We arrived with barely a day and a half in hand, but also with the quiet excitement that only Paris can inspire — the promise of boulevards, bridges, cafés, monuments and moments waiting to be discovered.
Priyanka Saxena Ray
Our base for this short Parisian sojourn was Pullman Paris Montparnasse, a contemporary address in the lively Montparnasse neighbourhood. The hotel made for a comfortable and convenient stay — spacious, efficient, warm in its hospitality, and wonderfully connected to the city. After a long journey, it felt reassuring to return to a place that was both restful and well-positioned, especially when every hour in Paris mattered.
With limited time, we quickly realised that the best way to take in the city was not to chase it hurriedly, but to let Paris unfold before us. That is how we chose Tootbus, the Hop-on Hop-off sightseeing service, which turned out to be an ideal way to see the city without losing its rhythm. We boarded from near the Eiffel Tower, and almost instantly, Paris began to perform.
From the open deck, the Eiffel Tower appeared not merely as a monument, but as an emotion — elegant, familiar and yet overwhelming in person. As the bus moved along the city’s grand avenues, each stop felt like a new chapter. There was the refined splendour of Opéra and the grand shopping district around Printemps and Galeries Lafayette; the Louvre, where history, art and architecture stand in majestic conversation; and the Latin Quarter and Notre-Dame, where the medieval soul of Paris still lingers in stone, river breeze and quiet corners.
The well-crafted route aboard Tootbus brought us close to Sainte-Chapelle, with its promise of jewel-like stained glass, and to the Musée d’Orsay, that remarkable former railway station turned temple of Impressionist art. At Place de la Concorde, Paris felt vast and ceremonial, opening into the sweep of the Champs-Élysées, where the city wears its glamour with effortless ease. Further ahead, the Arc de Triomphe rose with quiet power, anchoring the avenues that radiate from it like stories of another era.
And then there were the river views — the Seine glimmering beside us, bridges appearing and disappearing, each with its own personality. Pont Alexandre III, perhaps the most ornate of them all, added a golden flourish to the afternoon, while Les Invalides stood with its grand dome and sense of history. What I loved most was that the journey aboard the magnificent Tootbus never felt like a checklist. It allowed us to see Paris in motion — people crossing streets with baguettes in hand, cafés spilling onto pavements, rooftops glowing in the soft light, and the city revealing itself without hurry.
By evening, after a day full of iconic sights, we returned to our hotel neighbourhood and wrapped up the day with a simple, satisfying Parisian meal. There is a charm in dining close to where you are staying — no rush, no elaborate plan, just the pleasure of sitting down after a day of discovery and letting the city settle into memory.
The next morning brought another side of Paris — softer, slower and impossibly beautiful. We made our way to board the Bateaux Parisiens River Cruise, with its large, comfortable boats sailing out frequently from near the Eiffel Tower. If the previous day had shown us Paris from its grand boulevards, the Seine now offered us Paris from its most poetic angle.
The one-hour cruise was surreal in the most graceful way. As the boat glided over the water, the city seemed to arrange itself like a living postcard. The Eiffel Tower rose behind us, Les Invalides appeared with its golden dome, the Musée d’Orsay stretched along the riverbank with quiet dignity, and the Louvre unfolded in all its monumental elegance. Further along, Notre-Dame stood on the Île de la Cité, timeless and moving, while the Conciergerie and Hôtel de Ville added layers of history to the passing view.
What makes a Seine cruise unforgettable is not just the monuments — it is the feeling of drifting through centuries. The bridges of Paris passed above us one by one, each framing the city differently. The water caught the light, the quays carried their own rhythm, and for one hour, Paris felt almost dreamlike. It was calm, cinematic and deeply moving — a reminder that some cities are best understood not by rushing through them, but by allowing them to pass gently before your eyes.
In just 36 hours, we did not “complete” Paris — perhaps no one ever can. But we tasted its essence. We saw its icons, felt its elegance, admired its art, crossed its avenues, floated on its river and found our own small moments in between. Paris did not ask us to stay long to fall in love with it. It simply asked us to look — and in every direction, there was beauty.
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