Today started as any trip starts: with a bit of confusion. Mind you, I wasn't really paying much attention to what was going on and decided to simply follow whatever my parents told me to do. Grandad took us to the station to get the train to St Pancreas but, after establishing with the ticket man that the next two trains where cancelled, we had to quickly rush to the tube station instead to avoid waiting an hour for the next rail train which would have made us late for the Eurostar to France.
Having arrived at St Pancreas, we walked five minutes to Kings Cross Station to join the rest of the tourists at platform nine and three quarters and have a quick look at Harry Potter's luggage disappearing into the wall.
Returning from our detour, we bought some tea and boarded the Eurostar; which took about two hours to get to Paris and was a remarkably smooth and quick ride.
After freshening up at the hotel, we made our way to the centre of Paris to see the Arch de Triumph and the surrounding sites. I was shocked at the number of tourists as we emerged from the metro however we soon discovered the reason for all the commossion. The Tour de France was about to finish and we had arrived at the finish line about an hour before the end of the last tour.
They had big screens so you could watch the race, and he crowds soon become very thick; with some people even sitting on lamp posts. Dad put Danielle on his shoulders in order to record and take photos of the cyclists as they rode past. We heard that the cyclists would circle the Arch de Triumph eight times and so after a couple of circuits, we walked along Champs de Élysées and took the occasional sneaky peak through the crowd.
Due to the road diversion, we found ourselves on a road similar to that of Bond Street in respect to it's large number of high fashion stores; including Gucci, Ralph Lauren and Prada. We then had a delicious dinner at Capunine Cafe La Brasserie. We headed home along the River Seine, enjoying the warm evening.
Monday 28th-
After breakfast we went to the Eiffel Tower and maneged to get to the very top! The panoramic views were beautiful and vast; allowing us to point out where we had been the day before and where would be heading.
After queuing to get on each level of the Eiffel Tower, and then to get back down again, we felt we deserved a crepe by the River Siene.
After a short walk along the River we boarded a tour boat which took us about ten minutes away from Notre Dame where we enjoyed an ice cream and some street music. After looking around the gothic cathedral we went to the Pompedu centre and saw some very strange looking fountains. After strolling down a number of roads filled with bustling boutiques we went to find some dinner.
Tuesday 29th -
After packing up our suite cases and leaving them with the hotel, we went to the Sacre Cœur. In order to get to the Bassilica we had to climb up a huge hill and lots of steps, but this was worth the effort becuase the panoramic view from the top and the interior of the Bassilica itself where stunning!
Over the next few hours we made our way down hill strolling through Mont Marte (a district known for the large number of impressionist artists that reside there) and stopping for lunch at brasserie, where we enjoyed French onion soup, and then tea at a very French coffee shop.
Once we picked up our bags from the hotel we took the RER (equivelant of the rail) to Disneyland Paris!
Wednesday 30th, 31st and Friday 1st-
On arriving at Disneyland we went to a restaurant where Disney characters wondered between tables, allowing us to take photos with Mickey and Minnie Mouse as well as Eyore and Pluto the dog. The next three days blurred into one filled with rides and Disney characters.
