So this March I finally got to go back to one of my favourite cities of all time - Paris! I last visited a couple of years ago in the summer, and totally fell in love with the culture, sights, and (obviously) the famous landmarks! Paris has an atmosphere that makes me feel I could easily live there; the people are so beautiful (hellooooo Parisian chic, where can I get me some of that?!) and they love reading in random places and playing sports in the streets! I remember on my first visit being totally taken aback when I saw a man in a full business suit and a briefcase wiz past on a metal scooter... you'd never see that in England!
Anyway, for my second trip I actually bought it as a gift for my best friend! She's never been to Paris and I was desperate for her to see just why I love this stunning city so much! As well as that, we've both ALWAYS wanted to go to Disneyland since we were little, and never had the opportunity... well, there's no time like the present! At the grand old age of 25, we finally set out to accomplish our childhood dream - yay!
For 3 nights, I booked a hotel near to Disneyland (it was beautiful), so on our first full day in Paris we travelled by Metro to visit the main sights. First up - the Eiffel Tower! Weather-wise, we really lucked out; the sun was shining and the flowers had started blooming in time for Spring, so I managed to take this absolutely stunning photo from just beneath the tower!
"Where IS it? Sure it's around here somewhere..." Yeah, we're total comedians... Ant & Dec, watch out!
*cough losers*
We bought tickets to climb the tower, not realising you have to buy a different ticket to take the lift... so we ended up climbing the thousands of steps to get to the second level of the tower! By the time we climbed back down, we both had a case of the shaky-legs... totally worth it, though! And we had a little pit-stop at the second level, which has a restaurant... the view is literally breathtaking!
After we visited the Eiffel Tower, I took Han to visit The Louvre - as an artist, she was incredibly excited to see this, and I must admit I was just as excited despite having visited before! The sheer size and beauty of this building still got me the second time around, and seeing the famous glass pyramids (featured in The Da Vinci Code films) still sent a frisson of excitement through me!
Just look at the architecture, it's stunning!
I wanted to show Han the most famous pieces (they say it would take a full WEEK to see every piece The Louvre has), so first up was the Venus De Milo! This is probably one of my favourites; she's so well sculpted (despite obviously having lost her arms somewhere through history), she does amass a pretty huge crowd, but I managed to get this lovely shot of her!
This is one of the ceiling pieces the Louvre has to offer; it's so full of beautiful art you sometimes forget to look up, which is a HUGE shame because the ceiling hosts some absolutely stunning pieces. The ceiling is so high you do have to crane your neck... it would have been nice just to lie on the cold, marble floor and stare up at this! The detail is just unbelievable.
And, of course, if you didn't visit the Mona Lisa did you even visit The Louvre?! I felt almost star-struck the first time I saw her, and it was the same the second time around. Some people say she's smaller than they think, but to me she's exactly as I expect her! As you can see she's behind some pretty fierce-looking bullet proof glass and is guarded by security guards on both sides of her - she also has a separator in front so you can't get too close. The crowds she pulls are huge - hence the heavy security - but she's still amazing to see. It's incredible to think the famous Leonardo Da Vinci actually touched that canvas and painted that... amazing!
We did visit the Musee D'Orsay afterwards which hosts some amazing art by Monet and Van Gogh, but you're not really allowed to take photos and I just wanted to enjoy and soak up the culture - the museum is in an old railway station as is really quite stunning! But anyway... on our second full day, we went to Disneyland! We kept seeing it from afar on our trips to the Metro which was next door, and I literally can't tell you how excited we were... I'm pretty sure we were more excited than the children! There's lots of security to get through, but once you're in it's like you've entered another universe... it's so clean and well-maintained, everyone has huge grins on their faces and the shops are amazing! We wanted to book a table at one of the restaurants so we were queuing up for a bit before entering, and we could just make out the famous castle in the distance...
We couldn't book the restaurant we wanted (The Blue Lagoon, which is meant to be very Pirates of the Caribbean themed and we were very excited to see) so we ended up leaving it - we didn't want to miss the parade in the evening either, so we planned to just grab a bite when we could! We raced up the street towards the main courtyard, and low and behold, there it was...
It's JUST AS WE HOPED! We've dreamed of seeing Sleeping Beauty's castle for YEARS, but I can happily say it surpassed our expectations! We must have stood and stared for a good half hour!
As you can see, we were pretty... erm... excited!
What we didn't know was that you can actually ENTER the castle, which is obviously Sleeping Beauty themed! I don't know how this information escaped us, but it was so cool to realise we could climb the stairs in the castle and see things!
French for "Sleeping Beauty", this book is encased just next to the stairs you need to climb in order to see the castle! It's embossed in lots of jewels and looked so beautiful!
The castle is surrounded by the most stunning stained glass I've ever seen! It took a couple of attempts to get a photo I was happy with (you can walk outside and people kept passing behind the glass, creating a shadow) but eventually I managed to get this photo of the Sleeping Beauty and her Prince having a little smooch... There's also some really cool tapestries hanging from the walls, along with props from the film.. the attention to detail is astounding! We knew we wanted to meet a character, and after wandering around for a bit, we decided to meet the King himself - Mickey! It was really well laid-out; you basically have to enter what looks like a theater (which is playing old Mickey Mouse shorts) and queue, and he's in his dressing room behind the theater waiting for you - very cool! Me and Han got surprisingly excited about this, and saw it as one of the highlights! Unfortunately I don't have many photos from around the actual park, besides which I wouldn't want to show you everything - part of the joy is seeing things for the first time and being blown away! What I can tell you is it really was incredible... the rides were great and we were lucky to not have to queue for too long, as we went the week before the 25th Anniversary (which I imagine was jam packed!)
We wanted to leave enough time to visit the other park, the Walt Disney Studios Park. It has a gallery and more Pixar-related things - but unfortunately the gallery was closed!! Han was gutted, but we cheered ourselves up by thinking at least we have something new to see the next time we come (because there will DEFINITELY be a next time!) Walt Disney Studios Park is more adult and calm (in my opinion). It's more a place to reflect on what Walt Disney created, and there's statues of him and his famous companion dotted around!
As you can see, Han was in her element...
...and a delicious crepe in front of the stunning castle #InstaWorthy Honestly, it was SO worth the wait - Disneyland is just as good as I hoped! We stayed right until they chucked us out, watching the parade (which we followed, singing along to the"MAGIC EVERYWHEREEEE" song at the top of our lungs) and the light display/fireworks on the castle (incredible, honestly incredible... we both welled up as they showed some very touching scenes from films that mean a lot to both me and Han).
If you've never been... what the hell are you waiting for?!
So, I put together a list of advice for visiting Disneyland! - Book in advance! I purposefully booked mid-week and the week before what I knew would be a huge event - this way you're avoiding the rush, and saving a bit of money too! - Do your research - don't just book through the Disneyland website, as you could be missing out on some amazing deals! - Take water - there's loads of water fountains dotted around the parks and you'll save money on buying drinks as you're wandering around! - Wear comfy shoes - there is SO MUCH WALKING and your feet will hurt whilst you're queuing... make sure you get plenty of sleep the night before and wear some comfortable shoes!
- Prep! I took plasters (in case of blisters), SPF, lip balm, a cosy jumper for the evening... I had no idea what the weather would be like but I knew it would be chillier in the evening when we watched the light display and fireworks! - Take a decent sized bag to fit all the aforementioned stuff in! I took a backpack so I didn't have to carry it around all day.
- Don't buy things just for the sake of it! I thought I was going to spend a small fortune but, actually, we spent very little! There wasn't much I wanted from the shops, so all I bought was a photo frame, and some photos with Mickey! We had a cheap lunch (as we couldn't get a place at the restaurant we wanted), otherwise the majority of the money would have been spent on food!
- Book tables at any restaurants you want to visit in the park ahead of time. We left it a bit too late, not realising the restaurant we wanted to visit was under maintenance... we booked at another restaurant, but didn't realise it was at the same time as the parade! We eventually ended up grabbing a burger on the run so we didn't miss it... honestly, it's not worth missing! Bring snacks and stuff if you think you;ll get hungry throughout the day and want to save some cash.
And that's it! Seriously, though, it's 100% worth the visit... I can't wait to go again! Meli X