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[m-raines-blog]

STAR CROSSED CITIES: The beautiful city of Paris & Marne-la-Vallée!

Before visiting France, I always dreamed of cycling through Paris with a pretty beret on my head, eating gorgeous pastries as the Eifel Tower twinkled in the distance. The media portrays Paris as the ‘City of Love’, the ‘City of Light’, and the ‘City of Men with Curly Moustaches’. Funnily enough, I didn’t even know Marne-la-Vallée existed until I got the chance to travel to France for the second time in my life!

I first travelled to France at the age of fourteen. My only thought? “Finally, I get to meet the Disney Princesses!”. I waited for all of my childhood, dying to go to Disneyland; that is the ultimate dream for children growing up. Even though I was a teenager, I was excited to go all the same. This first trip to France was a blur, I didn’t get to visit the city of Paris or venture outside of the Disneyland Park which, despite me not knowing at the time, is located in Marne-la-Vallée. Marne-la-Vallée is a small town just outside of Paris– so close yet so far.

Four years later, I finally got the opportunity to return to France in March of 2018. Thanks to an academic trip with my college, I was able to travel here yet again. However, this time, I was determined to see the Eifel Tower just like I dreamed of.

The Eifel Tower is breath-taking, there is simply no other words that can describe it! The pictures that I saw over social media didn’t quite do it justice; the figure is so much taller than I ever expected and so much more beautiful. Although before the trip I was desperate to visit the Eifel Tower, I didn’t expect to be so amazed by it. When we arrived, we made a short walk until we were in front of it and when we were finally there, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was in shock because I’d always dreamed of this moment, and it was right there before my eyes. We took so many pictures, and I almost didn’t want to leave. Visiting the Eifel Tower was by far one of the most magnificent parts of my trip to Paris, if I were to go again, I would definitely want to see the Eifel Tower once more without a doubt.

After seeing the Eifel Tower, my two friends and I decided to find a place to eat among the many restaurants along the street. It was a hard decision, but we eventually decided upon a restaurant and settled down at our table. The weather was beautiful, which made us decide to take a seat outside for our lunch. Our waiter was extremely polite, even with the restaurant being busy, he even spoke English which was extremely pleasant, and a bit of a relief since not one of us was able to speak French fluently besides the occasional ‘bonjour’. From all the restaurants that we checked out; the menus were all surprisingly familiar even though I expected to be overwhelmed with foreign dishes. At this restaurant, I ordered pasta while my friends ordered pizza. The service was fast, and the meals were lovely. It’s safe to say that when we left the restaurant, we were very happy and pleasantly surprised.

Once our time there was over, we all took one last glance at the Eifel Tower up close and then boarded our coach. Driving around the city in a coach wasn’t as bad as I initially expected; although there was some traffic, being able to stare out of the coach windows at the passing streets and amazing architecture was really interesting and made the journey worthwhile. Once we arrived at our destination, it was finally time for our sight-seeing river cruise down the River Seine. During this river cruise, we were able to view different angles of the Eifel Tower. Our group were also able to take some of the most beautiful pictures here. Although it was a bit windy, the sun was bright, and it shone beautifully over the water and the city landscape. Our river cruise lasted somewhere between one or two hours.

In the picture above, you might notice I was finally able to get my first beret, which I bought from a small market stall as we walked along the streets. After a coach journey and short walk, we eventually ended up at the iconic Notre Dame de Paris. The Notre Dame is a medieval Catholic cathedral, famous for being the finest example of gothic architecture. As of today, the cathedral is shockingly 856 years old! I had the blessing to be able to visit the Notre Dame, as you can see in the pictures above and it was stunning to see. We stayed here for a while, taking in the view and impressive architecture. When we left the Notre Dame behind, we had no idea that in April of 2019 it would be severely destroyed by a catastrophic fire that lasted as long as fifteen hours. Although the building is under repair, this event made me realise that travelling the world and sightseeing is extremely important as these famous monuments will not last forever!

After parting ways with the Notre Dame, we headed for the Love Lock Bridge. This is a bridge where sweethearts attach love padlocks to the fencing as a symbolisation of their love. On our way, we passed the Louvre, which is the largest art museum in the world and a historical monument of the city. Even though we weren’t able to stop by and visit the Louvre, it is without a doubt on my bucket list for the next time I visit Paris! When we arrived at the Love Lock Bridge, I was very touched by the concept, it was extremely beautiful. There were street vendors all over the place, some setting crepes and some selling locks! Several of my friends attached locks which they wrote our names on as a symbol of our friendship. During this, I started a live video on Instagram to show the magnificent view to all of my friends back in England.

Our final moment in Paris was spent at the Montparnasse Tower Observation Deck. This gave us a panoramic view of the city; it was undeniably the best view of Paris. I’d strongly recommend going here to anyone. I could have watched the view forever.

Finally, our time in Marne-la-Vallée arrived. Many do not know this, but despite its name, Disneyland Paris is actually located in the small town of Marne-la-Vallée, I only knew this shortly before my second trip to France! 

Our first trip to the amusement park was in the evening when we experienced Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. This is a live arena show featuring special appearances by famous Disney Characters like Mickey and friends. Upon arrival, we were given cowboy hats which colour coordinated us into seating and teams. We also got to enjoy a lovely ‘Hearty Texan Meal’ which consisted of a western style meal and dessert served to us at our seats. Members of the cast even interacted with the audience, kids and adults! Overall, the show was amazing and we all got a lot of laughs out of it.

The next morning, we headed back to Disney Land by coach. On arrival, we were extremely excited (even our tutors). Surprisingly, the park was not as busy as I expected and that is because of the season. During the early spring, the park isn’t as manic as the summer holiday period, which is what I experienced on my first visit in 2014. This was a blessing as it meant the queues weren’t as long for both rides and shops, it certainly gave us a lot more freedom.

Being in the park felt safe and, even though our group had the age bracket of 17-18, we felt we could act like kids again. The rides were fun for everyone. Visiting Disneyland felt like age didn’t matter anymore.

My initial perception before my trip to France in comparison to the actual reality of the experience is somewhat different. Based on what I commonly saw on the media, I knew that France, particularly Paris, was one of Europe’s most popular destinations. Media sources describe Paris as ‘The City of Love’ and ‘The City of Light’, because of this one of my concerns was that visiting France would be overwhelming or too busy. In actuality, thanks to the season I travelled within I was pleasantly surprised. Another one of my perceptions was that Disney Land would be too childish and a bit boring for someone that is from my generation, as promotions for Disney Land often show children. However, visiting the destination certainly changed my mind as it was so versatile and enjoyable for all ages despite what I saw on the media. If I had the opportunity, I would certainly visit Paris and Marne-la-Vallée again– if not several more times!