Vive le Paris - Sept 17, 2009

1:00 pm - Downtown Brussels. Getting ready to drive to Paris. Suggested drive time - four hours including a couple of breaks.

The countryside is beautiful. Not too different from an American landscape. It did remind us of our drives through Pennsylvania. One thing we spotted here that we had never seen before - wind farms. Would have made Don Quixote salivate. Also, the full service rest areas on the highways here are a dramatic upgrade over their American counterparts. Multiple options for fresh, healthy, inexpensive food, excellent recycling facilities, pay-to-use restrooms - the fee subject to possible redemption at the rest-area restaurants, free wi-fi (for upto an hour), vending machines serving espresso for a Euro, a convenience store, and maybe even an Ibis or an Etap, in addition to all the fueling requirements. LPG is relatively inexpensive, diesel ranged from $5.00 - $6.00 a gallon, petrol more dearer at above $7.00 a gallon. Something to keep in mind when renting a car.

4:00 pm - At the doorstep of Paris - or so we thought. Beside us was the state-of-art Stade de France, a beautiful football stadium. In front, a fork. One towards Paris Center, the other Peripherique de l'lle-de-France, the ring road around the city. The road not taken. Or rather, the road taken. We choose the former. All of a sudden, we hit a wall of traffic. Made the George Washington Bridge seem like the I-80 in the middle of Nebraska. We had a chance to redeem ourselves about 3 km and 30 minutes later at the exit for Boulevard Peripherique - another ring road, but saner minds didn't prevail. We soldiered on towards the center of Paris, not quite unlike Napolean's troops in the middle of the Russian winter. Lucky for us, our outcome was a lot healthier.

6:30 pm - Place de la Concorde. At the Obelisque de Louxor. Eiffel Tower at 2 o'clock. Arc de Triomph at 3. The Louvre at 9. Finally - Dan Brown's Paris. A victory lap on the Champs Elysees, and we were at our hotel. Prince De Galles on George Avenue. The famed hotel where none other than The King lived during his concert trips in Paris. The staff at the reception was great. We had enough time for a change of clothes, a walk along the Seine, and a ride into the sky - 276 meters up, to be precise. Eiffel Tower is beautiful by night. The view from the top is gorgeous. And so are the chocolate banana crepes at the bottom.

In a way, despite of our rough entrance, I'm glad we got to see the tough parts of Paris during our ride in. Puts everything in perspective. The romantic, walk-hand-in-hand Paris versus the not-so-rich, ethnic, tension-filled streets of the northern suburbs. A good lesson for the girls that life is not all rosy, even in the extremely glitzy capitals of the world.