Did we not have a Worldwide Park reivew section?

Anywayz...

For a surprise, I had booked a weekend away in Paris, and she had no clue until we were on our way down south. First stop, Lakeside for a bit of shopping. Its always worth going to Lakeside:



NOM

So from Lakeside we headed south-east to Gillingham where had a Premier Inn booked. These are normally really good hotels, and this one was no different apart from the HORRIFIC tempreature in the room. So lack of sleep, plus 4am alarm = not the best start. It was soon to get better as we stopped at the services on the M2, for a nice breakfast combo of Costa & McDonalds.

Eurostar was delayed (surprise) but other than that it all went well. Time flew by and before we knew it, we were at Gare du Nord.



We soon got our metro tickets and headed underground.



I find the Paris Metro easier to use than the London Underground, dont really know why though, it just seemed better and there were maps everywhere with all the tourist attractions sign posted, so it was dead easy to get about. And not having to faff around with tickets in between trains is a big positive too.



Our Ibis hotel was in a lovely area - although that said, the majority of Paris consists of lovely areas...



The view from our room was pretty neat, shame about the crane, but you cant have everything! At 68€ per night, its a bargain really. Only 10 minutes walk to the Eiffel Tower and there's a tube stop right outside.

So not only did they give us a room with a view, but they also let us check into our rooms at 10am, so we dropped off the bags, and went for a stroll.





It really is maginficent...



With only one lift working, and that lift having a burdenous queue, we decided to walk upto to the first two floors. I'm so glad we did!



I love the fact that they use the original lift mechanism that was installed in 1889!



This was only about half the queue for the lift....



I was fine with the big clime, she wasn't!



Looking down the lift shaft.



Obviously, its big, but you have no idea how big it is until you're there. Quick question, them kids are around here trying to collect money for 'charity', are they real? 99% of me says no (their clipboard is a carboard box cut up, and the piece of paper is a bit shabby to say the least, and when I asked what it was for, she pointed at the word 'children' on the shabby peice paper stuck to the cut our carboard box. They were everywhere, but so were the police, and I never saw them being told to piss off...?





I think we must have been on the tower for a least 3 -4 hours. Its really isn't a '10 min' job like I was expecting it to be!



After the Tower, we headed over to the Tuileries gardens, next to the Louvre.





How on earth do they get permission to set up a vulgar fair ground in the Tuileries gardens, in central Paris? It makes no sense...





Bonus! Didn't realise there was a cred here!













A bit of a contrast, ey?





I loved these newer style Metro trains. Its quite weird being able to see down the whole lenght of the train as it thunders around the underground.



We then went to watch the light display on the Eiffel Tower from the Trocedéro.



I brought some over-priced-soggy bread thing with cheese and ham. Then fuck ed over on my arse, dropping my over-priced-soggy bread thing. Joy.





It was quite spectacular really. I really liked it, but not enough to clap and cheer like most other people were.



I kept seeing this all over the tube stations, like it was teasing me or something! There was Bling and Goudourix on the picture, so it was bound to be amazing! My curiosity was getting the better of me, for sure...



Arc.





View <3

My camera at night <//////3

So back at the room, I decided to find out about this Le Fete des Loges that I was seeing all over the tube. It just so happens that it is quite a big fair in the St-Germain region, which apparently only involved a quick RER journey from La Defense to St-Germain. So that was tomorrow morning sorted then ;)

(I'll get the next lot up later tonight)

Excellent!
Its always appreciated Martyn.

I've had an affair with Paris for a long time, absolutely wonderful city.
YES, there's a lot of dog shit, & some alleyways reak of piss, but there are so many wonderful things, & of course, any city with a variety of theme parks & fairs to choose from scores highly!

LOVE the pic of the Q for the tower - did they have people guiding or was that 's' shaped Q formed naturally?!

I recognise the star flyer, jungly flume & train fantome from Trone. That wheel is also looking suspiciously like the original 'Roue de Paris' which they put there for the millennium. Its also the one that toured the UK.
If you haven't already you should see the film 'Amelie', as I love Paris its one of my favs. Set in Paris she visits the foire du Trone & rides the ghost train (which is the one pictured here), so there's a *bit* of fairground to look at too!

look forward to the rest.
And yes we *did* have a world park review section, but it was quiet so we merged it here!

Cant say I noticed much, if any dog shit. Saw a lot buskers on the tube, and beggers in the stations, but no dog shit. Some stations smelt of piss, but thats the norm when underground!

It is just such a gorgeous city, everywhere you turn and look, its just stunning.

Have you ever come across them kids with the 'clip boards'?

Day 2.

First stop of the day:





Its quite a nice little 'park' really, and its a steal at 3€ to get in. Yes the rides are pretty expensive, but there's lots of free play areas for kids and animals.



This was quite fun for a powered coaster!



And I thought this was quite cute too, though calling it a spinning coaster is a bit much, its more of a 'slightly turning a bit' coaster





Eventually found the other coaster... and what a strange one it is!



Its got like 3 lift hills, and its only a 'figure 8' layout!





Mary <3



Its such a random park!



And this is such a cred!

And thats it for Jardin d'Acclimatation. Its quite a nice place really, and when we go back to Paris, we will go back here. It has a nice city park feel to it, but without the hustle of all the tourists everywhere, not really fussed about the rides to be honest.

And from there we ventured to end of the tube line, to La Defense, where we hopped over to the RER, and headed to St Germain en Laye, where there is apparently a big fair....



Again, it was yet another beautiful area, with spectacular buildings... but no fair in sight. Luckily I just so happened to spot a little road train which I is there to transport people to and from the fair, to the RER station. Well I didn't have a clue where the fair was, so we had no choice really.



Yeah, it was quite far away!



Eventually, we arrived.



There seemed to be more food/game stalls than rides! But as soon as we come to rides, I spot this:



Woop! Having only done standard spinning crap before, this was potentially my first interesting travelling coaster!

Its an old Schwartzkopf, with steep drops and tight turns, yum!



God the capacity was awful! They had 8 or 9 little cars, yet they would only let one car out on the track! Wheres the sense in that?!





The forceful turn at the bottom of the first drop was probably the highlight.







+1!





Live Horror show...!?! Kinda regret not going on this really, but I'm just not into Ghost trains.











Chattanooga Choo Choo, a Flying Fish clone. It was old, very old. They should really look to spruce it up a bit really, as it was a right state.







And now onto that weird looking contraption:





Basically, its swings whilst the seats rotata like mad. Not really my cup of tea, especially after I had stuffed myselt with this weird kebab thing.











And we then left to head back into central Paris. It was a bit of a dumpy fair really, despite the good collection of rides. Most rides seemed a bit run down, and just looked a little unsafe.



Heading back on the road train thing.





Views from the RER.

So when we got back, we decided to hang around at La Defense











It was pretty cool, I really liked it here. The fab shobbing mall helped of course!









The fab shopping mall.





Once we were done here, it was off for more touristy stuff.



Literally, just opposite the Notre Dame is a bloody Subway - the sandwich type. Why do they let the fast food places take over in Paris? Especially in the really gorgeous areas, it just ruins it!









Think this was day 3 now.... didn't really do too much, just shopping along the Champs Elysees, before heading back home mid-afternoon.





The 'Posh' street, Avenue Montaigne.





Weirdly, there were lots of car show rooms along this shopping street!



And thats it! If you're planning on visiting Paris, I'd recommened that hotel! We booked direct through Ibis/Accor, and that was cheap enough.

Downsides of Paris: Beggers everywhere, lots of pick pocket 'warnings' though we never really noticed anything - apart from when we got off our last tube stop at Gare du Nord, there was this girl surrounded by a lot of people, all shouting at here, and there was quite a lot of money being waved about and anger being directed at her - it was quite an uncomfortable situation really.

Quite a few underground stations stank of piss

Positives: Its gorgeous, stunning and beautiful.

As always, thanks for the report Martyn

We really do need a Worldwide Reviews section back though. Especially with all the travelling everyone has been / is doing.

We *liked* Paris. We just havent had the urge to go back, but its over 10 years since our last visit so maybe time to re-visit soon.

Nice little Schwarzkopf you found there which was a nice surprise too

Glad you managed to get around ok. Did you ride the Mondial Power Maxx? Gave a great ride when we went on it at the Foire Du Trone.

God, I remember going on the Niagara log flume in 1986 when I lived in Paris.
The Tuileries Gardens have always had a seasonal funfair on the North side for as long as I can remember, they were always intended to be pleasure gardens (until the French Revolution-where they installed the Guillotine!)

if you mean the clip board artists who flatter you, just to get you interested in having a characature done...?!

its like a mini version of Foire Du Trone... I know that Schwarzkopf was there along with a few others. I'm dying to see that Ultra Max - I think they look great. What looks great, but then looks like a crap ride, is that 'weird thing' (swing) - When you see the height of the towers, but then realise it doesn't go anywhere near that height...
I guess its the same as the Tornado at Prater... which at least has a lovely decoration on it!


We had a nice mooch around JD'A too, mostly because I too like that Junior Reverchon... its a pity more family parks didn't buy one of these.

No, they were collecting money for "charity".

Yes, thanks for the report Marytn. I have finally found an hour to browse the forum. I like your reports and I know how long it can take to write them out, so it is appreciated.

I'm loving the way them logs are painted on the flume. I would've gone in the live horror maze with you!