Appooppanthaadi -6

19.12.2010 ( Paris – continued)

More than 50% of the metro users in Paris are people whose natural origin is from outside Europe. Quite a sizeable part of this is from African countries. Then come Asians, especially from China, Thailand and other east-asian countries. Of course Indians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans also make a good part of the population. I have already mentioned about the adorable parippu vadas in the streets of Paris. Who else in this world can make parippu-vada, the tastiest snack one can ever have in his/her entire life?

As I have been walking along one of the streets of Paris, I spotted a man, standing at a bus stop. A good number of buses are also plying in the roads that further ease the journey in the city. The man looked so uneasy and wanted to do something urgently. As I have been observing, he slowly drifted towards the nearby wall of the building, unzipped his pants and started relieving himself. It was a shocker.

Pissing on European streets? Unbelievable, but it did happen. The man was certainly not of European origin, but he dared to do this unsavoury act in a public place in Europe. This was not the an isolated incident I witnessed there. Even spitting is not a big sin on the streets of Paris.


People cross the road even if the pedestrian signal is red. Vehicles may have to stop for the pedestrians, but the people never stop crossing even when the signal is red. I found myself standing alone at the signal waiting for the green signal even as people unmindful of such a signal had been crossing the roads. Very rarely, this indifferent attitude of the general public tempts the motorists to break traffic rules. I felt, it was a telling example of how concerted efforts by a group of people can sometimes subvert rules so systematically.

There are so many beggars and destitutes on the streets. They look to have made permanent abode on the roadsides, though they have not yet made a shelter over their heads. The surroundings they sit or stay are definitely unclean. Even though there are so many nice roads and buildings all over Paris, there is a dirty side too. Trash on the road is not an uncommon sight there. We can see many over flowing trash cans and plastic carry bags filled with waste heaped on the road sides. The city authorities do their best to keep the city clean however.

There are streets where people stand on the road sides and sell cigarette packets. They shout as the people pass by. There are so many crowded streets where people make a living out of this. These streets look nothing less than those unclean and trash filled market places of our country. In a few metro stations also, people stay inside permanently. They play musical instruments or simply sit on the sides of the walkways, seeking alms from the commuters.

People sell metro tickets at lower prices near the queue in front of the automatic ticket counter of the metro rail. Since the queue sometimes may be longer, people find it convenient to buy from such vendors. They sell the ticket at 1.50 euro whereas the original price at the counter is 1.70 euro. I could not find out from where they manage to secure these tickets and how they sell at a cheaper rate. I too tried once to check out if the tickets they sell were genuine. It works at the automated gates at the entrance of the platforms.

Hotels are expensive here. For 60 euros, we can get a basic room that offers free breakfast and wi - fi in the room. Facilities in the room will be minimal, and the room will be very small. Just to sleep in the night and keep our belongings. Rooms are sufficiently warmed using heaters and a television is also provided. In France, wherever I stayed, I could not find an English programme on the television. In other European countries, they allow either CNN or BBC for the viewers, but in France, we can see only French channels. To get a better room, we may have to spend more than 100 Euros, but still a lot to be desired to match any semblance of luxury comforts.

The famous hotel groups that have good presence in Europe are Hotel Ibis, Mercure Hotels, Best Western Hotels and B&B Hotels. We can find these hotels in most of the cities. These hotels are reasonably priced and providing free or chargeable wifi connection in rooms and free breakfast.

Disneyland in Paris is another place we consider visiting. It is an expensive affair that may make you poorer by a few hundred euros. I had an offer for free access to Disneyland from my friend Rajiv, as one of his friends is working there. The offer came too late after I left the city. Anyway there is hope. I may find another opportunity sooner than later to walk on the streets of Paris.

A few words about baguette (pronounced “bæˈɡɛt”) . It is a type of French bread that looks like a stick. “A standard baguette has a diameter of about 5 or 6 cm (2 or 2⅓") and a usual length of about 65 cm (24"), although a baguette can be up to a meter (39") long.” We can spot people carrying it in their hands. On a Sunday morning, I could see a long queue in front of a bread shop in Paris.


A quick reference to the Sex Shops dotted all over the city is also to be made here. We can spot so many shops here bearing the board Sex Shops. These shops offer peep shows, porn CDs/DVDs and sex related gadgets. There are so many magazine and book shops all over the city that display porn DVDs/CDs for sale. Sex for them is not a sacred thing that needs to be kept away from public realm. They know very well that basic instincts of human beings are to be satiated and for this purposes specific spots are to be allocated. This prevents people from giving vent to sexual urges on the soft targets and sitting ducks travelling on the lonely streets and trains.



They may not be standing on the moral high ground in this case, but it is far better to be honest on the low ground, than being hypocrite on the high ground. Above all , they do not have hundreds of thousands of temples, churches, mosques and gurdwaras to guide them live a highly disciplined and controlled ascetic life like we, the residents of this Mahan Bharat do!!

Appooppanthaadi -5

19.12.2010: Paris is an interesting city. We need not always harp on the Eiffel tower when we speak about Paris. There is a public transport system in Paris, invisible but omnipresent. The metro rail in Paris is an amazing piece of engineering and excellent planning. The metro rail transports thousands of people to the length and breadth of the city. There are around 24 lines of service and is constructed in two layers underground. The one who visits Paris shall not miss a journey in the metro rail. Obviously, metro is the handiest mode of transportation there and no one will miss it if he/she decides to travel in Paris.

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Another important thing about the metro is that, we will come across a metro station wherever we go. This means, we will never be lost in the city, if we know the address of the place we stay. So, no fears please, roam around in Paris without bothering about reaching home. There are a lot to see, and the metro is made for us, to go around and see them all.

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In the morning today, I travelled by train from Mannheim, Germany to Paris by the German railways. Remember that Mohanlal movie? He wonders if there are buses to Paris from Dubai! I am not sure if buses are running, but surely there are a number of trains running between various European cities and Paris including London. Germany’s rail service is called Bahn and the intercity services are named ICE(Inter city Express). ICEs connect German cities with cities of other countries too. There are very efficient rail services by Switzerland, France, Italy, Holland and many other European countries. Each service has its own name. I am a regular customer to them and have so far travelled several places by train. The journey from Mannheim to Paris takes a little more than three hours. The maximum speed of these trains so far I travelled is 315 Kilometers per hour. Details of train stations and speed of the train are shown on the display units provided with each compartment of the train.

After getting down at Paris Est station, I walked down to the hotel. Hotel, as usual, I have booked through internet. Immediately after keeping my bags in the room, I came out. Walked to the metro station. Metro stations are virtually invisible ones. We can only see sign boards that display the name of the stations. Like subways of the roads, we have to walk the stairs down to the station.

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First time, I did not know how to take ticket. I had to take help from the English speaking girl standing behind me on the queue. English is a big issue in France. It looks they do not like English. I got very angry answers in the negative when I asked a few people if they spoke English. Their rude answer was an emphatic “NO ENGLISH”. They speak only French and all announcements and sign boards are in French. This reminds me of our own Delhi. There too, people who know English too insist on speaking only in Hindi even if the other one does not understand Hindi. In France, they expect everyone in the world speak French. But still people answer in English and almost every receptionist in Hotels speaks English.

So, the English speaking girl operated the automatic machine and got the ticket. But, still I could not learn how to take ticket by myself! Got into the train. Trains were just like our Mumbai suburban trains. They come to the platform, stand for a while, then run away. Never care if we boarded or not. Thankfully, these trains have doors. Before stating the train, all doors are closed. Doors are automatically closed and opened. For that matter every train in Europe has doors and train moves only after they are closed. Passengers can operate the doors by pressing the button when the train is on the platform.

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The first metro journey was over to a wrong direction! The train (route number 4) was running to the opposite direction. I got down at the next station, again took a ticket and travelled back and reached Saint Michael station. The cost of the ticket is 1.7 euro. As long as we remain inside the station, we can travel to any direction with this ticket for the day. 1.7 Euro is comparatively cheap if we compare the rates in other cities in Europe.

On the first day of my arrival in Paris, my first destination was Norte dame. Norte dame is located very close to Saint Michael station. It was around 4 o clock in the evening by that time. Darkness has already started setting in. had a quick round of the Cathedral. Went inside, but I could not take photos inside, as it was too dark inside and my camera was not enough to take photos in blurred light. I had to contend with the photographs of the outer views. Nevertheless, it was a great trip to one of the ancient day cathedral.

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“Notre Dame de Paris (French for Our Lady of Paris), also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra (official chair), of the Archbishop of Paris, currently André Vingt-Trois. The cathedral treasury houses a reliquary with the purported Crown of Thorns.

 

Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in France and in Europe, and the naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture. The first period of construction from 1163 into the 1240's coincided with the musical experiments of the Notre Dame School.

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We can see a number of shops on the sides of the roads near every places of tourist attraction. I went inside a shop near Norte Dame to buy a souvenir. Saw some tee shirts. One tee shirt bearing the picture of Eiffel tower was attractive. I took it for my kid. The boy in the shop looked Indian. He was from Karaikkal, one of the four parts of UT of Pondicherry. The French connection of the people of Pondicherry is still very strong. Natives of Pondicherry get easy visa and help from French government to live in France. In karaikkal and Pondicherry, we can see names of natives mixed with French names. People from erstwhile French Colony are living in France in large numbers.

While returning from Norte dame to my room, this time I could manage to take the metro ticket by myself. While entering the platform, I took extra care to avoid wrong direction. At the entrance itself, the route of the train is mentioned. We have to look at it and proceed to the right platform. There is no way we get lost in the metro rail. It is so simple and comfortable.

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Next day morning, the destination was Eiffel tower. The heart was beating faster than usual since last night. Eiffel tower, the monument I know only from books, cinemas and televisions, will be right in front of mw within a few hours. It was like a dream becoming a reality. It was an unbelievable journey to the foot of the tower. When I start writing fairy tales, perhaps, the first story shall be my journey to Eiffel tower.

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By this time, I became an expert in operating the automatic machine at the metro station. But I wanted to try bus this time. By the side of the Paris EST railway station, there is a city bus station also. No 30 bus runs between Gare de’ EST to Tour de Mars Eiffel (Eiffel tower). But, unfortunately, the day was one of the coldest days of the winter. Due to heavy snowfall, all buses were cancelled. The enquiry office took a dig at me when I asked how could I reach the tower. He said, walk. Walking could have been tried, but it was too cold and snowy for that adventure.

Eiffel tower was standing drenched in snow on that day. The Heaven was so pleased by my visit. They showered white flowers incessantly in the form of snow. The tower was closed due to bad weather. That means, no way we could go to the top of the tower. There is an escalator that takes visitors to the first, second and top floors of the tower. There is a fee for this. This ticket can also be reserved through internet. If we do not reserve the tickets, we may have to stand in front of the ticket counters at the tower for hours together on a week end or holday. Anyway, I could not try this as the tower was closed for the day.

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Still, climbing the tower is not that important. Though it may give a good look of the city of Paris, missing it does not cost you much. It is like the proverbial grapes per se! I managed to take a number of photos in different poses. Chinese, Jordanian, Indian, Japanese and French tourists helped me. But, the saddest thing was that, the flash drive in which I stored the photos went out of order. Now, the memories of my first visit to Paris visit have no pictures to cherish.

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Around the tower, we can spot so many vendors selling souvenirs. They hold models of the tower and key chains in their hands and approach us. Almost all these vendors are of Indian and African origin. On the snowy day, I bought a tower model and a few key chains from two of the Indian vendors who spoke in Punjabi accented Hindi. In all probability, these models were made in Ludhiana.

“Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The tower is the tallest building in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year. Named for its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the tower was built as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair.

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The tower stands 324 metres (1,063 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-storey building. Upon its completion, it surpassed the Washington Monument to assume the title of tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for 41 years, until the Chrysler Building in New York City was built in 1930. Not including broadcast antennas, it is the second-tallest structure in France after the 2004 Millau Viaduct.”