Tirez! Tirez!

I'm back from Paris and Luxembourg. Paris was beautiful. The five days I was there, the weather was perfect. The sky was blue, the sun was out and there was not a cloud to be seen in the sky. I walked every morning, to the arc de triomphe, the champs elysses and all along Foch avenue (of course I walked through many more avenues and lanes to connect the three, but thats more or less the roundabout walking tour a la plumpie - thanks for the new moniker sistahsuzy) drinking in the spring air, fresh, crisp and so Parisian! I saw most of the touristy places Montmarte, the Louvre, the Orsay museum, Le Maraise, the Eiffel tower, the latin quarter and the Notre-dame. My camera broke the first day I landed in Paris and I was glad. It took the pressure off me to take interesting pictures and prove how happening the trip was. All around me the ladies (and some men too) concentrated on interesting shots (the americans found everything awesome and every five minutes you could hear loud american "awesomes!" ) and I concentrated on recording the sights into my brain. I wanted to capture and preserve and bottle every beautiful sight.

The Louvre and Orsay tours were too quick and I suppose I need to return once again to browse through both leisurely at my own pace. I loved walking along the swish shops near the Louvre. You had just about every design house shop there. The clothes, shoes, bags and girly things were so mouth wateringly yummy, and so prohibitively expensive!

I started my day with crepes every single day. I've never eaten such lovely, melting-in-the-mouth buttery crepes before. Every single day I ate oysters and mussels (or mousels, as the french say it) by the bushel. I blew up my money on food. I only ate french food except for one dinner that we had at a sushi bar, and I now know why french food is the best! I ate dozens of breads (baguettes, walnut rolls and olive breads) at darling boulangeries and drank gallons of wine, coffee and tea at the sidewalk cafes. As a result Plumpernickel is 2 pounds heavier because sadly she does not have the french metabolism. Genes! Sigh!

From Paris, I bought back bread, wine, perfume, prints and one painting of Montmarte bought at the Montmarte flea market. Its not a painting, its an ink and watercolour. I bargained with the artist (I hated doing that, but I'm so poor I could cry and I really wanted to buy a painting that would remind me of Montmarte that to me seemed to be right out of an impressionist panting) and I helped a Norwegian lady get a painting too, driving a bargain that would put any Lajpat nagar aunty to shame.

My wallet was pickpocketed along with all my credit cards and Indian cash and that was the only thing I hated about my Paris trip. It hurt like hell. I had some things that are irreplaceable like my nephew's pictures, some phone numbers and one letter. I hate losing my hard-earned money and I hope the person who stole my money really needed it. I hate losing money to bum-fucked cads. I'd rather lose it to a down and out loser.

Luxembourg came and went so fast it seems like a dream. Professionally the trip was very successful and hopefully after one year, I might be working in Europe! My fingers are crossed tightly. Michel and Maria are bringing me luck or so it seems!

Returning to Delhi, I went to my college and met the gaggle of old biddies. It was good to see the women. Something's changed though. It still is mucho fun to kid with them, but my friends are now bothered about careers, life and choices and that takes away the fun. We talked about old times (read: all the crazy things I used to say and do) and our adventures and misadventures and I missed being that young and carefree again. The girls and I went for lunch and then they dropped me at the airport. They were suitably impressed by the car I get from work in Delhi and I felt somewhat embarrassed. Also met my favourite professors and they remembered me!

This trip has been somewhat overwhelming. I had to make many important decisions and the trip gave me the perspective to make them. I'm so glad that I had Paris to help me make my decisions. I have to go back to Paris again, atleast that is one thing that I've decided, even if I dont stick to my other decisions!