An Ode to the Pain au Chocolat

My first introduction to ‘pain au chocolat’ was when I was an exchange student in Brussels in 2005. Pain au chocolat translates literally into ‘bread with chocolate’ – it’s a rectangular croissant with chocolate filling – but that’s a very prosaic way of describing something that tastes like a slice of heaven. So there was this little bakery right opposite our apartment in Brussels, and I’d go there every morning and order a pain au chocolat and a hot chocolate, and walk to class, and that was the nicest way to start my day.

Since then, I have always longed for the pain au chocolat. I came across them again at my hotel in Cambodia (remember, they were a French colony) and on an Italian cruise ship – but nobody makes it quite like the French do.

So one of the things at the top of my list for Paris was to have pain au chocolat for breakfast. And I did, every single day. Not  but two. Yeah, TWO, EVERY SINGLE DAY. No wonder my mornings in Paris always started off on such a happy note. 

P.S: And I thought I would lose weight during this trip. Huh!

Day One: A Perfect Day in Paris

I first visited Paris as an exchange student in Europe in 2005, and fell under it’s spell. I was going to come back. And come back I did, even though it took me seven long years. And the city was as gorgeous as ever.

To me, Paris is a city of magic, and I am happy to be under it’s spell. The Seine cutting across the city, stunning Haussmann architecture, the twinkling lights of the Eiffel, and world class museums, cafes and parks – this is a city that one can never get enough of. This time, we were going to stay for a whole week, in the hope that we could get a taste of Paris.

We started our first day in Paris with a visit to Notre Dame de Paris. This masterpiece of French Gothic architecture is very impressive, and has some of the most intricate stained glass windows I have seen.

After a quick lunch near the cathedral, we set off on a walking tour of the Latin Quarter, on the left bank of the Seine. We chose Discovery Walks – they offer free guided tours in Paris (and other cities) but tips are expected. I like this model because you pay what you think the tour is worth; but it’s nice if you are generous and fair when tipping.

The Latin Quarter is a historic part of the city with old buildings, original cobblestone alleys; and was home to Dante, Hemingway and other artists. Our guide Tomas was energetic, enthusiastic and lots of fun. He was a student at the Sorbonne (which is the heart of the Latin Quarter) so he interspersed historical facts with interesting personal anecdotes. The 90 minute tour ended at the Place de la Sorbonne, and we just sat there and took in the young, fun vibe of the place.

We then walked along the river bank, crossed one of the picturesque bridges, and wandered around the leafy island of Ile St. Louis (there are two islands in the middle of the Seine: the grand Ile de la Cite houses the cathedrals and palaces while the charming Ile St. Louis is more residential).

I bought a mocha ice-cream at the legendary Berthillon, and OHMYGOD, it was the most fabulous ice-cream ever (and yes, I’ve had gelato in Italy). The flavours simply explode in your mouth. DO NOT miss this when you’re in Paris.

We eventually found ourselves at the stunning Hotel de Ville. There was a (free!) exhibition titled “Paris in Hollywood” so we checked it out, and then just sat at the square in front of the building and absorbed the gorgeous views.

Our last stop for the day was the Eiffel Tower. It was a long day so decided to go up the tower another day; but this time we just sat on the lawns and stared up at the tower, and then crossed over and walked along the river bank – the view of the Eiffel Tower across the river was incredible; and just as we were going to leave, the twinkling lights came on, and it was a perfect end to a perfect first day in Paris.

Such a Long Journey

Our flight from Chennai to Abu Dhabi was over an hour late; and we had only an hour and a half to catch our connecting flight to Paris. Despite that concern, I had a very comfortable flight. Etihaad Airways was fabulous: the crew, the food, the in flight entertainment and the service were all top notch – among the best on any international flight I have been on!

I ate a pretty tasty and hot breakfast, saw a strange Egyptian movie about three sisters who inherit a cabaret (I mean, it was really REALLY strange), saw a couple of episodes of Parks and Recreation, and then dozed off quite comfortably  and woke up only on landing in Abu Dhabi.

In Abu Dhabi we were informed that we had missed our connection to Paris, and the airlines was trying to find the next best connection for us. Eventually we were told that we’d have to fly to Doha from Abu Dhabi, and then catch another flight to Paris from there. It was going to be a long, long flight.

My biggest worry was about how we would get the keys to the apartment in Paris – the apartment owner was leaving for Canada that evening, and we’d now reach Paris only at night. The airline guy arranged a calling card for us and I spent our time at the airport frantically calling the apartment owner in Paris. She finally answered on my fourth try (even as we were being asked to board our flight to Doha) and assured me that she would leave the keys at the all night store opposite the apartment. That was one problem resolved!

We had a short 30 minute flight to Doha, where they served us sandwiches and juice and then took them away even before we were finished because we were already landing! We then had a wait of another few hours in Doha. I liked the Abu Dhabi airport more than the Doha airport, which was more like a giant shopping mall (Dubai International Airport, now see what you’ve gone and done!). But it’s probably a good thing I liked the Abu Dhabi airport because we are going to be spending seven hours in transit there on our return flight (and you can ask me my opinion on the airport after THAT).

The last leg was Doha – Paris. I usually love international flights – I love airline food, I love watching movies some 30000 feet up in the air, I love all the free beverages, and I even love the static caused by the airline blankets – I’m eccentric like that, but all this plane hopping and lounging around in transit was getting even to me, and I just wanted to reach Paris now.

But it was a good flight. The plane was rather empty so we had the entire row of four seats to ourselves, and could even pop over to the set of two seats on either side. We were served drinks and snacks first, and a pretty good meal afterwards. I watched Brave, and then a Parks and Recreation marathon, and finally I stretched out across all four seats and slept all the way to Paris.

We cleared immigration and customs, got all our luggage (did not forget the tripod this time!) and headed out of the airport. And then came the most painful part of this journey: getting ourselves and all our luggage to the apartment. We first took an airport shuttle from the arrivals terminal to the RER station, then the RER to Denfert Rocherau station, and then we had to walk for over 20 minutes with all that luggage before we finally came to the apartment and the grocery store. And then came the unkindest cut of all: the apartment was on the fourth floor, there was no lift, the stairs were the narrow, curving kind, and there were no lights on the staircase. And we had to do this with a mountain load of luggage. By the time we made it to the apartment, we felt like we had conquered Mt Everest.

We would later feel that the apartment was worth it: it was a lovely studio, beautifully decorated and with lots of character. It was in a very lively area, full of parks, local markets and restaurants, and very close to public transport. The lady who stayed in the apartment was renting it out because she was traveling during this time – I found it through airbnb, and strongly recommend trying it out if you want to stay in a place which gives you a taste of how it is to live in a particular city or town.

But all this gloating about our apartment choice would come much later. For that night, we were just happy to have made it to the apartment without dropping dead somewhere on the way, and to have a sleeping surface that was completely flat. And that we were finally in Paris! What more could we ask for?

No Pain, No Gain

We decided that we wouldn’t plan our travel till we had our visas in hand. Our travel agent called us on 5th October to confirm that we’d got our Schengen visas, and we immediately started looking up flight tickets. I basically looked at flying out of every possible Indian city and into every possible European city – and by the end of the day, I was tearing my hair out! But all that hard work paid off when I chanced upon an excellent deal: outgoing from Chennai to Paris, and return from Rome to Kuala Lumpur on Etihad Airways for INR 34000! It was saving us atleast INR 20000 per head compared to the next best option (which would involve Chennai – Paris – Chennai tickets + Rome – Paris tickets + one night stay in Chennai + Chennai – KL tickets. Phew! But now you know why I should be your go to person for travel planning). So I did the happy dance, and booked the tickets for 15th October, and we had barely nine days to go before take off!

The next week was a blur of daytime activity and sleepless nights. The very next day I ran around getting our tickets and other documents together to apply for our Malaysia visa. And then booking accommodation for our first week in Paris, figuring out a rough itinerary, writing to/calling the embassies of the non EU countries to confirm that we could enter the country with a Schengen visa (I REALLY didn’t want to end up spending time in a communist era jail for entering or passing the country illegally).

In the middle of all this, I traveled from Vizag to Hyderabad, met up with family and friends, went clubbing, spent two days celebrating Gautam and Sarikas (Nikes brother and his wife) first wedding anniversary, fell ill, bought new contact lens, and got a haircut!

Sunday finally arrived – and Nike fell sick! What a start! He slept the whole day while I packed and took about a billion printouts. Gautam and Sarika dropped us off at the Hyderabad airport. In line with my idea of budget travel, I wanted to take the train from Hyderabad to Chennai, but the timings were very inconvenient, and Nike insisted we fly – a decision I was later grateful for, considering the long journey we had ahead of us!

Dinner at the airport and a short flight later, we were in Chennai by 10.30pm. Our flight was at 5am but they wouldn’t let us into the international departure terminal just yet. Thankfully, there was a Zara Tapas Bar right outside and we whiled away a few hours there before finally entering the terminal.

I always end up spending hours and hours at old, crappy airports, while I never have enough time in the swanky new airports. For example, I spent many, many hours waiting at the Kolkata airport (which is in appalling condition) while I’ve never had time to try the buffet breakfast or the bookstore sale at the Delhi airport – even though I fly through Delhi airport all the time. Just my luck! And in keeping with that trend, here I was, stuck in Chennai airport, with no wifi, and no decent restaurants, bookstores or shops.

Anyway, we finally checked in, and then Nike realised that he’d left his tripod at the domestic terminal – in fact, he’d never bothered to pick it up from the baggage carousel (and this will be a recurring theme in our travels). After scrambling around, we finally retrieved it, and completed check in and security check formalities. I’m always hoping when checking in to an international flight that they’d miraculously upgrade me to business class, but no such miracle happened this time (or any other time, for that matter). Instead, our flight was delayed by over an hour so we waited in the boarding area for about two hours (cue for another rant on appalling airport conditions) before we could board and we finally finally finally took off.

Erm. This was supposed to be just a paragraph but has become a post in itself (I really MUST learn to write crisply) so I’m going to end here for today.

Meanwhile, what’s the worst airport you guys have ever been to or had to wait in?

The Trip of a Lifetime

So Nike and I have just set out on what we think is going to be the trip of a life time – 10 weeks traveling across Europe and Asia. We started from home on 14th October 2012 and we will be back again on 3rd January 2013.

Nike quit his job in May and has been working virtually as an independent consultant since then. I quit my job in September to study further. However, my further study plans didn’t quite work out due to certain unexpected circumstances that came up in the last minute.  That was a massive disappointment, but suddenly we found ourselves with the time and the money to do a crazy trip like this before plunging back into the corporate world.

There were some initial reservations about doing a trip like this – the time, the effort, and the money involved in a ten week trip are rather intimidating. I think what really helped us was that we were both mentally prepared to be broke, maybe even in debt, by the time I finished my course by the end of next year. Now we weren’t going to be broke or in debt because of exorbitant tuition fees – so we thought “Okay, let’s spend this tuition fee fund on travel instead. We learn more by travelling than than by sitting in a classroom”. That’s cheesy, I know, but hey, we just needed an excuse!

We don’t really have a fixed itinerary. For now, we have spent a week in Paris. We are then flying into Romania, where we will spend about five days. Its an open itinerary after that – we are thinking of doing a loop around the Balkans – Bulgaria, Turkey, Croatia –  and then one of the Eastern European capitals, before making our way to Italy, where we will spend another week or ten days.

I’ve been to most of Western Europe as well as to the major cities of Eastern Europe so I wanted to do something very different this time, and yet I wanted to go to Europe again. This tentative itinerary seems perfect for us. We want to keep it open: we will stay back longer if we like a place, and we will leave quicker if we don’t. We may even completely change our itinerary midway if we come across something more interesting.

Travelling independently around the Balkan region is also quite challenging for us. We don’t personally know anyone else who’s travelled around this region before, so we find this part of the trip intimidating. But I think that’s actually great because it will make us step out of our comfort zone, and rediscover the challenges of travel.

After seven weeks in Europe, we will fly from Rome to Kuala Lumpur. My cousin, who lives in Malaysia, is getting married in December so we are going there for the wedding. My family will also be joining us there. We will be spending a week in Klang, Malaysia for the wedding festivities. Everyone, including Amma, is leaving after that; but Dad, Samee, Nike and I are staying back and visiting the Borneo Islands for a week.

Once we are back in KL from Borneo, my father and sister will leave for India; Nike and I fly to Koh Samui, Thailand. We will be there for a week – we intend to snorkel, get massages and chill on the beach at the end of a long trip. We will be spending New Years Eve there, and will be joined by Nike’s brother and his wife. We will then spend about 2 days in Bangkok, and finally back home.

Phew! I know! It’s a long, long trip. For me, the biggest challenge has been packing – winter wear for Europe, wedding wear for Malaysia, beach wear for Thailand. I’m lugging around a 20kg suitcase that looks like it will explode any minute. I’m not proud. I’ve however convinced Nike to put all his stuff into a 7kg backpack. Of that, I’m proud.

I hope to blog about this trip as regularly as possible. I’d like to post here at least twice a week; but I’m not making any promises. Like with everything else, let’s see how it goes 😉