Paris In A Day

Yesterday seems like a blur and I still hadn't for filled my dream of sitting by the Seine sipping coffee whilst watching the world go by...................................................

Today was unfortunately going to be no different...

Rather than bore you all with the whole days events, I am going to show you by the power of photos. Please remember these points............................

1.Mr DG is 6ft 5ins and I am only 5ft 4ins.....................This results in him having a huge stride and I kind of have to trot along side him to keep up. The kids are very tall too so walking anywhere usually involves me lagging behind.

2. Mr DG does NOT do slow mooching around and prefers to march everywhere.

3. It is quite possible I may shove the map up his arse in about 20 minutes.

So, without further ado here is our 3rd day in Paris.......................................All of the below sights were seen in a space of 9 hours.

Off we go...............................Lots of walking.....................Ahhhhh look we are holding hands...............Pass the bucket.

 

There it is.................Why isn't it getting any bigger................................Wow.



 

 

A walk along the Seine...............................Nobody waved at me......................Still no coffee and a sit down. 

The Arc de Triomphe was gorgeous but very busy.......................A quick march down the Champs Elysees (think he was avoiding the shops).
 

 

 

A quick sit down while we put plasters on blisters.........................And we're off again......................Through the arches and.....................................Yippee..................The Louvre....................No chance of getting in though...................31/2 hour wait...............Sorry Mona Lisa, maybe next time. 

 

 



The very famous Lock Bridge at Pont des Arts.........................Thousands of locks attached to the bridge to symbolise love.........................We even did our own....................Although The Whirlwind almost dropped the key before we had time to make a wish. 

 

 

 

Finally after braving The Metro once more we ended up here.........................Jardin de Luxembourg...............................The most peaceful place ever. 

 

The problem now was................................We had to walk another 20 minutes back to our hotel where we all had a soak in the bath (not together) and collapsed into bed.

 

So there we are folks, what seemed like a nightmare of a trip on Monday morning after the big storm actually turned out to be a wonderful family holiday that we all loved. Yes we lost a whole day but it certainly didn't stop us from doing as much as we could. We cant wait to go back again and would thoroughly recommend going for a short break there................................My only advice...........................Wear really comfy shoes and plenty of plasters.

Hope you have all enjoyed my holiday blog

Lots of Love
Me
xxxx



P.S............................Look what I found

Day 2.....Hello Paris

After yesterdays little adventure I was hoping for a more relaxing kind of day..................WRONG!!!!

Mr DG had arranged a tiny trip to Disney Land...............................................The kids were beside themselves with excitement and cries of "I'm going on Thunder Mountain" and "I want my picture taken with Cinderella" rang out in our room. Honestly, you wouldn't think they are 16 and 12 would you.

With a spring in their step and a "la la la la la laaaaaa" (Disney Princess style) we were off. I was under the impression that we might just get magicked there but .............................Oh No...............................We were going on the Metro................................................................Mr DG was refusing to use a taxi (after our New York experience) and had instead purchased a week long Metro pass that would take us anywhere in Zones 1-5. I wont bore you with the ins and outs of the French underground but I will say that it was the most confusing, crowded, smelliest and dangerous thing I have ever encountered in my life. I held on to the kids as people jumped on and off at various moments narrowingly missing being garroted in the train doors and clasped the nearest handrail to stop myself falling over.

Once at Disney Land all thoughts of the Metro were forgotten and we were transported into the land where dreams are made..................................Or...............................Queues are formed.................And My God there were some queues let me tell you. Luckily the weather was beautiful so Mr DG and I spent most of the day holding coats and bags while the kids went on the rides which to be fair was great as I got to undertake in my favourite past time....People Watching.





One particular family grabbed my attention when I heard the Mum exclaim that her crown kept coming off on the rides, as I turned round I was greeted by the sight of a whole family dressed as Disney characters..................................I'm not even joking............................Dad was Aladdin, Mum was Cinderella, kids were Belle, Jasmine and a Wizard. Even the grandparents were dressed with Mickey and Minne ears and fleeces on. I stared for what seemed like an eternity before realising that they were staring at me staring at them. I smiled a kind of "Holy Crap" kind of smile and the Mother winked at me before telling me how they were all Disney Fans and they come every year hoping to get pictures and autographs with every character they can. The kids unfortunately looked like they wanted the ground to open up and swallow them as Mum and Dad suddenly squealed with delight as Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore and Piglet appeared, they ran off barging people out the way whilst screaming at the poor kids to get a move on.

After what seemed like an eternity waiting for our kids to complete Thunder Mountain we ventured on to the Small Small World ride, for those that don't know about it let me break it down for you..........................Boat Ride............Lots of mechanical dolls dressed up in various national costumes from all countries singing 
and
dancing
....................................................and very psychedelic scenery..................................Annoying song that stays in your head all day. The Whirlwind not only shocked me but to be fair summed it up by saying "Oh my god...............................This is what being stoned must feel like" I nearly fell out of the boat and worried for the rest of the day how he knew what "Stoned" meant.

The day sped past and before we knew it we were all Disneyed out and back on the train. Not sure if a day is worse or better than going for 4 days as we did last time but definitely worth a visit if you are in Paris.

As we collapsed onto our beds exhausted The Teenager said she couldn't wait for a relaxing day tomorrow looking at all the sights...........................Little did she know what was going to happen.............................................................................

More Soon

Love
Me. x

Paris Here We Come

As I write this blog I am currently perched on a temporary seat in the baggage hold of the 2.30 pm  Eurostar London to Paris. This was not how our adventure was supposed to begin but unfortunately due to Mother Nature having a strop last night and battering the country with her vengeance this is exactly how it has begun.

Last night we had resigned ourselves to the fact we were going nowhere and a week at home was inevitable.............................This morning however Mr DG had marched us out of the door into the car and plonked us all on the station with determination in his eyes and a no nonsense to the British weather kind of attitude. We waited for hours for the train to take us to London and watched as the time slipped away before us knowing that we had well and truly missed our ride to Paris, I will admit to exclaiming several times that I wanted to go home and give up but he was having none of it. I vented my anger at the first train of the day for a station full (and I mean full) of people only having 8 carriages and threw a epic tantrum when the announcement about unclaimed baggage rang out over the tannoy for the 100th time......................."I DON'T CARE ABOUT UNCLAIMED BAGGAGE.....................................................................WHY ARE YOU NOT RUNNING MORE TRAINS WITH MORE CARRIAGES AND GIVING US UPDATES ON THE TRAINS THAT ARE RUNNING"........................................

I know I should of cared but quite frankly we were all tired, hungry and fed up of standing on a miserable station. Trains on the other side whizzed past and we were just kind of left in limbo. I knew things had dropped to an all time low when an actual employee of British Rail exclaimed that he had no idea why they weren't running any trains as the lines were all fine...............ARGHHHHHHHH!!

Finally we managed to get onto a train with all of us standing the whole way to London...............Not fun when you have 2 kids and a bad back. Mr DG remained unnervingly positive and kept winking at me...................................................I vaguely remember thinking I might poke his eye out if he did it again.......................

Once at St Pancreas station we marched our way to the Eurostar ticket office where they very kindly managed to get us on this train....................................................................

Unfortunately they also managed to get everybody else that was late on the same train thus resulting in some of us sitting in the cheap seats................................The Teenager has had a total look of disgust on her face for the past 30 minutes as people from the posh seats are giving us that type of tilted head "Oh Dear, poor you........And you have kids" look which has sent her into a full blown Teenage "OMG WE LOOK LIKE WE ARE POOR" kind of mood...................Such Fun. The Whirlwind has taken a different approach and is relishing in the fact that we are right next to the bar and is spending most of the  journey fetching crisps, drinks and peanuts to us. He has expressed a concern about the choice of flavours in the sandwiches but has assured us that the staff are really friendly and have offered him a job..................................................Quick, type him up a CV.............

To be fair we are on the train when I honestly thought we would be at home by now and we are through the tunnel and in France.......................................................Its not quite what I imagined but we are here.

The Train manager keeps coming through and checking we are all fine (I think my notebook and pen are making him nervous) and has assured us that should any seats become available within the next hour he will let us know. I cant quite imagine under what circumstances seats will free up unless whole families may suddenly throw themselves from the train but I'm going with it anyway.

The Whirlwind is back now with some type of pastry, The Teenager has relaxed slightly and I think I even saw a smile and Mr DG is looking totally happy with himself and has just winked at me again.................................Right....That's it..................where's my pen..???

Will write again tomorrow
Lots Of Love and Au revoir.......

Me
xxxx