For the jubilee bank holiday weekend myself and 9 lovely ladies travelled via Eurostar to celebrate my hen weekend in Paris and what a weekend this was set out to be!
Starting with a slightly delayed train and popping a bottle of champagne whilst sat on the train station floor, security came running to see what the bang was only to find us with champagne spilled all over the floor! Starting the weekend in style!
The Eurostar journey went pretty fast with us all chatting and having a laugh, and my mum giving me a beautiful necklace as a hen gift which I loved!
When we got to Paris we jumped on the metro and headed over to our hotel Opera Liege. This hotel was such a good choice. The rooms were nice, the beds comfy, the hotel clean and well styled, a great location, a lovely roof terrace to chill on and they had an honesty bar where you could just help yourself to drinks and then charge the drinks yourself to your room. They did quite a nice breakfast here (as I am told from other members of the group) but I didn’t eat it as I found a great bakery down the road that I loved getting my morning croissant or baguette from.
After we checked into the hotel we headed down to see the Eiffel Tower. We bought the skip the line tickets to take us to the top so we didn’t have to wait and wow what a view! This was such a fun experience and we even splashed out on the €16 glass of rosé champagne at the top as we looked over Paris to toast our first hen activity. It was such a warm day and it did get very hot at the top of the Eiffel Tower but I was loving the sunshine!
By the time we had finished here we were all pretty hungry so we just found a little restaurant local to the Eiffel Tower to grab something to eat. I had Steak Frites which was quite nice and was enough to keep us going.
After dinner we took a walk to see a few more sights. We walked down to the Arc de Triomphe where we took some photos and had a look but we couldn’t get too close as it was all closed off.
From here we walked to the Champs Elysees to see one of Paris’ famous shopping streets! We found a nice little outdoor cocktail bar where we sat for a drink and whilst in Paris we had to get some of the local delicacy - escargot 🐌 which was actually really tasty and garlicky!
We waiting for sunset and then headed back to the Eiffel Tower to watch it sparkle at night and I am so glad we went back because it was so beautiful! Photos do not even do justice as to how pretty it looked all lit up!
By the time we had seen this and got back to the hotel it was pretty late so we headed to bed ready for our busy day the next day.
After a good nights sleep we woke up ready for our day in Disney, where we could just be big kids for the day. We got the train straight over to Disney where the magic begun! Compared to Florida, Eurodisney is very small and geared towards younger children but there were a few good rides to go on - such as the Tower of Terror - my favourite ride and so much fun! It was such a laugh seeing the girls faces as the ride dropped! We watched the parade and saw the main castle which was so magical, went on a few rides and then my friend Megan told us to go and watch the show which we then did. We wasn’t sure what to expect I thought it was going to be a kids show but WOW was I wrong!! It was like a west end show of all the songs/dances compressed together into half an hour (just minus the acting in between). We watched the Lion King and I was in awe! The acrobatics, the dancing, the set, everything was incredible! After the show we had another wander around, went on a few more rides, went to the Disney town to the shops to get some flip flops to rescue Sarah from blisters and then headed back to the castle ready for the show. As it was 30 years of Disney they put on a spectacular show, first starting with the drones which was fascinating and so clever! Projections and lights illuminated the castle telling stories of different Disney characters. Following this was the fireworks. You can’t go to Disney without seeing the fireworks because they are just something else! Such a good display!
When we came out of Disney we went to get on the train, all of the train lights went out and there was someone shouting something in French over the tannoy. We got off of the train and read the board which we roughly translated as an issue with the line, so waited for another train. The next train came, we got on and the same thing happened again. By the time the third train arrived no one really knew what was going on and the platform was so busy! We got onto the train but it was like a sardine can. It was a double decker train but all seats were taken so we ended up sitting on the steps but all of the people standing were so squashed together it was a joke. It took a while for the train to leave and it was a pretty sweaty journey home but an experience to say the least and we had a laugh. When we got back to Paris we got off and couldn’t be bothered to change onto another tube so we just decided to walk the rest of the journey - 45 minutes through Paris at night which was actually pretty fun and nice to see Paris lit up at night. We got back to the hotel at around 2am and went straight back to sleep. Ready for the next day.
We woke up ready for our last day and night in Paris. This was our super busy day of trying to get all of the sights in, in one day. We got the tube from our hotel to our first stop saint chapelle. We only saw the sights from the outside as we had a lot to see but managed to get some photos! From here we went to the Notre dame to see it. Some of the group went into the museum and a few of us sat outdoors in the sun for a nice cocktail. We then walked along the Siene river to see the Louvre and get some photos here. The building was massive and if we had more time we would have loved to have explored inside! From the Louvre we then walked to the Sacre coeur, stopping at a bar for a pit stop along the way. We walked up the steps to get to the Sacre coeur and went inside to see! It is beautiful inside with the most amazing decor and it was great to see. When you come back outside you get the most amazing views over Paris.
After seeing all of the sights we walked back to the hotel to get ready for our night ahead - the Moulin Rouge! What a night this was! The show is certainly an experience. It is a variety show with all sorts from acrobatics to dancing, someone jumping in a huge pool of snakes and then the famous can can! We had the best seats in the house - our table was literally touching the stage and we had so much fun! We had a three course dinner which was nice (it wasn’t anything special but was still quite nice) and champagne/wine. There was a chance to get up and have a dance before the show come on and then we was dancing and singing along to the show from our seats.
After the show finished we found an Irish bar next door where we carried on the drinks and had a boogie! We even got invited into the VIP area where we was supplied a table and drinks free of charge - bonus! We had the best night and so much fun!
The following morning we woke up, packed up and headed to the Eurostar to come home. This was where the fun began! As we was walking into the train station I received a text saying there was delays due to an overhead power cable going down. We decide to make base on the train station floor and go off in groups to get food to save carrying bags and so there was someone in the station to see the updates. About 10 minutes after the group left I received a text to say our train had been cancelled and this was when the train station turned into carnage. No one knew what was going on. People were crying, worrying about how they were going to get home, no one was being told anything, as we had a group booking we couldn’t amend our booking to another day like anyone else, couldn’t call group bookings because they are closed on a Sunday and no one in the station could help us. We were told to just go and book and pay for a hotel, get some dinner and come back the next day but not before 10am. They offered no help to us and this all had to be funded by ourselves and claimed back from Eurostar once home (it’s now been over a month and still no refund). We found a hotel 10 minutes walk from the station that had enough rooms for all 10 of us so we checked in there and went out to get some dinner. It had been such a weird and emotional day when we got back to the hotel we sat in their bar for a drink and ended up having such a funny night, laughing at anything and everything.
When we woke up the next morning we received a message from my dad whose friend works for Eurostar telling us to get to the station for 7am and they may be able to help (a completely different message to what the train station had told us the day before - not to come before 10am). As it was already 7.45am when we saw the message, Rachel was going for a run so decided to run past the train station to see what was going on. This was when the fun began again. She finally spoke to someone at 8.15am and text us straight away telling us we had to get to the station for 8.30am to get on the 9.15am train. I had to quickly pack mine and Rachel’s stuff and we had to run from the hotel to the station with all of our bags in order to make it. The whole group split up trying to get there and it was very stressful trying to make sure we all got on the train but it was such a relief when we all did and was on our way home!
When we got back to London there was tube strikes so we couldn’t get the tube back to our train station home, the taxi queue was enormous and so we pulled our cases through London and went on an hour walk through London back to Liverpool Street to get home! What a journey but it was certainly memorable!
Overall we had such a fun weekend and I absolutely loved Paris. I would love to go back and spend more time at each of the sights and see inside them! It is such a pretty city with so much to see and do but I’d definitely fly there next time!
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