Saturday, May 28, 2011

Merci Beaucoup Papa! Part II

















The next day...well woke-up at half eight got dressed, had no plans what am I going to do but still excited! That’s weird, what a odd sensation. Anyways, Arc de Triomphe and then Champs Elysees is not far away from Le Meridien the hotel where I was staying. Therefore I decided to go there on my wheelchair. By the way the streets and pavements in Paris are all wheelchair accessible but most of the roads are cobbled hence the journey on a wheelchair is not very pleasant, its very bumpy.

There, turned left from the Le Meridien Hotel, passed the huge convention centre named Palais de Congress (this is where the cardiac PCR congress was held, so my Father was there during the day and I just gallivanted the streets of Paris), then comes a huge and by huge I mean reality huge roundabout called Place de le Porte Maillot. After crossing many roads I took the second turning Avenue de la Grande Armee, then straight till the Arc de Triomphe can be seen this is on a roundabout called Avenue des Champs Elysees. Unfortunately there is no wheelchair access, only a subway (steps that go down and then up again on to the Arc de Triomphe). So once again I had to round that huge roundabout and go straight on Avenue des Champs Elysees and I was on Champs Elysees now.

The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees (that is what they call those square shaped-up trees that run along Champs Elysees), it is one of the most famous streets in the world, and with rents as high as €1.1 million (US$1.5 million) annually per 1,100 square feet (92.9 square metres) of space, it remains the second most expensive strip of real estate in Europe, having recently (as of 2010) been overtaken by London's Bond Street. The name is French for Elysian Fields, the place of the blessed dead in Greek mythology. The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is known as "The most beautiful avenue of the world", La plus belle avenue du monde in French.

I visited the Dior shop and got a free make-over done, went into the famous Louis Vuitton shop, Oh my God! Even a teny-tiny purse was for 200 Euros...! but how ironic, on the other side of Champs Elysees they were all these fake Louis Vuitton bags being sold on the pavement, hehehe...how very comical. One more thing I observed was that they were so many beggars on the rich and posh Champs Elesees and sadly enough all were Muslims, one could tell as they were all wearing head scarves. I have taken loads of pictures, which I shall be uploading along with my blog.

For dinner we went to this awesome seafood restaurant called ‘Café Procope’ it, is called the oldest restaurant of Paris in continuous operation. It was opened in 1686 by the Sicilian Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli, the address is 13 Rue de Lancienne Comédie75006, Paris they also have they own website at http://www.procope.com/ (but its in French). The food was awesome, I had onion soup (it sounds a bit weird) but it was delicious, then I ordered a chilled sea food platter, had a very peculiar taste as it had a variety of sea food prawns, cockles, different types of shell fish, etc) but I enjoyed it all. Then dessert which was something chocolaty which was really scrumptious and I loved it all J.













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Friday, May 27, 2011

Merci Beaucoup Papa! Part I











Merci beaucoup means thank you very much in French and soon in this blog-post I shall tell why I titled this post as merci beaucoup. I made a four day trip at random and it was all worth it, enjoyed it a lot, although met up with my Dad in Paris (who convinced me to come) as he was invited at a cardiac convention in Paris, and I just tagged along from UK. However it was an awesome break which I think I needed so much and it was so worth it ... Bless him. And that is why I have named my blog-post merci beaucoup...a big ‘thank you very much to my Father’.

The weather was great and by great I mean awesome and warm and sunny. Food was the best had lovely authentic French food at ‘Chez Georges’ on the first day. It was a lovely road side restaurant in 273 Boulevard Pereire, 75017 Paris, France, +33 1 45 74 31 00 ‎chez-georges.com, right opposite the Palais de Congres (that is the convention centre where the cardiac congress PCR was held). It was also very close to our hotel, Le Meridien Etoile (which was awesome, thank you, merci beaucoup Dad!) Please do go there its lovely, the food is delicious and the decor is breath taking. I had lamb shoulder, and oh my word the meat was so, so tender! I had escargots (snails) as an appetizer and the desert was creamy, chocolaty and scrumptious. And our host that Mr. Suleman our host from Ferozsons Laboratories Limited, what a fine young man he is, well mannered and also tall and handsome but married...sad!

Anyways, my evening was the best. I have also taken many pictures and shall be also uploading them along with my blog-post. We left the restaurant at about midnight, I know it sounds very late but life starts in Paris after dark. The shops at the famous Champs Elysees close at half eleven and the road side cafes and bistros seem as they never close, as the French say ‘L'enjeu est magnifique et la nuit est jeune’ meaning the challenge is great and the night is young.

So it all began, the idea to visit Paris was my Father’s, it would be nice short break for you he’d say and yes he was right it was a fantastic break. He had to be there as he was invited to attend the Euro PCR 2011 for four days. Well he flew by plane from Karachi, Pakistan all the way to Paris whereas I came by train (Euro Star) from Ashford, UK; it takes just two hours to reach Paris by train, sweet! The best part is that going with my Father means free accommodation, plus I get to go out for all these awesome dinners and night-outs for free. I know it sounds kind of ... not interesting maybe but it’s worth it all as it’s said ‘sometimes to lose something, in-order to get something’, and even I found out (I really don't know if this is going to interest you but it sure does interest me as I am the daughter of a Cardiologist) apparently a pacemaker has been invented which is the size of a capsule and it has a seven year battery. It shall be out in the market on sale in a year’s time; this innovation has been done by Medtronics.

The Euro Star was as good as always, the ticket was for £65 return, fully wheelchairs accessible, (for further details or ticket booking please go on website http://www.eurostar.com). For me I was travelling from Maidstone, therefore I had to get the train to Ashford from Maidstone East Station, the ticket was for £5.40 (for inquiries please do check out the South Eastern Trains website at http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/)



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