“♫♫♪ An Evening in Paris….♪ ♫ “… okay, okay…. two.

This weekend was one with extravagant plans, extravagant more in its description than in its actual execution….. Paris – the capital of fashion world, and the dream hangout of lovebirds. And one of the best examples of things that r generally more than what meets the eye. Not in a good sense.

A city like Paris was always on the agenda. Just that we had to find a proper time to visit the place, and with sufficient time in hands. So we decided to devote three days for this trip, quite unlike the previous 2 day tours. Turned out that u do need 3 days to see a place as big as Paris.

The usual bhasad the order of the day, we got the tickets for the bus leaving Friday evening, on Friday afternoon. We left munich around 8:30 the same evening, and reached paris the next day early morning, around 6:30 or so. A reality check on the logistics revealed a very interesting aspect. We didn’t have a place to stay, we didn’t have food to eat, and we didn’t have tickets to go back home! As if any of it concerned us. So off we went in the search of a tourist information.

U might have been told that France is a type of the country where people r too smitten by their past, culture, language, and essentially anything Gallic. We didn’t actually believe this until we went to the tourist information counter (mind u), only to find that the guys sitting there did not know English! Pantomime act followed as we tried to get our answers regarding travel, distances, locations, maps etc. After an interesting dumb act, we came out, none the wiser, with just a day ticket in our hands.

Off we went to our hotel, without a booking. My (as for many of us, which leads me to conclude that it is generic) first impression of Paris was not the best. Graffiti on the walls everywhere, bleak surroundings, metros sounding like Bombay trains, not a native in sight……. For the next few hours, we were trying to convince ourselves why we chose paris as the destination for this week, in spite of Europe being crammed with such wonderful holiday destinations.

We eventually got a room at a formula 1 hotel, threw our luggage, and off we were to see paris, the one that we thought we knew, the one that tourist websites screamed as one of the best destinations in Europe. We came out of the metro at concorde, still not expecting much, but the sight that was to meet the eye was something special. Something that makes paris what it is, something that will make u want to come back to this place, roam around over and over again, till u r tired, not because there is nothing left to see, but because ur legs will give away.

We were greeted by the Eiffel tower abt a km to our north, the huge building of d’Louvre to our left, an immense basilisk right in front (this one was brought from luxor by napoleon) and the famous champs d’ elysees street, and the arc du triumphe at one of its ends, reminding u of our very own rajpath, except that this was much more magnificent, and looked stunning on a Saturday afternoon with a weekend crowd lolling about. We stayed at the place for quite sometime, and then moved along the never ending Champs de Elysees towards Arc du triumphe, a French version of our own India Gate. All along the half an hr walk, we walked across shops, some of them amongst the most expensive ones of the world, we peeked into a few of them, ‘sephora’, perhaps the biggest perfume chain, and each shop huge in size, the maxim restaurants, one of the costliest, and so forth, until we reached our destination. The next few hours were spent atop the behemoth structure, coz there was much to see from top there. 12 streets emanating from the building, and all at a uniform 30° each from each other. La defense, the manhattan of paris, built all in glass towards the north, and the tallest of them all, the Eiffel tower towards the north-west. Quite some time, and quite some snaps later, we decided it was time to move from here.

From there on, we moved on to the cathedral of notre dame, the world’s biggest one of its kind. The size and the internal architecture of the cathedral was imposing, and the exterior was no less awe-inspiring. Minute work, which must have taken eons to complete was there for all to see. We didn’t go up, as we were not keen to splurge to that extent, so we walked in, out, around, in short, tried to see the cathedral from every possible angle. And take my word, it was no less amazing from any of these angles. with nothing much to do there, we satisfied ourselves with another snap-taking session, and then moved onto Tour de Eiffel – one of the premium highlights of the entire trip, second only to the Disneyland experience. One look at the tower, only one look, and u know why it is famous all over, and why when u think of paris, the first thing that comes to ur mind is the Eiffel tower. And not with an uninteresting history! Exorbitant prices beckoned, but there was no use telling people back home that we went to paris, if we told them we did not go up the tower. So, up we went, up, up, and up, until we were higher than everything in paris. The rush was only what we had expected, besides with the weekend crowd, the entire place, with the gardens et al, felt like one of our own maidans around a tourist spot.

I could say that the view from up there was fabulous, but that would be only because I m not literarily equipped enough to find a better word, and a better description for it. The meandering seine, the extraordinarily precise geometric constructions of la defense, the grounds and the park below, the shining dome of invalids somewhere in on the other side of seine -- everything was a savoury experience, and a picture worth millions of pixels, had every detail been registered. We stayed up there for a considerable time, and later reluctantly concluded that it was indeed time to go down.

By the time we came down, it was twilight, and the tower was beginning to glimmer. We hung around the place, capturing the tower in our cameras from every angle, until it grew darker, and the tower brighter than ever. We were sitting along a bridge over the seine, right in front of the tower, it was close to 10, and we were just looking at it, looking, looking and just looking. When all of a sudden, all the lights started to flash, and the tower took on an imposing, and unforgettable stature. The show went on for abt 5 to 10 minutes, and we didn’t even speak, careful not to miss any moment of it. After the show finally ended, we decided it was time to go to the hotel. It was getting late, plus paris is not a very safe place either, and we were tired as well. So no second thoughts were entertained, and we came back. But that one dusk time in paris is the best answer of why “an evening in paris” is considered to be the most romantic experience in the world.

The plan for the next day was delayed by some time, after we failed to get up early enough, but we still managed to reach Disneyland by around 10. the moment I landed there, I knew this was the place I had always wanted to come, and this was going to make my paris trip. The moment I entered the place, I knew I belonged there. With so many ppl around (it was, after all, a Sunday), we looked around the place for some time, got a map, and off we went. The next few hours were perhaps among the best of the entire 3 months. We had rides after rides, each one better than the last, saw mickey mouse, goofy, Pluto, Donald duck et al “in person”. The highlight was the Disney parade in the evening. I could go on writing and writing abt the place, and I would run out of words, but still the emotions, the feelings I felt that day would never surface completely. The place was so different from any that we had seen, and it felt really good to be there. The day went on, we kept on moving from one train ride to another, from the reverse train ride to the space mountain, to the tarzan show, to the American village, to the sleeping beauty’s castle, to the pleasing little maze……. Until it was close to 8, and time to leave. We did not get entry into the Disney village, for some opera-thing was going on, and the Walt Disney studio was also closed for some reason we didn’t know. But in any case, it was nearing the closing time, and our legs were giving away. So we thought to move on.

From there on, we went to the financial district, with towering buildings, and brilliant glass architecture. We grabbed a bite, and if any of us thought that this was the pinnacle of French architecture, we were to be proven wrong, when we next landed in La Defense, buildings carved out of glass in unimaginably geometric precision. For a few moments, we just stood there, trying to sink in the assertiveness of the French architects, and the sheer power of imagination. The Grand Arche defied all description, and it would have given even the most die-hard critic a run for his money. As always, snaps reveal only half the story, and a few snaps later, and more awe-struck than ever, we moved on to the huge area in front where the Spain v Portugal match was being screened on a giant screen. For the next 40 minutes, we made that as our home, amidst a vociferous group of Portugal-cheering fans. And it sure was their day, as the traditional rivals Spain were knocked out of the tournament. By the time the match ended, it was already pretty dark, and without harbouring thoughts of being any more adventurous, we came back to our hotel.

The next morning was not a very enthusiastic one, considering that we had already spent 2 days, and the best of paris was behind us. So we trudged off from our hotel, off to see D’ Louvre, the world’s biggest art museum. And it sure was big, big like anything. It has the longest building in all of Europe, and the corridor that ends with the famous “monalisa” itself is 1500 feet long. There was no point in trying to see all of the museum just in a day. We couldn’t have done so, even if we ran all the way thru. So we got a map of the place, decided what places we wanted to go to, and off we went. I preferred seeing what interested me more -- the Egyptian section, the Italian paintings section (the best of all) that ended with monalisa. The queue in front of the da Vinci masterpiece and the ppl crowded around here for a photograph reminded me of one of our own famed temples with people craving for a ‘darshan’. The scene was worse when I returned to that corridor on my way to the asian and African art. People say Princess Diana was the most photographed lady of the world. I m pretty sure Frau MonaLisa wouldn’t be far behind, and may have caught up with her already.
Quite a lot of crowd also blocked the approach to Michaelangelo’s “Venus de Milo” and to the “Winged Victory of Samothrace”. The documentation was excellent, except that most of it was in french, but anyway, I can’t say I enjoyed myself there, but I sure had a nice time seeing works of art, history, and culture preserved for generations hence.

We came out of the museum in the afternoon, and decided to go to the Invalides, which shares a heritage with Napolean. Having jumped from place to place over 3 days, we were sure kind of tired, and going inside another museum (or palace, whatever) was not the best idea one could get at the moment. So we lolled about the place, the weather was beautiful, not raining, but threatening, and a cool breeze. Soon we learned that there was going to be a parade by some army group, so we hung around there, watched the troupes, and heard them orchestrate famous theme songs from English movies after the parade was over, the most notable ones being “james bond” and “bridge on the river kwai”.

Still in with time at our disposal, but not the heart, we dragged ourselves to the bastille. U will recall this name if u have read about the 1789 revolution. The place was fraught with commotion. We grabbed a bite on one of the shops, and concluded that we really had had enough. The long journey from there to the bus station, where our bus was supposed to depart, didn’t seem so long, given that we were so tired. We dragged ourselves into the bus, and slept soundly until we landed in Munich the next day morning, the end of a satisfying yet taxing tour.

a unique weekend, cherished ...

Another week, and that too with a holiday in between. Unfortunately, my Sunday evening was committed, so I couldn't have made it a 4-day weekend for a long trip, plus with the (in)famous austrian trip still fresh, we decided to play it safe.

Thursday was a holiday, so we went to Garmisch. A very old town at the foothills of Alps, it is better known as the town nearest to zugspitz, the highest peak in Germany. And this is what we were interested it. So off we went, reached there in like 70-80 minutes, and didn't think twice on learning that the round trip to the top and back was worth 39 euros. the narrow gauge train (reminding me more of the toy train in shimla) chugged along the track, but definitely upwards. The worst (and the best) part of the journey was a 6-km long, cold, and often dark, tunnel. We had no idea, the train just kept on going and going. And then it stopped all of a sudden. Bewildered, we got out, and the glare that met us was something special. Snow, snow, and more snow. All around me, till as far as i could see. It was so bright, my eyes were aching. Undoubtedly one of the few good things of life that one can see. We played around in the snow, met another indian group from siemens, snapped photos, until we decided to go further up, this time with a trolley. It went up, up, and up, until u couldn't get any higher, atleast in Germany. We were at Zugspitz, the highest peak of Germany! The sun was so bright there, and the snow so pristine, and the weather so perfect!! It took us quite sometime merely to absorb the details of everything around us. Everything looked so good, so picture perfect from up there, boy!

We hung around there for quite sometime, until it was late in the afternoon. We felt hungry, and moreover, u have to have a really fat purse to dine in a restaurant higher than any other for abt 500kms around. So we came down via the cable car to eibsee, a picturesque (at any rate, picturesque from top) lake. The trolley came down real fast, 1800m in 5 mins!! and my ears and forehead in between the eyes were aching like anything.
We roamed around lake, had an ice-cream, and then decided to return via the same narrow-gauge-khat-khat train. Came back to the bahnhof, got the next train to munich, and the evening was whiled away.

Most people in the office had taken friday off, which was a quiet affair. Saturday morning we set off for Venice. This is a city that hardly needs a testimonial. Italy is the kind of country that would remind u of India, with visible poverty, quite the same weather, and bewitchingly beautiful girls. venice is a proper tourist city, and i m pretty sure that a substantial part of the city's economy owes itself to tourism. venice is famous for its canals, its 'streets', in the true sense of the word, for, the best way of transport within the city is ferries. We left in the morning, and the bus took us right through the heart of Austrian Alps. Sceneries that can only be seen, and registered in the mind, not easy to describe.

We reached Venice around 1pm. And first went to the most famous spot, San Marco, where we went up a bell tower and saw all of venice, with its waterways and red buildings, from top. The eyes registered everything there is to see -- the magnificent church (i forget the name) next to the bell tower, the famous square with shops all around, people feeding those hundreds of pigeons, and those torturingly pretty beauties.

We next moved to murano, one of the islands around venice, world-famous for glass blowing. A short demonstration convinced us to the same. We came down from there, and decided to go to the places within the mainland (if u could call it so), all along the canal grande. we spent some time at one of the more famous bridges (jeez! what a sick memory i have!) across the grand canal. It was getting late, and dark, and with clouds that were fiercely turning from attractive to threatening, we decided to come back to San Marco. The sight that greeted us was straight out of a 19th century novel. Rows and rows of lights, and traditionally attired (remember Godfather 1?) performers, and a cool breeze, the type of which blows before a thunderstorm. We had to get back to where we landed by 11, and it was getting late, so we immediately took a ferry thru the Grand Canal, and that was an experience to savour. Imagine this -- the lights of the city reflecting from the water, a cool breeze blowing across ur face, and a slight drizzle, and a tour thru the canal in a ferry. An unforgettable 35 minutes. We landed at the main port, decided to walk back to where our bus was standing, becoz the wind was cool and hard and it was not raining as yet, lost our way, blamed each other, found our way again, and reached there just in time for the bus to depart. One final look at the glimmering skyline and into the bus. Slept like logs after a hard day, and woke up only when we reached Munich, around 6 in the morning.

U'd think that the weekend was all but over, but no. We slept for a couple of hrs, had a breakfast, and set off for Dachau. The first concentration camp set by Hitler, and the only one in germany to be made into a memorial, this had always promised to be one of the most unique places of all 3 months. The place was not as gory as i imagined, which makes sense because not many people are as less sentimental as i m, and so even that much was a little too much for some people. We were introduced to a more animal nature of humankind, and the depths that one could stoop to. In the afternoon, the whole place presented such a desolate appearance, as we were walking from the parade grounds towards the crematorium, with a stupid afternoon wind blowing across our faces, jeez! The mere comprehension of the plight of the people there, not more than 70 years ago, is difficult. We were shown a 20 minute movie, which started with the dialogue "no movie of whatever happened at Dachau has ever been made public". The clip was not the most gruesome i have seen, but it was bad enough to find people crying at the end of the clip. The museum, the now grazed barracks, the reconstructed living chambers, all speak of tale, a story not pleasant to any human who has even a touch of benevolence in his heart.

Not utterly, but feeling a touch forlorn, we left the place around 5, also because I had to go to the Metallica Concert at the Olympia stadium. I was getting late already, and the security personnel at the stadium stopped me, because they did not want a camera to go inside. Stupid me! why did i have to show it to them in the first place? But anyway, when i finally got inside, around 6:15, for a show that was supposed to start at 5:30, for the first time here i saw something that did not kick off on time. The atmosphere of the place was amazing. I was sitting almost halfway up, about 70-80 metres from the huge stadium, and there were like 20000 odd people standing in the area in front of the stadium, where the soccer pitch used to be (obviously covered for this occasion). Rock fans in all colours, sizes, and shapes, the place had a frenzied appearance. Finally the show kicked off with the SLIPKNOTS, a screaming, face-painted, long-haired and head-banging variety of rockers, who i hated right from the start. So different from the shouting types like Linkin Park, whose lyrics atleast have a meaning, these guys tried to arouse the crowd using just profanity. I was just hoping that they end this performance and give way to what the people were waiting for. Thankfully, they ended soon enough, around 8 or so, and then there was another lull for abt 30-35 minutes. The METALLICA show started in a way in which none other could have, with a video of 'The Ecstasy of Gold'. The acoustic marvel was all that was needed to get the crowd at its feet. The stadium was charged within seconds, and then Hetfield appeared, with that guitar of his.

What surprised me most was the lack of profanity that Metallica displayed, even when they talked to the crowd. They were as civilized, and as friendly, and as thankful as any can be. The show whipped off with 'Blackened..', followed by some of the other better songs. All the good songs that i knew were sung, and they worked up the frenzy with one song after another. The crackers going off at strategic times during the songs (eg, when the music stops in 'For Whom The Bell Tolls') made it all the more livelier. They briskly worked up the tempo with 'Enter Sandman', the acoustic ballad 'Nothing Else Matters' (this one was a special one, becoz when this was sung, all the lights of the stadium were switched off, and there were like 30000 lighters swaying gently...). People were going crazy, and the ambience was there to be seen, and to be a part of. All the good songs were there, except the 'Unforgiven(s)', from 'Master of Puppets' to 'St. Anger', all thru the 20 years that Metallica has reigned supreme in the world of rock.

When the show finally ended around 11:30, i could feel that this was an event, a show, that had marked my internship period. Whenever i would look back at this time of my life, i would remember this show and the day at Disneyland (which is to come later in this blog) more than anything else. The carnival environment, the clourful people, and the sheer numbers will all add upto the night that i could never have envisaged, even in my imaginations. A thoroughly enjoyable, yet contrasting weekend over, i returned home, cooked something for myself, and slept off, only to wake up into yet another work week.