Oh my god. I still can't quite believe that we've been to Paris! We had been looking forward to this trip before we even booked it and it still hasn't sunk in that we've been and done it all. We had such an amazing time and saw almost everything that we planned to see, which we are so happy about. There is nothing worse than walking away from a holiday or a visit to somewhere and feeling unsatisfied because you didn't manage to squeeze in everything you wanted to do. We spent four nights in Paris and three full days, filled with all the amazing things we wanted to do during our time in France. I have been dying to write this blog post since we finished our first day, but knew I had to put it all in one super long post, so a warning to all, this post will probably be the longest I have ever written so far as I'm going to walk you through each day and every single thing we done whilst we were in Paris!
Disclaimer: Please be aware that this post includes images of real human bones. If you are sensitive to this kind of photographic material, please do not continue reading.
Day One
Travelling
Travelling
The first day that we landed in Paris was mainly spent travelling. We didn't fly from Belfast until 2pm, and by the time we landed in Paris and got through border control it was nearly 6pm. We then had to work out how to get from Charles de Gaulle airport to our hotel, which was over an hour away using the public transport. I'm not going to lie, Charles de Gaulle airport is one of the most confusing airports I have even been to in my life. We finally worked out where we needed to be for trains and purchased a ticket, which was cheaper than expected at only €10.60 into Paris. We managed to find our way to the correct platform and boarded the train. I had done some online research as to what was the best way to get to our hotel and an online blog had told me to travel from Charles de Gaulle and get off at Saint Michel to change, so we done this. Once we were off the train it totally hit us that we were travelling in a country that we had never been to before and didn't know the route plan of the trains well at all. I started to panic but as usual, Reece kept the situation calm and worked it out. Turns out we had to keep on the same line for a couple more stops and stop at a different stop where we could then get one simple train right to our hotel. Once we got back on the train, I calmed down a little and we were at our correct stop in no time. We stopped off at a supermarket and picked up some food and snacks and then headed to our hotel. Our hotel was absolutely stunning, everywhere was marble floors, the lifts were really secure as you had to scan your hotel key card in order for the lift to work and our room was great. I do think we could have done with our room being a little bit bigger, but we literally slept and showered here so it really didn't make much of a difference. I like to unpack as soon as I get to my hotel, so I placed out all our bathroom products and hung any clothes that needed to be hung. We both ate and then changed into our swimwear and headed down to our hotels pool. The pool was lovely, there was a small foot bath and shower for you to rinse off before and after you got into the pool, a good sized pool and a built in jacuzzi, which is where we spent most of our time whilst visiting the health suite. The pool didn't close until 11pm either so we had plenty of time to spend in there, getting excited about what we were going to do the next day!
Day Two
Disneyland Paris
Disneyland Paris
I'm going to try and restrain myself from talking about day two of our trip too much, as I want to write an entire blog post dedicated to our day at Disneyland, because it was too amazing not to! I honestly think that Disneyland is the most magical place on earth. Myself and Reece have both agreed that this was the best day of our trip and we are so pleased we went. I have dreamt about visiting Disneyland ever since I was a small child and as my love for Disney has grew over the last 10 years, so has my want to visit this magical place that I have seen pictures of so many times. I still can't believe that we've been, it feels literally like a dream! The travel to and from Disneyland from Paris wasn't too bad. We of course, had to rely on public transport and as the day we decided to visit was a bank holiday, we thought it would be a nightmare. The trains there were fine, running on time and not too busy and it only cost us €7.60 one way. It took us just under an hour to get from our hotel to the train station at Disneyland. Once you leave the train station at Marne-la-Vallée, you literally cannot get lost. The parks are across the street! The travel home was another experience all together. We got fined for not validating a ticket on a tram on the way home. I'm not going to go into too much information because I am going to be submitting a formal complaint, but I would recommend that anybody who is visiting Paris, speaks to someone who has been there before before they go. We couldn't believe the lack of information out there for tourists on how this system works and the lack of understanding from the ticket checkers. But that's a whole other story! The fine aside, we did thoroughly enjoy our day at Disneyland and we are definitely looking to go back again!
By the time we got back to our hotel it was around 2am, so we showered and went straight to bed. I was gutted we couldn't go for a swim as my legs really could have done with relaxing in the jacuzzi!
Day Three
Montparnasse Tower Panoramic Observation Deck, Jardin du Luxembourg, Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle and the Louvre Museum
We actually started off our third day in Paris by travelling to another site that we wanted to visit and had booked tickets for, but they were on strike so told us to return the next day, so we went on to the next thing we had on our list.
Montparnasse Tower Panoramic Observation Deck
When looking up things to do whilst we were in Paris, Reece stumbled across the Montparnasse Tower Panoramic Observation Deck, a 59 story building that you can purchase a ticket to get a stunning view of Paris from the 56th and 59th floors. We knew that this was something we both wanted to do, but we were unsure as to whether we should go up the Montparnasse or the Eiffel Tower. I am so pleased that we decided to go with Montparnasse. The views from up there were unbelievable. You had a 360 degree view of Paris and could see for miles. You really don't realise how huge Paris is until you see it from a view like that. We had no wait time once we were in there, buying our tickets was swift and it was only €17 each. There was no time limit for how long you wanted to stay, there was a gift shop which we bought some small bits in and also a cafe, where you could sit and enjoy a coffee with the most stunning view of Paris. I can't recommend Montparnasse enough! If you are ever in Paris, you have to visit! It's well worth the money and you will for sure get the best view of Paris. I'd also like to thank Montparnasse Tower Panoramic Observation Deck for reaching out to me via Instagram to compliment my photographs and ask if they can use them on their social media platforms.
Jardin du Luxembourg
We decided to take a walk through the beautiful Jardin du Luxembourg to get to our next destination. There are so many beautiful parks in Paris that we wished we could have gotten to, but unfortunately none of them were in an area that we could use as a walk through. I am really pleased that we were able to visit Jardin du Luxembourg though and I wish we had had more time to sit down and take in the beautiful area. There were little seats placed all around for people to stop off and take a minute to sit down. We found this very helpful as we were tired and starting to get sore feet, it was nice to be able to pause for a minute in such a gorgeous place too.
Notre-Dame
The next place on our list was Notre-Dame. I couldn't believe how beautiful this building was! The architecture in Paris really is on another level. We were really gutted that we weren't able to see inside this stunning cathedral, but the queue was easily 2 hours long and wasn't moving at a good pace at all, so we decided to skip it. I would have loved to have seen inside, it looks like such a spectacle. I think if we ever visit Paris again, we will make sure we visit here and get there early enough to be at the front of the queue. The Notre-Dame is also right beside the River Seine, so we took a moment to sit down and rest our feet, all whilst looking at the beautiful view of the river.
Sainte-Chapelle
I must admit, I was so taken aback when we visited here, I had forgotten how stunning the Sainte-Chapelle was! The Sainte-Chapelle is a chapel that was built within the Palais de Justice, intended to house precious Christian relics, including Christ's crown of thorns, acquired by Saint Louis. In later years, the Sainte-Chapelle has become well known for the stunning 15 metre high stained glass windows that depict 1,113 scenes from the Old and New Testaments. I cant even explain how breathtaking this view is. When the sun shines through, the room just glows with colour. There is so much to see in such a small place and is a must see if you ever visit Paris!
The Louvre
Could we really go to Paris and not visit the Louvre? No, of course not! I must admit, I wish I could have enjoyed this more. By the time we got here, we had walked pretty much the majority of the day. My feet were so sore I could have ripped them off and I was exhausted! I tried to make the best of the time we had there as I knew there was so much to see, it's not everyday you get the visit the biggest museum in the world! We started off with the part I enjoyed the most, Louis XV's quarters. As you can see in the images above, the area was fascinating. I love interior design and seeing such an embellished living space was magnificent! The chandeliers were stunning and the attention to detail was impeccable. This is something I was not expecting to see at all during our visit at the Louvre and I am devastated that it had to be cut short as this section was closing early, I would have loved to have seen more! We of course, found our way to the Mona Lisa, which was very well hidden may I add. If you are looking for this painting in particular, I really suggest taking a good hard look at the maps provided, it's not the easiest painting to find! I was really quite underwhelmed by the Mona Lisa. The crowd in front of the painting was large and I couldn't get a proper up close view of her either. I also found it quite ironic how directly facing the Mona Lisa was a huge painting, easily 100 times the size which was stunning and painted so beautifully, yet it received no attention at all.
After we were finished at the Louvre, a combination of me complaining because my feet hurt and it starting to close, we headed back to our hotel and straight to the pool to relax and wind down before another busy day the next day.
Day Four
The Catacombes, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Bateaux Mouches and Place de la Concorde
Day four in Paris was again, a very fun packed day with plenty to see and do!
Catacombs of Paris
This was Reece's pick for the trip. I got to do my Disneyland so he got to do his Catacombes. I didn't say anything, but I wasn't keen on doing this at all. It quite terrified me to know I was going to be surrounded by literally millions of pieces of actual dead human body, but once you were down there for ten minutes and you'd seen your first handful of skulls and femur bones, I was fine. Visiting the Catacombs was quite possibly one of the most interesting things I have ever seen. Mountains of femur bones are piled on top of each other, erected in barrel formats and placed so neatly together with the skulls of the dead rested between. It really is an unbelievable sight and something you have to witness for yourself to be able to take it all in. This is also the first place I have ever visited where I have accepted and used an audio guide and it was brilliant. I really never opt for a guide, I much prefer to wander around aimlessly myself and make the experience one of my own, but the guide was great and really informative. One of the things I enjoyed about the Catacombs was that you felt you were really there, I mean as in there are no partitions or glass panels keeping you from the view. You are of course, told not to touch the bones (which I wonder why anybody would ever want to do that?!) but it is such a raw place to be, it's in-explainable. I would highly recommend you visit here if you are in Paris, but definitely book your tickets before you go and do so direct through the Catacombs website. There was a queue of people who had no tickets, that wrapped around the park beside it and looked easily two hours long of a wait. There was then our queue in the middle, people who had tickets who had paid directly through their website and then a queue to the right of us, people with tickets who had booked through a third party. Our queue was the first to go in and there was chaos about it! In the queue beside us, a guy was shouting that he had paid €80 for his ticket, why were we getting in first? Just goes to show the more you pay doesn't necessarily make you jump to the front!
Arc de Triomphe
The next thing to see was the Arc de Triomphe. I had been looking forward to this as it is one of the most photographed monuments in Paris! I was quite shocked at the size of the Arc de Triomphe and even more surprised when we had to climb the spiralling staircase inside to reach the top! It was quite funny actually, as we reached the top my legs felt like actual jelly and I slumped into the first bench I saw, to see a lady near enough having an asthma attack beside me. We just looked at each other and started laughing! That horrific climb was worth it though, the view from the top of the Arc de Triomphe was stunning, You can see all the way down the Champs-Élysées, you can see Place de la Concorde and of course, the Eiffel Tower. If you don't have time to go a little out and visit Montparnasse, I would recommend taking the hike up here. The only issue is that there isn't much space up the top and squeezing in between people to get a good view and photographs isn't the easiest.
Champs-Élysées
I have never seen a street so jam packed full of designer shops as I have when walking down the Champs-Élysées. The street is filled with literally door to door high end and expensive designer stores, all boasting their handbags and dresses through their windows. Although I would never fork out the money to own anything designer, and I really disagree with most of these companies take on animal rights, it was nice to wander through and have a browse at all the windows. I think the Dolce & Gabbana store was my favourite to look at, the clothes were clothes you would actually see people wearing, not the high fashion you see on the runway and in some of the other shop windows. I was quite pleased to have seen the Chanel store, seeing as Paris is the home to the brand. I could have went inside Tiffany and Co and spent a small fortune, but I managed to hold myself back! We nipped into Five Guys for a bite to eat and we were not disappointed! It was our first time ever trying their food and we will definitely be going back!
Eiffel Tower
I can't believe it took us until our last full day in Paris to visit the Eiffel Tower. We had seen it from a far on many occasions, but it's just not the same as actually being there and being that close to it. Trying to get to it was ridiculous! There were road works going on right underneath it, so in order for us to cross the road to get to the park on the other side, we had to walk quite a while in the left direction to be able to pass the bollards! And then when we finally reached the gardens, most of it was closed of so we had to make do with a stone bench to sit on. We would have much preferred to have sat on the grass in the sun, away from the men that kept approaching us to ask if we wanted to buy Eiffel Tower key rings and our picture drawn! I am so pleased that we decided not to take a trip up the Eiffel Tower, as the queue for it was ridiculous.
Bateaux Mouches
After visiting the Eiffel Tower, we crossed back over the River Seine to take a boat ride. I had seen photos of people doing this and thought it looked so lovely. The weather was nice enough for us to jump on board, so we did. At only €14 each, I thought this was so well worth the money! We spent about an hour on the boat, going down the River Seine and back up again. It really was lovely and I think it is the perfect thing to do on a gorgeous day. I wish we could have done this a little earlier in the day, as I was getting quite chilly towards the end of the trip, but we still thoroughly enjoyed it. The boat takes you under the Alexander III bridge, past Assemblee Nationale, Musée d’Orsay, Notre-Dame, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and so much more! If you don't have time whilst in Paris to be able to go and view all these iconic pieces separately, I would strongly recommend this boat ride. An hour in the sun, bobbing along the water and seeing all these beautiful sights.
Place de le Concorde
We actually ended up here without meaning to! We were looking for the entrance to the tube station for Champs-Élysées to be able to grab the train back to our hotel, but must have walked right past it and ended up closer to the Concorde stop, so decided to just keep on walking. Place de la Concorde is huge. It's like a massive intersection where cars just take a chance and drive on through. There is minimal traffic lighting and to be honest, I noticed that when in Paris, traffic lights mean nothing! There were so many stunning monuments and statues here, but my favourite had to be the one in the first image. A beautiful water fountain dressed with statues of men and women lavished in teal and gold trimmings. As I was crossing the road I snapped a photo of the view down the Champs-Élysées, and you can just about see the Arc de Triomphe at the very bottom. This was such a stunning place to end our final full day in Paris.
After another long day of touring around, we jumped in the pool for one last swim before we headed back to our room for some well needed sleep before travelling back to Belfast the next day.
Day Five
Travelling
Well, our trip to Paris had to end at some point! We finished packing up our belongings and I stripped the bed and bathroom (which is something I always do when I stay in a hotel) and bagged up all our rubbish for check out. We checked out just before 12 and headed straight to the airport. With Charles de Gaulle being so big and confusing, there was no way we were leaving ourselves short of any time. We got the train right up to Terminal 2D and headed for security. Once we were through and into the duty free section, I was very disappointed with the shop options we had. I had read online that they had tonnes of different designer stores and even a Disneyland shop, which made me feel a bit better for the fact we were going to spend at least three hours there. Nope, all these amazing stores were in Terminal 2A, which was a 45 minute train away and you could only really get there if you had an interchanging flight that required you to be in that terminal. I was so gutted, I even had money left over to spend, which is not like me at all! So we ended up just sitting and chatting about our time in Paris before boarding our plane back to Belfast.
In a nutshell, I really enjoyed Paris. There were for sure, ups and downs of the trip. I didn't like how anxious I was about my bag and about being pickpocketed. I actually padlocked my rucksack shut, so that no unwanted hands could dip in and I had a small purse on a long string that went across my body that I used for my money and phone, and I slipped the actual purse into either the inside of my denim jacket or the pocket of my dress or trousers. I found this was the best way that I could manage my bag and calm my anxiety down a little. As we had to carry our passport everywhere with us, this was probably the reason why I was so cautious about my bag. I feel lucky to have came out of Paris without being pick pocketed as there were signs warning you of them literally everywhere.
One of the massive pros to Paris was that most of the attractions we visited were completely free, due to our ages and us being EU citizens. We managed to visit Sainte-Chapelle, the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe for free, most of the things we visited were completely free anyway, like the Jardin du Luxembourg, Champs-Élysées and the Eiffel Tower, so we only had to pay for Disneyland, Montparnasse, the Catacombs and Bateaux Mouches, which were all very reasonably priced. I also didn't find Paris to be as expensive as people told me it would be. I found that buying a drink or some food was no more expensive than it would have been in the UK and cigarettes were actually cheaper, by a little bit.
If you're travelling to Paris I would recommend getting a batch of 10 tube tickets from any station you visit. You have to buy a separate ticket to get to and from the airport and to Disneyland, but if you're just travelling in and around central Paris, this makes it so much cheaper! It works out that each ticket is €1.49, which is nothing at all, and you can use the one ticket for a two hour long journey with as many changes as you require. Your ticket will become invalid once you officially leave the station though, so make sure you know which lines you need to get to your destination.
I am very pleased that we made the decision to visit Paris. It was amazing and I'm so happy we got to see as much as we did, it was well worth the sore feet! There are a few things that I would have liked to have done, but we never got the chance to, but I'm sure I'll be able to persuade Reece to visit Disneyland again so I'm sure we can nip into Paris for the day.
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**Disclaimer: All views, opinions and photos are my own.**
