Trip Report 4th time lucky a Paris adventure magic and dreams

[tinkertaylor05]

I vowed not to do a trip report after such a rubbish track record of not completing them but this trip deserves to be shared

The cast Me (31) Disney mum Mum (64) Disney grandma DD (7) Disney princess

On a whim back in April I realised I couldn't bare not to visit DLP for the 20th celebrations, before I knew it I'd booked 3 nights at Hotel New York. After 3 trips to DLP I'd never taken dd or mum to Paris itself so a bit of research and I added on 3 nights prior in Paris

So without further do let's get this trip reoprt started .......

Wednesday 29th August 2012

For the first time we had flights at the respectable hour of 9:30am not the usual ridiculous 6:30am. We actually had some sleep, I overpacked as usual, the taxi was on time and we were away by 7am. Security at Manchester was slow but we got through with plenty of time, Air France was fine as always and with only a little turbulance we landed ahead of time. Another first was using a shuttle company, I'd booked a shared shuttle with RS Transport for 39 euro, we couldn't find the driver for 10 or 15 minutes after a small panic I stumbled across him and we were away to the city.

The sun was shining and it was great to see the look on Mum and dd's faces as we drove through the Paris streets, I fell in love on my first trip 16 years ago and I could see they were both seeing the same beauty I did. I'd took a risk and booked a hotel in an area unknown to me with not many reviews on trip advisor so I was feeling nervous There was no need the Daunou Opera Hotel was fabulous, it's only a tiny door way on this back street but modern and clean. The staff were all great, friendly and helpful. We had a triple room on the top floor ....

We unpacked and decided to get our barings, we were stunned to see we were only minutes away from the Opera House and 10/15 minutes from the Louvre. We took some time to take in the beautiful surroundings and shaded under the trees for a while ...

DD was realy excited we talked about films she'd seen that had featured the Louvre and I tried to point sights out and give my best factual information, hopefully I was right or show and tell may get embarassing at school!! I felt at home right away I just love this city, we walked around the Tulleries whilst mum recounted all the books she'd read about the area, we picked up ice creams and wandered down to Concorde where we sat again and soaked up the atmosphere. DD was desperate to go on the carousel ...

I'd not planned anything for the afternoon so we just wandered, we walked along the banks of the Seine. I love the way people use the areas in the city and I felt safe at all times.....

We went to the Louvre around 4:30pm through the carousel entrance, there were no queues at all and once we got to grips with the map we were away. We saw all the main tourist draws and manged some other galleries ...

We didn't manage the full opening hours until 9pm but we really enjoyed the museum it's stunning inside and out. We strolled in the direction of the hotel and found somewhere for a late dinner, we pulled up a table outside, the meal was yummy dd ate really well. Mum and I sunk a bottle of wine a bit too quick, the waiter was great, we were fed and happy and certainly ready for bed ... after a quick blurry photo stop .....

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Hey you've started

I'm going to enjoy this I can tell and your pictures are fab

 

[ctl]

Your daughter is so precious! What a beautiful little Princess! Loved the photos of Paris. Thanks for your report.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Enjoying reading along - love the pics and poses! Noted hotel down as it was a triple which is what we usually need with a family of 3-and sometimes have trouble finding! (Hoping to get to Paris in 2013 after a gap of over 15 years.) Looking forward to more..so keep up the good work.

 

[tinkertaylor05]

Thanks everyone for your comments, I'm going to try to plough on ahead and get this report done whilst doing my best not to waffle

 

[tinkertaylor05]

I coukdn't sleep and woke up at 5am I did manage to doze off a little but gave in after 6am. We had tickets for the Eiffel Tower at 9am today so mum and I got ready before waking dd, she was flat out bless her but she was looking forward to the day ahead. We didn't book breakfast at the hotel so the plan was to get something on the go.

The sun was shining again for us, we made our way around the corner to Opera and took the metro. I tried to explain to Mum that there were no metro stops really close to the Eiffel Tower, I don't think she believed me until we got there and questioned my understanding of the metro map lol Mum doesn't like the metro anywhere but I convinced her to give it a go, I bought a carnet of tickets it was round 7:45am and the station was reasonably quiet. I found it really straight forward, we were on our way to the Eiffel Tower this was going well and I was really pleased with Mum for giving it a go .... until wait oh noooo, wouldn't you know it the lady who sings on the metro has to come stand right next to us! I thought it was hilarious, dd's face was a picture but mum wasn't impressed, dd said it was like the episode of Jessie on Disney Channel went they take the subway and meet lots of weird characters

We were all relieved to be off the metro as the singer was relentless lol I enjoyed the stroll to the Eiffel Tower, another love of mine that I share wit Paris is dogs, we stopped and petted quite a few out for morning walkies

We found it quite disorganised at the tower and people, there was a sign for people with tickets to queue with a line already running along the side. I wandered around and there were no other lines and people with the online tickets in the queue so we joined the back. Here we met a lovely American family on a european adventure. At 9am there was still no movement with opening any pillars but another queue had started off in front of the sign as well as the one we'd joined One of the ladies we were talking to went off and found someone, they told us we now had to join the back of the other queue even though we'd been there long before reluctantly we did this and after 5 more minutes still no movement. They then told this line to go to another pillar as they weren't opening this one yet, so again despite being there for 8:20am we ended up behind all the people who'd only just got there and those without tickets It wasn't so bad and we were up pretty fast, the views more than made up for it ...

We were done after a little while and returned to the ground, we enjoyed the trip, met lot's of nice people travelling and all took photos for one another ....

We needed to eat and decided to walk over to the other side of the Seine, we weaved through the streets taking in the locals going about their business until we found somewhere off the beaten track to sit outside. Dd and mum had the best hot chocolate they've ever had along with some yummy pastries. Full up we agreed to go towards Notre Dame, after some discussion we agreed to take the metro again, I really enjoy using the local transport whenever I go anywhere. Mum wasn't happy again, there are alot of stairs which she finds difficult, also we had more 'characters' on the metro and beggars, they left us alone but I could see mum was concerned.

Leaving the metro behind we burst back into what was now strong sun, I couldn't believe the weather after stressing out over the reports for 2 weeks. I showed mum and Erica the lovely St Michaels fountain and round the corner to see Notre Dame ... oh and all the crowds too ...

we did some gargoyle spotting ......

We looked around inside, listened to the service and lit a candle for grandma afterwards we needed some respite from the crowds so I took Mum and dd for ice cream at Berthillion, I had the nicest rum and raisin mmmmmm I could go there again and again. We sat in the gardens at the back of Notre Dame, it was virtually empty ....

dd enjoyed the play area and played with some French children, I love that kids don't let barriers get in their way ....

 

[amylouv]

Lovely TR so far, can't wait to read some more I really would like to do Paris one day but our trip next week is just consisting of DLP. Maybe next year though! It looks beautiful

 

[nycdisneygal]

Great pics!! Would have loved more of your report (hint hint)

My I ask 1. What movies had you watched with the Louvre in them? ( I want to find some books/movies for my DD age 6 before we go). 2. Which camera did you have?
thanks!!

 

[Christieand]

The weather looks fantastic! And sounds like you had a brilliant time