Love locked and feet dead

I better get done with my Paris reverie else my mild OCD will not let me pick up anything till I am done :(

 

Day3 was slated for general roaming and loitering . Our top priority was food - yes not sight seeing. ;) As I might have mentioned umpteen times, K somehow always wants to have Indian food! We had decided on a place called coffee India, based on Tripadvisor recommendations and proximity to our hotel. The place was a little one and the fare was gourmet. The masala in the Masala Dosa had all sorts of vegetables (really healthy but then who wants to eat healthy in a hotel?!) . It was served with some really creamy chicken curry which was very tasty but my 'Indian' food sensibilities were crying at this outrage of authentic cuisine. K ordered a dish called Kothu which is some sort of scrambled dosa with some curry. The curries were again so rich and creamy and yes tasty but un-authentic. I hoped someone rescued French people from this travesty - but then sometimes lies sell :(

 

 We caught a tube to the Cité which was an island in river Seine. First on our itinerary was the Notre dame.  The church was a very majestic and magnificent. From there it was a long walk to Pont de Arts. This bridge has an urban legend regarding putting a lock on the bridge and throw the key in the river which in essence locks your love forever. We too followed tradition and bought a lock. It had 3 keys , I took one gave to K and the third to Chiyaa. As per tradition K and I dropped our keys into the waters of Seine. When asked to put her key, Chiyaa merely threw it till the edge of the bridge. Little kid, we let her try again. Same result. Huh. Ok third time lucky maybe? But same result. Hmm.. was she wishing for her parents to have their options open and not be another ever after ;) so we grabbed the key and threw it :P Of course we did not want any options :)

 

Since it was a foot bridge we allowed her to go crazy. She was running, crawling, jumping and squealing all over the place. We grabbed some coffee in a local café. We had read that the quaint restaurants and cafes in Paris were not to be missed. But we somehow found that facet a bit over romanticised and over rated. We did not get a decent brew in many places. I feel the vending machine at my work place serves better coffee. There was absolutely no variety in menu. French bakery which is supposed to be very renowned did not wow us at all just like the famed Mysore Masala Dosa did not cause a stir in our tongues. Some things are just over rated that’s why I never judge a movie or a book by what critics say :) As a side I just watched The secret life of Walter Mitty and simply lovedddddddddd itttt!!!!! Do do do watch it for some escapism, some too good to be true drama, some surrealism. Ok enough of this digression.

 

As it  was getting close to dusk, as per ritual we sighted our light house - the Eiffel and started our long walk to the coveted land  :D I know this portion is getting too monotonous and routine. But there is some pleasure in sticking to tradition. As usual we saw the lights at Eiffel, started the walk to the hotel and made the Little Birdie walk the final stretch.

 

The next day was our very last in Paris. We had to dedicate it to the famed Louvre which housed many artistic jewels of the world. I was most interested in the entrance which had been made oh so famous by the movie The Da Vinci code. Once I saw it and got a few clicks with it - I had had enough of Louvre. But the museum enthusiast K was not even warmed up. He got the audio guides and got started. Handling a pram, a bored toddler in it and the Nintendo DS which was being used as the guide and was very unintuitive - I was getting more irked by the moment. I gave up and allowed K to have a good wander. But as time passed, it was getting a bit out of hand with Chiyaa. She wanted to be let out of the pram. And if I let her out she went about touching the artefacts! The security at the famed museum was not too happy about it and I was getting 'the looks'. We viewed Venus de milo after which I started nagging K that the kitten was getting bored. K was enraged and we were in a deadlock situation. K wanted to continue his study in ancient arts, the kid and I were bored to our bones. Technically we should have won 2 against 1. To make matters worse, since we both were bored, we were getting hungry too :P I recommended we grab some grub after which K could return to the largest museum in the world, while I would take Chiyaa back to the hotel and somehow make do. K did not agree with it since he wanted us to be with him. Even I wanted to be with him, but then we can't have everything right? Anyhoo first things first, we had to get some food and zero in on a place for it. K with his utter fondness for his native delicacies recommended a place called Krishna Bhawan. (He was still peeved at Coffee India for having sold him some hocus pocus in the name of Indian food). The place was a bit far off but the 'Bhawan' in its name screamed authentic to K.

 

Authentic it was. Not only the place but the locale too. It was an south Asian dominated region. There were places marked with the south Indian languages, stores selling sarees and bangles! Wow ! Again a veritable Ranganathan street :) We got crazy with the ordering, it was Masala Vada, Idli, Spinach Vada, Thali and customary K dish of Kothu. Seriously mazaa aa gaya!!! Food made us think more clearly. We went to the museum where we decided on seeing stuff together come rain or storm. We had only managed Venus de Milo in the morning and there were so many pieces clamouring for our attention. Coming all the way to the Louvre and not seeing the Monalisa was something I did not agree with. I decided to have a dekko at that fabled portrait and then get on with taking care of the kiddo. I do not know whether something was amiss but I was not awed at all! I have no idea why the picture is so famous. Another over rated Parisian feature? :) Well maybe :)

 

Surprisingly the kid cooperated and fell asleep! We walked about, K diligently on his audio guide and dropping information to me. It was good fun in fact. Though our legs were dead with the hours of incessant walking, we kept going. We also remained true to tradition - in spite of the legs that were going numb, we saw Eiffel one last time and made the kid walk the last stretch one last time!

 

Aah Paris, je t'aime!

Sunday start to finish

Well, we were off to a not so flying start. But a start is a start. At 2145 we reached Paris. Yep we had fallen in love with Paris one time in August. While talking about our next vacation destination we could not think beyond it. That was the only place both of us wanted to go, savour some more.

By the time we checked into the hotel it was way into mid night. But ah! The pure pleasure of checking into a hotel J I did mention K and I have very low standards when it comes to appreciating hotels. We literally like all of them. This time too we felt it was super awesome. We managed to get Chiyaa to have some milk and she drifted off after mid night. Inspite of a rather exhausting time at airports, we kept surfing mindless French channels till 2 in the morning. K can literally watch any tv (ok maybe not Odia tv :P ) And I have no idea why I can give him company K All the channels were French and the English ones were BBC world and CNN. They kept repeating the same news over and over. And we kept flicking over them. Senseless – I know.

It was 0930 that we woke to a lovely sunny Parisian morning. The Kabuki was a bit clingy. She did have an annoying cold to blame a bit. We had a bit of a tough time handling since she needed mommy only. The beautiful River Seine flowed right in front of our hotel. There was a replica of the Statue of Liberty near it which was a mini tourist attraction of sorts. We got there to kick start the touristy activities. Chiyaa also got into the flow and got posing for pictures and being the naughty little kitten that she is. We started wandering by the banks of the river to the nearest metro station. One thing that hit us hard was to see the number of people exercising. They were jogging, walking, running with a dog, cycling, you name it! In fact there was like a public open gym of sorts near the bank of the river with the basic twister exercise disc, rowing equipment, treadmills and some weights. There were people actually using it and boy were they making us feel bad. K suggested we get a big fat burger and eat it in the most noisy fashion possible to ‘break their spirit’. I wonder if that would have done the trick, those people seemed ultra-serious.

Not to be bogged down with the health freaks we walked on(I bet we were burning ‘some’ calories that way).  Our first stop was Arc de Triomphe. It is a beautiful monument commemorating the soldiers of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars. It also houses the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War II. We got the tickets to visit the Arc up close and personal. We were trying to find a way to get inside since we had read reviews that the view from the top was not to be missed. Since most places in Paris are pretty ‘pram unfriendly’ we were retracing back. When all of a sudden a door opened – yep something like Open Sesame. And it was the elevator to the top of the Arc. The view was breath taking. I made some amateurish attempts to capture the beauty.

I was very insistent on trying French cuisine J So I kept asking for an ‘authentic’ place. Much to K’s petulance. I can pretty much ‘try’ anything –though I may not necessarily enjoy it. K poor dear had omelette as the best bet. We made our way into a small pub/restaurant. I  ordered some chicken dish and K a veg pancake. My dish was ok. K’s had chicken L He does eat chicken(but only if its very very spicy – so spicy that you don’t recognise the chicken)  and though the food on his plate was very unpalatable, he grinned and bore for lady love. Yea yea I am oh so lucky :P.

Our next stop was Cleopatra’s needle. I did not care much about the hows and whats of the place, but there was a couple who had just got married and they were being filmed dancing and prancing about in fountain that was not spitting water (yet). More than the actual monument it was very very amusing to watch them J I am not even sure if they were celebrities of some sorts. After having a look around, we made our way towards some building which we thought was important. It was. But unfortunately it was closed L Not to be despaired, we headed to a nearby coffee house. I ordered a Mocha and K a chocolate milk shake. They were delectable. It was the most unique mocha that K and I had ever tasted. And trust me we a lot of mocha in our blood J

Caffeine charged we were off to our next point Pont De Alexander. It was a grand bridge that stretched over the Seine. Dusk was slowly approaching and Paris was lighting up. It was changing colors gradually into a vibrant being. We kept wandering over bridges and roads, passed bustling shops and Christmas bazaars. It was around 1920 when we saw our light house – The Eiffel Tower. Luckily our hotel was a stone’s throw away from the tower as well. We decided to continue our walk to The Tower. We were to make it at the one hour mark since it lights up and does a dazzling show every hour. The deadline was a close one. And we made it! And watched The Eiffel make the most fantastic show J

That was quite some walking that we had done. We had the final trudge to the hotel. The final stretch of the walk, we decided to make the lil one walk too. She does a funny sort of march holding both our hands. It was brilliant fun. We wanted to see Paris through our eyes and legs and the first day was definitely hitting all the right chords.

Hiccups

Well I did say what a stupendous start we had to the holiday. I am the proper believer in karma. If something bad happens something good is coming up. The cosmic equation keeps getting balanced in its own weird way. We had that fantastic 30 minute duel for two pieces of bread. What did it mean? Of course a wonderful problem free vacation was hiding just around the corner.

Chiyaa was a bit funny through the morning. Her paati had left to India 2 days back. She was not able to put her finger on the problem. Something was amiss but she could not fathom it. The head count was not 3. It did not make sense to her and she was super annoyed. She was also a bit wary should the count go even further down. Now that would worry any toddler would’nt it? So she kept cribbing, whining, clinging and not being her usual enthusiastic self. To make matters worse, all the altercation between her parents! Boy were things topsy turvy. We literally turned a deaf ear to her persistent crying and got her ready. The moment she was out under the clear blue sky – well she started doing march past! We should just leave the raccoon to frolic in the open.K

The taxi to the airport came on time. The crying and fretting had tired Chiyaa and she slept peacefully during the hour long drive. We reached the airport and seeing K managing a suitcase, a bag, a back pack, a folded up pram and me handling a super squirmy 21 month old a man remarked – it’s like moving houses is’nt it? Of course it is! I think moving houses is in fact easier!

Boarding pass – check. Luggage drop – check. Security check – check. Smoooooooooooth. K happened to cast his eye over the flight listing. Our flight was scheduled for 1445. ETD – 1830. Status - Passengers wait in lounge.  The color ran off his face. He showed me the screen. Me being the proper optimist pooh poohed it saying- ‘Oh come on don’t panic. Let’s move on to the departure gates.’ Thankfully at the departure gates there was an airlines customer service desk. I casually asked her (to confirm that my intuition that the information being displayed was incorrect ) ‘When might the flight depart’. Nonchalantly she replied – ‘1800 as of now per current air traffic. But it might be sooner.’  Seeeee… told you so I told you so .. it could be sooner. All this information displayed just to harry innocent passengers.

We got some sandwiches, two steaming cups of coffee and some muffins for the Munchie. We could engage her in eating for some time. After that she lost interest. She started getting bored. She had to be unleased from the pram. She had to be let go to roam the confines of the airport terminal. And we were to keep pace with her. We were running out of energy much sooner than she was. We kept praying for The Great Rescuer. No not the flight – sleep. It did come eventually and the Cutsie drifted off for an hour. We had our toilet breaks, had some more coffee(we were given coupons from the airlines for getting refreshments), and munched on a pizza (yayyy airlines sponsored airport pizza – so much for gourmet food!). As she woke up and started her afternoon round of activities again aka running amok, trying to reach for the garbage bins, putting her finger in the plug points – we got a waft of good news. The flight would start boarding at 1750! Again the optimist in me started doing the jump in joy – 1750 is such a magnificent improvement from 1830! We are in for a treat, we are in for a treat.

We got into the flight by 1815. By 1830 we would be off cruising to our destination. What we got instead was ‘This is your captain speaking. There has been some problem in the air traffic control at Birmingham which has caused the delay. We have you seated so that we can start as soon as situation improves. As of now we anticipate a delay of 45 minutes to an hour’ Arghhhh. Come on cosmic equation. Balance yourself now. Have’nt we had enough already????

The kid was hating being confined. How long could I keep making plane noises, showing her red light, green light and trucks carrying baggage. She wanted more. Even the cell phones did not pacify her. She wanted to play with the front seat tray table. Pop it down. Push it up. Lock it. In adult speak – annoy the passenger sitting right in front of us. There was a nice lady sitting next to us. She found an extra seat and moved away so that we had an her seat. God bless her! We kept Chiyaa in the middle, and since the seat in front of her was empty – she had a field day banging the tray table! I know kids! *rolls eyes*

K and I started betting when the flight might take off. Anything in the vicinity of 1900 seemed too good to be true. Finally at 1910 we got the frightful PA ‘This is your captain speaking. We anticipate a further delay of an hour but we are not sure. In sometime our crew members will come over go through any journey cancellations you may want to make’. K and I looked at each other. We had quite some money to loose in terms of the hotel booking. We hoped that the return flight would be refunded. We started doing the maths. K started getting in touch with the hotel and going through pressing button 1 through 9 to get to someone to talk to. While he was grasping his way through the labyrinth of customer service, the PA crackled again. ‘This is your captain speaking. And we have some good news. We should be ready to take off in 20 minutes.’ Of course there is a Father in Heaven. Halleluiah. 1940 we left terra firma.

The vacation had officially started!

We are kids again

I am not a Disney fan.I prefer Pixar cartoons. But you cannot go to a place with Disney land and not visit it. Day2 was for Disney land. There is something seriously hypnotic about the place. The place is filled with a lively zesty music. One cannot help but get a hop in ones feet. It feels silly yes, but I saw every single person, have a smile on their face and skip in their gait. The crowd went on open to be enchanted. 

What hit me first was the way the whole area had been set up. It took me back to some other time, some other place. It had an old wordly charm about it. Seemed like I was transported to the America in the 50s(my knowledge of how America might be looking in the 50s comes entirely from novels and movies so  I may be excused in making this judgement). We walked on and we spotted Eeyore. Aww he looked so cute with his sad little eyes. K was totally smitten and wanted a picture taken. Here too as with the Eiffel Tower there was the 'queue' price to be paid. We anyways stood in the queue in the blistering sun. I would have loved to go away and enjoy some more sights, but then I had to look at K's enthusiasm to get convinced to stand in the queue. We were closing on, but then they said that Eeyore would need a break and would come back in 30 minutes. :( Were we disappointed :( K would have loved to wait on, but somehow my patience was at its brink. We decided to move on. 

K was crest fallen. Not for long though.There awaited the Disney castle which had been recreated as the castle for Sleeping Beauty. The walk through it evoked so many childhood memories. We had lots of stop overs at adventure land where the Pirates of the Caribbean island was our favourite. I was prepared for the long queues and waits for the rides. One thing that  heckled me was the pram 'unfriendliness' of the place. We have been to amusement parks and theme parks within England, and were amazed by how child friendly they were. In Disney land there were more places that were inaccessible by pram. There were elaborate and big -guess what - queues of prams parked in many  places. Wish they were a bit more considerate to parents with younger kids. 

The plethora of merchandise also baffled me.At the drop of a hat there was a glittering shop with lots and lots of wares. One would need the self control of a sage to not get pulled into the commercial whirlpool. We too bit the bait and ended up buying a huge coffee mug (I have a fancy for coffee mugs ) and a little bag for Chiyaa. 

We were not bogged down by the number of places we were not able to go to because of the pram. We randomly went into a cafe area and saw the live dance performance by a group. It was very well executed. I am not much of a dancer (I have 2 left foot ) and I am very shy of it. I do not enjoy seeing dance much as well. Somehow the performance reminded me of the footloose and fancy free graduation days. Hmm... those times without a care in the world. I literally got tears in my eyes at one point.Now how ludricious is that! 

We took a train ride around the park. Randomly we went off to a steak house. The fact that drew us was the decor. It was set like an old western bar. The details were superb with rugs, guns, hoes, saddles. Luckily they served some vegetarian burgers, but we would not have minded sipping coke just to savour the decor. Out of no where I spotted Pluto. K spotted Donald Duck. We literally ran out of the restaurant for the photo op. Chiyaa was totally scared of Pluto.No matter how much he tried to cheer her, she was totally wary. She was all right with Donald. Lo and Behold we had Chip and Dale too! I think there is something intrinsically cute about squirrels.She was more than happy posing for the pictures with them. K noted how animated I was around the characters. He mentioned that I was literally jumping up and down (something I was completely unaware of). The hypnotic effect of Disney had smitten me.

Totally over whelmed by the sights and sounds we dragged our tired bodies back. We were to be treated to the Paris by night tour after which we were in no position for any more thrill. A good nights sleep was what we yearned for!

And we landed

The next day was a real early start.We were at the pick up point at 0500. The crowd in the bus was a medley. There were elderly couples travelling alone, there was one big family, groups of friends, there was even a couple who were clearly in their honeymoon phase (oh how obnoxious they seemed! I am quite averse to PDA . Imagine there is a wiki link to PDA!! Cool!! )

We were to cross the Channel through a ferry. We let Chiyaa play on the deck and boy did she go crazy.That kid has some secret source of energy (I believe all parents think so about their wards :D ) Ferry ride done, it was again a long-ish drive from the port Calais to Paris. As soon as we entered Paris, the kids in bus started chanting Eiffel Tower- Eiffel Tower. It was hilarious. Their enthusiasm was so endearing :) Even the tour manager could not help contain his giggles. He decided to make the first stop at the tower. 

The Tower was visible from afar. As all good things come at a price, the price for this were long queues. Queue to get in, queue to get into the lifts, queue to get a good spot for a photo, queue to get souvenirs. But then that's a small price.

The first sight of the building did not evoke any thoughts in me. I had hope to be awestruck with wonder. As had happened to me with the Taj. When I had had the first glimpse of the Taj Mahal, I was open mouthed. It was really poetry in marble. It was the most peaceful yet imposing structure I had ever seen. I did not have that goose flesh feeling with the Eiffel. I was to be surprised. When we reached the second landing, and I had a view of the city - was I blown away. The city looked marvellous! The view was breath taking! We proceeded to the summit and by that time I was head over heels in love with the place. Once we were back on the ground, I could not help looking at the daunting structure. It is one that needs to be admired from a distance. It is something like a rainbow I feel - beautiful from a distance , from close up maybe just a giant prism(I know I know me and my horrible similes ). The Eiffel was over whelming from a distance. The gardens in front of it with the well tended lawns and trees just added to the glory of it. We decided to grab an ice cream. I don't know whether I was seeing everything with Eiffel tinted err ...rose tinted glasses or was  it a fact - but that ice cream was the best ice cream I have had in a long time. It was one HUGE dollop of chocolate ice cream in a BIG cone. It was delicious. I could not keep up with the melting of the ice cream - because I was so distracted snatching glances at the tower and of course my kid who was going berserk in the garden. I was like a child all slobbered with ice cream. It was ridiculously silly.

Finally we had to bid a temporary good bye to the steel  giant and head to the hotel for sleepy time. There was lots more fun awaiting us the next day!

The preps

We had been looking at making a trip to Paris since  a long time. Somehow one thing or the other hindered us. It would either be the case of leaves not being there, weather not being ok, personal engagements or for that even finances keeping us down. I had plans to go with a chartered tour because of the kid. I wished for the nitty gritties to be taken care of already so that we could sit back and enjoy the ride.

We decided to go by the highly recommended Star Tours.Like most places, UK is also highly capital centric. So the tours start and end at London (with pick ups being available from other locations). The pick up  was at an odd hour of 0100 which would not have worked well with Chiyaa. We decided to go one day ahead and put up at London itself. 

It did end up being a very good decision. K loves London. He for the matter loves the tube in London. He feels like Indiana Jones, reading the maps, deciding which line to take and where to go. He could spend the whole day hopping from one train to another. We did get to London and then of course we got tube hopping. Finally we got to our hotel. It was awesome. There is something about hotel rooms - the initial cleanliness, the spic and span towels, the soaps and lotions, the tea and coffees, the tv, the way everything is there in that small space - a sofa, a coffee table, a working table, cupboards, hair dryers, iron boxes, laundry (seriously  is'nt literally a home fitted into the small space) . Even the budget hotels make K and me go all ooo aaaaa :) Or then maybe we are simple-tons who are easily impressed :) 

The first thing we did was hit the bed. We literally had to drag ourselves out of the bed at 1600. The area we were putting up at was an Indian dominated one. K started doing yet another of his favorite things - search for Indian restaurants! I somehow see no point in eating Indian food in a foreign place , is'nt that what we eat at home. To top it,in our house, we cook fares from all parts of India (ok maybe not from the west :D ) . We have the regular south Indian meals, and I cook stuff that are essentially northern or eastern. So I don't see much point in getting the same food in a hotel. I prefer going for a cuisine which we cant make at home. But K  of course thinks differently. He just likes having the same food in a hotel :| We finally we opted for - guess what - Chennai Dosa :| Huhhhhhhhhhh.

On the way to the place, literally every person we saw seemed from the Indian sub continent. The place was crowded and the shops had an ethnic Indian feel to it. K even spotted a shop with the name written in Tamil and did a woo hoo. To add to the authenticity the afternoon was hot and sweltering. It was literally like walking on Rangathan street in Chennai! 

We were flooded with nostalgia as we entered Chennai Dosa and started ordering like crazy. We ate like little piggies till a point we could move no more. That's when we decided to do our bellies a favour, stuffed a paan and headed out. To alleviate some guilt, we decided to take a walk. We spotted a park and of course we had to let Chiyaa have a go. She went berserk and we ended up being exhausted. I am sure we burnt more calories than we had consumed ;) 

We wrapped up the evening with some fresh juices and headed back to the hotel. We had a very early start and a really long day ahead of us. As we snuggled into the duvet, I could not help thinking - the afternoon made me miss my friends. Not Chennai, not BBSR, not my family, not my acquaintances, but my friends. I wished to see them - Sam, Ashu, Roomie dear, S. I missed them a lot somehow. I have no idea why. 

With my thoughts hovering around my lovely bunch of friends, I drifted off to a coma like sleep.