Paris - Part 1

As many of you will already know, Michelle and I rather hastily booked a little break to Paris as a treat.  It also was timed perfectly to be a kind of delayed birthday present to myself.

The holiday itself was amazing; although after all that walking my feet were rather displeased.  We headed out on a particularly early flight on Monday 27th, and we arrived at the airport at around 3.30 a.m.  After all the stress of measuring and weighing my small case - we only had hand luggage so were subject to all the rigours that entails - it turns out I needn't have bothered getting worked up as we used automatic check-in and therefore didn't need to have them weighed.

The flight itself seemed to pass super quick and I felt like I only managed to close my eyes for a moment before we arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport.  The advantage of only having hand luggage is that we could head straight out, and after we'd bought out Paris Visite Pass we headed to the rail stop.  Having a little touch of OCD comes in handy at times like this as I'd already researched and planned out our journey from the airport to our hotel using the official route planner (see here).

We stayed at the Hotel Residence Europe, which is located just outside the centre of Paris.  The hotel itself was lovely and the staff were really accommodating, for example we arrived two and half hours before the official check-in time but the let us have access to our room straight away!  Our room was fantastic, and we were lucky to have one of the rooms that had recently been decorated as the hotel is refurbishing its rooms to make them more modern and chic.

After laying down for a moment or two we decided that it was best to take advantage of the day.  We had lunch at a local pizzeria, which oddly seemed to the most popular type of restaurant around our hotel, and then headed out on the Metro.  As someone who often visits London and therefore has been on the tube numerous times, the Paris metro was easy enough to use.  It's a good job too because Michelle definitely lacks a sense of direction and all too often I'd find her wandering off following the crowd towards the wrong metro line!  We visited La Basilique du Sacré Coeur (The Basilica of the Sacred Heart) which is a grandiose and very beautiful Roman Catholic church.

There were some lovely little gift shops in and around the area. I was slightly taken with the tiny miniatures and just had to take a picture... or several - oops!

On Tuesday, our first full day in Paris, we decided to head to Disneyland!  We'd booked our tickets online in advance in order to take advantage of the 20th Anniversary discount on offer (see here).  Disneyland was probably Michelle's favourite part of our trip, but have to admit we regressed a little and acted like the big kids!

We began the day in Disneyland Park, and the first thing Michelle did was head to the closest shop and get some Minnie ears.  We had the idea that getting breakfast first would be good so we grabbed something quick in one of the little shops and then gradually made our way round the park.  I think we made the best of it and managed to hit most of the main attractions such as Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain etc.

After a late lunch we wandered over to Walt Disney Studios Park.  There we had a fun time too on rides like Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Armageddon and my personal favourite Tower of Terror - I'm not sure Michelle has gotten over the trauma of it yet *smirk*

Towards the end of the day we headed back to Disneyland Park to watch the parade, but once again I was thwarted by all the little people (children) in my way so my pictures were from a distance.

Before we began the journey back Michelle decided to blow her spends on some rather cute souvenirs including a Mike Wazowski plush toy, two thermal mugs and Minnie ears.  Spurred on by her spending I opted for a Disney watch which I love!

That's all folks! Well for now at least, but keep your eyes peeled for part 2 and also a very exciting competition we having coming up soon in collaboration with the fab ATW Clothing Co.

Neil x