Oh Paris...where do I start? I will always remember Paris for multiple reasons for which you will soon read about. Just thinking of writing about it makes me exhausted. So here we go...from the beginning! Grab a coffee or tea - it's story time!
After we came back from Greece, we had one more day in Nantwich with Pete and his family. On June 22nd, we hauled our packs and headed to Liverpool airport for our EasyJet flight to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. As we were checking in, we learned that our baggage was too heavy. To avoid paying €10/kg of overage (we were collectively 5 kg over, so €50), we chose to remove stuff from our luggage and try to squeeze it into our daypacks. We spent about 20 minutes re-shuffling and I lost 2 kg from my luggage and Matt lost 3kg. I now was at 19kg and Matt weighed in at 21kg - 40kg collectively which was our limit. Once we sent our luggage through and received our boarding pass, we headed to security. My stint through security was alright. They had to do a swab of my daypack, but other than that, it was smooth sailing. For Matt on the other hand, he had the full treatment. He had to discard the packaged food that he moved from his checked in luggage to daypack as it was considered a "liquid" - seriously???? It's prepared food! I didn't have to toss my granola bars, etc. Plus, he had the full frisk. Even though they say its random, I have had an easy time at security at each airport. Matt on the other hand seems to have a red flag pasted to his forehead.
Once the security fiasco was over (fiasco for Matt...fine for me), we eventually boarded our plan and took off just before 7pm and arrived in Paris about an hour and a half later. After clearing customs and waiting for our luggage, we managed to figure out our route on the metro out to our hotel located in the Disneyland area. The reason we had to stay out by Disneyland Paris - a 45 minute train ride from the centre of Paris - was because we couldn't get a 2 night accomodation at a hostel in the city. We looked at hotels in the city and the prices started at €200 per night. If I was paying that much for accomodations per night, I'd be home already!! So, what we ended up doing is booking a hotel out by Disneyland for much cheaper. If you're wondering why all the accomodations were booked up solid, it's because it was the annual Paris Air Show and there was also a music festival in town.
After we arrived at Esbly Station (the closest station to our hotel), we had to walk 20 minutes to our hotel. By this time, it was just after midnight and we were trekking our belongings in the dark with hardly anything surrounding us. Just us and a few houses and the occassional car that drove by. Once we arrived at the hotel, we opened the doors and noticed that reception was CLOSED! Are you kidding me? When we booked the hotel, we knew that we had a late flight so we ensured that any hotel we booked did not have a reception that closed at a certain time.
As soon as I saw that reception was closed, I thought that there must be an emergency phone number to call. What would a hotel guest do if they needed something? What if their toilet flooded...they need to call someone, right? We soon located an emergency number and Matt dialed it. Thankfully the person who picked up knew some English and between our grade 11 French, we could understand each other. The person on the other end told us that they didn't have any contact information for us as they wanted to see where we were as we hadn't checked in. They said that ThomasCook didn't provide them with our mobile number nor my e-mail address (all of which we had given to ThomasCook). The person told us that they gave our room away to a tour company and that there was nothing available. Their hotel was completely sold out. We were insistant that a room be given to us or alternate arrangements be made as it was 12:30am and we were in the middle of nowhere - literally, without any form of transportation except our feet. The person said they would call back shortly and never did. Out of frustration, we walked to a nearby hotel (it was the only thing in the vicinity) and their reception was also closed. There was an automated machine to check in to that hotel after reception hours, but it said that the hotel was completely booked for the night as well. Wow, this air show truly is popular.
We walked back to our hotel and I had said, "The worst possible case scenario is that we just sleep right here, in the lobby, on the table." Out of all worst case scenarios I could think of in the world, our worst case scenario really wasn't that bad. I can adapt - I do adapt! I thought, "It's just one night, my back will hurt tomorrow, but who cares, at least I'm indoors and in a safe place." In the interim, we kept trying to call the emergency number and we either would receive the voicemail or the person would tell us, "I'll call you back in two minutes". Eventually, the person said they would come meet us at the hotel.
At about 1:20am, the lady manager arrived at the hotel. She said she called other hotels in the area and they were all sold out. She then said that the hotel had lost the funtionality of two rooms due to a flood, so they gave our room to a tour group as they had checked in prior to 10pm. At this point, I didn't care where I slept, both of us just wanted to crash. The manager said we might be able to use a staff member's room. She called the staff member for their consent and then checked out the room to see if it was ok for us and it wasn't. I imagine that there was personal stuff all over the room, clothes laid out etc. She then said that she had an apartment on the top floor but it was undergoing renovations. She asked if we wanted to take a look and I said yes. I knew already that regardless of how the room looked, I was going to sleep in it as we had no alternatives...and it was just one night.
I went upstairs with the manager and saw the room. The space was big but there was inadequate lighting. I thought, "Whatever, it's a place to sleep. We're in the middle of nowhere, no car, and I'm tired!". We then went back downstairs and I told Matt that we were going to sleep in the apartment. He asked how it looked, and I told him he would have to see for himself. Now it's your turn to see where we slept for the night!
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I do have to give credit to the Manager. Her and her husband co-manage the hotel and they were in that apartment cleaning it up as best they could with whatever supplies they had. These pics above are the pre clean-up pics. They installed a toilet seat, wiped down the bathroom and counters, vaccuumed, bought in 2 mattresses, pillows, linen and towels etc. It was close to 3am by the time our head hit a pillow.
Before I knew it, my room was filled with the bright morning sun (no curtains), and I got up to shower. After I was ready, I woke Matt up to get ready for the day. We only had one full day to see Paris, and we were going to make the most of it! Once we were ready, we headed downstairs to the lobby and were greeted by the husband manager at the front desk. He offered us free breakfast (usually €6.50) and a ride to the train station, saving us a 20 minute walk. The croissants that the hotel had were amazing....freshly baked from their ovens and melted in my mouth. Matt and I couldn't stop talking about how good the croissants were - the best we have ever had. After we ate a few croissants and yogurt, we were driven to the train station. I must say, the managers were exceptional in dealing with our circumstance. Not only did they come to the hotel at 1am (it wasn't their fault that ThomasCook didn't advertise to us that they had limited reception hours), they cleaned up that apartment space as best they could and then showed up to work at 6am the next morning. I felt bad for them as well and very appreciative of their efforts. They offered us free accomodations in Paris for the future and provided us with a normal room the following night.
Once we arrived at the train station, we activated our Eurail Pass which we would be using for the next 2 months to travel around Europe. The guy at the counter had no idea what our pass was or how it worked, so I had to explain it to him. After about 10 minutes, he printed a ticket for us to get onto the train. I just kind of shook my head and was like, "I hope the rest of our time in Europe with our rail pass isn't like this!".
We headed to the station closest to the Notre Dame to meet up with Scarlett - a friend Matt made at a pub in Dublin. Scarlett had just participated in a walking tour of Paris the previous day, so she basically became our tour guide. With Scarlett as our guide, we saw all the major sites she did the previous day, plus some additional sites that weren't included in her walking tour - The Louvre, walked alone the River Seine, The Champs-Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Luxembourg Garden, Montmartre & Sacre Coeur, Latin Quarter, Moulin Rouge, Musee d'Orsay, The Eiffel Tower and more!
Here are some pics of our day in Paris!
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Now as the title of the blog is a series of unfortunate events, that of course would mean more upsets! Our final unfortunate event occured at the end of the night. While at the Eiffel Tower watching the sunset, Matt and I got separated. We had walked up to the 2nd floor (689 steps) to take our photos and with some miscommunication or something, I ended up waiting at the base of the tower for over 30 minutes after we were done. I had no idea what happened to them and then left for the train station as it was almost midnight and I was hoping that Matt would be at the train station somewhere along the way waiting as I had the Eurail pass. Anyway, short end of this story is that I got back to the hotel at 1:45am, borrowed a cell phone from some nice Dutch guy and called Matt to let him know I was at the hotel. He was still in the city and before we could exchange any more information, the cell phone cut out! It was a pay-as-you go phone, and we were out of money as we used most of it the previous night calling the emergency hotel number.
Matt had no idea which room we were sleeping in as I had the hotel key and we had been moved from the apartment the night before into a normal room. I left a note on the door in the lobby and then another note on our actual door. Thankfully, he saw the notes and when he strolled into the hotel at 4am and knocked on our door, I was able to let him in.
Well, that was Paris for you!
After we came back from Greece, we had one more day in Nantwich with Pete and his family. On June 22nd, we hauled our packs and headed to Liverpool airport for our EasyJet flight to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. As we were checking in, we learned that our baggage was too heavy. To avoid paying €10/kg of overage (we were collectively 5 kg over, so €50), we chose to remove stuff from our luggage and try to squeeze it into our daypacks. We spent about 20 minutes re-shuffling and I lost 2 kg from my luggage and Matt lost 3kg. I now was at 19kg and Matt weighed in at 21kg - 40kg collectively which was our limit. Once we sent our luggage through and received our boarding pass, we headed to security. My stint through security was alright. They had to do a swab of my daypack, but other than that, it was smooth sailing. For Matt on the other hand, he had the full treatment. He had to discard the packaged food that he moved from his checked in luggage to daypack as it was considered a "liquid" - seriously???? It's prepared food! I didn't have to toss my granola bars, etc. Plus, he had the full frisk. Even though they say its random, I have had an easy time at security at each airport. Matt on the other hand seems to have a red flag pasted to his forehead.
Once the security fiasco was over (fiasco for Matt...fine for me), we eventually boarded our plan and took off just before 7pm and arrived in Paris about an hour and a half later. After clearing customs and waiting for our luggage, we managed to figure out our route on the metro out to our hotel located in the Disneyland area. The reason we had to stay out by Disneyland Paris - a 45 minute train ride from the centre of Paris - was because we couldn't get a 2 night accomodation at a hostel in the city. We looked at hotels in the city and the prices started at €200 per night. If I was paying that much for accomodations per night, I'd be home already!! So, what we ended up doing is booking a hotel out by Disneyland for much cheaper. If you're wondering why all the accomodations were booked up solid, it's because it was the annual Paris Air Show and there was also a music festival in town.
After we arrived at Esbly Station (the closest station to our hotel), we had to walk 20 minutes to our hotel. By this time, it was just after midnight and we were trekking our belongings in the dark with hardly anything surrounding us. Just us and a few houses and the occassional car that drove by. Once we arrived at the hotel, we opened the doors and noticed that reception was CLOSED! Are you kidding me? When we booked the hotel, we knew that we had a late flight so we ensured that any hotel we booked did not have a reception that closed at a certain time.
As soon as I saw that reception was closed, I thought that there must be an emergency phone number to call. What would a hotel guest do if they needed something? What if their toilet flooded...they need to call someone, right? We soon located an emergency number and Matt dialed it. Thankfully the person who picked up knew some English and between our grade 11 French, we could understand each other. The person on the other end told us that they didn't have any contact information for us as they wanted to see where we were as we hadn't checked in. They said that ThomasCook didn't provide them with our mobile number nor my e-mail address (all of which we had given to ThomasCook). The person told us that they gave our room away to a tour company and that there was nothing available. Their hotel was completely sold out. We were insistant that a room be given to us or alternate arrangements be made as it was 12:30am and we were in the middle of nowhere - literally, without any form of transportation except our feet. The person said they would call back shortly and never did. Out of frustration, we walked to a nearby hotel (it was the only thing in the vicinity) and their reception was also closed. There was an automated machine to check in to that hotel after reception hours, but it said that the hotel was completely booked for the night as well. Wow, this air show truly is popular.
We walked back to our hotel and I had said, "The worst possible case scenario is that we just sleep right here, in the lobby, on the table." Out of all worst case scenarios I could think of in the world, our worst case scenario really wasn't that bad. I can adapt - I do adapt! I thought, "It's just one night, my back will hurt tomorrow, but who cares, at least I'm indoors and in a safe place." In the interim, we kept trying to call the emergency number and we either would receive the voicemail or the person would tell us, "I'll call you back in two minutes". Eventually, the person said they would come meet us at the hotel.
At about 1:20am, the lady manager arrived at the hotel. She said she called other hotels in the area and they were all sold out. She then said that the hotel had lost the funtionality of two rooms due to a flood, so they gave our room to a tour group as they had checked in prior to 10pm. At this point, I didn't care where I slept, both of us just wanted to crash. The manager said we might be able to use a staff member's room. She called the staff member for their consent and then checked out the room to see if it was ok for us and it wasn't. I imagine that there was personal stuff all over the room, clothes laid out etc. She then said that she had an apartment on the top floor but it was undergoing renovations. She asked if we wanted to take a look and I said yes. I knew already that regardless of how the room looked, I was going to sleep in it as we had no alternatives...and it was just one night.
I went upstairs with the manager and saw the room. The space was big but there was inadequate lighting. I thought, "Whatever, it's a place to sleep. We're in the middle of nowhere, no car, and I'm tired!". We then went back downstairs and I told Matt that we were going to sleep in the apartment. He asked how it looked, and I told him he would have to see for himself. Now it's your turn to see where we slept for the night!
I do have to give credit to the Manager. Her and her husband co-manage the hotel and they were in that apartment cleaning it up as best they could with whatever supplies they had. These pics above are the pre clean-up pics. They installed a toilet seat, wiped down the bathroom and counters, vaccuumed, bought in 2 mattresses, pillows, linen and towels etc. It was close to 3am by the time our head hit a pillow.
Before I knew it, my room was filled with the bright morning sun (no curtains), and I got up to shower. After I was ready, I woke Matt up to get ready for the day. We only had one full day to see Paris, and we were going to make the most of it! Once we were ready, we headed downstairs to the lobby and were greeted by the husband manager at the front desk. He offered us free breakfast (usually €6.50) and a ride to the train station, saving us a 20 minute walk. The croissants that the hotel had were amazing....freshly baked from their ovens and melted in my mouth. Matt and I couldn't stop talking about how good the croissants were - the best we have ever had. After we ate a few croissants and yogurt, we were driven to the train station. I must say, the managers were exceptional in dealing with our circumstance. Not only did they come to the hotel at 1am (it wasn't their fault that ThomasCook didn't advertise to us that they had limited reception hours), they cleaned up that apartment space as best they could and then showed up to work at 6am the next morning. I felt bad for them as well and very appreciative of their efforts. They offered us free accomodations in Paris for the future and provided us with a normal room the following night.
Once we arrived at the train station, we activated our Eurail Pass which we would be using for the next 2 months to travel around Europe. The guy at the counter had no idea what our pass was or how it worked, so I had to explain it to him. After about 10 minutes, he printed a ticket for us to get onto the train. I just kind of shook my head and was like, "I hope the rest of our time in Europe with our rail pass isn't like this!".
We headed to the station closest to the Notre Dame to meet up with Scarlett - a friend Matt made at a pub in Dublin. Scarlett had just participated in a walking tour of Paris the previous day, so she basically became our tour guide. With Scarlett as our guide, we saw all the major sites she did the previous day, plus some additional sites that weren't included in her walking tour - The Louvre, walked alone the River Seine, The Champs-Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Luxembourg Garden, Montmartre & Sacre Coeur, Latin Quarter, Moulin Rouge, Musee d'Orsay, The Eiffel Tower and more!
Here are some pics of our day in Paris!
Matt had no idea which room we were sleeping in as I had the hotel key and we had been moved from the apartment the night before into a normal room. I left a note on the door in the lobby and then another note on our actual door. Thankfully, he saw the notes and when he strolled into the hotel at 4am and knocked on our door, I was able to let him in.
Well, that was Paris for you!
Well we can't say we weren't warned! Pete had told us several times that Paris was a "toilet". I thought Paris definatly had its perks! The Effiel Tower is massive and even though it is very plain and simple looking, it is very impressive. It gives Paris that extra little bit that it needs. The tower was originally built for to study weather at differant altitudes and barometic pressures. Pretty fancy if you think of it that way I guess.
ReplyDeleteOnce off the beaten path we were able to find some cheap food which the 3 of us split and were stuffed for 3 euros each. We ate lunch at Montmartre well we watched local hustler work their magic selling no joke string to tourist for 5 euro! The funny thing is that we saw some people pay! The other entertaining thing we enjoyed at lunch and also throughout the day was the hundreds of guys on the street selling mini Effiel Towers! They had them all layed out on a blanket, until the cops showed up then all you saw was was about 20 umm French Africans (trying to be polically correct here!) run down the street with a blanket full of gold and silver metal towers. I wish I was making this up!
The city is known for being the city for lovers. During the day I could not see why this was. It was not pretty in fact I found London much nicer than Paris. I was explained by Jane that it was because of the expensive dining. Yawn! At night when the sun went down and all the city lights were lit up it did look nice from the Effiel Tower but nothing I would ever rave about. If you want dinner with a view go to White Rock, BC and watch the sunset on a patio. Another first we saw which I am surprised Jane didnt post a picture of was the lock bridge. Basically the story goes a couple puts their names on a lock and locks this lock to the railing of the bridge and together they toss the key into the river so the lock can never be unlocked and you will be together forever. Don't get your hopes up for Paris. We have seen a couple bridges like this in other cities since that are bigger and more locks. Which means only one thing. There is more Love in other cities. I am still not convinced that Paris is the city for lovers but I am open for anyone that is willing to change my mind.
I think that the Effiel Tower and Arc de Triomphe were my favorive things but what really made me hate paris was their 4 metro systems that dont seem to have any connection with each other and the fact that they all close at midnight! By far the worst transit system I ever delt with to date.
Which brings me to our Effiel Tower story. Like Jane said we got split up. It happens. Scarlett and I were waiting for Jane at the top. She never came back we looked around and couldn't find her. We decided that it was time to go down I figured she would be there as usual waiting for me to be the last one out of most exhibits. We waited for an hour and nothing we proceeded to the train station and my station was closed already then we found another system (Scarlett's) that was still open so we both got on and went to her stop. Then that was the end of the trains. But I was in the city center and my hotel which I didnt even know the name of was an hour train ride away. Not knowing where Jane was at this point I needed to find out where she was it was my first priority. Seeing as Scarlett spoke perfect french she helped me find a bus that would take me to the hotel. 4 hours on a bus! Plus side, I was in the Disneyland parking lot at one point! I had to change buses with a 45 min layover. Lets just say this part of town had me very alert at all times! When I got our hotel I was very happy to see that Jane had made notes because I would have spent another night in a lobby.
ReplyDeleteAll in all I am glad I went to Paris and saw everything in one day that I wanted to see and got out. I would never go back to this place. I did buy a nice painting from Paris as a friend of my told me that there was alot of it there, and there was! It also is because Paris has this wonder full story behind it! Now as I promissed I will be hanging this painting in my bathroom, as not only have I been told Paris is a toilet I have experianced it for myself. There are better places to spend your money. Off the top of my head Prague and Budapest..... but their stories will come!
Oh dear sounds like an adventure for sure!!! Paris, Paris ..Paris!!!! I had the same sorta issues in Paris!! We stayed by Disneyland too and because I don't speak french very well, we struggled to navigate the metro system and we were lost for 8 hours (We would ask ppl for help and they would hit our maps and walk away). After FINALLY figuring it out, no joke 8hrs later we got to the general area we needed to be Hooray!! However our happiness was short lived as I had wrote down our hotel name as the cities name!! We were looking around the city for 5 more hours. We were walking around like lost little sheep and my cousin had bought a wheel suitcase and when walking down a gravol like path, her wheel broke off....lol......at that point all I could do was laugh it had been 13 hours of being lost!! We finally found our hotel on a guess!! I am so pleased to hear that I wasnt the only one who had some major issues in Paris.....I have a love hate relationship with Paris!!! Sounds like your having a blast!! Be safe have fun!!!
ReplyDeleteLesley
Told you it was a TOILET
ReplyDeleteOh wow Lesley!!! You had a much worse experience than us. I think I would have hired a cab after a few hours to get me directly to the hotel...but oh right, you didn't have the hotel name. Our iPod's have been the single best item we brought on the trip. It has all our emails with booking confirmations, metro apps for different cities, copies of our important docs, city maps and more. The iPod's have made travelling a breeze overall! I hope the rest of our travels continue to be relatively smooth sailing, but the bumps on the road remind us to exercise patience and help build character! Thanks for commenting :)
ReplyDeleteIggy - Loving the incognito name. Matt's Paris painting will be on display in his future home's bathroom...as a gentle and pretty reminder of our experience and your comments that Paris is a toilet!
ReplyDeleteWehey I got a mention! I'm sorry you guys had such a rotten time in Paris, it was great to see you anyway :)
ReplyDelete