Selling aspiration to the City of Lights

Long before the shopping malls and flashy TV, Newspaper adverts

has been selling aspirations to the city of lights for almost 125 years.

Lafayette gallery represents ultimate in luxury. All top beauty and cosmetic brands are present here and aspire to woo customers with their latest offerings. Fashion and luxury are not my cup of tea and so I decided to take quick detour to the roof-top. I must say I was not expecting much, as the building is not very tall, but because its located in the city centre, I got fabulous 360 degree view of the beautiful city of lights in the daylight. I definitely will spend a lot of time in the gallery. My several upcoming posts will have photos taken from the roof-top of Lafayette Gallery, for now enjoy the below picture. I experimented with several tones, hue, saturation levels, including monochrome and I loved almost every version.  I really wanted to capture lot more details, but sun was particularly bright for December and Sky was fairly dull and boring.

 

 

Charming Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris

Popularly known as Sacre Coeur, this charming basilica sits on the top of a hill in the Montmartre district. Surprisingly and thankfully we were blessed with a bright and sunny day during December. So we decided to make hay while the sun shines and quickly hopped on a taxi instead of using public transport (to save time and money). I was taken aback by the simplicity, charm and beauty of Sacre Coeur. The architecture of Sacre Couer is pretty interesting mix of Roman style and also resembles the architecture of Temples in India. Interiors of the basilica is also pretty interesting.

On a nice sunny day, I can spend hours sitting outside this Basilica watching the beautiful city of Paris.  Though this hill is not exactly in the centre of Paris, but one can enjoy amazing views of the city, including that of my favourite….guess what Eiffel Tower 🙂

A trip to Sacre Couer was not on my primary agenda, but am so glad I made it on my very second day. Sacre Couer for me undoubtedly was the best hidden gem (standing tall on the hill top), which I explored in Paris.

She continues to smile and thankfully so

Despite being stared, glared and shot by thousands every day, she continues to smile and thankfully so….

Our Lady of Paris

Notre Dame cathedral is a majestic example of French Gothic architecture.  Standing on the bank of Seine, Notre Dame looks amazing in natural day light as well artificial yellow lights in the  evening.