Parii…lle-de-France!!

7 months since my trip to Paris and I still cant get over it!!
I hit gold and got lucky, I should say. Life was full of uncertainties at one stage and this happened - I flew to the city of love. Life could not have got better! Arc de Triomphe!!!

I visited my uncle there and stayed for 10 whole days. What did I visit on my first day there? Well, I visited the cemetery…aha, before you can think I went to pay my condolences to someone, let me tell you. It was the cemetery of Père Lachaise where some great people like Oscar Wilde, Rossini and hold your breath JIM MORRISON! have been buried. I but naturally visited the last one…cause it’s the Mojo Rising ;-)

Champs-Elysees!! It’s called the la plus belle avenue du monde, meaning the most beautiful avenue in the world. True to its name, it sure was a treat. Walking down the street got my hormones working overtime. A new kinda kick to see a “Vespa” , overwhelming to see the picture of “Taj Mahal” in one of the showrooms, a high buzz on a single glass of champagne (that too shared between two)….Life was everything but ordinary there!!

Shopping was done mainly on the streets and in small souvenir shops. Galleries Lafayette was an amazing experience but just to watch the others shop. I was somewhat proud to see the face of Aishwarya Rai on the L’Oreal counters in one of Paris’ biggest shopping arena.

I did full justice to the Da Vince Code and got to pose for a photo near the so called “holy grail”. Muse de Louvre was massive. They say it takes months for someone to see the entire museum. I spent just an hour inside and more than 2 hours outside the museum. For obvious reasons, the only things I saw there were – the “Mona Lisa” , Madonna of the Rocks, Venus de Milo and a couple of Michael Angelo sculptures.
Pyramids and fountains, French fries (called just fries there by the way) in one hand and boyfriend in the other, would I care to look at paintings?!

I’ve never fussed about visiting any religious monument. Be it temple, a mosque or a church. So, why would I miss out on seeing one of the world’s oldest and beautiful churches – Notre Dame. I should mention that Basilique du Sacre Ceur in Montmartre was a beautiful church as well. We had to climb up the steps of a small hill to get to the church. Each platform had someone performing something….dancing, singing, a comedy show…

Having mentioned about museums, churches, streets et al, I have to talk about the most visited monument in Paris – Eiffel Tower!! I prefer to call it “My baby” (wink!)
Contrary to the popular saying, “First impression is the last impression”, my first impression of the tower was not very good. I was extremely bored to stand in such a long queue to go to the top. Too many people and somehow it did not match up to what I imagined it to be…I had had a peak from my plane window when I was landing in Paris and that had set off way too many expectations. But, when I got there on the top, and had a view of the city, it was breath taking!!
I had always wondered why they named a metal structure a lovers destination….I had my doubts cleared that day!


I got to become Alice in Wonderland an entire day. I haven’t visited the Disney World in the U.S of A and was awe struck with the sheer color and joy that Euro Disney had to offer. Pretty little children, colorful atmosphere and a world of disney characters you have grown up reading. If I can recollect correctly, I had my mouth open for the first half an hour or so….


I had never seen snow in my life until the day we went to Chamonix. It’s a small place bordering France and overlooks Switzerland. We drove non-stop for 9 hours from Paris to Chamonix and the fact that Im here writing about it is sheer luck and by God’s grace. That drive was a marathon and the most frightening one at that. At one point, everyone in the car (driver included) had dozed off and we realized we had gone a few kms just like that!! The next morning I woke up to a panoramic view of the snow capped French Alps. Apart from playing in the snow with one just one hand (yeah, we were so ill-prepared that 4 of us had to share one pair of gloves in turns), I also went to this place called Mer-du-Glance. It’s an ice mountain which had many different structures carved out.

All said and done, it’s truly a pleasure just walking around the city, taking the metro and chilling! I have this in my list of places to be “visited again” ,“visited again and again” , “visited again and again and again”……….