Hi all,
I would like to thank you for your ongoing help throughout the planning of my short visit to Paris. I hope this trip report will help others in their planning :-)
Saturday Setempber 5th 2009
Arrived at CDG terminal 2B after my short flight from the UK at around 9:30am. I followed the signs %26quot;Paris par train%26quot; went down some escalators and found the huge queues to buy tickets. It%26#39;s quite easy to find and not too long of a walk depending on your pace of course.......it took me around 10 minutes. I decided I would buy a 3 day Paris Visite for Zones 1-6 as I wanted to use the ticket to travel to and from the airport, Versailles and around Paris. I am so glad I bought this. I asked for everything in French and got the response %26quot;Your French is very good%26quot; so I was very pleased with myself (I did French to a high level at school but that was 5 years ago and haven%26#39;t used it since). We got on the train which was at Platform (voie) 11 and 12 and got off at Gare Du Nord. We got lost for a bit here trying to find Metro line 2 but we got there in the end. Finally 2 metros later we arrived in Clichy just outside of Paris. Now all we had to do was find Hotel Residence Europe- simple? No not really we got lost for more than an hour despite checking the map outside the metro 3 times (I blame my other half for thinking his navigational skills are great). So we eventually got to the hotel and again I used my limited French. The hotel staff were very friendly and I immediately felt at ease. The hotel was lovely inside (I%26#39;ll do a review for it soon)very clean and although on the smallish side it was enough for us as we weren%26#39;t planning on spending much time in there. We sorted out our clothes etc and then at around 2pm left the hotel and started our journey towards Paris. We stopped for a baguette and ate it in a Park and then got on the metro. We got off at the Louvre and had a walk around eventually reaching and making a visit to Notre Dame Cathedral and lucky for us the queue was very short. We also managed to get around to La Chapelle but didn%26#39;t go in due to time contraints-I%26#39;ll go to this on my next visit. We spent some time around the islands and eventually stopped off at Ile St Louis for an ice cream at Berthilions- it was very decadent and welcome whilst we sat on a wall overlooking la Seine. We jumped on the metro again and got off on the Champs Elysees. We walked the whole way up to the Arc de Triopmhe and although many say the walk isn%26#39;t worth it I thought it was as coming from such a small country the splendour of the Champs Elysees really amazed me. By this time it was around 7pm so we decided to get the metro back to Clichy get changed and get a bite to eat. We got lost again trying to find our hotel and tensions were high......however, we did manage to find a nice little italian opposite our hotel and we had a nice dinner in there. We both had pizza and a couple of drinks and it came to 28 euros- Bargain. For us it was then off to bed before another busy day.
Sunday September 6th.
We got up around 9am and planned to spend our morning in le Louvre. We walked around taking in the scenery around le Louvre. At 11pm We popped into a lovely little restaurant and got some Omelettes and drinks (this cost 30 Euros). At 12 we finally decided to go into le louvre and it was free as it was the first Sunday of the month so I was very pleased about that- although I did know this in advance. We visited all the usual things.....Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa etc. It was busy but I found it all fascinating and without doubt worth a visit. I must admit though it was the building and the water fountains and pyramind which I loved the most I could have sat there all day in the sun admiring the views. After le Louvre we decided to walk down to Place de la concorde and took some photos and sat on a bench taking in the scenery. We then reached les Invalides I was hoping to see Napoleons tomb but unfortunately if I wanted to get to Versailles I wouldn%26#39;t have time. I%26#39;ll go see this also on my next trip. We got on the RER to Versailles- there is a map on the wall which tells you which quai to be at so it is all pretty straight forward. Versailles was absolutely breathtaking in all it%26#39;s splendour. I got in free because I am under 26 which was great and because we arrived around 4pm we discovered the gardens were free after 5:30pm which was another bonus (as I am sure you can tell I am a budget traveller). The hall of mirrors was simply amazing I loved it all! After a few hours here we headed back to Paris and then back to our hotel in Clichy. We decided that tonight we would go see the Eiffel Tower and then get a nice meal so we put our Glad rags on as they say. We got to the Eiffel Tower and unfortunately the top floor was shut :-( we were disappointed but decided we would go up it the next morning instead. We took lots of photos and then got a lovely crepe before hoping on the metro again to go to the Champs Elysees. Before we knew it it was midnight!!! The other half decided to get a hagen daz icecream and I resorted to getting a McDonalds once we got back to Clichy. We got back to the room with my McDonalds at around 1pm. It wasn%26#39;t how I had envisaged the night but I wouldn%26#39;t change as it was great!
Sunday 7th September 2009
Got up early today and went down for breakfast at the hotel. I am glad I didn%26#39;t bother the day before because it was a bit of a waste of time since as it was so basic and wouldn%26#39;t fill my other half at all. We then packed our clothes and checked out of the hotel around 9:30am. As our flight was at 7pm, however, I asked at the hotel reception if we could leave our suitcases and he pointed us towards the room. I was very grateful for this. We then headed off for the Eiffel Tower. Even at 10am the queues were long. It took all in all about 2 hours to get to the top and bottom again but I do not regret it in fact I probably would have waited 6 hours just to get that amazing view from the top of the tower. Afterwards we decided to go to Pere Lachaise cemetary as my other half is a fan of Jim Morrisson. The cemetary wasn%26#39;t dark and dreary as one would expect in my eyes it could be said to be beautiful. I did feel sad, however, when seeing recent graves and it was a stark reminder that this wasn%26#39;t just somewhere to see those famous graves. After our quick visit we went back to the metro and back to Clichy. We got a baguette and ate it in the park, collected our suitcases and took the journey back to the airport sob sob :-(
Final thoughts.......
I thoroughly enjoyed this visit to Paris although my feet are still sore 4 days later!!! I%26#39;m trying to sneek in another trip asap so fingers crossed I%26#39;ll be back before the end of the year.
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Thanks for posting, glad you had such a good time!
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excellent report! loved all the detail. so glad you enjoyed.
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