Finally the
day had come, 4th Sept 2010.
And we all
were ready to board Thalys train...total 16(!)..so on Schiphol airport, I was
getting the feeling of a school picnic :)
All of us
were so excited….some because this was their first trip out of netherlands,
some becoz
they were going to visit one of world's 7 wonders and some for monalisa !
We reached
Gare du nord station at around 10.45am…and oh, that was sumthing like one of
the Mumbai stations(not west line ones), but still…so many ppl ! I was actually
seeing so much crowd after 4 months ! Weather was also reminding Indian
summers….it was really hot
We reached
Porte the pantin stn by a metro and then walked and walked and walked….that
etap hotel, it was sooo faar….
All girls
were given only 15 mins of time L to get ready …(15 mins means
anyways at least 30 mins J ) …we had pizza in pizzeria ..again
there, sumeet was about to repeat gemany episode where he damaged manushi’s
camera, this time he used coke to attack…but fortunately, manushi and camera
both were saved, and so was sumeet !
We had got
metro ka 2 days pass….its so cheap , only 3.4 eur(if u r below 25 ! so all
youngsters, like me, were happy, and oldies had to pay double ! bechare )..
thanks to narendra and praroop, they had made such a good plan, all metro
numbers, stn names were already in hand..all were just following these leaders
…
Our first
place in the plan was montmartre, at Anvers stn.. where there is a beautiful
cathedral named sacre de cour ,..another story inside it – I did not even know this is the same
cathedral ‘sacre de cour’ which Pavas advised to see, so I came back and told
him, sacre de cour nahi dekh paye ! montmartre dekh liya J and then he only told that u have a FB pic in
front of sacre cour ! ..then I knew, montmartre is a street and cathedral is
sacre cour
Anyways….cathedral
is really beautiful, we could see nice view of paris from it…clicked many pics
there , I was anyways very happy with Praroop’s camera, bechari sonika, I
hardly gave her a chance to click ..bt she was also happy, as I used her as my
model J
When we
were seeing the church, sum other girls found small shopping street…it was sooo
sunny that day and they did not get sunglasses ! oh…aise kaise ghoom sakte hain
dhoop me…they bought sunglasses…pics bhi acchi ati hain na fir J
In original
plan we had to cover 3 places on 1st day – montmartre, arc de
triomphe and Eiffel tower…but as expected, we did not have enough time after
cathedral …so skipped 2nd one, and started for Eiffel tower, most
awaited one…
Reached
Trocadéro stn by metro..metro connection is v gud in paris ….but its just that,
u have to be ready to walk a lot…as stns are so big!
And then we
walked upstairs which opens on a street, and to the left…’Wowww !!’..that was
the expression when all got to have first view of Eiffel ….it was really a very
gud feeling
We spent
lot of time at Eiffel, clicked so many pics….i was acting very smart as if I
know left and right of photography(jab ki I do not know anything properly), so
I was clicking and clicking…..and sonika, she was getting worried….aashima ne
warning jo di thi, ki sampy ki pics bhi aani chahiye..! so at each place, she
used to say, ‘ab main tera photo lungi’ J
There was a
very long queue for getting tkts….so many ppl …seriously it was reminding india
ka crowd all the time…
We went to
second floor…and then after sum time, went to the top floor …its so so huge !
Hats off to
Gustav Eiffel…amazing design and awesome view
I was very
excited ..I called up home, as I knew my parents will be very happy to hear
it….afterall I was at top of one of the world’s wonders..(maine abhi tak taj
mahal nahi dekha hai) …again we clicked many pics there …
Came back
on 1st floor…had some coffee and croissant there…french fries also
(to check if ‘french’ fries in france are any different?..they were same !)
..it was nice time , meanwhile narendra ‘bhau’acche bacche ki tarah, got all
information about Eiffel tower, its dimensions, no of rivets, yr of
construction and ol that, we had a small quiz there…KSS u know, knowledge
sharing session ! J
And then,
in night, we got to see ‘chamkata hua tower’ (in manisha’s words,
‘zigzig-zigzig’ karne wala) ..very beautiful…again photos …poore tower ke sath,
solo pic, grp pics..all permutations and combinations were done J
Then eiffel
tower ki shopping…it was also fun, as after long time, we were bargaining …we
all got so many small towers that, here in Amsterdam, we can set up a small
shop as well.
We had
dinner at la chapelle, Indian restaurant…rather south Indian restaurant ….ate wada rassam and chai(which was really
‘zakas’) ..came back to our etap and hit the bed at 1.45am (in terror of Azra’s
next day plan which was about to start at 7.30 itself L )
2nd
day –
Ok..now
this is really getting very long and maybe boring…so I will cut short 2nd
day as anyways, Eiffel is already done on 1st day J
We
..girls..were ready by 8 (7.30 means 8!)..and guys they did not even get up by
8 ! wo bhi jaan boozke…so bad …..but then they got ready in half an
hr…meanwhile we had brkfast and caught etap in our cameras J
Destination
– louvre museum
We reached
louvre…and omg…such a loongggg queue….free entry kaun chodega na? (1st
Sunday of the month) …sum were planning to drop louvre and cover other
places….i was not at all ready to skip this place…which I am willing to visit
since I read da vinci code
So our
clever minds came up with an idea, half ppl will stand in q and half will go
and take picures…of pyramid, fountain etc…to save the time. !
We got an
entry at around 12 …and we wanted to see monalisa first (2nd kuch
dekhne ke kiye paintings ke bare me kuch pata hi nahi tha na ), so we headed towards Denon…monalisa
wala arrow follow karte hue..we found her…in a big hall, very small painting,
compared to the other ones, …2 guards were standing next to her providing spl
security…it was a nice feeling, we were standing in front of one of the world’s
best painting…and dan brown had created so much mystery about her…could not
even see all those minute details in that original painting…
All the paintings are so beautiful although I have no knowledge of this art, I enjoyed just observing those… their colours, expressions …
We came out
very soon as our legs were already paining….1 place was remaining in my check
list ..inverted pyramid1 where Dan brown had written climax of da vinci…
After
louvre..next was notre dam, another cathedral…which was also v beautiful …and
right in front of it, there was a ‘sparrow show’, not exactly a show…but a cute
scene…ppl were holding a piece of bread and sparrows were nicely eating those,
sitting on their hands…so not to mention, I again clicked many pics J
After notre
dam, it was arc de triomphe …a monument, similar to India gate….it honours
soldiers who fought for france in world war 1…
Considering
the fact that our legs are not ready to climb up another 284 steps (no
elevator), we preferred to see it from the base itself.
Nearby is
the champs elysees ….famous shopping street in paris…I was in no mood to go
there as I was damn tired, but had no choice …grp picnic J so we just walked some more miles, did sum
window shopping…and came back….again dinner at la chapelle…another Indian
restaurant..veg biryani!....and back to porte de pantin…
slept off
at 11 itself…setting an alarm of 5am to
catch thalys train early morn…in dreams..it was ‘chamkata hua’ Eiffel tower..!
