The fun month of May..

This 5-days vacation (resulting in more than 1700 photographs that I am still busy sorting) to Italy meant that I had to work very hard next week in the lab to cover for some work that I had planned for the previous week. Plus, the weekend after that (i.e. on the last weekend of May), I had again planned a 3-day trip to Paris, again with Yusuke (yes, I replaced my Japanese ex-gf with a new Japanese friend, whatever!!). After a long time, I finally got to meet one of my friends from IITK – Anirudh “The Chapoo” Syal (girls were gaga over this guy back in college, he has broken so many hearts recently by getting engaged – oh boy!! :P). Jokes apart, he is a really nice guy. Extremely helpful and adjusting, he let us stay in his room, while he slept on a mattress on floor at one his friends’ places. Besides meeting up and hanging out with a lot of friends/new people from IIT Kanpur (and Delhi as well), I relaxed/strutted around rather luxuriously in the one of the most beautiful cities of the world. The walk on Avenue des Champs-Élysées is quite invigorating with breathtaking views, and I don’t mean just the big showrooms and hot girls, but also the architecture- Arc de Triomphe on one end and Place de la Concorde (further lie a beautiful garden called Jardin de Tuileres, and one of the world’s most famous art museums - Louvre) on another. Also stand next to it are Palais de l'Élysée (Presidential palace) and Grand Palais. Venture a bit south of the avenue, and you get to a bridge with beautiful views of Eiffel Tower. The bad thing in Paris, though, for a tourist is that there is not a moment of respite from breathtaking views. You can't just sit down somewhere and think to yourself - let me not look at the city, instead focus on my own failed life!! No, you can't do that. You just can't take your eyes off the beauty that stupid beautiful city offers - whether it's the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, outside view of Louvre, insides of Louvre, Eiffel Tower - in daylight or in the night, Jardin du Luxembourg, Notre Dame, a walk along river Seine, night view of Sacre Coeur, or view of the city from Montmarte - there's so much to take in, to admire, to experience... Paris, indeed, is the most beautiful city in the world, and endless beauty at that.. even the red light district with the Moulin Rogue at an end looks beautiful at night (even though it's a bit scary with 50 yr old guys coming up to you and almost coercing you, in hushed voices, into the clubs - some guy even broke Syal's sunglasses that Yusuke had borrowed and was carrying in the breast-pocket of his shirt).
Well anyway, we spent the 1st day walking around the city, went to Notre Dame Cathedral, Jardin du Luxembourg, Rolland Garros (but they didn't let us in - not even for a guided tour), and then went to Eiffel Tower in the evening... and it was beautiful.. Next morning, we took a 4 hours tour of Louvre (mainly saw the major paintings including Mona Lisa, The wedding party, etc., and Napolean's rooms on 2nd floor), wherefrom I started on a quest to find Hotel De Ville to watch Nadal lose to Soderling on a big screen that they had put up - and got just in time to see the last set of Nadal's dominance on Rolland Garros!! :D
Thereon, Yusuke and I went to Montmarte, where Sacre Coeur stands atop the hill, displaying a rather breathtaking view of the city. Luckily, we also got a glimpse of newly ordained priests coming out of it. It was only after that ceremony that general public was let in, with the precondition that on eis not allowed to take any photographs inside - but if they couldn't stopm me from taking taking photographs at the holy Sistine Chapel, it wasn't gonna work in Sacre Coeur - even as some South Indian asshole saw me take a photograph and started discussing (in Malayalam, I guess) with his friend the need to turn me in. Well, I just quietly sneaked away from the wannabe-true-Christian. We stayed there till the dark set in (even though the young crowd over there was rather rowdy and drunk, and a little scary as well), so as to get some night views of the cathedral and the city, and the photographs uploaded on Picasa are a testimony to the correctness of our decision. Then, we walked around the RLD of Paris, and soon after left for Syal's place. He was supposed to join us at Sacre Coeur, but couldn't for the poor guy's precious iphone broke in the afternoon. Anyway, one of the best experiences in Paris, besides the places, was eating Paninis and Crepés all the time, and gormandizing Dosa, Kulfi and Lassi in the Indian district for lunch on both days.
This was our best trip so far. By the end of it, Yusuke realized that I say "bitch" at almost everything, be it a missed train or garbage on the road, and asked me what is meant by it and how it's spelled. Then, having understood the connotation of that, he also told me how it can be said in Japanese - "Kaso". :D
Well, I plan to go to Paris again, and this time I will see the Rolland Garros, come what may. I also wanna see the Rose Line that Silas dug around in da Vinci Code. :D But next weekend, I am going to Praha (Prague) with Prithu to check out the famed Czech beer and chicks. :D