8 hours in Paris !

 

There is a whole new world underneath paris,which is running very very efficiently to help people commute across the city ..Yes, the metro system is amazing!! They have 14 lines running beneath the beautiful streets of paris.I wouldn't have made the most out of my 8hrs in paris(Pariche, as the italians call it), had it not been for the metro system :-) The metro life(paris home)is quite intersting...You can find a varied set of people..the africans,arabs,natives(parisians),tourists(like me amazed by the complexity and the efficiency of the system)... Train zooms past the stations, people enter, people exit..No one talks.Everybody keeps to themselves..Maybe, this is the french ishtyle !

One among the innumerable metro stations is the station "La Chapelle"...Once out of it, i was not wondering whether i was teleported to chennai :-) The shops were named "Gopal Telekom","Tamiluvari Fast Food" and the likes :-) I entered a cozy food place called "Ganesha Restaurant" and had my favourite Chicken Biryani...Although it was way below the hyderabadi standards, considering that i was 7520 km away from the nawabi place, it is okay !!! The peddlers were selling their wares inside the hotel,this was quite annoying..Other than that, the south indian(tamil) mess ambience and the desi food was quite refreshing.

I Roamed around the city covering places like Sacre Couer,Palais De L'Eysees, Grand Palais,Arch De Triomphe,Grand Arche.I was a lucky witness to the grand parade of the napolean army at the Arch De Triomphe.Finally by 5 pm i went to the Eiffel Tower.I saved the best for the end :-) Luckily,by 5 pm it was dark, and i was able to get a magnificient view of the Eiffel Tower.I felt as if the tall structure was laughing at me at my tininess, i always get this feeling whenever i see something big...Strange, but that's me ! There were atleast 300-400 people infront of me to reach the top of the tower and i quickly calculated that i couldn't make it for the return flight if i continue in the Queue.So, dropped the idea of going to the top and spent sometime in the garden infront of the Eiffel. There were lovebirds,happy families all around...Love and Happiness was all around the place..I just loved the place.It was smashing!

I had to catch a bus to go to the beauvais airport(50 miles from paris) 3 hrs before my flight departure.This was painful...But you get what you pay for ! Anyway, Ryanair runs a decent service to and fro from paris-Rome for a low fare,except that the airports are bit far from the cities.That is understood because to provide low fares, they avoid paying heavy taxes at the main airports.

Overall i had a great time in paris and i am happy being back in Rome.

~Nagi