Day 9 - Paris

Today, was a free day for us to roam around on our own. Half the group had gone on a tour to Disney Land. We did not join and hence were on our own.

As a first step, we figured out, with great difficulty (language is a big barrier), the way to the nearest railway station, and from there to the main market area. We managed to get a map to the nearest railway station, called Mainswille. After a real leisurely breakfast, 10 of us started our own tour, with me as the leader.
We managed to follow the route on our map, for a couple of streets. We had been told that the station was a 30 minute walk and hence were careful not to lose our way. We met a school going negro boy on the way and asked him the way to the station. As he could not understand English, I showed him the map on my hand and asked him in sign language. He immediately turned around and gestured to follow him. I was under the impression that he would lead us to the end of a street and point out the way. Instead, he just kept walking. I had serious doubts, as to whether he had understood me correctly. Whenever stopped and asked, he only smiled. On the way, he waved to a few more negro boys and continued walking. I literally had to run to keep pace with him. The others, who were following were much slower than me and one can imagine their plight. I then had to stop him every few minutes for the others to catch up. Just to make sure that we were on the right way, I asked one of my colleagues to also ask passers by. Unfortunately, there were hardly anybody on the roads. All sorts of thoughts came to mind- was the boy one in a group of muggers, and were we going to get mugged- was that the sign he showed his colleagues on the way. Would he demand money for showing us the way (Anything nominal was O.K). Finally, after a full 40 minutes, I could see the station. I thanked my stars and caught hold of the boy's hands and thanked him profusely. I thought he was also going to the station. What happened next was unimaginable. He just turned around, gave a big smile and started walking back. Imagine, the poor boy had walked all the way, only to ensure that we got t right. What a shame to have so many doubts.
A few members of the group, said that the Almighty had come in the disguise of the boy to show us the way.
We boarded a train at the station (after a lot of enquiries. We learnt that when you buy 10 tickets, u get a 20% discount) and got down in a station near The Opera. We first did a lot of street shopping, and then got to admire the Opera House and all the statues and carvings there. We sat on the steps for a while, had coffee in a nearby shop and started our walk to Arc deTriumphe. We asked a cabbie for the route. He politely told us that we need to walk for at least 30 minutes. The weather was fine and out job was to walk only. Incidentally the rest of our group got lost, shopping.
We took the long walk at 1230. We walked across Champ De Elysses admiring the shops all the way. It took a long 45 minutes to reach the magnificent Arc. We of course, had our lunch on the way. We took the walk back to the station, where we got down. It took us a further 30 minutes. We shopped again and reached the station at 1530 hrs. We had been literally walking since 1030.
2 more of our group were waiting for us in the shopping arcade. The 4 of us took a train back. As we were tired, we decided to take a cab from the station to the hotel. We could not get any. We just enquired with a bus driver, who had parked his bus. He politely wrote the number of the bus we were to board and pointed the location, where it would stop to us. We waited and boarded the right bus, when it stopped, only to be told by this driver, that the bus would not go to our destination (all in sign language). He could not guide us further. We got another Negro saviour, who simply took our hands and made us sit in the same bus. He got down after a few kilometres, asked us also to get down and pointed out the way to our hotel.
Thus ended our day long adventure, in Paris. Of course, we enjoyed it.

Some good Samaritans.