Lille

For casual travelers Lille trip may not be as exciting as Paris or Lyon, but Lille was an exciting tour for us. It was the first tour in our Euro tour season and left us a very cool or rather chill experience.

Since we were not sure whether we can go out of France without OFII we started off our Euro tour with French states. Lille was the first location shortlisted by us. We had heard somewhere that you can stay in stations at night we planned such that we will stay back at Lille station at night. It’s only at 12 am that we got to know that we had to vacate the station and landed up in one of the benches and had 6 hours ahead of us in open air. Being in the Northern France, the temperature was touching 10 degree Celsius. Undoubtedly it was one of the longest nights in life.

Apart from the chilling experience, the best part of Lille was the visit to zoo. One of the attractions of the Lille as per the travel guide was Parc Loisirs de la Citadelle, which includes a zoo along with a playground and lot of rides for children. Though we never planned to visit the zoo, we found that the entry to the zoo was free and decided to check it out to kill time. The zoo houses lot of endangered animals and red panda was on the main attractions there.

Another tourist attraction is Place Général de Gaulle aka Grand' Place. You can find cobblestoned streets with lot of boutiques & resto - cafes. Those interested can visit the Opera house & Palais des Beaux Arts. You can also find lot of buildings and cathedral built in Gothic style.

Last but not the least must visit place in Lille to me is Meert, one of France’s most famous patisserie (bakery). Do try out few waffles from Meert. All in all it’s not a must visit place and you should explore Lille only if you happen to have spare time in your Euro trip schedule or you are staying in Lille.

Pics from Lille trip

Red Panda..Lille Zoo

Cathedral

Meert

Opera de Lille

Lille Zoo..Parc Loisirs de la Citadelle

Place Général de Gaulle aka Grand' Place

Hotel Carlton

Lyon & Paris in Pics

Saint Jean Cathedral

View from our apartment - Festival of lights

Cooking - Paella

Champions League match at Stade Gerland

Raft of Medusa - Louvre

Statue of Liberty on the Île des Cygnes

Stary Nights - Musee d’ Orsay

Monalisa look ;)

Showroom in Champs Elysees

Sacre Coeur Basilica

Eiffel :)

Paris, je t'aime

“We'll always have Paris” – the immortal line from the movie Casablanca used to be the first think that strike me when I hear Paris prior to visiting the city. Now there are so many images flashing through my mind – Stroll through Champs Elysees, a day in Louvre & Musee d'Orsay, Eiffel at night, visit to Sacre Coeur early morning – it has something in store for everyone. Some call it the romantic city, some call gastronomic paradise, some call it fashion capital, and for art connoisseurs it’s the Mecca of art - Bienvenue à Paris.

Let me start with Louvre – though its fame to a wider audience is through Davinci’s Mona Lisa (La Gioconda), it houses one of the world’s finest art collections –In a eagerness to see Mona Lisa don’t miss other fine works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Titan, Gericault & the works like The Raft of the Medusa, Venus de Milo, Nike of Samothrace, Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, list goes long. Another sight that will enthrall you will be artists copying the paintings. Last but not the least, the remarkable anti structure – The Inverted Pyramid – no one will miss it especially post Davinci Code. Please make sure that you spend the whole day (preferable on weekday to avoid the rush, never on 1st Sunday of the month as it’s free and there will be a long queue to even get inside the Museum).

Another must visit museum is Musee d’ Orsay. Thanks to our last minute planning, we had to stay in Paris during in between one of our Euro back packing tours. Though we had visited most significant tourist destinations, we started browsing through the city guide available in Paris station and decided to visit Musee d’ Orsay. We were in for a real surprise. It houses all the notable post impressionist master pieces – be it Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Rousseau or Monet. If you find time for more museums do visit the Museum of Modern Age (Musee de Cluny) & Musee de l'Orangerie. Being a big fan of Asterix, I was lucky enough to visit the special exhibition on Asterix on its Golden jubilee of publication in Musee de Cluny.

Rested on one of the city’s highest point is Sacre Coeur Basilica, built Romano-Byzantine architectural style. Don’t forget to capture the picturesque glimpse of Paris from there. On other end there is Notre Dame Cathedral famous for Gothic architecture. Best way to spend an evening in Paris is a stroll through Champs Elysees, do some window shopping in shops there, see Arc de Triumph & end up in Eiffel Tower after it is lighted. If you are in Paris for a longer duration you should not miss Chateau de Versailles, Pantheon & Sainte Chapell.

Last but not the least Paris has lot of eateries & houses almost all the fashion brands. If you are going with a younger population don’t forget the Disney land at Marne la Vallee in Paris.

Paris can boast off for having one of the best metro systems in the world. Backpackers should get the metro card which has got all the tourist locations. The hostels are a bit expensive and you can save money if you can book in advance. During our stay in Europe we ended up in Paris so many times. Once we had to go to Lyon & booked a train which stopped in Gare Lyon, which is in Paris. Since Gare means station we thought we were in Lyon and had to stay overnight in Paris. It’s hard to find hotels for cheap rates in Paris at the last moment and since it was a winter season we ended up paying extra cash for a room. Another advice to those travelling in Eurail; please make sure you are in right station as Paris has 3 main stations – Gare Lyon, Gare Nord & Gare East.

All said I had one of my best vacations in Paris.Je t'aime Paris...

Lyon - City of Lights

When it comes to Europe, it’s Lyon for me. Maybe I am biased at this so called “City of light” as it was our shelter for three and half months. I have made a lot of friends and had an amazing time in college, EM Lyon. We had an awesome apartment located at one of the most beautiful places in Lyon, Montee Du Chemin Neuf near Fourviere. Located in a beautiful hill, we had a fantastic view of Lyon. I hope this picture below captures some part of it.

Part of Rhone Alpes, Lyon has everything that the residents can boast off. Picturesque city with lot of historic & cultural locations and a place suited for all gastronomic adventures. Lyon has one of the best public transport systems in Europe. (Though there were perturbations which I heard was part and parcel of French system, we didn’t face any serious issue except for a 10 km walk once: P)
The highlights of city architecture are evident once you visit the city during the Festival of Lights (Fête des Lumières). It’s an annual festival during the first week of December and all the important attractions in the city are lit up in a grandiose manner during the fest.

A stroll in the Vieux Lyon would be a visual delight for historic travelers. One should not miss Saint Jean Cathedral. Then you can take the Funicular service (you can climb also) to reach the top of Fourvier hill and visit the Basilica there. Other important Squares in the city are Places des Terreaux, Hotel de Ville & Place Bellecour. Though city can’t boast of a great night life you can find lot of restaurants & pubs as well as lot of historical buildings there. If you happen to be travelling these places on weekends when Olympique Lyonnais, the local club is playing you can expect some noisy atmosphere. Otherwise nights are very silent. Talking about football, the enthusiasts should watch Olympique Lyonnais in their home ground “Stade de Garland”; preferably a Champions league match or other important Ligue 1 matches. Luckily I was able to watch a Champions League match where Lyon thrashed Hungarian side Debrecen VSC 4- 0. For one stop shopping needs you can rely on Centre Commercial located in Part-Dieu. It houses a large Carrefour hyper market along with many International Brand showrooms. For the movie buffs (those who love classics) you should visit the Lumiere Institute where they showcases some movie classics and houses lot of pictures. You can also enjoy Rhone river cruise as well as stroll in Parc de la Tête d'Or. (I have not tried these). For a casual traveler Lyon would be just another European city, but those who stay there for atleast a week will know the true warmth of Lyon.

Travelers can take a public transport card for 1 day which will cost 4.5 Euros and those who are planning to stay long should take the Tecile Card, which is valid for a month.

My Travel experiences

Finally I have decided to pen down my travel experiences. I am starting off with my European backpacking tours, undoubtedly one of the most memorable experiences so far. Special thanks to Arjun AV a.k.a Shishoo who was my companion in most of the Euro tour (you certainly made it memorable, be it your socializing skills you displayed at Interlaken, your innocence when questioned by Italian Police, Nobel prize winning proposition during Amsterdam canal ride, stopping here else I have to dedicate the blog for your pursuits alone :P ). And also thanks to Vinay Jose a.k.a Hose who after several persuasions accompanied us in couple of trips.