Paris according to me

After visiting the Louvre, I went to other places like the Louvre Gardens, Concord ( a major European public Square, says Wiki), Champs Elysee and Alexander Bridge. Louvre Gardens contains flowers which are not supposed to bloom now.

Later on, shortly before returning to the UK, I went to Luxemburg Garden near Bastille, the place of my stay in Paris (the Bastille is a huge monument built in the place in which the actual Bastille was located and which fell during the French Revolution). But Louvre Garden is more beautiful.

I understood that huge amounts of public tax money goes into the maintenance of these gardens which often contain a fountain in the middle. This was explained to me by my friend Emma whose mother was French. Champs Elysee is supposed to be the most beautiful street in Europe as it has all sorts of natural beauty and marvelous ancient buildings on both sides.

Champs Elysee is one straight avenue starting right after the Paris eye (Paris has also got one, like London) and ending at the Arc de Triomph. All major famous shops like Marks and Spencer and branded fashion houses like Zara are located on the Champs Elysee.

I however, didn't get to enjoy much of the breath-taking beauty because it was the day the Christmas market had started. People sat down on the Elysee with make-shift stalls selling Christmas stuff. Shops were beautifully decorated but they as well as the overcrowded population on the Elysee, blocked my view of the beauty at least on one side of the Elysee. However, it was a sunny day. Sun is precious during European autumn , so I decided to take it in.

I had now been on my feet for about six hours and needed to go to the bathroom. There are public bathrooms in all public spaces in Paris and contrary to our understanding of a public toilet, the Parisian public bathrooms are clean. A man stood in front of a public bathroom located in Champs Elysee. I and my friends had to pay him one euro each for using the toilet. There were washbasins inside these bathrooms. Before that we tried to use the bathroom at one of the shops there but decided not to after the shop said it would charge us two Euros for this.

After finishing off Elysee at the Arc de Triomph (another major beauty built to celebrate the heroes of the French and Napoleonic Wars) we went to see the Alexander Bridge, past the Grand Palais. The bridge again, gives a good overview of Paris. We finished the day with Notre Dame Cathedral – a world heritage site. I wanted to go inside the famous cathedral but the queue was too long. We had walked for about nine hours with almost no rest. It was only in one corner of the huge Notre Dame Cathedral square that we took some rest before heading off to the hotel. It was 5:30 in the evening.

One advice for Bangladeshis: Europe can best be seen by walking. If you aren't in the habit of walking in Bangladesh, you will not get the best out of a city like Paris or London. The habit of walking does not develop suddenly after arrival in Europe, rather one has to have it from before. My good walking habits in Bangladesh (which has improved even more now), enabled me to cover this much beauty within such a short time-span. But I was almost unable to walk towards the end of my journey.

On Friday morning, I went with a classmate named Jenna to a very beautiful place called Montmartre. It is basically a roman catholic church located on top of a mountain. The mountain top has a binocular located on it to take a birds' eye view of Paris, along with a map of which is what monument. The whole city of Paris can be observed from the top of Montmartre. But I liked the beautiful interior of the church. Jenna lit up a candle for her recently deceased grandmother, although she is not a Catholic.

Montmartre reminded me of Sitakunda in Chittagong. I had climbed the 1,500 odd meters up the steep hill with my sandals to get inside the Chandranath temple (the project was inspired by my husband and his students). But Montmartre had only about three hundred steps and unlike Sitakunda, the path to the temple wasn't that steep and it was clear. The height however, is similar. It was forbidden to take pictures inside the cathedral but I took some although one guard inside asked me repeatedly not to take them.

After visiting the Montmartre cemetery in which saints are buried, we went to the Moulin Rouge. I took a personal interest in this spot because I had watched the famous movie. Moulin Rouge is actually a cabaret but it looked like Las Vegas to me. Moulin Rouge is marked by an iconic red windmill but on the way to this place, there are adult shops on both sides of the street.

The shops made no secret about their business and openly flashed their wares on signboards. We didn't go inside but from what was bring displayed, some of the items looked quiet silly (for example a small fork with a woman's breasts on it). One show at the Moulin Rouge costs about 250 Euros. The cabaret opens at night and is the birthplace of the legendary can-can dance. Much of the original architecture has been rebuilt but the windmill has been kept.

Paris is a true city of lights. The night-view of Paris is better than the daylight view, I think. Part of the reason behind my thought is that, Paris doesn't show its best on a chilly and cloudy autumn day. Therefore, a lot of use of lights are made at night, in a variety of ways, to highlight the city's beauty. Lights are used all year round, including summer, the best time to be in Europe.