We meet again Paris!

I can't tell you how much I love you Paris. Not because I don't know French, I do, un peu. During my various visits, I have seen that you have aged beautifully, you do not differentiate based on skin colour, you walk along with me when I ask for directions, you warm towards me when I speak broken French. You have been my employer, as Alstom, whom I shall fondly remember, forever.

And, as a family, this was the first time I visited you. After living in Singapore, I felt that your metros need renovation no doubt. They have aged since I last visited you about a decade ago. 

We checked into our pleasantly priced Fraser Suites at my old haunt, La Defense. Memories, memories. I spared no effort in taking my dear ones to the places I roamed alone so long ago... looking back so fondly at the beautiful but lonely evenings of roaming the Quatre Temps Mall alone, hunting for deals to take back home in Delhi. 

Soon after checking in, we boarded the bus to La tour Eiffel. The husband and I climbed the tower many years ago, but this time we sufficed with a hundred pictures, in front of a fully lit up tower.

The view soon as we got off the bus!

Then was the march down the Uber-regal Champs Elysees. Couldn't resist shopping for souvenirs at some corner shops and Arcades des Champs Elysees. A gown from Morgan cost me Euro 80. Haven't worn it in six months...the Dinner and Dine got postponed...

It's not expensive to shop in Paris, if you know where to shop. Since I was familiar with La Defense, we shopped till we dropped at C&A, Sephora and other shops where it was raining deals. The teen and I are obsessed with HnM and we don't spare a round wherever we find it in the world, Rome, Hongkong, etc!

Modern art work around La Defense

After so many trips to Paris, we realised that the Arc de Triumph and the Grande Arche of La Defense are actually in a line! 

Two days of Disneyland left us with a sparkle in our eyes. It was the twenty-fifth anniversary and we had great fun at the rides, and the spectacular shows. After Universal Studios, Singapore, where we are used to Express passes to avoid the lines, it was disappointing that Disney doesn't provide any Express pass options. Many popular rides were announcing closures, and that too after standing in the queue for several minutes. We took train passes for three days, to use it mainly on our visits to Disneyland, station Chessy. 

Disney Magic

We had just one day to roam the mighty Louvre. Couldn't decide which of the never-ending Salles to enter! We did the Egyptian, Asian, African, Roman/European and a few more. While the family was happy to literally run through the mighty and gigantic art works and sculptures, I tried to read up whatever I could in this endless labyrinth of antiquities. Saw the Mona Lisa all over again, frankly wondering how the other exotic paintings of Botticelli, Raphael, Rembrandt, etc got left behind... each a Masterpiece, what else could a non-artist like me say! 

Endless displays, each a masterpiece 

We saw gilt-edged furniture, chandeliers, beds, mantels, mantelpieces, candelabra at Napolean's ultra-regal Apartments, with our feet aching but eyes sparkling. 

Napolean's Dining hall

Even a simple bus ride entitles you to drink in the beauty of Paris

We bade good-bye to Paris without a boat ride on the serene Seine, but something tells me we'll be back ... je reviendrai, belle Paris.