Sunday, November 11, 2007

Bonjour Madame!


Years ago when I was a kid my world went as far as I could bike without tiring out...and when I finally was panting of exhaustion I ll look at the horizon and think about going a mile further ahead the next day…But my childhood travel exploits never went far enough…Places like London, Paris, America sounded as good as say moon for Neil Armstrong when he was a kid…But over the last year I felt like him after seeing places which I wouldn’t dare imagine a decade back..Last week I got the chance to see the city of love… Paris.

As for any average person the name evokes of Eiffel tower the chef-d'oeuvre which was almost torn down coz Parisians of yesteryears thought it was an ugly junk of steel blemishing the Paris skyline. But I thought I ll wait till night to see it in full glory and hitched for the Louvre.



After a visit to Louvre and Vatican museum you can very well assure yourself of having seen the crème of all the master artpieces in the world. The museum is so huge and exhaustive that you would just give a passé over a Rembrandt coz another Da Vinci piece is just around the corner. As expected the biggest crowd was near the Mona Lisa who seemed to smile-and-not-yet-smile at the crowd of wannabe photographers trying to get a shot. I was baffled when I overhead a kid tell her mom that the lady on the wall looks like Maggie aunty. Sigh!! Hope the kiddo didn’t pester her mom to take that painting home to gift her “Maggie aunty”…

Few painting which I loved a lot...


























The museum can take days to be appreciated in full glory, but due to limited time we came out in the evening and went straight for the tower.




























The tower without any doubt is mesmerizing. You will surely be stumped at first sight and the brilliant golden shine effusing will convince you why the heck people are so crazy about Eiffel tower.


Just across the other side is this beautiful building.



After a tiring first day it was important to get some good sleep for the fun in Disneyland on day 2.


Mickey Mouse ...Donald Duck...Tom n Jerry…Superheroes for almost a decade of my life and probably still. It was like preparing myself to meet them in real.

I sort of loved and hated this place. I loved the rides…the shows…the animation studios…but also hated the commercialization of my favourite cartoon characters...Mickey mouse was all over there right from G-strings to bread toasters. It was disheartening to see such excessive marketing in a place where you are expected to be transported to a fantasyland. But it was more of a reality check if I could make out there were more shops...and restaurants than the actual rides or shows. Nevertheless I had my own share of fun.


Can you believe that the next two shots are as well from Disneyland and not any bird park?



I managed to convince my friend who was accompanying me that there were casualties recently after a freak accident on the roller coaster ride…Well how would I convince him that I was afraid of it when out there were 6-7 something kids who were complaining that the three hundred and fifty six spins weren’t exciting enough..

Though I happened to try out some of the less scary ones. :-P
I couldn’t get into some of the other rides coz they had mentioned outside the gate that for those rides kids should always be accompanied with parents…and it was almost impossible to get in my parents there on time.

But the best place out there was the Walt Disney studios where I almost momentarily fell in love with Donald Duck!!

Later in the day visited Champ Elysee’s which is a magnificent road with the triumph de arc on one end.



I visited several other places as well like Notre Dame…Seine…Sacre Cours...in between. But I ll skip em to keep the post short.

On the third day took the train to Versailles where Napoleon uncle spend brainstorming with his generals for his next attacks. The boulevards were actually what I found stunning although it was the fag end of fall.

The city of Paris is charming but it moves fast unlike other European cities. I liked the city for the sheer variety of places it offers. The city has as many tourists on a single day as the residents itself. So it wouldn’t be surprising to see a sea of people holding a map seemingly lost and walking together. To sum up the travel I would say Paris is a nice place over the weekend...But I would rather love to live in Florence which is by far my favourite city!


P.S. If anyone is interested in the above snaps...you can get em at http://www.flickr.com/photos/68796762@N00/sets/72157603056575579/show/


P.P.S This month I have declared myself to go bankrupt on a traveling spree with a trip to Austria planned in the last week... ;-P

30 comments:

Balanarayan NT said...

WOW! Sound too cool.. n the pics... damn goood!

Di said...

me was firshhht..but some stupid problem with sign in..grrr...

hope i get to go to all those places some day.Sigh!but nice to know u had fun..btw...the first sight of the triumph de arc reminded me of the gateway of India ;)

Anonymous said...

disneyland??!! do you know how JEALOUS i am???!!!

Preetha Nair said...

I usually read your posts and silently pass without commenting...

but dude...the photos....
those pics were simply wowwwwwww :)

quills said...

Lovely pics. And those paintings, just awesome.

Good to see you traveling and thanks for sharing those lovely moments with all of us.

Now I wait...for Austria. :) Hope you can include a pic of their famous chocolates. Yum!!

mathew said...

@bala
thanks..and yeah it worth it..

@di
hahaha..ofcoz i never imagined i would see these places ever..the longer the wait more beautiful it is!! ;-P

@lemonade
you are sayin that.. :-O
hello..where are the kids.. ;-P

@Preetha
thanks a lot..when the place looks good the photographer doesnt have to do much..

@Quills
thanks..actually there are more than a 1000 painting..each masterpieces on own right..these were my personal favs..

and chocolates cant be photographed..they usually are consumed by then!!;-P

ap said...

Seems like u had a great time ....
Austria where all areu planning to go???Salzburg is fine...BUT Vienna ..chances of disappointment are there.That is, after Paris :)

Beware...

Mishmash ! said...

Oye! I was waiting for this post ever since I got to know about ur Paris trip:) Though I am all green eyed now, its a great feeling read a personalised travelogue as opposed to the story of Henry and Pierre from my French text book in college, though they did instill an immense desire to take a promenade though Champ de Elysee’s and have a glimpse of triumph de arc, Le Louvre et al....looks like you had a great trip.

Checked out the slideshow, which is the last place , i mean the one before the kid with a bike, the one with trees...? Beautiful pic and lovely place!

Shn

Anonymous said...

*sighs* *and then sighs some more on each photo*

Anonymous said...

Matthew, beautiful pictures there. I've become a constant reader of blogs recently :) Good luck with your Austria trip :)

Anonymous said...

* of YOUR blogs recently...


:-|

Abhi said...

Mickey mouse was all over there right from G-strings to bread toasters So sad to hear this!

The pictures were lovely and the descriptions were really funny and at times thought provoking :-)

Js a small dbt! wat was the pic of a guy n a gal doing in the midst? Nalla pennine kandapo "snap"iyath aaano?

Would like to hear more about Austria! Eagerly waiting! Have a gr8 trip!

PS: U cd hav taken a pic of the Roller Coaster Ride, jus to scare ppl who visit ur blog and to put the point across clearly!

Nanditha Prabhu said...

seems like you had a great time! enjoy and take maximum out of it! wait till you have kids of your own and then i would like to read your travelogue....:)

Adorable Pancreas said...

Paris! The city of my dreams. I'll be able to afford the trip once I turn 60, hopefully.
It's Arc de Triomphe, by the way.

Jiby said...

mathew, thanks for the visual journey through Paris...just wish you described it some more in words.

the Paris fall 2007 collection was good...some day i hope to see the place...what camera is yours?

srijithunni said...

Beautiful post, the pics and description.. wow..! As good as being there myself..! Thanks Mathai..!

Have Fun,Take Care and God Bless..!

With Best Regards,
Srijith.

VIDYA said...

Wow..... ur pics r really awesum, wat cam do u use????

maybe i ll go thr one day 2!

*jealous smile*

Seenu Kurien said...

Amazing pictures...good artistic sense and technically brilliant.

mathew said...

@AP
ofcoz Salzburg is in the scheme of things.and am more interested about it than Vienna.

@Mishmash!
Thank you..btw that one is Versailles too..neways Paris can be interesting for any Da Vinci code fa-natic too..

@Sreejith
;-P thanks..

@Prasil
Thanks for having the patience to read through here. ;-P
Hope you have a nice time..

@Abhi
Those are some characters from Disneyland..and btw no answers to the snap question!!;-P
And the roller coaster snap..i never took it!! ;-(

@Nanditha
hahaha..okay..njan manasamadhanthil jeevikkunnei ishtapedunilla alle.. ;-P

@Adorable Pancreas
thanks for pointing out the error.. :-)
btw you can think about marrying some hot shot french business man..and enjoy staying in Paris well before 60!! ;-P

@Jiby
Yeah..I thought let the pics do the talking…btw my cam is Sony DSC H2..

@Srijith
thank you!!

@Vidya
It is Sony DSC H2..it is not a high funda cam btw..;-P

@Seenu
thank you.

silverine said...

I must say I am feeling rather J too :) That Eiffel Tower shot was amazing!

As you are an artist yourself, I can imagine the awe you must have felt beholding the masters!!!

Dhanya said...

Brought back my trip memories.. Versailles n Disneyland were two places I missed.. Hopefully next time.. n your photography is damn good. Have added u as a flickr contact :)

Alexis said...

Nice pictures... I can see that you had a great time... Happy traveling. I also went to Paris...via Google Earth :-)

amna said...

wow! this is so awesome!! i hope to be able to go to paris some day!

Priyankari said...

Great post and great pics! So had a real blast over there! Hope you didn't cut the post short...

VIDYA said...

:) coooll... ur pics r high funda :)

Schaan said...

Hey kewl pix mate.... what camera are you using? :)

alakananda said...

wow mathew, having fun, aren't u. enjoy. my europe trip is yet to materialize. someday...venice, here i come....

anyway, enjoy in austria and tell us (read rub it in our faces)all about it. oui monsieur!

anN-series said...

WOW!..lovely pics.. i must say they caught my attention more than the text...

Confounded-Lady said...

Nice :) Took me back on a one way trip to the last time I visited Paree. Paris at Night...thats what they call it right?

Belle and the Beast...sigh..just how fairy tales ought to end.

Euro Disney rocked!
Keep posting on your ventures!! :)

mathew said...

@Anju
Hahaha…don’t embarrass me by calling me a artist..but for sure it really is a stunning for even a non-art aficionado..

@Dhanya
Thank you...and esp to hear from a professional like you…you shouldn’t give Versailles a miss next time..

@Alexis
Thanks..yeah had a great time..btw I have seen New York via google earth.. ;-P

@Nags
Thanks…:-)

@Priyankari
Nice to see u here after a long time..and ah..i spend a whole 4 days there.. :-)

@Vidya
Thank you…:-)

@Sids
Thanks..i use a Sony DSC H2…

@Alakananda
Venice is a nice place…guess u should hurry coz Venice wont exist in another 80 years at the current rate of global warming…

@Ann series
Thank you..i kept the text short just for that…

@Mayth
So you must definitely had a great time there..yeah paris at night is actually more beautiful..isnt??