Renovation project - A day in Paris, France

Renovation project - A day in Paris, France

On the Euro Disney train station we look at booking tickets back into Paris centre. There are ticket machines available and you can choose your language, we bought 2 tickets to zone 1 (Paris centre) Euro Disney is zone 5. (These are approx 7 Euros one way, you can buy a day pass, that are different prices for the different zones, but approx 25 Euros for all zones all day)

once we have our tickets we go for a sandwich, there is a sandwich shop called Relay and we both highly recommend the pastrami, it is the nicest sandwich we have eaten and head back to the platform.

The RER trains are very different as they are double decker trains and nowhere near as nice, but they are taking us to Paris!

We have no idea which station to get off on and we have had enough of trains so get off at Gare de Lyon in Zone 1. This station is fantastic, once outside the sun is shining and we are here!

Gare de Lyon, Paris France

Looking out from the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris

Looking out from the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris

We now have no idea where to go so start to walk in what we hope is the right direction. Our first stop is the Bastille, we know the Eiffel Tower is on the seine and we can see it, but don't know how to get to it, we buy a map and realise we got off a few stops too soon, but decide to walk anyway.

If you do this trip, I highly recommend the walk as you get to see so much, but make sure you wear comfy shoes as we ended up walking for a number of miles.

We followed the Seine and stopped off at Notre Dame, we walked past all of the little stalls along the seine. These generally sell pictures, tat and souvenirs.

Notre dame Paris

Notre dame Paris

Notre dame Paris

stalls along the Seine Paris

We stopped off for a drink at a pavement cafe by the Musee d'Orsay and the Place des Invalides before continuing with our walk to the tower.

Every so often we caught sight of the tower and luckily it was getting larger each time, but it is hard to describe how magnificent it really is once you get there.

We sat and ate ice cream by the tower and watched just how many security personnel were wandering around with machine guns. This is a strange experience as to be honest it did not make me feel any safer and I really thought it took something away from the experience, though my daughter thought it made her feel safer.

Whilst eating the ice cream I needed to pop to the toilet, I could not see any so asked at one of the cashiers, apparently they are on the main road and turn left, there was a public toilet with a bigger queue than the Eiffel tower, so if you are going to visit make sure you go to the toilet first!

The weather was starting to get really cold and we wanted to visit the Champs Elysees, so we say our good byes and head across the river, first stopping for a ride on the carousel. We have no option but to buy the 10 euro photo that they took (how can you go on a carousel and not buy the baby's photo?) I then stop to buy my tat from one of the make shift stalls, 5 Eiffel Tower key rings for a euro (in the stalls and souvenir shops they are at least 3 Euros each), I don't feel so bad about the photo now.

As we are walking my granddaughter falls asleep and the weather really takes a turn for the worst, she is exhausted in the pram.

We head over to the arc de triumph and spend the next 10 minutes just watching the traffic. There is no way to describe the complete bedlam at this roundabout, but I have added it to my bucket list, I really want to attempt a drive there. Cars were kriss crossing all over; you couldn't work out which direction they had come from or where they were going to, but it was great fun to watch.

The rain really starts to come down now so we have no option but to call it a day. We head to a station on the Champs Elysees and are faced with the biggest crowd imaginable. We have no option but to try to board with the pram, this is not easy and I am sure there were some bruised legs, but people still tried to get on behind us, I have never been on such a busy train, there wasn't even standing room left, every inch was crammed with bodies. Try not to get the train (not sure if it is a subway or not) in the centre of Paris at rush hour!

By the time we get to our stop the train is almost empty, we disembark absolutely knackered but so happy, now we just have to find the connector bus shuttle! (Which we don't and give up and grab a cab to the hotel)