The memories of my First Wedding Anniversary celebration
are still whirling across my mind and as it goes I recollect the approbation
and marvel I and my Canon captured in our reminiscences. Is there a better
place to celebrate love and togetherness other than the beautiful city of Paris?
I think not!
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| Waiting in Anticipation at the Airport |
The preparations and anticipation began two months
before the travel and one of the main things I wanted to do before the journey
was lose my weight-which obviously didn’t happen as I love my life a bit too
much; however my husband surprised me with a brand new Canon, 2 weeks prior to
our departure- now that is definitely better than losing weight in my logical
analysis.
22nd of December: We were counting days
when finally the “D” day arrived on the
22nd of December, 2016. Brimingham to Paris takes an hour of flight
journey and France is an hour ahead of The United kingdom. We arrived in Paris at 4pm and started our journey towards The Best
Western Arc De’ Triomphe Hotel located in the Avenue De Wagram. A remarkable
point we noticed about the building clusters in Paris is that most of them are triangular
in shape; and our hotel was at the tip of a triangular block. The manager of
the hotel was very friendly and helpful, God bless his soul, he helped us get a
brief idea about the routes to use for our big Paris exploration on the next
day and while he helped us get our luggage onto the tiniest elevator we have
ever been in, Jithu wondered if both of us would fit in with our luggage; at
this the manager smiled and exclaimed- That’s why Paris is called the city of
love! One would be quite amused to learn that many blocks in Paris either have
tiny or no elevator in the buildings because the elevators were late additions to the buildings. The buildings
have been preserved in that condition for years; so elevators were constructed in the
only available spaces near the stairs.
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| Paris Infrastructure |
Our room was beautiful and it had this out of the
world Nespresso Machine that made the most beautiful coffees throughout the day. The over-all décor of the room was very quaint; we crashed into our beds to wake up
enlivened next morning. I deliberately kept the curtains open so I could see
the beautiful view until I sleep.
The next day we stopped by at a local bar for brunch
where we ordered some bacon, eggs and pancakes with honey. What I enjoyed
eating the most was the French bread- Baguette. Though baguettes are baked all
over the globe, it is essentially connected to France. Baguettes come in
different shapes and sizes and are given different names according to its size.
For eg- A short Baguette , shaped in the form of a rugby ball is called batard
which literally means bastard.
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| Open Top City Bus Tour |
After attacking the food, we decided to experience an
open top city bus tour to apprehend the city of Paris. The city bus tour was beautiful
as we got an exquisite glimpse of the French Infrastructure, Heritage and Culture.
Paris canopies architectural references and examples from the 18th
century to the present era; in fact it was in Paris that the Art Deco style of
architecture first established that involved craftsmanship using rich materials
which represented luxury and glamour . The bus gave us some beautiful peeps
of The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral-
an iconic landmark which was once the power centre of Paris, The Louvre Museum,
The Orsay Museum, The Paris Opera House
and a couple of other attractions.
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| Busy Streets of Paris |
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| The Wedding Feast at Cana |
We got
down at the Louvre Museum stop to visit one
of the World’s finest Gallery of Art, Culture and Heritage- Musee de’ Louvre! The
Louvre essentially accommodates Sculptures and Artefacts from ancient Greece
and Egypt and a notable collection of paintings from the era of Neoclassical,
classical and Renaissance. The biggest mistake you can make in Louvre is to
attempt to see it all at once, which we did out of the lack of time but we
spent a significant amount of time at the Grand Galerie’ where we went through
some of the beautiful Italian paintings that depicts religious scenes mainly
from the Gospels. The Monalisa is obviously the biggest sensation in Louvre and
mind you, she is the most protected and mobbed painting but she is not my
favourite; the painting I love the most is the biggest painting in the Louvre
where water turns into wine, “The Wedding Feast at Cana”. I will shamelessly
admit that my favourite feature in the painting is the way the grandeur and
beauty of the women in Venice is depicted through this painting.
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| Examining a bullet hole on the sculpture |
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| Abduction of Helen of Sparta |
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| The Lower Pyramid within The Louvre |
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| The mobbed Monalisa |
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| Paris from The Eiffel Tower |
After Louvre, we decided to visit the Eiffel Tower.
Although many will argue that The Eiffel Tower is the most popular attraction
in Paris, I would say the city is much more than the Tower however it’s always
a delight to watch the tower sparkling at night like a dream but in the end, it’s
just a tower. The Eiffel tower is divided into 3 stages, with restaurants on
the first and second stage, and the topmost stage is 906 feet above the ground
which is the highest observation deck that is open to the public. You can have
a beautiful birds eye view of the entire city of Paris and the best time to
visit The Eiffel tower is night. It is said that Gustave Eiffel who designed The
Eiffel tower received a lot of criticisms from various artists, in fact a
petition was sent to The ministry of works and commissioner for exposition
claiming that the erection of the Tower is the biggest insult to the French
Infrasructure. Gustave retaliated by saying that his tower looks like the Pyramids
of Egypt so it wouldn’t be right saying that something that is beautiful in
Egypt becomes hideous in Paris. However, today Eiffel tower is one of the most
visited monuments in Paris.
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| The Eiffel Tower |
After experiencing the three major attractions on
the 23rd we decided to call it a day.
24th-
On the Christmas eve, most of the attractions were closed so we did not
have much to do so we decided to have a
walk across the streets of Champs Elysees-
one of the most famous shopping streets in Paris. On the Christmas
eve the streets were decorated in a way that magnified its glory 10 times. All
the big brand stores like Hugo Boss, Marks and Spencer and Levi’s were
decorated to look like treats. We managed to do a little shopping from these
streets and we headed straight towards a local stall that sold mulled wine and
waffles. It was a perfect day! We had our dinner from a Middle Eastern Restaurant; where they served an extraordinary entrée which
is very famous across Avenue De Wagram- A platter of sides where one dish
contained raw salmon dipped in Mayonnaise . I wouldn’t say I liked the platter
too much but it was an interesting experience.
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| The Cruise Ride |
25th December- Our Anniversary date falls
on the Christmas day and we decided to take the day slow by watching television
and attending calls. At 5 pm we decided to step out for a romantic cruise ride
on the river Seine. We had a glimpse of some of Paris’ famous monuments and
attractions within a comfortable heated deck; and suddenly the realization
struck us that we are leaving this beautiful place tomorrow.
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| The Avenue des Champs Elysees |
26th December- We packed our bags and
decided to go for a quick walk to bid farewell to this city. I would say Paris is
best explored on a walk; as you walk through the picturesque and quaint paths
across the street you experience the real beauty of Paris which is beyond the
famous monuments and The Monalisa- you see why the city of love is named the
way it is- the buildings, the roads, the elegantly dressed women, the singing
children, the whiff of the French bread and the magic of the city make you want
to come back and experience all of it again. Yes, Paris is important for its
attractions and monuments but it’s much more than all that…
We reached Birmingham on the 26th of December
and made a promise to go back for a longer time and make Paris more of
experiences and less of attractions.
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| The City of Paris |
Note: Some pictures were captured on our Canon while some from my phone.
References:
http://en.parisinfo.com//
http://www.nyhabitat.com/blog/2014/12/08/4-things-did-not-know-about-paris-stairs/
http://www.toureiffel.paris/en.html
http://primaryfacts.com/2970/the-louvre-facts-and-information/
