Once you’ve grasped the beauty of the city make sure you make the most of it, or else the warm feeling it gives you might slip right through your fingers.
The grand street of the Champs Elysee drags you through waves of coffee shops, and with people flitting through rows of stores, pastry shops, shopping centers, and everything else that dots this magical center.
You know you’re at the center of the world of art and fashion, and while there it forces your own heart to beat at the pace of the city.
While at this point you may well be under the spell of all the shops, your eyes can’t help but be drawn to the Eiffel, literally towering over you. Within seconds all thoughts of labels and shopping go out of your head entirely. As you get closer and closer to the tower you feel yourself shrinking in its presence, showing off its greatness the closer you get.
Then, you all of a sudden notice that you’re walking along the River Seine and the imposing vision of the Eiffel clashes with the soft caresses of the rippling of the river.
This walk across the Seine with the reflection rippling amongst the waves makes the massive steel construction look both awesome and vulnerable all in one go as it fades in and out across the winds on the river.
While this walk along the river is lovely enough to pursue for eternity, eventually one gets tired and looks to return back to the magnificent tower. While returning you can’t help but be struck by the gorgeous green verge running alongside the flowing water – it can feel like your own life has never before been filled with this much color!
And the things to do in Paris only begin there. Within minutes from the Seine you reach the famous glass pyramids that stand outside the Louvre, inviting you in to where you know the most famous artworks of all time are. While perhaps little can compare to the beauty of the external city, Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, amongst the myriad of things inside the great museum, continue to fill you with awe and wonderment.
This dream of a city only continues on after a long stroll underground back up to street level. There you find the Cathedral of Notre Dame, a must-see in Paris, with its stunning gothic turrets and ferocious gargoyles both alluring and frightening all at the same time.
But beyond just the beautiful famed buildings, the Paris that Haussman designed is nothing less than perfect – with every building interlocking with one another in harmony.
As dusk begins to fall on the city, the lights within each storefront or cafe flicker on, bringing the full life and excitement of the city quite literally to light. “Ville de Lumiere” they say… and veritably it really is a city of lights. Above it all, the Eiffel tower positively sparkles and the Champs Elysee turns into almost a second wonder from what it is in the daytime.
Of course, if you really want a grand day out you can go to DisneyLand Paris and leave the brilliant works of Picasso, Rodin, Cezanne, and so on for further days of exploration.
Leaving is always the hardest part of any trip to the most amazing city in the world, but alas the time to depart always comes, usually sooner than you’d like.
However, despite the sadness that comes from leaving, the magic and romance of the city stays with you forever.
