HAZELGROVE
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2006
- Messages
- 39
Change of plan when we woke up for day trip to Paris we decided to leave the 2 youngest behind along with my wife as they were all feeling a bit under the weather. A flu seemed to be on the way after the cold winds of the previous 2 days. A day of rest indoors wont do any harm. So it was me, my mum and the 6 yr old for Paris. Got the RER train from Val d'Europe to Auber as advised here and then opted for the hop on hop off bus LOpen tour. Big mistake !
The bus tour office and main departure point is right outside the train station perfect (turn right when you exit the station onto Rue Auber and it is about half way down on the left - the double deckers maybe parked outside). Had tea for 3, toast and a toasted sambo for 30 in a cafe bar on Rue Auber !! Welcome to Paris !! Bought the tickets on the bus including a boat tour and away we go !! A few stops later on the bus we got off at the Louvre and got some great photos. Then walked up the Seine to Notre Dame more snaps. Intended to get boat from Notre Dame to Eiffel Tower but eventually realised that I had bought a boat tour ticket and not one that you could get off wherever you wanted.
So back on the bus after a very annoying 30 min wait (bus supposed to be every 10-15 mins) and took the scenic route to Eiffel Tower which was great Champs Elysee and Arc de Truimphe the obvious highlights.
Got to the Eiffel Tower knowing the queues would be mad. Our lad didnt fancy more waiting so we went for the boat cruise. This lasted an hour departing from Eiffel Tower, up to Notre Dame and back. A bit too long and monotonous one way would have been fine. So back to the tower and back on the double decker. 40 mins later we were still waiting !! one eventually arrived to take us to on the scenic route back to Auber for our train to Val dEurope.
Lesson learned RER trains are a doddle but forget about the hop on / off buses unless you are going to stay on board. Depending on time constraints and what you want to see use the underground or the cityrama from disney. After the queuing in DLPR, the last thing you want is more waiting. If you want to travel the Seine, use the batobus get off wherever you want. There are 3 or 4 escalators down to the metro so if you can tolerate that you will be fine. Got back around 7pm and met up with the rest of the family for dinner in the hotel. Nice meal, around 16 per main course, sides not included. Checklist out to plan itinerary for the last day and had a feeling it was going to be a good one .
The bus tour office and main departure point is right outside the train station perfect (turn right when you exit the station onto Rue Auber and it is about half way down on the left - the double deckers maybe parked outside). Had tea for 3, toast and a toasted sambo for 30 in a cafe bar on Rue Auber !! Welcome to Paris !! Bought the tickets on the bus including a boat tour and away we go !! A few stops later on the bus we got off at the Louvre and got some great photos. Then walked up the Seine to Notre Dame more snaps. Intended to get boat from Notre Dame to Eiffel Tower but eventually realised that I had bought a boat tour ticket and not one that you could get off wherever you wanted.
So back on the bus after a very annoying 30 min wait (bus supposed to be every 10-15 mins) and took the scenic route to Eiffel Tower which was great Champs Elysee and Arc de Truimphe the obvious highlights.
Got to the Eiffel Tower knowing the queues would be mad. Our lad didnt fancy more waiting so we went for the boat cruise. This lasted an hour departing from Eiffel Tower, up to Notre Dame and back. A bit too long and monotonous one way would have been fine. So back to the tower and back on the double decker. 40 mins later we were still waiting !! one eventually arrived to take us to on the scenic route back to Auber for our train to Val dEurope.
Lesson learned RER trains are a doddle but forget about the hop on / off buses unless you are going to stay on board. Depending on time constraints and what you want to see use the underground or the cityrama from disney. After the queuing in DLPR, the last thing you want is more waiting. If you want to travel the Seine, use the batobus get off wherever you want. There are 3 or 4 escalators down to the metro so if you can tolerate that you will be fine. Got back around 7pm and met up with the rest of the family for dinner in the hotel. Nice meal, around 16 per main course, sides not included. Checklist out to plan itinerary for the last day and had a feeling it was going to be a good one .
