Another day fighting with sleep, I couldn’t get up before 9. Had breakfast in the hotel itself, which was included in the rent.
10 AM: Checked out, kept my bag at the hotel for taking it back in the evening. Got the yellow line again to change to Green bus, and the plan for the day was clear. I want to finish off Louver museum, and then may be a bit roaming around the other routes.
11:30 AM: I got down in front of the Louver Museum. The queue was not big enough except for the security check outside.
I collected a map of the huge museum (snap) with the ticket. I could easily compare it with The British Museum for the space, but I will have to praise the latter for the diversity of things they got!So, I had no plans to see the whole museum. My main aims were to cover the sculpture and painting galleries, for they are the European special! I accept my lack of sense to appreciate the paintings, as for me, the oil painting of our old school master (that is the first I am seeing as a painting) is as complex as Monalisa :) ! Even for sculptures, I can’t boast my taste. I have seen enough in Kerala and Tamilnad temples, which for me as so complex. So just a single sculpture of Venus (it is also broken a bit by time) doesn’t appeal that much still I took its picture with the crowd around so that I won’t be blamed for my stupidity:).
My main aim was to see that picture which became World famous because of its publicity, and something else which I don’t understand. And for me, if I am compelled to look and pay for something I can’t explain why, it is a trick of publicity :). It was amazing(snap), a small photo and a huge crowd around it, like Aiswarya Rai surrounded by photographers! They were allowing to take snaps, so I think it may be a fake picture also! How do any of us know?I could see people taking pictures everywhere, even at places where there is a board which says no photos.
I finished up, and went in to many other parts of the museum and saw many more things in my attempt to find an exit :). I think it is another French trick!
1:30 PM: At last, I succeeded in finding an exit to come to the main area, under the pyramid (I think, u may have seen it in the film Da Vinci code).
Another blunder under the pyramid as I got some romance fever from around, and decided to buy a perfume under the very Museum Louver. There were some shops selling them, and got in to a very classic one. I saw some incense candles and perfumes. My romance started melting by the heat of Price tags. As I was almost about to leave, I saw a small gift cart sort of a thing to my surprise priced at € 22,50 ! It had four pieces, one flower and one candle and two more containers-sort-of near each of them. My creativity told me that the perfume near candle will smell like the candle and the perfume near the flower smell like the flower. I asked the shop keeper, ‘Is it perfume?’ and he nodded Yes. I very clearly tried to tell him in English as well as by actions that I want to buy a gift for my wife, and looking for perfume. I want to make sure that the perfume is feminine.
As he started packing, I was back to Earth noticed the so-thought-container near the candle look like a cap for the candle and the other, cap for the dry flower. The shop-keeper was busy packing it with the gift thread and all(snap).
I jumped on him and again showed another mime to ask if they are just caps, no-spray-no-liquid perfumes for body? He broke my heart saying that it is a candle and flower set!
I apologised and he got the message :).
1:45 PM: Took green bus again, to get down at Notre Dame church. Roamed around there, it was a long queue again, to go to the top. I skipped that, went around buying some souvenirs. I spotted a pancake shop, and for lunch had one pancake (snap), lemon and sugar and ate it standing on the road side.
2:30 PM: I am done with my main items. There may be many things in Paris which is a must see, but I don’t know. I took another bus route (the blue one) to just go for a full round, sat inside sipping a pepsi(from the vending machine inside the bus). I also had the Milk Bikis bought yesterday from Indian stores. That completed my lunch. It started raining outside and so I remained inside the bottom floor of the base than going to the open top deck.
3:30 PM: I shifted to Green bus and it went again through Eiffel Tower and Arc De Triumph, for having a last look. It got redirected in between due to some demonstrations and the driver couldn’t communicate back to my query that he will take another route and drop me at my destination to catch the yellow bus. But anyway he did.
4:50 PM: I shifted to the Yellow bus at Opera, after one round to be dropped at the Nord station.
5:40 PM: I got down at Nord, walked to the hotel, and collected my bag. Had a glance in to a couple of shops for seeing if I can get any gifts.
6:00 PM: I was at the station by 6. I took a handful of pics to make a stitched long landscape shot, a policeman came to me and said no photography allowed. Though there were no signs on this anywhere, I apologised and kept the camera back. The train started at 6:22 PM and left me at Brussels Zuid by 7:40 PM. Back home, uploaded my pictures, again to office tomorrow morning…. :(. Slept around 1:45 AM.
Tailpiece :
(1) Novelist Guy de Maupassant — who claimed to hate the Eiffel tower — supposedly ate lunch at the Tower's restaurant every day. When asked why, he answered that it was the one place in Paris where you couldn't see the Tower :)
(2) Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years, meaning it would have had to be
dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would revert to the City of Paris. The City had planned to tear it down (part of the original contest rules for designing a tower was that it could be easily demolished) but as the tower proved valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain after the expiration of the permit.
(3) Just putting a snap of the dustbins in Paris. I didn’t mean anything. If it resembles something to you…… I will say ,’you dirty mind’ :p !
I jumped on him and again showed another mime to ask if they are just caps, no-spray-no-liquid perfumes for body? He broke my heart saying that it is a candle and flower set!
I apologised and he got the message :).
1:45 PM: Took green bus again, to get down at Notre Dame church. Roamed around there, it was a long queue again, to go to the top. I skipped that, went around buying some souvenirs. I spotted a pancake shop, and for lunch had one pancake (snap), lemon and sugar and ate it standing on the road side.2:30 PM: I am done with my main items. There may be many things in Paris which is a must see, but I don’t know. I took another bus route (the blue one) to just go for a full round, sat inside sipping a pepsi(from the vending machine inside the bus). I also had the Milk Bikis bought yesterday from Indian stores. That completed my lunch. It started raining outside and so I remained inside the bottom floor of the base than going to the open top deck.
3:30 PM: I shifted to Green bus and it went again through Eiffel Tower and Arc De Triumph, for having a last look. It got redirected in between due to some demonstrations and the driver couldn’t communicate back to my query that he will take another route and drop me at my destination to catch the yellow bus. But anyway he did.
4:50 PM: I shifted to the Yellow bus at Opera, after one round to be dropped at the Nord station.
5:40 PM: I got down at Nord, walked to the hotel, and collected my bag. Had a glance in to a couple of shops for seeing if I can get any gifts.
6:00 PM: I was at the station by 6. I took a handful of pics to make a stitched long landscape shot, a policeman came to me and said no photography allowed. Though there were no signs on this anywhere, I apologised and kept the camera back. The train started at 6:22 PM and left me at Brussels Zuid by 7:40 PM. Back home, uploaded my pictures, again to office tomorrow morning…. :(. Slept around 1:45 AM.
Tailpiece :
(1) Novelist Guy de Maupassant — who claimed to hate the Eiffel tower — supposedly ate lunch at the Tower's restaurant every day. When asked why, he answered that it was the one place in Paris where you couldn't see the Tower :)
(2) Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years, meaning it would have had to be
dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would revert to the City of Paris. The City had planned to tear it down (part of the original contest rules for designing a tower was that it could be easily demolished) but as the tower proved valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain after the expiration of the permit.(3) Just putting a snap of the dustbins in Paris. I didn’t mean anything. If it resembles something to you…… I will say ,’you dirty mind’ :p !
