It is hard to describe romance. In Paris, the romance lies in watching high heels getting stuck in cobbled streets; watching shiny limousines whiz by Place de la Concorde; and giggling when buttery croissants melt in your hands. When I first landed, I felt like I was gate-crashing a secret conclave for beautiful people in a land where style never goes out of style. 

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Paris is everything that the old black and white movies promised it to be. It is a huge shiny disco ball at night, when the ferry lights twinkle down the River Seine, the Eiffel Tower glitters and the Lido show is just about to begin. 

In the day time, I found myself walking down the streets for hours, eulogizing them and their delightful little cafes. It is true that the intellectuals of yore have been replaced by beer guzzling, snail eating Parisian populace, but it still retains its old world charm. Snails, or escargot, as they are charmingly called, are delicious once you get over your initial nausea and highly recommended by yours truly.

For all the Dan Brown junkies, this is your place to be. It will take an average person at least six whole days to see the whole of the Musee du Louvre. I suggest sticking close and following the map, so that you don’t end up hollering your friend’s name all day in the Greek antiquities section, finally finding her huddled fearfully near eerie Egyptian mummies. You’ll be scarred forever. Having said that, the museum houses all genres of art one can imagine.

Paris is also every Monet enthusiast’s dream destination. With an entire museum dedicated to him, Musee Marmottan, you can have your fill of impressionism and post impressionism in all its glory, from his earlier amateur scribbling to some of his later majestic work. If you still want more, there is Musee d’Orsay which houses Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Seurat, Gauguin and Van Gogh.

I could go on and on about Parisian architecture, the infamous gargoyles of Notre Dame Cathedral, the Arc De Triomph in the rain and the Ponte Alexandre III with its golden nymphs and cherubs.

Also, I suggest the ridiculously priced ice-cream near the shiny carousels outside the Eiffel Tower complex for a complete Eiffel experience. Rather than standing in the long lines to eventually live every acrophobic’s worst nightmare, grab a picnic basket and camp in the park outside it and hold your breath when the Eiffel Tower is set on sparkle fire. That, for me, is the true definition of romance.