The capital of France and host to al fresco cafes, mock Chinese food and Tower of Babble!

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By Premadevi Perumal

The trip to Paris was a lucky stopover that Jeremy and I were entitled to, in the process of booking tickets for our Arezzo trip. We only had one and a half days to spend here. We only covered 1/1000th of Paris to say the least. There are 5 cities in France including Paris. In contrast to bright and sunny Rome, Paris's weather was melancholic. The gray skies cast a gloomy transparent sheet upon the entire city on the first day. It was brighter on the second day though.

Parisians reminded me much of Singaporeans. The city looked cosmopolitan and people looked busy, rushing here and there. Most cared to hold doors and some helped point us towards our direction. One man even went out of his way and his usual train journey to help us find our way around the RER. The Metro lines were criss-crossed like crazy and some routes were more complex to plan than others. However, based on a travel show, it's better to use the Metro than flag down the expensive cabs if you do not know a substantial amount of French and are not familiar with the route.

The monument that I loved the most was Notre Dame. Probably because the other buildings and monuments in Paris were not ruined enough for me. However, Paris does have grand works of architecture to boast of and I was glad to see some of them. Being on the Eiffel Tower was equivalent to being in the Colosseum, in terms of being in two world wonders. Of course, I was aware of the differing histories and significances attached to each of them. To me, gaping at the Eiffel Tower from the outside stirred more emotions than being inside it.

I guess I would have soaked up much more of Paris's atmosphere, attractions and flavours had I spent more days there. The streets are so deserted at late night, unlike in Rome, where people are seen dining into the wee hours. The train carriages are more spacious, with more seats than the subway in Rome. I enjoyed Paris's lush greenery in the form of gardens and towering trees along the wide-spaced roads.

I believe I left Paris, just as I was beginning to like it. So, here is what I remember of my short fling with Paris. We covered something of central Paris I believe. Since my knowledge of Paris and map reading skills were close to zero, the entire trip was in Jeremy’s blissful hands, which of course left me with the least stress.

From our hostle The 3 Ducks to Avenue De La Motte (Champ de Mars),Avenue Gustave Eiffel (Tour Eiffe), then crossed La Seine to Avenue Marceau (Arc De Triomphe). Then walked along Champs-Elysees. Then we probably walked along Avenue Des Champs Elysees, passed the Obelisque, and continued along Quai Des Tuileries to reach Musée Nat Du Lourvé. We also managed to walk along Assemblée Nationale.

DAY 1

15 degrees. Did the Ryan air flight captain just say that? I wondered. That's below 17 degrees. That was lower than the lowest air-conditioned temperature I've experienced in my entire life. Wasn't it supposed to be summer time? Heloooo Sunshine?! No. It was raining!Since we had to walk on the run-way to get inside, Jeremy said we should run as fast as we could to the airport.

Like many others, he was not wearing a sweater. I was. The skies were grey and the wind was chilly. Over-burdened with our bags, we ran. I could not believe that Paris was unleashing the current weather. I had one precious sweater. Two out of five buttons were out. I had more than 24 hours in this city. Would I make it through?

Of course, I made it through the weather and live to tell you about my fling with Paris. We took a bus from the airport to our Hostel called The Three ducks. It was an amazingly cramped place. We left our bags in an insecure open room among a mountain of other bags. The room had two double-decker beds, a sink and a non-usable shower area. The hostel toilet was tragically small and the doors make you run the risk of locking yourself in or exposing yourself. At night, the hostel appeared to be THE place for socialising over drinks with other happy campers, though we managed to sleep through it.

Below, is a picture of the Wall of Peace, present at least 200 meters before the Eiffel tower/La Tour Eiffel (pronounced la toor ee fehl) . It has been placed temporarily behind the Eiffel Tower, at the Champ de Mars.

The Eiffel Tower was a 20 minute walk away from our hostel

The best thing about walking towards the tower was the view. As can be seen, the sides are lined with towering trees that serve to elongate the actual distance taken to travel to the tower. Once you get there, there are queues at four different angles. Pick one and be prepared to be in line for the next 30 minutes. You can choose to pay 3 Euros to cover the first level or 3.80 for the second level. If you want to travel all the way to the pencil-thin tip, after surviving the challenging climb up, you can pay 4. 20 more (7 euros) once you reach the second level.

My worst fears of vertigo were put to rest when I saw grills on the Eiffel tower. The first level, costing 3 Euros, offers an amazing 360 degree view of Paris. That, gold-framed rectangular thing in the photo, actually points out the different landmarks present in the landscape, and gives a brief history on it. You can walk around the tower at this level and the others as well. It was hard work, climbing the stairs, competing against gravity and the chilling wind which blew at intervals. I almost did not notice till Jeremy pointed out that the winds were not blowing against us inside this particular section of the tower (picture below). I stayed here for as long as I could before he forced me to move on.

Paris is congested with buildings! The scene is predominantly white, with a scattering of gold, green and silver. Every nook and corner of the landscape is covered by the presence of buildings and monuments such as these.

Luckily one can take a break from the harsh winds at both levels. Inside the tower, there is a fast food cafe, souvenir shops, public phones, boards and TV screens explaining the history of the construction of the tower. Although there are many people present at the horizontal levels of the tower, on our trip up the stairs, we did not experience a real squeeze. People took their time to climb up, some gasping and panting more than others, with each step. Need I add that I was one of them. Jeremy was experimenting with walking up the stairs like a duck with his knees and feet at weird angles.

Once out of the tower, we went down to gape at it for a while. To think that we had been to a structure built just for the thrill of it. Though we had not gone all the way up, we felt that we had seen a good part of the city from the second and third levels. We would probably have frozen on our way to the pinnacle of the tower. We came to River Seine soon.

River Seine

Not many thoughts about this river, though being near it was fantastic. This river was wider than the rivers in Rome and Florence. The Eiffel climb had started to make my thighs wobble by themselves, so this was a good pit stop before we went to the Arc de Triomphe. There were paid tour boat rides available at River Seine.

I bought myself a cappuccino, to keep myself mentally awake. At the place that I bought the cappuccino, I saw crepes being sold. By the end of day one in Paris, I realised that crepes of many flavours were a popular snack there. I did not get to taste one there though.

You can see the Eiffel Tower from any of the bridges spanning across the Seine River. These are nice places to take pictures of yourself against the Eiffel background. From the bridges here we moved on to the Arc De Triomphe near Champs Elysees.

The significance of this monument lies in it being the central point from which 12 boulevards diverge. Baron Georges Haussmann, the man behind the 19th century modernisation of Paris constructed 12 boulevards radiating from the axis provided by the Arc De Triomphe (Paris Traditions, 1999). He was asked to do so by Napolean and this set the precedent for future town planning. The view of Paris stretching beyond through 12 boulevards is a sight worth taking in from the top of the Arc.

Arc de Triomphe

I am now a little irked by the fact that I did not go up to the Arc. I had had my fill of eagle's eye view of each city since Rome, Cortona and the Eiffel tower. So I decided not to go up this Arc. Anyway, I had no idea that such a view awaited me. If you look at a guidebook, you'll know what I mean. In fact, I had thought that the Arc was a bit out of place, somewhere in the middle of a road. Now I know why its there. A little lesson learnt to always do your research before embarking on your holiday.

Champs Elysees

Just opposite the Arc, is Champs Elysees. Walking down the Champs Elysees is like walking down Orchard Road. It is bustling with people, chain stores and al-fresco cafes. Long and thick sandwiches costing at least 4 Euros are sold here. It is not possible to buy pizzas/sandwiches for 1.4 or 2.6 Euros like in Arezzo or Rome. We hopped into a shopping centre similar to Lucky Plaza in SIngapore, with small stores tucked at the aisles.

Assemble Nationale

After Champs Elysees, I remember walking forever before reaching the Grand Louvre. We crossed many streets and many monuments. One of them was the Assemble Nationale with the words Paris2012 rooted on them. The architecture of the building reminded me of the Pantheon in Rome. We passed several gold and gray buildings of various architectural styles and sizes. Unlike Rome, many of theses buildings had fences and gates to prevent unauthorized entry I think.

Le Grand Louvre (Pyramid) and Musee du Louvre (Musuem)

When we reached this museum, where Mona Lisa resides, the sun was almost setting. It was such a huge place and we could not walk around it! It was being cordoned off for some reason. While at first, the thought of terrorist attacks rummaged through our minds, much later, we saw some amplifiers and processed the cordoning off as preparation for some event. Such a waste, that we couldn't walk near the glass pyramid or the museum. Huge is an understatement though. It is beautifully designed and spans an extensive distance.

Many see the glass pyramid, designed by a Chinese-American architect, as being out of place in its classical surroundings. The structure is closely modeled on the ancient pyramids of Giza. To me, The pyramid definitely seems out of place because its so sharp and hinders the panoramic view of the museum.

Public restroom in Paris

A rare sight in Paris, public restrooms are placed miles apart. WC are the words that indicate a public toilet.

Eiffel at Night & Amusement Park

After the Louvre musuem, I think, we were supposed to head to the Latin quarter. However, after consuming too much water, I needed to relieve myself. Walking back from the museum, we did not spot any public toilets. There was a stretch of place, that is also a significant historical site, that we walked pass very quickly in search of a toilet. After almost fifteen minutes of an exasperating search, we made use of a bar-restaurant kind of place's toilet. After that visit, we came across a park and an amusement park. There is more greenery in Paris than in Rome. As the skies darkened, the last place we tried to visit was Notre Dame. It was closed by the time we got there. But I was very excited to be there as I liked the ancient ruined look of the building. We would be visiting it the next day.

Exterior of some building

I do not know what building this is but we crossed it on day one. Are these Gargoyles as well? Aren't these fantastical creatures peering out of this ancient building beautiful? I absolutely love them. I must add that the exterior of this building especially when viewed from this angle, shows the extent to which the building has been affected by pollution and environmental decay.

Nearing the end of Day One

We were soon famished. But as I said, Paris food is not cheap and the only eateries there were cafes and bars. I knew we would not be able to afford it and we did not want to eat mock Chinese food again. So, we settled for sandwiches which were pretty dry and tasteless. It seemed as though we were not going to try any food remotely French.
After dinner, it became ridiculously cold, with cutting winds slicing our cheeks Thus, we had to go back to our hostel. Once there, we discovered it was socializing time for the tourists staying there. Eager to see the Eiffel Tower at night, we headed out, only to walk about twenty minutes or so in the wrong direction. Once that was apparent, we tackled another route, just in time to see the Eiffel Tower dazzling in brilliant red, blue and white colours. It looked as though the colours were electrical currents running up and down the tower. It lasted for ten seconds and did not come on again even though we wanted to see it once more.

We lost our way on our journey back to the hostel. We ended up circling a particular stretch of neighbourhood. I kept seeing the same poster on our mistaken route and was weary of our lost ways. Luckily a couple saved us by pointing our way to the hostel. I was too tired to even brush my teeth but Jeremy insisted that I do so. So we brushed our teeth and collapsed on our beds, not even thinking about the bed bugs that the hostel was reputed to manifest in its hostel beds. Who was to know that our amazing race around Paris was going to see its biggest turn of events the following day?

The Amazing Race around Paris On Day Two

Although we had not been bitten by the bed bugs, the sleep bug had definitely bitten us!! Our restful sleep got the better of us and instead of waking up at 7 am as planned; we woke up at 9 am. Waking up at 9 am instead of 7 am, with a train to catch at 3.30 pm, did not leave us much in terms of exploration on day 2. It had to be a case of touch and go. Notre Dame was first in line. Since I had seen the picture of a gargoyle on a postcard the day before, I was dying to see one up close.

There were tourist groups and even spontaneous fowl attractions greeting us at the doorstep of Notre Dame. The inside of Notre Dame is much larger and darker than most of the churches I had been so far in Rome. There are English translations explaining the significance of some of the tableau and imageries. Those things are really helpful, but sadly not present in most of the churches/places I went to in Rome. There is a gorgeous stained-glass design near the ceiling. I remember seeing more figurines like this, in and around Notre Dame. The architecture of the columns bearing the two levels of Notre Dame reminded me of the designs of the theatres during Shakespearean times.
However I never got to see the comic yet sinister looking gargoyles up close, which were perched on top of the Notre Dame. This time, it was because of the lack of time and the presence of a long queue outside. I had to be satiated with the walk around the inside of the Dame, which was free.

After Notre Dame, we stumbled upon a war memorial located next to it. Memorial of the Deported / Memorial to the Victims of Deportation

I am really glad we stopped over here. This place is dedicated to the 200,000 French people who were deported by the Nazis, Jews and non-Jews. Translations of the German inscriptions are present. Some were poetic while most were in prose. I am not sure whether the prisoners themselves wrote this or it was included as an after-thought. These inscriptions enhance the sentimentality associated with the place. Sometimes, there are bouquets placed on this black box behind these bars.

We hurried from here to a really old tree outside, whose existence I knew nothing of up to that point. Jeremy ran so earnestly to the tree, that I thought he was going to hug it. It was some really old tree called the Cassa Tree.

Next on Jeremy's route was the Shakespeare & Company bookstore in the Latin Quarter. There actually was a banner announcing its presence. We were thrilled to be there, though we never got to go in due to time shortage. It was such a small, delightfully cramped cozy place. Dimly illuminated with wooden panels and wooden bookshelves, the place contained copies of contemporary as well as literature books.

It wasn't the size of Borders or Kinokuniya in Singapore. How many Paris-ians would it take to fill this place? Browsing is probably not an option.

Shakespeare & Company was supposed to be the last stop on our tour. Besides the Latin quarter, we had explored as much as we wanted to or what Jeremy knew he wanted to in one and a half days. We had not gulped down any breakfast so the familiar and often- ignored-urge to eat suddenly gripped me. The first thing that came to my mind was French Onion Soup (FOS). The night before, Jeremy had been disappointed that he had not managed to taste anything French since coming here. We remembered how we had sadly tucked into Chinese food for lunch and an even worse snack and dinner of sandwiches the day before? Unfortunately, Escargots or a French set meal were not an option given our shoestring budget. So what authentic French cuisine could we taste? Having read in a guidebook that tourists need not be shy to plop themselves down at a cafe and order merely French onion soup, we decided to just do that.

Of course, being ambitious we did not plop ourselves at a cafe. We entered into a restaurant, where the waiter left us alone for a good five minutes to decide our order. We knew what we wanted. However, the waiter told us that we could not have FOS alone, there. Sigh. So, off we went, rushing past more displays of menu outside eateries. Trusting our instincts that we would not be shooed off at one of the alfresco cafes, we sat down there. And yippee, we managed to salivate at FOS and treat our taste buds to it. The only thing was that we discovered later through our handy guidebook that, FOS is made from beef stock, which being a Hindu, I am meant to abstain from. So a warning to non-beef eaters there! But it really was tasty. The dark soup is bitter, salty, sweet and the grilled cheese and sautéed onions are lip smacking components of the soup.

The Latin quarter was really a pretty place, with more colours, flowers, food and people, than the side of Paris we were in on Day One. Our tour in Paris was coming to and end. How sad we were. And the fact that we had one and a half hours or less to make it to our hostel and to the airport made us feel all the more manic. I remember rushing and running and panicking all the way till the moment we discovered we had missed our flight.

It was hard to swallow, but two irresponsible, fun-seeking people had missed their very important flight back home. All because of FOS! Ha ha. At an extra cost of a 100 Singapore dollars each, we managed to book a flight that would set off later. In that time, we managed to see more of Paris's Charles De Gau Airport, slept, ate tuna and bread, slept some more and watched planes take-off or land at the run-way. Paris trip was akin to flipping through the main chapters of a trilogy to get a rough taste of its contents. Hopefully, I'll get to explore more of it, one day.

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