The Travel Bug

There is something really magical about travelling. It's not just about the sightseeing on city breaks or relaxing on resort vacations. For me - it's an adventure.

I find travelling to be educational, stimulating and inspiring. It's fun and I love experiencing the culture, the language, the history, the sights, the locals and of course the cuisine.

Two weekends ago Barry and I spent three amazing days in Paris. It is such a treat to fly only 55 minutes and you're in another completely different city. A city that is beautiful and unique, known for it's famous buildings and works of art and 'a must for anyone wishing to experience both contemporary and age old European culture'.

We left London at 03h30 on Saturday morning the 28th of May and took a cab to Luton airport. We enjoyed a 5am breakfast and when the boarding gates opened we joined the queue. Flying Easyjet is great, but it's first come first serve when it comes to your seats, so it's important to get there early. If you check in online the day before and you don't have any bags to check in (as we only had hand luggage being that it was only a 3 day trip), its a smooth and simple procedure.

The flight was so quick and such a pleasure. Upon arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport we followed the 'B' & 'RER' (overland train) signs to the train station and caught a train to Gare du Nord, a central station in the city of Paris. From Gare du Nord, we switched over to the Metro (which is just like the London underground, only cooler as they're double decker! :) ) and travelled to the station closest to our hotel, Charles Michels. From there we walked to our hotel, stopping at a local supermarket, Monoprix, to get some things and my new found favourites - mame madeleines (french butter cakes shaped like shells). Yum!

As we reached the street on which our hotel was located we turned on to it and caught our first glimpse of the infamous Eiffel Tower. Only a few hundred metres in front of us, its enormity overwhelmed us and we filled with excitement. Laughing, smiling and skipping (not literally) a few more metres to our hotel, the Novotel Paris Tour Eiffel.

We checked in, made our way up to the 23rd floor and enjoyed the view from our bedroom, overlooking the River Seine:


Leaving no time to waste, we quickly freshened up and then headed off to enjoy some sightseeing.

We walked from our hotel to the Eiffel Tower which was only 10 minutes away, enjoying the scenery on foot and taking a million pictures. From the Eiffel Tower we jumped onto the hop-on-hop-off bus where we stayed for a short while before jumping off at the Louvre where we spent the early part of the afternoon. We saw the Mona Lisa, the Wedding Feast, the Winged Victory of Samothrace and many others. The museum is massive and there is just SO much to see, you really can't appreciate it all.

After the Louvre, we had our first French crepe experience - chicken crepes for the main and apple strudel crepes for dessert.

We then jumped back onto the hop-on-hop-off bus where we stayed for 2 hours and completed the full route, giving us a good overview of the whole city including the Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay, Place de la Concorde, Galleries La Fayette, Avenue des Champs Elysees, Arc de Triompe Etoile and Trocodero to name a few. We finished off our afternoon of city sightseeing with haagen daz ice-creams on the Champs-Elysees.

Being that Saturday was the Champion's League Final, that evening we found ourselves a lovely authentic French restaurant (that had a TV) where we could enjoy a nice french meal and watch the game - Barcelona vs Manchester United. We had a great meal - snails to start and steaks for our mains. MU unfortunatley didn't win, but it was a good game nonetheless.

On Sunday morning we decided to spend the morning at the Palace of Versailles. Before leaving Paris, we went to a local patisserie and picked up some croissants for breakfast - Pain au Chocolat and Petite Brioche. We also bought a french baguette and then across the street we bought some cheeses and salami from a little deli. The lady in the store couldn't (or wouldn't) speak a word of English, but after some time of trying to communicate she kindly made our baguettes for us using the fillings from her store. She must have been able to see or understand that we were going for a picnic. :) We also bought a bottle of rose, a bottle opener and some plastic cups and then made our way to Javel train station and travelled from there to Versailles.

The Palace of Versailles is massive, the grounds are just enormous. We spent the morning in the palace appreciating (well kind of) the art and history of this famous world heritage monument and the early part of the afternoon in the gardens. The gardens were my favourite. They're just so beautiful and it was there that we had our picnic lunch.

After a beautiful morning in Versailles, we then headed back to the city where we queued for 40 minutes to climb 402 steps up the Towers of Notre Dame.

Now this was a little challenging as I'm terrified of heights, but a good challenge nonetheless. It was nice to see the South Tower Belfry (the cathedral's largest bell) and of course the views of the city from the top.

Following our climb, we made our way to the river for an hour Bateaux Parisiens River Seine cruise. That was nice - relaxing, calm and it offered a nice snapshot of Paris from a different angle.

On Sunday evening we went to the Arc de Triompe. We purposely planned to go up after 21h30 so we could enjoy an evening birds-eye-view of the city and at 10pm see the Eiffel Tower lights turn on and then flash for 5 minutes. It looks like a giant piece of Christmas tinsel. It's so beautiful.

That evening we had dinner at a nice little place on the Champs Elysees. I love the cafe culture, all the sidewalk cafes with chairs facing the street. I love it!

Monday morning was our last day in the city and knowing how long the Eiffel Tower queues can be, Barry got up early and went to queue from 08h30 before they opened at 09h30. That was a good idea, because when they opened we were the first one's up the elevator and those who were queueing at the bottom easily now had an hour or two wait.

We went straight up to the top and checked out the morning city from an enormous height. It's really an unreal experience. We spent some time at the top and then on the different levels. We also had a coffee overlooking Champs de Mars.

Having only a few hours left in the beautiful city of lights, we wondered thorugh the city from the Eiffel Tower, along Avenue George through to the Champs Elysees and back along Avenue Kleber to the Trocodero and back to our hotel to check out.

We closed our holiday with a nice lunch and then travelled back to the airport to fly home.

Our flight was delayed four hours so we got home a lot later than expected, but the trip was worth every penny. I love Paris and I love travelling.

xx