I am finally here. Since I was a kid, Paris had been my dream destination to visit with my lover. During my teenage years, I had watched many romantic movies and read various novels, all about love and Paris. It was all sketched in my mind like a movie. He, surprising me by taking me to Paris, then he kissing me for the first time under the Eiffel Tower to him finally propose to me at the most romantic spot on the planet. It was just picture perfect.

My dream was about to be changed into reality, the only difference being the lover here is my husband (so first kiss ticked off), but it doesn’t lessen the excitement of being here even a tiny bit. I was in all moods to replay the movie that had been on my mind for so long.

We had planned of staying at the city for 4 days, so we decided to visit Eiffel tower on day 2. The first day we just wanted to stroll around and visit the famous museum — The Louvre Museum. None of us normally visited museums, but this one specially held my interest, as I am a great fan of Leonardo Da Vinci and specifically, his famous painting of Mona Lisa. I wanted to see the mysterious smile, which is the main attraction of this painting, with my own eye.

Having landed there at 10 a.m. itself, and the hotel room only being available after 2 p.m., we decide to drop our luggage on the hotel and left to visit the museum. Soon we reach the museum and were able to skip the long line, thanks to the Paris Museum Pass. It was huge and beautiful. I was pleasantly surprised that the museum was the home to a large number of beautiful original works of great artists, apart from Mona Lisa. It was breath-taking. We didn’t realise how quickly the time flew by and it was only at 3 in the afternoon that we realised, as we had started to feel hungry. So, we quickly hogged our lunch that we had got along and proceeded back to our hotel to freshen up.

We took a lazy stroll around the city in the evening, had our dinner by the roadside restaurants and retired to our room little early as we were tired with the travelling and jet-lag. We had planned of visiting Sainte Chapelle in the morning, the next day. From there we were to proceed towards Eiffel Tower, roaming around and having our lunch in the garden in front of the Eiffel Tower and had booked our tickets to go to the top of it at around 7 in the evening. I even wanted to get a picture clicked of us kissing with just the Eiffel Tower behind us, like the ones we see in movies.

Next day I woke up, after being shaken rigorously by my husband, shouting that we had overslept. I hurriedly checked my watch only to find that it was already 4 in the afternoon. We didn’t have time to visit Sainte Chapelle and would have to directly proceed to Eiffel Tower, if we were to make it to the top on time, considering the queue.

I quickly showered and got ready, grabbed something to eat and soon we were on our way to Eiffel Tower. There was a massive queue, so we decided on visiting the garden, after our trip to the top of it. Soon it was our turn and we got into the lift. At the second level, we got into another lift and soon the lift halted as we reached its peak. I could hear my heartbeat loud and clear. This was the moment I had been waiting for my entire life. My husband got off the lift before me and offered me his hand. I could feel my cheeks turning red as I lifted my hand to take his. But suddenly, he disappeared, and all the people around. Slowly, I could see the lift disappearing along with the Eiffel Tower. There was nothing below me and I began to fall down, and down, and down. I was sure I wasn’t going to survive this great fall, and just prayed for it to be less painful. I couldn’t hear my screams but could feel the gravity pulling me down in great force. It was, as I was about to hit the ground, that I got up with a start, just to realise that it had all been a dream. I drew a long breath of relief and was all sweaty. My excitement to visit the Eiffel Tower had made me dream about it, to this extent.

I checked the time. It was just 5 in the morning. We had plenty of time to start the day. I chuckled within, thinking that this time we wouldn’t be late and visit all that we had planned for the day. The rest of our trip was spent as planned and Paris made me fall for it more than I could ever have had imagined. It was just mesmerising.

When we got back, I was fully satisfied as our visit to Paris, specifically the Eiffel Tower, had been perfect with the perfect shot captured, like the one I wanted, by a very talented couple we meet at the garden. I had it framed and hung it in our bedroom. But, whenever I recall my dream of ‘the great fall’, it still gives me the shivers.