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Paris (France) Reviews |
pjcasanis
Travel Writer - Bronze
Visited in:
July 2006
Voted this Destination:
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As our Eurostar train arrived at Paris Gare du Nord, its twin pulled out in the opposite direction. In two days, we'd be on it - we had exactly 48 hours in Paris.
The whistle-stop tour was a 70th birthday treat for my mother and we didn't want to spend hours pounding the streets, especially given the soaring 32 degrees plus temperatures.
The perfect solution to speedy sightseeing (give or take the Paris traffic) was Les Cars Rouges - open top double decker buses more usually at home in the UK. Twenty-two Euros each bought a two-day pass, enabling us to get on and off at any of nine designated stops as often as we liked.
Knowing we could simply pick the bus back up again whenever we liked was a lot less stressful than worrying about the Metro.
The highlight of the trip however, had to be the Moulin Rouge. Amazing costumes, great dancing and a really fantastic evening.
Go for the cheapest 72 Euros tickets at the bar (includes 2 drinks) and you get some of the best seats in the house. They're on a raised platform, admittedly at the back of the room, but you get a great view of the stage. Go early and be prepared to queue.
As we boarded Eurostar again 48 hours later, we had certainly seen the sights - and more - and not a blister to show for our troubles!
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Guest
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I love Paris and have been twice this year already and my one bit of advice is to stay in a hotel near to a metro station. The Paris Metro is so easy and cheap to use it's the best way to get around Paris by far!
If there is one thing you shouldn't miss it's 'Le Sacre Cour'. I won't say anymore go and find out but plan to have your lunch there and make an afternoon of it!!!
The French can be rude but they can't help it they're French. Don't let this spoil Paris for you. In restaurants if you don't speak French and they don't speak much English just smile and point to what you you want it will be fine.
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Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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| If you fancy a short break to Paris by Easy Jet find your way to Montmartre by train and metro (dead easy) and spend a few days wandering around. Makes a nice change from the usual Costas and you don't have to spend a fortune. Take a good pair of shoes. The hotel is small, ok, and typically French. All sorts to do around the doors. nice restaurants and bars with atmosphere. Have a look on their web site to book
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Annie Captstick, Ayrshire
Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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This hotel is part of the Mercure/Accord chain and as such I expected a reasonable standard of accommodation. The first room I was given (when the receptionist eventually found my booking) was so small that the toilet door banged into the bed every time it was opened. I was offered the keys to other rooms to see if they were better and it was the 4th option before I found one that was even close to reasonable. All of the walls are covered with the same wood effect board making them very dark and unappealing. Sinks and furniture were chipped, the shower had no fixing and the grey marble tiles made very good hooks for towels.
Overall, the impression was of a tired and not particularly clean hotel in need of a major facelift. Also, do not expect to leave breakfast full - it is a sparse cold buffet. This is one hotel I would certainly not recommend, although it is apparently fully booked - perhaps due to it's location on Bvd. Montmartre. The reception staff were rather hit and miss - one young man was very helpful, his female colleague couldn't be bothered. Maybe she'd heard it all before.
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Pam & Ray Thompson -
Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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Booked via the internet for a three night break. Great travel by Eurostar. Free upgrade on the way home - what a way to travel - champagne, wine, 3 course meal, newspapers, huge reclining seats - all at no extra cost.
The Hotel l'Est however left very much to be desired. Location great - 10 mins walk from Gare du Nord station. That was the one and only plus point.
Room small, dingy, shabby, dirty carpet, dark orange paint on walls. Spent as little time in there as possible.
Breakfast was typical continental - eaten in the basement - no air con - very uncomfortable. Staff were ignorant and lazy - took them all their time to even acknowledge you and tables were left for ages with used plates/ cups etc.
Paris itself was great - all major sites are good and cheap to see compared to London. Metro travel easy and cheap.
Paris is nice, but hasn't got the "wow" factor of Venice and Rome in my opinion.
If you are going avoid this hotel (it was supposed to be a 3*) and stay at least a 4* or above. This way you might at least be guaranteed a decent bed for the night.
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Guest
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Whilst our son goes off on the Gare to visit Paris we opt to visit Versailles in search of Le Petit Trianon and 'the Queens Hamlet' which has only recently been reopened to the public forming part of a major restoration project at Versailles.
We park and walk along a vast avenue of trees where horses and carriages pass us by and where when we arrive at one of the many lakes we are delighted by the fact that Handel's Water Music is about to be played and the fountains turned on!
We sit on a bench and listen for a while then head off for a coffee whilst continuing to listen to the sublime music and watch some sweet little sparrows taking a bird-bath in the awnings of the café.
At Noon we walk onwards to Le Petit Trianon, purchase our tickets - a very reasonable 9 euros each- and enjoy two hours of absolute joy walking round the house, but most enjoyably the wonderful scape that is the Queen's Hamlet, the Queen being of course the ill-fated Marie Antoinette (her husband, Louis XVI 'gave' her the Trianon Estate in 1774).
It is the most beautiful day full of sunshine and warmth, though not too hot as we walk round this most magical of places.
The Queen created this village, designed by the esteemed architect, Richard Mique in the Normandy style, in order to relax, escape the rigours of palace life and as a retreat for her and her friends. She would dress up as a Shepherdess and Dairy Maid and dispense milk to her children and friends in pitchers in the simple, albeit marble, decked dairy.
There was also a real working farm with tenants and today that has been re-created for educational purposes.
In the air are the sounds of trickling water from the brooks and streams (a feat of engineering in itself to get this water pumping round in a totally artificial, though cleverly natural looking environment).
The cottages are beautifully restored and in some cases reconstructed as any reference to paintings of the subject from the 18 th century will bear testimony. Each cottage cleverly obscures the fact that although rustic looking from the outside within these little houses were all the modern facilities of the day including, in Marie Antoinette's residence, a full-scale billiard room.
The Marlborough Tower sits opposite across the lake looking thoroughly romantic. The lake today is a calm milky green, covered in bright yellow lilies and inhabited by ducks and a tall, elegant seemingly immobile Heron who suddenly flaps its huge wings and ascends into the sky flying round and swooping for its prey.
And so we leave this quiet and lovely place in search of the Temple of Love and en-route discover a series of little grottos and a waterfall. At one point we enter what is described as 'Marie Antoinette's Grotto' and there is a young woman sitting in there as my partner scrambles through and says 'Bon Jour'. For my part I feel a strange chill and cannot stay and make a hasty departure.
It is only later that I discover in a guide book that we purchase on the way out that it is here that Marie Antoinette first received the news in the form of a letter that the people were revolting and about to ascend upon Versailles.
Today outside happiness and tranquillity reign and a young bride and groom are having their photographs taken. Finally we walk around the neo-classical Le Petit Trianon which is furnished with furniture and effects contemporaneous to the 18th century.
Very little original effects remain as the house was pillaged and sacked by the mob and after a brief respite as a boarding house, the house remained empty for a number of years until it was adopted again by Louis Phillip in the 19th century.
As we have arranged to meet our son at 3:00 pm in the Rue de Satory at 2:30 pm we make a hasty, and not a little sad, retreat.
We meet and have lunch in a most delightful Italian Restaurant,Tuttigusti, where the pasta is home-made, the sauces authentic, the gorgonzola to die for and the staff really friendly.
Our son is full of stories of Paris and of the hustle and bustle of the city - of the Flea Markets and the homeless people in tents under the trees along the banks of the River Seine.
He has taken over 200 photographs and we can see that many hours will be spent pasting in our snaps into an album we will create about Paris.
hat we all agree is that like all cities, Paris is a city of contrasts and has its fair share of social problems such as homelessness, and lives up to its name on many levels as 'the most beautiful city in the world.'
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aardvark10
Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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Special day coming up? Well have you thought of a DAY TRIP to Paris? Not cheap, but a real day to remember, and with the current plethora of economy air fares, it need not be prohibitively expensive.
On my trip, we left East Midlands on the 07.10 flight to Paris CDG, caught the RER train from the nearby station directly to St Michel Notre Dame. A short walk took us to Notre Dame itself.
From here we caught the Batobus, 10 euros for as many trips as you wish and the boat, with friendly staff, stops at eight sites of interest to tourists, including the Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Musee D'Orsay.
We eventually alighted at Champs-Elysees and strolled to the metro station to go to Abbesses, where nearby we lunched at Chez Mairie, 27 Rue Gabrielle, an excellent small establishment with very tasty fixed price menus and friendly staff.
From here it was a short stroll to Monmatre and Sacre Coeur.
We walked to the Pigalle district (not for the easily offended!) before returning to the airport for the 18.45 flight back to East Midlands - on time and we were home in time for Coronation Street! Truly a day to remeber!
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Melanie Davis
Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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My family visited Disneyland Paris for New Year, 2000, and found the service in the hotel,(Sequia Lodge), and in the Park itself dreadful.
We were kept waiting to check in, and then were given the wrong tickets, which resulted in us having to wait yet again in the morning, for the problem to be rectified.
It came as no real surprise when one of the tickets would not go through the turnstile. On New Year's Eve, I queued for over an hour in the bakery for hot drinks to keep us going until the parade started.
Unforunately due to the lack of seating areas, we gave up, and returned to the hotel before midnight.
The staff employed in the park were not of the usual disposition you would expect from Disney crew members.
I wrote voicing my complaints, and after six months, received complimentary one day passes, which were not used, due to the cost that would have been involved in making another trip.
In future, my family will be sticking to Walt Disney World in Florida, where you are assured good value for money, and excellent service.
Melanie Davis
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Richard W, Kent
Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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This is the kind of wonderful place you stumble upon and feel like keeping secret for fear of it being spoiled, but I've decided to share it.
If you're in Paris and wandering around the trendy bars and shops of the Marais district (it's kind of Paris's answer to London's Soho), make your way to the Place du Marché Sainte Catherine - a sweet little tree-lined square away from the main streets. It has plenty of little restaurants with tables outside.
We had a great, cheap dinner in one of the bistros there, Le Marché. We had an outdoor table, three good courses and wine, and it was a great spot for people-watching. The food, though good, was not spectacular, but the setting really was idyllic.
We went at the end of June, and it felt like being in a little village in the south of France. A real treat - keep it to yourselves!
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cHRIS aSHWORTH
Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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Excellent location, Right next to The Gard Du Nord train station in central Paris. The staff were extremely friendly and accomodating, and when asked had great ideas for places to visit. From them we learned about all the best resteraunts and nightlife that might be missed by your average tourist. Indeed many of the places we visited we would never have found and seemed to be full of native Parisians.
We had a grat time, yes it is a Best Western so its not the most fantastic hotel in the world and the lift is definitly one of the smallest in the world! But for location, price and friendly staff, you couldn't ask for more.
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PC
Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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| The first visit or two is taken up with \"seeing the sights\" For people lucky enough to visit more than twice, there is so much more. Merely to wander - along the Seine, through Le Marais, over the bridge to Ile St Louis, visit Notre Dame for vespers on Sunday evening - a sublime experience. Last but not least, those with a sweet tooth should sample the candied chestnut, marron glace.
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