France #Paris

July 7, 2016

I remember reading an article in the Telegraph of the Top 10 European city breaks earlier this year – and I’m quite lucky that I have travelled a lot of Europe and crossed most of the cities off the ever growing bucket list, yet I’ve never really “done” one of the World’s most popular tourist destinations that really is on my doorstep, well a door step down from London that is.

Having said that this city break did have a little twist on our normal Europe jet-setter experience, in that this trip was mainly planned around a visit to Disneyland Paris, a gift to my not so little sister for her 18th birthday.

ARRIVAL / DAY ONE:

Our trip started with a train ride into London, with a hop, skip and tube journey to London St Pancras to catch our 11.01 Eurostar departure, due to arrive at Paris Nord Railway for at 14.17 local time, we arrived a fair bit later with good old delays.

Paris is divided into 20 districts or arrondissements, our hotel was based in the 18th, a little further out from the centre but also on the doorstop of Gare du Nord train station, a metro line and the Sacré-Cœur.

We walked to our hotel, checked in and then headed out to the summit of Montmarte – the highest point in Paris to see Sacré-Cœur basilica – also known as The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris.

History wise, Montmarte has been a place of worship from the Druids of Ancient Gaul, to Roman temples and now the Church with the Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur. Though I am not religious I have an interest in all beliefs and a passionate amazement and love for the architecture of these histrionic buildings. We walked around inside and then headed up the 300 steps to see even more impressive views of Paris.

 

We then headed to Barbès – Rochechouart to catch the metro to Les Halles, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Gay Pride festival – sadly we were a bit late so pottered around the area (9th arrondissements) getting a feel for the city, our surroundings and seeing a few of the many bridges along the River Seine. Surprising art works on display to entice, or amuse you. After, our feet were in need of a rest so we grabbed an all French cuisine of Pizza and beer before heading back to the hotel. 🙂

DAY TWO:

Sunday, like most of Europe, Paris too seems to “sleep”. Now contrary to most believes, there are still plenty of tourist places open, alongside plenty of bars and cafes but no carrefour shopping market for us to buy a baguette and some fillings for a cheaper lunch.

We headed across the road to a Cafe/Bar for a morning coffee and croissant before getting the metro to Denfert-Rochereau to visit Les Catacombs.

We arrived at 10.50 and we finally made it in to purchase our tickets at 13.40 – a rather timely queue but one the catacombs are worth it and two because no matter where you are in Paris there is always a patisserie that will sell some delicious pastries. Dellen and I opted for a fruit tart and I chose a mini doughnut for Matt who was holding our place in the queue.

The Catacombs holds many remains and although I’d read up on it, I genuinely wasn’t expecting to see that many skulls and bones on display, throughout the walk through the catacombs, every step saw these remains. The underground ossuaries/mines hold the remains of over six million people.

After the Catacombs we took a ponder down to Notre Dame de Paris – being a Sunday there was a mass and not being a French speaker I couldn’t understand a word of it.

The Cathedral itself is stunning inside and out, the north transept rose is stunning to look at and outside you can admire the famous gargoyles, designed for draining water off and the chimeras – hard to believe all of this architecture was essentially completed in 1345. Modern buildings have a lot to answer for.

Unfortunately we were unable to climb the narrow 387 steps to to top to enjoy some more Paris views as it was closing for the day. 🙁

It was turning a bit drizzly so we headed to a local cafe for a warm drink and a crepe before exploring more Parisian areas, along Rue Dante, where we stumbled across comic book store galore – and my favourite (though not open) a TinTin store.

Home time – well time to sit in our local bar and watch France beat Iceland in the Euros.

DAY THREE:

Dellen’s day – Disneyland Paris!

We walked to Gard du Nord, caught the RER to Les Halles and then boarded another RER A line train to Marne-la-Vallée – right outside Disneyland.

We headed to Walt Disney Studios Park first – what a drama that was. We queued for two rides, both rides broke down when we were literally at the front to go on the ride. It was dampening the fairytale experience so we left this park and headed to where Dellen really wanted to be – Disneyland Park.

Cue an excited face at the magical buildings… 🙂

A few rides later, a few Disney purchases later and a little wait to meet Mickey Mouse we headed home.

 

DAY FOUR:

Our last day in Paris and still a lot of fit in, first stop the iconic landmark that is the Eiffel Tower. Eiffel tower facts; build by Gustave Eiffeel for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, originally only intended to last 20 years, it’s 324 metres tall (1063 ft), the square base alone is 124 metres (410 ft). During it’s construction the Eiffel Tower overtook the Washington Monument to become the tallest man-made structure in the World, a title it held for 41 years until the Chrysler Building in NYC was finished in 1930.

Plenty of touts lurk around all tourist spots in Paris, Dellen and Matt got collared by ladies asking you to sign a petition for helping the disabled and then refuse to leave you until you hand them over some cash – don’t get caught by them.

We headed through security and then went for the first entrance in sight – the North entrance, also a lift entrance. We purchased a ticket to the summit and waited in line for the lift up.

It’s a regular trip past-time to view cities/places from the best vantage point and seeing all of Paris from the tower was as splendid as every other view, from the 2nd floor to the summit, panoramic views of all of Paris – You can even enjoy a spot of champagne from the bar if you like.

We descended by taking the 704 steps down to ground level, marveling in the awesomeness and the intricacies of this impressive structure.

 

We then headed along Avenue Kléber, one the twelve avenues leading out of the Arc de Triomphe.

And what a colossal triumphal arch it is – built between 1806 and 1836. A fantastic ensemble of decorative sculptures in honour of those those who fought in France.

We then walked down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées – (8th arrondissement of Paris), filled with shops and grandiose buildings. I’d recommend walking the avenue to Place de la Concorde and taking in each personality that the districts has. We then walked through Jardin des Tuileries (gardens) towards The Louvre; a lovely grand garden that could have been thoroughly enjoyed on the summery day.

Sadly we didn’t research well when it came to visiting the Louvre museum, as The Louvre is closed on Tuesday’s – no Mona Lisa for us 🙁

We continued to explore more of the area on foot before heading back to Gare Du Nord for our Eurostar home.

Paris is a beautiful city, with many things to love although it’s a small city, it has a big feel and is easily accessible on foot, or the metro gets you everywhere! Each district has it’s own unique sense of place, packed full of cafes, bars, monuments and unique urban arts on display and it’s a hugely international and diverse city. Though densely packed, you can find smaller pockets of intimate areas and still feel in the breath of the historic part as well as the intensely lived in areas.

The football didn’t ruin our weekend either! 🙂

Time to work on finishing off rest of Europe – Belgium is up next for the latest instalment of TazScribbles.

Much love

x

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