EUROPE 2010 - AN OVERVIEW

AN OVERVIEW

Friday, 23^rd April, 2010 : After work, I went home, took my already packed bags and went to  Reenammamma’s house. Kept the aval and samandi podi Reenammamma had prepared for Meera and Ajoy in my bags, and had a light dinner. Rajanchayan dropped me to the HAL BIAS bus stop before 9. Reached the Bengaluru International Airport by 10, checked in, and cleared the emigration where I had to meet 3 emigration officers to convince them that I am intending to return. 

We boarded the flight after 1am. The flight was uneventful. I had a window seat next to a Frenchman. I watched a little bit of T.V and slept through most of the flight. I was disappointed in the food as the quantities were meagre and it was not tasty. 

Saturday, 24^th April : Landed at the Charles De Gaul Airport in Paris at around 8:15. Cleared immigration without any problem and collected my bags which were one of the first to come through. Ajoy was waiting for me outside.

Drove home. Enjoyed the wonderful scenery. Had breakfast with Meera and the kids. Then Ajoy went to the Auchan the supermarket and I went with him. I had seen what I thought was large supermarkets in New Zealand but I was not prepared for this. It was huge beyond imagination. I acted the typical tourist and took photographs of Ajoy choosing cheese and embarrassed him. After lunch we took off to Bruges. 

Sunday, 25^th April : Spent the morning in Bruges. After lunch drove back to Paris

Monday, 26^th April : Meera took me on the metro, explained the map to me and we went to Galleries Lafayette.  We also stopped and her favourite stores of C&A and H&M. Had lunch at La Defense.

Tuesday, 27^th April : Ventured out on my own. Took the train to St Lazare, found the offices of the Open Bus Company, and spent the day hopping on and off the open bus.
I bought a ticket for Euro 29 and the ticket entitled me to travel on the bus and get in and out as many times as I wanted that day. The bus travelled on four routes, and the one that I was interested in went by the Opera, Louvre, Pont Neuf, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Orsay, Place de la Concorde, Champs Elysee, Arc de Triomphe, and Invalides. They had an audio commentary running about the different places which was very informative. This also helped me explore several of these places in detail which would have been difficult on my first day out alone by just relying on the metros.

The highlight of the day was that I had coffee at the the Cafe Georges V on Champs Elysee. The waiter was snooty and the coffee was overpriced, but I still I had to do it!. 

Wednesday, 28^th April : Louvre in the morning, Jardin de Tuileries  during lunch, L’Orangerie and wine tasting at O Chateau in the afternoon and  Eglise St’Eustache in the evening.
Thursday, 29^th April : The day trip to Burgundy wine growing region. 

Friday, 30^th April : One of my favourite days in Paris. Did a lot of walking. Walked through St Germain des Pres in the morning, then did the Lonely Planet guided walking tour of Le Marais, and then the Paris Walks guided tour of Montmartre in the afternoon. Was really tired by evening but I enjoyed myself very much.

Saturday, 1^st May: Talia’s birthday. Spent the day helping Meera and Ajoy with the party. Had a bbq in the evening with their friends Chris and Glenda. Was fun.

Sunday 2^nd May : Attended Meera’s & Ajoy’s church in the morning. Had very tasty lunch at IKEA and went a little crazy in the store. They had a birthday party in the afternoon, and I curled up and slept solidly the whole evening.
Monday 3rd May : Was a rainy and wet day. Still I braved out in the morning. Went back to Montmartre as I didn't have time to wander through Place du Tertre on Friday.  Spent a happy albeit cold morning there. Went to Eiffel Tower but it was raining too heavily to do anything more than stare from the metro station. Went to Musee de Rodin and found it closed. Met Meera for lunch at La Defense and then went for the walk through Latin Quarter with Paris Walks.
Tuesday 4th May : Day trip to Champagne

Wednesday 5th May : Versailles in the morning, Eiffel Tower and  Musee de Rodin in the afternoon.
Thursday 6th May. Spent the morning relaxing at home and in afternoon, Ajoy, Meera the kids and I went Giverny to Monet's house and gardens.

Friday 7th May : Last day in Paris. Went to the city to walk about the final time. Did a bit of shopping and came home in the afternoon.
Saturday 8th May : Ajoy dropped me to the airport in the morning. The departure lounge at CDG was unimpressive.

The flight back was comfortable. I had a window seat and there was no one next to me which was great because I could put my jacket, handbag and the rolled up print of Monets's waterlilies on the seat. Watched a lot of TV. The food was better though the quantities were still meagre. Because Meera very sweetly had packed some biscuits, I was fine. Towards the end of the flight, it was dusk and flight map on the screen showed that we were flying over Dubai. I looked down saw the city all lit up. The Palm Island was clearly visible and the lights looked like little sparkling emeralds. It was beautiful.
Reached by 12. It took about an hour to get the bags. Got a cab and reached home at around 2:30 after a glorious 2 weeks. 

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.