On my way to my friend’s wedding in India, I stopped over in Europe. I met one of my old co-workers and now a good friend who lives in London. She along with my business school roommate and I went to Paris for a few days. We took the Eurostar which is so convenient. In 2.5 hours you cross the English Channel into France. Easy peasy. And you don’t have to worry about arriving at the airport 2 hours before your flight to go through security and immigration. We arrived at St. Pancras station and had our passports scanned by the UK immigration officer, walked a few feet and had it stamped by the French immigration officer.
So many people are fascinated by The City of Love or Lights as its called today. All the ads about couples strolling romantically on the streets or celebrities shopping or going to fashion shows on Champs-Elysees so naturally I wanted to experience the city. My friends and I stayed in the Latin Quarter which was super convenient. We could walk almost everywhere or hop on the Metro to go to some of the further out sites. We had 2 days to cover as many sites as we could.
We arrived Sunday afternoon, checked into our hotel – thankfully I slept the whole train ride– and began exploring. Unfortunately, the weather was cold and rainy. First stop Notre Dame Cathedral. It was HUGE and right in the middle of the city. I’ve seen many cathedrals before so it didn’t blow my mind but still very impressive. We walked around a bit. I love the hustle bustle of a city. Seeing locals zooming by, tourists snapping pictures, street vendors selling their wares. I love the energy that cities exude. And Paris certainly had that albeit the weather dampened the mood.
The first evening was the best. We took a cruise along the Seine River which runs through Paris. The city is absolutely beautiful at night. All the buildings were lit up. And not in a glitzy New York style way but in a muted peaceful way. We started at the bridge with the Locks of Love and passed all the museums including The Louvre all the way to the Eiffel Tower. This monument is a quite a site at night and the lights sparkle every hour on the hour in the evenings. I can now understand why Paris is called the City of Love. This cruise was definitely romantic and strolling along the banks of the Seine or sitting in one of the many cafes drinking wine and eating cheese VERY ROMANTIC. The light show inspired my to create the sparkle dance and hence the title of this post.
The next morning we went early to The Louvre and still had to stand in line to get tickets. First and really the only stop to see the Mona Lisa by Leonardo DaVinci. I remember learning about the painting during my Cultural Foundations class in undergrad and to see it in person was awesome. I was pleasantly surprised by how normal sized the painting was. I’d heard from many people that the painting is super small and they hadn’t expected it to be so small so in my mind I’d reduced it down to a 5×7 size. Compared to this the painting was fairly large. And what they say is true – the women’s eyes do follow you. I did try it out myself!
Instead of going on and going in one super long post about Paris, I’m going to split it into two. Stay tuned. Until then enjoy the Sparkle.