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Published: January 1st 2016
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A very French breakfast
Croissants and chocolat ! We arrived in Paris at 7:30pm after a long flight. We were hoping it would be a empty plane but unfortunately it was fairly full. The second leg seemed longer than the first but was 2 hours shorter. Andrew and I liked the food but the boys could take it or leave it.
We had 1 and a half hours in Dubai airport which just gave us enough time to have a look around and a quick bite to eat.
By the time we arrived in Paris, we were pretty tired. Conor had slept a little but Ethan couldn't. At least they were thoroughly entertained by the assortment of movies and tv shows they could watch.
We had a driver meet us at the airport but it was a scary ride into the city. We watched the speedometer clock 142 kms as he weaved in and out of traffic. I was glad to get to get out.
Our apartment was spacious with all the mod cons and it was tucked away in a quiet but very central spot. They even had put up a Christmas tree for us. They staff were great and we would happily stay
there again.
On our first day, we went out to walk around and see what's what. We were looking for a phone shop to buy a SIM card so we could use the maps but we ended up getting lost. Once we had the phone sorted, we were in business.
After lunch, we went to the Louvre Museum. We were lucky to find the back entrance first and get in fairly quickly as we had bought the tickets beforehand. The museum is huge. Bigger then we anticipated. It took longer to get around and it was very busy. We saw the Mona Lisa but could not get close. Once we left via the front entrance, we saw the queues of people lining up to get in. Hundreds of people, everywhere.
We had booked ticket for the Eiffel Tower online for 5:15pm and as we were behind schedule we decided to head over to meet the guide. It was an hours walk so by time we had reached the Tower, we had done over 10kms that day.
It was a good thing to get the tickets online, as the queues there were crazy also. We didn't have
to wait that long to go up to the second level. The views were amazing but we didn't buy the extra ticket to go up to the summit as the queue for that was too long and it was too cold to hang about doing that.
As we were very tired but this time, we cabbed it back home again and went to a little Brasserie called the Cafe de l'Olympia. Of course the boys had burgers and I had fish and chips. Not very French but it was nice enough.
On our second day, we caught the train to Euro Disney. What an amazing place! Although, I will never complain about queuing again after waiting 1 hour to get on a ride. We have never seen so many people in one place. I think that's what makes your feet tired, the standing around. We didn't get to go on everything but we have it a good shot. We went to the Walt Disney Studios next door but only had a couple of hours there. Outside of these theme parks, are more shops, restaurants and things to see. It's just sensory overload.
That was another day of
tired legs and feet.
On our final day in Paris, we took a train out to the Palace of Versaille. We were not expecting the numbers of people who also decided to visit on that day. Even though we had pre purchased tickets, we still had to queue for just over an hour. The interior is grand as you would expect but it was the grounds that surprised us. Just the sheer size of it ! We hired a golf cart for an hour to get around but still didnt see all of it. We went into Marie Antoinette's Estate which was decorated similar to the Chateau but on a smaller scale.
On the way home, we decided to stop by the Champs Élysées and walk up to the Arc de Triomph. For Christmas, they had set up a market with stalls that lined the avenue all the way to the fancy shops. It was cheeses, choclates, baguettes, toys, jewellery and all sorts of goods as far as you could see. It took 2 hours to walk up and down so by the time we had finished, our legs would not carry us any further. We went home
and went straight to bed.
The following morning we slowed our pace and just went out for breakfast before making our way to the the Gare du Nord to catch the Eurostar to London.
We didn't get to see everything we wanted to but we enjoyed our time and would happily come back.
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MMcL
Margaret McLoughlin
You packed a lot into 3 days. No wonder you were all worn out. Not too cold, I hope? Margaret