Nepalese Guests

This blog is about all the people I host (via HC/CS or otherwise) too. On Wednesday I had my first guests since starting this blog. They were a couple from Nepal.

Dileep and his wife, Beena, are both in their late 20s-early 30s and a both computer professionals. Their ancestors hailed from Rajasthan in India, but they are settled in Nepal since a few generations (four in Dileep's case).
Dileep's father is a Biochemist and currently a professor of Biochemistry in Katmandu. As in the case of many scientists, Dileep's father moved around during his early career, and consequently as a child Dileep lived in quite a few countries including the US and Germany. He has studied in the US too, and his accent has a slight American touch. He speaks fluent Nepali, Hindi (probably his Rajasthani dialect too) and English.
Beena is originally from near the Indo-Nepal, but she studied in Rajasthan for 13 years, so her Nepali is apparently a bit hesitating and has an accent.
They have been married for a year and a half and wanted to travel a bit before having children. They were touring Europe and had already been to the Netherlands, Paris, Belgium, Italy, Munich and now Vienna. From here they visit the Czech Republic, Berlin and back.

They are a very friendly and open-minded couple and this was their first experience of Couchsurfing. In fact this will be their only one during their trip, although they stayed with European friends at a few places (like in Munich).

We had dinner at my place on the first evening, and last night they invited me for dinner at a Nepalese-Indian restaurant down the road. They left early in the morning today.
It was really nice hosting them, and I wish they had stayed longer.

***
I am also doubly glad that because of them I was forced to clean up my flat-- it was in a terrible mess and with my procrastination, I had not got around to cleaning it since quite a long time. My bedroom still needs to be organized, my walk-in wardrobe is still in a bit of a mess and the bookshelves need to be tidied, but all that is rather easily done.

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The Paris Trip: epilogue

I really enjoyed the trip and I am particularly glad that I explored the chateaux of the Loire valley. I am really happy that I could be in Paris during the Gay Parade.

Couchsurfing, Hosts and Christophe
This trip would have been incredibly expensive, had it not been for Couchsurfing. Yet again, my experience as a CS guest was great. I stayed comfortably (and for free) for the entire duration of my visit. My hosts were very nice people, and it was great to have met them, particularly Christophe. Although he doesn't speak fluent English, it was great talking to him about so many different things, hanging out with him, shopping with him, strolling with him and his company in general. Renaud is also a nice guy, very different from Christophe, extremely well-read, cultured, knowledgable and in general a nice guy. He is the one with the CS account and all my initial correspondence was with him. As I have noted before, he kinda reminds me of Jürg, my PhD supervisor. Renaud was under extreme work pressure during my visit, and I do wish I had been able to spend more time with him. I hope to see Renaud and Christophe again during my next visit in September.

The Tours bunch were good fun too. I particularly like Helene, who of course speaks the best English amongst the lot, and Fanny was also an extremely nice, friendly and helpful person. Guillaume is funny but language was a bit of a problem. Annika is lovely and very friendly. She and her friend, Annegret had invited me to watch football on my last day in Tours. Since it was pointless to return to Paris that afternoon, I should have stayed back and had fun watching football and cooking pancakes with them. I interacted the least with Sylvia-- I saw very little of her, but then even if she hadn't been so busy, I guess the language barrier would have not allowed much conversation.

Guillaume, my first host in the trip was very nice, thoughtful and helpful too. It would have been nice if we had managed to go to the Notre Dame to climb up its tower together, but my bad planning prevented that. I have to admit though that we somehow didn't quite click.


Prashanth
I had been talking to Prashanth since a couple of months on Gayromeo, and it was really nice to meet up with him in real life. And to meet his friends too. It was fun to chat with him and go out with him for dinner, walks, and of course the Marais. Prashanth, if you are reading this, a big thanks!

It is a pity that we don't know whether or when we'll ever meet again. He and his partner are moving to Hongkong next month and so will not be in Paris during my September visit. They are of course welcome to visit me in Vienna, but he doesn't see it happening in the near future,and after that I have no clue where I'll be. He has invited me to visit them in Hongkong but then again, it is highly unlikely that I'll visit that part of the world.

I hope we keep in touch via email/messenger or through our respective blogs.

What could have been done
I wish I hadn't stupidly wasted my time so much in the second half of my stay in Paris. There are several sights I missed out on, and actually I ended up doing more museums than real Paris. Hopefully I'll get time to do what I missed in September.

General impressions
I liked Paris. I liked its diversity, its colourfulness-- it's racial mixture. The city is of course beautiful and every guidebook will tell you so.

The food is great, and I particularly liked their liberal use of basil-- it tastes so delicious with cheese. But of course eating out is expensive, and it is irritating that one is always expected to order more than one course.

Language does not seem to be a problem in Paris, although it probably would have been in Tours had I stayed longer. So my reason for not visiting Paris for so long was totally unjustified. But of course, if I had visited earlier, that probably would have been before CS, and I might not have taken care to include the Gay Parade.

The 4-day museum pass was of excellent value, especially by including Versailles. Visiting Louvre on two different days was a good idea. Sunanda's tip for Musee Rodin was great. But Musee d'Orsay was my absolute favourite.

The public transport system is excellent, but I didn't manage to take Parisian buses. That would have been a nice way of seeing Paris. Since a lot is within walkable distance, I did not buy a public transport pass, instead bought a bunch of 10 tickets. That was a good idea. I still have 8 left, but I'll use them during the September visit.

What I also really liked about Paris are some of its extremely sensible ways. Traffic and crossing roads, for example. They are neither as chaotic as Italy (or Greece) nor as stupidly rule-following as Switzerland and German and to a large extent Austria. Parisians are very sensible that way. Another thing in this context is that they made the Metro free on (at least the evening/night of) the Fete de la Musique, and also it was free from Place de la Bastille after the Gay Parade. So nice of them.

I had collected information about walking tours in English, and the company offered several interesting and reasonably priced (EUR 10 per tour) ones. However I didn't manage to take any of them, and that is a pity.
I am forgetting to mention all the excellent information I collected from Fodors Travel Forums. There are really a lot of helpful and knowledgable people on there.

The gay thing
It was actually a pity that I didn't really get to meet up with a lot of gay people... I should have contacted and chatted with a few more people on gay websites. Of course I didn't really get a lot of time to get online during my stay in Paris either. I stayed with Christophe and Renaud and I met up with Chris, the Polish guy one evening. The Pride Parade was also a major event I attended. But the main going out in the Marais was courtesy Prashanth.

I liked the idea of having a gay district. The Marais is of course full of tourists but many bars and restaurants that are obviously gay don't have rainbow flags. It is assumed that they are gay.

Surprisingly for such an open-minded city like Paris, one doesn't see same-sex couples holding hands anywhere outside the Marais. That is a bit sad.

The nicest thing I saw in the Gay Parade in Paris was the rather large group of people that belong to an organization called Association Contact Parents Familles Homos Gays Lesbiennes, an organization for dialogue between gay and lesbian people and their parents, families and friends. There was a lovely placard (photo) saying "Mon fils est gay, mon gendre aussi!", I think that means "My son is gay, my son-in-law too!"-- sooooo beautiful! [update 14 July 06-- I have sent the website to Fabien, my French friend in Vienna. He intends to come out to his parents next month, and this organization would be really helpful for him.]
There was also a group calling themselves "Parents et Future Parents Gays et Lesbiens" (Gay and Lesbian Parents and Future Parents). Plus there were groups representing gay sportspersons, hospital employees, airline employees, political parties, etc. These are what a mature Gay Pride Parade should really have.

September...
A couple of weeks after I booked my tickets for Paris, Anton told us that a meeting on our area of research was being organized in Paris, and he wants the whole lab to go. So all these years I haven't managed to visit Paris, and the one year that I resolve to, I get to visit twice. Wonderful!
The September trip will of course be a busy one with the talks and posters, talking to people, developing contacts etc. A dinner will be organized in the Natural History Museum, and there will be an evening boat trip on the Seine. The whole lab will be there. But I also hope to do a bit of sightseeing, and meet some CSers, particularly Christophe and Renaude.

I am really looking forward to visiting Paris again...

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PARIS TRIP: DAY 12: Paris, back to Vienna

Paris, Sunday, 25 June 06

(written on 13 July)
Despite getting back so late the previous night, I got up at around 9 am. The weather was terrible in the morning. It was raining quite a bit and continuously. I had thought I might try to dash to the Sacre Coeur or to Pere Lachaise or both before flying back to Vienna, but in this rain that seemed quite impossible.

Christophe suggested we go for a stroll and also buy cheese that I had mentioned to him the previous day. We went for a long stroll. I do enjoy Christophe's company. He also had to buy some stuff for vegetables for Renaud who had invited a few friends he had met in the Parade the previous day, and was to cook in the afternoon. It is so nice-- despite all its socialist fanaticism, a good number of shops were open on Sunday morning. Wish they would do the same in Vienna.

At the Formagerie (cheese shop) on Christophe's recommendation, I bought 5 different kinds of cheese, of different consistencies and strenghts of flavour. When she learnt that I would be taking it outside Paris, the shop assistant suggested that they vacuum pack the stuff. This was a good idea otherwise my clothes would have a horrible stink after the journey. My budget was EUR 20, but all these together came to below EUR 12. [I have eated four of these cheeses, and they were all excellent. -13 July 06]. I also bought a bottle of wine from the same shop.

We stopped at a cafe and had coffee (Christophe) and hot chocolate (me) on our way back.

Christophe cooked lunch: salad, pasta and liver steak, and cheese as the last course. Simple, but quite delicious.

My flight was at 16:40, and this time I made sure there was no cause for panic. I think I left Christophe and Renaud's place at around 2:30 pm, and reached the check-in counter well in time. There did appear to be quite a few people who seemed to have come to Paris specifically for the gay parade on Saturday. But I didn't manage to talk to any of them. I was sitting next to boring people who showed no inclination for talking, and the flight was eventless.

I had seen a Georg (?), a guy I had met once in Vienna long time ago, in the airport. He obviously didn't recognize me. In the Vienna Airport/Schwechat train station, I was on the ticket vending machine immediately after him and probably seeing me buy a EUR 1.50 ticket instead of a EUR 3 ticket(since I have an annual pass for zone 1 Vienna), he asked me whether I needed help, probably thinking that I am a tourist. So then I started chatting with him and reminded him that we had met before. He's a nice guy, in his late 30s but a bit too contemplative and probably slightly boring too. We chatted until I got off at Wien-Mitte.

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PARIS TRIP: DAY 11: Paris (Gay Pride Parade)

Paris, Saturday, 24 June 06

(written on 13 July)

When I first started planning my trip in Paris, my main criterion was that it should include one of the long weekends that we have in Austria in May and June. Thursday, 15 June was one such holiday, and so that weekend could be included in my trip. Since the Gay Pride (or CSD) Parades are usually in June (most of the German ones have been moved to July/August this year because of the football World Cup), I had made sure that I planned it in such a way that I could attend the Parisian one. This was today.
[click on the photos to enlarge them; lots of photos in the full post...]

I woke up and updated my journal for a while. Christophe said he'd be going out grocery shopping and I was welcome to join him. Christophe is quite particular about eating Bio (organically grown) food and for that he wanted to go to a particular market which has a large Bio-food stall. But first he took me to two huge shopping complexes next door to each other-- the name and the location escapes me-- he particulary wanted to show me the beautiful ceiling of the first one. It was gorgeous and I really regretted not carrying my camera with me.

The market was huge and fun. I was tempted by all the cheese they had and mentioned to Christophe that I wanted to take back some cheese and it would be great if he could help me select some amongst the thousands of possibilities. He suggested we do that later, or on Sunday morning. The sole Bio stall in there was too expensive (Bio-food in expensive anyway, but here things seemed to be really high. So he decided to go to another market where he usually buys stuff from. We had wasted a bit of time so we took a taxi. This time the prices were more reasonable, and he bought a lot of stuff. We then went to a butcher's shop nearby, and finally walked back.

Renaud had gone out, Christophe thought to the gym, and was back soon afterwards. I had lunch with them. Greek salad (and ouzo) and then fruits.

Christophe works in a call centre and manages a big team. Their office was moving that weekend and he had to go in that afternoon to make sure that everything was ok, but that would be after the computer installations were done. So he didn't know when that would-- they would call him. That was a pity, as that meant that he couldn't go for the parade.

Renaud said that he was very tired from the previous week and wanted to get some sleep. But he would certainly go to the parade and would call me when he got there.

The parade had started at 1 pm, and it was past 3 pm. It begins at one end of Boulevard St. Michel and then through Boulevard St. Germain goes to Place de la Bastille.
I calculated that it would be somewhere in the middle of Boulevard St. Germain and took the Metro to Jussieu. My calculation was just about right-- I had reached the fag end of the parade. So I walked along taking photos, to the beginning where the first float was just about reaching Place de la Bastille, and then walked back, and again towards Bastille.

The parade and the crowds of participants and onlookers were huge as I had expected.

I bought a rainbow flag from a very cute guys selling flags and other stuff one could wear. Unfortunately I didn't take his photo...

There were lots of interesting groups like "Association of Gay and Lesbian Parents and Future Parents", an association of sportsmen, a group from the French gay television channel "Pink TV" and so on.

There was a sizable group of people carrying banners saying that they were parents or family of homosexuals.

This was really fantastic... they should try to have such groups in the Vienna parade as well.

As usual, there were beautiful and interesting costumes.

Lovely guys.

Some of whom had climbed up on traffic lights or on top of bus stops.

There were guys who were were bent on doing a strip tease on the streets.

I realized that Renaud had called, and left a message, but I didn't hear my mobile in the din. His number doesn't show up, so I couldn't call him back.

He said he'd be in Bastille, but there were so many people there, that I couldn't find him. He called a few times, but each time I missed it.

The centre of Place de la Bastille has a huge column surrounded by a wall and grilled fence. People were all over the over the wall and on the steps leading to the column. There was a stage high above on one side of the square, and there was a lot of singing and music and huge crowds were dancing. There were some young guys on the fence around the column who were dancing and stripping. There was a particularly cute guy, who came very very close to "baring all" during this.

Around 8 pm (when the stuff on the stage ended), I called Prashanth. He and his partner had had their farewell party picnic (they are leaving for Hongkong in August, or is it September?) that afternoon on the quay near Place St. Michel, and so hadn't come for the parade. Since tonight was the last opportunity to meet up, he had suggested that I call up after the parade and we could meet up.

We met up near the Hotel de Ville at 8:30 pm.

Funnily enough, a gay couple that I had contacted through Couchsurfing (who wanted to meet up during the parade, but we couldn't because of bad planning/coordination) were walking by in a group, and apparently saw me waiting there and recognized me. They stopped and looked at me, but didn't say anything because I didn't respond. I don't remember this at all, and of course didn't remember what they looked like, so there was not question to recognizing them among the thousands of people I saw walking by that day. The whole silly episode could have been avoided had they given me their mobile number as I had requested instead of giving me their landline. Anyways, probably I can meet them when I visit Paris again for the conference in September if I have enough spare time from the conference and lab activities.

Prashanth and I went to this place that I had been the previous Saturday (on his recommendation)-- I have forgotten the name again. This time the place was quite packed. There were a lot of people dancing. We were sitting at the side and once when Prashanth had gone to the loo, I was probably gyrating a bit and a black kid dragged me to the dance floor and said I shouldn't be shy and dance properly. I am usually hesitant to dance, but when I get down to it in a gay environment, I do end up enjoying it. The kid was from Canada and was here with his sister. Prashanth came back and also danced.

Interestingly, while in a bar, I saw this kid come into the bar with an lady in her 50s, probably her mother. They just sat for a while, had a drink or two and left. It was really nice to see that. She had probably participated in the parade too to support her son.

Prashanth's friends were having dinner somewhere and were supposed to call him when they got here. But they seemed to be having an endless dinner. We were hungry too, so we went out and ate in a nearby shop-- I ate a quiche and an extremely sweet pie that I couldn't finish.

We strolled a bit and then his friends arrived. Jean-Philippe and Marc, an Italian guy (Andrea?), and another couple, one of whom (Mathieu) was extremely cute. There was the endless discussion/debate of where to go and what to do, and around 12:30 am people decided on a cocktail bar. I never got the name, but the name means "Stories" or "Floors" as one pays for the drinks in the ground floor and goes up to any one of its floors.

A straight couple, I think a friend of the Italian guy, joined us. The guy had blondish longish curled hair, and was very gorgeous. Both Prashanth and I agreed that he was gorgeous, but Jean-Philippe didn't. Apparently he only finds people with black (not just dark) hair attractive.

At around 2:30 pm the rest of the gang wanted to go dancing, I would have joined them, but since Sunday was my last day, I didn't dare. Jean-Philippe is not into clubbing, so he went back home. Prashanth went to the sauna, presumably "on the prowl" and I waited for a taxi.

I wasn't getting to see any empty ones at all, when a Vietnamese (as I learnt later) guy walked up to me and asked me whether I was looking for a taxi. He offered to drive me back for EUR 15. I frankly didn't have much of an idea about the geography and I agreed. Christophe later told me that it was way more than a taxi would have charged me and that I could have easily walked back. Well at 3 am in an unfamiliar city the night before I leave, EUR 15 is ok, I guess.

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PARIS TRIP: DAY 10: Paris

Paris, Friday, 23 June 06

9:30 am
I got up at 7:45. Christophe was leaving at around eight, and he said Renaud had left earlier. He said they (certainly he) would be back early tonight and suggested we go out for dinner or something. That would be nice. I haven’t really go to talk to them much, especially not to Renaud. He also said that Renaud’s cousin who was supposed to visit during the weekend isn’t coming, so I could easily stay on.
I updated the journal with the little that happened yesterday, and then stupidly, read three short stories from a book that Leonie had lent me for the trip, but I had not started. That was silly as there isn’t a lot of time left in Paris, and there is still a lot to see. I also need to check the internet, and call the lady who had offered to host me today and tomorrow.

(written on 24 June)
Another partly wasted day. I continued reading Leonie’s book (short stories by Ruth Rendell) until it was midday, and then I showered and got out at 1 pm. First I went to St. Michel and had a proper lunch (a set menu) at a restaurant nearby, and then I went to the internet place were I still had two or three Euros’ time. I took down the phone number of the lady who had offered to host me for today and tomorrow. I have to call her and let her know that I won’t be going to her place. I also took down some of the addresses I still have to send postcards to.

I had a brief telephone conversation with Prashanth because he texted me to suggest that I go and have a drink at their place later in the evening. He and his partner Sammy, are moving to Hongkong soon, and they were having a farewell party picnic on Saturday, an unfortunate selection of date as neither of them will be able to go for the Gay Parade. I had been invited, but won’t be going for the same reason. They were preparing for the party and hence couldn’t go out. But since I was to go out with Christophe and Renaude, I suggested we meet up after their party on Saturday, if they still had the stamina and enthusiasm.

I took the Metro to Pere Lachaise, the cemetery where a lot of famous people are buried. My guidebook, Time Out Paris, suggests a small tour, but despite being a British publication, doesn’t mention Wilde! How terribly stupid and ignorant! I have decided to write to them and point out this and other mistakes. I think Balzac’s grave is also incorrectly marked, but I wasn’t able to get there (or to Wilde’s) because it closed before that. I have to go there again on Saturday morning. I only one I could find were that of Chopin, a few others and of and the Egyptologist and decipherer of Hieroglyphics, Champollion.

Chris had suggested visiting the Gare de Lyon station, because he thought it was cool, so I took a train to near there. It was indeed an impressive glass building, but I couldn’t see anything particularly special. I then crossed the bridge and walked to Bibliotheque Francois Mitterand. This was very impressive. It was huge, and also made of glass, but had an interesting architecture. I approached it from behind and walked up a large flight of wooden stairs and then found myself on top of the main part of the square building. But from each of the vertices, arose huge tower of floors of two wings each, perpendicular to each other.
Since it was already past seven, I walked to the Metro with a lady I had asked for directions, and took the No. 14. Fabien had suggested that I try it out because it was the most modern of the lines, and driverless. And indeed, I am glad I tried it. The trains are different from the others, and look more like the new u-bahn trains they have in Vienna sometimes. These No. 14 trains are of course driverless as I mentioned, and the platforms interestingly have a shell on the tracks, that opens and closes with the door of the trains. This is an effective way of preventing suicide on the tracks, I guess. However, the doors of the trains would close after a certain time even if there were people waiting to get in.

I got back at 8 pm, and Christophe was already back. We had a drink and some strawberries and chatted until past nine. We chatted about various things, about him, his very open-minded family, his coming to Paris with his previous partner (who was about 20 years older than him and was killed in a car accident), about politics, but Sarkozy and Villepin, about Chirac, about Royale. Renaud had called and said he would meet us at a Japanese restaurant at 9:30. We walked to the restaurant, which is on a street full of Japanese restaurants, and most of these do not serve sushi! Renaud arrived a little later. Apparently he had not been able to sleep the previous night, and had woken up around 3 am, and went to his office at 5 am. He was of course really tired. But funnily enough he had an appointment with a dentist at 11:30 pm! He wanted to visit a dentist, and someone had told him of a dentist that sees patients until midnight so he had to have an appointment that very day. So like Juerg! He works with the Interior Ministry, for the Police now. He is a Political Scientist and Economist by training, and has been with the ministry for seven years. I asked him about Sarkozy as a boss, and I liked the reply. He said Sarkozy is a good minister (as I had suspected), but Renaud wouldn’t vote for him.
Dinner was interesting, Christophe ordered thick noodles and something, and Renaud and I order rice with some batter-fried shrimp and vegetables. Not bad. I requested that I pay the bill, Christophe didn’t want me to, but looked at Renaud to take a decision, and Renaud agreed with some hesitation.
We strolled around to the Palais Royal, which is the highest administrative court. They were hoping against hopes that the garden inside would be open, and it indeed was (probably because of the restaurants inside, like the Burggarten in Vienna is open for the Palmenhaus). There were some chairs lying around the fountain, and we sat on them for a while, until Renaud said that he had to go for his appointment. Christophe and I walked back, and he treated me to a huge ice cream on the way back. Renaud was back almost immediately after we returned, and understandably went to bed soon. Christophe and I chatted a bit more, about his childhood fascination with Brigette Bardot, and he showed me a huge book of photographs of her that he had bought long ago, probably as a teenager, and some of the photographs of her that he had collected from various places. Among these were also a group photo during his youth, and wow! wasn’t he good looking! Actually he still is, at 39.
I tried to read a bit, but couldn’t after a couple of pages, and went to sleep.

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PARIS TRIP: DAY 9: Paris

Paris, Thursday, 22 June 06

10 am
I got up at 8:45 today (probably woke up at 8:00 because of floor creaking). I have been updating the journal since then. Renaud probably left at 8:30, and Christophe left at around 9:15.
I haven’t decided what I’ll do today. Today is the last day of my stretched museum card, so I might go to the Pantheon again, and try the Science and Technology museum which was not in my original itinerary. Renaud had suggested a museum that seems to be included in the museum card. Anyways, I should hurry up and get out soon.

(written on 23 June)
Well, all the above resolutions seem were gone, and I wasted the whole day reading a book from my hosts’ collection, Christopher Isherwood’s A Berlin Diary all day long. After I finished it, I went to the Palais Royale (which houses the Louvre) and walked along its gardens, the Tuilleries and then along the Champs Elyses to the Arch di Triomphe.

I took a lot of photographs there and then took the Metro to Hotel de Ville where I met Chris, with whom I had chatted with on the internet. He is originally from Poland, has been living in France since he was 13 (he is 32 now), and in Paris since 6 years. We went to a nice bar in the Marais.
He said he was terribly tired because the previous night he was out with his friends and while going back, he was chatting with a guy at the bus stop and they went back to his place; he had finally been able to go to sleep only at 5 am. He was nice to talk to, and certainly good looking; I wished he hadn’t made a conquest the previous night, and wasn’t so tired, else there might have been a chance. Disappointingly, romance seems to be out of question during this trip, but to be honest, I am not really trying either.


We left at 11:30 pm and I got a sandwich from the only shop that was open in Rue Cadet and got back just past midnight. I had to take the sandwich home because it was quite large and I couldn't eat it on the way. Both my hosts seemed to have retired to bed. I did too after finishing my sandwich.

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PARIS TRIP: DAY 8: Paris (Fete de la Musique)

Paris, Wednesday, 21 June 06

12:57 pm
I got up around 7:45. The light didn’t disturb me much, but the although the doors were closed, the creakiness of the wooden floors in the flat, and above and below the flat, did. As I waited for the office-goers to get ready, I updated this journal.
Renaud left at 8:30 and Christophe, past nine. Since today is the summer solstice, all France celebrates it as Fete de la Musique, a music festival everywhere, often free. Prashanth had suggested I join him and his friends—I am yet to check with him about their plans. So I suggested to Christophe that since Renaud is coming back late again, Christophe could join us after he gets back. So Christophe gave me his mobile number to call him around 9 pm.
I was feeling rather lethargic and sleepy, so I napped a bit and I kept writing the journal until it is up to date now. I haven’t decided what exactly I should do today (there is a lot anyway), but I’ll have a shower and figure out soon. I have carefully changed the date on my 4-day Museum Pass from 15 June to 18 June, so if they cannot detect that it was over-written, I have today and tomorrow to go into these museums for free.

(written on 22 June)
By the time I finally reached the Picasso Museum, it was already 4 pm. Although some stuff was interesting, I really am not into this kind of art… but one never knows. In Madrid I was almost done with a room full of Dalis (of course they are different), when I stopped at one, something clicked and I had to go around the room again, spending two hours there. But I think I finished the Picasso museum in 20 minutes. I got two quiches from a shop in the Marais and ate them on the Centre Pompidou courtyard, and went inside. I do like the architecture of this place with exposed pipes and all. Of the two or three floors for the permanent collection, only one was open, the rest was under renovation. This floor was mainly on Movement, i.e., about motion pictures. There were several interesting exhibits, but by and large, nothing of particular interest. I am glad I didn’t spend extra money on the Picasso and Pompidou museums. I bought a book of framable prints of Escher from the museum shop, although the museum collection probably doesn’t have any Eschers. I thought the 10 EUR was reasonable enough.

Just outside the Centre Pompidou, there was a Serbian group (they must have been Serbian, because it was outside the Serbian cultural center or something like that) dancing to very lively music. Close by, there was a big crowd around an Asian (looked Chinese) percussion orchestra, who were really very good. I loitered around a bit and then called Prashanth at around 7:30 pm, but got his answering machine. I left a message on his phone. During that evening I unsuccessfully called him several times, and either got the answering machine, or the phone went on ringing.

So I went into the Notre Dame. A children’s choir was singing, and then an organ recital started. I sat there for a while (although I don’t like the sound of the organ) because it was raining outside, and then went outside to the bridge nearby where some guys were rollerblading and jumping with them on large heights.

It was very interesting, and I watched that until it ended.

Afterwards, I strolled around, got a sandwich, lost my way, strolled around more, and went to the Marais. It started raining, and rained almost continuously till midnight. There were different groups of people playing loud music and dancing, and I joined one of them. Prashanth sent me a text message saying that they were also in the Marais; and after some confusion with about the road they were in, I finally joined them at 12:30 am. The group had Prashanth and his partner, Sam, Jean-Philippe and Mark, and two others. There was some tension in the air, probably on account of everybody’s being forced to wait for me. Not only here, but before as well. They were to have a picnic at 7 pm, and I first called them at 7:30 pm. Apparently since the weather was not good, the picnic dispersed quickly, but nevertheless they had waited for me for a while before they all went to Jean-Philippe’s house. For some reason, the mobile connection there is bad, and hence I had been getting Prashanth’s answering machine [later on of course when they were out it would have been difficult to hear the phone ringing… even I didn’t hear the rings when he called]. Jean-Philippe also didn’t agree with spending Fete de la Musique with Marais music, and I think Prashanth wanted to or thought I wanted to. I actually agree with Jean-Philippe… the whole idea, after all, is that there are live performances of very diverse kinds all around the city and why should one dance to recorded music in the Marais on this day. Anyways, Jean-Philippe seemed in a rather grumpy mood, and he and Prashanth had some arguments in French, and then they all decided to leave. I strolled around a bit more, and decided to take the last trains at around 12:55 am. But alas, that was a bit too late to decide that, as the Metro stops at 1 pm, and for this night there would be a skeletal service running all night. However I did not have the pamphlet for the Fete de la Musique and hence didn’t know what was running. I took the train from Hotel de Ville to Chatelet to get the No. 7, but that stopped a couple of minutes before I reached. So I took another one to the closest station I could find, and then walked for about 20 minutes before I reached Renaud and Christophe’s place at around 2 pm.

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PARIS TRIP: DAY 7: Tours (Azay-le-Rideou, Villandry), Paris

Tours and Paris, Tuesday, 20 June 06

(written on 21 June)
I got up at 7:30 when Guillaume and Fanny were leaving for their university and said goodbye. I left before the Helene and Annika came got up. Helene had given me her mobile number, to make sure that she would be at home so that I could get my luggage before going back to Paris.

I had decided to take the tour with the other company, Touraine Evasion. We started in a similar van with 5 other people, neither of them very friendly and I didn’t get to speaking to any of them, and another French companion of the tour guide, Nicole. Unlike Pascal from the day before, she was more of a driver who spoke English, than a guide. She didn’t give any history or background of any of the places we visited. Not that it was really required.
We first went to Azay-le-Rideau. This chateau is small, and rather simple, but really very pretty. Strangely enough, the crowds preferred to be inside, than outside, so I got ample opportunity for photographs, especially with reflections in the moat.

My last chateau of the Loire valley was Villandry, famous for its gardens, which are really beautiful.
We didn’t go inside the chateau, but explored the vast gardens for more than an hour.

I am really glad that I decided to tour the Loire valley. The idea of doing this from Tours also was a good idea. The other options would have been from Blois or Orleans, and in fact I had considered staying in Tours for a day and then moving to one of the other two, because different chateaux are closer to different places. That would have made sense if I were using public transport or trains. But with the organized tours, Tours was perfect. The chateaux I liked best were Chambord, Chenonceau and Azay-le-Rideau, but I am very glad I visited the Cheverny. Amboise and Villandry, I could have done without but I certainly don’t regret doing them.

We got back in Tours at 1 pm, half an hour later than scheduled. I got a sandwich and went back. Helene was watching TV, a show about how the French are perceived abroad. We got into discussing this and then moved on to politics, when suddenly at 1:45, she realized she had to run for an appointment with the doctor. We decided that I would go out to visit Tours and she would finish shopping and get back by 4:15 pm, so that I could come back and get my luggage. But I was tired, and had a nap instead and sat on the internet after that. We said goodbyes and I walked to the station, a bit late. The ticket machines were too slow, so I went into the ticket counters and just managed to get my ticket and get on the train I had planned to take at 4:55 pm left.
In hindsight, I should have stayed back in Tours and taken a late train to get back to Paris late, but I had not been able to contact my next hosts, Renaud and Christophe on telephone, and Renaud hadn’t gotten around to answering my last message.
I reached Paris at 7 pm, and took the Metro to the station nearest to Renaud and Christophe place. I only had their home phone number, and Christophe had warned me that they rarely get back before 8 pm, but usually later, or much later. I kept calling them to see if they had arrived. I tried to find their place, but following Murphy’s law, I mistook the direction of their place in every possible way after I finally reached their place. I found an internet place nearby, and browsed for half an hour, and then went back to their place (I could enter the building using the entry code that Renaud had given me) and left my suitcase near their door, and then called and left a message on their answering machine. I had dinner at restaurant nearby—a starter with duck pate and salad and a main course of chicken casserole with couscous, nothing great. Then I called again at around 10:15 pm—Christophe was back.

Christophe doesn’t speak English very fluently, but can manage. He is a nice guy, 38, and very friendly and helpful. He apparently used to work in a bank before, but quit and took a 17-month holiday, and now works in a call center, and is having a busy period at work. He is from the South West of France (Renaud, he said, is from the South East) and has been living in Paris since 14 years or so. They have been together for 8 years now. We were chatting about various things when Renaud came back at around 11:30 pm. He had had an official dinner, and would have one again the following day. Renaud reminds me very much of Jürg Müller, my PhD supervisor, both in looks and mannerisms, though of course, the latter was very absent minded and could be rather abrupt. Renaud suggest a lot of places I could visit, and walks I could do. Let’s see what I get around to doing.

Their flat is quite big. One inters into a small passage that leads to a tiny toilet, the kitchen and the dining room. The dining room leads to the living room, which in turn leads to a narrow corridor that is like a wardrobe as well and from there to their bedroom. Their bathroom is attached to their bedroom. But I am glad that the toilet not in their bedroom, like in Guillaume’s place. The largish kitchen also opens to the narrow corridor in front of their bedroom. So there are two parallel ways of going to the toilet or going out from their bedroom. The floors as usual, are creaky wooden. Wooden floors do feel nice and look lovely, the creakiness irritates me.Christophe was worried about my sleeping in their living room as the windows do not have opaque curtains, and is consequently very bright in the early morning, which he feared would disturb my sleep. The other option would be to remove the dining table and set up a folding bed there. But I insisted that the living room would be fine, and they shouldn’t take the trouble of having to reorganize the dining room.

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