Taking A Romantic Cruise In Paris

By Owen Jones

If you are feeling romantic and you want to be alone with your loved one in a romantic place far from humdrum distractions, why not go to Paris and take a cruise? The cruise ships are gorgeous and offer haute cuisine with fine wines and a wide range of dishes. Service on board is superb and if they know that it is a special trip for you, they will go out of their way to make it even more special.

Just by choosing the city of Paris as your venue, you will be conveying the impression of romance, because as everybody knows, Paris has the reputation of being the capital of the world of romance.

So, how do you go about booking one of these cruises? Well, clearly, first of all, you have to be in Paris. This is not a difficulty, if you live in Europe as there are flights and sleeper trains. If you are American, you will have to take the longer-term view and start saving for next year.

Once in your hotel in Paris, you can either ask reception for details or go to one of the many Tourist Information Centres, where everyone speaks English. The cruise line staff will pick you up from your hotel on the appointed day, so that you will not have the hassle of having to find your way through a strange, busy city on your own.

Once on board, the pampering starts with your welcoming on board and a free drink to light the fires of romance. You will enjoy four or more hours of this, depending on which cruise you opt for, but they are all wonderfully romantic voyages aboard beautiful cruise liners.

Generally speaking, the cruise will start on the left bank of the river Seine, usually in the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower. Some of these boats are made of a type of plastic glass, so that your view of the streets and monuments is unimpeded. And of course, all the sights are lit up at night and in quite a spectacular manner too. You will also be able to gaze downwards into the water itself.

As you cruise on this glass boat you will be entertained by some of the finest musicians that Paris can offer you. Solo instrumentalists; quartets; classical music; solo artiste singers or a duet. There are also cruises with more modern music as well, but I dont find them as romantic as the more traditional stuff. However, you can take all these particulars into account when you book your romantic cruise in Paris.

You will not only pass by celebrated landmarks, you will also pass very close by them and even underneath them. Famous bridges; Notre Dame; the Louvre, and many more. Not only that, but you will see all these fantastic historical monuments while being pampered by the best hosts that Paris has to offer and drinking fine wines and champagne, seated at the bow of the cruiser in luxury.

Once your romantic cruise and your meal are over, you will be taken to a sumptuous show on the Champs Elysees, where you will be provided with a half bottle of champagne on entry. There is no need to worry about driving, so let your hair down and enjoy yourselves.

When you have had enough of the high life, you will be taken back to your hotel, in the same manner that you were picked up. However, there are other choices too. You may want to go back to the hotel on a romantic horse and carriage, it will maintain that romantic mood.

Once you get back to your hotel, why not both get in the bath together? Light a few fragrant candles, open another bottle of wine and play some soft music. It will be an evening you will both remember for the rest of your lives, I assure you. - 31368

About the Author:

Owen Jones writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Valentines Day Gift Baskets. If you have an interest in romantic gifts, please go over to our website now at Romantic Gifts Ideas

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The Happy Life of the Wedding Cake

By Sue Toliver

There are so many different options and choices available to us today. We can contact people by traditional phone, smart phone, regular cell phone, email, or regular mail. If we want to get somewhere we can drive a car, take a bus, ride a bike, or stroll along. Given all the options available to us today, its only natural that this variety should work its way into one of our most cherished traditions...that of the wedding cake. Selecting the flavor of the cake and the color of the icing is just getting started. You will need to take some time to choose the best wedding cake topper for your special cake. In this article we will be examining the world of the wedding cake, providing some background details on the tradition, and working on up to the selection process of the perfect topper for that very special wedding cake.

The wedding cake is usually strategically displayed during the wedding reception. Often towering into the heavens, it competes with the bride as the "center of attention" on her big day. This special work of art establishes a focal point that the other aspects of the reception will revolve around. For those who prefer a bit of the dramatic, the wedding cake can be wheeled in at the end of the wedding reception for a "grand entrance" for everyone to see. To many people this grand entrance will trigger the memories of the bride who walked down the aisle earlier in the day.

In The Beginning

The wedding cake has certainly evolved over the years. It started off as a simple symbol of fertility, but has transformed itself into an artistic tradition that can have many different interpretations. For many ancient peoples wheat was a symbol of both fertility and a bountiful harvest. The Ancient Romans used to throw grains of wheat at the bride and groom in a "wish of fertility" to the new couple during their union. This custom evolved into bringing little cakes made from wheat to the wedding banquet. They would then crumble this cake over the head of the bride to wish them "many children", and the guests would then eat the crumbs as a symbol of sharing in the couples good fortune.

Did you know that this "crumbling of the cake" over the brides head might have evolved into another wedding day tradition? Do you know what that tradition is? In order to shield the hapless bride from the shower that is to come, bridesmaids eventually draped a cloth over her head before the "crumbling tradition" took place. Many believe that this simple cloth evolved into the modern day wedding veil.

Welcome The Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages buns or sweet rolls had replaced the original wheat cakes, but it was still very customary for guests to bring these tasty treats to the wedding. Placed in a huge pile between the bride and groom, if the happy couple was able to kiss over this huge stack of wheat, it was believed that they would be blessed with many children.

It is commonly believed that the next step in the evolution of the traditional cake was performed by a French pastry chef during the 17th century. During a trip to London he happened to observe this "cake piling" ceremony. Upon his return to France he dusted the stack of buns with sugar, and thereby "cemented" them together into one tasty art form. This was to become the first rendition of the tiered and frosted wedding cake, and a forerunner as to what was to come in the years ahead.

The Classic

Are you familiar with the classic style of the modern day wedding cake? You know, the one with the distinctive design of smaller tiers as the cake builds vertically? It is believed that this model was inspired by the spire of the 14th century Saint Brides church in London. Hows that for a bit of trivia for you?

Victorian England has brought us many of todays valued wedding traditions. For example, Queen Victoria herself is said to have had a cake that weighed in at 300 lbs. As confectioners and bakers became more daring and skillful, their creations became even more daring and elaborate. When Englands Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip were married back in 1947, their wedding cake weighed in at a whopping 500 lbs, and was 9 feet tall.

The Version of Today

Today, the elaborate wedding cake is no longer reserved for only the rich and famous. Every couple can share in the tradition of having a fantastic wedding cake added to their big day. The wedding cake specialists of today have taken their art form to towering heights (please pardon the pun). Long gone are those bland and boring days when you were limited to a traditional white cake with regular white frosting. Although a white cake will probably always be the most popular (due to its traditional meaning), todays couple is limited only by the limits of their budget and imagination when it comes to their wedding cake.

Why The White Color?

Do you happen to know why white is the customary color of a wedding cake? As the story goes, back in Victorian times the finer ingredients of a wedding cake were scarce and expensive and very hard to come by. If the cake had a white icing, this revealed the fact that only the best and most expensive white sugar was being used in the process. Brown sugar was much more common back then, and therefore much less expensive. So, the more white the cake, the richer the people who owned the cake were.

Plan Ahead

The most important thing to remember when choosing that special cake for your big day is to not leave it till the last minute. Whether you choose a talented family member, the local baker, or a pastry chef who specializes in these tasty masterpieces, if you plan well in advance you will be able to navigate the difficult waters of whatever obstacles might come your way. Although some bakers require only a minimum notice, many are booked far in advance. Its a shame to have that perfect cake of your imagination be "canned" due to the fact you cannot allocate a bakers time.

What if you have no idea who will be baking your wedding cake? If you dont have a particular baker in mind, you have a bit of homework to do. Shop around and get some recommendations from family and friends. Investigate the yellow pages and the internet as they are both valuable informational resources. If you happen to be surfing the web you will find that many bakers today are posting photos of some of their masterpieces. As a sort of masterpiece gallery, they showcase what they are capable of producing, and this will jog your imagination as to what you would like your own wedding cake to look like.

Consider The Budget

Be sure to be mindful of your budget before you let your imagination get the best of you. You want your wedding day to be one of celebration, not the day that you started your journey into debt. Many people are surprised at the cost of a wedding cake these days. Keep in mind that you are asking an artisan to create a colorful masterpiece for you, and this can often be reflected in the price that he/she will be asking. The cost of labor is often the largest expense in the creation of a wedding cake, but also keep in mind the simple fact that fondant is more expensive than buttercream.

Have you thought about the staging of your masterpiece? Be sure to take the wedding cake stand into consideration during your planning phase. While some wedding cakes can be simply placed on flat boards (that will not be seen by the general public), others are elaborately displayed on beautiful stands for everyone to see. Keep in mind the simple fact that actual size of the table must be in proportion to the actual size of the cake. A table that is too small will make the cake look way too big, while a table that is too large will make it look like a mere cupcake. And before we forget, your cake table will need a beautiful covering (to compliment its strategic location at the wedding reception). Oh, and dont forget the cake knife and cake server. There needs to be a place on the table for these two items as well.

The Topper For The Wedding Cake

Topping off that special cake is the wedding cake topper. The wedding cake topper is the simple name for the decoration that sits atop a wedding cake. While it is true that some couples prefer to have simple elegance of an unadorned cake, many prefer to have that final "crowning touch", the wedding cake topper, added to the upper layer. The simple plastic "bride and groom" of yesteryear has more likely been replaced by the classic porcelain figurine of today.

What types of wedding cake toppers are available today? We are glad you asked. Many different types of figures are available, from the classic poses to figurines depicting some of the potentially "humorous" aspects of the wedding (such as a bride dragging the hapless groom back to the altar). Personalized wedding cake toppers are also popular, while niche toppers such as a marine marriage have their place as well.

The Conclusion

We have so much information to provide, but there is only so much detail that one can go into in a single web article. If you would like to learn more about wedding cakes (and wedding cake toppers) please come and visit us on our blog. - 31368

About the Author:

For more information on wedding cake toppers, check out: special wedding cake toppers. If you would like to find some great dinner sets, then dinner set review has a lot of information and a nice selection.

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