Celebrating Fifth Wedding Anniversary at Paris (17-Apr-2008)

Hey! Madhu here. My dear husband has included my name in this blog of his, so I thought I'll contribute to it for a change. Here's an account of our recent trip to Paris to celebrate our fifth anniversary.

So here we are, standing outside our hotel in Paris, with a view of the Eiffel Tower. I still can't believe I am here, that I have been able to motivate my dear lazybones (read my husband) to get the whole thing organised and actioned. The Eurostar trip through the channel tunnel was nice. Much less hassle than a flight. Somehow, I had imagined travelling in a long dark tunnel for 2 hours, but most of the time, we were at ground level. Guess London and Paris are far enough from the sea-shores to make it a normal train journey. We do face a bit of inconvenience in carrying Hiranya (my 9-month old son) and his pram over the stairs as the Paris metro train stations seem to be blissfully unaware of the concept of lifts and escalators; but I am in a very good mood and I am ready to ignore these trifles. After all, visiting Paris has been a childhood dream. My excitement knows no bounds.

We begin our trip by visiting the Notre Dame Cathedral. Nice place, especially the wall carvings and the paintings on the high windows and the ceilings. We also try to visit the Sainte Chapelle but it closes minutes before we reach. We make do with the St. Michael fountain nearby :). Still a lot of daylight left, so we walk along Siene to absorb some Paris atmosphere. Paris is a really beautiful city and there is no better way to see it than walking along Siene (or perhaps cruising along Siene. Didn't experience that.) Every building seems to have a character of its own, like this one of the French Institute across the river. Instant love with the city, I tell you. The photographs posted here really don't do justice to the city, they have not captured the enchanting beauty that is Paris.

So we reach a building and I ask Himanshu, "What is this?" "This is Louvre, my love". Louvre Museum is on our list of places to visit, but not today, so we start walking along the building. And it keeps going on and on. My God! Is this a museum or a palace? Its huge! And with a building this beautiful, do people go there to see the building or the museum artefacts?

We eventually get over to the other side of the Louvre and reach the very beautiful Tuileries Garden. Duke is playing up a bit, not staying in his pram and wanting to be held up in our arms. That and all this walking is getting a bit tiring, so we rest here a bit. Lovely place!

We walk through the Tuileries garden to reach Concorde Place. Another of the landmarks of Paris, this place contains a 3200 years old Egyptian obelisk which impressively dominates the whole place. Enough for the day, I guess, so we head back to our hotel for a good night sleep.

We are supposed to get up really early in the morning to go to Versailles palace. Guess when do we finally get out of the hotel? 11 o' clock ;) Everyone who knows us knows we are early risers, don't they? ;) So on the train, I ask Himanshu, "So what's so special about the Versailles palace?" "It was the palace where the French royalty, including Marie Antoinette, used to live, so its supposed to be very rich and luxurious". Rich and luxurious it is, certainly, and very very beautiful. Any visit to Paris without a trip to Versailles is meaningless. Every room has a story of its own, everything seems to be gold, everywhere you see, the walls and ceilings are adorned with beautiful paintings, simply amazing. And while the palace is impressive, the garden is breathtaking. I don't think I have ever seen such a huge, beautiful, well-planned garden. Several fountains, each with a sculpture of one God or another. Great! I am bowled over.

Next day, we wake up to our fifth wedding anniversary. I am really loving it. It is quite cold outside, but I am risking wearing a dress. Its my wedding anniversary after all! How am I looking?

We go to Eiffel tower for a morning view and then head over to Louvre Museum. Amazing sculptures and paintings from great artists, like this famous statue of Venus. You can spend days and days in Louvre, we rush through but still manage to see most of it. I always used to think museums are for those intellectual-types and no fun, but there is nothing dry about Louvre. You are always surrounded by the most artistic, most beautiful creations of humanity. Mona Lisa is a bit of anti-climax, though. A small, insignificant looking painting. A good painting, surely, but doesn't look like it is worth all thus propaganda around it.

Over to Champs Elysees, the high-end shopping street in Paris. Too pricey for my liking though, so we proceed on to Eiffel Tower. A bit of logistics issue here, in that you have to fold the pram and carry it with you. So Himanshu ended up carrying the pram and the shoulder-bag and I took Hiranya. Quite a bother to negotiate through the crowd with all that. Anyway, we go up to the second floor of Eiffel Tower. It is great. Paris has a spirit of its own, a certain non-squarish symmetry which is amazing from this high-up. However, it is very windy here and Hiranya is howling non-stop because of the wind and cold and need for some sleep; and I am almost ready to cry myself. Standing on the second floor of Eiffel Tower, in the queue for the elevator to take us to the top floor of Eiffel tower, with Hiranya unmanageable and no escape from the queues and the wind, was the worst moment of the whole trip. Thankfully, the top floor was all covered, so we were able to sit down for some time and pat Hiranya down to sleep. Breathtaking views of Paris from the top. Back to being my happy self again. You have not seen Paris if you have not seen it from the top of Eiffel Tower. A word of warning, its crowded, and you are best off with nothing in your hand apart from a camera.

We go down just in time to catch the light show on Eiffel tower where the whole tower lights up with sparkling lights. A spectacular end to a beautiful trip. Thanks, my dear love, for this lovely gift.