April 5th – 6th 2003
Paris ....dubbed as the 'City of Lights' has a gift for building grand monuments. We reached Paris from Milan on Saturday morning and our friend Saurapratim Das (SPD) was waiting for us in Paris Bercy station.
From the station SPD suggested that we cover a few places before heading for his house in Suresnes. So we started out on foot. The first place we went was the Cathedral of Madelline. A huge church which gives a very rich look of the medieval architecture. From the Madelline we walked down the stretch to Place de la concorde. The site of beheadings during the Revolution and tank duels during World War II, is at the opposite end of the Tuileries Gardens. The 3,300-year-old Obelisque of Luxor at its center was a gift from Egyptian viceroy Mehemet Ali to Charles X in 1929. From the concorde, on a clear day, we can see the three monuments - Arc de Triomphe, Concorde and the Grand Arch in a single line.
From the concorde we headed towards the Hotel des Invalides. During this walk we passed across one of the oldest bridges across the River Seine. This monument also has the Tomb of Napolean Bonaparte. The Hotel des Invalides (is not a Hotel as the name suggests!!!) is a museum which today has a lot of weapons which were used during the first and the second world war. Then we saw the tomb of Napolean before going ahead to the Arc de Triomphe. This arch is a fabulous one and I found a very strange resemblance to our own India Gate in New Delhi. Similar to the India Gate this also has a flame which keeps burning in memory of the people who lost their lives in the world war. After clicking some photographs we made way through the famous Champs Elysees (it’s lined with shops, showrooms and cinemas) to the Grand Arch. The Grand Arch is a modern marvel amid huge buildings. Among these buildings is a twin tower which houses the headquarters of Societe Generale (A famous bank in Paris). From the Grand Arch we went to SPD's house which is in Suresnes. We had to change two trains and one tram but even that was fun. Had a lunch of Prawns Fried Rice and a cauliflower/potato curry which enticed our gastronomic juices (these had gone dead for around 20 days, eating sweet Italian dishes and bread :} ).
After the sumptuous lunch we made way towards the MonteMartre where the white domed splendor of Sacre Coeur is situated. We spent a few minutes in the church and then headed towards Pompidou. The Georges centre at Pompidou houses a modern art museum which is good to see but very difficult to understand. The structure has been built in such a way that all the pipes hang out. After having a good look at the museum and the things in it and around it, we made way towards the cathedral of Notre Dame. A very famous church which at once comes to mind when we mention Paris. The rose windows and the ceiling paintings in this church are worth seeing. At the end of this we were pretty tired as we covered most of these places by foot. So we decided to have dinner before going to the tour of Eiffel tower. We had dinner in a Pakistani restaurant. The food was fabulous and we enjoyed the dinner to the hilt. The restaurant owner has become a good friend of SPD since he frequents there a lot. We met one more gang from Delhi and in the restaurant it was almost like Delhi with all of us talking in hindi. It is a very peculiar fact that we tend to notice each other and be nice to one another (I'm talking abt India-Pakistan relationship) in a total alien land but we can't do the same thing in our own countries!!! Anyway, after the food we headed towards the iron marvel - Eiffel. Such a wonderful structure built by Gustavo Eiffel, it looked like a lighted candle in the waning light of the evening. SPD had already made the trip to its apex thrice and so he stayed at the bottom itself, while we went ahead. The ticket to go up and come down was 10 Euros 20 cents but believe me the sight from above is worth it and more. We can see the entire city lighted up from above the Eiffel. We came down, purchased some soveniors and went back home - 3 dead tired persons!!!!
Next day we had a breakfast of scrambled eggs with bread toast and left for the Mueseum du Louvre. Here the entrance costs 5 Euros but they have weekly, monthly and yearly passes also. A massive museum which was once the palace of French kings, now has the famous Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci. It also has the sculptures Slaves (by Michaelangelo), the Venus de milo and the winged wictory of Samothrace. The entire museum is a very very tough to be finished in a day or even two. So we saw the wings which contained Michaelangelo's works, Leonardo Da vinci's works and the Egyptians artifacts. Students and professors spend days together in this museum to study the artifacts. So that explains the monthly and yearly passes. Then we saw the Hotel de Ville (which again is not a hotel but a government office :} ). From there we had our lunch in a Pondicherry restaurant. We had Masala Dosa and Chicken Biryani. Wow !!! Then we headed towards Bastille where there is a tower which was built in memory of people died during the French revolution. Then we headed towards Suresnes to SPD's house where we a supper of Dal-Chawal and left for Paris Bercy to catch the train back to Milan.
One thing which impressed me is that Paris has these manicured parks and flower gardens which offer a beautiful backdrop to the wonderful city. Thanks to SPD our stay in Paris was wonderful and will always remain in my mind for years to come.
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