Busabout Trip - Paris: the City of Love

Paris was amazing... it definitely lives up to the hype.

The last bus of the Busabout season took us from Stuttgart to Paris, an 8 hour trip...which ended up being 10 hours because of course Murphys Law came out to play and we had troubles all day, including a minor collision!

Niki had found us double room in hotel for €40 per night, which is amazingly cheap for Paris. When I heard that I was expecting crappy 1 star, cockroach infested room. We later discovered the reason it was soo cheap was that it was way out of the city (Epinay Sur Seine), he had read the ad wrong...boys!! But it actually worked out very well, it was a lovely 3 star basic hotel and we simply had to catch a train into the city which took 30mins and didn't cost much.

We had heard stories of the Parisians being unfriendly and not willing to speak english. We didn't encounter that at all so don't let that worry u. Niki knows a bit of french and as long as you're polite and try to use a bit of french: bonjour, sil vous plait, merci etc, people are generally happy to help.

We have 5 days in Paris and did all the touristy things and none of them were a disappointment.

Sacre Coeur - big amazing white church on top of a hill with briliant views of the city. In front of it is a large staired area which is a very popular place for people to hang out at night, bottle of wine in hand with random musicians and street performers keeping you entertained.

Arc de Triomphe -crazy round-a-bout, didn't see any accidents though. The actual structure in the middle of the roundabout is impressive. So massive! We didn't go up it (you had to pay!) but had a good wander around it while watching traffic.

Notre Dame - beautiful gothic church, didn't necessarily stand out over other churches we've seen in Europe though. free entry was a bonus! We were there on the national Saints day so got to see a bit of a service, incl choir and all that which made the whole exprience a bit more authentic. No sightings of the hunchback.

Louvre - This museum is HUGE. We only stayed for 2.5 hours, but seriously you could stay all day and still not have seen everything. I'm not hugely into art so got bored quickly, did see the infamous Mona Lisa - she's tiny! and surrounded by tourists flashing cameras, it's cordened off at least so u get a peek. The thing that stood out to me was the Egyptian section where there were animal mummies and even a human mummie on display. The weirdest, grossest thing really, but so interesting! As far as museums go, this one is a must see.

Eiffel Tower - WOW... this is incredible, and very reasonably priced. Queues can be massive even though there are 4 queues (one by each 'leg'). We took the walking option which you do for 2 levels with the option to then pay a bit more to get an elevator to the top. It was soooooooo unbelievably high & extremely windy = very scarey! Niki loved it of course but I didn't stay out on the top viewing patform too long! We went up at 4.45pm so got to see the city by day and night. Absolutely stunning views! The tower also sparkles at night for 10mins once every hour which looks beautiful in the distance. During the day however I think it's a bit ugly looking.

Fat Tyres Bike Tour - Decided to get back on a bike once again, this time for a night tour which we'd heard rave reviews of. Was dreading crazy traffic but it was actually ok and there is a bus/bike lane. We saw some cool stuff and everything looks different by night, but unfortunately our camera doesn't take very good night pics. Went on an hour boat cruise (included in tour) where they cranked out a few bottles of wine as well. Was nice, but very cold!

Disneyland - the best day of my life! haha well not quite but thats how a child described it to us, and mate it comes close. It's such a great place, we had so much fun. We got a 2 park pass - Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios (€56ea). We started at Studios and were there from 11-4.30 and then went over to Disneyland, which was def the better of the 2. We were worried we'd made the wrong decision as the park was packed and we had only been on 2 rides in the first few hours but luckily after our overpriced dinner (8.30pm) we managed to go on 3 popular rides before closing time (10pm)...these rides had earlier had 120min waiting times! The rides are indescribeable, high thrills, amazing detail and themes...

The only reget from the day is that we missed the parade, I was so gutted...and if I went again I would skip some of the 'show' type things we saw, the stunt show wasn't as good as Dreamworld.

A pricey day but all in all a superb experience, we were falling asleep on the train ride home...worn out wee angels =)

Au Revoir xo