A different trip report! Paris & DLP: part one intro and Paris

[Fieldway]

This is a different sort of trip report. We have been to Walt Disney World twice (ssr & blt) and Disneyland Paris (sequoia) once. I also went to Disney World twice as a child. The kids and I are Disney fans, we love it. My husband quite likes it but would rather go somewhere else now, he feels he is done. We went to Disney World last summer and had an amazing trip I thought that was it for awhile.

I haven't quite worked out how to insert pictures they will follow, if you want to see some follow me on insta: camillahr request me and I should realise you are from the dibb!

On New Year's Day (with hangovers!) we found a film we all like: ratatouille. While watching it my husband said let's go to Paris with the kids, they would love it.
We starred to plan that. A few weeks later when dd and I got excited by dlp adverts dh softened and said maybe the last day we could go there. This grew a little to last night so we could get the extra magic hours. Useful if you only have 36 hours! With research this grew to the dlh, booked on the French site, a lot cheaper then the uk.

So this part is the Paris section of the trip. We hadn't told ds (12) or dd (8) about the dlp part of the trip!

Up and out by 8.30 on Monday morning, we live near the end of the metropolitan line so took the tube to St Pancreas where we bought a picnic in M&S before joining the queue to check in. Our train left at 11.31. It was fine, cold but quick and easy!

We booked an uber from Gare du Nord to our first hotel Citadines in St Germain de Pres right by the river it took around 15 mins and we enjoyed seeing sights and getting a feel for the city in the way. we had a 1 bedroom apartment, basically a sitting room with sofa bed and small kitchenette and a double bedroom plus bathroom. The hotel was nice, it felt clean and safe and there were free hot drinks in the lobby which dh and dd enjoyed.

We explored locally and found some lovely bars, shops, cafes, restaurants and a little supermarket where we got basic supplies for our kitchenette!

After unpacking we walked to the Notre Dame, 10 mins away and walked around the outside. It's so lovely.

Then we ate dinner at Cafe St Regis on the Ile de St Louis, an island in the river Seine. The children shared a steak, I had scallop risotto and Dh had a burger. We shared eclairs and crepes for pudding. We slowly walked back, it was a beautiful evening and lots of Parisians were sitting by the river enjoying it.



On Tuesday we got up and had breakfast in the room (porridge sachets from home!) I spent 20 mins in the hotel gym (vanity) we were all dressed and out around 10.30, we are always slow to be ready!
We walked along the river to the louvre palace which we admired and then we walked through gardens and along until we found the big wheel we went on this and had amazing views of Paris including the Eiffel Tower, sacre Coeur and the arc d'Triomphe.

Then we continued walking along the Champs Elysee.

It was 12:30 by this point and the children were a bit grumpy and tired so we stopped at a cafe and had baguettes and Orangina, I had a salad and my other half had an omelette. We looked in a couple of shops and kept walking to the Arc D'Triomphe. We didn't go in it but walked all round and under it, it's a really amazing building.

We walked through quiet side streets, stopping at a patisserie to buy macaroons, to the gardens over looking the Eiffel Tower. Such a fab view of it. We sat on a bench to look at it and ate our macaroons! We walked around it, it's so big! We decided the big wheel was enough of a view for today and kept going instead. We walked through beautiful back streets to out hotel, this was a bit much for the children. They complained a bit! When we got back we ate crisps and drank more orangina which improved everyone's mood! My Fitbit said we had done 30k steps!

After we had rested a bit we went out for dinner. We found a pizza restaurant nearby about a 10 minute walk from the hotel, I wish I remember what it was called. Pizzas were delicious as was the wine and the Orangina according to the children. We were back in our room by 9:30 and probably all four of us asleep very soon after!

Wednesday morning was the same again. Porridge in the room for the kids and husband whilst I did 20 minutes on the treadmill. Then when we were all dressed we headed towards the loofah. The queue was massive. After talking to someone who work there we discovered you could buy tickets with a timeslot.

We booked 3.30 on our phone and left for the Pompidou, about a 15 minute walk. It was closed. Due to a strike. We sat on a bench and work out a new plan. We realised we were very close to the Metro Station that could take us directly to Montmartre. So that's what we did. We took the Metro and walked up the hill. Hard work! Final everyone was a bit hungry we found a slightly odd bakery and had no some slightly odd sandwiches not really Parisien standard. We wandered a bit and went into the Sacre Coeur.

We took the Metro back to the city centre and headed back to the hotel. We had about half an hour resting and then headed back out. It was our timeslot for the louvre.
We went through the security and was slightly overwhelmed by the enormity of the place. We looked at some sculptures and paintings and eventually made our way towards the Mona Lisa. There were so many tourists! The other paintings were more impressive!

About an hour was our limit, it was so busy and so hot! we made our way out and passed through the shopping centre where we had to buy a few more macaroons. We stopped in a Street bar and had had a cheeky wine and orange And for the kids. Went back to the room for an hour to start the packing and freshen up then we went to a local bar where I had mussels and dh and the kids had steaks.

The next day is our dlp surprise day!

[Tubbsy]

Lovely!
We are thinking of taking a day out from the park to see Paris, so this was great to read.