The CJ Diaries: PARIS Travl Diary

Morning everybody!
Day two in Paris started off pretty early, it was a Sunday morning and I heard that next to nowhere was open before 12 on Sundays (if they were open at all). This is true for shops and some cafes and restaurants but if you're worried about where to get breakfast on a Sunday morning in Paris, don't. Almost every boulangerie is open on a Sunday morning and they are heaving with both locals and tourists grabbing a quick croissant before going about their Sunday.

Fortunately (or unfortunately - whichever way you want to look at it), the Sunday that we were there was also the day of the Paris marathon, so practically everyone was up.
So we got up on Sunday, grabbed croissants from a boulangerie around the corner and walked down to the Champs de Mars train station to get the RER C train to Versailles. I know I know, you think we're crazy for going to Versailles on a Sunday as it's the busiest day of the week to go, we had no other choice, it was closed on Monday and we were leaving on Tuesday. Versailles is so easy to get to from central Paris and I don't understand why people warned us that it was so far away. It took us less than 30 minutes to get there, easily. And it was on a DOUBLE DECKER TRAIN. As you can tell, I was amazed.

And everybody was right, the palace of Versailles was insanely beautiful, and insanely busy! The queue to go inside the palace zigzagged all around the courtyard at least 3 times. Fortunately for us, we weren't too bothered about going inside the magnificent chateau, so we didn't waste half a day queuing to get in. Instead, we walked through the pillars to the much more manageable line to walk around the gardens (it was actually 9 euros to do this even though most guidebooks say it's free?!)

This though, was absolutely worth it. I have never seen gardens this magnificent, there were loads of fountains and just too many acres to explore in one day. The best thing we did was have a little stroll and then sit beside the canal for lunch watching the swans, ducks and fish all swimming around. Along with people rowing boats along in the most idiotic ways.

After our lovely morning at Versailles we got the train back to our station and weren't really planning on doing too much until night time. However, our stop was connected to the Champs de Mars station (the Eiffel Tower station) and when we came up, we were stood at the feet of the Eiffel Tower and couldn't resist going up any more.

We made the pretty good decision of WALKING up - yes I did just say that. All 668 steps to the second floor and then the lift to the top. This was such an incredible experience - the queue is way shorter, it's cheaper, less crowded and you can really appreciate the beauty of Paris with every single step. Once we got to the first floor we had a mooch around, the Eiffel tower gift shop was too good looking to resist (although - I didn't buy anything - go me!), I do wish we at least had a cocktail at the bar or restaurant though. I absolutely loved walking on the glass floors, much to Ben's dismay who hates heights! I couldn't get him anywhere near the glass. After we reached the second floor and wandered around we waited about an hour/hour and a half to get a lift up to the top.

Most people say that the Eiffel Tower was a disappointing experience, I can understand this but I think it completely depends on the circumstances. It is breath-taking to look at all of Paris stretched out in front of you, but myself and Ben were so fortunate with our decisions. I've heard that the lifts sometimes break and one of the stairways has to be fixed so then everybody is crammed into one stairway. Or that one of the lifts to the top is broken so it takes twice as long to get there. We had perfect weather - a none crowded walk up and a reasonable wait to get to the top. I couldn't ask for anymore.

After our Eiffel Tower adventure we had some Nutella and Strawberry crepes - yes, it is true. The crepes under the Eiffel Tower are the best crepes. And I will save you some time, unlike me and so many others who've heard this and spent the best part of an hour wandering around the corners of the Eiffel tower looking for the place. The crepes are from a little stand next to the carousal on the trocedero side of the Eiffel tower. Just across the road from it.

That evening, we headed out to the burlesque show we had booked: Le Crazy Horse. I actually think this is the original one and there are some others around the world, there's definitely one in Vegas. Anyway, this was .... interesting. If you're wanting a proper cabaret show with comedy and can-can dancers, this is not it. This is definitely on the more adult side of entertainment (not too bad but getting there). It is probably one of the most famous burlesque shows in the world, and just looking at the wall of fame of it's visitors, you can tell. One warning though - do not go to this show expecting to drink because the prices are INSANE. It was 20 euros for a 330ml bottle of beer and 10 euros for a 250ml bottle of water?!

An unpleasant taxi ride later we were back at our hotel absolutely exhausted.
So that's day two for you! I hope you enjoyed it, it was probably the most eventful out of all of them. If you missed my first day of Paris you can read it here.
And you can also find links to my other travel diaries on the blog too!