Tour de Paris- Part 2

L'open tour Paris

After breakfast at the hotel, we were headed to the Île de la Cité , the river island on the Seine where the Cathédrale Notre Dame and La Conciergerie are located. The Paris L'Open tour is a hop-on hop-off bus service with plenty of buses and the best of it's kind in Paris. With four routes running through Paris and with 50 stops at tourist spots, this is one of the most efficient and easy ways to discover Paris. We bought our tickets on board the open top bus, and headed to the upper deck with our earphones. The staff on the buses are extremely friendly and helpful. The bus has many earphone docks for all passengers, with commentary at every tourist spot and instructions and tips at every stop.

The Avenue des Champs-Élysées

 The Paris grand tour

This tour is the best best to start with as it takes you along some of Paris' top tourist spots. The Place de la Concorde, the biggest public square in Paris, marks the beginning of the prestigious Avenue des Champs-Élysées. This avenue is home to Cinemas, cafés and luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss and Lancel. The Arc de Triomphe, one of the most famous monuments in Paris, marks the end of this avenue. A walk through this avenue gives you a taste of few of the world's most famous shops and the Arc de Triomphe. We came upon the Eiffel once more, but it looked antique now, under the afternoon sun. The bus gives you enough opportunities to photograph the Eiffel tower, taking  you all around the tower, slowly. The Opera Garnier was a beautiful piece of architecture, one of the world's most famous opera houses. This route also takes you through Cathédrale Notre-Dame, The Louvre and the Esplanade des Invalides. 

The Bastille-Bercy route

This circuit takes you through some important landmarks in the city. The Place de la Bastille is a square which is located where the famous Bastille once stood. It now presents no evidence that there once was a royal fortress here  The Opera Bastille was built on this square to commemorate the bicentennial anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. La Bibliothèque nationale de France, the national library of France is also along this route. The four wings of the building give it the shape of four open books, this is one of the largest and most modern libraries in the world. The Parc de Bercy is a huge hall for sporting and entertainment events, if you are lucky, you could catch a spot of skateboarding outside.

The Panthéon

The Montparnesse-Saint Germain circuit

Getting in on this route takes you along a stretch of Saint Germain where you can get off for a light snack in one of the famous patisseries. The Panthéon, Paris is an amazing structure in the Latin quarter of Paris. It closely resembles the Pantheon in Rome. The Palais du Luxembourg, the seat of the French Senate, is a 25 hectare parterre and quiet spot to relax. The Tour Montparnasse is a skyscraper which stands 59 floors tall and dominates the skyline. The top floor and the restaurant below are open to the public.

The Montmartre-Grands Boulevards route

The Grands Boulevards are essentially the best boulevards in Paris, with world renowned luxury retail stores. The Montmartre is a hill or butte, which is famous for its white domed Sacré-Cœur Basilica at the summit. The stop nearby provides you with the perfect opportunity for a leisurely stroll to the top of butte Montmartre. The Gare du Nord station is Europe's busiest railway station and handles trains to London and other European countries. Its Thalys and TGV platforms attracted me the most, being superfast trains. The Gare du Nord is not to be missed. We walked behind the station to join the Boulevard de la Chapelle.

Boulevard de La Chapelle

We entered the area popularly known as the Indian quarter, loosely marked by the Boulevard de la Chapelle, the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l'Est. This area was mostly populated by Tamilians, with shops selling Indian vegetables, spices, products and with name boards in both English and Tamil. "அண்ணாச்சி , வெங்காய மூட்ட வந்துருச்சா?!" someone shouted behind me, I chuckled, we Tamilians never change! Just like a scene at a Tamil Nadu maligai kadai. 


We had a late lunch at Hotel Saravana Bhavan, Paris, a satisfying south Indian course cooked so authentically that the server told us that the ingredients were imported from Chennai. We spent some more time exercising our Tamil and chatting away to our counterparts in this faraway city who were happy to hear news of their beloved Tamil Nadu and talk to Chennaivasis. We picked up tips for our Paris trip and for our upcoming Switzerland trip from a friendly baker cooking Samosas and ladoos. 

After a short stop at our hotel, we returned to the Champ de Mars, the park next to the Eiffel tower to enjoy the lighting of the tower and our samosas. The Eiffel tower once again exploded in a flurry of bright white lights, but tonight we were on the ground and the view didn't fail to disappoint and was well worth returning for. For any tourist with an evening to spare in Paris, the Champ de Mars is the best place to be in.

Shoarma

Later that night we were in a area right next to the Boulevard Saint Germain and the Boulevard Saint Michel. We were greeted by an impressive array of pubs and restaurants, of every cuisine of every country you can imagine, Indian, French, Turkish, Chinese, Indonesian and Japanese, in neat little shops. This was the best way to explore the culinary provisions of Paris, as this won't waste much of your time and could also satisfy your longing for your country's food. We entered a Turkish shop and ordered Shoarmas, an Arabic fast food staple that is spreading across the world as a fast food favourite. It was a really good dish, made of minced chicken, mayo and various other ingredients, and I had a new favourite.

The next day, after a good night's sleep, we were headed to Disneyland Paris, just outside the city. With frequent trains from the city, the park had it's own train station, the Marne-la-Vallée-Chessy RER station. In the tourist season, April- November, the number of tourists can be a bit formidable. So, it is best advised to start early and book your park tickets online. There are 2 parks in Disneyland, Paris, the Disneyland park and the Walt Disney studios park.

The Sleeping beauty castle in the Disneyland park was a beautiful Disney castle with its usual pointed turrets and a huge moat in front. It seemed like a fairy tale! Oh wait, it was!! The Big thunder mountain was the other eye catcher, it was a huge mountain, like the ones in Utah. Pointed, high and dry, except that this one had a really horrifying roller coaster! The rails tipped at awkward angles and rocks threatened to fall on us as we weaved in and out the mines in a runaway mine train. The scene was so real and scary but I enjoyed myself thoroughly! The Phantom manor had a top of the class set up, with realistic wax statues, moaning, eerie whoops and dim lighting. Not so scary perhaps, but interesting! We spent our time enjoying other rides, eating sticky apple candy and French fries from the Hakuna Matata, a Lion King themed restaurant.

The twilight zone, tower of terror

The Walt Disney studio park's dominating feature was the Twilight zone tower of terror, a looming, evil building dedicated to a ride. The building and the ride were based on the television series, The Twilight Zone, where the guests of the hotel see spooky incidents and find their elevator cut loose.  The elevator rose slowly to the top where a window opens and the letters:WALT DISNEY stared at us. We were at the very top! "What a beautiful vieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!, the elevator drops faster than gravity to the bottom! That left us completely disoriented and screaming till our throats hurt. It slowly rose up again........  This was by far the best attraction ever, leaving you dizzy but ready for more. Believe me scary as it was falling down is an amazing experience! 


The studio tram tour, a tour through movie settings is one of the top attractions here. The tram shows us movie props on display, masks, gargoyles, an F16 fighter plane(!) and other amazing props. I was a bit let down, I'd expected more. I was too foolish to think that, Disney never settles for anything lesser than the best!  An innocent scene with hills on both sides and an oil tanker turned into a raging inferno and our tram rocked from side to side! We felt the heat, but with each gust of the fire water was sprinkled on us, so we were safe. Rain!! It suddenly began to rain, and water began trickling down the slopes of the hills and in a few seconds, it suddenly gushed out uncontrollably and we were in a flood! It reached our tram but not a single drop of water fell on us! The next scene was a bombed and dead city. Wrecked cars littered the area and a fire raged in a building. It was so real and convincing! It was an amazing experience and one that I will never forget!


That day, I saw my first street dance performance. It was splendid and brilliant! I loved the  floor master the most! We took the metro back to the city and that was the end of an amazing day! We said Goodbye to Paris as we left for Eindhoven that night. I had a lot of nice memories to take home!