Day 148: Paris – je t'aime

We flew Qatar Airways from Mumbai to Paris. It was a pleasant flight. Roomy seats with personal entertainment system. The service was also very good. There was a flight attendant from Taiwan. After he found out that we were Taiwanese, he showered us with in-flight souvenirs as we were the second Taiwanese travelers he has met during his career with Qatar.

It was 4 degrees Celsius when we landed in Paris. Katy has never been to anywhere this cold before. Hard to believe that we were swimming in the Arabia ocean just a few days ago. Sunny, 35 degrees Celsius. Nevertheless, we were relieved to have landed because the terrorist incident at Mumbai was still fresh in our minds. When we got to the hotel, Mumbai was all over the French news channels. The number of deaths had doubled from 80 when we left Mumbai to 160 now. Sigh.

happy to touch down in Paris

"too cold" - Katy put on fully winter gear

Seine river

We were so tired because we got about one hour of sleep on the day we left Mumbai. On our first night in Paris, we slept for almost 12 hours straight. For the next three days, we went to the usual tourist spots – Louvre, Eiffel tower, Arc de Triomphe and, of course, Disneyland. Even though I have been to those places in the past, it still felt good to revisit them, especially Louvre. The masterworks were just amazing. This time they changed the Mona Lisa. When I went to Louvre in 2004, it was before The Da Vinci Code. Mona Lisa was hung behind a dark bullet proof glass at a corner. Now the Mona Lisa is at the center of the hall and has a clearer bullet proof glass. There was no more single-line queue. It's simply an open space to cater to the large number of visitors interested in the Mona Lisa (or rather The Da Vinci Code).

the most popular painting at Louvre

look at the crowd waiting to see Mona Lisa
thanks to Dan Brown, the upside down pyramid is gaining business too

a new thing at Louvre - artists can paint along side the real masterworks

Despite the cold weather, Disneyland was a happy place to be if not the happiest. The door opened at 9:30am and we were there at 9:30am sharp. There were so many people and it was still a weekday! Fortunately the wait at most of the rides was not long. I still remember doing the Disneyland Paris case study at IMD. Interesting to be back now knowing some of the facts behind the resort.




Our next stop is Lyon – the gastronomical city of France