I always wanted to go to some other continent other than Asia, especially after visiting Bali so many times to buy stock for our furniture store at Bangalore. After going through the internet for holiday options in May, we finally zeroed in on Paris and Switzerland for 10 days with 2 days exclusively for Disney. We got in touch with Pathfinders, a travel agency we had used before, for the flight tickets, hotel bookings and tours. They gave us a schedule that helped us make the most of the 10 days, packing all the things we wanted to see and do but without making us feel drained out.
Day 1:
We took the emirates flight to Paris via Dubai. It was a 3 hour stop over at Dubai airport, enough time for me to decide what to buy and where to eat on the return stop over. We had a quick breakfast at mc Donald’s café.
We reached Paris at around 10 in the morning and luckily the weather was clear though rain had been predicted for later in the day. A chauffeur in a benz picked us up from the airport by 11 and dropped us at our hotel by 12 noon though there was a lot of traffic on the way.
Pathfinders had booked a room at hotel Louvre Montana for 3 nights for us. It is a small and cozy hotel near the museum, champ de Elysees, lido show and about 5 min away from the Eiffel tower and the hop on hop off bus tour. Ideal hotel as we could get wherever we wanted within minutes.
The room was quite big and done up like an old fashioned bed room. That day we had only the lido show at 9. So we walked around for some time and ate our lunch at a nearby outdoor cafe. We sat inside because we weren’t used to the chilly weather. Really enjoyed the steaks and especially the desserts.
We checked in at 2 and rested for some time due to the jet lag and having practically no sleep the earlier day.
Around 6 we went to champ elysees by uber (cost less than 10 euros) and I ate in McDonalds again, my parents refused and ate at a nearby restaurant.
We went into lido by 8 30. We were tired and wanted to sleep even before the show had started. The show was spectacular, the settings, themes, music and not to forget the topless dancers. Got back tired and crashed out.
Day 2:
We had seen ikea near our hotel from the airport, so we decided to go there early in the morning as we had Versailles tour starting at 2 from near our hotel.
On the way we stopped at the Eiffel tower and took some photographs. We visited decathlon first in the same complex because ikea opens only by 11.
Ikea was expensive and we couldn’t shop too much due to the baggage weight restriction. I booked an uber back to the hotel, we got an Audi a4. First time riding in an Audi taxi was good. We kept our stuff and left for the Versailles tour by bus.
It is one of the most magnificent palaces that I have visited. The palace grounds had many huge marble and metal statues, fountains and geometrically placed gardens. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and the rooms were breathtaking with their painted ceilings, especially the hall of mirrors. Please don’t miss it.
Day 3:
We took the hop on and hop off ticket. We opted for all the routes- red, blue and green. The major route which covered most of the important places was the blue route and luckily, we were staying in that area. We had also booked for skip the line louvre museum with an host. We had to meet the host by 11, my mother wanted to go on the hop on bus before that, we went and missed the guide at 11 as we reached the louvre museum by 11:15 only. We thought whoever was our guide would be waiting for us but we couldn’t trace him. We went down the famous pyramid and had to get the 3 tickets again for 45 euros. It was worth it, saw lots of paintings and statues but unfortunately couldn’t see the Egyptian mummies since we were too tired after all the walking up and down.
After this we went back to our hotel, rested for some time and again got on the blue line hop on and hop off bus. Got to take some really good pictures of the Eiffel tower from all angles. Some of them are available for purchase on my shutter stock profile: https://www.shutterstock.com/g/navinprithvi
We covered Arc de Triomphe, the Opera de Paris, Place de Concorde, Grand Palais and many beautiful boulevards and tree covered parks. My dad and I went crazy clicking as many pictures as we could from the top deck of the bus.
My mother insisted on going on the red line as well. There was nothing much in this route. After the red line we ate dinner and went back to the hotel.
I wish we had more time in seeing the city. We didn’t go for the river cruise as it was too cold for us. Another thing we really missed was the Eiffel tower at night.
This was our schedule in Paris. The next two days was in Disneyland. I have written a blog on Disneyland already, my next two blogs will be on Disney studios and Switzerland. I wish to visit Paris ones again in the future.