Martyn B
CF Legend
So, for a surprise, I had booked a weekend away in Paris, and she had no clue until we were on our way down south. First stop, Lakeside for a bit of shopping. Its always worth going to Lakeside:
NOM
So from Lakeside we headed south-east to Gillingham where had a Premier Inn booked. These are normally really good hotels, and this one was no different apart from the HORRIFIC tempreature in the room. So lack of sleep, plus 4am alarm = not the best start. It was soon to get better as we stopped at the services on the M2, for a nice breakfast combo of Costa & McDonalds.
Eurostar was delayed (surprise) but other than that it all went well. Time flew by and before we knew it, we were at Gare du Nord.
We soon got our metro tickets and headed underground.
I find the Paris Metro easier to use than the London Underground, dont really know why though, it just seemed better and there were maps everywhere with all the tourist attractions sign posted, so it was dead easy to get about. And not having to faff around with tickets in between trains is a big positive too.
Our Ibis hotel was in a lovely area - although that said, the majority of Paris consists of lovely areas...
The view from our room was pretty neat, shame about the crane, but you cant have everything! At 68€ per night, its a bargain really. Only 10 minutes walk to the Eiffel Tower and there's a tube stop right outside.
So not only did they give us a room with a view, but they also let us check into our rooms at 10am, so we dropped off the bags, and went for a stroll.
It really is maginficent...
With only one lift working, and that lift having a burdenous queue, we decided to walk upto to the first two floors. I'm so glad we did!
I love the fact that they use the original lift mechanism that was installed in 1889!
This was only about half the queue for the lift....
I was fine with the big clime, she wasn't!
Looking down the lift shaft.
Obviously, its big, but you have no idea how big it is until you're there. Quick question, them kids are around here trying to collect money for 'charity', are they real? 99% of me says no (their clipboard is a carboard box cut up, and the piece of paper is a bit shabby to say the least, and when I asked what it was for, she pointed at the word 'children' on the shabby peice paper stuck to the cut our carboard box. They were everywhere, but so were the police, and I never saw them being told to piss off...?
I think we must have been on the tower for a least 3 -4 hours. Its really isn't a '10 min' job like I was expecting it to be! :lol:
After the Tower, we headed over to the Tuileries gardens, next to the Louvre.
How on earth do they get permission to set up a vulgar fair ground in the Tuileries gardens, in central Paris? It makes no sense...
Bonus! Ka-ching! I knew this small fair was here, but didn't realise there was a cred!
A bit of a contrast, ey? And that fair is there like all summer. From something like mid June until late August.
I loved these newer style Metro trains. Its quite weird being able to see down the whole lenght of the train as it thunders around the underground.
We then went to watch the light display on the Eiffel Tower from the Trocedéro.
I brought some over-priced-soggy bread thing with cheese and ham. Then **** ed over on my arse, dropping my over-priced-soggy bread thing. Joy.
It was quite spectacular really. I really liked it, but not enough to clap and cheer like most other people were.
I kept seeing this all over the tube stations, like it was teasing me or something! There was Bling and Goudourix on the picture, so it was bound to be amazing! My curiosity was getting the better of me, for sure...
We saw the Arc, then decided to call it a day.
View from room <3
My camera at night <//////3
So back at the room, I decided to find out about this Le Fete des Loges that I was seeing all over the tube. It just so happens that it is quite a big fair in the St-Germain region, which apparently only involved a quick RER journey from La Defense to St-Germain. So that was tomorrow morning sorted then
(I'll get the next lot up later tonight)
NOM
So from Lakeside we headed south-east to Gillingham where had a Premier Inn booked. These are normally really good hotels, and this one was no different apart from the HORRIFIC tempreature in the room. So lack of sleep, plus 4am alarm = not the best start. It was soon to get better as we stopped at the services on the M2, for a nice breakfast combo of Costa & McDonalds.
Eurostar was delayed (surprise) but other than that it all went well. Time flew by and before we knew it, we were at Gare du Nord.
We soon got our metro tickets and headed underground.
I find the Paris Metro easier to use than the London Underground, dont really know why though, it just seemed better and there were maps everywhere with all the tourist attractions sign posted, so it was dead easy to get about. And not having to faff around with tickets in between trains is a big positive too.
Our Ibis hotel was in a lovely area - although that said, the majority of Paris consists of lovely areas...
The view from our room was pretty neat, shame about the crane, but you cant have everything! At 68€ per night, its a bargain really. Only 10 minutes walk to the Eiffel Tower and there's a tube stop right outside.
So not only did they give us a room with a view, but they also let us check into our rooms at 10am, so we dropped off the bags, and went for a stroll.
It really is maginficent...
With only one lift working, and that lift having a burdenous queue, we decided to walk upto to the first two floors. I'm so glad we did!
I love the fact that they use the original lift mechanism that was installed in 1889!
This was only about half the queue for the lift....
I was fine with the big clime, she wasn't!
Looking down the lift shaft.
Obviously, its big, but you have no idea how big it is until you're there. Quick question, them kids are around here trying to collect money for 'charity', are they real? 99% of me says no (their clipboard is a carboard box cut up, and the piece of paper is a bit shabby to say the least, and when I asked what it was for, she pointed at the word 'children' on the shabby peice paper stuck to the cut our carboard box. They were everywhere, but so were the police, and I never saw them being told to piss off...?
I think we must have been on the tower for a least 3 -4 hours. Its really isn't a '10 min' job like I was expecting it to be! :lol:
After the Tower, we headed over to the Tuileries gardens, next to the Louvre.
How on earth do they get permission to set up a vulgar fair ground in the Tuileries gardens, in central Paris? It makes no sense...
Bonus! Ka-ching! I knew this small fair was here, but didn't realise there was a cred!
A bit of a contrast, ey? And that fair is there like all summer. From something like mid June until late August.
I loved these newer style Metro trains. Its quite weird being able to see down the whole lenght of the train as it thunders around the underground.
We then went to watch the light display on the Eiffel Tower from the Trocedéro.
I brought some over-priced-soggy bread thing with cheese and ham. Then **** ed over on my arse, dropping my over-priced-soggy bread thing. Joy.
It was quite spectacular really. I really liked it, but not enough to clap and cheer like most other people were.
I kept seeing this all over the tube stations, like it was teasing me or something! There was Bling and Goudourix on the picture, so it was bound to be amazing! My curiosity was getting the better of me, for sure...
We saw the Arc, then decided to call it a day.
View from room <3
My camera at night <//////3
So back at the room, I decided to find out about this Le Fete des Loges that I was seeing all over the tube. It just so happens that it is quite a big fair in the St-Germain region, which apparently only involved a quick RER journey from La Defense to St-Germain. So that was tomorrow morning sorted then
(I'll get the next lot up later tonight)
