Bon Jour, Paris

To Paris, the city of dreams..

An afternoon that started at the setting of Victor Hugo's masterpiece.. yes, the Notre Dame cathedral.. with its many faces of saints and devils that stare down from the walls while the grotesque gargoyles watch over the city! Standing as a testimony of time, this Gothic monument was built in the 12th century, destroyed during the era of French Revolution and restored later. On entering the cathedral, the view of the long pathway filled with chandeliers and the beautiful tainted windows is a sight to behold. After lighting a candle there and sending a million prayers up to heaven, I went ahead and up above, on my either side were the stunning rose windows. A backward gaze to the West gave a view of the third famous rose window obscured by the giant organ. More than a cathedral's sanctity, the gothicness of this place somehow left a tint of dark mystery in my mind.

The first sight of Notre Dame cathedral

The west facade.

Prayers

The lovely chandeliers and the stunning tainted windows..

The famous rose window..

Them.. the gargoyles!

The weighing of souls! 

View of the flying buttresses!

The famous Maison Berthillon ice cream and some French lunch being our next major destinations, we decided to leave the cathedral. Well, the lunch had to do away with some experiments on frog legs though. Later, on that windy afternoon in Ile St Louis, under the scorching sun, we sat gorging on the melting flavours of passion fruit, mango and caramel. Not so far away from there, hidden away in a corner, was one of those oldest bookstores "Shakespeare and Co" with it's rare editions of many a books of the past. The world I entered to was a book lover's paradise, with all its magical spell under an antique roof and an attic like library where I ran fingers through the yellow pages of the same books that someone from the late 19th century would have held in his hands. In one dingy corner bed, there was a person enjoying his afternoon siesta even! I just wished I had more time to spend there in that wonderland .. maybe I will come back some day to this place.. find my comfortable corner and read from those tattered pages of the past.

Street musicians.. 

Lunch on a windy afternoon!

Respite!

N the famous 'glace'! 

Seine from Ile St Louis!

That wonderland!

The "rare books" section 

Absorbed.. camouflaged! 

A quick peek inside!

Time was running out as we had the Musee d'Orsay plan still on. We scurried to the metro, reached there and what a bummer! Entries for the day were done already. That called for a quick detour to Arc de Triomphe, the standing epitome of French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. But, what interested me was the "Elysian Fields"(not the Megadeth song!) on the the other side of the road. Champs Elysees - a name that gave me a fit of nostalgia. A place I recognised from the first story of my eighth grade English class.. of "The Diamond Necklace". This place was always part of my Parisian dream, the first abstract taste of high life! Well, well..the high street fashion brand shops were only meant to be window shopped though. With the sun setting in, we stopped by one of those lovely cafes named George V. A cup of cappuccino and a deliciously soft cheese cake dipped in raspberry sauce were just what I wanted to wake me up from my reverie while I kept staring at the maple leaves against a cloudy sky.

Arc de Triomphe! 

At Arc de Triomphe again!

The Elysian Fields! 

Sigh!!

Should I say more.. 

Arc de Triomphe against a brilliant sky!

After sauntering on the avenue till sunset and making a note of the heavy price tags, we made our way to Sacre' Coeur on Montmartre. On the way to the cathedral on the hilltop, we stopped by for some souvenir shopping and were again lured by the aroma of freshly baked cookies and colourful macarons. At the end of a long way uphill, instead of a silent cathedral, what welcomed us was a concert and a huge crowd cheering for the band. That was a pleasant and enjoyable surprise. Later, we found our way into the cathedral and I was again taken aback by the contrasting silence inside. I shut down my camera and took a walk around trying not to disturb the peace within while the soothing church music started flowing by. On one side, there were three women sitting on the floor, holding onto each other, praying to Mother Mary. It somehow brought back memories of a time at P.C. sir's, waiting for the bus at Lourde church. Next to one of those benches, I knelt down, just closed my eyes and listened. "Christ in Majesty" stared down on me from the apse while an inner tranquility filled my mind.

And that luring bakery on the way to Sacre' Coeur! 

Oh ok.. that was the first sight of Eiffel! 

Ummm...yumm.. macarons!

Souvenir !

That beautiful cathedral.. Sacre' Coeur!

N the gig outside!

Crowd engrossed in the show!

I did not want to leave the place, but it was getting dark and with a pit stop to make at Moulin Rouge, we started our journey back. While coming down the hill, I had my first sight of Eiffel Tower far away, looking like a miniature version of the real one! The "fireworks" were on and it was just beautiful. We made our way back to the metro, just one station away and right outside was the huge wind mill and the writing "Moulin Rouge" glowing glamorously in red. I missed one of those fluttering dresses while striking a Marilyn Monroe (she had nothing to do with the place :P ) pose in front of Paris' legendary cabaret.

Eiffel Tower from Montmartre 

Right outside Blanche metro station! 

Glamorous.. amorous!

Marking the end of a beautiful day! Time to rest my mind and body as another long day awaited.

221 B, Baker Street

It was the day when figments of fiction transformed to reality and I was convinced of this one man's presence. Sherlock Holmes, the hero of my past, present and future. It took me back to a flurry of memories... of reading the book together with sister after the 9 pm movie on Fridays...tucked under the blanket.. and after the nail biting stories of cold murders and investigations, even the slightest bustle of leaves outside would send a chill down my spine. A prospective murderer trampling those dried leaves under his thick heavy boots.. in the still of the darkest of nights.. and through the window.. his hands stretched out to strangle me to death.. Beads of sweat on my forehead.. Cold shudder..phew! Holmes, the imaginary hero was my only saviour then.. The day he died, I cried and there would not have been a happier soul on earth on the day he came back to life..

"Excellent!" I cried. "Elementary!" said he.

221 B, Baker Street in pictures.

"..when Holmes, in one of his queer humors, would sit in an arm-chair with his hair-trigger and a hundred Boxer cartridges, and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with a patriotic V. R. Done in bullet-pocks.."

"There is nothing more to be said or to be done to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable ways of our fellow-men."

"My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes, as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man can invent.

An attic full of memories..

The mailbox!

The Musgrave ritual waiting to be re-read.. no better way to end this post. :)

Nature Catalogue

What dreams are made of..

Lonely blues .. Kava, behind Malampuzha dam, Kerala

Purple patches .. Park Guell, Barcelona!

Monochrome flowers..

A Backward Glance on a Travel Road...

From Counterculture Bangalore Music Menu 

Image copyright - Counterculture Bangalore & Sanitha Alam

"Out of what they reflected
Of the world outside"
~ In Absentia

Soulful..


"A forgotten picture running in my brain"
~ Falling

"When the world is ending
I will meet you there
And we will hear silence
While the land is sleeping"
~ Heat

"In a silver hearse
Where you used to think
That you were young"

~ Regular Barbary

Of an amazing french band: A Backward Glance on a Travel Road... The excerpts are from their songs.

Barcelona... the Mediterranean Exotica

De Dos Dias - Day Two

With some three hours of sleep and half open eyes, out of the bed to the Passeig de Gràcia metro station, a ten pass ticket(money saver of the hour) for the three of us and right under the nose of the much celebrated icon of Barcelona, the La Sagrada Familia!

La Sagrada Familia

It was just 8 o' clock and people had begun to queue up already. We were just in time as we saw that in minutes, the length of the queue almost covered one quarter of the cathedral's circumference. We got an option to buy tickets for both La Sagrada and Park Guell (where Antoni Gaudi's home was). For the people who are wondering who Gaudi is, in the late nineteenth century, he took over the construction of this spellbinding cathedral . It's construction started in 1882 and is expected to take another 14 years to complete(time enough for a vacation with kids?). One look at this piece of modern art will make you realize the spirit of nature engraved in the form of reptiles, amphibians, orange fruits, honey comb structures and what not amid the carved out tales from the Bible. The Glory facade welcomes you with a bronze doorway and the crucified Christ staring down at you from up there. 

The crucified Christ

Once you enter, don't be surprised to find a forest inside, with the Messiah hanging under the branches of stone trees and the light streaming through the stained-glass windows giving a dramatic touch. After spending some time there and absorbing the truth of how much effort has gone into its making, we took a lift to the top of the Cathedral. The view of the cathedral tower works from there and Torre Aghbar gherkin far away was just amazing.

Bird's eye view of Barcelona from the top of the cathedral

Coming down by the spiral staircase was close to a dungeon escapade act though(yes, exaggerated!). After trying to decipher few more tales of the Bible from the carvings, we decided to hit a resto for hunger relief. Alas, the 'Farggi' brunch was far from pleasing to the taste buds. It was time for metro to Park Guell. As a wayfarer, asking around in broken Spanish+Catalan and traversing steep hill roads in the scorching heat, we reached a place with escalators in the middle of the road to take one uphill to the park.The odds of finding something like that then, but much relief, I tell you! Digging into a cup of ice-cream, we went climbing up the cacti clad rocks, a few more steps and wonder, did we just enter some Mediterranean heaven! There it was, the La Sagrada standing tall in all it's glory, far away. After walking down a winding road flanked with palm trees, we came across a chamber; the stone sculpture trees have almost grown roots in the soil such that surrealism mingles with mundanity.

Rooted to earth

It was a sort of Ayn Randism in architecture, a lot similar to her conceptualisation (ref: The Fountainhead-pardon me, I can't remember the lines!). Added to the magical charm of this wonderland is the music streaming down your ears with it's tint of Arabic influence. It flows effortlessly, echoing the beauty of an ethereal past.

And it flows effortlessly.. music echoing the beauty of an ethereal past!

Along a florid path, trailing past a long serpentine bench and the very famous trencadis dragon, we found our way to Gaudi's home.Park Guell was stunning in its own way and was by far the best in Barcelona, even better than La Sagrada, I would say.After the midday detour, we caught the metro back to La Rambla, our pit stop of every journey. The long trek up and down Park Guell did tire us and we took a bit of rest. Afterwards we sauntered along Passeig de Gràcia, in search of Casa Batllo, a reminiscent of Gaudi masterpieces.

The florid pathway.. Park Guell

Antoni Gaudi's home

After a slight splurge at 'Mango', it was time for some Tapas hunting. Oh and be warned that the waiter of a resto might drive you away if you are looking for a vegetarian paella. :P Finally, we ended up in a restaurant named Divinus, gorging on some excellent assortment of sea food tapas and paella(yes, don't ask me what all I had - clams, lobsters, squids, prawns and baby squids with eyes popping out :O).

Sea food tapas .. at Divinus

The splendid ambiance and Messi's striking goals for FC Barcelona just pepped up our moods and later we stumbled on to a full moon night. :)

P.S: The tan has got off.. but day three and four.. yet to be blogged!

Barcelona... the Mediterranean Exotica

Dia Uno - Day One

The first sight of Barcelona from the air…aanh the fun yet to begin. The bus from airport took us to Plaza Catalunya(where our hotel was). Well, the sights enroute would make you rethink if you are still in Europe or one of those middle east countries. Much to our delight, we found the hotel right in the middle of the city and it just got better when we were welcomed by a sexy Spanish guy(*wink*) who was the receptionist. The view from our hotel room gave a whiff of what was in store for us. Through the window, we could see the buildings standing as a testimony to the rich old times. Even though we were up on the fourth floor room, we could sense the laughter of a happy hen party that was going on under an olive tree in the hotel’s resto.

A happy hen party... Hotel Olivia Plaza

Shadows of Las Rambla

 There was no time to waste as the sun was already on the other side, but the evening was still as bright as a sunny afternoon in London. To the left of the hotel, next to the Hard Rock Café, we took a stroll to the famous Las Rambla. Originally a watercourse, this promenade comfortably shadowed under a long line of trees is now flanked with two traffic lanes and gothic style buildings on either side.

Don’t get trampled by a gush of crowd while rambling down Las Rambla, especially if you are lost in the view finder of your camera.. gasping at the beauty of art in the simplest things in life. Walking past a host of hawkers, human statues, kiosks and ‘ocellaires’(bird-keepers), we found the entrance of Mercat De La Boqueria.

Mercat de la Boqueria

 It was one of the most bustling markets that I have ever seen; you name it you’ll find it - ranging from an umpteen variety of Spanish sweets, wild mushrooms, fruits and vegetables to crabs, fishes, lobsters and meat. The sight of so much food made our stomachs grumble and we went out of the market in search of some gastronomic delight. Our eyes followed the crowd and it took us to a beautiful Mediterranean flair square, Plaça Reial; it was a serendipitous discovery, not once but twice(the reason will follow on a later note).

Plaça Reial

The restaurant kiosks there were brimming with people and for one particular restaurant, ‘Les Quinze Nits’, there was even a long queue. Well, we fell in line to discover that this resto was one of those Lonely Planet recommended ones.  Dining there on baked salmon with pumpkin and a bottle of Ermita wine was a fitting ending to the first episode in Barcelona. 

Fancy Mind!

Miles away... the drums roll, lights shimmer

The world you want just grew dimmer..

An angel in the dark.. clipped off her wings