25 July 2007

The Louvre is just across the street and already I have passed it so many times. Now, it is just a building across the street. Ok, I am not yet as blase (as the French would say)as that:)

I decided to spend the day at the Musee d'Orsay. After spending several minutes poring over a map trying to find the way, I threw it away and I approached the hotel front desk. After not understanding the person's instructions twice I decide to simply step out and hope for the best.

The key to enjoying any place is the weather. It was a beautiful day today-sunny, warm and not a cloud in sight; the sort of day when simply stepping out and taking a deep breath alone feels joyous. I have no idea if I am headed in the right direction but it is such a beautiful walk-along the Seine once again-that I don't really care. The true pleasure in beautiful cities is just the aimless walking, slow lunches and coffees and lolling about in the plentiful rolling parklands and greenery. Still, museums must be visited and I decide to ask someone for directions.

This is the moment of truth. The time to speak more French than just bonjour and merci. Now, my dear readers, here is the fatal flaw in trying to speak the dubious French learnt at the 'Alliance Francaise' ten years back. They reply in French and I don't understand it at all! So, after the first failed attempt at asking for instructions, I tried a new strategy of speaking first in French, but subsequently verifying their response in English. This is a happy compromise between just thrusting English upon these delightful people but then managing to find out what I want to.

At the Musee d' Orsay, the person at the ticket counter told me that he was born in Chennai (although he did not seem particularly Indian nor did he try to speak to me in any Indian language) and was thrilled to meet me; so much so that he even gave me discount! It was a small amount but it felt good.

I went to a very educative guided tour on 'the impressionists' from which I learned so much that I had to make notes for future reference. If I had not enjoyed it so much, it would have been like going back to studies (although, as an aside, I actually enjoy studying).

I walked to and back from the museum; but even if it was a pleasurable walk, combined with the hours spent walking around the museum, it has left me feeling that my feet are no longer operational(I would not walk this much even in a month at home in Chennai). But, here I am, in a comfortable chair, with a borrowed laptop and the the most amazing invention of late: wireless internet-blogging away. I hope the feet will work tomorrow.

July 24 2007

I decided to travel with my sister who is going to paris for work for two days and take the Eurostar train service to get there. This way, I will be able to stay in a decent hotel for a couple of days at least before having to move into some other place on my own, that will no doubt be seedy.

We decide to go for a walk and then dinner after we check in. The hotel is right in front of the Louvre; we walk past it, the Paris Opera, along the Seine, see the Eiffel tower and the Arc d' triomphe at a distance, and check out a number of designer stores. My sister thinks am done and that I should return home. However, I have warmed to the place instantaneously and somehow I feel very comfortable even at the thought of having to tackle the French aspect of the trip.

23 July 2007

A one way ticket to Paris, not yet booked any accommodation, can't make up my mind how long I want to be there, don't speak much French. The thin line between adventure, spontaineity and just plain stupidity is being hovered upon.

I remember landing up in Melbourne utterly clueless. Since then, I have become much more clued in about travelling and related stuff. But, regardless of however far along I have come along in the clueing in process, being clueless in English is probably better than being clued in in French.

22 July 2007

4 th day of the first npower test match, England Vs India: Test cricket is a sublime sport and the Lord's is a brilliant venue; the game was engrossing and the weather could not have been better. Bliss is lying down in the beautiful park in the stadium, eating a picnic lunch and watching the game on the big screen. Cheap thrills is seeing every single member of the Indian cricket team and some of the English players up, close and personal as they leave from net practice. Just perfect.

21 July 2007

I have been in London now for three days; three typical English summer days of beastly cold and intermittent showers.

I have no plans as such but with some thousand pounds of borrowed money and four weeks of leave of absence from work, a Schengen visa alongwith my United Kingdom one, life has a lot of possibilities. However first, I would like to emphasise the word 'borrowed'. This means that having to return that not insubstantial amount will come and bite me sometime in the future. Second, I would like to point out that much of that absence from work is on loss of pay. So, people it is not nearly as good as it looks and you have just got to STOP cursing me.

But coming back to the possibilities, I left Chennai with a lonely planet guide to Paris, a French phrasebook and a Spanish phrasebook, practising to say 'est-ce que vous avez' (do you have in French) and 'entiendo' (I understand in Spanish) with some authenticity. Further, I see a lonely planet guide to 'Europe on a shoestring' on my sister's bookshelf-'40 countries, finite budget, infinite adventure' -and start reading it. It is hard not to be carried away by 'shake your tail-feather with the hip and happening in Hungary' or ' warm your bones in the Blue Lagoon, Iceland'.

I sober up however, on thinking about how I get myself into a lot of trouble while travelling. This is because of the following reasons.

1. My chronic inability to plan life in advance. My current capacity for advance planning stands at approximately twenty minutes. This does not compare well with the European average of around two years.

2. My sheer hatred for booking and queueing and similar activities. Early into any such activities, I just keep wishing I was someone famous, some celebrity, so that I can bypass all the fuss and just get what I want. This is not at all helpful, but I cannot help it.

3. My absolute refusal to be a part of anything packaged and guided and so on and my stout determination to do things my own way and at my own slow and languid pace even when I am in completely unknown places.

4. My desire to be disconnected- so no mobile phone and very little Internet.

5. A tight budget.

6. A penchant for travelling alone, which is mostly a good thing. But, there are times when I realise what they mean by 'two heads are better than one'.

So, when people ask me about my plans, I really have no answer. I know that I am going to have dinner in the next twenty minutes, but that is about it. Yet, I somehow get by and manage to do things. So watch this space.

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Jetlag is the only thing that gets me to sleep even a little bit and as of now I am absolutely indulging in it till it lasts. The only time I have ventured out is at half an hour to midnight last night with my sister to collect her pre booked copy of 'Harry Potter and the deathly hallows' at the Waterstone's around the corner. Some three hundred people had already queued up in anticipation of the 12:01 release. It is a relatively sedate crowd with only mild loopiness and some bad costumes, some singing and chanting and mostly elderly people trying to justify their presence because they were young when the series started and now they are hooked. Some guy in a passing cab yells 'Harry dies' in what I thought was a delightfully wi-icked prank except that it caused some young kids to burst in tears. I could sense the excitement amongst the fans but I just stand in the queue and wish I was J. K. Rowling instead. Then, I would get what I want. Without planning and booking and queues.