Week 6

Day 37 - Monday - 28th August

Spent today just resting after our travels to Amsterdam...went to the Diana memorial at the Alma Marceau tunnel...this is where HRH, Princess Dianna of Wales died in a tragic road accident in 1997. Her car crashed into the 13th pillar in this tunnel. There is a huge golden flame outside dedicated to her...saw that...walked around the place and went to Gare Du Nord...booked tickets for Italy and returned...ate and tachi..

Day 38 - Tuesday - Sacre Couer, Mont Marte and Pigalle

Went to Anvers..did some shopping there..and moved on to see the awesome church called Sacre Cour...you get a brilliant view of Paris since this place is on a hill(Montmartre)..this view does not encompass the Eiffel, Notre Dame and Arc De Triomph..its the other end of Paris that we can see...

Went then to the Place De Terre which is this colourful square filled with artists...mom and I got portraits done of ourselves and mine ended up looking nothing like me...boo hoo..

We had seen the Red Light District in Amsterdam..wanted to see how the one in Paris compared to that..hence the trip to Pigalle..and this one was a whole lot more "colourful"..pun intended!! Saw the Moulin Rouge with its famous windmill sign..the prices for the "show" were bloody expensive..and yet there was no dearth of people queuing up for tickets...took a pic of the place and left...

Day 39 - Wednesday - The Louvre

I have spent 38 days in Paris and not yet seen the La Joconde or the Mona Lisa as we better know it...in order to rectify this grave error, mom and I set off for a nocturnal visit of the Louvre that is possible only on Wednesday and Friday...

First entered the Denon wing..this wing houses some jewels of Egyptian archaeology including a sarcophagus case( sarcophagus aka the egyptian Mummy!)..went to the next level and wow!! it was Greek Mythology coming alive in these sculptures..saw one of Venus, Eros - the primal god of Love, Diane - the goddess of chastity..and many more..some names were unfamiliar..maybe when I return I shall go armed with a copy of Greek mythology and check..there were
also 2 sculptures of the Egyptian goddess Isis and one of Osiris..saw one of Jupiter.;Zeus and Cronos were missing..maybe I missed an exhibit..

The next level contained the paintings..French and Italian..saw the Mona Lisa...yeah her smile is enigmatic..and yeah..its a beautiful painting..guess the portrait of La Gioconde just celebrates the fact that Da Vinci was well ahead of his time when he made that painting...coz it didn't make me swoon or go gaga or anything...then again..it takes a lot to impress me..and a kutty painting of a beautiful lady with an enigmatic smile doesn't quite cut it! saw a few more paintings...ended up in the American and African section of the Denon wing. Did a whirlwind tour of this and then headed to the Sully Wing...

Saw lot of Arabic and Iranian artwork here along with a few more sarcophagi...not Egyptian though...we did not have enough time to cover the Richelieu wing so I shall do that again some other time..

Walked out of the Glass Pyramid and admired the Louvre for the first time by night...now this is some sight to behold...just mind blowing...the lighted Glass pyramid...the still water lakes...it almost looks like glass till someone/wind creates a ripple on the surface...the palace on 3 sides...beautiful..I am going to do a Paris by Night photo shoot soon enough...am just working on the finer details...and then I shall attempt to present to you these magnificent sights...till then you just have to take my word for it!

Day 40 - Thursday - Nothing

Something abt the food we ate today did not agree with Sachin or me..went home..called in sick..got lotsa attention and love from my mom..Abhishek Nag..if you're reading this..then you were absolutely right! I do suffer from "SuperStar syndrome"....ate well..and slept real early for a change

Day 41 - Leaving for Rome

That is all I can think abt today..could barely contain my excitement...reached the station well in time and sat on the Trenitalia train to Roma....we had nice company..a trio of students who got off at Florence..and a good looking Italian lady..nothing much to write abt the train journey except that one of the students had an iBook and I was positively drooling...OMG!! I am actually turning into a gadget geek..occupational hazard I guess...Next on my wish list for the select few who know abt it..an iBook...please please please..il be ur slave for life I guess...

Ciao