Our Trip to France
Its been about 2 weeks since i last updated this blog. Friday July 28th was my last day at work at it was also Renees last day before 2 weeks of Holidays. That weekend and Monday to Wednesday of the next week were very quiet. Didn't really want to spend much money before leaving to France.
Thursday came and we left our house on bus to get to Manchester Central. From there we got on our 4 and a half hour bus to London. From London we got on our 8:30pm bus which travelled through the night and arrived in Paris about 7am. We bought unlimited use Metro Underground passes that would allow us to get everywhere we wanted and needed to go. We arrived at our Hotel about 8am and tried to check in. At first they couldn't find the reservation. Probably didn't help they spoke absolutely no English. She ended up pointing to the pricelist behind the counter which said €89. They checked again and on the first line it had our booking. €51 a night. Excellent.. We went to our room and slept a couple of hours as we didn't get a great deal of sleep on the bus.
Once we got up we went down to the river and walked past the Louvre and towards the Eiffel Tower. We strangely ran into our tour director from when we first came to the UK. Small World. We caught the underground down to the Eiffel Tower and took a few photos. A few of which are just below.
That afternoon we went via Metro to Montmartre. We had a browse up there and strangely ran into our tour director again. While up there we looked at the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur and just walked around. It is the highest point of Paris and has some pretty cool views. Unfortunately its kinda blocked and you can't see in the direction of the Eiffel Tower. Once we had finished looking there, we wandered down the road and grabbed some Kebabs for tea and checked out the Moulin Rouge theatre. Didn't actually see it, but was still interested to see it. 3 Photos are below. The first is the Sacré Cœur. Second is looking from outside the Sacré Cœur back at Paris. Thirdly is of Moulin Rouge Theatre.
From here we caught a tube back to the Eiffel Tower so we could check it out at night and see it all lit up. This was Renees forth time to Paris and had seen it before, but i had only seen it during the day the last time we were in Paris. After that we went back to our Hotel to get a goods night sleep before our trip to Disneyland. Below are 3 Photos of the Eiffel Tower at night.
We got up early the next morning and caught a train to Disneyland. Its 30km out of Central Paris so it took a bit of time to get there. We eventually got in around 9:15am. We went on pretty much all the rides and saw pretty much everything we could see. There were 2 parades throughout the day and we saw both of them. The second parade was the closing of the park at 10:30pm and concluded with fireworks. We left around 11:30pm so we had been there about 14 hours. We eventually got home about 12:30am.
The next morning we were up early again to get down to the Eiffel tower before to queue to get to the top was too big. We got there about 9am and got up to the top pretty quickly. Took lots of photos while up there and a few are below.
After the Eiffel tower we went out to Versailles to have a bit of a look. Renee had seen inside it previously and i wasn't greatly interested so we just had a look at the exterior and didn't bother going in. Luckily we decided not to go in as the lines were absolutely huge to walk through it. After the Versailles we came back to our hotel for a rest.
For tea that night we went out to a place called Chartier. It was in a book we had read and it was relatively cheap and was traditional french food. It was a cool little place. When you ordered food they actually wrote the order down on the paper table cloths. We both had Entrees, a Main, and 1/2 a bottle of win and it came to under 40 euro. Pretty cool. The menu was totally in French so i decided on something i wasn't sure what is was. One thing i did know is that it would have mushrooms in it. I could work that out from its name. When it arrived half the plate was full of mushrooms and it had some meat. The meat was tasty. Neither myself or Renee could work out what it was and we didn't ask. When i got back to the UK i read a review for the restuarant on the net and it mentions some of the meats they serve. The actual quote i read was "The menu follows brasserie-style traditions, including items you might not dare to eat -- boiled veal's head, tripe, tongue, sweetbreads, lamb's brains, chitterling sausages -- as well as some old-time tempters". I have no idea what i ate and i dont think i want to know. It was tasty though.
The next morning we caught the train to the airport and flew to Nice. Caught a bus there and went to our hotel. Renees parents and brother were in Europe so we had organised to meet up with them and spend the time in Nice together. It was really good to see them. That afternoon we spent time catching up with them and it was a nice change to relax.
The next day we caught the train to Monaco. We got daily bus passes and went around Monaco. We stopped at the Royal Casino and went in an had a look. We paid to go into the actual casino and put some money through the machines. None of us won anything. We went to the supermarket and got some cheap lunch and then caught the bus to close to the palace. We walked a little were there is a good view looking back at Monaco. Took a few photos and then got back on the bus towards the train station. Renees parents and brother headed back to Nice while Renee and I stayed a little bit longer. From there we caught the bus back to near the Palace and walked up to it and took a few photos there too. We caught the bus down to near all the yachts and boats and walked along the water. Along there we found a nice little place where we had tea. The food was pretty tasty, but the view was pretty awesome too. From here we caught the bus through the tunnel and pretty much traced the Grand Prix track. By days end we had been on the bus around 80% of the track and walked the remaining part. After this we caught the train back to Nice.
Next day we caught a train which went to Villefranche which wasn't far from Nice and took a boat cruise which went around to Monaco. Amazing views on the cruise. It really is an awesome area. Could have easily spent more time here than 3 days. Once we got back to Nice Renee, her parents and I went out for tea to a place near where we were staying. Had some of the nicest food i have eaten in a long time while we were there. Photos below are... 1 Casino Royale. 2 View looking back from viewing platform near Palace. 3 - Hey thats us!! 4 - View from the Palace. 5 - Where we at tea with part of the view in the background. 6 - Looking towards Monaco from our boat cruise.
The next morning we flew back to the UK. We arrived at the airport and some flights had been cancelled and a lot had been delayed.
We found out then there had been the arrests and security risks to flights from the UK heading towards the USA. The last and most pointless photo is of the departure information from the Nice Airport. 3 flights Cancelled and 6 delayed. Our plane was only about an hour and half late so that wasn't as bad as we thought it might have been. We arrived and i was thinking how good it was back to be where people spoke english. Then i heard someone speaking with the horrible british accent and thought how much i would prefer not to understand what they say than have to listen to that accent. Oh well.. All is fun.
Thursday came and we left our house on bus to get to Manchester Central. From there we got on our 4 and a half hour bus to London. From London we got on our 8:30pm bus which travelled through the night and arrived in Paris about 7am. We bought unlimited use Metro Underground passes that would allow us to get everywhere we wanted and needed to go. We arrived at our Hotel about 8am and tried to check in. At first they couldn't find the reservation. Probably didn't help they spoke absolutely no English. She ended up pointing to the pricelist behind the counter which said €89. They checked again and on the first line it had our booking. €51 a night. Excellent.. We went to our room and slept a couple of hours as we didn't get a great deal of sleep on the bus.
Once we got up we went down to the river and walked past the Louvre and towards the Eiffel Tower. We strangely ran into our tour director from when we first came to the UK. Small World. We caught the underground down to the Eiffel Tower and took a few photos. A few of which are just below.
That afternoon we went via Metro to Montmartre. We had a browse up there and strangely ran into our tour director again. While up there we looked at the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur and just walked around. It is the highest point of Paris and has some pretty cool views. Unfortunately its kinda blocked and you can't see in the direction of the Eiffel Tower. Once we had finished looking there, we wandered down the road and grabbed some Kebabs for tea and checked out the Moulin Rouge theatre. Didn't actually see it, but was still interested to see it. 3 Photos are below. The first is the Sacré Cœur. Second is looking from outside the Sacré Cœur back at Paris. Thirdly is of Moulin Rouge Theatre.
From here we caught a tube back to the Eiffel Tower so we could check it out at night and see it all lit up. This was Renees forth time to Paris and had seen it before, but i had only seen it during the day the last time we were in Paris. After that we went back to our Hotel to get a goods night sleep before our trip to Disneyland. Below are 3 Photos of the Eiffel Tower at night.
We got up early the next morning and caught a train to Disneyland. Its 30km out of Central Paris so it took a bit of time to get there. We eventually got in around 9:15am. We went on pretty much all the rides and saw pretty much everything we could see. There were 2 parades throughout the day and we saw both of them. The second parade was the closing of the park at 10:30pm and concluded with fireworks. We left around 11:30pm so we had been there about 14 hours. We eventually got home about 12:30am.
The next morning we were up early again to get down to the Eiffel tower before to queue to get to the top was too big. We got there about 9am and got up to the top pretty quickly. Took lots of photos while up there and a few are below.
After the Eiffel tower we went out to Versailles to have a bit of a look. Renee had seen inside it previously and i wasn't greatly interested so we just had a look at the exterior and didn't bother going in. Luckily we decided not to go in as the lines were absolutely huge to walk through it. After the Versailles we came back to our hotel for a rest.
For tea that night we went out to a place called Chartier. It was in a book we had read and it was relatively cheap and was traditional french food. It was a cool little place. When you ordered food they actually wrote the order down on the paper table cloths. We both had Entrees, a Main, and 1/2 a bottle of win and it came to under 40 euro. Pretty cool. The menu was totally in French so i decided on something i wasn't sure what is was. One thing i did know is that it would have mushrooms in it. I could work that out from its name. When it arrived half the plate was full of mushrooms and it had some meat. The meat was tasty. Neither myself or Renee could work out what it was and we didn't ask. When i got back to the UK i read a review for the restuarant on the net and it mentions some of the meats they serve. The actual quote i read was "The menu follows brasserie-style traditions, including items you might not dare to eat -- boiled veal's head, tripe, tongue, sweetbreads, lamb's brains, chitterling sausages -- as well as some old-time tempters". I have no idea what i ate and i dont think i want to know. It was tasty though.
The next morning we caught the train to the airport and flew to Nice. Caught a bus there and went to our hotel. Renees parents and brother were in Europe so we had organised to meet up with them and spend the time in Nice together. It was really good to see them. That afternoon we spent time catching up with them and it was a nice change to relax.
The next day we caught the train to Monaco. We got daily bus passes and went around Monaco. We stopped at the Royal Casino and went in an had a look. We paid to go into the actual casino and put some money through the machines. None of us won anything. We went to the supermarket and got some cheap lunch and then caught the bus to close to the palace. We walked a little were there is a good view looking back at Monaco. Took a few photos and then got back on the bus towards the train station. Renees parents and brother headed back to Nice while Renee and I stayed a little bit longer. From there we caught the bus back to near the Palace and walked up to it and took a few photos there too. We caught the bus down to near all the yachts and boats and walked along the water. Along there we found a nice little place where we had tea. The food was pretty tasty, but the view was pretty awesome too. From here we caught the bus through the tunnel and pretty much traced the Grand Prix track. By days end we had been on the bus around 80% of the track and walked the remaining part. After this we caught the train back to Nice.
Next day we caught a train which went to Villefranche which wasn't far from Nice and took a boat cruise which went around to Monaco. Amazing views on the cruise. It really is an awesome area. Could have easily spent more time here than 3 days. Once we got back to Nice Renee, her parents and I went out for tea to a place near where we were staying. Had some of the nicest food i have eaten in a long time while we were there. Photos below are... 1 Casino Royale. 2 View looking back from viewing platform near Palace. 3 - Hey thats us!! 4 - View from the Palace. 5 - Where we at tea with part of the view in the background. 6 - Looking towards Monaco from our boat cruise.
The next morning we flew back to the UK. We arrived at the airport and some flights had been cancelled and a lot had been delayed.
We found out then there had been the arrests and security risks to flights from the UK heading towards the USA. The last and most pointless photo is of the departure information from the Nice Airport. 3 flights Cancelled and 6 delayed. Our plane was only about an hour and half late so that wasn't as bad as we thought it might have been. We arrived and i was thinking how good it was back to be where people spoke english. Then i heard someone speaking with the horrible british accent and thought how much i would prefer not to understand what they say than have to listen to that accent. Oh well.. All is fun.
