We departed from Luton Airport (never again...more on this later) flying EasyJet, the other budget airline. I flew RyanAir to Ireland and I have to say EasyJet is definitely the better of the two. But, if RyanAir has the lower fare who can complain. So anyways, it was a late flight into Paris and as soon as we got to the airport we went through customs which was a breeze then had to figure out the train to our hotel, Sequoia Lodge, on Disney property. Well, since it was so late there was no one to ask and everything of course was in french! Luckily, the ticket machine had an english option so we figured that out but then had no idea what train to take. Luckily, we found a nice lady who spoke english and was going our way and she was able to guide us in the right direction. We finally arrived to our hotel sometime after midnight and were exhausted from our day of travel. Before I forget let me tell you who I travelled with: Jen, her friend Val, Oendrila, and Elyssa.
After a restful night's sleep we woke up and started our day. We headed to Notre Dame first, which did not have any admission fees and we were even allowed to take photos inside (as long as there was no flash). It was an absolute gorgeous day to top everything off. After Notre Dame we headed to The Louvre which was humongous! And obviously, we were not able to see everything. We did see 3 main pieces though: the winged victory, the Mona Lisa, and the Venus de Milo. After The Louvre we started our walk towards the Arc de Triumph. Stopping along the way at a cute cafe in a park and strolling through a popular shopping district. After seeing the Arc we ate at a delicious Italian restaurant before heading home for the evening. (Pictures are below & more can be found on facebook)
That was Monday, and Tuesday was devoted to a full day of Disney Magic! Once again it was another beautiful day, couldn't have asked for anything better. Disneyland Paris has 2 parks: Disneyland and Disneyland Studios. We bought the park hopper so we could experience both, but spent most of our time in the main theme park because it had more to offer. We even got to eat breakfast in the park that day because we were staying on disney property. We did plenty of rides including Space Mountain: Mission 2 which is an indoor upside down roller coaster, Buzz Lightyear similar to the one in Orlando, Star Tours which was in French, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan's flight which was in English, Phantom Manor which is similar to Haunted Mansion, & Pirates of the Carribean (my favorite ride! It had 2 big drops!). And we stopped for lunch at Casey's Corner for some delicious hotdogs and finished off the park with the 5 o'clock parade. After the parade we dashed towards Studios to get in some rides there. We were able to fit in Rockin' Rollercoaster w/ AeroSmith and the Tower of Terror. Both parks closed by 7 so we weren't able to get everything in but the day was definitely full of lots of fun and excitement.
Wednesday was another big day packed with lots to do. We started off the day at LaDuree which is a well known absolutely delicious patisserie. MMMM it was soo good I had a chocolate eclair and a praline w/ strawberries. After that we headed to Montmartre which is known for all of their local artists and there was a gorgeous cathedral called Sacre Coeur located in the town as well that had gorgeous views of all of Paris. It was absolutely breathtaking. We also ate lunch in Montmartre at this cute cafe which was in the center of all the artists painting. And as gorgeous as the art was it was just a little bit out of my price range. There were also tons of artists drawing portraits of people and doing spectacular jobs. We finished the day at the eiffel tower which is just phenomenal, & I am still in shock I was there, and went all the way to the top! We did want to climb the stairs the first 1/2 but by the time we got there the stairs were closed and we could only take the elevator. You take an elevator to the middle and then you have to take another elevator to the very top. It was freezing and sooo windy but a great experience. There is another level which has the restaurant but that was not in our price range so we skipped it, and you needed a reservation anyways which includes access to the other levels. After the eiffel tower we ate dinner at a nearby restaurant so when it was dark we could still see the light show which lasts approximately 5 minutes and is every hour on the hour.
Our last day in Paris finally arrived, and as sad as it was we had to leave. But hopefully one day I will be back, actually I know I'll be back. In the morning Val & Elyssa had other trips so they had to leave us but Oendrila, Jen, & I still had the whole day ahead. We started the day back at LaDuree and I got this mouth watering Strawberry and Pistachio something; don't know the french name but it was amazing. We just walked around Paris and headed back to the Eiffel Tower to get in some last minute photos. Once again it was another gorgeous day in Paris. After a relaxing day we headed to the airport to head back to London. Here's where the fun part begins: we did have a late flight but we thought we still had enough time to get back to Guildford which was 2 hours away from the airport by train. Well, customs took a little longer than expected and we missed our train from Waterloo so we had to sit around in freezing cold Waterloo until the 5a train, it was only a 4 hour wait but when you are tired it is not enjoyable.
This past week I have not done much but I did take a daytrip to Stonehenge which definitely lives up to it's stories of mystery. Stonehenge is in a town called Salisbury and in the middle of nowhere just surrounded by farm and these blue stones weighing 5 tons (or 27 elephants) were hauled 300ish miles from Wales who knows how and erected in such a way that scientists have no idea their true meaning. Was it for a calendar? Temple? Monument? That is what makes stonehenge so interesting...The tour also included a visit to ruins of an old castle called Old Sarum and afterwards we wandered through town and had dinner at a local pub.
Well, I am sure many of you heard but flights around Europe especially in the UK are completely 100% grounded. And I am supposed to be flying out of London on Monday night to Barcelona, Spain. I want to go so bad and will be so upset if the flight gets cancelled. I am just sitting here constantly checking the website and so far no cancellation. Please keep your fingers crossed and pray for me, because I don't know if there will be another chance to go this trip. So to distract myself in the meantime I am heading to Oxford tomorrow, which is home of Oxford University, with Jen and Oendrila. I will keep you updated and hopefully my Spain trip will workout, it needs to I am looking forward to it so much!
If you want to see more pictures of Paris & Stonehenge just head over to my facebook. I will speak to you all soon
oxo
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