France with Toddler- Part 5 Paris

The plan for Paris wasn’t ever set in stone. Given that we weren’t landing till 11am, had to get through customs, had been traveling for 15+ hours with a Toddler, and had to catch a train that evening, we didn’t know what to expect. We finally decided to do Paris on the way home and just spend the few hours between getting into Paris and the outbound train maybe seeing 1 site. In total we wanted to do 3 things in Paris. We wanted to see, The Eiffle Tower (at night!! Please!!), The Louvre, and Notre Dame de Paris. In reality we saw the parts of The Louvre that we wanted to see (the sculptures) and The Eiffel Tower from around it but not up it. Oh darn, I’ll just have to go back to Paris.

The Louvre is amazing! For that one I bought my tickets two days in advance and yes, you have to pick a time slot but it’s not that bad. We spent 4+ hours in it and only really looked at the sculptures and a bite to eat. Somewhere one of of the those 1 day per city blogs I read that someone did The Louvre in like 2 hours, how?!? We aren’t big artwork people but I would go back to see the art (so I can say that I did) and they also rotate which exhibits are open so I missed out on the Egypt collection 😦 Miss GoGo though, loved The Louvre!! She was totally into the sculptures and walking around looking at things! After we finally called it quiets there we went back to the hotel, Hotel Plaza Etoile, for nap time and foot rest time. After nap time we went to The Eiffel tower.

The Eiffel tower is one that you need to get tickets for 3+ days in advance 😦 We didn’t get tickets in time for our 1 day in Paris so we didn’t go up the tower. But, it was still amazing to see it and it is HUGE! Someday, I will go back to Paris and go up the tower and in my dream land spend the $200+/person and have dinner at Le Jules Verne on the Eiffel Tower. But next time I am getting my lift tickets days in advance and going up the tower! I did get to see it all lite up and doing the sparkling dance, which is what I wanted to see anyways 🙂

We did use the Metro system to get between the sites as we had a station just 2 blocks from the Hotel. Totally worth the day pass ticket for the 4 rides we did. The trains are frequent and got us to where we  needed to go with little hassle 🙂 I would definitely recommend the Metro system to those visiting the city! The top sites aren’t close together, and it’s money well spent. I would also stay at the Hotel Plaza Etoile again in a heart beat! Great location, nice rooms, and amazing view from my window!!

The next morning, we headed up stupidly early to the airport, CDG, and did the whole wait for the luggage drop off to open thing. So did not need to be there 3 hours early! But oh well, live and learn. I was happy to head home to my pups after a long week. I had a lot of fun, made some amazing memories and would do Paris again.

Up Next: Lessons Learned, the last post about this trip 🙂

Enjoy!