Subject: Fw: Bonjour from Le Petite Legume, Paree....
I am sitting in Le Petite Legume - a vegan restaurant around the block from my hotel. It is so small and quaint. Standing on the side of a sloping cobbled stone street awashed by morning rain, it is utterly delightful! I placed an order of Tofu with hot veggie platter with pain. The place is run by a very cute and friendly couple. The woman just placed a steaming plate of grub in front of me. Yumm.....I am hungry!
I arrived here in the morning. The flight was on time. It is a grey, wet day in Paris. After some investigations and several queries to cute French dudes, bought tickets for train to Paris from Charles de Gaulle and arrived at the hotel around 11:30am. People are very friendly so far. The ones I have met are really nice!!! The hotel staff is great! Very nice and helpful. I bombarded them with questions and they have been very patient with me. It is a very small hotel. The rooms are smaller. You have to see the elevator! I just fit in it. It is that tiny! I walked in with my luggage the staff had to push the door shut behind me. Tiny room! But I like it. It is homey. (The restaurant is playing Punjabi music! I am the only one in the restaurant. )
There is a "Naturalia" store bang opposite my hotel. Naturalia is a chain of stores selling organic, healthy, veggie and vegan foods. I went there and staff was incredibly helpful. I have tried to use whatever French I could muster, sometimes much to their amusement. Especially, when I asked a French women in French whether she spoke French! (I meant to ask if she spoke English. She responded in English, with naughty smile "Yes, I speak French very well!". We both laughed. I made friends with the woman at Naturalia. Bought a vegan ginger cake, some cookies and vegan chocolate! Yumm! I have been speaking in English with people and they are so far very accommodating and are responding in broken English.
Finished with my lunch and now I am heading out. Possibly to Marais or anywhere my legs can take me. Okay, just gulped down my last sip of Roobois tea and now I am off.....more later.....
Cheers! D.
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Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:58:04
Subject: Fw: Bonjour from La Victoire Supreme du Coeur.....
Having my first meal of the day at close to 5pm. Argh! Finally found this vegan place run by the followers of Sri Chinmoy. Very nice place. Ordered Pakoras, a seitan dish with basmati rice and mushroom sauce. Yumm! Empty right now. Quiet. Which is nice because it is peaceful. My soy latte just arrived with a frothy soy milk foam flowing off the mug. Yumm!
Paris has quite a few vegan places. Been to a few and so far they have been nice. Also they have this chain of Maoz falafel fast food restaurants across Europe (also found them in Barcelona). They also come in handy for us vegans. So exciting to find veganism gaining a stronghold. I mean, who would have thought that the French would develop a taste for something without conventional butter and creme, eh?
Oooh! The pakoras are yummmy!!!! If you don't know what pakoras are, google them.
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Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:58:10
Subject: Fw: Bonjour....aboard the Les Vedettes du Point-Neuf.....
The waters of the Seine flow less than 3 feet away from me as this boat sails around Paree. The sun is setting and the Seine waters are colored by the saffron colors of the setting sun. Beautiful to the naked eye. The lights are coming on in this city of lights. The river breeze is fragrant and moist, laced with a slight chill.
As the boat moves, it affords us a glorious vantage to Paris' architectural past and present. Fabulous buildings stand tall as foreboding shrines to French history. Barren trees line up the street running parallel to us as our boat ducks below bridge after bridge over the Seine. The E tower is coming up now. Erect before a background splashed a saffron-grey by the setting sun. As our boat careens past it, right before our eyes, the E Tower slowly becomes aglow and lights sparkle all over it. Oh, it is simply a remarkable and profoundly romantic sight!!!! All bridges over the Seine are getting lit before our eyes. The lamps are a treat to the eye.
As the sun sleeps, Paris is waking up. Mute statuettes are aglow with concealed lights donning a veil of queer sadness as we float by. Yes, I notice a strange muted sadness to Paris' persona. Which I find obliquely romantic. Hmmm........
The chill in the air is getting intense. My cotton tan Uniqlo jacket is proving insuffient to sheild me from the penetrating nip of the breeze. I have it wrapped around me tightly. The cacophonic babel of a caboodle of tourists around me rises above the roar of the boat engines and drowns the already indiscernible narative of the French tour guide. The Seine waters shimmer with sparkling lights falling over it. The sublime natural saffron glow is gone. The transient man-made shimmer replaces it.
The boat is docking. I must end here.....au revoir!
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Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:58:15
Subject: Fw: Bonjour from under the Tour Eiffel........
I am standing under the Eiffel Tower and I have to say that upclose and during the day it is quite unremarkable. Scores of people mill around me. All trying to admire this jumble of cast iron rising into the sky. There is a long queue for tickets to climb into an elevator for a ride to the top. Definitely not for me. I just got here and now I am getting out of here. The sights of the Tour Eiffel I enjoyed last evening are definitely the ones to savor. Not this. This is quite hideous. I think certain things require distance to truly admire their beauty.
Earlier today I visited Arc de Triomphe (sp?) and then walked down the Champs-Elysees. C-E was singularly the most unappealing street I have visited in Paris. I didn't even walk the entire length. I told myself that I have to leave this place rightaway. Reminded me of NY, and when, to my horror, I spotted a MacDonalds, I ran for my life to the nearest Metro station before my blissful bubble of now beloved Paree evaporated before my eyes! My best moments were sitting in roadside cafes on obscure streets, bathing in warm glorious sun and sipping a cuppa caffe. Strolling up and down the local neighborhoods and enjoying quiet pensive meals...and of course, the race this morning which was my worst todate. I clocked a dismal 2:04:16 but I don't care. It was still loads of fun to run through Paree. I was out till 1am last nite and my legs were tired from yesterday's activities. It was a tough run but did it. Besides, Loretta never called to wish me good luck for the race and that too contributed to my dismal performance. She called me in Barcelona which was my best todate.
Armed French guards stand around watching us. Okay, I am leaving here......
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Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:58:18
Subject: Fw: Bonsoir from La Grenier De Notre Dame........
I am sitting in this delightful vegetaliene restaurant next to the Notre Dame cathedral. Sipping a heavenly Champagne with Bluecurrent cream with a piping hot vegetable soup. Aaah! What joys! There are bars of soft French music floating around me. So far the vegan food here in this restaurant is quite good. My last meal in Paree. By the way I drank quite a bit of Champagne in Paris, also in the flight to Paris. I know, sounds tacky but oh well........I will definitely return to Paris. A charming, gorgeous,.......and truly fabulous city! Every young woman looks like Audrey Tatou darting in and out of sinewy cobble stone streets of Paree on her bike with a strawberry colored coat and hair flowing in the breeze. The images of Paris from movies come alive suddenly at a certain turn or bend.
Okay, signing off.......
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Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:58:21
Subject: Fw: Bonjour! From Charles de Gaulle.......
Settled in the aircraft and soon will be flying to Delhi. My friends Gopal and Vinod are coming to get me at the airport. I am dreading Delhi. My independence is robbed from me. Everyone wants a piece of me. It gets ugly. Tons of emotional blackmail. Tug of war ensues. I get pulled in all directions. This is not going to be fun.
I loved Paris! So incredibly relaxing! I felt FREE!! Now I see why Glenn was stuck with the expression - "Free Man in Paris". It is very liberating.
Everything I heard about the French was wrong. Oh my! They were so good to me!! I spoke in broken French and they were incredibly nice and polite and very helpful to me. I'll tell you what happened today. I boarded the train to the airport and I boarded the wrong train. It was going half way on that route and then off on another track. Midway a chap boarded the train. He himself looked confused (by the way, he was very cute!!!). I noticed him immediately and lodged him in my peripheral vision. He sought help from other passengers and then sat down. When the train took a turn to the other direction, and stopped at the wrong station, I panicked. I got off the train. Began running around with my luggage and thought I was doomed. I ran down the stairs and bumped into him (he also got off the same station). He smiled at me and I approached him with my question of how do I get to CDG. He didn't know a word of English and in my panicked state, my French evaporated in a ball of smoke. It was hilarious as we both communicated.....and understood each other!! He was telling me that he too got on the wrong train and had to take the same train as me but he was getting off earlier than me. He asked me to follow him. I did. Then he began looking confused and then this woman looked at us (thinking we are together) and asked if we were going to cDG. We both cried out - YES!!! She offered to help and took us to the platform where the train was to come. We were both so relieved. At the platform, he and I chatted - yep, he in French and I in English (and some French). Neither knew the language the other spoke, but made ourselves understood. It was fun. He was soooo nice to me (and had the cutest smile!). I did not have a single bad experience in Paris. Everywhere I went people were very helpful and sweet. The woman in the duty free shop was so sweet. She gave me her telephone number in Paris and also her email address!!! Asked me to keep in touch. Can't wait to return!! I have to take French lessons now.
Okay, the aircraft has begun to taxi. Got to go! Au revoir!
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