An English Girl in Paris - Day 1/2

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At only 18 my trip to Paris was one of the best I have ever experienced. With a passion for travel but little money I saved my birthday money and booked a trip with my best friend (and travel buddy) Ayla. Having already visited Turkey together last year, this was our second trip together.

For just £125 we booked a weekend trip to Paris which included travel to and from, one night stay in a bed and breakfast just out of the capital and a guided coach tour of the main sites upon arrival. We took €100 spending money with us for Saturdays breakfast, lunch and dinner and Sundays lunch/dinner. After all this and buying souvenirs I was left with €45 at the end of the trip. (I will save this for my next to trip to Pezenas, France in the summer!)

I was shamelessly excited for this trip and prepped by watching various Audrey Hepburn films, Midnight in Paris and the Gossip Girl episode set in the beautiful city.

Friday April 11th 7:00pm

As this was a student tour we met with our group and group leader Marc at London Victoria where we boarded our coach and set off to Brighton to pick up the remainder of travellers. Students from all around the world joined us on this trip and being surrounded by various languages and cultures made the trip all the more exciting. Having reached Brighton we drove to the tunnel and boarded the train to France at around 10:00pm.

Saturday April 12th 7:00am (local time)

We travelled overnight and made one brief stop at a service station just outside of Paris to wash, change and ready ourselves for the busy day ahead. Here we decided to buy breakfast as the cost was significantly less than in central Paris and we were also very hungry from travelling all through the night!

We finally reached Paris around 8:00am and set out on our guided coach tour. We first visited, and stopped at, the famous Arc de Triomphe. This was an amazing experience to see such a beautiful famous monument. This monument was built under Napoleon and honours those who fought for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Beneath the Arc is the 'tomb of the unknown solider' from WWI. An eternal flame burns here out of respect for those who fought, died and were never identified.

We also drove down the Champs Elysees. For me this was a huge part of the trip as I have heard many wonderful things about this stretch and with stores such as the original Louis Vuitton I was in absolute awe. It is made very obvious that only the elite are able to shop here with many designers stores and even full car showrooms and the opportunity to hire a lambo for an hour at €100.

8:45am

We arrived at the Eiffel Tower with our tour guide Marc and after a headcount and various 'selfies' and photos we followed Marc to Trocadero. Here we encountered a spectacular view of Paris and especially the Eiffel Tower. I would recommend taking a few moments here to take it all in and even take a few tourist type photos such as holding the Eiffel Tower etc. From Trocadero we boarded the train to the Louvre and entered with free entry (this was a part of our trip deal. The Louvre is usually priced at around €12 I believe). I was most excited for this as I was extremely looking forward to the Mona Lisa and The Wedding at Cena. To see these paintings in person was an incredible experience and something I proud myself on having done. Although not a massive art fan I have always been intrigued by the Mona Lisa and its story. It is also surprising how small the Mona Lisa is in real life! The museum was full of other incredible masterpieces by Picasso, Monet and various others, however, it was just too large to look around at everything.

After a quick trip the Louvres apple store and a rush to Mcdonalds to look for a 'Royale with Cheese' and 'Le Big Mac' (Pulp Fiction Reference) we ended up missing the meeting time for our tour guide to go to the Notre Dame and was left to fend for ourselves. Upon arrival Marc's advice for Paris was to just follow the river - as everything is located just off of it. As one 18 year old and one 17 year old London girls this was infact no use and we got lost many many times. We eventually gave up trying to find the Notre Dame and sat alongside the River Seine waving to those on a boat cruise, saving our Notre Dame adventure for day 2.

When continuing our walk along the Seine we took the time to visit the various bridges covered in padlocks. This was an amazing sight as whole bridges were covered with padlocks even attached to other padlocks in an attempt to fit. This practice was believed to have started in Russia and made its way to Paris the 'city of love'. The Paris craze began in 2008 on the Pont Des Arts with couples sneaking to the bridge in the dead of the night, locking their padlock to the bridge and throwing the key into the River Seine essentially connoting their eternal love. In 2014, this is no longer a secret practice but in fact a very public one, with couples engraving padlocks with their names and anniversaries etc. Out of pure luck we came across a bride and groom undertaking their photoshoot on a Seine footbridge after placing their very own padlock. With a beautiful flowing white dress, exquisite setting, beautiful weather and loving husband it is hard to find the words to describe such a romantic magical moment.

Along the Seine you can also find various old stalls full of vintage items such as books, posters and art. Many talents lie among these and you will always find a good buy here.

We had lunch at Gusto Italia after hours of walking and a desperate need for pizza! The service and food here were wonderful and we were able to sit outside in the sun which just made the experience even better. Although we were hoping to find a french cafe etc this was a great compromise when we were so hungry!

19:30pm (local time)

After more exploring and experiences we headed to meet our tour guide Marc and coach driver Michael by the Eiffel Tower in order to head to the hotel. I was slightly disappointing that the evening was so light and therefore I missed the Eiffel Tower lighting up and glistening - I hope to return to see this one day!

At 20:00pm we arrived at our hotel. We took a quick shower changed clothes and within 20 minuets was back in the hotel lobby to meet our group for dinner. It was optional to eat with the tour guide and group and many chose not too. When greeted by our Thailandish students we were immediately told that they would not be joining us for dinner and they were having a 'noodle party' in their room in which we were NOT invited. Whilst not exactly polite, their inability to understand this was perceived as slightly rude to other cultures made us giggle about the moment and head out for dinner in good spirits anyhow.

After dinner Ayla and I had planned to travel by train back to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower glisten and to experience some Paris nightlife however our tiredness and slight concern of our safety travelling back from Paris alone late at night by both the coach driver and tour guide influenced our decision to head to bed. It was apparent this was a good decision as we both fell to sleep the minuet our heads hit our pillows.

For those wondering we stayed at the HOTEL IBIS, Boullevard Newton, Cite Descartes, 77420, Champs Sur Marne. Our room was a three person room with a double and single bed and en-suite, wardrobe and mirror. Although not very spacious, this room was perfect for our one night stay and breakfast the next morning was lovely! I would highly recommend staying in this hotel for its great location to Paris (just 30m away) and for its own private bus to Disney Village.

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