PARisTrip 3: Eye-filling Eiffel!

The start to the next day was not a great one as we overslept and had to axe “Notre Dame” off our itinerary. No one was keen on a touch-and-run visit to the cathedral, so we decided to devote the rest of our trip (read less than half a day) to Eiffel Tower. So we packed our stuff (or so I thought) and checked out of the hotel to take the metro to Trocadéro. Half an hour later, as we approached the station I felt for my camera & a flash of thoughts made me realize I had left my camera cell batteries (4 of them) and the charger in the hotel room! I couldn’t believe I had committed such a blunder when I had supposedly checked & re-checked to see if I had collected all my belongings before leaving the room. But alas, the charger was plugged in a snug corner & hidden from view, so indeed I had missed picking it up.

Trusting the metro & a slight buffer of time that we had, I decided to dash back to the hotel to pick up the supplies of my camera. One of my colleagues accompanied me and we did manage to get back my batteries & charger but in turn out lost out a precious one hour & our other travel mates. Back to Trocadéro, we caught some sumptuous views of Eiffel Tower & Seine.

Tip: Trocadéro is the best place to shoot pictures with Eiffel Tower as you can capture it in its entirety but do NOT visit this place in the mornings. Sunlight plays spoil sport before noon; late afternoons should be the perfect time to photograph Eiffel from this spot as the sun will not be glaring right in your camera lens at that hour.

The magnitude of “Tour de Eiffel” struck me at its foot. This metal structure, riveted together to form one of the tallest human endeavours in the world, left me speechless as I arched my neck up towards the sky to fit it all into my vision. Like every other place in Paris, it was thronged by huge crowds which I, for once, was not happy to see. Looking at the long queues it was evident we had to abandon the ascent up the tower as we barely had an hour to spare. I was aware paucity of time would make us compromise on a number of things on this trip. However, not being able to climb the Eiffel Tower, hit hardest.

Before leaving to catch our bus, we tried some weird camera shots & watched a hip-hop dance performance by a bunch of ebullient teenagers. We reunited with our colleagues at a connecting station (by chance; we had planned but were unable to find one another at the Eiffel pillars) and reached the bus meeting point on time. As we waited for some females from our tour to finish their Paris shopping, I once again felt frustrated with this whole package tour thing. We moved out of Paris in broad daylight, with me thinking of what all we could have done in this scintillating city if we had another half day at our disposal…

PARisTrip 2: An Evening with Paris!

It was from “Grande Arche” that I sighted an “India Gate”-like structure far in the distance. Thanks to the knowledge sharing I had had with my colleagues, who visited Paris just few weeks before us, I instantly knew that it was “Arc de Triomphe” that I was looking at. At that moment, a sudden realization dawned upon us that we had still much to explore & the afternoon was already fading.

The obelisk, like others from Dan Brown’s parlance, had intrigued me and though this was no Rome I wanted to visit “Concorde” next. It was a good decision, as not only did we get to see Paris’ earliest erection surrounded by magnificent palaces & buzzing with people, we also caught the first clear glimpses of “Tour de Eiffel” in daylight. As we got closer to the Egyptian obelisk, we saw “Arc de Triomphe” (slightly closer than before) awaiting us at the end of world’s most famous esplanade – “Champs Elysées”. Standing at “Place de La Concorde” at twilight hour, we felt being right in the centre of all the Paris action – a Joie de Vivre Moment!

I had so far managed without food, but could sense weariness setting in & knew to enjoy the rest of the evening I should eat something. So at a sidewalk kiosk on Champs, I grabbed of what simply put was a tomato cheese sandwich and sauntered along the tree-lined promenade towards “French Gate”. On both sides of the Avenue, not only lay loads of historical monuments but also stores of world famous brands. Of course, we didn’t have the time to shop (or even window shop) around here. It was beginning to drizzle, fortunately a hesitant shower, & so we hurried for our planned Seine Cruise.

At the rendezvous, our tour guide handed over the tickets & asked us to wait a while before he would escort us to the ferry. Wanting to make most of whatever time was spare, we walked to the buildings nearby. I tried & failed miserably (yet again) trying to capture those splendid palaces (which I think were Grand Palais & Petit Palais), washed fresh from the drizzle, using my archaic camera’s night mode. After a while, we followed the tour guide on foot wondering if Seine was that close to us. Just a turn around one monument and it was as if we were transported into another land.

As the grove of trees cleared from view, we knew it was time to wish Diwali! Right in front of us arose a dazzling Eiffel Tower – shimmering against the Paris night sky – with flashing lights, spectacular than any fireworks show! I was told, what we witnessed was a 10-minute special light show which happened after every one hour at night. Tranfixed, we tried our best not to take our eyes off this sparkling beauty even for a second, as we settled on the top deck of the boat.

Paris isn’t called “City of Lights” for nothing; the cruise over Seine River showcased the city lights at their absolute best! Every building, every bridge was illuminated enhancing its opulence. Even the birds fluttering over the Seine seemed aglow in the lights reflecting on them.  Layers and layers of history shone in full splendour on both sides of the Seine as we cruised through under the exquisite bridges. The Louvre at night had an enigma of its own, its incandescent ramparts telling a tale of eras bygone. Soon “Cathedrale Notre Dame” emerged into view and we stood ogling at this beaming citadel-like cathedral.

I am not very keen on history, yet ironically I traveled to this city, glutted in history, with “City of Djinns – A Year in Delhi” as my travel companion. At that moment, I couldn’t help but think how we have let Delhi’s glorious past decay in ruins, when it could have been showcased in as enthralling a manner as what lay before us here. In the book, Dalrymple mentioned that Red Fort once stood on the banks of Yamuna but the river was diverted during British rule. On this cruise, I could imagine what a sight it would have been to watch the Red Fort, while sailing through the Yamuna!

As soon as we had boarded the cruise we could feel the night beginning to get cold, it was only after the ship steered back that the chill sank in. The air was freezing and we quivered as we turned past the miniature replica of “Statue of Liberty”. It was a welcome respite to be back in the bus, now ready to traverse the city roads at night.

The cold and a full day of incessant gallivanting had taken its toll on us & a couple of us took this opportunity to doze off. Even the chance for a night portrait with a lit-up Eiffel Tower in the background was turned down by most passengers in the bus. It was just the three of us, in a semi-drowsy state albeit still excited, who ventured out in the cold to pose in front of the Eiffel Tower. When both the photographer and his subject are shivering, you can well imagine the end result of photographs – perfectly hazy Lazy! I don’t even recall correctly how one of us bargained with this guy selling these small Tower figures, but it was later in the bus we discovered that the tip was broken for each of the three pieces we had bought. The German commentary was not helpful anyway, and I witnessed Paris streets and monuments as if in a state of trance.

Paris had indeed cast a mesmerising spell on me, as I sleep-walked to my hotel room, and dozed off even before I could close my eyes!