Being a Kid Remorselessly - A Trip to Disneyland Paris ! :)

I love being a kid. It feels so good and so much fun.

I have never believed anyone who has even remotely tried to convince me that when we get older, we lose our light heartedness - that adult life is about jobs and bills, responsibilities, discipline, self-growth and defining our personalities as individuals. May be it is but then light-heartedness is too big a price to pay for the adult life in exchange!

Lose my light heartedness because I´m 26? 

For as long as I can remember, anyone who knows me even passably well would have invariably experienced the kid in me. It just shows J Whether in romantic references to the Disney princesses and princes until today or speaking in baby voices or making faces which draw their inspiration from no-one-has figured-out-where, the kid in me seeks daily expression for its nourishment and I am happy to oblige it.

I also have vivid memories of the sleepless nights I spent between the ages of 6-10, putting my head to my pillow and letting my mind run wild with imagination - dreaming of Rapunzel´s hair falling down from the castle tower, and what fun it would be to possess a Genie for myself and if only I could dress in Cindrella´s ball gown and meet a handsome prince. I confess feeling jealous too of those kids in school who got to visit Disneyland and I spent hours wondering what it would feel like to be in that magnificent castle of the princesses that always sparks with fireworks at the beginning of all Disney movies.  Needless to say, it was a life´s dream come true and I had to scream, scream, scream with joy when I was told my birthday present from my husband was a trip to Disneyland in Paris.

The day started very early and I felt free and chirpy – just the way I like it. The first look of the castle brought a smile to my face. It was magnificent and looked so real. I could feel my body tingling with sensations of happiness, memories from childhood and just that great, great feeling of receiving something you have so much craved for.

Joy. Dreams do come true! :)

The rides in the park were fun too! I loved the Big Thunder Mountain that went bumping around a modelled mountain mimicking the Grand Canyon.  I also felt particularly impressed with the Pirates of the Caribbean ride – it had a most splendid display of pirate mannequins and recreation of their lives on the sea and in their villages. Our boat splashing into the water was the added adventure-adrenalin bonus!!

Woa !

However, for me, you don´t visit Disneyland for the rides. You will get better ones any day at Six Flags over Georgia (I remember my crazy xxx thrill rides in the summer of 2009 in Atlanta City). You go to Disneyland for the characters … to see your imagination come alive and dance and frolic before you. Hence, for me the most exciting and moving highlight of the day was the “Magic Everywhere” parade of the Disney characters that lasted about thirty minutes with all famous Disney characters, dancing and parading before us.

Being there in that moment felt so alive.  I excitedly pushed my way through hordes of people standing before me, waiting to catch a glimpse.  Paradoxical as it may seem, the characters felt so real, it gave me goose bumps. Cindrella, Snow White, Simba and Pumba, Alladin and Genie, Goofy and Mickey, Chipmunks and Peter Pan – were all right before me, riding their chariots with their princes or riding their own display wagon with wonderfully recreated environments of their movie stories. The music, the dancing, all felt so professional- all so well done. I stood there so present in the moment, spell bound watching them, not minding the rain falling on my head - their gorgeous outfits, their grace, their mannered gestures, their capacity for fun … I felt the same love swirling up for them in my belly, perhaps slightly more than it did when I was 6.  A lifelong dream had come true. I had to cry some tears of joy. This was too beautiful an experience.

Note- Imagine some pixie dust floating in the air and all of these characters that you see still in these pictures, dancing and telling you to celebrate the magic of life … its everywhere!

After the parade, we took a rollercoaster ride called Space Mountain. It was pretty disgusting, gave me a headache and made me feel puky. However, for his love of space policy, my husband loved it!

By 9pm in the evening, our bodies had given up from the exhaustion of the day´s frolic but our spirits could soak in more joy. Although 11 pm seemed far away with the rain and our wet clothes and me feeling cold in my skinny shorts, we braved it out to stay back for the spectacular end of the day – Disney lights and sound show - at the castle. And it was so worth the wait! For 20 minutes Disney spectacles you by presenting a show of its characters using the castle as a screen – with sounds and lights and an ultra-heavy display of fireworks. I believe you have to be there to know how it feels. For me, I cannot describe it… I felt so quiet… so amazed…so struck by what we humans can achieve through our rich imagination … I felt thankful too … even though for just a day, I was in magic land and it was all true.

The castle lit up at night

Fireworks. Celebrating us :))

The fireworks ensured the day ended with a blast. Literally.

We returned home way past midnight but with so much joy stored in us from what we had experienced.

Go to Disneyland people or if you cannot, be a kid every day at home or with your best friend. It just feels great. Always J 

Miss Petite Pirate

Sales Mania in Paris

“I guess it goes to show that you just never know where life will take you. You search for answers. You wonder what it all means. You stumble, and you soar. And, if you’re lucky, you make it to Paris for a while.” 
― Amy Thomas, Paris, My Sweet: A Year in the City of Light

Indeed, lucky me! Made it to Paris as a young woman, while I can still indulge in all of its glorious offerings. Ever since the move here, I have been swamped by curious girlfriends on what shopping in Paris is like. The French capital is rightfully the Mecca of fashion in Europe and possibly even the world, as many would argue. The birthplace of brands like Chanel, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Fcuk, Lacoste, Yves Saint Laurent and countless others, Paris is any girl´s dream.

When we moved to Paris on the 1^st of July this year and before I had poured myself a glass of water in our new home, my landlady informed me in a hurried, urgent sort of way, “Sales are on in Paris in the months of July and August. Up to 75% off even on luxury brands. You must go soon or you will miss out.” I remember saying, “Yes sure. I´d love to explore.” The next thing I remember is sharing the woes of not speaking French with a girlfriend and the complicated Metro system that doesn´t allow one to transfer to buses with the same metro ticket and she responding, “Oh Sami. But there are sales in Paris. Tell me how it is?” My ever-loving sister could also not be left behind. When sharing that we bought annual passes to the Louvre, she was happy but urged that I report on the sales in Paris and enquire how much it costs to parcel stuff to her to the United States.

Sales in Paris! The seeming panacea to all problems of a woman. I have to confess I felt slightly under pressure at this point. It felt as though I was being left behind in some kind of critical life race. People would give anything to be in my place and here I am, sitting at home with the emotions of a grumpy expat. It was time to step out of the house and swing in some skirts and cat-walk in some shoes!

Since shopping and fashion in Paris is a “huge” topic, this post is the first of a series to come as I explore the city´s taste more and more. For now, my first impressions in the sales season.

Red Alert - virtually every shop window in July-August has Soldes ( Sales) stamped on it!

Like any other metropolitan of the world, Paris has all the big brands you can think of. It also has all the famous chain stores that a girl like me would go to – Zara, Mango, Prada, New Look, H&M for casuals. As I walked into a store of a famous fruity clothes brand last weekend in the mall Les Halles, it felt like I had entered a fish market in Bangladesh. Literally! Women push you from the left, the right and all clothes hanging in the sales section are XXL, XL and L (L only if you are lucky!)  I felt so overwhelmed, so quickly, that I even surprised myself, having always considered myself a passionate shopper. It was also fascinating to note how the good men who support their women in the shopping endeavors, stand clustered and flustered on one side of the shop watching with amusement and sometimes despair while their lady loves struggle against all hope to find a size 34 among all the 44s on the shelf.

Needless to say, I bought nothing from the sales section. To me they were just a set of over-sized, sometimes even dirty, spotted clothes that the brand wanted to get rid of, because nobody was buying them at their higher price and you could see why : D I picked up a white-polka dotted red top with the feel of 20s Paris and a skinny fit jeans from the new collection to make myself happy. With a red lipstick and some chic shoes, I´d be killer, I thought to myself and rejoiced! The jewelry section on sales might interest some of you though as the same stuff is sold on reduced prices. I got myself a golden bracelet and a baby pink, black polka dotted glamour handbag from the new collection of handbags (I feel so old-fashioned at heart sometimes – polka dots love!)  

My baby doll glam bag. Love it!

Next, H&M had good collection for casual days but again, to my disappointment, there was nothing “Parisian”, nothing glamorous enough to meet the “over-the-top” expectations that I had from the fashion in the city. Some other shops that I casually entered into in the mall, had prices ranging from 190 euros for a size S plain white synthetic top (you´d get it for Indian Rs.80 or one Euro in Connaught place in Delhi, I swear!). The more unheard of the brand, the more insane were the prices. So much for exaggeration on the name of a Parisian brand. I had to get out of this irritating place!

A failed trial at Mango. XS is too big for me!

Just as in life the sun rises when you give up hope on a dark night, the Parisian boutique that rescued the day for me came into sight while I was walking towards a station to take the metro home. How did I forget to try the boutiques? Boutiques are Paris´s shopping uniqueness. There are a several hundred spread all over the city, designing and selling their own clothes. At first sight itself, the dresses on display outside had caught my attention. This felt a bit different and I was willing to give it a shot.

The salesman was a charmer. Almost to the point of being flirtatious, in a flattering, non-threatening way of course. He made me smile. No matter what dress I put my hand on, he told me how magnificent “chérie” (dear me) would look in it and I should just put it on. As I said before, the dresses here had a unique personality of their own. One could see they were made with care - someone had attempted to think a bit out-of-the-box and play more courageously with fresh colors. The texture of the materials also felt of much superior quality. 

The exotic little boutique I discovered right outside Le Halles

While many good dresses that I tried simply didn´t fit me (I am a tad smaller than the usual European lady and lovably so), I finally selected a short, colorful, easy-breezy dress for the hot summer days…. matched with a colorful pair of sandals, it would feel so much fun to wear it on the streets of Paris! It´s still not something “over-the-top” but it has a feminine, almost sexy appeal to it with a soft, excellent quality cotton material. I could imagine myself wearing it to Petre Andre´s song "mysterious girl" on a sky blue beach of Copacabana... one day !

More than anything, I felt I had got a first glimpse of what is awaiting me further in this city – a huge row of singular boutiques with personalized fashion sense of the designers to play with. I bought my bluey dress and smiled a secret smile of anticipation within my heart...

The shopper´s smile of anticipation.

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