This is always going to be one of my favourite trips I think. Well, partially because Paris is such a perfect place to be visiting during the Valentine's week/season. But mainly because this time we avoided the arranged tours and decided to walk instead. And to both of our surprise ,we managed to do it and enjoy it too. We had a map with us and few places of interest in mind. So we walked and saw all those places we wanted to and more.
We had 3 days and 2 nights booked in Paris. After our breakfast, we would head out with our map. Walk from one destination to another and enjoy the sights in between as well. In fact, walking meant we discovered more than what we had planned for, which is always good. It also gave us a chance to unwind, forget everything else (read office) and just enjoy. Walking along the Seine river provided for some great pictures of the Eiffel tower from every angle. You can actually see the Eiffel tower from almost every part of Paris. It felt like it was keeping an eye on us. And since on the first day Sanjeev had so romantically 'gifted' me the Eiffel tower, it felt comforting. On the last day of our trip, I wanted to dismantle it and ship it back home, but decided otherwise. Didn't want to disappoint the thousands of other romantic couples and tourists!
Its quite impressive how every building is full with art and architectural beauty and how they haven't decided to just destroy them and construct glass buildings instead. Every few minutes I would look at some building and tell Sanjeev- This building looks so beautiful, definitely must have some history behind it. I had to refrain myself from taking out the camera at every such moment, otherwise we would by now have a big folder full of photographs and no space to store it.
Every monument or palace is so grand, both in scale and beauty, it took our breath away. We had no choice but to stop and admire every detail it had to offer. And not just the Monuments, even the roads and the courtyards or the open space which are part of these historical sites are so vast that it only added to the number of kilometers we walked. Now I can understand how Parisians manage to keep their shapes slim and eat such buttery croissants.
But strangely, this didn't quite work for as I managed to put on weight after the trip! Anyhow,no hard feelings as I thoroughly enjoyed the melt-in-mouth croissant breakfasts :)
The only disappointment was the fact that probably it wasn't as well maintained and clean as I expected it to be. Not a big deal, just an observation. Oh yes, and the Parisians aren't particularly all friendly. But its understandable I suppose. When your 'home' is always filled with 'guests', anyone could forget their hospitality :). But a wonderful trip nonetheless.
Have a Happy Valentine's day (in advance).
