EUROPE 2010 - THE TRIP

The Trip

Two days after getting back from Paris, sitting in front of my laptop, I can only wonder at the fact that I thought the trip might not be worth it. I had the most amazing two weeks ever and I forced to accept that my true passion is really this – travelling.

Mt. Eyjafnallajokul interfered with my plans in that Aleena who was supposed to be on a two week work trip to US and was supposed to return on 1st so that I could spend the 2nd week with them, had to be out of town the entire 2 weeks I was there. Hence I couldn’t meet up with her or Ankur at all. I was looking forward to spending some time with her, but then really didn't mind as I had a great time with Ajoy and Meera.  Ajoy and Meera were the perfects hosts, taking me around everywhere I wanted to go, and most importantly helping me do it all alone like I wanted to. The girls were most adorable and I am so happy I got to spend time with them. 

I had been told that Paris is not the friendliest of cities. People, I was told, are rude, curt and they talk to you only in French. It was also described as not a very clean city, with dog poo on the street. I can only say that perhaps Paris has changed in the past few years, since those people visited. The people were friendly. I spoke to them in broken French which they didn’t understand and they replied to me in good English. The few who didn't speak English, gestured. As I was alone most of the time, I was frequently lost, especially in the earlier days, and there have been times when I have stood in the middle of the sidewalk, peering into an open map trying to figure out where I was, and perfect strangers have come up to me, and helped me without even me asking them. One of them even told me that her favourite book was 'God of Small Things' and was amazed when I told her I know Arundhati Roy and come from the same town. I didn’t encounter one unhelpful or rude person the entire time I was there. As for cleanliness, there were certainly no dog poo around and the city was clean enough.

The first day  Meera took me to Gare St Lazare, and La Defense and she showed me how and where to go. She also got me a train pass for the week (which I renewed the second week) and showed me how to use it. From the next day onwards, Ajoy would drop me their suburban train station on his way to work at 7:45 am and I would go on my own. I was very happy to discover Paris on my own, with the help of a metro map, the Lonely Planet Paris (which was a huge help) and friendly strangers who pointed me in the right directions. 

The weather was awesome the first week. It was a pleasant 20 deg C and I loved it. However the second week the temperatures dropped, it rained a bit and was pretty cold. The wind chill factor was high, especially on the day I went to Champagne and I didn’t enjoy that extreme cold very much. However on the whole the weather was good. 

I learnt some new things about myself. I realized that I do not like doing touristy things, I do not like waiting in queues and I would rather miss seeing a place rather than wait for hours. And I realized that I don’t enjoy myself when there is a crowd. All these things perhaps make me not a typical tourist. I also realized that the research I had done was needed and knowing what one wants to do will help make most of the time available.