Our trip to Paris was planned as a Valentines' surprise for my beautiful lady, she had no idea we were going until approximately half hour away (the look on Silviya's face was worth the weeks of secrets) from the airport travelling on the First Transpennine express train from York.
We arrived at Manchester Airport at around 18:00 on the evening of Saturday 13th February 2010. We headed to terminal 2 for our check in with Air France to fly at 19:50. At this point I want to compliment Air France on their speed and efficiency of check in, the automated terminals are easy to use and the staff are extremely helpful. We boarded the flight on time (before boarding I strongly recommend you buy yourself a little map of where you are going as it worked wonders for us!). After taxiing around Manchester Airport for 10 minutes we finally took off. The flight was pleasurable with very little or no turbulence at all complimented by a free coffee and cheese sandwich. We landed at Charles De Gaulle and again taxied around the airport for another 10 minutes. Charles De Gaulle airport is massive by the way and very well organised.
We left the airport after some very friendly advice from the tourist info via train, which was very easy to understand (even in French). After leaving the train at Gare Du Nord we walked through connecting tunnels onto La Chapelle which took us straight onto Victor Hugo tube station or Metro as they call it in Paris. After coming out of Victor Hugo station we got our bearings (not easy at gone Midnight) and headed for the Hotel. It took us 15 minutes to walk to Etoile Trocadero and check in.
This brings me onto our next positive experience. The night porter on the front desk was excellent. We arrived after a long journey, hungry and cold and he took the time out to go the kitchen and arrange food, including some of his own for us to take to our room. The only downside to the first night is that the room was quite small and as it had been freshly decorated the window had been left open so was very cold. The next morning after a delicious continental breakfast we transferred rooms at no cost and no hassle to one bigger and warmer. We then headed out for the day.
The first thing we headed for was of course the Eiffel Tower. This is when we discovered our only negative experience to Paris. North of the Tower, and off in every other direction you have the migrants trying desperately to sell you trinkets. Now I appreciate they are only trying to live but they do get quite frustrating. The best trick we found for avoiding them is put your head down and do not look at them in the eye. We arrived at the Eiffel Tower slightly bemused as it is really not that spectacular during the day. Our next destination was The Louvre!
We walked part way (I strongly advise you take advantage of those two limbs hanging off the bottom of your torso while in Paris) but got the Metro most of it. Le Louvre is amazing. My only disappointment to being there is that we did not have enough time to see it all, you really do need a FULL day. They could probably also do with a nap area because after lunch we were feeling a little tired. I would also seriously recommend that you hire the audio guide while you are there unless you can read French. Other wise though if you are going to do anything in Paris; go and see the Louvre!!! After a rest bite back at the Hotel we then spent Valentines' evening at the Eiffel Tower.
The next day was spent wandering around absorbing different parts of this glorious city. We spent ten minutes at Notre Dame Cathedral and I would say to you if you are not religious, DO NOT GO! It's a Roman Catholic Cathedral and very much so. The one point that stuck in my mind here is a plaque near the back of the Cathedral showing people murdering babies. Now I have no idea what this symbolised but believe you me we quickly left the Cathedral after that. After our scary encounter we headed back to the hotel to collect our bag and then back onto Charles De Gaulle airport for a pleasant journey home.
All in all Paris is a wonderful city and as the rest of the world has it's negative points. Share it with the right person and you will treasure it forever and will almost certainly want to go back! The sights are amazing with an almost perfect Metro and Rail system. Travel with Air France and you won't regret it.
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