I had the route to an ibis hotel nearby from my colleague. So walked towards it only to find that the ‘cheap rate’ he mentioned was €79 per night! This would have been a place I would have confirmed if I were with Krithi. But now, as a bachelor, I need something just better than a dormitory. I went out on room hunt, and kept checking all hotels in all cut roads on my random route. Most of them were €89, €129, €119, and €99…But my hunt didn’t last long, before I got a place for €59. I went in actually seeing €45, but that was rate for a common bathroom accommodation. I would have gone for that if it was London, but I was not that sure how this would have been maintained. Also, if I take the €59 room, he offered me an immediate check-in. And once I kept my luggage and came out, I realised that I am just 100m away from the Nord station (I had come around completing a full circle in my search) where I have to again catch the train Sunday evening.
Now, the main constraint for me was time, and I was always monitoring and planning with the time. So better thought it will be worth to continue based on time.
10:00 AM: I started from my hotel for exploring Paris and my plan was to finish Eiffel Tower today for sure and then get around Arc de Triumph. There are these hop-on hop-off buses; I think I had mentioned how they work when I tried the same in London. They become the best choice when you have very less time to explore a place, say, a couple of days, or only one day.
I got one in Paris, which works with four routes (four colour coded buses for each route) and charges €29 for two days to explore Paris in all four buses routes. Their frequency was less than 15 minutes, and so you never have to wait for a bus. It works this way: their yellow bus covers the Nord (means North) rail station, some areas like Moulin Rouge and have a common point to share with their green bus. Green bus covers the Museum Louver, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame Church and some key areas of Paris. This is the bus, which has common point with other two routes: orange and blue. So basically, you can see that the mainly used one will be the Green and the others just form connections to the rail stations or to have a look some extra places in Paris in case you have time.
So for me, I have to take the yellow one, find the common point where I will get the Green,
and change for Eiffel Tower. This was my highest priority not just because I just wanted to see that for sure; but the fact that there is a lot of waiting time to get in and I don’t want to take that risk tomorrow.12:30 PM:I reached the Eiffel Tower (snap). There are four counters on the Tower’s four base pillars, and a long queue at each one of them. The last time I have seen such a long queue (outside India) was in Sydney during the New Year fireworks. But that queue was for getting their liquor ration, inside the Botanical Garden premises.
The average wait time was written as 30-45 minutes. But that wait gave me enough time to feel the surroundings. I could see a lot of couples than the lone wanderers like me. They are all, except a very few, in the excitement of standing at the bottom of this World Wonder. They were enjoying excitement with the togetherness, the ‘French’ way! At this point, I have a suggestion to anyone going to Paris – never go alone if you are married!
1:00 PM : Almost reaching the end of my wait for tickets, I noticed everybody walking to the counter with some money and then taking the purse out and fetching more money. I realised the reason only after reaching near the counter. The fare written in front of the counter and also displayed in the electronic board is 4€. It is written in small fonts that the fare is 7.7€ for going to the topmost point! So this 4€ is to go till the 2nd floor, that is the second horizontal line (if you remember the rough structure). Now, I will introduce you to Eiffel Tower before I start climbing:
The building of a 300-meter tower was conceived in preparation for the Universal Exposition of 1889. The assembly of the pillars began on July 1 1887, and was completed in only twenty-two months (snap below)!
Now, I can take the 700 steps to climb the first 115 meters, that is, till the second floor. That is, climbing our Pazhani malai paying Rs.200! Or, taking the steps to climb the Sydney Tower! I can as well wait in another queue for an elevator to take me up till that.
But there waits another much longer, unavoidable queue at the second floor to take me to the top most point another 276 metre high. There is no steps up there, elevator is the only way up.
I started climbing the steps. The only food I had was a waffle with a coffee in the train’s restaurant! So it was almost like a pilgrimage. I straightaway stood in the other queue up in the second floor and that was another 30 mins! I reached the top by 2:20.
2:20 PM : I reached the topmost point of Eiffel Tower.Enjoy the view, the couples ‘French’ing around you, take a view snaps, and then time for another queue to go down! I took the elevator from the second floor to the ground too, as I was too tired and hungry to come down the 700 steps.
3:15 PM: I came down. Tried to find something to eat, and got some French fries and coke – right under the Eiffel Tower, for 6 €!
4:00 PM: I finished walking around the area of Eiffel Tower and bought some souvenirs from the young Indian guys and took the Green bus
4:30 PM: Got down at the Champs-Élysées. The Champs-Élysées is the most prestigious and broadest avenues in Paris. And with its cinemas, cafés and luxurious shops (you know of what), this is said to the second most expensive strip of real estate in the World just next to New York City’s fifth Avenue. The rent goes to around Rs. 6 crore per year for a 1000 sq.ft of business space !Again, it has nothing to do with me and I never knew about this place before . So it doesn’t matter. I got down here since I felt the place is glamorous with the Arc De triumph at the other end (snap).
Before starting the walk towards the Arc, tried get in to divider the middle of the road to take a snap, and two guys busy taking pictures behind me greeted, ‘Mate, where are you in Australia?’ in a typical Aussie accent !
I was amazed. How do they know I have an Aussie connection? I put the thought aloud, and they had caught me with my Aussie Open cap! Now you know what an Aussie is! I just introduced myself, and didn’t forget to convey my love to Australia especially the Aussies. They helped me to take my snap with the Arc behind me at distance. They are from Sydney itself, had come on an European trip.
I continued with my walk to the Arc, it was pretty crowded – the walkway (snap) and the road too (snap)!
5:30 PM: I reached the Arc taking pictures and doing some window shopping. It was also crowded for going to the top, and dropped that plan. I had to take the next Green bus to get the last Yellow connecting bus.The yellow bus’s return journey consists of Moulin Rouge and those areas too. Moulin Rouge also had a long queue for entry, for the Saturday night ‘show’(snap).
7:00 PM: I got down at Nord and walked back to the hotel. Back at the hotel, left souvenir load, and out then for another walk. Just opposite to the hotel, the street slowly started looking like some downtown street of Pondicherry(snap). I am seeing confused desis, ladies in ‘western attire’ (they think so) to meet the local competition, and some ‘malligai poo’ on the hair and hard lipstick and a heavy coat of talcum powder, which will tell the whole story how confused they are :).
And obviously, the pram drama is always there. The prams are meant to keep the baby freer and give him so freedom to enjoy the ride with out distraction from the main conversations, and give the couple also some more ‘privacy’. Again it keeps the dress and hair out of mess.
We use it to show off that we got one, the baby is always with us and the pram mostly becomes a shopping cart. So, I could see only the mess worsens! Now, imagine the baby sitting in the pram with grocery bags hanging all around him! I also saw a guy struggling with a pram at the Eiffel Tower where the mother and kid were enjoying the views. I couldn’t stop laughing!
Now, I tried some Indian shop, tried to get a couple of pickle bottles (to make up for my loss at Frankfurt). Then, seeing a board ‘Hotel Saravanah Bhavan’,I tried to peep in for some food (as my only food was one plate of French Fries). I was tempted with the menu and ordered dosai and poori (2.5 € each). I also ordered for a filter coffee too! I did two mistakes: I forgot it is Paris, and I forgot this name ‘Saravana Bhavan’ (an extra ‘h’ makes it no better) never go well for me. I had to pay for it. The dosai was not very bad, but the poori spoiled the whole show. It was like the whole dough has fallen in to the hot oil while making the dough! For my hunger I ate the dosai, and poori seemed to take more energy to eat than what it could generate.
I wasted the poori almost all, in spite of my hunger; Mr.Hotel owner-cum-waiter-cum-maybe-cook-also doesn’t seem to be bothered about it. He is in his World, speaking dirty Tamil (with a proud expression in his face that say, ‘see, I speak Tamil’), serving the two-three customers this junk-old-food. Any French guy eating here to get a feel of India will have a ‘good’ impression for sure!
10:00 PM : Walked around again, bought one bottle of water (here also it is only bottled water you can drink. Again, no cans or drinking water sources available other than the bottle-packed in shops or vending machines) and a pack of Milk Bikis from one of the Indian shops (Rs.10 pack costs 1.5 €) and came back to the hotel.
11:00 PM: I was too tired and slept almost immediately.
