Paris: Day One

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris:

The first monument that I visited in Paris. The very first day of our arrival and we still had time to check in. So utilizing that time, thanks to my husband who doesn’t want to miss a single minute, we went to see Notre Dame located in. But yes, only after we had a quick breakfast. The trip had drained all our energy.

A medieval catholic cathedral, Notre-Dame de Paris means “Our lady of Paris.” It is stated that it is the “highest place of Christianity, one of the most visited monuments.” “Every year, 13 million visitors from around the world crossed its portals. ” As mentioned earlier this cathedral refers to as lady of Paris. Then why is the pronoun ‘he’ used to refer this cathedral in the site http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/en/spiritualite/.

We could have gone to the top of the cathedral. But I doubted if I will be able to save some energy and excitement for another place. Six hours’ bus ride was already poking me. So we had to miss the experience of going on top of the cathedral. No doubt the view from there would have been mystical.

Arc De Triomphe:

Arc de Triomphe represent a national symbol. To go there you need to take a train to Place d Etoile. There was no question regarding the beauty of this monument. To experience more of its beauty, we decided to go inside and climb upstairs. We had energy for this one luckily. The climb thus started.

Wow! The stairs did not seem to end any time soon. On top of that was the spiral construct of the stairs. Phew! Our feet needed rest at a few points. Finally when we were up inside a closed room we could see a long bench that could soothe for about 15-20 people was waiting for us. Well since there were a lot of us coming upstairs, we did not rest for long. As promised the panoramic view from the open area outside was jaw-dropping. http://www.paris-arc-de-triomphe.fr/en. After we descended down and came out of Arc de Triomphe, we could see people lighting candles in memory of soldiers.

By the end of the tour, mice were tired running inside our stomach. So we looked for a place to eat, quick and not too light or heavy. We saw Mcdonalds crowded so inexplicably heavily but still it seemed to the best option: quick and not so heavy. And I think Mcdonald’s was where we crashed often for our lunch throughout our stay.

Eiffel Tower:

After returning back from Arc de Triomphe, we rested for a while. It wasn’t for a long since we had to leave for Eiffel Tower. We already had booked our tickets and no matter how tired, we dragged ourselves out of the hotel. But that was a wise decision.

One of the dream destinations for people around the world, I was happy to check it out from my dream list as I stood in front of Eiffel Tower. Hugely huge, I could not keep looking at the whole of it for a long time. Wow! I had got so many Eiffel Tower keyrings as souvenirs and now it was standing tall in front of my eyes. No longer was it a dream and I was going to climb inside of Eiffel Tower.

Open interior of the tower took me back in the beginning of the elevation. Packed elevator, everyone looked very excited, a child or an adult. No sooner people were up, everyone swept their eyes all around the Eiffel Tower. Since it was evening time, the view was beautiful. But slowly the city hid behind the mist and heavy wind. Yet it didn’t fail to amaze us. However, it was getting too cold and we had finished admiring the beauty to the fullest, we descended and headed back towards our room. Staying out in chilly, winter evening with a few raindrops wasn’t my cup of tea. Chinese yummy, warm dinner and our day and night was well spent.  http://www.toureiffel.paris/en/home.html