Trip to France

I managed to get a 15 day off from office to visit France in August 2005. It was more than definitely worth the not-so-smooth flying experience and not-so-easy talk that I had to do with my manager at work for the leave!!

Journey
I was flying alone from Bangalore to join my hubby who was working in Nice, France at that time. It was my first international flying experience and was exciting. I had to fly to Dubai first and from there to Nice in Emirates. Bangalore to Dubai flight got very much delayed due to a sick passenger onboard and that meant my connecting flight was getting delayed too. Was not a tension-free start of course. Luckily I landed in Dubai to catch the Emirates flight just in time when passengers were boarding the flight. It was damn close! I remember running on and on the never ending, huge ,marvelous, splendid , etc etc Dubai airport determined to reach my gate and catch the flight. Dubai airport is an amazing piece of art and I was bowled over when I saw it for the first time.

Journey in Emirates was luxurious with individual televisions to ,good number of channels to select and a menu card to choose food. Reached the impressive Nice airport and walked as slowly as a tortoise until I was the last person walking to the baggage collection section, quite opposite to my tensed pace in Dubai airport where I almost shoved people for way. While waiting for the baggage, tried to pull a trolley but it wouldn’t come unless one Euro was inserted and yes, I didn’t have the change! No one in sight to ask for change as everyone had left, i walked all the way till the end of the huge airport till I found an airways office, got the change, walked back and waited and waited for my baggage. No one in sight too. Where the hell did my baggage go?? Fine….walked again all the way till the exit, approached the aiways’office and got to know that baggage was delayed and it would come in the next flight, that would be 2 days later! Damn. But they gave me some goodies to pacify me like an emergency kit and they would bear my expenses for the 2 days. Good. At the exit, I found my real tensed hubby who had tried all possible means to trace me by then since I was very much delayed in the luggage confusion!

He was staying in Nice for almost 3 months, before I joined him there.

Nice
Nice is a very famous and expensive holiday destination in France.

I cannot forget the view from the plane window as we were descending to Nice airport – the picturesque scene of the runway of the airport which is just beside the Mediterranean sea is very beautiful.

Out from the airport and into a car and on the way to our apartment in Nice, my hubby drove along the Mediterranean sea. That was a terrific view. I observed Nice without batting an eyelid. It is an amazing city, very beautiful with the Mediterranean sea outlining the entire city. It is clean and calm and like a huge marvellous resort. The colour of the Mediterranean water especially is what I call as 'breathtaking blue'.

The apartment was a good one. We then relaxed for a while, ate and I spent some time looking out of the huge window, which overlooked hills and beautiful greenery over the distance, while Sumanth went back to work. Then had a good siesta.

In the eve, we went to the beach. The Mediterranean blue was captivating. Spent time there till it was dark, then back to the apartment.

Trip to Paris
Next day morning, all geared up and in full enthu, we started off to Paris. Was a 2 hour journey by flight. After getting out of the plane, we walked into a "Tube" to reach our hotel.

Tubes are long trains very efficient public transport system in Paris. It connects every nook and corner of the city and one need not wait for more than 2 or 3 minutes to get into a tube! Very smartly designed. I really hope Namma Bengalooru will have such a fine means of public transport one day!

Got down at some point and had some tough time locating our hotel walking from the metro station to our hotel with our huge luggages.

In the evening, we went on a cruise on the river Siene, appreciating the world famous city known for its romantic beauty.

Next day, took the sight seeing buses and went around the city - u can hop on and off anywhere and any number of times with a pass. Visited the Louvre museum, then Eiffel tower . Neither of us have much interest in art, so we didn’t appreciate Louvre as much as it deserved J. But of course, it was very exciting to see all those larger than life size paintings, the Mona Lisa painting, the huge glass pyramid and everything else in the museum. I had read a few chapters of the “ Da Vinci Code” before this trip and was very exciting to relate whatever I had read to what I was seeing in Paris and the museum in particular. This urged me to complete reading the book as soon as possible.

The view from the top of Eiffel tower was splendid. Though we had to wait in a long queue to get to the top of the Eiffel tower, we weren’t complaining. Different country, different people, tourists from all over the world…was interesting to see everything. Siene looked amazing from the top and so did the beautiful city of Paris.

Then Arc de triomphe. Splendid view from here too. Roads of Paris spread out from here like the rays of the sun in all directions, all around it. From Arc De Triomphe, the Eiffel tower looked simply awesome when it was all lit up and with the occasional dancing lights!

Next day, we visited the Disney land. Had real great fun and some real scary rides! One day is just not enough to have a heart full of Disneyland!

Another day was spent at Versailles palace. This is a lovely palace with a HUGE and well maintained garden around it. Not to be missed when on a visit to Paris.

Chamonix
Next, our most memorable drive- drive to Chamonix, a second heaven. The drive was very exciting and interesting. Me, the navigator was armed with clear maps and my hubby-cum-driver enjoyed every minute of drive along the amazing highways with a picture perfect scenery on both sides. We once overlooked a direction and went inside Turin city (Torino) . People there were helpful and tried their best to communicate to us even in sign-language (all of them we met didn’t know English) to get back to the highway.

We passed through countless tunnels and bridges, but the best one was the Montblanc tunnel, which runs for 11 km!!! There is an exact speed limit which we have to adhere to strictly, neither more, nor less. Another thing is that there are blue flashing lights installed every few yards on either walls of the tunnel. At any point of time, a driver has to ensure that he is exactly one blue light behind the driver in front of him.

This amazing tunnel is built through the highest peak in Europe ie the world famous MontBlanc meaning White mountain in French. One end of the tunnel opens in France and the other end in Italy!!

Recently on National Geographic channel, we had watched an episode of a fire accident in this same tunnel that happened 20 years back which was very dreadful. So, driving through the same tunnel now for us was little scary but more exciting nevertheless.

The Chamonix town is just like a fairyland, with huge bunch of flowers decorating every window of all buildings and the pavements too!! Huge cement pots and even hanging pots from a pole are placed on the pavements every few yards which enhances the beauty of the place.

We went to the highest point in France, the Mont Blanc, in a ropeway from chamonix town. Montblanc is completely covered with dense snow. Spent a memorable time there.

On the way back to Nice from Chamonix, we spent some time at a glacier.

Return journey
This is another episode. My flight (Emirates )was delayed in Nice. After waiting for 8 hours, I had to spend a whole night at hotel Ritz . There was a problem with one of the engines of the plane and all the passengers were asked to stay at Ritz hotel, which is one of the posh hotel in Nice with rooms overlooking the beautiful Mediterranean sea. All my connecting flights had to be rescheduled and was one big experience for me!

Ultimately, reached safely to India!