A dream come true !!
Jan 10 2006 A day that will never be forgotten....
At 07:30 I, along with my friend Sujadh, entered the "London Waterloo Station". After the security and baggage clearance we were led to the waiting lounge. As I was sitting there with trembling legs and hands I heard a voice "Passengers for the 08:12 Eurostar train to Paris, please proceed to the entrance".. I could feel a sudden gush of blood on my face. That was the very moment when I took my first step towards the world's most romantic city, PARIS !!!
It took sometime for me to realize that all these weren't still a dream but mere truth. After about two and a half hours of journey I heard a French voice " Bonjour, bienvenue vers Paris " which immediately I knew was " Good day, welcome to Paris"...I finally reached my dream destination.
The first thing we did was to get to the information desk and get all the travel details which included the road and tube maps. After studying them for about 20 minutes we found the location of our stay and headed straight for it. Like always the first thing after dumping the luggage in the room, I started exploring the room and the facilities. But the shock came when I opened the balcony... There right in front of me was one of the 7 wonders of the world standing in its own elegance : the great "Tour d'Eiffel"..another breath taking moment !!!
As per the agenda of the day, we headed to the Eiffel tower. Enjoyed the very view surrounding it. We took a walk along the left bank of river Seine and then took one of the 200 brigdes across it to get to the right bank. We headed towards the National Theatre building and Musee de l'homme from where the view was just magnificent. Then we went on a coach plus cruise tour which lasted for 3 hours. We saw the Parisian city all lighted and its most beautiful state. The cruise on the river Seine was so fabulous with the lights everywhere reflecting on the surface and slight breeze hitting your face while enjoying the architecture around. We got down at the foot of the Eiffel tower. Enjoyed the beauty at night and then retired for the day.
The second day began with the visit to 2 famous churches, Saint Chappelle and Notre Dame !! Saint Chappelle was around 750 years old with amazing glass works. Its dedicated to King Louis who became the king at the age of 12. He was a very humble and noble king who spent most of his time with the lepers, washing and serving them with his own hands. He later was made a saint and is known as Saint Louis I and this church is dedicated to him. The glass works represents the various books in the Bible starting with Genesis and ending with Revelation.
Notre Dame, what more to say. It is this very own gothic structure that dominates the river Seine was well as the very history of Paris. It is situated in a small island called " Ile-de-la-Cite ". It was here that Napoleon, wishing to emphasize the primacy of the state over the church, crowned himself emperor, and then crowned Josephine, his Martinique-born wife, as his empress.
Then we just strolled our way back cover the bridges and enjoying the view of Paris at dusk. Don't think we retired for the day. Next is the most exciting thing we did. We went to the so called famous " Pattisserie " (pastry shop). Didn't even know the names of the sweets there but just ordered one of each...Hee hee... okie now you can imagine our state after so much sweets a French dishes. All we wanted was to get back to the room and just lie down. On the way back we got a bottle of champagne. My first champagne ever !!! Well that was all for the day...
The next day we started off with the famous and world's largest museums " Musee d'Louvre ". It here where you will see the famous "Monalisa". The museum was so large that after 3 hours we were so exhausted and full of information and realized that we hadn't even covered half of it. Well after that we just ran through the museum till we could find the exit which was at the very end of the building. In between stopped for a few eye catching exhibits.
The museum was at one end of the Champse Elysees, one of the most famous streets in the world, with its cinemas, cafes, and luxury specialty shops. We walked from the very beginning of the street which led to "Arc de l'Triomphe". The arch was commissioned by Napoleon as a tribute to the French army. We climbed the spiral steps all the way up the 148 metres tall arch. Enjoyed the view of Paris city from top. The next event for the day was a good and formal dinner in a French restaurant. We had already spotted a good place to dine near the tower. It was known as "Champs de Mars". We went for a 4 course dinner which included : Aperitifs, demarreurs (starters), Repas principal (main course) and desserts. French pastries and chocolates are so delicious. They just melt in your mouth...Yummy !! The very thought itself just makes my mouth water.
Now the final day. We woke up realizing that this is our last day to be in this lovely city. We thought of just relaxing through the day with a few visits in mind. One was a church called "Sacre Couvre" . Its located in the outskirts of paris on top of a hill. The view of paris city from there is another wonderful site. It located among the streets called Montemarte where you can see artist standing and paiting, small souvenir shops here and there and middle class french apartments : The very typical image of Paris !!!
The second on our list was the Musee de l'Invalides which is dedicated to the french soldiers. The very dome of it is made of gold and aparantely just weighs 6 kg..Wow right !! Well we walked around the whole place and towards our hotel. And guess what we saw. I am not saying but see for yourself :
This was the most exciting finding of the whole trip. Well after this we just got back to the hotel, sat down in the bar for sometime munching some crisps and peanuts. By around 7 pm we checked out and headed towards London.
Well as I am writing this down, I can't believe those wonderful 4 days have come to end. I can still see the Eiffel tower all shining and lighted, the busy Champse Elysees, the arc magnificently standing in the heart of the city.... this truely was a dream come true for me.
For more pics: Click here !!!
At 07:30 I, along with my friend Sujadh, entered the "London Waterloo Station". After the security and baggage clearance we were led to the waiting lounge. As I was sitting there with trembling legs and hands I heard a voice "Passengers for the 08:12 Eurostar train to Paris, please proceed to the entrance".. I could feel a sudden gush of blood on my face. That was the very moment when I took my first step towards the world's most romantic city, PARIS !!!
It took sometime for me to realize that all these weren't still a dream but mere truth. After about two and a half hours of journey I heard a French voice " Bonjour, bienvenue vers Paris " which immediately I knew was " Good day, welcome to Paris"...I finally reached my dream destination.
The first thing we did was to get to the information desk and get all the travel details which included the road and tube maps. After studying them for about 20 minutes we found the location of our stay and headed straight for it. Like always the first thing after dumping the luggage in the room, I started exploring the room and the facilities. But the shock came when I opened the balcony... There right in front of me was one of the 7 wonders of the world standing in its own elegance : the great "Tour d'Eiffel"..another breath taking moment !!!
As per the agenda of the day, we headed to the Eiffel tower. Enjoyed the very view surrounding it. We took a walk along the left bank of river Seine and then took one of the 200 brigdes across it to get to the right bank. We headed towards the National Theatre building and Musee de l'homme from where the view was just magnificent. Then we went on a coach plus cruise tour which lasted for 3 hours. We saw the Parisian city all lighted and its most beautiful state. The cruise on the river Seine was so fabulous with the lights everywhere reflecting on the surface and slight breeze hitting your face while enjoying the architecture around. We got down at the foot of the Eiffel tower. Enjoyed the beauty at night and then retired for the day.
The second day began with the visit to 2 famous churches, Saint Chappelle and Notre Dame !! Saint Chappelle was around 750 years old with amazing glass works. Its dedicated to King Louis who became the king at the age of 12. He was a very humble and noble king who spent most of his time with the lepers, washing and serving them with his own hands. He later was made a saint and is known as Saint Louis I and this church is dedicated to him. The glass works represents the various books in the Bible starting with Genesis and ending with Revelation.
Notre Dame, what more to say. It is this very own gothic structure that dominates the river Seine was well as the very history of Paris. It is situated in a small island called " Ile-de-la-Cite ". It was here that Napoleon, wishing to emphasize the primacy of the state over the church, crowned himself emperor, and then crowned Josephine, his Martinique-born wife, as his empress.
Then we just strolled our way back cover the bridges and enjoying the view of Paris at dusk. Don't think we retired for the day. Next is the most exciting thing we did. We went to the so called famous " Pattisserie " (pastry shop). Didn't even know the names of the sweets there but just ordered one of each...Hee hee... okie now you can imagine our state after so much sweets a French dishes. All we wanted was to get back to the room and just lie down. On the way back we got a bottle of champagne. My first champagne ever !!! Well that was all for the day...
The next day we started off with the famous and world's largest museums " Musee d'Louvre ". It here where you will see the famous "Monalisa". The museum was so large that after 3 hours we were so exhausted and full of information and realized that we hadn't even covered half of it. Well after that we just ran through the museum till we could find the exit which was at the very end of the building. In between stopped for a few eye catching exhibits.
The museum was at one end of the Champse Elysees, one of the most famous streets in the world, with its cinemas, cafes, and luxury specialty shops. We walked from the very beginning of the street which led to "Arc de l'Triomphe". The arch was commissioned by Napoleon as a tribute to the French army. We climbed the spiral steps all the way up the 148 metres tall arch. Enjoyed the view of Paris city from top. The next event for the day was a good and formal dinner in a French restaurant. We had already spotted a good place to dine near the tower. It was known as "Champs de Mars". We went for a 4 course dinner which included : Aperitifs, demarreurs (starters), Repas principal (main course) and desserts. French pastries and chocolates are so delicious. They just melt in your mouth...Yummy !! The very thought itself just makes my mouth water.
Now the final day. We woke up realizing that this is our last day to be in this lovely city. We thought of just relaxing through the day with a few visits in mind. One was a church called "Sacre Couvre" . Its located in the outskirts of paris on top of a hill. The view of paris city from there is another wonderful site. It located among the streets called Montemarte where you can see artist standing and paiting, small souvenir shops here and there and middle class french apartments : The very typical image of Paris !!! 
The second on our list was the Musee de l'Invalides which is dedicated to the french soldiers. The very dome of it is made of gold and aparantely just weighs 6 kg..Wow right !! Well we walked around the whole place and towards our hotel. And guess what we saw. I am not saying but see for yourself :
This was the most exciting finding of the whole trip. Well after this we just got back to the hotel, sat down in the bar for sometime munching some crisps and peanuts. By around 7 pm we checked out and headed towards London.
Well as I am writing this down, I can't believe those wonderful 4 days have come to end. I can still see the Eiffel tower all shining and lighted, the busy Champse Elysees, the arc magnificently standing in the heart of the city.... this truely was a dream come true for me.
For more pics: Click here !!!
posted by Gem @ 4:54 pm
1 Comments:
At 06 March, 2006 21:06,
Shiv said…
Hiya,
Got this link from Sojish's site.
No point in asking how you are doing. I can see you are having lots of fun.
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