Paris

Christmas is over and so is over short holiday. We had 4 days off so we decided to use them well and go on a short trip to Paris. I had always wanted to go to Paris - so now i can cut off one name from my list of things-to-do-before I die :) And belive me the visit was surely a dream come true. It waaaaasssssss beeeeaaaauuuutiiiifullll (hope adding so many extra letters to the word gave you the exact idea of how I found it) :)

Ok - we decided to drive to Paris (read here - my husband loves driving) Well it wasn't that long a drive so we decided to go for it. According to the navigation system it was 4 hrs 22 min drive and we planned to cover it up in around 6 hours counting dinner breaks, coffee breaks and baby breaks :) ok ok ...like dinner and coffee we were not planning to have any baby *wink* ...it was rest break for our baby when she would get tired of sitting in her car seat or just crave for some special attention from us. We started our drive around 6 in the veening on 24th Dec. After one dinner break and 2 more short breaks (crying-baby breaks) we reached our hotel at 12:30 in the night. Christmas morning was beautiful. After lazying around a bit and gulping down some delicious frenc breakfast we were all set for a touristic round of the city. Our first destination - which everyone would have guesse by now - was Eiffel tower. It is an iron tower built beside the Seine River in Paris. It is gigantic. Huge lacy iron structure. Besides Eiffel tower, we saw Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées, cathedral Notre Dame, palace of the Louvre, Palace of the Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, Parc du Champ de Mars, Les Invalides, Grand Palais and many more such touristic places (many names have already left my not so strong memory)


Food options in Paris were great - millions of cafe's and restaurants from all over the world. And it wasn't all that expensive too ( compared to prices in Netherlands). Also, the best part was you could get a huge variety of warm food all through the day - now that might not be a great thing for anyoen from India but yes - for people from Nethetlands and around, it is something of great value :) Warm Lunch is not the concept here. It's almost like winning a lottery if you get warm lunch somewhere. The only warm meal dutch people have is dinner. Warm-Lunch term is alien to them. Ok back to the trip recap now.

Moving around Paris is very very easy - infact by the end of three days we realised that we were going round and round the same 5 km diameter area. Everything was easily accessible by metro or even on foot. (Though we didnt use any of these means - we preffered our car to get some warmt in otherwise freezing weather) IT WAS VERY COLD. Hopefully these bold letters are conveying the true temperature feeling :) It was around -5, -6 all the time.

Evenings in Paris were heavenly beautiful with lights all around. Effel Tower was a sparkling wonder. It was illuminated in blue to celebrate the French presidency of EU. It even had twelve golden stars of the European flag. Few minutes every hour the whole tower would start sparkling with millions of lights. We couldn't go to first floor or above as we had Prisha with us and babies are not allowed and moreover there was such a long queue - we had no patience for that.

Greetings!!

Long holiday

We had been away to India for 6 weeks starting weekend before diwali. Another valid reason for my absense from blog world!
It was quite a nice trip apart from the fact that we were too busy all the time. After 3 years we celebrated Diwali with family . And there was my little daughter's first b'day too. This was the main attarction of the trip. I will write a complete detailed record of all our activities there. This post is just to get back the feel of writing.

Her b'day was a great success - A huge party where we got to meet all our relatives, cousins and many friends. We all enjoyed it a lot and so did our little darling. It was a surprise to see how happy she was there and how much she enjoyed it all inspite of big gathering and loud music. Believe me I was assuming i would be holding a cranky baby for couple of hours who would not want to go away from me and keep crying for no reason (Well valid reasons from her side though) But she had a great time cutting the beautiful cake and dancing on dance floor. She was happy and so were we.

We also went to Vaishno Devi for her mundan ceremony (Shaving off hair form her head). It was quite tiring but again very nice. Rest of the days went into eating eating and eating. I wanted to eat everything i had not had for last couple of years. I myself dont remember what all i ate there. We didnt go for much of shopping as we had already received enough as gifts. Our parents didnt leave us with any scope of any more shopping. Our bags were already full. Infact we had to leave behind Prisha's toys and dolls.

One thing i really feel bad about this trip is that i didnt get to meet my friends. I couldnt even call anyone. I met only 3 of them and that too shortly. I couldn't stay and have fun with my little sister - who is not little anymore - she herself has a 6 months old darling baby girl. We had made huge plans but all in vain :(

Biggest surprise on this trip was the drastic changes delhi has gone through. We were really happily surprised. The food quality, the hygeine, cleanliness, the presentation, the variety - everything has improved manyfolds.

Another good part of the trip was how Prisha(our daughter) adjusted so well with everyone there. We could leave her home for hours and she would even notice. She adjusted well with everything and everyone - people, environment, weather, food etc etc etc. Infact we both9me and my hubby) fell ill and had indigestion but she was perfect all through the trip and that was the best that could have happened. We were quite glad about it.

Our 6 weeks long trip ended in Dec 5 and we landed here on Dec 6 morning. Cold wind gave us a nice welcome on the morning of our anniversary. We spent our anniversary day sleeping. It was too cold for us to step out right on first day. Well, how long could I have stayed in. Monday came and i had to be back at work. Work load was waiting for me. My friend was ready to leave for her vacation and It was my turn to take over.

This is festive and holiday time here and christmas fever is all around in the air. So not a bad time to be here. Last 2 weeks of this month would be relaxed as most people are off for celebrations. Though it's cold and dark most of the time yet christmas lights keep it all light and cheerful. One can feel the happiness in air. We are up for some shopping in this huge sales season. Lets see what all good deals we can get our hands on.

Till next time - Enjoy, take care and keep smiling.