Europe Trip: London, Paris

London

• Met Boopos at Underground station near his house. On Sunday, he was returning from office at 9:45pm, still early by his standards – senti scene followed as we were meeting after 2.5 years :-)


• Reached Boopos ka apartment, had dinner, gen random fundaes discussed, off to sleep


• Next morning, took a bit easy, Boopos left at 8am, I started after 10am


• Headed to Lords Cricket Ground, The home of cricket! – In the last 26 years, histroy has failed to impress me, but for once, it was interesting to know about the history of Ashes, Lara’s record innings, etc, etc


• Had lunch next to the cricket ground, headed to London eye – a fantastic view of the city and places nearby


• Took a few clicks at the Tower bridge (I thought it was the London Bridge, supposed to have been falling down - so said my nursery rhyme!)


• Caught up with friends for drinks and dinner- Challa, Buttler, Anta, Philip Boopos and Bharath


• Next day, got up at 5am or so and boarded the Eurostar to Paris.

Paris

• Toulouse trip cancelled due to non-availability of tickets.


• Checked-in to a hotel, took the day off and slept – It has been 5 days with very little sleep.
• Got up late at night, went for a walk at around 2am near Montparnasse. Enjoyed the chilly cold winter and the light wind that made it even chiller!
• Next morning, took the Metro to Eifel Tower
• Long queue at the tower, so took a city tour
• Went to ….Museum – I can’t appreciate art, just not inclined to any form of art. But, even for someone like me, this Museum was amazing.
• Saw the much-hyped painting Mosalisa. Must say, other painting and the colour combinations used impressed me a lot more
• Visited Notterdam saw from outside and had a good lunch at a typical French restaurant
• Visited another piece of architecture and the region around that. Saw Lido from outside, the show didn’t start till late at night.
• Got back to Eifel Tower – had a chance to go up right till the top (3rd floor) – the view was simply superb. Eifel tower is amazing – build only of iron trusses and it is rock solid, unshakeable!
• Eifel tower was now lighted and was looking fantastic – a true killer sight
• Took night train to Stuttgart – train journey was okay types, perhaps I had expected the train to be a bit better than what it really was