Paris PraNaya, Day 2

Before retiring for the day on Saturday, we decided to check out from the hotel by 9 AM on Sunday and complete the Paris-on-foot expedition. We were so tired after walking for more than 20 kms that we woke up at 9:45 AM on Sunday. By the time we got ready and hit the dining hall, we saw only empty plates and glasses left unattended which meant, the breakfast time was over. My colleague had planned the itinerary for the day based on the inputs from the old man whom we met the previous day.

The first thing on our agenda was breakfast. We searched for a bakery nearby to our hotel and bought hot sandwiches. We just left the bakery and it started to drizzle. We sat in the bus stop and hogged our sandwiches, started walking again towards the first place of the day, Place des vosges. It was nice fun walking in the rain, the water was very cold; our legs were still crying with pain. We were told that there was a very nice museum in this oldest square of Paris. When we reached the place, we saw lots of shops, a church and a small museum which had a few modern art paintings displayed. Both of us were not very keen to seeing the paintings and we decided to walk
past it to the next place. The next place was a small island that is situated just beside the island in which Notre Dame church is present. We were told by the old man that this was a very quiet place and a typical Parisian colony.

The drizzling continued; so did our walk. We walked till the island of Notre Dame. There is a small road that connects the two islands, we were not able to locate that road. So, we came to the other side of the Notre Dame island and saw the map. There were about 3 roads that were leading to our island, we started walking towards the first road. We walked for more than 5 minutes but were still not able to find that road. My colleague rechecked the map to realize that we were walking in the opposite direction, thanks to my sense of direction; I had held the map upside down! He started cursing me and it started pouring heavily. We sought the shelter of a restaurant and were waiting for the rain to go away. A couple of street artists started performing break dance in the rain which helped them earn the money from the people who were waiting for the rain to stop. After a while, we continued our walk and reached the island in 5 minutes' time. This place suggested by the old man was again not what we were interested in. It had only buildings everywhere and nothing else. Small roads and small shops could be seen apart from the boring buildings. We just walked through the island to reach the other side of the river and got out of there in just 10 minutes. 2 places till then were not good. The third place suggested was the Basilica of Sacre Coeur in Montmarte. The area was quite far and we certainly could not walk at all. We reached the main road and were waiting for a taxi. A wait for 20 minutes did not even yield a single taxi on that road. Cursing our luck, we started walking down the road hoping we would get a taxi. Atlast, we spotted an empty taxi standing in a traffic signal, we ran and hopped into the taxi and showed the driver the map and told us to take him there.

This church is on top of the highest hill of Paris. The vehicles can directly go on top of the hill or people can climb the stairs from the bottom if they want. We chose the former; courtesy, the previous day's walk. The church is really huge and very beautiful. The view of the fog-filled-Paris from the top of the hill was as though we were seeing the city from almost the 1st level of Eiffel. The rule of the church was that nobody should talk or use the cameras. We walked around inside the church and sat down on the benches meant for praying. It was indeed a huge relief for both of us as we got to sit for sometime after walking for about 6 kms from morning. Sitting for more than 15 minutes we decided it was time to leave as I was a bit hungry. We came out of the church and spotted a small shop nearby where we could get something to eat. They have this dish which looks very similar to Dosa. I don't know what it is called, but it tastes very nice. The batter had a lot of beaten egg in it. He spreads the batter on the tava and tosses it just like the dosa. After it comes out of the tava, you can ask for your choice of spread on the dosa. I asked for a chocolate spread. He smeared the choco spread, rolled that 'French Dosa' and gave it to me. It cost me 2 euros. The taste was nice, something different but nothing like our own dose!

We descended the hill through the steps and walked around in Montmarte till we were hungry for lunch. There were many small restaurants which sold hot steaming pizzas. I really wanted to eat one of those by my colleague doesn't like them and we ended up in McDonald's. I bought myself a large fries and a large sprite and that was my meal. After our lunch, we spent some more time on the roads of Montmarte and hired a taxi to reach the Charles de Gaulle Airport. The driver dropped us at the international airport as we could not tell him where we exactly wanted to go. We had about an hour for our plane to depart when we reached the international terminal. We then had to take the train that runs between the airports to reach the domestic terminal. We got into the EasyJet aircraft at 6:30 PM and reached Hamburg at 8 PM. Then a taxi drive for about an hour landed us at Pali's place at Buxtehude.

2 days spent in Paris, about 30 kms of walk seeing some of the most spectacular things; what a trip it was! A perfect weekend getaway and the most successfully executed plan of mine!