, for 10 mins, they set the sparking lights on and it looks like a magnificient glittering tower. But the best moment to me, was when it stopped glittering and then there was peace all of a sudden, just the fully lit Eiffel tower. We just stayed on top for almost close to 2 hours just to savor this fantastic view. Finally we got down, had dinner and headed back to our respective hotels.
Day-6: Almost all the trainees had left by now except for 5 of us. We decided to walk through the St. michel and Chapel Notredame and then went to the Chatalet to see Pompideau center. This was just a museum and few shops. We did some shopping near busy Chatalet Les Halles and couple of them left to catch their flights back home. So that left 3 of us to continue on our adventures in Paris. We went to a cafe shop and had a

quick lunch and sat there watching different people walk by analyzing their fashion. It was so amazing that no 2 women were dressed alike. No wonder Paris is the fashion capital of the world. Then we went to "Les Invalides", the burial place of the greatest French General of all time, Napoleon Bonaparte. His tomb is supposed to be under the crypt of the beautiful dome of Les Invalides. From here we went back to the Eiffel tower. Since it was evening, we just stayed on for a longtime at the foot of the tower and walked around and enjoyed the beautifully lit tower. Somehow I coulnt quite get enough of it. Everyday we seemed to come back here spend sometime. Then we went back to Latin quarters for one last drink with the remaining few. Then we headed back to the hotel
Day 7: of the remaining 3, 2 were leaving today. We had to adjust our clocks one hour behind for Day light savings and somehow we managed to have enough time for the 2 guys to catch their flight on time. As to me, I was accompanied by one of my fellow trainee from Paris to catch up on few more places, which I had missed out earlier. We went inside the famous Chapel Notredame. This chapel is very important in the french history. All important coronations for kings, hapened here. General Napolean was Coronated as the Empire in this Chapel. The big hall, stained glasses on the large windows and different worship places of Jesus and Mother Mary, the legendary gorgoyle of Notredame and the architecture of the entire chapel are just some of the highlights. It was just a beautiful chapel to visit. After that We walked to the Famous Pantheon, yet another old and beautiful chapel in Paris and then went on walking the strets of paris until my feet gave away due to fatigue (continuous walking for the past week took its toll) and I had to catch my flight back to Oslo.

Thus endeth, great journey to the land of famous monuments, gardens and museums - the beautiful city of paris. Now I can sense, why its called the Most romantic city.... but, I still havent seen the Musee de louvre and other famous impressionist museums and the Palace of versailles... Maybe I need one more trip, just for the museums... and maybe I can see the Eiffel tower once more. I thoroughly enjoyed this trip and my fellow trainees made it even special with their constant supply of Humor.