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Footloose in Paris

Where top brands and beautiful monuments vie for attention

Hey Presto! It’s the Champs Elysees

Allen Ginsberg said you can’t escape the past in Paris. Yet what’s so wonderful about it is that the past and the present intermingle so intangibly that it doesn’t seem to burden. We experienced the truth behind this during a three- day visit to the City of Light. Winter was packing its bags and the Parisian spring was on its threshold, eager to herald its entry.

The L’Open hop-on hop-off two-day tour of the city entitled us to board four different lines of buses. To err is human, to loaf is Parisian, said Victor Hugo. A leisurely stroll down the most famous avenue in the world, Champs Elysees, showed us how it beats the Fifth Avenue of the Big Apple for the top spot. Elysian Fields… that’s what the name of the avenue means. In keeping with the exotic ambience of the place.

Mercedes Benz, Peugeot, Luis Vuitton, Gucci, Nike… every mega brand has set shop here. My son would stop mid-stride on sighting a Porsche or the Bond car, Saab, whizzing past and would go into the details of their exclusivity. It’s passé to sit inside the hotel on this boulevard unless the mercury is plunging the depths. Exquisite chairs were out everywhere and we had lunch at Pomme de Pain, while watching handsome men and gorgeous women, invariably dressed in black, pass by. Young lovers were engrossed in each other, so what if it was as public a place as the bus stop.

Remember the lien about bliss was it that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven. Chicken baguette, French fries, apple pie and coffee put you back by 25 Euros. In the FNAC centre, we gawked at the striking water clock. A 20-foot tall contraption, like the hourglass, only instead of the sand, it is water.

Sephora. A veritable world of fragrances under one roof. Dior, Yves St. Laurent, Chanel, Hugo Boss, Dolce & Gabbana, Nina Ricci, Givenchy and Gaultier were on display and for sale. Every perfume house representative was eager to offer you a tester strip daubed with choice fragrance. Given this, we were surprised to notice that the place was not overpoweringly scented.

‘Soins masculins’, said a signboard and hey presto, a whole big cosmetic section unfolded for men. A huge array of fragrances for children also arrested attention. The son picked up a Davidoff and we were gifted a miniature Armani for that.

At the start of the Champs Elysees is the magnificent 165-foot tall Arch of Triumph. The French Emperor Napoleon who conquered most of Europe at the beginning of the 19th Century, admired the Roman people. In 1806, following their example, he decided to build a big triumphal arch. His victorious troops would march on through the arch, cheered by the population of Paris. This never happened, thanks to General Wellington who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. The Arch is so colossal that an early daredevil flew his plane through it. The New Year eve celebrations and the 14th of July military parade (the French National Day referred to as Bastille Day everywhere except in France) begin at the Arch. Tour de France riders know they are nearing the finish of the cycle race when the Arch first comes into view.

Entry to the Louvre, arguably the world’s most renowned art museum, at 8 Euros seemed particularly reasonable. Visitors were milling about the impressive pyramid structure at the entry point. Established in 1793, Louvre houses collections from the dawn of great civilisations up to the 19th century. Of course the most popular exhibit is Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and enthusiastic hordes were standing in front of it lost in admiration. Venus was the piece de resistance.

Once we neared Boulevard Magenta where we were staying, we stepped into Quick, the French equivalent of McDonalds. Next stop near the eight-road intersection was to buy a phone card, and who else but an Indian to greet us and sell a card which read ‘Raja.’ Crepes (a glorified pancake) seemed a staple in the eating joints and again Sri Lankan Tamils it was this time we encounter in these cosy nooks.

SELINE AUGUSTINE

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