Two Days in Paris: Things to Do!

Like many travel enthusiasts, it has always been my dream to visit Paris. It was a short 2-day trip but my husband and I tried to make the most of our time on hand.

We booked a hotel called Hôtel Eiffel Kensington. The building looked beautiful. In fact, the architecture of all the buildings in Paris is wonderful and majestic. You can spend hours admiring the exteriors of regular buildings, their tiny balconies, the artistic railings, and the windows.

Day 1:
1. Eiffel Tower
2. River Seine Cruise
3. Arc de Triomphe
4. Luxembourg Gardens

Day 2:
1. Notre Dame Cathedral.
2. The Louvre Museum
3. Do a Walking Tour (Optional but recommended)

Continue reading “Two Days in Paris: Things to Do!”

On World Poetry Day

Poetry,
Does not have to be a jumble of words
Or, beautiful sounding prose.
It’s what the people always say,
Poetry is in everything that’s around you.

It doesn’t need to be
Created, written, spoken, or sung.
It doesn’t have to always be expressed.
It can be in the unsaid little things of life.

When you close your eyes in prayer,
The reverent bow of your head, my friend, is a poem.

It is a feeling that flows,
It does not have to be controlled,
Who says you need to follow rules, meters, or rhymes
To feel poetry,
and if you do, that’s great too.
Well, then that’s the ultimate form of poetry.

But poetry, my dear, is you.
The emotions that flow inside of you.
The good ones, the bad ones,
The sad ones, the angry ones,
The love, the hate.

When you feel a darkness creeping within,
Gnawing at your skin
Breaking you, pulling you down,
Haven’t you tried to fight, to overcome?
Expecting light at the end of the tunnel?
You have reached your hand out for help,
Right there is hope, right there in your spirit is poetry.

When you are drowned in work,
Day and night with no track of time,
You have forgotten to eat,
Hungry and tired.
But, when you finally raise your head and stretch
In that deep long breath of exhaustion is poetry.

You are hanging onto your life,
In a local crowded train.
Sweating, cursing, sighing,
Pushing, pulling, struggling..
Struggling for a breath of fresh air.
In that struggling, funny anger my lovely one, let us find poetry.

Poetry is not always flowery.
It can be anything that you want it to be.

Doubtless, that the poems written by
The hopeless romantics,
On the falling leaves,
On the blooming trees,
On the rising, thrashing waves,
On the pouring, loving rain
Will always be the rainbows in the skies.

But, let us continue finding beauty
In the most unexpected traces of life.

Quaint Country Cottage

Oh how lovely it is,
To come across a quaint country cottage,
That serves breakfast and tea.

A white arched picket fence at the entrance,
Decorated with pink cherry blossoms.
I walk across the green lawn
and enter a warm 1980s cottage.

The fireplace hearth in the kitchen
Warms the wooden interiors.
Baskets are filled with breads,
Glass jars full of jam,
A steaming kettle brews tea,
Pots and pans hang on hooks,
I settle down to read a book.

Why isn’t anybody around,
I say, “Hello?” and wait for a sound.
A little girl runs across the room
With flour on her messy French braid ponytail,
Followed by an old maid,
Who stops midway noticing my presence.
“How may I help you, today?”
I smile and say, “This is such a beautiful place!”
I get a curt nod and she says,
“We are closed for the day”.

I never had the courage to visit again,
I sometimes pass by the quaint country cottage,
and admire it from far away.

Photo by Mathias P.R. Reding on Pexels.com