France : Paris
Romance + crème brulee + french wine +
fashion + art & history = PARIS
But personally, I found the hype around
Paris city totally blown out of proportion. Crazy traffic, dirty metro
stations, snobbish and rude people is what we pretty much got.
Of course, the art and history in the
city is something that artists and architects will totally love. We spent one
full day at the Louvre and maybe almost 2 hours staring at the enigmatic Mona
Lisa painting. Louvre took me back in
time to art history classes while in college - paintings through different
periods in history, neo classical and gothic architecture, sculptures and fresco.
Louvre
The Notre Dame Cathedral was another
place that took me back to art history classes - beautiful fresco on the walls
and brilliant stained glass painting!
Notre Dame Cathedral
Notre Dame Cathedral
Stained Glass Paintings
We took a 'Discover Paris' walk with a
guide in Montmartre Square. The walk was a lovely experience - from the oldest
cabaret - Moulign Rouge, to the famous windmill atop the hill, to Picasso's
house and the place where Van Gogh first lived and used to buy his breakfast
from...loved every bit of it.
Montmarte Square
Last, but not the least - the Eiffel
Tower. Looked lovely in the evening when it was all lit up. The place was abuzz
with activity in spite of the slight drizzle and chill winds.
Eiffel Tower
The famous French crepes with chocolate
spread is what we had by the Seine river the evening we visited the Eiffel
Tower. It was just about okay, although my friends loved the ones with non-veg
filling.
Crepes with cheese
Patisseries (French bakery) in France are a delight
for people with a sweet tooth like moi. A treat here is the macaroons - light
and crisp on the outside with soft natural flavour cream inside. Pistachio flavoured
one was yumm. French croissants turned out to be my husband's favourite. He
totally sweared by them and said they were the best he'd had till date.
Baguette and cheese is something I tasted for the first time and pretty much
liked it. The bread is a little hard though, but the cheese spread makes it
very tasty. The cupcakes and pastries in general are very tasty in most Patisseries.
We had a tough time restraining a friend from entering each and every
patisserie we passed. :)
Louis Vuitton store on Champs Elvsee
My friend and I walked down Champs
Elysee in the rain window shopping. We passed by the Louis Vuitton flagship
store but dint go in as we were soaking wet and shabby! Almost every second
person in Paris seemed to carry an LV bag (though most of them I suspect are
fake!). I asked the Parisian guide on the walking tour about this and he said
it was "a mass luxury" Parisians enjoyed given that LV was a French
label. I wonder how luxury can be a mass thing.
Paris can be passed off as any Asian city. Except for parts around the
Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and few other well-known touristy spots, it is over
hyped. Also, the city can be unsafe at times – thefts and pickpocketing are
very common – mostly tourists are the target. And despite the multi-culture, a
non-Parisian is treated as an outsider.
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