Bonjour Paris ♥

          Bonjour everyone!  I have to say that my weekend away was not what I expected it to be. Yes I knew I was going to Paris and all the information the tour company had for us but I didn’t know that I could still get that rush when seeing something for the first time.

          Now I know this sounds corny but the first time I saw the Eiffel Tower my heart stopped. I could not believe that I was actually in Paris and seeing this with my own eyes, one of the most beautiful sites that I have seen so far in my life.

          Alright so Saturday morning started dark and early, I say dark because it was 3am when I got up and the sun hadn’t risen yet. The family had to get up at 2am to get ready for their week away skiing in France so of course I woke up because the girls were yelling down the stairs to one another. Oh well, I had everything all ready to go a bit earlier so not a problem for me.

          My friend who came with me, Heather, slept over the night before so that it would be easier to get to the pick up point for the coach. We arrived at the coach on time and picked up everyone else on schedule as well. I guess a lot of people go to Europe during the half terms because on our way to Dover to catch the ferry we got stopped, not stuck stopped, in traffic for ONE AND A HALF HOURS! It was ridiculous!
We caught the 3:40pm ferry over to Calais and were finally in France after 5pm. We didn’t get into Paris until 8:30-9pm however so no river cruises on the Saturday (we did it on the Monday before leaving). We stopped for dinner and were at the hotel by 10:30pm.

          Sunday was another early morning, we got to Disneyland right when it opened and had a pick up time of 6:30pm (after the parade and a few stops to make sure we did all the shopping we wanted to.)

          The weather was beautiful for Disneyland! Sunny all day and only a little bit of wind, it was great for walking around and going on rides. Heather and I chose to go to the official Disney Park rather than the Studios because there was more to do in the Park itself, and also that’s where all the Princesses and Mickey Mouse live :) 

          We went on “The Tea Cups”, “It’s A Small World” (Canada in the ride is a mountain with people skating and playing hockey at the bottom, in the middle there is a Mountie standing beside a moose and at the top there is a Polar Bear beside an igloo), “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “Star Tours” (a Star Wars ride where you are at the Sat Wars airport and are waiting for your ship to take you somewhere and the ride itself has you boarding a starship and taking lots of sharp turns), and “The Haunted Mansion”.

          I had a blast in Disney! We watched the parade at 5pm and then made our way to the coach for our night tour of Paris. Basically we drove around Paris looking at all the famous places and arches. We stopped by the Arc de Triomphe (top left in picture), Palais Garnier (The Opera House) (top right in picture), Roue de Paris (bottom left in picture), the Louvre Museum (bottom right in picture) and then of course the Eiffel Tower. 

          On our last day we visited the Eiffel Tower and afterwards went on a river cruise to see more of Paris. We got to the Eiffel Tower right when it opened and joined the queue to get our tickets, over an hour wait just for the lifts to the second level. So instead of waiting for the lifts a couple of us decided to take the stairs. Yes you read that right, I walked up to the second level of the Eiffel tower. All 670 steps!! It only took about 20minutes to do so, with a little break in between to look around, but it was an amazing feeling to be able to say that I walked to the second floor.

          To get to the third level you have to take a lift so after we got our tickets for that up we went. We get to the top and bam all we can see is fog!
          If we had gone a hour or so later we would have been able to see but timing wise we couldn’t and I’m alright with that, I still went to the third level and I’m happy with that.

          After the river cruise it was time to head home. We caught the earlier ferry home so after taking the ferry, the coach, a train ride, the tube, a bus and then walking I was finally home from Paris around 11:30pm Monday night.

          It was such an amazing weekend :) Paris is absolutely beautiful! 

           Now that my fun weekend is over I don’t have much planned for the rest of my week off, other than the “Pixar Event” at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday (22^nd). So I am off to watch more of the Olympics and to cheer Canada on. Ttfn!