Today as I sit watching 'Julie and Julia' on Star Movies I watched Meryl Streep walking by the River Seine just beyond Notre Dame. I mentally jumped in excitement at actually recognising the street and in my head I thought, 'Well I've been there too, my lady!' It was quite an amazing thought really, to think that just last week I was thousands of miles across the oceans, sight seeing in Paris and eating French croissants (which are absolutely lovely by the way). I had a similar moment on the long flight back to India as I engaged in the customary binge watching of movies. While watching 'Beauty and the Beast' - I was at the emotional throwback to Paris where the Beast asks Beauty whether she'd like to go to Notre Dame or Champs-Elysees - 'Or is that too touristy for you' he asks her. Well that's exactly where Day 2 of our fine summer vacation took us!
The day was pleasantly sunny as we made our way down to breakfast after a very restful night of sleep on the super comfortable mattresses of our Hotel. I always wonder at these mattresses, they are at least a foot tall, wonderfully snugly, almost like a nice warm hug, and I'm sure are quite a big investment. I have a lot of respect for people who spend good money on comfortable mattresses, mentally giving full marks to the proprietor of this place. After a 'continental breakfast' consisting of croissants and bacon (Hurray!) and orange juice and fruit yogurt we set out in our tour bus to venture into the city.
We soon encountered the first similarity between India and France - traffic. But in everything there is something to be admired - the vehicles were handsome and mumma was pretty sure that at any moment one of those imposing gleaming enormous red and blue trucks would transform into Optimus Prime and leave us with a brilliant story to tell. Of course that didn't happen and instead, we soon found ourselves, passing French khets (fields), French railways tracks, French graffiti, French flyovers and finally crossed the ring road, and Viola! Entered the heart of the city.
Our first stop was at the local Fragonard perfumery right next to the Opera Garnier (I suppose the shampoo is named after it). A very elegant Japanese lady gave us a lesson on perfume history, perfume cookery and perfume math describing why it's so costly - apparently you have to boil 3000kg of rose petals to get 1kg of rose essence, imagine being the person who has to pick all those thorny rose bushes! With that baffling number in mind she lulled us into the fragrance chamber, were we got a little light headed smelling all sorts of perfumes and I think under the influence of that and her descriptions most of us were convinced that we HAD TO get some and the perfume sold like hot cakes!
We wandered around the squares taking in the beautiful Roman and French architecture. The sober off-white and grey walls were accentuated by colourfully tasteful doors and windows. Imposing doors of different colours and sizes, with detailed carvings, peep holes and heavy iron knockers. Some were well maintained, some run down, some wide opening letting us peep into homes or glimpse nearly tied curtains while some were locked tightly shut. This seemed to be the hub of activity in the city centre, the opera house standing imposing and large with its tall symmetrical pillars, soothing turquoise dome and its steps so regal you would feel a little underdressed for the occasion of visiting it, but there in lies the novelty of Paris - it houses all sorts of different people on its steps.
We saw different kinds of people from all walks of life, with different faces bearing resemblances to various parts of the world. There was curly and straight hair, red hair and dreadlocks, blonde, purple, black, white, bald heads, covered heads with different hats. The day was sunny and this wasn't India, so we saw - lots of skin, and heard - different languages from the throngs of tourists with cameras alot cheerful hop-on-hop-off tourist buses. And where there are tourists, there are souvenir shops which consisted of Eiffel towers in every conceivable shape, size, colour, prize range and form - fridge magnets, coasters, pens, you name it! I-Heart-Paris t-shirts professed their love of Paris, and the more subtle ones displayed the lovely, River Seine.
Everyone in Paris, it seems, has somewhere to be, many walking briskly in an awful hurry to get somewhere, wading through the crowded sidewalks with purpose, business suits on and take away coffee in hand. At the same time, the roadside cafes were full of people sitting around consuming large quantities of wine and beer. And they are such fascinating, wonderful places - these roadside cafes! Checkered red and white coffee table tops. Rickety little foldable tables cramped together on the foot path. Cute french waiters in neat spotless white aprons precariously balancing multiple cups and plates and spoons. Owners opening out large colourful umbrellas to shield their customers from the sun. People vacating tables. Someone clearing away the cutlery and resetting the table. People chatting, laughing with a group of friends, or sitting with a cup of tea immersed in a book oblivious to the hullabaloo around. I loved the wayside scene, it was just so charming as though the city was engaging in conversation with us and telling us, 'Come sit down ladies, won't you stop for a cappuccino and cheese cake?' But of course! Who were to ignore such a call! And so, although we were a little short of time, we sat down at one the wooden tables at 'Cafe de Paris' (touristy, I know) and enjoyed a cup of coffee served to us by a nice looking waiter guy who I'm gonna call 'Viola!' because that's the only conversation we had.
'Could we get a cappuccino please?' -
'Viola!'
'Could you bring us the menu?' -
'Viola!'
'Can we have the check please?' -
'Viola!'
'What is the meaning of life?' -
'Viola!' (Just kidding)
We spent more than the time allotted by our tour manager getting 'Violated' and got left behind (I guess Indian Stretchable Time doesn't apply in Europe). We found ourselves stranded, in the middle of some Parisian street with a hard to pronounce name, and a non functional phone - not good. A kind french policewoman let us use her phone, and once we'd located our group, stopped a cab guy, explained things to him in slippery french syllables and packed us off on the more hilarious cab ride ever. They say that French men are overtly flirtatious and vocal with their feelings, and I must say, it's true. Our 50 year old cabbie in the space of our five minute cab drive managed to get a family and occupational history out of us, asked for my hand on marriage, invited himself to my wedding and shook our hands in the end like we'd been friends forever.
The highlight of the day was the cruise on River Seine, with its remarkable bridges (which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites). The river is 775kms long and cuts through Paris halfway down it's course for 14kms adding a lovely scenic dimension to this city. There are 37 bridges over the river, which connect the left and right banks of Paris, and each one is different! Some are plain and simple, some pedestrian only, some paved road, some have canopies for shelter and hanging lanterns while others have beautiful statues guarding the pillars that plant it into the river and one even has hundreds of padlocks of its railings as a sign of the bond of many lovers. They are central to the charm and romance of the city, these bridges, as couples walk across hand in hand, old and young alike, and people go about their daily life. My favourite bridge was Pont Alexander III which connects Napoleon's tomb to the Grand Palais and was built by Gustav Eiffel (yes the same person who built the tower). For those of you who are interested here's an article about by a guy who documented all the bridges, after he spent an entire day just walking by the river, for a hurried tourist that's an impossibility, for the leisurely traveller, a most novel idea. (http://www.flockingsomewhere.com/the-35-bridges-of-paris-in-an-evening/) We caught our first proper glimpse of the Eiffel tower on the cruise and there was such a scamper of people reaching into bags to pull out their phones, DSLRs, video cameras and what-not-else to document this historic moment. The excitement was almost palpable! And extremely contagious.
We returned to the hotel sated with history, lovely sights and yummy food, thankfully sinking into our mattresses and with the promise of more to come.
The day was pleasantly sunny as we made our way down to breakfast after a very restful night of sleep on the super comfortable mattresses of our Hotel. I always wonder at these mattresses, they are at least a foot tall, wonderfully snugly, almost like a nice warm hug, and I'm sure are quite a big investment. I have a lot of respect for people who spend good money on comfortable mattresses, mentally giving full marks to the proprietor of this place. After a 'continental breakfast' consisting of croissants and bacon (Hurray!) and orange juice and fruit yogurt we set out in our tour bus to venture into the city.
We soon encountered the first similarity between India and France - traffic. But in everything there is something to be admired - the vehicles were handsome and mumma was pretty sure that at any moment one of those imposing gleaming enormous red and blue trucks would transform into Optimus Prime and leave us with a brilliant story to tell. Of course that didn't happen and instead, we soon found ourselves, passing French khets (fields), French railways tracks, French graffiti, French flyovers and finally crossed the ring road, and Viola! Entered the heart of the city.
Our first stop was at the local Fragonard perfumery right next to the Opera Garnier (I suppose the shampoo is named after it). A very elegant Japanese lady gave us a lesson on perfume history, perfume cookery and perfume math describing why it's so costly - apparently you have to boil 3000kg of rose petals to get 1kg of rose essence, imagine being the person who has to pick all those thorny rose bushes! With that baffling number in mind she lulled us into the fragrance chamber, were we got a little light headed smelling all sorts of perfumes and I think under the influence of that and her descriptions most of us were convinced that we HAD TO get some and the perfume sold like hot cakes!
We wandered around the squares taking in the beautiful Roman and French architecture. The sober off-white and grey walls were accentuated by colourfully tasteful doors and windows. Imposing doors of different colours and sizes, with detailed carvings, peep holes and heavy iron knockers. Some were well maintained, some run down, some wide opening letting us peep into homes or glimpse nearly tied curtains while some were locked tightly shut. This seemed to be the hub of activity in the city centre, the opera house standing imposing and large with its tall symmetrical pillars, soothing turquoise dome and its steps so regal you would feel a little underdressed for the occasion of visiting it, but there in lies the novelty of Paris - it houses all sorts of different people on its steps.
We saw different kinds of people from all walks of life, with different faces bearing resemblances to various parts of the world. There was curly and straight hair, red hair and dreadlocks, blonde, purple, black, white, bald heads, covered heads with different hats. The day was sunny and this wasn't India, so we saw - lots of skin, and heard - different languages from the throngs of tourists with cameras alot cheerful hop-on-hop-off tourist buses. And where there are tourists, there are souvenir shops which consisted of Eiffel towers in every conceivable shape, size, colour, prize range and form - fridge magnets, coasters, pens, you name it! I-Heart-Paris t-shirts professed their love of Paris, and the more subtle ones displayed the lovely, River Seine.
Everyone in Paris, it seems, has somewhere to be, many walking briskly in an awful hurry to get somewhere, wading through the crowded sidewalks with purpose, business suits on and take away coffee in hand. At the same time, the roadside cafes were full of people sitting around consuming large quantities of wine and beer. And they are such fascinating, wonderful places - these roadside cafes! Checkered red and white coffee table tops. Rickety little foldable tables cramped together on the foot path. Cute french waiters in neat spotless white aprons precariously balancing multiple cups and plates and spoons. Owners opening out large colourful umbrellas to shield their customers from the sun. People vacating tables. Someone clearing away the cutlery and resetting the table. People chatting, laughing with a group of friends, or sitting with a cup of tea immersed in a book oblivious to the hullabaloo around. I loved the wayside scene, it was just so charming as though the city was engaging in conversation with us and telling us, 'Come sit down ladies, won't you stop for a cappuccino and cheese cake?' But of course! Who were to ignore such a call! And so, although we were a little short of time, we sat down at one the wooden tables at 'Cafe de Paris' (touristy, I know) and enjoyed a cup of coffee served to us by a nice looking waiter guy who I'm gonna call 'Viola!' because that's the only conversation we had.
'Could we get a cappuccino please?' -
'Viola!'
'Could you bring us the menu?' -
'Viola!'
'Can we have the check please?' -
'Viola!'
'What is the meaning of life?' -
'Viola!' (Just kidding)
We spent more than the time allotted by our tour manager getting 'Violated' and got left behind (I guess Indian Stretchable Time doesn't apply in Europe). We found ourselves stranded, in the middle of some Parisian street with a hard to pronounce name, and a non functional phone - not good. A kind french policewoman let us use her phone, and once we'd located our group, stopped a cab guy, explained things to him in slippery french syllables and packed us off on the more hilarious cab ride ever. They say that French men are overtly flirtatious and vocal with their feelings, and I must say, it's true. Our 50 year old cabbie in the space of our five minute cab drive managed to get a family and occupational history out of us, asked for my hand on marriage, invited himself to my wedding and shook our hands in the end like we'd been friends forever.
The highlight of the day was the cruise on River Seine, with its remarkable bridges (which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites). The river is 775kms long and cuts through Paris halfway down it's course for 14kms adding a lovely scenic dimension to this city. There are 37 bridges over the river, which connect the left and right banks of Paris, and each one is different! Some are plain and simple, some pedestrian only, some paved road, some have canopies for shelter and hanging lanterns while others have beautiful statues guarding the pillars that plant it into the river and one even has hundreds of padlocks of its railings as a sign of the bond of many lovers. They are central to the charm and romance of the city, these bridges, as couples walk across hand in hand, old and young alike, and people go about their daily life. My favourite bridge was Pont Alexander III which connects Napoleon's tomb to the Grand Palais and was built by Gustav Eiffel (yes the same person who built the tower). For those of you who are interested here's an article about by a guy who documented all the bridges, after he spent an entire day just walking by the river, for a hurried tourist that's an impossibility, for the leisurely traveller, a most novel idea. (http://www.flockingsomewhere.com/the-35-bridges-of-paris-in-an-evening/) We caught our first proper glimpse of the Eiffel tower on the cruise and there was such a scamper of people reaching into bags to pull out their phones, DSLRs, video cameras and what-not-else to document this historic moment. The excitement was almost palpable! And extremely contagious.
We returned to the hotel sated with history, lovely sights and yummy food, thankfully sinking into our mattresses and with the promise of more to come.
