European Travelog: D1E1 - Winging it

“Paris is always a good idea.” 

- Audrey Hepburn

On Summer Solstice day in June 2024, when the world was looking east for the International Day of Yoga, we headed west to Europe. 

We had an ambitious plan of conquering Paris in three days, 

swinging by the sunny coastal town of Montpellier in South of France, 

hopping over to Marseille and then a flight to Rome 

where we would see the legacy of the Romans and the Renaissance before heading to Florence to see some of Michelangelo's classics 

such as David. We would then come back towards Asia by taking the 

morning train from Florence to Rome, 

the afternoon flight from Rome to Paris 

and the night flight from Paris to New Delhi.

The morning flight from Bangalore to Mumbai at 8:30 AM was packed with mostly people heading to Maximum City for a day of business and perhaps try to come back by a late evening flight. We reached Mumbai, crossed Immigration and reached the Vistara gate for our Paris flight.

As we reach, passengers are getting ready to board a Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore from the next gate. A mother urgently warns her son to get rid of the chewimg gum in his mouth if he didn't want to be arrested on landing in the Island-nation with its strict laws. After the passengers filter into the sky bridge, the cleaning crew come in to clean the waiting area of the debris left by the departure passengers.

I spend the few hours we have to board reading Rick Steves’ guide to the museums of Paris and the evolution of art from the classical to the Impressionists.

Unlike most of our prior international journeys this was a sparsely occupied flight with over 75% of the seats vacant.

As we took off towards the Arabian Sea enroute Europe, the tightly packed shanty houses of the Dharavi slums stood in stark contrast to the acres of airport land below our plane and the looming multi-storey buildings in the background.

The sky was dark with the Southwestern monsoon clouds threatening to shed their precious load any time, but we took off before the rains commenced.

As I l write this, we are southwest of Karachi, heading towards the Asian landmass again. We are going to cross Tehran, fly over the Black Sea, cross Romania, Hungary and Germany, and will land at the Charles De Gaulle Airport after a 9 hour flight.

A couple of hours later, at 4.30 PM IST, we are over Iran. The air over Southern Iran, peppered with puffy clouds, is so clear that even at all altitude of 35,000 feet, one can make out the occasional houses that dot this deserted landscape.

The plane turns northward, crossing over from Iran to Turkmenistan, a nation whose existence I did not know until this day.

A glimpse of Turkmenistan

At 5.30 PM IST, we cross Turkmenistan and are over the Caspian Sea, heading towards the coastal city of Baku in Azerbaijan.

First view of the Caspian Sea Unlike its neighboring Turkmenistan which is vastly desert until the Eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, on the west of the Caspian Sea is dotted with farms and small towns.

Azerbaijan - a 35,000 feet view

At 6 PM IST, we are over Armenia. The landscape looks like it's covered with a green carpet, there are water bodies sparkling in the afternoon sunlight and the peak of Kackar Dagi is capped with snow.

Small towns nestle in the valleys among the rolling hills. It's no wonder that William Saroyan wrote about many Armenian immigrants in America who loved and missed their old country.

As we continue westward, towards the Black Sea, the landscape changes. This is rugged land with many canyons carved by deep flowing rivers. The green of the hill sides is still covered by snow in many places. This is no land for living and there are no towns for hundreds of kilometers.

A little after 7 PM IST we are over the Black Sea, to the south of Russia. We stick close to the south coast of the Black Sea, avoiding Russia as far as possible and skirt over the northern coast of Turkey.

At 7:45 PM we exit Turkish air space and turn Northwest over the Black Sea again, heading towards Romania which we reach at 8:15 PM IST. It's 5:45PM local time in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, and the landscape is still bathed in bright sunlight of the summer evening.

From this point onwards, our journey is completely over the landmass of Europe and we are also crossing a different country every 45 minutes or so. Romania is followed by Croatia, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and finally France.

We cleared immigration and got our luggage in 15 minutes. Our hotel was in the center of the city, a few minutes walk away from the Louvre. We decided to take a train to the city. The CDG RER B station is right below CDG Terminal 2. We got tickets from the ticket machine (which has a menu option in English) and boarded a train which left after 5 minutes. 

Six stops later, we disembarked at Chatelet Les Halles and walked 15 minutes to our hotel.

After a quick dinner at a nearby restaurant, we called it a day. We had started the day at 4.30 AM IST and by the time we were done, it was 2 AM IST the next day.

How we did it:

Flying: Bangalore-Mumbai-Paris via Air Vistara
Convenient timings, good service and good food by airline standards

Land transport: RER B from Charles De Gaulle Airport to Chatelet Les Halles

Hotel: Louvre Marsollier Opéra, 13 Rue Marsollier, 75002 Paris, France 
A vintage hotel, 15 minutes walk from  Chatelet Les Halles, whose claim to fame is that Oscar Wilde was once their guest. Great location near the Louvre and the Metro and many restaurants within walking distance. The rooms are fairly small compared to hotels we've stayed in the United States and India and the lift is a squeeze, but otherwise a good choice.

Our European Travelog

D1E1: Winging It

D2E1: A Garden and a Cathedral
D2E2: Walking in Paris

D2E3: Impressions of Impressionism at Musee d'Orsay

D2E4: An Arch and a Tower