Paris… c’est la vie!

"I guess it goes to show that you just never know where life will take you. You search for answers. You wonder what it all means. You stumble, and you soar. And, if you're lucky, you make it to Paris for a while." ―

Paris, My Sweet: A Year in the City of Light

Purchasing the Navigo Découverte for the first time!

A month in Paris, what a luxury and how lucky can one get!  We left Munich and with a change in trains at Stuttgart we were on our way to Paris on the TGV traveling at an average of 300kms an hour.  Excited that we were headed to Paris!  We had done our research and were planning on buying the Navigo Decouverte pass on arrival in Paris.  A one month pass is issued only from the 1st of the month for the whole month and we were arriving on the 1st, so I guess we were just lucky as we did not know this.

On arrival at Gare de Este, we headed to the information office and did our normal enquiries of maps etc and asked to be directed to the counter that issues the Navigo Decouverte Pass.  The lady at information gave us some directions and we walked towards the counter.  There was a long line of people so had to wait our turn.  Only to be told that this was not the correct counter, and that too, in sign language as the lady behind the counter did not speak English. So for the next one and half hour, feeling very frustrated at not being able to communicate, we found the office and finally managed to buy the pass.  Being worldly travelers, we thought we could get to our apartment on the metro since we had the pass.  What we did not take into account was that Paris metro is one of the oldest in Europe, and not all stations have elevators or escalators.  We had to haul our bags, even though we have little luggage, up and down stairs in all three stations.  Hello, France! When are you updating the stairs to escalators in these stations?  Finally, we reached our apartment exhausted at 7.30pm. It had been a long day!

After the orderly way of life in Germany, my initial reaction was," I don't think I like Paris".  The next two days went in figuring out how to navigate the metro and the buses.  To find the closest grocery stores and food places.  It's now been more than a week and we have settled into our apartment.  To sum up Paris, it is exotic, unusual, different, striking, snobbish, friendly, charming, fascinating, colorful and very fashionable.   To fit in with the locals, I bought a hat, oh so Parisienne!   Most men seem to wear a scarf, so Hemant bought a scarf. Now we were set to take on Paris!

Since we had seen most of the museums and attractions in Paris on our prior trips, we decided to explore some of the areas we had not been to before by foot. Sit at cafes drinking coffee or wine and ogle at people passing by, without a care in the world!  Even the restroom doors have fancy pictures reading Madame and Monsieur. Be prepared to pay at least .50 cents to go.  Or you will have to buy a coffee so you can use the toilet. I guess we take it for granted in the US that there would be a toilet available, anytime, anywhere. Add this to your budget if you don't you can end up paying as much as 80 cents just to go.

This is not going to stop us from going out because "We are in Paris, of course!"

The last week has warmed up again and we got a couple of days with sunshine Merci beaucoup, Paris!.  We have been strolling the streets of Paris for the last few days, admiring the sun setting and lighting on those fabulous buildings at night with their wrought iron balconies, the bridges to cross the Seine day and night and the majestic Eiffel Tower sparkling at night. It is not goodbye, but

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