Paris Road Trip - Part 2

Continuing from the first part of our trip to France, on Sunday we took the RER train into Paris for the day.    We had plotted out a bit of plan the night before of the big attractions we wanted to see, the first being the Arc de Triumphe.  

I was impressed with the arch, I was just impressed by this guys moustache... awesome!

Because we 25 and European citizens we got to go on top of the arch for free, it was just a shame that it was so wet and miserable.  It also didn't give us much hope for climbing the Eiffel Tower as we couldn't even see the top.

By this time our legs had already started to get tired from all the queuing the day before so took the metro underneath the Champs Elysees to the Louvre.  Of course the queue to get in was epic so we decided to take funny pictures in front of it instead.  I will admit I had to do mine several times, I just couldn't get my hand right!!

We ventured over the Seine across a bridge covered in locks, I have since earnt these are love locks and the idea is to write you name and the name of your love on the lock hook it to the bridge and throw the key into the river.  We decided to give it a miss...

 ...but we did stop off in an awesome cafe on the Seine overlooking the Notre Dame and had the best Croque Madame, Cafe Late and Creme Brulee, it really was amazing and also allowed us to catch up with the world as it was the first place we found wireless.  We are such tech geeks.

The Notre Dame was very impressive and we hard an impromptu photography lesson inside to try and get the best photographs as possible and I think we did pretty well, I just love these stain glassed windows.

And once we had figured out correct settings for taking photographs in the dark I think Graeme did a pretty good job, the arches in the cathedral are just amazing.

And the best photo even though it is a bit blurry is of the grand organ, but only because Graeme got told off and sent out for taking a photograph during the service... you disrespect God's home!!

As the evening started to draw in we eventually made it to the Eiffel Tower.  By the time we actually made it to the top it was dark but in a way this made it so much better, the tower looks absolutely amazing all lit up.  We did have a slight scare at the top as it was so windy we were almost blown off our feet and the tower was a little wobbly but Paris at night was very impressive.

This last shot of the Eiffel Tower at night has to one of my favourites from the whole holiday, I just love the bright blue sky against the yellow lights of the Tower, I may have to print this one out for my wall.

We ended the evening in a little restaurant in the Latin district, with wine cocktails and beer, Graeme even bought me a rose.  It was a wonderful end to an amazing holiday, thank you for the memories my love. 

Paris Road Trip - Part 1

The second part of my Birthday was a lovely trip to Paris from Graeme.  We had talked about it for a while but it seemed so expensive, that is until we decided to make it into a weekend road trip.  We would drive down to Dover, travel by ferry (which gave us a free ticket to Disneyland Paris) then drive to the outskirts of Paris where we found a cheap hotel on the train line between Paris and Disney. I warn you now there are a lot of photos, we got very snap happy!!


I could not wait and was so excited to go on a proper road trip on the continent.  The driving wasn't too bad either but mainly because we stuck to motorways, the few roundabouts we did drive on I  had to think really hard which way to go and look.  When we arrived at the Hotel we were quite impressed that right next door was a huge Carrefore, a huge shopping centre and just over the road lots of restaurants.  We spent out first night at a Tex Mex and the food was gorgeous, the cocktails weren't bad too!

The weather over the weekend wasn't going to be great but we decided to spend the better day, Saturday, at Disney as we knew we would be standing around in queues lots.  After a short 10 minute trip on the train we arrived direct at Disney and I was in heaven.  I forgot how much I loved Disneyland and was even more excited as it was Graeme's first time.

It was awesome that one of the first characters we bumped into was Mickey, Graeme got this great shot just outside Mickey's house.  By this time we were starving so sat down for  breakfast pizza and Halloween cake.

Just outside Sleeping Beauty's castle was a big stage where they were performing a Villain show, we didn't really understand it as it was in French but it was fun to see all the characters.  I'm glad we got to see a few here as we missed the parade later on from standing in too many queues. 

The first place we visited was Discoveryland where we got to try out Space Mountain.  Fun Fact if you are considering visiting the parks you have to take your bags on the rides with you, and yes that includes roller coasters with loops, so don't take anything too bulky!!  We also visited the Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, where everyone is equipped with laser guns to shot the targets and defeat the evil Emporer Zurg.  I did have a bit of an advantage at as I have been on it before; it was hilarious but mainly because I was spinning the car around to stop Graeme from shooting, and yes I won!! The queue for the Star Wars simulator was so long so we decided to give it a miss but we found a awesome Light sabre wielding Mickey in the gift shop.

Next was Frontierland to visit the Phantom Manor and Big Thunder Mountain.  We also bumped into Jafar who I think took a liking to Graeme... maybe not.  For lunch we had huge tacos filled with chicken and salad, the diet didn't completely go out the window.  We also tried out the shooting range, where Graeme almost got a perfect score, I just found the gun too heavy but I did give it a try and managed to hit a few.

After lunch we headed to Disney's second park Walt Disney Studios, where we rode on the Rock'n'Roller Coaster, the Tower of Terror and Crush's Coaster.  Finding Nemo has to be one of my favourite films and this ride was definitely worth the wait, there are no loops but you spin lots, start going forward and end backwards, it was  great fun and shame the queue was so epic otherwise we would have ridden it again.  Another Fun Fact nearly all the roller coasters and rides and indoors so they can run all year round and are busy all the time.  So make sure to use of the Fast Track tickets because they will really shorten the wait and remember you can only get one at a time; we were caught out by this and got a Fast Track ticket for a short queue then had to queue for ages on another ride until the ticket had run out.

As it was starting to get late and a little dark we rushed through Fanatasyland and headed stopping for a waffle, which was very messy!! We said hello to Pascal the chameleon from Tangled and also found a wanted photo of Flynn Rider, before heading to Adventureland and the Pirates of the Caribbean.  We very nearly didn't get on the ride as the queue was enormous and the ride decided to have a slight malfunction, but we got there in the end and had fun spotting all the pirates.

As it got really dark we had a walk around and found hidden tunnels underneath Robinson Crusoe's tree and  a huge rope bridge which was fun to run across, although I don't think the other people on the bridge appreciated it hehe.

For dinner we headed out the park to the Disney Village and Graeme quickly spotted The Steakhouse, the menu looked amazing but the queue was out the door and we didn't quite fancy standing in yet another queue so decided to catch the train back to the restaurants by our hotel and had a lovely Italian.  It's not quite steak but it was such a fantastic day, we still went to bed very happy.