Paris July 27 to 29

We spent Friday evening exploring the neighborhood around Republique Square. That is what I like to do in any city I visit.  I like to walk around and explore whatever neighborhood I have landed in.  Paris is generally safe but we are advised to be careful and not flaunt our money. Pickpockets are always around like in all major cities of the world.  It is very convenient to have in-room safes in hotels where you can safely store your passports, and excess cash and credit cards while keeping a limited amount of cash and one credit card in your pocket. No matter where you land in Paris you will see lots of cafes with people sitting outside sipping coffee.  That is the number one thing I love about Paris. Second thing that we fell in love with are doors.  Yes doors! Every apartment building in Paris has a different door design, most of them are some sort of metal grills. The doors are so different that Kalpana was inspired to some day write a pictographic book on Doors of Paris, available on Amazon in 2104!

While we had our meals in various cafes, the most memorable one  was Cafe Pinson, a vegan restaurant near our hotel. Being vegetarians we asked our Monograms hostess for directions to a vegan restaurant, Pousse-Pousse, our son had recommended.  Our hostess recommended that we instead try Cafe Pinson, a vegan restaurant a short walking distance from our hotel.  Although the restaurant was quite close by, it was tricky to locate it.  Streets in Paris are not laid out in a grid pattern like the streets in most U.S. cities. But we enjoy exploring the neighborhoods so it was a lot of fun finding the restaurant.  Food at Cafe Pinson was excellent and I highly recommend it. Just a note for all first time travelers to France, restaurants food is twice as expensive as equivalent restaurants in the U.S.

Paris has many Indian restaurants also.  Although we didn't dine at any of them, I am sure this is comforting to know for some of my blog followers, especially vegetarians of Indian origin, who have difficulty with finding suitable food while traveling.

Some people complain that French people are rude.  My experiences with French people during both my visits have been extremely pleasant.  After getting details of what actually transpired during the so called rude experiences that some people have had, I have concluded that it is we, the tourists, who are rude and not our French hosts.  Think about this hypothetical scenario.  A Russian person comes to the U.S. and goes to a store. As he doesn't speak any English he asks the store clerk in Russian if he/she speaks Russian. The clerk gets totally confused and doesn't know how to act.  To the Russian visitor, the clerk appears to be rude.  Think about it.  That is exactly what many Americans do when we visit France. We talk to them in English. I have always attempted to start communicating using a few words and sentences in French that I have practiced, like, "bonjour", "merci", and "parlez-vous Anglais", and the results have been phenomenal.  In fact, on several occasions the French persons who were totally unknown to us went out of their way to help us out.

I have been asked by one of the followers of my blog to provide more information about Monograms, so here it is.  Monograms is a division of Globus family of brands, which consists of Globus, Cosmos, Monograms, and Avalon Waterways. Globus provides escorted land tours in most parts of the world.  In the Globus scenario you would be a part of a group of 20 to 40 people traveling together in a luxury coach to various destinations.  The group stays at 4-star hotels, where breakfast and many of the other meals as well as activities are included in the price.

Some of the specific advantages of going with Globus that I love are: 
(1) all the coaches have free wi-fi (Europe and North America).  So while you are traveling you can take care of your e-mails and send pictures of your recent travels to friends and family! 
(2) Your tickets for the visits to all the sites are pre-purchased and have VIP access.  In other words, like other tourists, you don't have to wait in long lines, which could be several hours long. 
(3) Your tour guide, who is locally experienced, travels with you.
(4) You make one reservation with Globus, pay one price and the rest is taken care of for you.  If your itinerary includes travel by luxury coach, train, plane, and ferry, you don't have to purchase those tickets, Globus does.  You don't have to worry about purchasing entrance tickets to various sites, they do.  You don't have to book various hotels, they do.

Cosmos is very similar to Globus but is meant for a budget minded traveler. The basic difference is that the guests stay at 3-star hotels.  Additionally, Cosmos also has a very attractive option for single travelers in which Cosmos pairs you up with other single travelers of the same sex.

Monograms is a more customized plan for small groups, typically a couple.  In Monograms you choose the segments you want and Monograms takes care of all the details.  You stay at 4-star hotels and daily breakfast is included.  You are met by a Monograms hostess at every city who guides you.  The package includes a half-day tour of every city on your itinerary and the rest of the days you are free to explore on your own or to take part in optional excursions.  So Monograms is more for an independent minded traveler.

Friday (July 27) morning began with transfer to the railway station to go to Paris, which was made real simple by the Monograms staff.  After checking out of the hotel we didn't have to touch our bags.  Monograms' hostess was there at the hotel to take us to St. Pancras station in London, located between the British Library and King's Cross tube station.  Everything was handled by the hostess, including handing out our train tickets and making sure that our bags were checked in for the trip to Paris.  St. Pancras International terminal is huge and looks more like an airport terminal with lots of shops and restaurants in the middle connected with a bus station, and stations for underground tube trains and out of town trains.  Monograms hostess was with us all the way up to the passport control point to make sure that we didn't lose our way.

St. Pancras station is the boarding point for the super fast Eurostar trains to Paris.  This train service is punctual and it takes only two hours and 15 minutes to reach Paris, a distance of 283 miles, compare that to Amtrak's fast Acela trains that take 2 hours and 45 minutes to cover 225 miles from DC to NY. There are about 20 scheduled Eurostar trains daily.  Two hours and 15 minutes, London to Paris is far superior to five hours it takes by air (downtown to downtown).  Passport control for entering France was handled right at the London terminal.  Security check was limited, nothing like the exhaustive check that we experience at the U.S. airports.  What I found fascinating was that there were non-stop trains going straight to Disneyland very near Paris but those trains do not stop at Paris.  Europe's concept of fast trains in unlike America or India. These super fast trains go straight to their destinations without stopping along the way.  For example Amtrak trains between DC and New York stop at various cities along the way; Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, etc. The European model would have a non-stop fast train  from DC to Baltimore, 15 minutes later another fast train from DC to Philly, and 15 minutes later another non-stop from DC to Newark and another 15 minutes later a non-stop to Manhattan.  What a concept!  I love it.  

Eurostar trains are very comfortable but I would recommend upgrading to first class for the same reasons as one would upgrade an airline seat - legroom. Going through the Chunnel (Channel tunnel), while exciting for the mind of an engineer like me, was nondescript. There was nothing to see and a short time later were viewing the French countryside. 

Arrival in Paris was simple.  We were met by a young Monograms hostess at the arrival platform at Gare du Nord station.  She took care of making sure our luggage was retrieved and loaded on to the van while we relaxed in its air-conditioned comfort.  This is significant because throughout our trip we experienced very hot days, typically 90+ degrees F.  Nothing in Europe is air-conditioned. Unlike their counterparts in the U.S., most shops and restaurants are NOT air-conditioned.  Paris was even hotter than London. Throughout our trip the dilemma was that we could not sit inside the restaurants because it was too hot and we could not sit outside because many customers were smoking cigarettes.  This is exactly why we travel internationally, it makes us appreciate America even more.  A short ride in the van took us from Paris Gare du Nord station to Crowne Plaza hotel at Republique Square.  The rooms in this hotel were larger than the rooms in London's Hyde Park Hilton but the A/C was weak just like London.  Get used to warm temperatures, Atul!  

My advice: Don't travel to Europe in July or August if you like air-conditioning.