On the banks of Seine...

The city of Paris is full of gems, life and street vendors selling crepes! There’s so much to see and do that you can spend days without a minute to spare. Yes – there’s Eiffel tower and yes there’s Louvre but my favorite thing in Paris, rather things are Mont Matre and Notre Dame.

The metro, the trams make travel in the city very simple and quiet affordable. You can be at any place within the city in a matter of minutes. The magnificent Eiffel tower is a monument to see, more like a thing to see at night! During summer, sunset is late and so the best time to be around and/or on the tower is around 8:30 or 9pm. Running up the stairs (half-way) is a much better way to experience the tower. Each bend has some trivia of the structure. Paris looks amazing from the top. The city with the river, the grounds, and the white-roofs looks dense and intense. Like a lot of stuff packed into a small place, the city oozes life. The best part for me was actually laying in the park and watching the top of the hour 5 min light show on the tower. It is quite a sight to sprawl on the cool grass and watch the 1,063 ft tall structure above you light up in shimmering glow.

The Champs-Elysees (Shaun-z-ley-zees) is beautiful. The wide open road leading to the beautiful Arc de triumph is a great place to have lunch and do window shopping! Everything from a Ferrari to an ice-crème is available.

Louvre is perhaps Mecca for those into art. And it is not just the Mona Lisa, it is the huge painting and sculpture collection that stretches across 4 wings. To top it all there’s the palace outside and stunning square with famous Louvre triangles. Château de Versailles is another place to confirm any doubts you might have of Paris’s historic value. The opulent mirror room, gardens and fountains are just magnificent. The scale and scope, more than anything else, takes your breath away.

And now to things I loved! Notre Dame is an exquisite church. I didn’t even get to go to its top (closes at 5 pm) and yet I am mesmerized by what I saw. The eyes have to adjust to the darkness and ears to quiet-ness as you enter the main church. In all directions you see stunning glass work. Light filters in through blue and greens and makes the church look like a different world. I absolutely fell in love with each glass piece and the way it glowed in the filtered light from outside. I don’t know if my spirit moved and soul stirred, but my senses definitely were in a drive.

And then there’s parrtyy! Mont Matre, the humble and underrated gem of Paris is just the place to party. The white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur in the fore front covers an absolutely fantastic array of artists and restaurants in the back. The street around the main square (at the back of Mont Matre) is surrounded by artists showing their work, selling their pieces and engaged in live sketching. In the middle are the patio restaurants and bars. The place has electric energy. And then as you walk to the front of church, the steps are filled with bevy of people just sitting, singing, admiring random performances and enjoying the setting sun over the city. The church is up on a hill (130 m) and gives a perfect view of the city, perfect entrance through old village and perfect experience of party in open with strangers! The best kind!

Oh and then there is Moulin Rouge! The can-can performance and the costumes and the thrill of being in front row, all came together in form of just an amazing experience of music, dance and show-woman-ship. For anyone who loves live performance, Moulin Rouge is one of its kinds.

Paris, a city where art lurks and thrives at every corner – music, painting, literature, food, architecture. Musicians play in metro tunnels, on trains, on street corners. The scale and preservation of history and art is admirable. You can walk on banks of Seine, climb the tower and the hill, walk your day off in palaces and museums, stuff yourself with yummy crepes and there’ll be still something left for the next time. That is Paris. The city just has so much to show off; it holds your daze and persuades you to fall in love with it. Everyone can find something to love in Paris.