My Paris Trip

 

Maurya Koduri

December 2, 2023

My Paris Trip

 

On November 19th, 2023, I visited Paris, France with my family. The day before, I was very excited. Later, when we were boarding the flight which was at 6:55 PM the flight got delayed and we had to wait until 8:22 PM to fly. The flight took 7 hours. During those 7 hours I played games, saw the map of the flight, and talked to my dad and finally slept.

I woke up just before we touched Paris. In Paris, we were picked up by a shuttle company that my parents reserved. When we were on our way to the hotel named NOVOTEL, I saw the Eiffel Tower, it was magnificent. The Eiffel Tower is only 1.4 kilometers away from NOVOTEL. When we were in the hotel one of the receptionists gave me and my sister plush toys. At 4:00 PM, our family went to CHIPOTLE, and I noticed a difference that the plates are made of ceramic not paper. The next day for breakfast I ate crepes and a waffle with maple syrup and hazelnut cream. We walked to the Eiffel Tower. There we went all around and took several pictures, and we got some souvenirs. Then, we went on the BIG BUS which took us to the Paris attractions. First, we got down at Notre-Dame. It is a famous church that dates to the 12th century. There was a fire accident in 2019 however no one died during the fire. Parts of the church are being reconstructed. The church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is known for its French architecture. Then we went to the Arc de Triomphe. It has a height of 50 meters which is 164 feet, it symbolizes French Patriotism, and the Unknown Soldier is buried under this building. Then we came back to NOVOTEL. We relaxed a bit and headed to watch the Eiffel Tower, night view. On our way to the Eiffel Tower, we ate at the Famous French crepes filled with Nutella at a local restaurant named Le Kiosque Des Saveurs

 

It was delicious. We then enjoyed the night views of Eiffel Tower and then headed to Seine River Cruise where we learnt about the iconic Paris landmarks. At this point, we were so hungry and ate gourmet dinner at a restaurant which was just beside the Eiffel Tower called Brasserie La De Tour Paris. I ate a small chicken breast and for dessert I ate a creme brulee. Thus, we finished Day 2. The next day for breakfast I ate crepes and had orange juice. Then we went to the Eiffel Tower Summit on a unique elevator to the 2nd floor and we took pictures. Then my mom and sister went to the 3rd floor/ Summit and took a picture of my foundation banner (MauryaKoduri.org).

 


A few minutes later my dad did the same thing as my mom. I could only go to the second floor because of the wheelchair. Surprisingly, we saw a few pigeons and while we were eating slices of pizza, we fed lots of food to the pigeons. Then we went to a carousel near the Seine River and my sister had lots of fun and I ate the French Famous macaroons. We then ate Chipotle for dinner that concluded Day 3.

London was planned for Day 4. The next day we had to wake up at 5:00 AM to catch a train named Eurostar at Gare Du Nord train station in Paris. An Uber Driver named Jamal took us to the Gare Du Nord Train Station. This was after our early breakfast. The train would go underwater that would go through the Strait of Dover which is in the English Channel. It would be 81 minutes long, 8:39 to 10:00. It would take us to London, United Kingdom. Me and my dad were in #3 car and my mom and sister were in #4 car. On the train I slept. Finally, we were in the United Kingdom. We passed through River Medway and a few minutes later we went through River Thames. When we arrived at the London Train Station we met my mom's brother, my uncle Srinivas. Then we

                                                  

 







got a snack, and we went to the London Eye which is a Ferris wheel near the Thames River. We had so much fun. We saw all the major attractions from London Eye. Then we ate lunch at an Indian restaurant. We then took a walk over the Westminster bridge to see the Big Ben and U.K parliament by a black cab which was wheelchair accessible. I was wowed when I saw Big Ben and the parliament. From there, we took a black cab, and we went to Buckingham palace. At the entrance, we saw a guard walking and doing his routine. Then we went on a local train to Tower Hill. There we saw Tower Castle and it was amazing, it was like a walkway. Then, we arrived at the London Bridge where we spent much time walking, taking pictures and enjoying the beautiful bridge and financial district. My uncle then called a cab to go to the Train Station and me and my sister said bye to my uncle. Then, we were on the train, and we started. When we arrived, we were planning to go in an Uber, but we waited for an eternity (forever) for it to come. Finally, we arrived at NOVOTEL by taxi. That was all day 4. One thing I noticed was the Black cabs (taxi’s) in London are fully accessible which I don’t see in the United States. My dad talked to my uncle before we reached London and they planned to go around London in Black Cabs.

DAY 5- The next day, we went to the Louvre Museum. First, we saw the extremely renowned- Mona Lisa. I was lucky because me and my family came closer to take multiple pictures. It was watching me wherever I went. The 2 surprising things are that the artist Leonardo Da Vinci never finished it because the bottom has some blurs, and he was Italian, but he gave it to the French king and the king gave the Mona Lisa to the Louvre. Then, we saw French, Greek, and Italian art. Then we saw Egyptian art. There we saw the Egyptian gods and their Hieroglyphs. Then we were hungry, and my mom offered me Hot Chocolate. In the Greek section there were sculptures and sculptures of people who had their wreath on their neck. The next section was Egypt, we saw small and big sculptures, hieroglyphics (the way they wore at that time), kings and Pharaohs (the monarchs of ancient Egypt).

                  

 

                                                        

                                                  

In the French section we saw beautiful fabrics and plates mostly monochromatic (one color) and the European section was attractive as its only 300-400 years back. Then we went to the hotel and as we were exhausted, we ordered food. After the dinner I relaxed. 

 

 

DAY 6- The next day for breakfast I ate crepes and scrambled eggs. Then we went to the Trocadero, an attraction near Eiffel tower, well known for taking pictures because we can see the Eiffel Tower in its totality, and it will be our level. We took many pictures, views of the Eiffel Tower and my sister dressed up as Santa's Girl and then Barbie. When we were in the Trocadero, we found a cameraman named Abdul, he took pictures of the kids and adults.

 

     

Then my sister dressed up as Barbie, this time there was no cameraman so, my dad did the photoplay. My sister did beautiful poses and was walking around. We ate lunch at a Famous place in Trocadero called De Malakoff. I ate some chicken with mashed potatoes. A girl sitting next to our table was from Mexico and she ate snails and mussels (France is the biggest consumer of snails). She was friendly and so we had a little conversation. For dessert, we ate Profiteroles, a French pastry ball filled with whipped cream, custard, Ice cream topped with chocolate sauce and almonds. We then took a taxi and finally we were in NOVOTEL. 

The next day on Saturday November 26th, we had to wake up at 3:30 AM because we had to go on an airplane to Austria and then Chicago. When we were in Vienna Airport, I noticed 3 differences: The POLICE Sign is spelled POLIZE. That’s because they speak German. The elevators are bigger and the signs which tell you where you are going are black. The departure was at 10:45AM local time then it was at 12:15 because of flight delays. The service given by Austrian Airlines was excellent, it had good food, accessibility (Bathroom accessibility, a little more space, height and grab bars), entertainment and seating. In Paris, people mostly spoke French. Even though Austrians speak German, they speak better English than Parisians. We arrived at 2:58 PM on Sunday afternoon, November 26th at O'Hare International Airport. After baggage claim, we went to a restaurant called Invicto Taqueria in Naperville, a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Finally, we went to our house and the trip was over. All in all, my trip was amazing, I would recommend going there.

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