Paris (Jun / Jul '10) - Overview

Went to Paris with my colleagues over 2 separate weekends; from 25 Jun (Fri) to 27 Jun (Sun) and from 31 Jul (Sat) to 01 Aug (Sun). Traveling to Paris was easy from Switzerland; there was a direct high-speed train from Neuchâtel to Paris train station in about 4-hours. The time taken is similar traveling from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Paris (巴黎) is the capital and largest city in France (法国). Many worlds' most visited tourist sights are located in Paris, such as the Eiffel Tower (埃菲尔铁塔), Arc de Triomphe (凯旋门), Champs-Élysées (香榭丽舍大道), Notre-Dame Cathedral (巴黎圣母院), Louvre Museum (卢浮宫), Paris Disneyland (巴黎迪士尼乐园) and Palace of Versailles (凡尔赛宫).


Leisure trip at a glance

Country: French Republic

Period: 25 Jun to 27 Jun 2010

Train timings:
25 Jun: Neuchâtel to Frasne, ETD 1802 ETA 1855
25 Jun: Frasne to Paris Gare de Lyon, ETD 2014 ETA 2315
27 Jun: Paris Gare de Lyon to Frasne, ETD 1758 ETA 2046
27 Jun: Frasne to Neuchâtel, ETD 2052 ETA 2147
Train tickets: Return tickets at EUR 111 per person
Accommodation: Hotel Ibis – Paris Gare de Lyon Diderot (25 to 27 Jun)

Period: 31 Jul to 01 Aug 2010

Train timings:
31 Jul: Neuchâtel to Lausanne, ETD 0601 ETA 0715
31 Jul: Lausanne to Paris Gare de Lyon, ETD 0722 ETA 1103
01 Aug: Paris Gare de Lyon to Neuchâtel, ETD 1658 ETA 2107
Train tickets: Return tickets at EUR 86.40 per person
Accommodation: Hôtel l'Elysée Val d'Europe (31 Jul to 01 Aug)

Currency exchange rate: EUR 1 = SGD 1.72 (Jun / Jul '10 period)


There is no time difference between Switzerland and France, both countries uses Central Europe time. Total damage was about SGD 450 per trip including train tickets, transport, food and hotel, excluding personal expenses.

Here's the overview of the trip itinerary:

25 to 27 Jun 2010

Day 1 – Evening train from Neuchâtel (Switzerland) to Paris Gare de Lyon (France). Arrive at about 11 pm. Checked in the Ibis hotel and had a good rest.

Day 2 – Took metro to Basilique du Sacré-Cœur. Next we visited Place du Tertre and Arc de Triomphe, and walked along Champs-Élysées. Passed by Grand Palais, Petit Palais, Pont Alexandre III, Les Invalides, Palais Bourbon and Place de la Concorde. Shopped at Laduree and Galeries Lafayette, and had dinner there in one of the restaurants. Went to Hard Rock Café to get some souvenirs. Last destination: Eiffel Tower, where we watch the whole of Paris got lighted up during the night from the highest viewing platform.

Day 3 – Woke up early and check-out from the hotel. We were the first few visitors to Louvre Museum. Had lunch near Louvre and after which visited Notre-Dame Cathedral. Took train from Gare de Lyon back to Neuchâtel.

31 Jul to 01 Aug 2010

Day 1 – Took morning train from Neuchâtel to Gare de Lyon. Checked in Hôtel l'Elysée Val d'Europe. Had lunch at Centre Commercial International Val d'Europe, then shopped at La Vallée Village Outlet Shopping. Took bus from hotel to Disneyland and we stayed till the night show before taking the last bus back to hotel.

Day 2 – Checked out the hotel and took metro to Paris Gare de Lyon to deposit our luggage. Next we took metro to Versailles. Visited almost every exhibit inside the Versailles museum and the gardens before heading back to Gare de Lyon. Bought takeaway dinner and had it on the train back to Neuchâtel.

Frasne Railway Station

Frasne station (left photo below) is located at a small commune Frasne at the eastern part of France close to Switzerland. With a population of less than 2000 residents, there aren't many activities to do, especially at the station building (right photo below) during our train transit from Neuchâtel to Gare de Lyon.



Paris Gare de Lyon

Paris Gare de Lyon is one of the six large railway termini in Paris. The railway station building is one classic example of architecture built during the 1900s (left photo below). Most notable is the large clock tower atop one corner of the station, similar to style of Big Ben (right photo below).



The classic style can be seen even inside the railway station (photos below). Besides railway services, the station also is connected with RER Line D and Metro Line 14.



There is luggage deposit service (left photo below) at the basement of the station. All luggages first have to go through security screening before putting them into the lockers. As a guide, it cost EUR 7 to use a middle luggage deposit locker (right photo below) for 72 hours.



Transportation

TGV train

The TGV, also known as Train à Grande Vitesse in French, which literally means high-speed train. This world famous French high-speed rail service runs frequently to Southern parts of French and Switzerland. The TGV service (left photo below) held the record for the fastest scheduled rail journey with a start to stop average speed of 279.4 km/h. Seats and overall cabin atmosphere were comfortable inside the train (right photo below).



Paris Transport Tickets

There are several types of transport tickets available:

• For the subway, a single ticket known as ticket t+, costs EUR 1.70. It is generally not advisable to buy single ticket every time. Instead, a block or carnet of ten tickets can be purchased, which cost EUR 12.50 at any station. This brings down the price to EUR 1.25 per ticket. However this unlimited Metro and RER or bus and tram transfers must be used within two hours.


• There is also transport pass available in daily, weekly or monthly. The cheapest 1-day ticket called Mobilis, valid only within zones 1 to 2, at a price of EUR 5.90 (left photo below). To travel further within zones 1 to 4, it cost EUR 10.15 per day (right photo below). Zones 1 to 2 are within Paris city centre while zone 4 allows passenger to travel to Versailles or Disneyland.
  
  
  
  Once the Mobilis ticket is bought, it is necessary to write on the empty spaces on the ticket. The date format to be written is in European notation of Day/Month/Year (Valable le), the last name or surname (Nom) and first name or given name (Prénom).

Do note that passengers must retain the tickets during the trip, as regular inspections are made and fines can be imposed for not having a ticket.

Paris Metro System

The RATP (Paris Transport Company) operates 14 metro lines. This is often the fastest and cheapest way to get across the capital, as there are dozens of stations scattered around the city. The metro and RER (Paris rail Network) systems operate from 0530 hours and last train return between 0040 to 0115 hours back to termini.

Making the journey using the Metro System can be easy, just follow the steps below:

• First traveler needs to find out the start and destination on the Metro Map. It can be confusing at a fist glance; the metro map (photo below) is differentiated with different colored line which indicates the Metro line.

• Next, tickets to be purchased. Tickets are sold at all stations through coin-operated automatic machines or ticket counters.


• To enter the platform area (left photo below), insert the metro ticket, with the magnetic strip facing down, into the first barrier slot. Remove the ticket from the second slot then push through the turn-style.


• To change between different metro lines, just get off the appropriate stations and follow the correspondence signs (right photo below) on the platform indicating the appropriate direction.
  
  

• Follow the 'Sortie' sign which indicates way out. Sortie in French means 'Exit'.

Train cabin (photos below) are generally the same as other metro trains in other European cities. One advice is to be careful with personal belongings, especially wallets and bags. The rate of pickpockets happened mostly in crowded and packed trains.



Train stations in Paris can be modern (left photo below) and classic (right photo below), and it do makes a nice photo background. I once saw a photo blog where almost 20 pictures were taking inside the train station.



Here's the video clip I took on Paris Metro:

Accommodation

Hotel Ibis – Paris Gare de Lyon Diderot

Booked this hotel via the internet for EUR 181.90 per standard room for 2 nights, and that is EUR 90.95 per night.

Hotel Ibis – Paris Gare de Lyon Diderot (left photo) is well situated and it is just 5 to 10-mins walk from the Gare de Lyon station. Located in the centre of Paris, this hotel is close to the Bastille Opera House, the Coulée Verte, the Jardin des Plantes and the Palais Omnisport de Bercy. It is definitely convenient for travelers like us.

Breakfast was not included in the hotel package; therefore we took our breakfast outside the hotel during our stay. The room was air-conditioned and definitely useful in a hot summer. The bathroom was reasonably clean, however the room was typically small in size (left photo below). There was even a LCD television (right photo below) inside the room.

The hotel is located at 31 bis, boulevard Diderot – 75012 Paris France.



Hôtel l'Elysée Val d'Europe

Like the previous hotel, we booked this hotel via the internet for EUR 152.30 for a triple room per night.

Hôtel l'Elysée Val d'Europe can be reached via Exit A4 of Val d'Europe station with just 5 to 10-mins walk. The hotel is conveniently located opposite Centre Commercial International Val d'Europe and La Vallée Village Outlet Shopping. And to reach Disneyland is just a 10 to 15-mins bus ride away. Best of all, the complementary shuttle bus departs late from Disneyland which enabled us to see the fireworks. For visitors who don't want to pay extra price at Disneyland resort, this hotel is the best alternative.

The hotel façade (left photo below) has the modern look with grand entrance (right photo below). The room (bottom left photo) is decorated with simple furnishing and a LCD television (bottom right photo).





Breakfast was included with the hotel package. The lounge (left photo below) is located at the hotel ground floor. Part of the lounge is beside the hotel greenhouse which enables hotel guests to get close to nature (right photo below).



Being French, wide varieties of bread and coffee were available for selection (left photo below). For me, I selected some ham, croissant and cereals for breakfast (right photo below).



Interesting Observations

• Like most European cities, modern pay toilets (left photo below) can found along pavements in Paris. These toilets have automatic cleaning functions. In some units, classical music is played.


• Another machine that will attract tourists is the souvenir coin medal machine (right photo below). This is common in European countries where a landmark or building is embossed onto the souvenir medal for tourists to collect.
  
  

Useful Links:

Paris Travel Guide:
http://www.paristravelguide.com/

Paris Travel:
http://www.justparis.org/

Visit Paris – France:
http://visitparis-france.com/

Wikitravel – Paris:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Paris