French Lessons!. Review on Paris

''Do you still have it?''

''Yes! You?''

''Yes!''

Those were the first few words exchanged between my colleague Sree and myself. We had just reached Paris by Thalys (one of the fastest trains in the world).

A couple of minutes later....

''Check it again!''

''Yes! How about yours?''

''Hmmh! It's there!''

Bonjour Massieuh! Bonjour Madmaeoiselle! Bonjour Madamame! Welcome to Paris!

Paris, the capital of France, is the third largest city in the world. The fashion capital of the world also happens to be the capital of thugs. Wondering what our conversation was all about .... well, ''it'' in the conversation refers to our wallets and travel papers. Oh yes! one can loose their money in no time - either through the expensive shops in Paris or the thieves and crooks will help you lose it. We had been warned a hundred times about deception and theft by all those who had been to Paris already. In spite of us being extra cautious, we were still tricked by a black guy (most probably from an African country which was once a French Colony) How and why is too embarrassing to be put down in writing and also may be considered to be out of context by some readers) Lesson no. 1: Never underestimate the thugs of Paris. Beware of Pickpockets and Parisians in general.

Places to see

Your best guide would be a map with all the tourist information and a must -metro map! The first place anyone would like to check in Paris is the Eiffel Towers. Impressive! But then you got to pay the price .... stand in the queue for more than almost an hour apart from the Euros. The lift on the Eiffel Tower takes you to different levels... spend time on both the levels to get a glimpse of the city from different height. Remember the lifts to go up and down have queues as well. It overlooks the Palais de Chaillot - get a glimpse from here itself!

Champs De Elysees/ Charles De Gaulle is the gate much like our India Gate and is a square from where 14 main streets emerge. One of the tree-lined street (the Champs De Elysees) leads to my favourite place in Paris - the La Defense(Grand Arche). You will find high rise buildings of all shapes and sizes.

There are hundreds of museums in Paris!I would recommend the Museum De Louvre/Palais Royal, where you can find the famous painting of Monalisa. We had to be satisfied with the Glass Pyramid entrance as the employees of the museum were on strike.(After all, they were the one who caused the French Revolution)

A cruise on the river Siene would save you a lot of time and you would be able to see most of the important structures on either side of the river. What interested me most was the narrowest building in Paris with just one window on every floor. If you have time, cycling/skating along the river side would be a better idea.

Notre Dame is a famous church and is situated on an island in the Siene river. Very close to this is the Concierge, a medieval-period cell.

Cimetière du Père Lachaise, a necropolis is very popular. You have the tombs of some of the most famous personalities like Chopin, the composer; Oscar Wide, the writer and most famous of all Jim Morrison, the lead singer of Doors.

Some might consider paying tribute to Princess Diana by visiting the place where she took her last breath in road tunnel. Football fans might want to visit the stadium where you can see the star football players of France.

We went to Versailles, in the suburb of Paris - WT (without ticket!). We had taken an RER line thinking it was covered by our 1-day pass for the Metro. Well, how we got away with it another story. The Versailles Palace is one of the best in the world , the garden is even more beautiful. The Garden is a huge park with statues and lakes and fountains.

There is a Disneyland near Paris. For the children it is a must see. Haven't been there (no kids to accompany me :-)

Lafayette is a huge shopping complex worth a visit for window-shopping.

Lesson no. 2: Play Inky-Pinky-Ponky on the structures to visit in Paris. You will probably take a lifetime to cover the whole of Paris.

Night life

Though there are many discotheques and pubs in Paris, I would recommend you to go to one of the shows in any of the cabaret clubs - the two most famous ones are - LIDO and Moulin Rouge (No you won't find Nicole out there but maybe better looking females)! I could not make it to this place simply because I preferred a hearty dinner in an expensive restaurant to these shows :-)

Accommodation

The hotels are quite expensive - the most expensive in all of Europe. Summer time prices for an average hotel is 80 Euro per person per day. Hostel Info are difficult to find due to the language barrier. Yes, my friend its impossible to find hostel information if you do not know French! I tried most of the websites and the few available in English are so popular that you will always fail to get a booking unless you are making it one month ago. Also be aware that you do end up making a booking in the wrong areas of Paris. Lesson no. 3: Paris is expensive. How did we escape this big-ticket? Well, we went in winter :-).

Commutation

The Metro (underground) system of Paris is the most complicated in the world yet very effective. You can almost reach any part of Paris with the Metro. You'd be better off with a 1 day pass. There is a network of 15 metro lines and 3 railway lines, known as RER (remember you need to purchase a separate ticket for this). Metro Stations can be found in literally any part of Paris but reaching the correct place within a Metro station is a challenge in itself. Lesson no. 4: Go Underground!

Restaurants

Recognize the Restaurants by looks. You can enter the some plush hotel and forced to use the credit card or you can enter some in inexpensive restaurants and eat crap! For those of you who can't do without Indian food - visit the restaurants near the Nord Station. Its crammed with Indian restaurants. That's where I had Idli-Dosa for the first time in months in Europe. Another famous area is the ''Little India'' - beware the impostors - Pakistanis/Bangladeshis restaurants with Indian names!

Fashion

French girls are very pretty. Can't exactly remember if it was the clothes that made them so pretty or were they pretty even without them ( I mean without considering their fashionable attire). Paris is the home to many great names in Fashion - YSL, Chanel, Dior and so many others. Saw many shops on the street - some of them I had seen on FTV and some were new to me. There are fashion shows held almost every week.Some of the clothes in these hi-fi label shops are so expensive that one has to be a millionaire to afford them.

Final words

I can say that I have been to Paris, seen it all and .... no! I can't say ''....got a T-Shirt'' because it was simply too expensive. If you are planning to visit Europe then Paris must be one of the cities on your list. French language is not required as I had managed a weekend in Paris with English quiet easily.