Flashback to 2016- Episode 2 # Happy feet in London and sojourn de la Paris

30th June 2016

Its been almost ten days since I last sat down to write. Its not only my new experiences that have captured my attention but the sheer joy of being with loved ones. It feels almost wrong to let anything get in the way of that.

But then I do want to share my joy and all of the wonder that I am feeling. Its like being a wide eyed girl in a candy store, with such delicious sights, aromas, colours and taste. Before I begin, let me tell you where exactly I am right at this moment, well ..I am in the French countryside somewhere in the Alsace region, travelling through the most beautiful French chateaux, green fields and vineyards on the way to Zurich. By evening today I will be in Lucerne Switzerland where I start my swiss story but that’s for another time.

Let me start with where I left off last time. For the first few days I was in London just exploring the beautiful English city, here we went to the usual London city tour with madam tussads, the Windsor castle, Eton, oxford, datchet village and also … shopped vegetables and fruits from the royal farms.. yes !!

With all this action in the background we were soon packing again for the much awaited Europe trip which was to start in the fashion capital of the world …Paris. After a lot of jostling and an almost missed flight in London we landed in Paris. Well my first feeling the moment we stepped out of the airport was how very French Paris is … well that actually sounds funny but there is just no trace of English. I had always heard it, but the enormity of the language problem hits only when you are in France. That’s funny too but I guess you get my point. Anyway I managed splendidly as I can speak French ! Ha ha ..I always did think I had a working knowledge of French having studied it for two years and kind of kept in touch over the years but well while in France I realized how little I know the language, and now that’s another life goal … improving my French.

Back to the topic, the moment we hit Paris I realized why it is the mecca of tourists the world over, Paris is beautiful and that’s an understatement by any measure. It is captivating, heartstopping, breathtakingly gorgeous, the Eiffel tour is the crowning glory and muse la louvre is the soul especially for art and history buffs like me and not to miss out the Dan brown fans also like me. The chateaux de Versailles and jardin Versailles ( palace of Versailles and gardens of Versailles ) are even prettier than imagination. Disney land Paris is whole fantasy world in itself … full of drama, thrill and yes magic…

We ended the Paris sojourn with the night cruise of Paris on the river siene and I can say that it is really as good as it is said, especially if you are on the top deck under the open skies and a light drizzle. And then we got lost ..in Paris… at night… and it was wonderful. That was the end of our Paris holiday and I did everything from getting inspired, feeling stupid by talking in French with strangers and being totally misunderstood..getting lost and also getting awestruck. Then we hit the French countryside with quaint little villages, groves vineyards and occasional castles on either side of the road and then to the French alps, to the swiss alps through the Franco swiss border and then through the swiss towns to Zurich.

My takeaway from Paris ..French food ..yes but French fruits, vine and cheese.. oh yes ! I just could not get enough of fruits and cheese from cherries, plums, peaches and all the different variety of cheese. Apart from food I takeaway a whole lot of beauty, experiences, memories and moments of wonder. The end of this journey starts another one.

Sharing with you some pictures of the true Parisian beauty. 

Le Louvre Paris 

The Iconic Eiffel Tower at night lit up with a thousand lights

Disney land paris

So like the pirates say Switzerland Ahoy !

Till later.

-The gypsy gurl.

What does Paris mean to you?  If you have an experience of France, do share in comments, I would love to hear all about it.