"The whole city is a museum. It is so old," our Parisian host tells us as we make our through Paris' narrow lanes to Hotel de Ville, the city hall that has been the location of the municipality of Paris since 1357.
We knew Paris would make us relive history, what we didn't expect was that we'd find a MacDonalds in an old building. We'd heard that the French were lazy and could be seen picnicking at one of Paris' many gardens on a Thursday afternoon but we were surprised that they'd walk kilometres through the city all day till sunset at 10.30 pm without whining. We'd expected designer boutiques at Champs-Élysées (one of Paris' poshest streets) but not the wretched poverty that took human forms in the dingy metro stations and on the steps of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Montmartre. In spite of the numerous definitions attributed to it, Paris stands ground as the city of contrasts, much like Mumbai.
Mona Lisa and the stinking sewers
Like pilgrims, tourists flock to the Louvre Museum. We buy the 48-euro four-day Paris Museum pass that enables us to dodge queues and save upto 45 minutes of waiting time at each of the 60-odd museums and monuments in Paris. We start our Louvre tour from the wing that houses over 50,000 Egyptian artefacts (including the Sphinx) and a huge collection of the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman sculptures. Like most museums in Paris, the Louvre too, despite its popularity among tourists, has displays and instructions written only in French. Tourists are left with little choice than to hire multimedia guides and earphones.
We walk from room to room marvelling at frescos and sculptures till we stumble upon a long corridor-turned-gallery decorated with paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli and Sigismondo Benini. We find a black and white poster of Le Joconde (The Mona Lisa in French) pointing to another room. We follow the Japanese tourists into a roomfull of magnificently large paintings. Not many tourists notice them, for their eyes are glued to the glass showcase in the centre of the room. Mona Lisa can't compare in size and brushstrokes to the masterpieces surrounding her, but for the Bengali tourists in front of us, this is their final destination at Louvre. They bow down in respect and leave the museum.It's impossible to see the whole of Louvre in a day. We finish three wings before the museum closes at 5 pm (that's the standard for all museums in France). While Louvre is Paris' biggest attraction, the space-age-like-structure of Centre Pompidou is the largest museum for modern art in Europe. It also gave us our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. And there's also a fashion museum tucked into one corner of the Louvre that houses over 16 000 costumes going from the 16th century to modern times.
In a city that boasts of art and culture, it's the sewers that make for its most interesting display. Sewers have been draining wastewater in Paris since the beginning of the 13th Century, when the city's streets were paved and drains were built on orders from Philippe Auguste, the king of France from 1180 to 1223. Until recent times, Paris' sewers also carried tourists: initially by carts that were suspended from the walkways along the tunnel walls, later by carriages drawn by a small locomotive.
Today, they have been replaced by an even better attraction: the Musée des égouts de Paris, or Paris Sewers Museum that is a "must see" for those who are interested in engineering, public works, or unusual tourist attractions -- and for fans of Victor Hugo's novel, Les Misérables.
"France is largely atheist, but we love our churches"
Notre Dame is a must-see for all tourists. As we take in the stained glass paintings that make for the church's windows, we hear strains of music. We expect pipes, for the evening prayer will begin soon. What we find instead is a Powerpoint presentation on a holographic screen. We hear a French guide telling tourists, "Most of the French are atheists but we love our huge churches."
Cabaret nights for birthday parties
Think cabaret and you'd think of a woman gyrating in a teeny-weenie dress with men ogling at her. In India, we'd call it vulgar. In Paris, it's entertainment. We catch one on a Saturday night at the basement of a Chinese restaurant in Bastille. To our surprise, we find an equal number of men and women waiting to watch the performance. The transvestites and strippers saunter on the makeshift stage, much to the delight of the viewers. There's a lot of skin, and the audience cheers on. And then everybody toasts to the performers who move to join in a guest's birthday celebrations.
Snails on the plate!
Eating out is fashionable in France. And when we say eating out, it doesn't mean going inside a restaurant but sitting at the tables laid out on the sidewalk. In all probabilities you'll find a table inside, but if you want one outside, you may have to wait. The cafes start filling up at 9.30 am and remain crowded till after midnight. The French love watching people go by and if you do the same in the middle of a busy street in Paris, you'll probably see people of every religion, colour, culture, caste and tribe from everywhere in the world.
The French are known for their breads, cheese and wines. But for those looking for a typical French delicacy, it has to be foi gras (fattened goose liver) or snails. The snails come in a thick garlic gravy and with a fancy shell-cracker. But unlike in posh restaurants in India, it's perfectly ok to eat with nails, hands and molars at even the fanciest of restaurants in Paris. We toast to that with glasses of kir, blackcurrant liquor and wine, which is the aperitif of choice. Paris is home to cuisines from every part of the world and houses some of the best bakeries in the world, but we try out the very untypical French delicacy called flam. Thin, pizza-like, flams is cuisine from Alsace, the northwest region of France that borders Germany. We roll them up like chapatis and gobble up several slices. No one's counting. It's an unlimited supply for just 15 euros.
When cows strutted along Champs-Élysées
We are lucky to have witnessed the once-in-a-lifetime transformation of the Champs-Élysées from a swanky boulevard to a farmland overnight. In an event staged by young French farmers, who wanted to highlight their financial problems, caused by falling prices for agricultural produce, plants, trees and flowers were brought in by lorry overnight to transform the avenue into a long green strip right upto the Arc de Triomphe. Kids playing with sheep and cows in front of Louis Vuitton and Chanel stores was quite a sight!Tips for travellers
# While the French appreciate you speak in their language, English is commonly used in Paris.
# The best way to travel is the train. You can buy tickets in bulk and use them as per your requirement at all metro stations. There are plenty of bicycle stands in the city from where you can hire one to get around Paris. Or else, walk.
# The menus are almost always in French so check for some standard words such as poulet (chicken), poisson (fish), viande (meat), légume (vegetable) and champignon (mushroom).
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