Day 9
This day, we woke up early to catch a train to Paris, where we would spend our last full day on our trip.
We got to Paris and dropped off our bags near the train station we arrived in using NannyBag.
NannyBag was great because we could leave our bags at a hotel (or other certified luggage storage place that was on their website) near where we arrived instead of having to drop them off at our respective hotels for that night. It did cost a little bit but it was worth it. It would have taken too long to get to our respective hotels for that night (near the airports we were flying out of), drop off our bags and then get back to the city and do what we wanted to do.
Our plan was to go to Versailles this day. Tim still went to Versailles but unfortunately, I didn’t feel like I could with my injured leg.
The night before I had done some research of what I could do that didn’t require a lot of walking or standing. I decided to do a hop on hop off bus of Paris but just stay on the bus the whole loop.
I had to look up where to catch a hop on hop off bus near the train station we arrived in. I caught a local bus and got off near the Louvre.
The Louvre! This was where my bus dropped me off.
This was the bridge that I walked across to get to the Louvre and the hop on hop off bus stop.
The Louvre!
Since it was a little cold and rainy this day, I sat here (near the Louvre) and looked for tickets online to potentially go inside the Louvre instead of the hop on hop off bus (hoping there would be lots of seats inside the museum and it would be dry and warm).
But the next available tickets were for a couple of hours later. I knew I didn’t want to wait around that long, so I just went ahead and bought a ticket for the hop on hop off bus.
On the hop on hop off bus. I decided to sit on top although it was cold and sometimes rainy outside.
Notre Dame! It’s still being restored from the fire that happened there a few years ago but it looks like it’s set to reopen in a few months though!
I’m glad other people were sitting on the top too!
The Assemblée Nationale
Place de la Concorde
I kept on seeing the Eiffel Tower from different angles.
Pont Alexandre III
Arc de Triomphe!
I kept on taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower. I couldn’t help it. 😂
Les Invalides
Another view of the Arc de Triomphe. I almost missed this view on the bus. I didn’t notice it until we were turning away from it. Hence the weird angle of the photo.
I must admit by the end of the bus tour I was ready to be done for the day.
As I was getting close to the Louvre, I was looking up when the next bus back to the train station would be. The website said that that bus would not be stopping at the few stops near the Louvre until 8 PM that night for some reason. That stressed me out.
I got off the hop on hop off bus and started walking toward the local bus stop just to make sure the bus wasn’t going to come. (They had electronic signs at the local bus stops that said what buses were coming next and in how many minutes). But on my way I ran into a line of taxis and just decided to take a taxi back to the train station.
Once the taxi dropped me off at the train station, I went to McDonald’s to eat. There was one at the train station. Since my hotel was near the airport I thought it was best to eat while still in center Paris.
I picked up my luggage at the luggage storage location and then I caught a taxi to my hotel near Paris Orly airport. I just hung out at my hotel the rest of the day.
Day 10
I flew from Paris Orly Airport to Lisbon, Portugal then from Lisbon to Virginia
Having flown through the Lisbon Airport multiple times now, I’m not a big fan of it. It’s large, they don’t tell the gates until an hour before the flight time and they have buses to the airplanes. (I know the buses to the airplanes are not for all of the flights but at least with the airline I was flying that was the case and I didn’t like it).
On my flight to Virginia, we had to get in a crowded hot bus and take a ten minute ride to the airplane. Then we proceeded to sit at the airplane on the bus with the doors closed for at least 15 minutes. Since I was standing that whole time my leg was hurting and there were too many people around and it was hot and I started having a panic attack. I won’t go into details but it was not fun and even now writing about it, it makes me emotional.
I made it safely back to Virginia, though, and was happy to sleep in my own bed that night.
Overall, I loved my trip and enjoyed planning it. I am so grateful I was able to go and that my brother, Tim, was able to join me for most of it.
The Louvre! This was where my bus dropped me off.
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