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.
Making short work of the supposedly very confusing (compliments go to arun) metro system, we got of at the Felix faure station and headed straight to the hostel. Entered the smoke filled hostel entrance which was also a Bar. Paid up the charges and got the keys. We dropped the baggage at the room and were greeted by a spanish french theatre guy who was staying in the room we were in. After some talks, he offered to join/guide us to the Tour Eiffel , criss crossing the French ( i am emphasizing French, because of the stone laid, narrow style ) streets we made it to the l’ecole militare and in front we had the Tour Eiffel. A huge steely marvel, which gets a character from the lights on it and comes to life every hour with some dazzling light works. But i was not able to feel the romantic or mushy mushy feeling (again compliments to arun). After taking enough shots from a distance we headed to the center below tower, and on the way found out the extent to which the non French people call Paris their home.
After a quick snack at a McD’s, and back at the hostel we hit the sack. I set an alarm just in case we sleep through and past the breakfast time and we also had to meet Bhaskar, who was going to guides us through in Paris.
The hostel was on the corner of a street, directly above the metro below and was cramped with rooms like some pigeon’s housing board. But the street outside and the hostel itself had a very familiar feel. The congested car and bike parking outside the hostel, the hostel’s sparsely spaced rooms and corridors had a typical old school triplicane chennai atmosphere to it.
Activities of the next two days in Paris to follow.
