Location: Paris, France
Date & Time: Saturday 24th September 2016
Total Cost: Eurostar return, Montparnasse Tower & Bateaux-Mouches River Cruise – £125 each
Travel arrangements:
Eurostar: 2 standard tickets from London St Pancras to Paris Gare Du Train
Departs: 06:18am – Arrives: 09:47am.
Return – Departs: 8:13pm – Arrives: 9:39pm
The experience…
We made our booking as early as April in order to have something to look forward to in the coming months. No overthinking, no prolonging just booked the trip and put the dates in our diary.
We were advised to arrive 60min prior to our departure to allow time for collecting our tickets and finding our designated gate. However, it was a waste of time, as we spent most (actually all) of the time just waiting around until boarding time which was 10minutes before departure. We were both super tired so the journey was spent snoozing against the train window, trying to find that comfortable spot. 🙈
Finally, we arrived at Paris du Nord station, we bought ourselves travel tickets (£7.30 each) which allowed us unlimited travel on the Metro and buses between zones 1 and 2. The mentioned zones cover the central area of Paris, where all the main tourist attractions are located. We also equipped ourselves with the local map to ensure we could easily navigate not only the metro system but the buses as well. In reality, we ended up walking to many locations as it was a surprisingly warm day and we wanted to enjoy the views.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9JIMCybl00?showinfo=0&w=560&h=315]
Our first mission after leaving the station was to find somewhere to change some additional money, this also gave us an opportunity to explore the immediate area and find somewhere to munch. We ended up grabbing a bite to eat at the Aux Villes du Nord restaurant located opposite the station.
Right, with the hunger pangs sorted, we started our journey to Montparnasse Tower (Observatoire Panoramique de la Tour Montparnasse) to enjoy the skyline view of Paris from the 59th floor. The panoramic terrace at Montparnasse Tower offered a view of all key attractions, including the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Invalides, Musee d’Orsay, Palais Garnier (Opera Garnier), Sacre-Coeur, Louvre Museum (Musee du Lourve), Notre Dame, Pantheon and Place de la Bastille.
After Montparnasse, we walked around Paris to the different attractions, along the way we explored various local markets, bought some scarves, trinkets as well as tasty olives, we even took the bus to Luxembourg Gardens and then the Metro to the Eiffel Tower.
Whilst exploring we found this unique ice cream store – Amorino, where the gelato is sold in the shape of a flower. Our desserts were deliciously creamy 😍. It truly was an art how they laid each ice cream petal and voila it’s a flower. We have since found out that Amorino have quite a few stores around the world – so we will definitely be checking out one of their London boutiques.
The tour ride! Yooooo the man bumped us!!…. Although….it was kinda… sort of….maybe our fault!! We didn’t read the sign properly! Looking back it was actually quite funny, as we had been raving about how it was such a good deal! You know what they say when it sounds to good to be true…. BUT we believed that for a total of merely €30 (€15 each) our tour guide had agreed to ride us around Paris for 30 minutes while allowing us the opportunity to see a number of different sites
and then💥 BOOM! 💥 The tour finishes, we hand over the money and he’s like Non, its €30 each! We were like huh, nahhh but, wait, huuuh???? Then it clicks and we were like WOOOOW ———————–>>>>>>>>
Moral of the story: Always read the signs properly beforehand and note to self, lack of sleep can hinder understanding!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB08uNzfeaY?showinfo=0&w=560&h=315]
Unfortunately, we missed out on our boat trip tour! The deal we bought included a boat cruise (Bateaux-Mouches River Cruise), but once again we’ll blame it on sleep deprivation as it completely slipped our minds. To be honest it wasn’t until some weeks later while clearing up and stumbling upon the offer ticket that we actually realised we missed it. So sorry guys we can’t give you the low down on how it was but we can imagine it would have been a nice ride with lovely views – especially with the warm weather.
Final thoughts on the day…
Cramming all attractions into one day was intense – many we only explored from outside, due to the queues and costs. We walked a lot, 23km to be exact but transport is efficient if you would rather sit back and relax. It would have been nice to have a little more time to appreciate each attraction, maybe even spend the night so in the morning we could enjoy a true french breakfast with buttery croissants and all that good stuff. All in all, it was a good quick visit outside of London and an opportunity to observe another culture whilst strolling along Parisian streets.
As you can see from our post, there is a lot to keep you busy in this romantic city and we barely scratched the surface. Will we back again? More than likely and we recommend you visit too.
Overall travel experience rating: 
We have told, now it’s time for YOU to tell… Please let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comment section below.
Until our next post continue to Taste, Experience, Laugh and Live life to the absolute fullest.
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