France, here wee go!

We LOVE France. I have heard people say that it’s dirty, that people are rude, blah, blah, blah…. But it is a major city, and from our experience, we have always enjoyed the architecture, the ease of getting around, and the activities. We are staying in Paris central for 3 days. We have some tips if you are taking the Chunnel there.

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Tips:

1. While waiting at the train station in London, be sure to check out the champagne bar/restaurant Searcys in London. The fish and chips were FANTASTIC!!! We absolutely loved it.

2. One must arrive about 45 min early to go through security, like an airport. We arrived around 3 hours early and had no idea about this 45 min rule. So we sat and enjoyed champagne and snacks. We decided to leave the food establishment 15 min before our train left. As we arrived at the “gate,” they informed us we missed our entrance window for the train and must trade out our tickets. No big deal right? Well the next train we could get on was 2 hours later and cost us €200. This really pissed me off. However, it was my own fault for not researching.

3. After you miss your train, if you watch the lady by the entrance, she will hold up the sign for when you can enter. If you go the second she holds up your train number, you might be allowed on the train prior! So we ended up getting on the train an hour earlier then our new tickets had stated! So it was a hell of a roller coaster day.

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We ended up finally getting on the train and learned about how the Chunnel came to be. It was voted down by the people several times and eventually ended up becoming privately funded! They had to invent new drill bits to carve through the seabed rock, and it was one of the most expensive building projects ever during it’s time. It costs £9 billion and was constructed from 1988 to 1994.

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Pro Note: you do not see the water. They went under the water, deep into the Earth. I had always heard Chunnel and thought, ohhh cool, there is this magic Disney like train from London to Paris that shows you fish under the sea. The tunnel must be made from clear, thick, poly acrylic material and they have lights showing the sea above. FALSE and SAD.

Once we arrived in Paris, we bought 3-day unlimited metro tickets that allowed us to travel everywhere. This was great. We went by subway (metro) everywhere, including Versailles and the Airport. On this note, I will say if you are going to travel in the high season, MAKE SURE YOU BOOK EVERYTHING IN ADVANCE or you may not get in.

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Tips:

1. Eiffel Tower books up if you want to travel to the very top. We were super lucky because we took the stairs and they had just opened the top back up.

2. Versailles has time slots to reserve, and they book up as well. We, of course, took the train there before checking any of this. Once we arrived, the lady said we could get in with the 2-Day Museum pass, and we don’t have to worry about a time slot. They said this would also work at the Louvre which we were planning on visiting the next day.

3. The Louvre requires reservations and is booked weeks in advance. The “magic” pass we bought did not work to get us into the Louvre, so we had to miss it this round. Andre was specifically disappointed because he was really excited to see the Mona Lisa. He said he already thinks the Mona Lisa is going to be underwhelming but wants to see it for himself.

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So this is as close as we got to good ol’ Mona. However, we are coming back to Paris later in the trip, so we prebooked our tickets to the Louvre for then!