A tale of two cities… and a few other places… COMPLETED - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Great plans for Paris! I think you covered all the highlights of the city!
I think we did. I think the only big one missing is Sacre Coeur, but we haven't been there forever, as it's outside of the city and there are so many steps up to it. I feel tired just thinking about those steps... that's how much they stay in my memory!
Sounds wonderful! Jan is sure to survive on adrenaline for most of it, but I'd be willing to bet a nap would be had on the River Seine boat cruise.
The problem is if she naps on the cruise, she'll miss the sights. If she can hold out until our train journey back to the airport, then she won't miss anything then!
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(Amy and I are covering much of the same things, but seeing St. Chapelle instead of Notre Dame!)
St. Chapelle is very nice and I think you'll be pleased with it, but from memory, I think you pay to go in there, whereas you don't with Notre Dame.
Sounds like a well planned day which I'm sure Jan will appreciate by seeing some of the great sights of Paris. Hope she can keep up with it as it will be a tiring day for her with the overseas flight. But she will have two great guides to assist her, who know Paris well!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Sounds like a well planned day which I'm sure Jan will appreciate by seeing some of the great sights of Paris. Hope she can keep up with it as it will be a tiring day for her with the overseas flight. But she will have two great guides to assist her, who know Paris well!
I hope she'll be Ok. We just don't know, as she's never flown internationally over here before, so we have no idea how she's going to be with jetlag.
Pre-trip report – part four: time to visit our second city
Monday 18 September
Now having done as much of Paris as we can in a day, it’s time to take it a bit easier today, and this is where I think it would’ve got ridiculously tough had we tried to squeeze in Disneyland Paris as well in here. Under our original plans, we’d have been heading for the parks all day today, and the next morning, and I can honestly say I’m relieved we won’t now be.
Instead, we’ll have a nice, leisurely start to the day after flying around all over Paris the day before. We’ve got breakfast included with the room, so we’ll enjoy that, and heck we might just hit the swimming pool and sauna this morning. We don’t need to leave the hotel until somewhere around late morning, so if Jan (and perhaps us too! ) needs to sleep in, that’s not a problem, and will hopefully help her to recover from the jetlag, depending how she’s doing from that.
We’re booked on the Eurotunnel early in the afternoon, and we actually arrive back in the UK before we’ve left France. No, it’s not time travel, it’s something to do with the fact that the UK is an hour behind France in terms of time zones, so you lose an hour going out, but gain one coming back.
The plan is that we’ll then go to Leeds Castle on the way back, as it’s on the way, and I figure it shouldn’t be too busy, as it’s a Monday in September, and all the schools are back in. We should have a good couple of hours there, so that should be plenty of time to explore properly. We already have year long passes to Leeds Castle, thanks to the fact that we met up with Bonnie (Alaskan Mom) and her daughter Beth in July when they were over here.
I will say here Mark isn’t the biggest fan of Leeds Castle. I think it’s got something to do with the fact he’s been so many times. Mind you, so have I, but then again, I still love the place. It’s the fact that the gardens change throughout the year, and you just never know what wildlife you’re going to see in those gardens either.
We went for lunch with Bonnie and Beth at a nearby pub called the George Inn, which is in Leeds village itself, and we booked for an early dinner on this night while we were there. Once we’re done with eating, then we’ll take Jan back to ours, as that’s where we’re staying for the next two nights.
Tuesday 19 September
Today we head to the other capital city of this trip, London! We’ll take the high speed rail link, which means it’s just a 10-minute train ride up to the capital, instead of best part of an hour. Ok, so it’s a 20 minute drive to get to the train station, but even so, it is still a lot faster. I have already asked Jan if she’s Ok with getting up early, and she’s told me she should be fine, provided she’s over the jetlag of course, which is a complete unknown at this stage…
We’ll go up to Stratford, which is where the London Olympics were held, so it’s somewhere we’re very familiar with, especially as we tend to go back there at least once a year. This year, we’ve already been up for three sessions of the World Athletics Championships, which were held at the Olympic stadium, and in October, we’ll be heading to the velodrome for a cycling event. It’ll be the first time we’ve been in there, as the tickets were all sold out for London 2012, so my goodness, that will be fun.
Anyway, I’m rambling and getting off the point. My apologies! We’ll make our way over to the Tower of London, as that’s our first stop of the day. We figure it’s something every visitor to London has to see, or at least I’m going by quite a few of our visitors over the years from the across the pond, who all wanted to head there. Luckily enough, I have membership of a club through my work that gives me four free tickets to the Tower of London, so that means none of us will have to pay, which is good news. It’s a pretty good saving, given the price for adults is Ł21.50 (c. $26), so it’s not exactly cheap.
Having said that, there is a lot to see there. Of course, the top of anyone’s list is the Crown Jewels, so the plan is to get there as early as we can. Fortunately, as it’s a Tuesday in September, it shouldn’t be too busy anyway, as the schools will be in the middle of term here, but it’s not a bad plan to get there for opening – my handy Disney training coming into play again, as it always does.
I don’t know when Mark visited, but I was there in November with my friend, sickeningly about a week before they announced the four free tickets deal as well! We did the same thing and headed straight into see the Crown Jewels and they are breath taking. I don’t care how many times you see them, I’d honestly challenge you to go there and not be amazed by them. In total, there are more than 23,500 gemstones, and they’re still used in Royal ceremonies today. There is so much in here than you remember (at least for me anyway! ) and it takes longer than you think it will.
Last time I was there, I went around the tower walls with my friends, and it was fascinating, as I don’t think I’ve done that before. You can’t get the whole way around, but you do get to see the section that dates back to the medieval era, and some of the wooden sections left. How those survived, I do not know, given all the bombing that took place during the Second World War.
We didn’t even make it into the White Tower, which dates back to the 11th century. That’s home to the Royal armouries, and from memory, the last time I did go around it, the tour went on and on, and we spent ages in there. It certainly proved to be value for money and was home to much more than I ever expected.
As you can see, there’s a lot to see here, so I suspect we’ll probably end up spending the morning here, especially as from here, you also get views of the River Thames, Tower Bridge, the Shard and City Hall (two of the newer additions to the London skyline) and HMS Belfast, which is moored on the Thames.
When we do eventually leave there, perhaps having already eaten at the café there if we’re hungry, we’ll then take a famous red London bus from Tower Hill to Trafalgar Square. I thought this would be a cool way to see a bit more of the city, as we’ll be above ground, rather than just taking the Tube, and this will be a lot cheaper than the hop-on, hop-off services London has to offer. I’m not sure that I’d do that in any other city, as I like to feel confident about where I’m going, and I do in London. Mind you, their website is very good, as it takes you through all the routes and the stops along them in detail.
Along the way, we should just catch a glimpse of the Monument, which is a monument to the Great Fire of London, built in the 17th century. I’ll have to have Google Maps out to point it out to her, as it’s literally a “blink or you’ve missed it” moment. We’ll then pass by St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Royal Courts of Justice (one of our highest courts), before heading up to Trafalgar Square.
We’ll then make our way up to Buckingham Palace along the Mall and through St. James’ Park. I’ve discovered there is a UK Police Memorial. I did think there was one somewhere in London, but wasn’t quite sure where and, depending on Jan’s feelings, we can visit that. I don’t know if she’ll feel it’s something she wants to do in Bill’s memory or not, so it’s entirely her decision.
I think we did. I think the only big one missing is Sacre Coeur, but we haven't been there forever, as it's outside of the city and there are so many steps up to it. I feel tired just thinking about those steps... that's how much they stay in my memory!
You can take a picture of it from the Eiffel Tower!
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You can take a picture of it from the Eiffel Tower!
True - and the last time we went to Paris, my zoom wasn't that great... maybe 25x (at most), so with 63x zoom, just think what I can focus on from there!
Sounds like a wonderful 'Welcome to England' adventure. I love that you have the UK Police memorial worked in there too, for her to choose.
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Tanya
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Plans look great for London with a very relaxed first day and quite a bit on day 2. Seems like you are covering all of the musts. You might want to consider one of those sightseeing cruises on the Thames, which Jan may enjoy and they last about an hour as I'm sure you know. I know those steps leading up to Sacre Coeur and they are quite a few of them!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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Hope she can keep up with it as it will be a tiring day for her with the overseas flight. But she will have two great guides to assist her, who know Paris well! 
We’ll take the high speed rail link, which means it’s just a 10-minute train ride up to the capital, instead of best part of an hour. Ok, so it’s a 20 minute drive to get to the train station, but even so, it is still a lot faster. I have already asked Jan if she’s Ok with getting up early, and she’s told me she should be fine, provided she’s over the jetlag of course, which is a complete unknown at this stage… 
We’ll make our way over to the Tower of London, as that’s our first stop of the day. We figure it’s something every visitor to London has to see, or at least I’m going by quite a few of our visitors over the years from the across the pond, who all wanted to head there. 
We did the same thing and headed straight into see the Crown Jewels and they are breath taking. 
I don’t care how many times you see them, I’d honestly challenge you to go there and not be amazed by them. In total, there are more than 23,500 gemstones, and they’re still used in Royal ceremonies today. There is so much in here than you remember (at least for me anyway! 
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