My Travelogue: 2005

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Borobudur was constructed during the eighth century as a reverence to Buddha.
Burobuddur is located at a distance of 35 kms from Yogyakarta.
Budur is one of the marvels of south east asia, surviving volcanic ash flows, terrorist bombs, and the wear and tear over a million of years.
Burobuddur is listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site in 1971.
Burobuddur actually encompasses around 500 Buddha statues, out of which around 75 Buddha statues are inside perforated stupas, now the count has gone down due to looting, bombing,volcanic ash,damage by locals and tourists etc. You could see lot of demolished stupas.
There’s a myth, that those who could touch the hands of the Buddha through the stupas; they get good luck in their life, I was fortunate to touch. Majority Indonesians being average height, people find it difficult to touch. Since I could touch after too much struggle, people around me shook hands with me for doing something which they couldn’t do; I was elated with pride in the beginning, but later was moved, as I could see people with sad faces leaving the stupas after innumerous attempts, after all I don’t believe in myths and urban legends.

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Paris - One of the most beautiful and romantic cities. Known as "The City of Light" as well as "The City of Love", it attracts millions of visitors every year.
Your heart easily gets attracted towards Paris, the river Siene- the commercial waterway, flowing by our side, the cobbled stoned alleys and boulevards, cafe joints, and a huge list of the best places to see in Paris. You need to shelve atleast 4 days dedicately to cover a good portion of Paris.

Seine River with Eiffel behind

Parliament

Seine river cruise ride

Champs Elysees
Champs-Elysees, is one of the most famous roads in the world, which every traveler would have read and heard of. It is such a beautiful avenue with luxury shops, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, the world famous French cabaret (The Lido) and other commercial joints. Champs-Elysees stretches till the Charles de Guile, where the Arch de Triomphe is located. This stretch hosts most of the famous events viz the military parades, New Years Eve and many more..

Lido Paris - The French cabaret house

Arc de Triomphe
The arch was commissioned by Napoleon to commemorate his victories, but he was ousted before the arch was completed. In fact, it wasn't completed until 1836 during the reign of Louis-Philippe. The Arc de Triomphe is engraved with names of generals who commanded French troops during Napoleon's regime.

MontMartre
MontMartre is a gathering point for writers and artists.
The world famous and one of the oldest cabaret Moulin Rouge is right here. Its almost more than 120 years old.There are lot of books and movies based on this cabaret joint the latest being Nicole Kidman starrer "Moulin Rouge" directed by Baz Luhrmann.

The uphill streets,curved alley, its staircases and cafés are something which one cannot miss. Atop the hill, the most interesting sight is Basilique du Sacré-Cœur( Sacred Coeur / Sacred heard) built around 1900.
Blanche boasts for the red light district of Paris, you could see a host of sex shops, shows, brothels etc, hence need to be careful, cautious and enjoy ofcourse.

Moulin Rouge

Sacred Coeur

View from the top of the Sacred Coeur

Eiffel Tower

No stay in Paris is complete without the iron monolith structure -The Eiffel Tower.
Eiffel is one of the most recognisable landmarks of Europe. It is an iron structure built in 1889 for the Universal Exhibition of that year in Paris. It is named after its designer- Gustave Eiffel.
Standing at 324 metres tall (including the antenna), it was built by 300 workers who joined together 18,038 pieces of puddled iron (a very pure form of structural iron), using two and a half million rivets (Courtesy : Internet)
It is still the highest building in Paris and claims to be one of the most visited building on earth.
Yes, we can reach the top level of the tower. The first and second level can be walked, then use the elevator to the top level. Its a different view totally, when you go during day time and also in the night giving you a 360deg view of paris.
Tickets for the lift can be purchased at the platforms and also at the base of the tower.
To get another view of the tower, take a boat ride on the Siene river at night.
Moreover, every hour the tower sparkles....that sight is speechless.
Whenever you visit, try to visit during the anniversary time, which i was not lucky enough to visit then.It is a week of celebration with fireworks, laser shows, light shows etc.

The Invalides
In 1670, King Louis XIV decided to build the "Hôtel Royal des Invalides" as hospital for the homeless war veterans. It was built between 1671 and 1676. The church faces the Seine river.

Nowadays, it still maintains its initial purpose but the building also houses three museums.
The Dome Church with its gilded roof is at the center of the complex and is most impressive. It took 27 years to build the dome. Napoleon’s body was buried in the crypt of the Dome Church.

The Louvre
Musée du Louvre is one of the biggest, famous and oldest museums in the world,dating back to 1793. This is where you have the most famous portrait ever created - Mona Lisa by Leonarda Da Vinci and many more famous work. Photography is totally banned inside.

Notre Dame
The cathedral is a religious center of the city.It was the first cathedral built on a monumental scale in France dating to 1345.
Many of the interiors were removed or demolished during french revolution.
It wasn't until the 19th century before the Cathedral was fully restored because of the writer Victor Hugo, who with his book 'Notre-Dame de Paris', opened People's eye, made up their mind to restore the cathedral.