The City of Eternal Love

In modern times it is becoming increasingly difficult to believe in love outside the family perimeter, let alone believe in eternal love. Acts of violence pop out of newspapers, TV channels, and movies—foolish acts only humans can perform. Such continuous sensory bombardment unnerves me and makes me question—where is love?

A trip to Paris with my family somewhat restored my faith in the strength of love. I have visited several cities around the world, but in my opinion none has been built by humans with so much love. Love is not just in the air—but also in the streets, in the sidewalks, and in the road side cafés. Love can be found on the top of Eiffel Tower, or around the canals of Versailles, or while watching the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. Love never ceases to exist in what you see and what you do.

The Mona Lisa incidentally attracted the largest number of people. Considering that the Louvre is the most visited art museum of the world, and the Mona Lisa the most popular artifact in it, I had to wait for a full fifteen minutes to get the shot as you see it.

However, the Mona Lisa was not the only attraction in the Louvre. I'm compelled to use the word "love" again while describing Louvre. Every wall, ceiling, bend, curve was simply an expression of love.

And surely no discussion on Louvre is complete without mentioning the glass pyramid. Commissioned by the then French president François Mitterrand and designed by I. M. Pe, the pyramid welcomes the visitors through the main entrance. Since we had taken the underground route and accessed the museum by the Palais Royal — Musée du Louvre Metro station, the pyramid was on our way out and needless to say we made full use of it by posing for an infinite number of pictures.

Our journey continued, as we crossed Arc de Triomphe and walked along Champs-Élysées—the broadest avenue in Paris and only the second most expensive strip of real estate in the world, after New York City's Fifth Avenue.

After brief visits to the adjoining palaces and while appreciating the ornate structure of Pont Alexandre III, we saw the Eiffel Tower at a distance. So after brief visits to the adjoining palaces we went straight to the tower to get a bird's eye view of the city. And what a view it was.


After a long and eventful day we decided to relax and have our dinner at a café close by the tower. As we gorged on the sumptuous meal we completely forgot what time it was. It was almost 10 PM as we came out of the restaurant, and never imagined what was waiting for us. A starry ... starry night. It was like a gift from God—a gift of love, eternal love.

I AMsterdam

We left for Amsterdam in the wee hours of the morning after footing the bill for an expensive taxi ride to Kjevik, the local airport in Kristiansand. In fact, the only bad thing about Norway, as I can recall, was its price level. Food, for example, was of the highest quality but quite expensive. In other words, it is probably the best place in the world to stay if you can pay for it. In contrast, Amsterdam was quite affordable, with its conspicuous presence of street food and street wares, a concept non-existent in Norway.

After we checked-in to our hotel we decided to take a tour of the city. We figured that the best way to go about Amsterdam was on a boat through its numerous canals. It is because of the canals that Amsterdam is known as the “Venice of the North”.

Soon, we hopped on to a glass top boat that meandered through the canals with the captain dutifully showing us the various tourist attractions. My son seemed excited to get a window seat. He repeatedly lunged forward to check whether there was any fish in the water. His favorite pastime in Amsterdam, as we later discovered, was to feed all the fish that were there in the hotel pond.

During the ride several things caught our fancy. I was quite impressed with the canal houses and its floor-to-ceiling windows. The best houses we discovered had been turned into corporate offices, especially multinational banks and insurance companies.

Nemo, a science museum, which looked like a huge ship, was quite an architectural marvel.

Amsterdam, we realized was a bicycle-friendly city as we discovered a huge parking area reserved for bicycles towards the end of our trip. The bicycle culture was an inherent aspect of the city that discouraged driving a car with its steep parking fees, and several streets were closed to cars or were one-way.

The next day, we thought taking our son to a place he would like. We landed up in a place called Tun Fun, where my son enjoyed the slides, bowling, and soccer. It wasn’t such a great place and probably not worth a visit. But kids believe in “living in the NOW”, and with them insignificant things, like bowling, becomes a joyous rupture. Each moment with my son became overwhelmingly joyous and an experience to treasure as he laughed, giggled, and even cried for a while (on being pushed by a slightly older boy).

After the fun-filled experience our son looked tired and hence I and my wife decided to go visit the Van Gogh museum. We marveled at Van Gogh’s genius as our son slept peacefully on a stroller. I was particularly moved by the elements of pointillism in some of his paintings, where many small strokes were applied to the canvas, resulting in an optical blend of hues, when seen from a distance. It was hard to imagine that such a creative mind and a lover of nature and beauty would succumb to his own depression at the age of thirty-seven, as he uttered his last words with Theo, his brother, by his side. “The sadness will last forever” he had said. Indeed it does, in the hearts and minds of people who are mesmerized by his genius.

Finally, before we left Amsterdam, I wanted to discover the other side of Amsterdam—the things that make Amsterdam famous or infamous depending on your perspective. I visited the sex museum, walked through the alleys of De Wallen, the red-light district, and did some window shopping at the cannabis stores. Conventionally speaking, these are not the places a respectable gentleman would like to visit or be found at. But for me it was a pilgrimage. Like a true pilgrim, it was not only an outward journey, but also a journey inwards, to my soul. Amsterdam helps you discover yourself—how you are, what you want, and what’s lacking in your life. It is not about being judgmental. It is not about considering whether prostitution and drugs are bad. It is about delving deep into your soul and finding yourself. It is not about repression, but about choices we make in our day-to-day lives that creates our destiny. I came out of the alleys, with a broadened perspective and with a realization. It is easy to be judgmental about others; it is easy to mark something as bad or sleazy. However, it is much more difficult to accept oneself, make the right choices, and eventually grow as a human being. Amsterdam is your mirror. Amsterdam to you is the way you are—I AMsterdam reflects your identity.