Oui Paris…..(Part One)

One of my most memorable places this year has to be my trip to Disneyland Paris. Having wanting to see the magical wonders of Disneyland for as long as I knew it existed, it was listed on my bucket list of “Things to do before I Die” among the 100 of others, and I never thought it would be shortlisted for this year.

Thanks to my travel buddy and partner in crime Sabina who arranged the whole magical trip for me as a belated birthday gift, all I needed  to do was pack and enjoy the ride.

To get to Paris, she had booked us seats on the Eurostar, being the first time going on the Eurostar I was extremely excited.

For those of you who have qualms over the Eurostar, I can assure you the whole process from beginning to end was easy, there were hardly any queues, no waiting around, security was easy, and within 40 minutes we were sitting on our numbered seats (which were very comfortable) watching the countryside rush past us as we caught up with each others lives in the 2 hours that got us to our destination.

Landing in Gare Du Nord Train station (is landing the right word? As officially we are already on land?) in Paris, we grabbed a taxi outside which took us straight to our One night stay in Paris at ‘Au Pacific Hotel’ at Rue Fondary.

Clean and Comfy, and Location wise this was the perfect pick. Set in a beautiful residential area and only a 15 minute walk away from the Eiffel Tower, it ticked all the necessities we needed for our one night stay. We got to see the local shops, bakery, butchers, cheese shops and the general public, which made it feel like we definately were in a different city.

The plus side to this whole trip was that I managed to tick off two places on my bucket list, as although my birthday treat was Disneyland, In true Sabina fashion (you will get to know this absolute little bundle of joy in my future blogs) “We cant possible go all the way to Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower!”

I don’t think i have ever realised just how Big the Eiffel tower really is, and pictures- even the best of them, will never do the justice of being able to see it in the naked Eye, I was in Awe at its beauty and grace. The whole area, the grass, the fountains, the location all of it fits so well into a picture, its magnitude….. I. JUST. HAVE. NO.WORDS…. speechless.( is it ok for a blogger to not say anything, we should be good at expressing ourselves really ;-/)

Whilst walking towards the tower, we just silently watched the people all around us enjoying the very thing we have come to see. Sitting on the grass, having picnics, cheese, wines, taking photos… it felt like I was inside a novel. When people talk about Paris, they are not lying, it is as romantic as they all make out.

At a cost of just 10.20Euros- we decided to climb the Eiffel tower- yes you heard that right, We took the stairs to the Eiffel. I mean how glamourous does it sound to say that “I climbed the Eiffel Tower” rather then “I took the lift?”

I really don’t know who’s idea it was to climb this monstrosity (seriously whilst climbing, its beauty had gone) but we really aren’t a clever bunch when put together. I really thought we would take photos at the end of every stairway, make it glamorous, feed our snap and insta stories with all these glamorous posts,  instead we took a break, gasps of air, and prayed for the top to be near.

Was it worth it? 200%, the magic doesn’t stop here, the view from the top, took the last of the breath (from climbing the steps) away. Having reached the top, you can spend as much time here as you wish- and we definitely werent in a hurry to move.(we only went up to the first level, as Sabina has a fear of heights. So getting up here was already hard enough for her. But well done Sabina. You conquered it. )

By the time we finally decided that we needed to get down, and That we couldn’t possibly stay here all night regardless of how our legs were feeling. It had reached evening, and can I just say the Eiffel tower at night is evan more beautiful

We contemplated talking a taxi back to our hotel, having heard from back home various scare stories, it seemed like the right thing to do, but in all honesty the amount of people buzzing around made it feel so safe and warm to walk back, we told ourselves at the first sign of danger we will get an uber. We didn’t need an uber and evan stopped at a coffee shop for a night cap.  The whole walk back to our hotel- we kept glimpsing back at this beautiful structure, never loosing its glory, as it slowely disappeared away. Leaving its foot prints in our mind.

We spent only a couple of hours in Paris outside and on top of the Eiffel tower but what I do know is  Ive left a piece of my heart there.

Hope you enjoyed our experience of Paris, here’s what to come next… Stay tuned for our day in disneyland

On every trip I aim to make a quick travel diary of how we got to our location, including costs to help out in planning your trip…

Love

M11bna