USA-Cruise-Europe-Day 30

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Day 30

We took 2 taxis after 10:00 am to go to the Leonardo Da Vinci Airport to take a flight to Paris (we used the firm that brought us from Civitavecchia to Rome as we were impressed with their vehicles & service).

Whie at the airport we decided to check the weight of our baggage at a closed airline counter. We had a 25 kg limit & as some of the bags were over the limit we had to re-arrange or throw away some items we could do without (shampoos, old shoes etc). There were some shops opposite the departure lounge. We bought lunch & ate in the lounge before boarding our flight. Our Flight left Rome at 01:15 pm.







The flight was a bit noisy due to the number of school children onboard & some other passengers with loud voices. After arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport, we squeezed into two taxis that took us to our Ibis Hotel at St. Denis (which is just round the corner from the Stade De France).

The Ibis Hotel is pretty basic, but clean & comfortable. We went to our rooms & had a brief rest Then we decided to take a train to Notre Dame. There are two railway stations in the area, however, we choose to walk to Gare du Stade de Saint Denis (which was about 1.5 kilometers from the Hotel), passing by The Stade de France (on the other side of road).







At the station there were many ticket machines in the square out front. We opted to buy our tickets from the ticket counter. The ticket seller was very patient with us as we asked lots of questions.







We arrived at Notre Dame before 7 pm. As the days are quite long at this time of year there was stll plenty of light. When you come up out of the Railway station you are right beside the Seine River & Notre Dame.













Since we did have any food on the plane, we were quite hungry, so we decided to eat. In a nearby street, not far from the Seine River, there were many restaurants (not all French). We found a French restaurant offering a 3 course meal for 14.90 Euro. The Entree included fondue, where you could dip potatoes or bread.














After dinner, we went for a walk to look at Notre Dame Gothic Cathedral. Tradition has it that Notre-Dame’s first stone was laid in 1163 in the presence of Pope Alexander III. Construction was not completed until 1345.







The Cathedral was already closed for the day, so we just had a walk around the outside & the opposite park. It was impressive lit up at night. The moon was just about full & it created at eerie atmosphere.







Walking back over the bridge to the shops, noticed there were many tourist boats passing beneath on the Seine River.







We had a look at the souvenir shops & after 10:30 pm headed back to the railway station to go back to Gare du Stade de Saint Denis & the return to our Hotel. When back at the Hotel, we had to buy some bottled water as there were no shops open between the station & the hotel.

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