2013 Central Europe Trip- Day 9, Saturday, August 3, 2013 - Montmartre, Louvre Museum, Notre Dame, Champs-Élysées

A week had already passed since I arrived in Europe and I was now in Paris with Andrej. I had enjoyed myself so thoroughly all this while that I got used to the feeling quickly and wanted it to last forever. I was in Paris, a city that evokes art, music, fashion, passion, love, and sophistication among other finer things of life. It felt as if I were in a dream but the dream was so real I could have control over where I wanted to go, who I wanted to be with and what I wanted to feel. Perhaps, I had felt this magical before in my life but it seemed from another life. This was something new, something promising and something that made me look forward to living life. We woke up at about 7:30 AM, got ready and walked towards Montmartre. Andrej wanted to take me to see the St. Pierre Church behind the Sacre Coeur Cathedral where his parents got married. I remembered him mentioning that his parents got married in Paris long ago in one of our online conversations; and to be able to see it with him with my own eyes felt like a dream come true. He wanted to go inside the church but I tired of walking wasn’t up for it. We got into a little argument because of my hesitance and because of his assumption that there must be a reason for my unwillingness to do. I caved it but by then he had lost interest so I didn’t push him further. We walked up the stairs and went behind the Cathedral to take a look at the place his parents got married. It looked like an old, medieval church made from dark grey stones. We did not go inside but took a few pictures of the place. We walked around the complex and came across a French-Vietnamese restaurant for lunch. I ordered Pork Lacque and Andrej had some noodles and chicken. Andrej’s tasted better than my pork and I was impressed as well as embarrassed to learn than he could use chopsticks with flair and I being the “Asian” person did not know how. After lunch, we scouted some book shops which were nothing less than paradise in this highly cultured city. I kept on drooling at all the sweet shops that we passed by. I had to stop at one and as I looked at the assortments in the patisserie it became too arduous as task for me to pick one as they all looked amazing. I finally settled for a crème brule which tasted like a slice of heaven. I had tried one here in New Delhi before at a relatively fancy restaurant but it paled in comparison with the brule from this tiny patisserie. Andrej felt it would be best to purchase metro tickets for the duration of our stay so we bought for three days. The Parisian metro is highly efficient and connects every nook and corner of the city effortlessly. The stations were cleaner than most I’ve been to in New York City (except for the Grand Central) but the trains were more compact than the ones in NYC and not as spacious.

We then went to Le Jardin de Tuileries, situated between the Louvre and La Place de la Concorde. The garden is a name I first heard back in middle school (8th grade to be precise) when I started learning French. The place did not strike me as extraordinary and was not as grand as I had imagined it to be but it looked pretty and sculptures in marble on the sides of the gardens added to its charm. I was filled with joy to even the say the name on my lips despite my bad French pronunciation because it was as if a picture from a book was coming to life. French is one of the most beautiful languages to me and I was envious of Andrej because he could speak it so well even though he stated that his French has become a bit rusty from not using it frequently. I thought he was good and knew more than enough. After Tuileries, we made our journey to the Louvre Museum. I was filled with excitement from head to toes because I may not be the connoisseur of art but I certainly love ancient as well as modern art and being at museums always trigger in me a sense of blissful ecstasy. Andrej wasn’t very keen on this place as he felt he had no knowledge about art. He joked that I would have to be his tour guide for the day…which would never happen because I always have problems navigating through maps even within enclosed spaces such as a museum. The museum was massive and I became convinced that there was no way we could check out all the exhibits in one single day. I was most interested in seeing the highly overrated Mona Lisa. We walked round and round the corridors following directions pointing towards the painting. We finally arrived in the hall and as expected the room was filled with tourists crowding around the famous painting. Andrej managed to take a picture of me and just the Lady minus the thronging crowd. The other exhibitions I wanted to check were ancient Egyptian and Greek. We skipped the Oriental art section. We saw a few sculptures of Olympian gods and goddesses and popular mythological characters such as Cupid and Psyche among others. We came to the ground floor to have some coffee at Starbucks and also to use the wifi there.

After Louvre, we headed to the Notre Dame Cathedral. The place was as crowded as other tourist hotspots of Paris. The Cathedral looked spectacular even from the outside. We entered into the grandiose building and appreciated the Gothic architecture in its entire splendor. There was a mass taking place at the time of our visit as tourists such as I behaved like shutterbugs inside the place. Andrej was correct in telling me that the cathedrals in Europe built in the gothic architectural style were unique and I would have never seen something like them before at any place. After Notre Dame, we took the metro to Champs-Élysées to visit the L’Arc de Triomphe and other attractions there. It was almost late evening when we arrived at L’Arc de Triomphe and took a few shots of the monument. It was a beautiful moment, no doubt, but I felt the Notre Dame was more impressive. We walked around the promenades and checked out a couple of stores but did not buy anything. We went into my favorite McDonalds and sat down for some junk food. I was rather pleased to know that I had been to a McDonald’s in every country I had visited so far—Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and France. But I forgot to check out the restaurant in Slovenia, this made me regret a little. After touring around the area for a few more hours we headed back to our hotel. We discussed about tomorrow’s plan of action before turning off the lights. What a first great day in Paris and I was relieved to know we had two more nights to ourselves in this amazing city!

2013 Central Europe Trip- Day 10, Sunday, August 4, 2013 - Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral, Afternoon at Eiffel Tower, La Defense

Andrej and I went to attend mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral. We left the hotel at about 9:30 AM and made our way to the metro. There notification on the board did not specify any dress code so we both went casually dressed. Andrej was worried that we might be running late as the service was to start at 10 AM. Thanks be to the efficient and speedy Parisian metro, we made it there on time. The mass had already begun as we took our seats but we figured we hadn’t missed much. The choir, the organ, the sacred atmosphere, the magnificent interiors of the cathedral felt magical and inspiring. This was the most beautiful cathedral I ever saw and one of the most heart-warming moments.The service was in French and Latin. Andrej would point out the correct passage on the program that the ushers in the cathedral handed out to us, in case I got lost. The program sheet did have English translations as the mass was “international” and most likely targeted for tourists and visitors.The mass lasted for about an hour. After this, we bought tickets for the crypt under the Notre Dame, Carnavalet Museum. The place was not as big but well-preserved and laid out detailed information on the architectural history of Paris and how it has evolved through thousands of years.

We were now heading towards the metro station to visit the Eiffel Tower. I was obviously very excited as the tower is symbolic of the city of Paris just as the Statue of Liberty is to New York. It was a bright and sunny day and when we arrived, I was surprised to find the place relatively empty. We sat down on a park bench first before exploring the place proper. Andrej read out a chapter from Le Petit Nicolas, a children’s book in French by René Goscinny which Andrej had bought for me the other day from a bookstore at Montmartre. Nicolas had an illustrious and very animated family. He seemed like one precocious child, his father was somewhat stubborn and thought he knew everything. His Mom was one stern lady always threatening her husband that she would go to their parents’ unless she had her way. But they always overcame their differences and went on vacations all the time. With every sentence, there was something to laugh about because Nicolas and his family along with their petty problems that they always seemed to blow out of proportion were highly amusing. Andrej and I joked that the couple resembled the way we behaved with each other. I was so impressed that Andrej could read, understand and translate the story from French to English for me. I didn’t tell him but I thought it was the most romantic thing ever to be read out a children’s book in French while sitting on a park bench in the shadow of the La Tour Eiffel! We stayed in the area for about an hour. Andrej asked if I wanted to do the elevator ride on the Eiffel or walk up the stairs to get a view of the city but I figured the prices were quite exorbitant so I said I’d pass. He suggested another place from which we could get a panoramic view of Paris, La Defense.

La Defense is a modern financial hub near Paris, akin to Wall Street of New York. When we reached the place, we were disappointed to learn that the place was closed due to technical problems. We then decided to visit the Bibliothèque nationale de France or the National Library of France. Entry was free save a tiny security check at the gate of the library. I could not tell the size of the library from the outside as it was located between modern buildings and appeared cramped. Andrej and I first walked into the Oriental Studies section. I found that they had an elaborate collection of Sanskrit to French, Hindi to French and Bengali to French dictionaries and translations among other regional languages of India. They also housed a rich collection of books on Chinese and other Asian languages. We wanted to go into the main library hall but were told at the entrance that touring the library was not allowed. We then tried to take pictures of the magnificent looking from outside and were again requested by the librarian that photography was prohibited. It was a bummer of a trip by we at least go to see what the national library of France looked like. After this, we decided to head back to our hotel. On the way we picked up some food to munch on from the Carrefour store located across the street.

2013 Central Europe Trip- Day 11, Monday, August 5, 2013 - Richelieu Library, Château de Versailles, Père Lachaise Cemetery

We started the day by going to Richelieu Library. When we reached the place, we made our way into the cinema theatre nearby. We enquired if they showed movies in English and we were somewhat pleased to be told that movies shown here were in English with French subtitles. This came as a surprise because we had been previously informed at another theater that the movies were all in French. Although, we did not purchase any tickets because of time constraint and also there weren’t any movies worth watching at that time. I suppose we were also a bit hesitant to attempt watching another popular Hollywood movie because we watched “The Purge” in Ljubljana and it turned out to be an utter waste of every penny spent. We walked around the place and found a book store. Andrej kept on insisting that he should get me a book. I did not want him to spend any money on me as I felt he had done enough of that already. He already gave me a Slovenian dictionary, Winnie the Pooh in Latin and Le Petit Nicolas. To me, those books spoke more than flowers or any other expensive gifts that men gift to their women. Although, I kept bugging Andrej that he must buy me flowers someday just because I like them and I am into gardening. Books always make me happy and when I get them as gifts from people and gift them to people, they become permanently personal. Because of his persistence, I gave in and settled for Albert Camus’ “The Stranger,” or, “L’Etranger” in original, French. I knew then with two books in French to boost, I had to brush up on my knowledge of French sooner than later. I also found in the bookstore that the French have a comic by the name Josephine. She appeared to be a bespectacled superwoman sort of a character who appeared in different avatars in every series. After we checked out the collection of books in the store, we headed to see the library. The library was a modern building made of glass located in a spacious arena but looked deserted. We were soon to realize that was because the library was closed for the day. We were so disappointed and Andrej felt stupid for not having checked the library timings/schedule beforehand. I told him it was not a big deal and that we must move on to our next destination—Palace of Versailles.

Château de Versailles was a magnificent looking palace spread across a large area with its sprawling gardens, sculptures, rows of trees and cafeterias and a lake which was open to public for boating purposes. The gardens looked like they were taken care of but they weren’t up to the mark as one would expect for a famous historical French palace. There were renovation works taking place at some of the main attractions. As we walked towards the lake, we also noticed that there were modern art works placed awkwardly amongst the aesthetic setting of the original landscape. Andrej and I agreed that the additions looked out of place for a historical site which already looked beautiful as it was. Some of the cafes were closed including the ones housed inside old cottages on the campus but we found an opened restaurant and went in to have some lunch. We ordered for some pizzas. After lunch, we sat under a tree by the lake and read our some more stories from La Petit Nicolas book. I could see people having fun sun bathing and rowing their boats on the lakes. Children especially seem to outnumber adults in all the places we had been to so far. I went to towards the lake and decided to wash off the dirt off my feet since I had been wearing open sandals all day. I dipped my feet in the water and soaked in the sun and the beautiful sight around me. I imagined what an extravagant and pompous lifestyle these French aristocrats would have enjoyed those days. The palace itself was so massive and intricate from the outside that the interiors must have been even more grandiose. As much as I get uncomfortable by such enormous display of wealth by feudal lords and aristocrats knowing how history has proved them to be one of the biggest oppressors of commoners and peasants, I couldn’t help but agree on the beauty of the place. Andrej joined me later at the lake as we both dipped our feet into the waters. At one instance, there was a family of four on a boat that had trouble with their oars. They almost ran into us and apologized in French. There was another Asian family on a boat, a man and three boisterous kids that looked like they were driving the adult passenger up the wall. The man was trying to direct them on how to paddle but the kids seemed to not care and continued to cause commotion on their boat. We thought it was hilarious as we watched them yelling at each other in their language and had a hearty laugh.

After spending an hour or so at Versailles, I told Andrej I loved cemeteries and how peaceful of a place I find them to be. I don’t think he was surprised by this declaration because he sort of already knows how morbid I can get from my obsession with horror movies. I had absolutely no idea about this famous cemetery and was in for a real treat when I got to see the illustrious list of famous people who were buried there from the cemetery map. Père Lachaise Cemetery as it is called was massive in size and from the map one could tell it would take a lot of time to locate each of the tombs we wanted to see. Most of the personalities interred there were French but the cemetery also had personalities from other countries. I told Andrej I wanted to specifically see the graves of Auguste Comte, Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde. There were other names that I was familiar with such as Balzac, Proust, and Chopin and I wanted to see them all. But we came to realize that finding one grave in itself took us a long time because of the enormity of the place and it would not be possible to visit them all. As usual, I made Andrej lead the way and figure out the location on the map of the sites I wanted to visit. We first tried to locate Jim Morrison’s tomb, American lead singer of The Doors. I was interested in checking this out because the band happens to be one of my father’s favorites. I thought it would be cool to show a picture and tell him I was there. I could see some youngsters sitting down and smoking in the area and that’s how I assumed that must be it. The tombstone was rather low and small but was gated so we could only take pictures from a distance. Next up was Auguste Comte, the French philosopher/thinker, considered the father of Sociology as well as the founder of the doctrine of Positivism—truth exists only in scientific knowledge. His tomb was all in white and it became somewhat difficult to comprehend the engravings on it. I was not surprised to hear Andrej say “that’s so me,” when he saw the word “Positiviste” on the gravestone, being the Math and logic abiding dude that he is. We walked through the peaceful, winding cobbled paths of the cemetery. There were countless number of beautiful tombstones; some were hauntingly old and dated back to the early 19th century and were intact while others had broken windows and chipped marbles. The dilapidated ones reminded me of the Dracula movies as well as the hoards of classic vampire flicks that I enjoy watching. The cemetery was very well-maintained and looked more like an outdoorsy museum to me. Our last stop was the tomb of the unapologetic “bad boy” of English Literature, Oscar Wilde. I had seen pictures of his tomb earlier in a lit magazine and to know I’m standing by the resting place of one of the most gifted writers in the history of literature and whose works I have admired and loved was so surreal a moment for me. I felt I could hear one of his quotes reverberate through his tomb… “If you’re not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.” We sat by his grave for a few minutes because we got quite exhausted from all the walking. We then took the metro and made our way back to the hotel.

There was an Indian restaurant nearby our hotel and we both agreed to have our meal there. The interiors of the hotel resembled the standard roadside motels or “dhabas” as they are called in India. The brightly painted walls seemed to have drawn inspiration from the Indian national flag with its saffron and green colors. I thought it looked silly but Andrej said it looked pretty good. The waiter was friendly and wished us “bonjour” as showed us our table. I started conversing with him in Hindi after learning he spoke the language. I asked him where he came from and he told me he was a Bangladeshi national who worked in the UK before moving to Paris. He wasn’t fluent in French and informed me that his relatives owned the restaurant. It looked empty and the area did not appear to be a place where tourists would frequent. However, the waiter insisted that they usually had many customers and the French people also enjoyed their food. We had a typical Indian chicken curry, rice and some nan bread. The curry was especially impressive because it tasted very much like the ones I eat in India, unlike the soupy mutton curry Andrej and I had in Ljubljana which in reality is thick and creamy.

We headed back to our hotel room to change our clothes into something less casual. It was a date night or so even though there was no need for calling it such since every night felt like a date night being by ourselves. I wore a black and white crochet/lace skirt and a white top. I knew I could have worn something else instead of a v-neck fitting t-shirt but I didn’t want to appear too dressy so I kept it semi-formal. Andrej felt we should coordinate our wardrobes so he got into grey trousers and a black shirt. I thought this color coordination we were on was cute but cheesy at the same time because that’s what most Korean teenage couples are known for doing. Andrej looked so handsome and he told me I’d get robbed on the metro for looking good tonight. I was looking at us and thinking how awesome we looked together and how convenient it would be to live in the same city so we could get dressed up whenever we felt like. We headed to Montmartre first and took pictures of us together near the Sacre Coeur Cathedral—one with the Cathedral and another with the city of Paris in the background. There were a bunch of hawkers selling beer in the church compound. I found this a bit strange but well, it’s Paris, nothing is out of context. We got a couple of Heinekens for us and sat on a park bench overlooking the city. It was such a pleasant evening and even though the place was bustling with energy and people scattering around the stairway to the church, we felt comfortable in a world of our own on the park bench. Some teenage kids were starting to crowd around us and since Andrej already warned me about thieves and pick-pockets in Paris, I thought I should stay alert. Not that I was thinking they would rob us but I felt they were invading our privacy so we finished our beers and headed up to the church. I was thinking my short skirt could be a cause for concern and I wouldn’t be let into the church but the door was open to all public and there was nobody to check on the dress code. I don’t remember if we sat down to enjoy the tranquility or not but I do remember that when we walked out of the church the wind was blowing hard on my face and the whole of Paris had lit up. What an amazing sight to behold. Andrej was under the impression that they were going to hold a public screening of some movie in the park and we were anticipating it would happen at some point. But after a long wait, we realized he had read the information wrongly or so it seemed. The church is situated on a hilltop and the area around it has different elevations, while climbing down to one street corner, Andrej showed me one spectacular sight. It was the Eiffel Tower, looking brilliant as if it were bejeweled in pink diamonds! I was never so excited about seeing the Tower as I was at this moment. I tried to capture a few shots but most of my camera pictures turned out blurry even after adjusting it to night scene. I desperately wanted to go to the Tower and take a good look at it but Andrej did not pay much attention to my pleas and told me it was nothing special. We walked around the streets of Montmartre a while longer before deciding to go back to our hotel. The entrance/exit doors to the church compound were by now all locked and the only way to get to the main street was the metro service. So we used our metro cards and made our way down.

While sitting on the metro I realized that the route back to our hotel looked different this time around. So far, I had never bothered to check maps or to learn the metro routes by heart. I left that job to Andrej. I knew he knew almost everything and was good with directions, always managing to find his way around and so I left everything in his hands. However, even with being as clueless as I was with the metro route, I could tell something was amiss and we weren’t going towards the station near our hotel. I thought maybe he had some other plan chalked up his sleeve because he never used to reveal the specific names of most places we were to go to. So I didn’t read into it that much. When we got off the metro and climbed up the streets, it immediately hit me as a place I had seen before. My heart jumped with joy. He had brought me to the Eiffel Tower to check out the lights and all this while I thought he wasn’t paying attention to pleading or didn’t care enough to go see the Tower with me again. I was so awfully touched by this gesture that I almost found it impossible to express my joy to him. And to know how non-romantic he is in the typical sense of the term and attempting to do something so thoughtful took me by surprise completely. The vibe of the place, the windy weather, the crowd, the smell of croissant and coffee from the kiosks all under the nose of the gloriously lit Eiffel Tower made it a perfect setting for one of the most romantic night outs of my life. I know, it sounds so maudlin but that’s exactly how I felt. Blame it on the beauteous lights that decorated the Tower and the torch shining from atop that appeared to encircle the city of Paris. Paris is dangerous, dangerous because it can send passion gushing through to your head, and your heart, and without control. I informed Andrej he had earned double points on the scale of 1-10, with the current score at 8.5. He doubled that number for himself. This was our last night in Paris and it couldn't have ended on a better note.

2013 Central Europe Trip- Day 12, Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - Chartres Cathedral and magnificent medieval castles of the Loire Valley

We checked out of Laumiere Hotel at about 10 in the morning. I felt almost heartbreaking to leave Paris because of all the good times we had here. Besides, we stayed in this city the longest. Four nights was sufficient to have you leave a piece of your heart in it.  It’s like one of those places you can never grow weary of and can never get enough of, much like New York City I say. Although if one were to ask me which city I’d prefer to live in, I would say NYC in a heartbeat! It was a schmaltzy kind of moment for me to leave Paris. As I mentioned earlier, I feel like I leave a piece of me and take a piece of the places that I visit with me, at least the places that I liked and have had a meaningful time in. I whispered “Au revoir, à bientôt” as we drove away from the city. I had a feeling I would see this city again, someday. I wasn’t sure where we were going next except that we were driving to the southern parts of France. Andrej tends to plan our itinerary in a rather surreptitious manner. I thought this is either because I worry too much and he wants no pestering by a worrier or that he simply plans to surprise me and show off his knowledge of places that most tourists would have never heard of. So I didn’t bother to ask much and just went with the flow because I knew I could rely on him always.

After about 70-80 Km drive, we arrived in the southwest of France at the Chartres Cathedral or Cathedral of our Lady of Chartres. It is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. The place was relatively less crowded than most historical and religious places we had been to before. I was immediately struck by the contrasting spires or the two towers of the cathedral. Both displayed different architectural styles. At first glance, they looked odd or even mismatched but as we drew closer I could tell the two complemented each other perfectly and seemed in unison with the overall façade of the building. Andrej informed me that both were built in different centuries and therefore reflected the contrasting structural design. He added that the town had become bankrupt and therefore they could not be completed at the same time. We took some photos from the outside and headed into the Cathedral. The gothic architecture, the stained glass windows, the stone sculpted figures of saints and pilgrims, gothic statues encompassing the central space of the cathedral and evoking biblical narratives were beyond breathtaking. So far, Andrej had shown me magnificent medieval cathedrals built in the Gothic architectural style and I was awestruck by each but Chartres represented one of the finest examples of that. To me, this was the best I had seen yet in Europe, even more captivating than the Notre Dame of Paris. I became a bit regretful for not brushing up on my knowledge of Gothic as well as Renaissance architectural styles and art work before coming to Europe. This certainly would have made me understand and appreciate these places even better. In the back of my head, I also thought of my parents and how I wished they would be able to see these astounding cathedrals and brilliant artworks with their own eyes some day.

We then drove towards the Loire Valley. The valley includes historic towns such as Chinon, Blois, Ambiose, Orléans and Tours among others. These places other than boasting numerous castles and gardens were also one of the best wine growing regions of the world. Some of the names I had heard before such as Orléans, Tours and Chinon. Orléans I remembered from one of my history classes and Andrej too refreshed my memory of the city as the place where Joan of Arc liberated the French people from the English invaders during the Hundred Years War. Then there was Bordeaux, by and large because of its world famous wines. But we could not go there as it was far out from the route we were to take. Our first stop was the Château de Blois. The town reeked of history and looked beautiful with well-maintained parks and gardens. The castle was located on an uphill location, and as we reached the spot, we got a bird’s eye view of the town. We hung around the place for a few minutes and decided not to go inside. From the outside, it did not look that impressive but resembled a standard medieval mansion.

After Blois, Andrej drove us to Chambord to see the Château de Chambord. The place was more crowded with visitors than Blois. The Château looked resplendent under the clear-blue skies and demonstrated its distinct Renaissance French architecture. The fees were quite expensive and we had no intention of going into the castle. In any case, the Château was located in a spacious land and offered a full view of at least the front and the sides. It was defended by a moat, typical of medieval castles and forts. We were highly impressed by this fabulous Château and walked around the area to get a good shot of it from various angles with our cameras. Andrej took a couple of very nice pictures of me with the castle in the background. I thought this was as best as it could get but reminded myself that there were more chateaus to come on the way. I could barely contain my excitement. He showed me a list of the castles he wanted to go to, written down in his barely legible handwriting. I laughed and made fun of his writing although secretly I thought how adorable it was for him to research on the places and note down the castles he wanted to see so passionately. They were almost ten in number; I reminded him we would not do justice to these historical places by truing to visit them all at once in just a day.

After Chambord, we went to see Château de Chaumont. Andrej got me a book that gave comprehensive information on the castles located in the valley with an elaborate index of all the chateaus that were accessible to public. We were to find that the entry fee to the castle was exorbitant and debated whether it was worth paying that much for one castle considering we wanted to see many more. We eventually decided to not go in and admire its pictures on the book we got instead. We were to drive to Ambiose after Chaumont. We drove through quaint French villages and secluded roads. The countryside looked beautiful with its many sunflower fields and vineyards. Every moment felt dreamy, with pastoral grandeur and picturesque nature taking a hefty toll on my imagination. At every other gorgeous place that we stopped by, I would yell out in delight to Andrej, “let’s live here!” On the way to Ambiose, we passed through little wine-tasting shops. They were local and authentic brewery I was told. We stopped at a wine place hewn out of a rock. It appeared cavern-like and had a rustic, almost fairy-tale like feel to it. We tasted a few red wines first and picked one out of the lot. It was a product of Chinon. Andrej settled for a white for his Mom. I was surprised to notice that a rural cabin such as this would accept credit cards. There was a friendly middle-aged couple by our side and the man commented that we should get a wine of “mademoiselle’s” choice.

We reached Ambiose Castle soon after. It appeared to be a lively town with its street shops and cafeterias. We decided that we would not spend any money on purchasing entry tickets so our plan was to take pictures of it from the outside. We got out of the car and saw a wine-tasting shop right ahead of us. We went in to savor from wine from the valley. I had planned in my head that I would taste as many as I could and get tipsy in the end, but I remembered this was France, not America and I could not be pulling off some hillbilly tactic amongst the more sophisticated French people. Andrej and I bought two more wine bottles for each of us. We toured the area around the castle, took some snapshots and drove to location nearby to get a fuller view of the castle.

Next up was the Chanteloup Pagoda in Ambiose. We walked through a non-concrete road guarded by woods on both sides that led to the Pagoda. When we reached the spot, we found that the place was sealed off and closed from public. No wonder, the place looked so deserted. We got back to the car and a French-speaking fellow asked for directions from Andrej. I don’t recall if Andrej replied to him in French or English. Our next destination was Château de Chenonceau. We went to enquire about tickets at the tourist office and saw that it was as pricey as the ones before. There was a festival of Chinese gardens taking place at the time. It sounded very tempting but since Andrej and I were going to Villandry Castle which is touted to have the best gardens among them all, we skipped Chenonceau.

Our last Château for the day was the Château et jardins de Villandry. We had already agreed to pay for the tickets here as we wanted to check out the famous gardens of the castle. It was getting quite late in the evening and we realized we only had about 30 minutes or so left before the 7:30 PM closing time. As we entered the castle compound we could first see a smaller chateau right ahead of us. We sat down on some garden chairs near a bridge over a semi-moat like pond. I could see a variety of gold and silver fishes being bred in the pond. While Andrej sat down and looked up for hotels to stay in for the night, I went into the little garden shop. Every product was organic and the shop had many garden and kitchen items from floral table cloths and silverware to wind chimes and other outdoor garden decorations. We then made our way into the gardens of Villandry.  The garden as Andrej had mentioned to me was indeed the most impressive and put all other gardens that we saw in various palaces earlier to shame. There were not commonly seen garden plants, climbers, herbs, vegetables, fruits and flowers of different variety and color. The hues ranged from red and green to purple and yellow. The landscape had a language of its own from the grandest looking tree to the tiniest flower on the ground. Every plant variety complemented the one ingeniously placed beside it in shape, size and hue. There were also fountains and neatly trimmed shrubs adorning every corner of the garden. The place had been designed to showcase different assortment of plants from herbal to medicinal. The garden also had a labyrinth, not the labyrinth you would expect to see in palatial gardens but more of a place created for children’s amusement. We also walked into a separate garden from the main ones where all types of wild flowers and tall grasses were grown. It truly was an amazing sight to behold and I thought the staff had done a tremendous job in the upkeep of this monumental place. It was getting late but good thing we had a place to crash for the night, about 20 minutes from Villandry. The exit door was in the backside of the gardens and visitors could exit of our own accord. As we stepped out we noticed the deafening silence in the streets and how medieval the houses looked. I asked Andrej if people actually lived in these homes because they looked almost deserted. We did see a few people after a few steps and also a cozy looking hotel and thought we could have booked a room here. But when we checked the tariffs it became apparent that the place as rural and as economical as it may look was not to be underestimated. It was nonetheless a very fine-looking village.

We checked into a small but clean hotel, Hotel Inn, at Tours. We parked our car, carried our bags to the room and headed out to find an ATM and the ever-elusive McDonalds. The receptionist was friendly and marked the places we needed to go to on the map of the city center. It took us nearly 20 minutes to find McDonalds, which was located near the town’s train station. Every restaurant in the area seemed devoid of crowd save this place which was teeming with people. We sat down and enjoyed a big fast food meal; Andrej went back for a second helping with the chicken nuggets. I felt accountable for feeding him with all the junk as he continued to regret that he was becoming chubby from all the fatty food we ate. We took a different route on our way back to the hotel and talked as much as possible as we usually do while walking through the concrete pavements of the narrow streets.

2013 Central Europe Trip- Day 13, Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - Côte d'Azur, Frejus, St. Tropez

We checked out of Hotel Inn and headed towards the southernmost parts of France, to visit the famous towns by the Mediterranean Sea or the French Riviera as it is called in English. Andrej does not like me calling French names by their English version so let me rephrase that and say, we are going towards Côte d'Azur—St. Tropez, Cannes, Nice et al. From Paris, we had about 900 KM to cover in total till the coastal regions. Since the hotels in St. Tropez were beyond our budget, Andrej booked a hotel in a lesser known town, Frejus, for two nights. Frejus was not very far from the abovementioned places and we could get to any of them in about 30-40 minutes; so we thought it was an ideal place to stay and not having to shell out more euros on lodging. The weather was quite awful and rained throughout the journey. We were desperately hoping to see it clear up so we could spend some time at the beach but it got worse and worse as we drove towards Frejus. Fortunately, by the time we arrived in Frejus, it was no longer raining and the sun had come up even though the skies were partly cloudy. The place and its flora were very different from Paris or the other French towns we had been in earlier. Here, we could see the homes built in Mediterranean style with layered, red brick tile roofs, columns and stucco exteriors. The trees were relatively short-heighted with palms and shrubby bushes lined up the streets.

We checked into hotel Les Trois Chenes that resembled a homely villa in a sleepy coastal town. Our room was meant for three people so we had an extra bed that we utilized for keeping some of our stuff. Andrej realized that his shampoo had spilled all over his toiletries bag and emptied out the items. I rinsed the bag for him and put it on the window sill to dry. Even though it wasn’t sunny, we thought we would hit the beach and rest there for a while. I was thinking what bikini to wear as I had brought one with me and purchased another in Prague. I decided to keep the Victoria’s Secret ones for another time. We arrived at Frejus beach and sat down at a restaurant first to have pizzas. I was almost shocked to see the size of “one” pizza, it had about 6-8 slices. I told Andrej this would be called a “family pack” in India and wondered how an individual in Europe could possibly finish all of that. He regretted the fact that I did not get to try the pizzas in Slovenia which according to him tastes better than what the Italians make. After food, we went to lie down on the beach. It must have been raining in Frejus also as the lower layers of the sand were still wet. The waters were not blue as I expected and the beach had hardly any people. I wanted to go into the waters but it was too cold so we just relaxed on the sand. We spent a couple of hours before heading back to the hotel to get ready for some clubbing in St. Tropez.

I used to see pictures of St. Tropez in entertainment magazines back in the US and took it as one of those snobbish places where only shallow Hollywood stars and celebrities went for vacations. I wasn’t really up for it but didn’t see any harm in checking the place out anyway to see what was so extraordinary about it. I thought maybe it had an incredible beach or such. Andrej told me the place was nothing special when he went there years ago and it did not look like much of a party place. He was surprised to know that it had become so popular a joint for the rich and famous in such a short span of time. So, we decided we would act “pretentious” for a night and head out to one of the world-famous clubs there. It took us nearly 45 minutes to get there from our hotel I Frejus. When we arrived there, there were no signs to suggest that this is one of the world’s most famous party places. There were people in casuals as well as in their party clothes but nothing caught my eye except for some high- fashion designer stores, which in any case is not unusual because most European cities/towns we had been too earlier had those stores as well.  Andrej was expecting to see some fancy cars but we only spotted one Ferrari and a Porsche in the parking lot. We walked around to see where the clubs were located but saw only a couple of them which looked like they were having private parties. I was tempted to go enquire if we could go in but figured it would be too embarrassing if we got a “by invitation only” reply from one of the bouncers. So we walked into the narrow alleys to check out for more party places. The streets were lined with designer boutiques and fashion ateliers. We saw a couple of girls in short party dresses wear walking ahead of us and thought maybe we should follow them as they looked like they were heading to some club. We came across a comfy looking bar in a dark alley and settled on having a couple of drinks there. As we approached the place, the waiter came out to greet us and said something in French. I did not understand what he was rattling on. He brought out the drinks menu which only consisted of wine. I could tell they were expensive with some costing 24 Euros per glass. Even though Andrej was intent on splurging here for the night, I could not imagine letting him spend that much money on a glass of wine for me. He asked for beer and so I thought I would go for a beer as well. At this, the waiter became agitated or at least acted like it and continued to persist with his demands for me to take wine. Andrej persuaded me to just take the wine but being the stubborn one, I stuck to my gut and told the waiter “beer please”! So he bought us two glasses of beer. Andrej told me that people here expected visitors to know in advance the names of the drinks they wanted to have and looking at the price tag was almost forbidden. I thought that was the most preposterous thing ever to expect your customers to not look at the menu or make their own selection. That moment I thought the French would have to be the most stuck up people on this planet even though I knew what I was assuming was wrong as I was generalizing and putting every French person in a pigeonhole. I also reminded myself that the French folks in Paris were all friendly and nice.

After this little incident, I was disappointed and wanted to go back to the hotel as soon as possible or go somewhere else and get drunk. I have been to some of the most exclusive bars/clubs in New York and Las Vegas where Hollywood stars and other celebs party and the drinks are double the rate of what this tiny, seemingly inconsequential restaurant/bar was charging and never ever had I encountered the waiters or waitresses conducting themselves so condescendingly. Even though I did not say it out loud, Andrej could see the visible discomfort on my face and said we would leave soon. We got up and left the place never to look back. Andrej decided not to leave any tip. I felt awful and angry at because we were looking forward to having a good time drinking and dancing as neither of us had been to clubs or danced in years. And I was sorry for Andrej because he wanted to dance, with me. But as much as I wanted to stay on and party, I knew it would no longer be easy for me to enjoy myself genuinely in a conceited place such as this. Maybe the others weren't going to act like a jerk or have condescending attitude like this waiter but my mood was already off. I asked Andrej we could stay on and party but I think he knew I wasn’t up for it anymore so he suggested that we go home instead. It was not a successful night, surely but I was kind of glad that at least we came to know what kind of places to avoid from now onwards. Besides, I did not regret going to St. Tropez, we wanted to see the place and we saw it just as it was—pretentious and pompous. Andrej asked if I wanted to go back the next day to take pictures of the beach/harbor in daylight but since we were going to Cannes and Nice, we decided to skip the idea.

2013 Central Europe Trip- Day 14, Thursday, August 8, 2013- Beach Time in Cannes and Nice

So far, we have had a tight itinerary and a very busy travel schedule. Other than driving us long hours with hardly any breaks in between, Andrej has been the highly efficient tour guide and a delightful travel companion. Even though he never complains about the distance covered (or the gas consumed) or makes mention of the exhaustion from such a tedious activity, I knew he could definitely use a relaxing day at the beach. I was happy for him to finally have a breather on this day. We had checked out the beach at Frejus last evening but since we arrived there late and due to a more or less cloudy weather, we could not enjoy much of the sun. Andrej wanted to go to the beach at Cannes today, lie down, read and sleep all afternoon. He said he wouldn’t mind getting tanned but I told him I did not want to get any browner than I already am and I tend to get tan very easily. And to know that neither of us had any sunscreen lotions on us bothered me a little because I’m usually particular about applying them before heading out into the sun. But the Mister said he did not like applying lotions or oils on himself and couldn’t care less about harmful UV rays. I decided to take the only lotion I had on me anyway, a Victoria’s Secret beauty product that was meant for moisturizing the skin than protecting it from the sun. I also knew I was in no shape whatsoever to be flaunting a bikini. To know how body conscious people are in the West and also dedicated to working out, I felt embarrassed to slip into a bikini. But the positive thing is that Andrej makes me comfortable in my own skin, or at least tries to shower me with compliments. As confident as I may seem, I won’t deny the benefits of having a man that appreciates your body the way it is. In my case, Andrej forbids me from trying to look anything else. In our email correspondence in the past, we talked about going to the beach and lying down next to each other so often and to be able to do that now, not just on any beach, but in a famous place like Cannes felt wonderful. I was just happy to be here next to him and thanked the heavens for this moment and for allowing us to live out one of our desires.

The French Riviera is an absolute delight for tourists I thought, with so many popular, world-renowned towns, beautiful beaches, and a moderate/pleasant climate. I thought Andrej did a tremendous job is planning and showing me all these famous towns, names that I only used to read about in magazines and newspapers. Although, I would normally associate such cities with the rich and famous, I was happy to see it didn’t appear to be as pompous as St. Tropez and people looked quite ‘ordinary.’ Aside being known for its annual film festival, Festival de Cannes, the city was really very fine-looking and we were blessed with a sunny weather, perfect for some beach time. We parked the car a little further ahead from the main festival auditorium but closer to the beach. We took a few pictures of the coast and the city in the backdrop before heading towards the sands. The beach was crowded with people, mostly families. I think Andrej was quite disappointed to not see many “hot” girls like he expected except for a couple of them that were topless and only one in thongs that he likes to see on girls. I was more interested in looking at how much fun the children were having building sand castles and snorkeling in the water. We took a walk on beach first before settling down on the spot we found for ourselves. Andrej went to the sea while I watched him and admired his good physique. He came back to lie down upright and closed his eyes, hoping to tan his pale belly or so I thought. I walked into the water and wanted to play in it for a while but it was too cold to stay for long. I got Marquez out and began to read a few pages from his book. There were three ladies tanning beside us; one of them was topless throughout. Andrej told me it was normal for people to be naked on the beach…I could only imagine the scandal it would cause if someone were to pull off something like that on the beaches in India. Again, it reminded me of the huge cultural gap between Indians and Europeans, especially in terms of how each treat their bodies. Indian women like to believe that their bodies are meant only for the eyes of their beloved, in the bedroom; and much like Muslim women that are covered from head to toe, most would think it unimaginable to expose their bodies, let alone breasts for public viewing.

It was getting really hot with the sun overhead and I could see my own skin color changing from its usual beige-like tint to roasted brown; whereas I saw no change on Andrej’s. We were Cannes a couple of hours more before deciding to go spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach in Nice. We arrived at Nice which looked relatively quieter and less crowded than Cannes. We went into a grocery store to get some soda and candy for Andrej, per usual. The lady at the counter spoke in American accent and looked pleased to meet us English-speaking people. Nice looked lovely but the beach was rocky unlike the sandy ones at Cannes. But I thought the water was much bluer and cleaner. We could see airplanes passing by above the sea and figured an airport must be nearby the beach. I applied some lotion on myself and on Andrej’s back as hesitant as he was. There was a vendor on the beach that sold peanuts glazed in sugar. We got a packet to munch on. Later, while we were both in the water and Andrej was taking a few pictures of me, we found a bunch of pigeons crowding around the peanut packet and picking on them unabashedly. They seemed oblivious to our presence and cared only for the peanuts as we tried to shoo them away gently. Andrej asked me not to feed the birds as they could choke on the peanuts. Apparently, this must be happening frequently as there were signboards put up on the beach which requested visitors not to feed the birds. I noticed Andrej’s fingernails had grown very long and joked to him that they were beginning to resemble eagle’s talons. I took my nail clipper out and started playing the manicurist, clipping and filing his nails. He noticed that one of my toenails were falling apart and became a bit concerned. I told him it was the end result of wearing bad shoes along with all the walking I had to do at Helsinki airport with my heavy cabin baggage. Andrej decided to play pestering paparazzi and took a few pictures of me while I was lying down on the stony shore. The sea was even colder than the water in Cannes so I decided not to take a full dip. As evening dawned upon us and the sun began to disappear in the horizon, we decided to leave the beach. We thought we would have some beers and sat down at a restaurant but the waitress informed us that we couldn’t stay there unless we ordered something to eat as well. Andrej said he would like to order dessert but the waitress gave us some absurd response saying they did not consider a dessert as meal. Instead of arguing further with the woman, we got up to leave, walked further ahead and found a bar. We had French beer and headed back to our hotel in Frejus.

We were getting very hungry and thought of having dinner at the restaurant downstairs but the price didn’t agree with us so we drove out to look for McDonald's. We went round and round in circles as we tried to find McDonald's. We drove to the city center but couldn't locate any pizzeria so we drove a bit more and somehow always got back to the same spot. Clearly, we were lost but I got to notice how quiet and serene the town looked, with an idyllic quality to it and all the homes in the locality appeared warm and welcoming. I didn’t complain even though I was starving. I spotted a small pizza place by the road and told Andrej we should just stop the car and eat there as McDonald's was nowhere in sight. The trailer shop was run by a father-son duo and they were very friendly to us. We ordered one pizza, a beer for me and soda for Andrej. It was such a simple pizza but tasted very good and “healthy” as Andrej put it.  So, we were happy to have spent much lesser than we would have at McDonald's and for a much better quality food. There were a couple of chairs and a table by the trailer where we sat down and enjoyed our wholesome pizza and drinks. After bidding au revoir to the adorable pizza family, we came back to our hotel to take pleasure in our last night in Frejus.

2013 Central Europe Trip- Day 15, Friday, August 9, 2013- Èze Village, Milan, Brescia

Our sojourn in the French Riviera had drawn to a close and as usual I felt saddened to leave the place as I took pictures of our hotel room like I usually do before we leave. It also hit me that I have only two more nights in Europe. They say you lose track of time when you’re having a good one and with our fantastic itinerary, I had lost count of the dates or the hours. I got so very comfortable in Europe, the way of life here, to the freedom and most importantly in the company of Andrej, I felt right at home.

Our destination for the day was Milan. There was confusion between me and Andrej a few days before about visiting or not visiting Milan as he felt I was hiding something from him by being reluctant to go there. Since I never bothered to check the map of Europe or Italy for that matter, I thought the city was off of our route and I thought it was okay to not go there if this was going to cause any inconvenience for him/us. I was more interested in seeing Venice so I thought one famous Italian city would suffice for this trip. I’m glad we sorted out this “disorder” in time and went along with whatever he had planned for us. On the way, Andrej told me we would stop by at a village that offered an extraordinary view of the Mediterranean Sea and its coastline. I didn’t bother to ask more questions as all the places he had taken me so far were nothing less than astonishing and I had a feeling this place was going to be a memorable as well. The coastline was fairly visible from the highway, the waters were sky blue and every town perched on top of hills by the seaside looked as scenic as could be. We followed the road sign that pointed towards Èze village. It was a long and winding drive up to get to the medieval village. When we finally arrived, I was awestruck like always because I had imagined this “village” to be rural as I know it in my country. The bucolic setting of the place was hard to miss but it had modern amenities such as cafeterias, classy looking shops and luxury hotels. We slowly climbed our way up to the top of the hill. The houses in the village had uniformity in its appearance and were built from a specific kind of rock (I forget the name). The narrow streets had staircases leading to different directions and we were greeted at every level by nice looking restaurants, art shops and homely cafes. Andrej and I checked on the price and were stunned by how expensive the tariffs were in this supposedly medieval village. I figured it must function as another getaway spot for the wealthy to unwind on weekends and such. Even though the village was breathtakingly beautiful and immaculate in its original, the sky-high prices seemed incongruous with the aesthetics of the place. We climbed a bit further to get to the exotic garden for which the village is known. We bought the entry tickets after agreeing it would be worth it to take a look. And we were right. The garden had all types of Mediterranean shrubs with gigantic cacti standing out the most in the landscape. It was obviously a very well-maintained garden with some ruins and structures left untouched. More tourists gathered as we continued to explore the place. The garden offered a stupendous view of the Mediterranean Sea, the coast and its towns. Standing up to its name, the waters were azure in color and in the horizon we could see a boat or two drifting stealthily on the clear blue waters. I was so impressed with Andrej and commended him for his knowledge about so many exotic places. I asked him how he came to know of Èze but all I got was his favorite dialogue, “I’m smart like that!” I wanted to make a face at him but I secretly knew he was right. I thought I had never seen a view this captivating in my life before and couldn’t stop obsessing about the place and told Andrej we should just live here someday or at least come back to visit in the future.

After Èze, we continued on our journey onward to Milan. Andrej informed me that we would be driving pass Monaco and if I was interested in checking it out. My mind was somewhat in a haywire and I became quite overwhelmed by the thought of seeing all these amazing countries, and a city-state state within a day. Monaco looked absolutely stunning even from a distance with its grand looking administrative buildings, harbor full of yachts, extremely leveled roads, fountains and gardens. From the car, Andrej told me the Formula One race was held on the roads itself and tried to show me the markings…Start/finish lines. After parking our car, we decided to explore Monte Carlo and took a stroll down its walkways. We came across fancy cars all lined up outside a hotel and we could see tourists busy taking pictures of the luxury rides. The place indeed looked very refined and as Andrej mentioned to me earlier about the absence of poor people in this city, I too could not imagine any person living here to be poor. As we checked out the yachts docked at the harbor, it became quite apparent that the citizens here must either be very wealthy or that the wealthy come to invest their monies here. Andrej also informed me that the principality had lax tax laws and with its upscale lifestyle and casinos, it reminded me of places like Macau and Mauritius where wealthy people are known to engage in dubious cross-border economic activities, “round-tripping” as it’s called to avoid paying hefty tax and find a way out from disclosing their unaccounted assets to the government. We sat down at a roadside café and ordered our favorite pizza and coca-cola. The pizza was really nice and we were pleasantly surprised to find it wasn’t expensive at all for a place as upscale as Monte Carlo.

We continued to drive towards Milan after this. The non-stop chattering of Italian radio jockeys kept us entertained throughout the journey and before we knew, we were in Milan. Apparently, vehicles are not allowed in the city center and people are required to park their cars on the outskirts of the city, and take the tram or walk on foot. No wonder the city looked so empty and deserted with almost nil traffic. I was getting a little paranoid because Andrej continued to drive on the busy streets despite knowing we weren’t allowed to do that. But he tried to calm me down by either saying, “I can do anything I want,” or, the Italian police are the most chilled and friendly officers so we needn’t worry. I did not want to be a part of this “law-breaking” exercise but stayed on as his partner in crime him anyway. We first went to Piazza del Duomo that houses a group of cultural monuments including the Milan Cathedral. As we entered the Cathedral, we were stopped by a man requesting us to cover our arms (we were both in sleeveless shirts!). This need to observe a “decent” dress code came as an unwelcome surprise because we didn’t face any problems of this nature in France while visiting the cathedrals there and assumed it would not be an issue in Milan either. We debated whether to go back to the car to change our clothes or not. We instead took pictures of the glorious-looking cathedral from outside. There was a shopping arcade in the Piazza and I immediately recognized it from some of the pictures I had seen of friends on facebook. Andrej wondered why it was so popular and saw nothing unique about the place. We walked in anyhow to look around and scout for an Italian jersey for my brother. We did not find the t-shirt but picked up an “Azzurri” scarf instead. We made our way into a bookstore and as expected, every publication was in the Italian language. After spending a few minutes in and around the area, we got back to the car and made our way to Brescia.

Andrej had booked a room for us for the night in a small Italian commune of Brescia. The place’s description read, an “ancient hamlet” and I became all thrilled by the idea because I was looking forward to experiencing a “village life” in Europe at least once during my trip. The place was sleepy, quiet and had an old-world charm. We checked into a pretty looking hotel that we got for a relatively cheaper price. Andrej spoke in Italian effortlessly with the receptionist and I couldn't help but notice how polite and charming he sounded even though I did not understand the language. The bedrooms were cozy with twin beds and the bathroom was spacious. I thought this was the best hotel we had stayed in on our vacation thus far. The location was probably rural for European standards and had hardly any people in the vicinity, but it was far from what one understands as a “village” in India. The man at the reception had recommended a bar/restaurant nearby so we went out immediately after checking into our rooms to grab some authentic Italian grub. As we entered the restaurant, I could feel some eyes on us, mainly old men folks from the village probably wondering where we came from. We took our seats outside in the porch as we looked forward to our Italian dinner. Naturally, Andrej is used to eating classic Italian food as he comes here often to train or compete. He wanted me to eat local food as the locals make it and I thought this was very kind of him. Our waitress was a very energetic and friendly girl and engaged in an animated conversation with Andrej in Italian. Being clueless about what’s on the menu, I let Andrej decide. He explained to me that Italian meals consisted of two main courses so I was already preparing some extra space in my tummy to be able to accommodate both. We ordered for some red wine which too was made locally and tasted like a very fine cabernet. Andrej was drinking at a rather fast pace and I asked him to slow down while he urged me to drink up. First up was spaghetti bolognese for me and Andrej. It was rich and tasted incredible, nothing like the ones I have feasted my heart on before. I tried to eat as much as I could as the serving was pretty big but I also reminded myself that there was another round. The waitress came to collect our empty plates and in no time, brought out our second main course. My roast beef looked dry at first glance but tasted exquisite after I seasoned it with olive oil, pepper and lime. Mosquitoes were starting to feast on my legs but I didn’t care much as I was having too good of a time. After food, we ordered more wine and engaged ourselves in more conversation. I got up from my seat and moved closer to Andrej. In the course of our dinner, I accidentally spilled wine on the table to my utter embarrassment. The waiter made light of the situation and asked me not to worry about it, “happens all the time” he said in his fluent English. Andrej said I was already drunk, I insisted I was tipsy. What’s interesting is that as much as Andrej does not like being labeled a “romantic” guy, I felt if this moment here with him and the place(s) he takes me to are not romantic, I wouldn't know in what other contexts to use that word. The food, the wine, the environment, the night slowly creeping on us and our conversation that ranged from food to dress, from the two of us to our families, from current to future plans whether inane or serious… all added to the beauty and tenderness of the moment. I tried hard to look into his eyes and smile at him every time but I figured I could not do that for too long thinking he might be able to read my private thoughts! And that’s also when I start to giggle like a silly school girl and say stupid nonsense like “I’m laughing because you look funny!” I had such a wonderful time that I wanted the night to never end. Andrej tipped the waiter and we headed back to our hotel room.