vivek sekar

In another 3 hours i will on the flight to Amsterdam, and the weekend will be in the Sin City of Europe.

Different region, different people.

How this trip comes out, you will come to know soon.

adieu.

It snowed in between (the last post and now) on some three odd days, and the city that was dull, dark and lifeless suddenly changed. The whiteness of the snow brought in some much needed life. The days seemed a bit more brighter than usual, and the city started off with the decorations for Christmas.

On one of those days when it snowed, At midnight, under the blue and red effervescent light, white snow falling down from a black sky at night, and a land white in color draped by the snow. A scene one can picture or relate to mostly from only fairy tale’s. But it was all present around me, and i was enjoying the every minute of it.

After all this, it was back to normal. The white powder dissolved in the rain that followed. Dull, dark and lifeless.

And then the cycle continued, but this time in a different direction, it was the sun instead of snow.

The sun had come out after a long break of close to a week or more and the day was bright instead of the usual dull dark day,that i was getting used to. This was also one of the first proper sunsets there was after the DST was taken off.

This time of the year when the sun is holidaying in the southern hemisphere, the sun rays grow a orange tinge onto them. More like a orange translucent sheet was put before the sun. And the horizontal direction of the sunlight when it sets, has been a recipe for beautiful skies and colorful sunsets. And as it bounces of the glass filled buildings, theres quite a spectacle to see.

But when all this was happening i was not able to go out and take a few shots, as i was - kind of (means i could have let the work as it is and gone out) - held up with work.

And then the cycle continues. Now its back to the overcast, dull, dark, lifeless days.

Day II in Paris.

‘The Louvre museum will be open free to the public this Sunday, so you will have to go early to avoid big queues.’ - Bhaskar had advised us.

But then, WE being WE. We woke up late as usual, got our bags packed for check out and headed straight to the metro towards Louvre museum. Only when we boarded the metro did we realize why Bhaskar had emphasized on going early. The metro train was full and all got down at the Louvre museum stop. A line of close to two halls long was building up to go through the screening process, while we slipped into the line near the screening area and proceeded into the main hall. Got a map for the various sections and displays.

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This continuation from the previous post has taken a long time, thanks to some work at office (finally i have some work!) .

As usual woke up late, just in time for the free breakfast. After gobbling down some bread, coffee and juice, we got back to getting ready for the day ahead. In no time, Bhaskar had come and after some talking we started from the hostel. The first destination was Montmarte area and Sacré Coeur basilica. Swinging our way through the Parisian metro system, we made our way to Montmarte. We came to the stairs to Sacré Coeur, walking through the streets (a mix between old madras and French architecture) filled with cafes, restaurants and tourist shops. At the top i snapped up some pictures of the gargoyle’s and the basilica. Then headed straight into the narrow alley next to the basilica, the alley famous for the street artists sketching the faces of the tourist.

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An awesome trip,

A feeling of having seen some part of Paris, yet a complete emptiness of having seen so little of Paris that it quantifies to having seen nothing.

We land at the airport at midnight, damn determined not to take a taxi to the hostel, referring every map of Paris we had. Train-metro, bus-metro, bus-bus was the options we had for exploring something new en route to the city. we boarded the bus from the bus-metro choice, got off at the Opera. The architecture of the Opera stunned me, i mean it was whatever you see on TV shows and movies except it was the real deal in front of me.

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8 hours from now i will be on a flight to Paris. i have not planned anything for the trip, it will be a trip where we (me, saravanan and bhaskar) will be roaming around the streets of Paris and experience the city with very little of the tourist spots in the list. More like a ‘experience as it comes’ trip.

I will be in the middle of the madden crowd but hoping, i will be lost in the crowd.

The very thought i will be hitting the road (even though i will still be in civilization) is so relieving.
out of the cubicle and the closed enclosures of work and home.