Paris, Je T'aime

Waking up to a beautiful morning after a much needed long night's sleep, we realised that it was too late for the trip to Louvre. Instantaneous plans popped up and thus this happened to be the chosen day..for of course you know what it is! Munching on yesternight's pizza slices, we made our way to Champ de Mars station. With my heart in my mouth, I walked towards the "Tour" and after a few miles, cradled among the trees, there it was...touching the sky. Eyes set on the top of the tower, I kept on walking and a few minutes ahead... right under the nose of one of those seven wonders of the world(of my childhood times!) ..a gigantic crisscross of iron beams pillaring to the sky... Eiffel Tower just the way I had pictured in my mind! Straight away we queued up for the lift to second floor.. alright alright the top was closed or so we thought! :(

The first sight of Eiffel Tower 

A gigantic crisscross of iron beams!

Pillaring to the sky!

A blue blue sky! 

And another view!

While queuing up!

On reaching the top, Paris looked just as mesmerising as it could be with Seine flowing peacefully and all the major landmark monuments lined up against it. But, to tell you the truth.. somehow it was not as much as I had expected it to be..maybe the top floor had more to offer.. Still, the very feeling to be on the Eiffel Tower was enough to keep me thrilled. One of those photographs from the previous day's souvenir shops crossed my mind.. the picture of two people playing tennis(or just pretending!) on the wings of an airplane with Eiffel Tower as the backdrop. What not I would have done to take a photograph like that..sigh! After spending some time posing with the Eiffel Tower in all possible touristy ways, we took the lift back and then made our way to the metro.

Paris, you beauty! 

The view of Seine from the top! 

From second floor.. that's how she looks! 

The view finder! 

Paris! 

From a souvenir shop on top

Way down!

The same metro had trains to Versailles, which was outside Paris and we thought that it would be a good idea to take a detour. Well, it ended up to be the worst idea though for many reasons. Nevertheless, Versailles welcomed us with autumn leaves overcast on promenades flanked by trees. After having a delicious Parisian preparation of Salmon and leek, we walked towards the palace. With Greekish statues and pantheons constructed parallely on either sides of the gigantic gateway, the golden palace stood elegantly in all its glory. The long queue averted our plans to enter the palace and we thought of taking a stroll around the gardens instead. I took a walk to the palace's backyard that was filled with a summery vibe. With couples walking away, holding hands, children playing hide and seek and people basking under the bright blue sky, everything looked so buoyant and spirited.

An afternoon in Versailles!

Shadows! 

Greekish?!

Versailles palace!

The golden outlines!

From one of those promenades flanked by trees! 

Autumn.. 

To the garden.. 

One of those fountains!

A Sunday afternoon at the cafe! 

Overcast!

With no plans to miss Musee d'Orsay again, we took our train back to this museum housed in an enchanting old railway station. Luckily, we reached just in time. I made my way straight to the Van Gogh section. There, with a childish glimmer in my eyes, I gazed at "The Starry Night Over The Rhone"... a romantic painting in itself. Inside the next chamber was the psychedelic self portrait of Van Gogh. The museum had the most amazing works by Monet, Renoir, Degas and the likes. That feeling you have on seeing those original works of art, I tell you, it's dreamlike! While browsing through thousands of such works, I stumbled on that one painting, "Ballet Rehearsal On Stage" by Edgar Degas. I was caught in a wave of nostalgia yet again when I realised that this was a painting I saw everyday for two years on the cover page of my Mathematics notebook. Quaint, ain't it?! .. Of a time I did not even care to know! "The Card Players" by Paul Cezanne caught my interest next when I remembered that one from the same series is the most expensive work of art ever sold!

An old railway station.. now a museum.. Musee d'Orsay!

And she gazed at "The Starry Night Over the Rhone" with a childish fervour!

Just a replica!

Reminds of the clock from "Hugo"!

The museum was going to close and we had to make the exit. We sat outside on the steps for sometime watching a stand up comedian enacting the spectators there. That made for a hearty laugh. With a mood to saunter on the sidewalks of Seine, we hopped onto a bridge and guess what?! It was one of those love-lock bridges(I did not know till then!) The bridge's side rails were filled with an umpteen number of locks by lovers around the globe. A lock seller's poster read something like "Lock your love forever and throw your key in the river!" While my friend got busy locking some love, I sat on one of those benches there and thought of all those people who loved, those who won and lost.. praying for all those lovers to stay together forever. With a heart surging with emotions, a wish for everything right was only what I could think of.

"Lock your love forever and throw your key in the river"

The heart locker who is "Forever Alone"!

Seine!

We got down the bridge and took a long stroll on the promenade by the Seine's side. Many a bridges were crossed, watching all those happy couples holding each other's hands, kissing, people having wine and playing guitar. There was a whiff of romance in every breath of the French air. At that moment, with similar thoughts of Emma Morley from "One Day", those words came to my mind "But at the best of times she feels like a character in a Muriel Spark novel - independent, bookish, sharp-minded, secretly romantic." The orange tint of the setting sun had filled the sky and far away, we could spot the tower highlighting the Parisian skyline.

Sane talks by the Seine!

A long walk and a break

Some art!

Another love-lock bridge! 

All things romantic!

Bridges after bridges!

Parisian skyline against the setting sun!

With plans to watch the Eiffel Tower night lights, we took a metro back to that same place. Grabbing a bottle of French wine, we walked towards her, the beauty! As I walked further, getting closer to the Tower... there was this moment in time when I stood right under this sheer feminine beauty with every curve of hers glowing marvellously under the night sky and I just thought that "This is it"! The sight was mesmerising and that's all I could say! In search of a good place for a great view, to capture the Tower in my lens, we crossed the nearby bridge and went towards the Trocadero gardens. The place was already bustling with people waiting for the "light works". As we approached, we could hear the faint sound of French music seductively flowing down from somewhere near by. And yet again, another bolt from the blue! On a podium, couples were dancing salsa and waltzing around to the lovely music, arm in arm , with an epitome of love at the backdrop. Could there be anything more sexier and romantic? Robbed off romance lately, this city has given me every reason to fall in love with love again.

"This is it" .. that mesmerising moment! 

Carousel!

Eiffel Tower from Trocadero gardens

And the couples danced to the French music, arm in arm, with the epitome of love at the backdrop!

It brought a reassuring smile on my face to watch those lovely couples sway around together.  After a while, evoking a loud roar from the crowd, the light works went on and there she stood prettier than ever, the tower! A bottle of wine by the Seine completed a beautiful day that started and ended with her. To the city of lights, the city of love... Paris, je t'aime!!

"If I live to see the seven wonders 

 I'll make a path to the rainbow's end 

 I'll never live to match the beauty again"

~ Fleetwood Mac (Seven Wonders)

P.S: Considering Eiffel Tower to be one of the seven wonders in my mind's eye!

Bon Jour, Paris

To Paris, the city of dreams..

An afternoon that started at the setting of Victor Hugo's masterpiece.. yes, the Notre Dame cathedral.. with its many faces of saints and devils that stare down from the walls while the grotesque gargoyles watch over the city! Standing as a testimony of time, this Gothic monument was built in the 12th century, destroyed during the era of French Revolution and restored later. On entering the cathedral, the view of the long pathway filled with chandeliers and the beautiful tainted windows is a sight to behold. After lighting a candle there and sending a million prayers up to heaven, I went ahead and up above, on my either side were the stunning rose windows. A backward gaze to the West gave a view of the third famous rose window obscured by the giant organ. More than a cathedral's sanctity, the gothicness of this place somehow left a tint of dark mystery in my mind.

The first sight of Notre Dame cathedral

The west facade.

Prayers

The lovely chandeliers and the stunning tainted windows..

The famous rose window..

Them.. the gargoyles!

The weighing of souls! 

View of the flying buttresses!

The famous Maison Berthillon ice cream and some French lunch being our next major destinations, we decided to leave the cathedral. Well, the lunch had to do away with some experiments on frog legs though. Later, on that windy afternoon in Ile St Louis, under the scorching sun, we sat gorging on the melting flavours of passion fruit, mango and caramel. Not so far away from there, hidden away in a corner, was one of those oldest bookstores "Shakespeare and Co" with it's rare editions of many a books of the past. The world I entered to was a book lover's paradise, with all its magical spell under an antique roof and an attic like library where I ran fingers through the yellow pages of the same books that someone from the late 19th century would have held in his hands. In one dingy corner bed, there was a person enjoying his afternoon siesta even! I just wished I had more time to spend there in that wonderland .. maybe I will come back some day to this place.. find my comfortable corner and read from those tattered pages of the past.

Street musicians.. 

Lunch on a windy afternoon!

Respite!

N the famous 'glace'! 

Seine from Ile St Louis!

That wonderland!

The "rare books" section 

Absorbed.. camouflaged! 

A quick peek inside!

Time was running out as we had the Musee d'Orsay plan still on. We scurried to the metro, reached there and what a bummer! Entries for the day were done already. That called for a quick detour to Arc de Triomphe, the standing epitome of French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. But, what interested me was the "Elysian Fields"(not the Megadeth song!) on the the other side of the road. Champs Elysees - a name that gave me a fit of nostalgia. A place I recognised from the first story of my eighth grade English class.. of "The Diamond Necklace". This place was always part of my Parisian dream, the first abstract taste of high life! Well, well..the high street fashion brand shops were only meant to be window shopped though. With the sun setting in, we stopped by one of those lovely cafes named George V. A cup of cappuccino and a deliciously soft cheese cake dipped in raspberry sauce were just what I wanted to wake me up from my reverie while I kept staring at the maple leaves against a cloudy sky.

Arc de Triomphe! 

At Arc de Triomphe again!

The Elysian Fields! 

Sigh!!

Should I say more.. 

Arc de Triomphe against a brilliant sky!

After sauntering on the avenue till sunset and making a note of the heavy price tags, we made our way to Sacre' Coeur on Montmartre. On the way to the cathedral on the hilltop, we stopped by for some souvenir shopping and were again lured by the aroma of freshly baked cookies and colourful macarons. At the end of a long way uphill, instead of a silent cathedral, what welcomed us was a concert and a huge crowd cheering for the band. That was a pleasant and enjoyable surprise. Later, we found our way into the cathedral and I was again taken aback by the contrasting silence inside. I shut down my camera and took a walk around trying not to disturb the peace within while the soothing church music started flowing by. On one side, there were three women sitting on the floor, holding onto each other, praying to Mother Mary. It somehow brought back memories of a time at P.C. sir's, waiting for the bus at Lourde church. Next to one of those benches, I knelt down, just closed my eyes and listened. "Christ in Majesty" stared down on me from the apse while an inner tranquility filled my mind.

And that luring bakery on the way to Sacre' Coeur! 

Oh ok.. that was the first sight of Eiffel! 

Ummm...yumm.. macarons!

Souvenir !

That beautiful cathedral.. Sacre' Coeur!

N the gig outside!

Crowd engrossed in the show!

I did not want to leave the place, but it was getting dark and with a pit stop to make at Moulin Rouge, we started our journey back. While coming down the hill, I had my first sight of Eiffel Tower far away, looking like a miniature version of the real one! The "fireworks" were on and it was just beautiful. We made our way back to the metro, just one station away and right outside was the huge wind mill and the writing "Moulin Rouge" glowing glamorously in red. I missed one of those fluttering dresses while striking a Marilyn Monroe (she had nothing to do with the place :P ) pose in front of Paris' legendary cabaret.

Eiffel Tower from Montmartre 

Right outside Blanche metro station! 

Glamorous.. amorous!

Marking the end of a beautiful day! Time to rest my mind and body as another long day awaited.