Well well… The dream is over… Every story about Paris, all the fantasy created around the name of this city has proved to be true in my eyes. Everything is surrounded with a sense of style, with art, culture and history… The grocery store, the patisseries, the boutiques, even the crazy people that we saw every single day in the Metro were very artistic :D

A room with a view…

If you’re a loyal reader of my blog, you would know that this trip was totally a surprise and free of charge for me! Since it was for free, one would think that the accommodation was in a crappy hotel… Oh, just see this “crappy” view that I had to bear everyday?! Somebody does love me up there :P

Eiffel Tower

I was astonished to learn that when Eiffel Tower was being built (construction lasted in 1889), many of the writers, artists, architects etc. of the time, including familiar names such as Emile Zola, Alexander Dumas, Charles Garnier, Guy de Maupassant, were strongly against the construction. They were arguing that it was an ugly iron structure with no “skin”; even formed a Committee and petitioned for its demolition. Oh, what an eyesore it turned out!

Even more interesting story is, after being awarded the contract to build the tower, Eiffel discovered that the Exposition Committee would only grant about a fourth of the budget needed to construct it. Eiffel himself would have to finance the remaining construction from his own pocket, in return to collecting the profits of the tower for twenty years. In a surprise to everyone, including Eiffel, the tower was paid off in the first year!  Today, it has around 7 million visitors each year (acc. to wikipedia.org). Hmm, a good investment! :) 

The more you gaze upon it, the more you like it! I was mesmerized by the lace like structure of the tower from a close-up look. It’s like the lace hem of the skirts of this “iron lady”, isn’t it? :)

And at night, the light show that totally caught us by surprise, makes it even more fascinating…

Streets of Paris

As in every big city in the world, I’m sure that there are many dreadful places in the outskirts of Paris. But the places we’ve visited were like a scene from a postcard…

And everywhere we turned, we were caught up with some fascinating monument… interlaced elegantly with the modern world.  

Flower Shops

For me, this was one of the best delights of Paris. The city is full of flower shops, all decorated adorably, full of color and style. 

Cultural Attractions

Cultural Attractions… where to begin… Although we had very limited time to visit the museums as much as we liked, we were able to make time for the famous Louvre Museum and d’Orsay. Waiting for an hour to enter was definitely worth the effort!

Long corridors of the building and the crowd of people (and the displays) were overwhelming. Even with a quick walk in many parts, we were museumed out at the end of the day!

Both the palace turned into museum and the paintings were amazing. 

Amongst other things, there was even room for sewing inspirations :)

It was a magical trip for me and my husband. We left with stomachs full of great wine, legs  half paralyzed with intensive walking and hearts full of joy. 

Coming up: Visiting fabric stores in Paris!