Bits of Paris

One of the most important things to have in your possession while you are in Paris is a map of the Paris underground, the Metro I mean. It’s available freely and though it can look a little intimidating at first, one can easily figure out what to do pretty quickly. The important thing to remember is that all trains travel from one terminus to another, unlike Mumbai where they don’t necessarily do so. The second thing to know is exactly which platform to go to, which can be figured out once you follow the correct colours that indicate each train route. And yes, lest you think that the distances between stations are great – No, they are not. Usually, the trains don’t take more than a minute between stations. Paris isn’t really a big city in that sense unless you want to travel into the far-flung suburbs, which themselves aren’t too far off actually.

I did take a while to figure out that the doors of the carriages didn’t open by themselves and had to be manually activated. Once I got the knack of it, I had fun getting off. No pun intended.

The best thing you can do to yourself is buy one of those a24-hour-All-Zone passes. They cost around 3.5 euros on weekends and cover zones 1 – 3 (zone 3 being the suburbs). On weekdays, you pay around 5.5 euros for a pass that gives you access to all stations/routes on zones 1 and 2. The helpful attendant at the counter explained the reason for this – something about more youth traveling on weekends and therefore the Govt. subsidizing on the rates.

If you are looking to do some random shopping without really bothering to hunt around too much (as I did, coz I didn’t have a lot of time), you go to Chatelet Les-Halles and take the escalator to Forum Des Halles. It’s a huge mall where you get pretty much everything that can be bought. The only shop I missed was probably a shop for musical instruments.

It’s not easy to buy a lot though, when you are earning in Indian Rupees, spending in Euros can prove to be quite expensive. So you really need to be laden with cash in order to spend a lot. I managed to pick up some really good stuff though, as mentioned in one of my earlier posts.

Of course, if money isn’t really a problem for you then you can go down to Saint-Germain or Odeon or still better, the road that takes you to Champs D’Elysees from Saint-Germain. This road is lined with fashion houses from YSL to Gucci to Armani and ends grandly on the Champs D’Elysees with Louis Vuitton. My French connection told me that there are long queues of Japanese who wait from early morning to get into the LV showroom to buy stuff. Allegedly they sell the same stuff in Japan for twice or thrice the price. As a result, LV has now limited the number of clothes etc. that the Japanese can buy. Quite enterprising, indeed!

I did walk down Champs D’Elysees (described by a shopkeeper of Tamil origin, as the beautifulest avenue in the world) but I didn’t really get all enamoured by it. For sure it was quite beautiful and all that, but I somehow expected something more natural. Of course, the trees lining the avenue on both sides were natural indeed but somehow the lighting that they hung on them (which is supposedly the crowning glory?) didn’t strike me as ‘that great’. The cafes on the UGC side of CDE were nice though and I had a nice cappuccino with the French connection. My cousin, who is a die-hard Parisienne now claims that only tourists actually find CDE beautiful and romantic; the French quite hate it and she personally prefers the walkways by the side of the Seine for a romantic hangout. I agree.

She also told me that the junction near the Arc D’Triomphe was quite a dangerous one and a number of accidents happen there. So I avoided getting too close to it. Had to rely on the camera’s zoom and a steady hand to get good close-up pics of the engravings on the Arc. Something went wrong somewhere. And I ended up breaking a rib or two in a bike crash a few miles from Paris. A few thousand miles to be precise - in Bangalore.

I also went for a ride on the Giant Ferris wheel at the other end of the CDE. Believe it or not, it was only my second time on a giant wheel. And I was alone this time as well. Managed to get a rare photograph that had both the Eiffel Tower and the CDE in the same frame.

The pics from my Paris jaunt are here. More explanations and commentaries, enclosed herewith.