Toure De Paris - Day 6

Eiffel tower:
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Finally weekend arrived and it was time to venture out for some sight seeing. It was a perfect day with slightly warm weather and cool breeze. Planned my trip such that I could see most places today. My first stop was the "Eiffel Tower". Boarded the metro at "Les Sablons" and changed lines at Charles De Gaule and got down at Trocadero. As I got out of the metro station, the magnificient "Tour Eiffel" looked down majestically at the passers by. It was indeed a structure of elegance and pride. I was told that the beauty of this tower enhances itself nearly 100 times at night. I was looking forward to it.Snapped a lot of pictures with my digicam as I walked towards the tower. I stumbled a few times as I was walking towards it since I just could not look down with the tower in fron of me. I wanted to capture every possible beauty of the tower with my eyes. So did not want to waste a moment looking down at the road. No wonder it is one of the seven wonders of the world. I slowly strolled towards it absorbing its beauty and decided to climb up the tower to get a view of Paris from up above. There were 3 observation decks at varying heights. You can climb using stairs to the second one but will have to take the escalator to get to the topmost deck. I went only upto the second one. While I was there, a couple had come with friends and relatives to get married at the Eiffel tower. I thought that was so romantic. The view from up above was fantastic. The weather was just perfect and visibility was excellent. Got to see all the important landmarks of Paris from there. One actually gets a 360 degrees view of paris from this observation deck. A view not to be missed. In order to visit places in Paris, I decided to take the "Batobus". This is a river ferry that stops at major attractions where one can get off and on through out the day. The last trip was at 9PM. So I hopped on one of the ferry for my next attraction.
Notre Dame:
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My next stop was "Notre Dame". This is the infamous cathedral by the banks of the river Siene. Architecturally neautiful place. Needs an eye of an artist to appreciate this. I did not have one. But I did take a tour of the cathedral. Spent some time outside the cathedrals where some high school kids were showing their prowess with roller blades. It was astonishing to watch them defer gravity and balance. Had a veggie sandwich for lunch.
The Lourve:
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I boarded the Batobus for my next stop which would be the "Musee de Lourve". This is the museum that holds paintings and articrafts from famuos artists. Noted one is the "Mona Lisa" painiting from Leonardo Da Vinci. This is a huge museum and there is no way one can visit everything. I was very particular about visiting the Mona Lisa and the Egyptian mummies. The entrace fee to the museum is 8 euros. As I entered the museum, it started raining. It was a downpour. Even with the floor plan in hand, it took me a while to locate the Mona Lisa painting. There was a huge crowd in front of it, trying to snap pictures. This is supposed to be the most photographed painting in the world. I was surprised to find that they allow all kinds of cameras inside the museum at no cost. It was a small picture locked away behind a glass door. I am not sure what in the picture captivates people and why people wanted to capture that picture. Maybe an artist would be able to explain it. I also got a chance to look at other massive paintings by famous artisits. Unfortunately all the desriptions were in french and so could not follow it. In the Lourve, they had something called an Audio tour. Instead of a tour guide they give you a CD player and headphones that you can wear and walk around with it. It explains in detail about the paintings and sculptures in a language of choice. Neither did I have the patience nor the time for it. So I did not go for it.Once I was done with the Mona Lisa, I looked for the Egyptian antiquities section where they had the tombs and mummies. It took me nearly 20 mins to just loctae that section and then another 20 mins to locate the exhibits that I was interested in. It was worth the search. They were really good. Real antique pieces. They bring you the day to day tools and things that the egyptians used for their livelihood. Then I visited the medieval era. They had recreated some pyramids and tomb structures. It was ok. I completely lost my way and could not get back to where I started. I was really tired by now as it was 6PM in the evening and I have been walking since morning. Finally after 20 mins I was able to trace my way back to the starting point. Now I was ready to go back to my hotel.
Paris by night:
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So I took the metro back to the hotel and got some grocery on my way back home. Had some noodles and fruits for dinner and was ready for the night view of Paris by the ferry. I got to "Tour Eiffel" by metro and the lightings of the Eiffel tower was just magnificent. Words cannot express it. One has to see it to appreciate it. Every hour on the hour, additional twinkling lights come on and twinkle for about 5 mins. The sight of it is mesmerising. I then took a ferry tour on the "Batobus" and the lights on the monuments and buildings bordering the river was just amazing. I saw huge ferries that server dinner and wine while cruising up and down this river. It was just a breathtaking view from the river.
It was just too much to handle in a day. Wish I had a couple more days to enjoy each one of these monuments more leisurely. But I cannot complain. This was good too. I just wish I had enjoyed it with my wife which would have made this all the more exciting and memorable. Next time I do this, I am not doing it alone. That much I know.

Cake meeting and team dinner - Day 5

I took part in a company wide cake meeting. We were about 10 employees on site and we convened in a conference room. This is supposed to be a company tradition called "Ugot". I was then invited for a team dinner that evening to a Brazilian restaurant called "Bocha Roca". A collegue drove me to the restaurant through the streets of Paris in his Audi and it was a nice drive. He showed me important places like the "Champs Elysees", "Musee de Lourve", "Palais Royal", "Place De La Bastille" and so on. He drove through the "Avenue De Champs Elysees" which is like the "Times Square in New York", "M.G.Road in Pune", "M.G.Road in Bangalore" and so on.. Parking near the restaurant was an absolute nightmare and we were going around for about 20 mins. Just as we were about to give up, we found a parking spot just enough for the Audi. The parallel parking was just amazing. I thought I knew how to park but after seeing my colleague do the parallel parking, I realized I know very little. The food itself was very elaborate but nothing I could cherish. They did not have a single vegetarian item in the menu. My colleague was kind enough to help me out in ordering the food. I ended up ordering a combination of 3 appetizers for my dinner since those were the only vegetarian items on the menu. We socialized a lot and ate little before we left around 12.15AM. I took a cab back to my hotel and reached the hotel around 1AM. It was one long day. I was happy that it was a weekend ahead.

Good Lunch - Day 4

My colleagues were kind enough to find a pizzeria that had a vegetarian pizza in their menu. It tasted like heaven even though they had eggplant in it. Had a sumptuous lunch today. I also got a glimpse of the Paris business district "Grande Arche La Defense". Marvelous architecture indeed. Very nice place to spend a lunch hour. I saw a lot of people buy lunch and come out in the open and eat. I will try to attach a picture of the business square to this so that you get an idea of what I am talking about. All the buildings around this place are atleast 30 stories high. Never worked in such "high places" before.

Paris Outlook - Day 3

Now that I was accustomed to the place and surroundings, I started noticing things around me. This included the kind of cars people drive, how parisians dress, how they walk, how they commute and so on. I noticed that every person has a cellphone and is used very widely. Lot of people use public transportation to commute. So this results in lot of people walking. Although I am not staying in downtown Paris, I still see a lot of people walking, biking, rollerblading and jogging on the sidewalk.Another aspect of Parisians that surprises me is their sense of dressing. Most people wear formals to work. When I say formals, it is indeed formal with a blazer and a tie. The women's sense of dressing is very contemporary with latest fashions. I started appreciating their dressing sense and wish that I could do the same. But I can never see myself wearing such formal clothes to work esp after working in the valley for so long.People walk real fast here. But that does not mean that they have a fast life. People come to work at 9.30AM and go home around 6.30PM. But they do have a 2 hour lunches in between and lot of coffee and smoking breaks. They really have a laid back work life.People talk a lot on their cellphones as they walk. I also saw a lot of people walking their dogs.People drive really small cars here. I think its because parking of cars is at a premium here. I am amazed at how people park at such small parking spaces and more surprising is how they get out of that parking space since the cars are parked so close to each other. This reminds me of the BMW parking add I once watched on the internet. Thats the only way to park cars here in Paris.

A working day in Paris - Day 2

Expensive breakfast:
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I wake up around 5.30 in the morning and started getting ready for work. As I normally do in american hotels, I walk down to the lobby for a free continental breakfast only to find that they do not offer anything for free here in Paris. But unfortunately I found this out after I had my breakfast and was charged 14 euros(thats about $20). I found that ridiculously expensive. But I did learn a lesson. I come back to my room, pack my laptop and head off to the metro station.
Paris Metro rail:
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It took me 12 minutes walking to the Les Sablons metro station. I was told by a friend of mine to ask for a "carnet" at the ticket counter which contains a pack of 10 tickets costing 10.5 euros. I did the same and the lady at the counter was very happy to receive exact change for the tickets and she handed over 10 tickets. As I got to the platform, I was susprised to see a clock that counts down the exact time to the second when the next metro will approach the station. The frequency was one metro a minute. It was a short 7 minute ride to the "Grande Arche La Defense" station where I get off to get to my work place. The ride was noisy but quick. It was a new experience and I liked it.
Grande Arche La Defense:
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As I get out of the underground metro station, I find myself amidst towering skyscrapers in every direction. It was a sight to see. This is supposed to be the business district of Paris called "Grande Arche La Defense". My office was in a building called Tour Areva which was right next to the subway exit. So I walk in and check in at the reception, get a badge and go up to the office on the 40th floor. First time in my life I will be working anywhere above the 3rd floor of a building.
I get to work around 8.30 and I find myself to be one of the first comers in the building other than the receptionist. So I wait for a while before my contact person comes in around 9AM. I then learnt that people in Paris come to work only around 9.30 and that he was early to work that day. It sounded odd to me who is used to going to work at 6AM in the morning.
Pathetic lunch:
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I get myself settled at work and when it was time for lunch, we ventured out to lunch to a nearby sit-down restaurant. I was glad that I took my french speaking colleague with me since I could not have eaten anything if not for him. Me being a vegetarian, I could not find a single vegetarian item in the menu. So I had to choose an item and have them remove the meat from it so that it becomes edible for me. I had to ask my french colleague explain it to them. He was really helpful in explaining it to them. The lunch was ok. Nothing to call home about.
Grocery shopping:
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Since there was no free breakfast at the hotel, I had to fend for myself. So I thought I would go do some grocery shopping for some breakfast items and snacks. Got directions from the lobby to the closest grocery store which was about a kilometer away. The shopping experience was very similar to a convenience store shopping in the US. Carried the stuff back to my room. It was a good workout for that day.
Dinner:
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I still had packets of poori and pickles that my wife had packed for me. So had that for dinner with some carrots, fruits and yogurt. It was a sumptous dinner. Then had a long telephonic chat with my family reliving the experience in Paris and dozed off to sleep around 10PM.

Welcome to Paris - Day 1

Paris landing:
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I am currently in Paris, France on a business trip. This is the first time I am visiting a country other than US and India. I landed in Paris on a Sunday afternoon. I was all ready for a rigorous scrutiny at the immigration counter. But to my surprise, the officer looked at my visa and gave the passport back to me. No stamping, no questions. That was something unexpected. Then I collected my baggage and proceeded to the "so called" customs where there was no officer in sight. I step out of the airport and I smell nicotine all over the place and every other person was smoking a cigarette. Having been in the US for a while where smoking is banned at public places, I found it very discomforting to see cigarette butts strewn all over the place. I was glad to see a person helping out people who were in need of a taxi. I jumped into one and was glad to get out of that smoky place.
Taxi ride:
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The taxi ride was not as I had expected either. The driver had his window rolled down and speeding at 120 kmph. He would not switch on the A/C. The radio was blaring a french music channel. When I say "blaring" I really mean it. I could not hear myself talk in that rolled down window and blaring radio combination. The taxi ride was through some myriad of freeways and streets through the heart of Paris over the rivers and by the riverwalks. After about 30 mins I was dropped off at the hotel. Inspite of all this, the taxi ride was not bad at all. I actually enjoyed the ride after the long cramped 10 hour flight from "George Bush Intercontinental" to "Charles de Gaulle".
Patience tested at the hotel:
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I register myself at the Courtyard Marriot hotel and I am told that my room is not ready yet and is being cleaned. They dont know how long it would take to give me a room key. So I am asked to wait. Luckily they have a computer with an internet connection. So after a 13 hour long flight from San Francisco, I am sitting at the Marriot lobby catching up on my emails and trying desperately to get Yahoo messenger to work so that I can chat with my near and dear ones back home. My luck stays ahead of me and I realized that my computer knowledge could not get that messenger to work on that computer. Once I am done checking my emails and catching up on the latest news on cnn and washingtonpost, I look at the reception hoping that someone would acknowledge me. But alas, there is a long line of people checking in. I walk up and down the lobby for about 10 times and come back and settle down in front of the same computer. 30 more minutes of browsing all the sites that I could think of. Then I become desperate and decided to confront the receptionist. She then makes a call and finally hands me a key after nearly an hour and 20 mins of waiting in the lobby. I did not expect this from Marriot.
Settling down:
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I enter my room, settle down, take that long awaited shower and hungrily eat the poori and pickle that my dear wife had packed for me that morning. It was heavenly. Never had that poori and pickle tasted that good. Once I was "fed" up, I decided to go explore nearby areas and the nearest Paris Metro station that I could use to get to work on Monday. I get a local map from the reception and head out. Nice Paris evening. Many weekenders on the street. I walk down for about a kilometer to get to the nearest metro station. I head back since I was feeling tired from jetlag and the long flight. I decided to explore the neighbourhood the next day.