Bonjour! I hope you enjoyed reading about our time in Amsterdam; this next blog post covers the subsequent leg of our Europe trip, Paris! This includes three nights in the city and three nights at Disneyland. Honestly, if I planned this part of the trip again, I would only spend two in Disney and add an extra night in the city. I felt as though I didn’t see enough of the city of Paris! I’ll have to return that’s all, lol. Here is how my family and I spent six nights in Paris.
day one
We arrived via Eurostar to the Charles de Gaulle airport and promptly had no idea where to go once there! Finding the area to grab an Uber to take us to the city was harder than I expected but we eventually got help and made our way to the correct area of the airport, met our driver and were safely delivered to our hotel. We stayed at the Padam Hôtel and I loved it. Highly recommend! We had a family suite, which consisted of two separate rooms, but we were able to lock off the hallway between the two rooms, thus creating a two bedroom suite with two bathrooms. Honestly it was genius and I now want all hotels to do the same, thank you.
It was too early to check into our suite so we dropped our bags and headed out on the town. We mostly walked all over Paris, but did hop on and off the metro several times. It was easy to use! Since our hotel was very close to the Arc de Triomphe, we decided to go see it first before walking the opposite direction for our meal. There were quite a lot of tourists at the arc! It was cool to see, it’s much bigger than the replica in New York City, but honestly, nothing to write home about.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget my first view of the Eiffel Tower. As we walked over the Seine and it came into focus, I gasped with excitement. Stunning! I had made reservations for an early dinner for us, at La Fontaine de Mars. Let me just tell you, looking back after the trip was over, that was the best meal we ate! I think we sat there for well over two hours, savoring each bite, laughing over conversation, complimenting the house red wine and trying new foods. From start to finish we all agreed it was like a big welcome hug from Paris.
We slowly made our way through a few neighborhoods, back over the Seine and went to sleep with happy hearts. The Padam was the quietest hotel out of the three hotels we stayed at on this entire trip. Our view was of several buildings and I love the architecture out my windows.
day two
We got up bright and early and took the metro over to the Louve for a nine a.m. entrance time. I knew a second entrance to get in and there was no line (don’t go in the main entrance!); we bought our tickets online ahead of time. That first hour or two inside the Louve was incredibly quiet! We immediately went to the Mona Lisa, a bucket list item for me, then saw the Winged Victory and the Venus de Milo, all with either a small crowd or no crowd. I couldn’t believe it actually! I was over the moon.
We stayed at the Louve until it started getting very crowded, around two p.m., and headed back to the hotel for a siesta for a bit. We had a bunch of rain that afternoon and ordered takeout for dinner ;) Once it cleared out we decided to go see the Eiffel Tower light up at nine p.m. It was spectacular!
day three
Day three was at Versailles! I booked palace tickets ahead of time and we decided to take an Uber there instead of the train. The weather was on and off crummy that day. One thing we weren’t prepared for in Paris was how cold we were over the seven days/six nights. We ended up buying winter hats one of the days and were happy to have warmer heads the rest of the trip.
Palace of Versailles was stunning of course, but my favorite part, and it just so happened the sun came out exactly when I needed it to, was out at Petit Trianon and the Queen’s Hamlet. Make sure to buy tickets that include that area! The cottages, gardens, ponds, flowers and places to get lost were plentiful and blissful.
We spent several hours on property at the Palace of Versailles and decided to leave and walk over to the town (named Versailles), which was quite charming. We knew ahead of time that we wanted to eat at a McDonalds while in Paris and decided now was the time to do it. It felt exactly the same as home and nothing special, fyi. :)
After full tummies we got an Uber to take us back into Paris and had again, an afternoon siesta at our hotel. Once we felt recouped, we walked to the metro, realized we were on the wrong side of the track, went back to daylight and found the correct track, and took a ride out to Notre Dame. Our original plan was to take a boat tour of the Seine but realized it wouldn’t take us down to Notre Dame and that was a deal breaker.
It started pouring rain, so we pulled out the ponchos and made the best of it, walking around the neighborhood around the area. We saw Shakespeare and Company (a huge line to go in so we didn’t do it), checked on the construction of the cathedral and decided to find a place to have dinner. The restaurant winner was Bistrot de Marius, which was fine, but not as good as other meals we’ve had.
day four
Our last morning in Paris was the day I wanted to go all the way up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Tickets to go to the top were the only ones I wasn’t able to get ahead of the trip and I was devastated. It booked so quick! My good friend said to pick a weekday morning (this was a Wednesday) and go first thing. We did just that and had no wait to take the elevator to the top. Thank the heavens!
Out of everything we did in Paris, this was the icing on the cake for me, the cherry on top, the sweet thing I didn’t know I needed! Wow, the views were incredible, the ride up was historical, the 360 degree survey of the city made you never want to leave. I almost only went to the second floor, which also had great sights, but the top…just do yourself a favor and go all the way.
We walked a long way back in order to get good coffee and crepes from a street market and that market was the best! It’s right in the area of Rue de la Manutention. We filled our bellies with a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower behind us. Have to mention, on our way there, we crossed the Seine on the bridge Passerelle Debilly and the views there were wonderful :)
After an exciting morning we checked out of our hotel and hoped on the train out to Disneyland. We had a slight issue though, the tracks were out at a certain stop, everyone had to get off and get on busses to their destination and the lines were huge. We decided to call an Uber and got dropped off right at the door to the Disneyland Hotel. It worked out :)
Being big Disney people, we decided to unpack quickly and walk right over to the park. We knew the weather was going to be cold the next couple of days so we took advantage of the nice day. The entire rest of the trip involved wearing winter hats, praying we had winter coats, and using my scarf (something I always travel with) to keep warm at all times.
day five and six
Spent in Disneyland Paris! I’m just going to take you there through pictures and not many words. We loved the Disneyland Hotel, the ease of walking right over to the parks, the beauty of our room and the entire hotel is beyond words. Just see here…
Our final day was spent traveling back to Connecticut and it was a very long day! Have you been to Paris? What was your favorite thing?
Momma Wanderer 