Paris je t'aime

Paris was every bit as decadent and lovely as I had always pictured it in my mind all this time. It is full of centuries-old charms and patina, and is truly, truly breath-taking. I would dream and read and plan about visiting Paris everyday, all day. I would literally felt my breath shorten whenever I see beautiful pictures of Paris. Being able to finally step foot and see Paris was absolutely a dream come true for me. No word will suffice to describe my gratitue for this gift, alhamdulillah.

The weather was perfect during our visit- sunny and breezy all day long. We knew that it would be impossible to cover all grounds for a mere 4 day-stay so we picked out places we'd like to see and things to do much earlier.

We did the most cliche of it all (well, why not?)- gigling, posing under and going up the Eiffel Tower. Despite of the crowd, it felt so romantic up there and the vast view of Paris was simply splendid. The lift ride to the second floor costs 8.20EUR and 13++EUR for the top floor.

We journeyed out a bit and went to Versailles. It has always been in my Paris must-visit list and true to my expectation, Versailles is magnificiently grand and beautiful. We paid 18EUR each for entrances to the chateau (palace) and jardin (garden). I cannot say enough of the magnitude of grandness of both. The interior decor of the chateau is the cherry on top of any French decor and the jardin is the whale of all gardens.

We had a lunch picnic at the chateau courtyard with food cooked and brought from home. We went on rented bicycles around the huge jardin and had ice creams. I wish we had more time to spend here to lay around the green grass and go boating in the lake. Next time, perhaps? ;p

We stopped by the Louvre on our way back from Versailles. We felt tired from the earlier trip and decided not to go into the museum. Something that we're saving for our future trip *winks We purposely chose to leave Paris on a Saturday so that I'd be able to check out one of Paris' famous weekend fleas, la marche aux Puces de Vanves. This one is way smaller than the gigantic la marche aux Puces St-Ouen de Clignancourt. We woke up early on the last day to pack and left the apartment shortly before noon. I somehow misread the opening hours, thinking that it would last until late afternoon and was therefore unlucky because the flea actually ends at around 1-2pm. When we arrived, all the vendors were already packing up and getting ready to leave. It was such a frenzy.

With the remaining goods still left unpacked by some of the vendors, I asked and bargained but didn't pursue further as the prices were too steep. There were some really nice vintage paintings and picture frames but too expensive for my budget. I saw some really nice vintage wooden hangers but before I could even touch any, they were quickly snapped by a French women in front of me T_T I left with only a vintage tiny wooden embroidery hoop which cost me 5EUR post-bargain. "au revoir Paris"

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On a rather slightly unpleasant note, I'd like to share a couple our personal experiences in Paris which left us (me, mostly) feeling sad and frustrated for days.

Despite all the beautiful and charming things that Paris presents, safety was an embarrassingly one of the major discredits to the city. We nearly fell into becoming victims of mafia-controlled pickpockets, who were mere little girls in the metro train. Alhamdulillah, a couple of undercover policeman busted their attempt before any unfortunate event took place. It was such a horrible experience- we were so scared when they surrounded us two and not a single Parisien in the train said anything to warn us although they knew. The aftermath left my heart pounding so hard, I was terrified and so angry, my body trembled non-stop and I was almost on the verge of bursting into tears.

As a Muslim traveler with scarves around my head, I have never felt unaccepted in my travels but the Parisien has greatly succeeded in making me felt so. What a shame! Putting on a brave face and all the negativity aside, taking it all in a stride, I walked tall and went on and continued admiring Paris.

These are some of the "encounters" we had, which in a way served as a great lesson for us personally. Some of you may have experienced the same or worse, or none at all. I thank God Almighty for keeping us safe and strong, and my husband for being such a great, funny and protective travel companion.

I am still very much in love with Paris. I do hope to return someday and see Paris again. I still have a lot in my must-do's and must-go's lists that I wish to fulfill. InsyaAllah :)