'Pleasantly surprised in Paris' by K.J.S.Chatrath

After a long trip covering four of the South American countries I boarded an Air France flight from Rio De Janeiro for Paris. When the flight took off and the service started after a while, I saw champagne being served even to the economy class passengers. It was a long 12 hours non-stop flight and I followed my self imposed restraint of not having any alcohol when flying. But silently appreciated the champagne gesture of Air France. The flight was long and tiring. It reached Charles De Gaulle airport Paris at the schduled time. Tired, half asleep and carrying the baggage of lack of sleep of the South American trip, I deplaned and walked towards the Immigration. Suddenly I saw something which made me smile from ear to ear. It was a board in various languages welcoming passengers to Paris. It carried a pleasant message in Hindi in Devanagri script. Take a look:

From the airport I went to the hotel. Put my luggage there and then went off to visit the Catacombs of Paris. That visit deserves to be told in detail along with photographs. At the reception of the Catacombs one could buy a souvenir coin. This was a new addition and was not there when I had visited the Catacombs on three earlier ocassions. The souvenir coin gave me another opportunity to smile from ear to ear. On one side of the coin 'France' was written in various languages- including boldly in Hindi. Take a look:

More about the visit to the Catacombs later. . .