Paris, July 2025

 

I booked this trip with a Eurostar deal,  costing £540 for two with rail travel and 3 nights B&B way back in March for July travel - as we were there a few days before Bastille Day, I think we were very lucky to get a booking!

We live close to Gatwick airport, so from there took a 40 minute train journey into London to Kings Cross St Pancras to pick up the Eurostar to Paris.  The train was comfortable, with onboard cafe, air conditioned and had big windows - the window seat was wasted though as I slept half the journey - it only takes about 2 1/2 hours. 

On arrival at Garde du Norde Eurostar, we took the Metro to our hotel.  The quickest line (line 9) was out of service on that section for maintenance but we found its a good network with alternatives and made it to Grand Boulevard and to our hotel in about 30 mins.    We could have taken a bus (or taxi) but I think the metro is best.  We bought Navigo passes which can easily be topped up at machines and enable travel on the RER, Metro, trams and buses.

We stayed at Best western (Blvd Montmartre),  a 3 star in The opera district, not opera or theatre buffs but chosen as within walking distance of river, metro and bus routes.  The hotel is hidden away in one of the many covered passages of quirky shops and cafes, which date back to the late 18th century and were intended for people to shop without getting  wet or.muddy.  some of them, like ours, had underfloor heated tiled floors... so underfloor heating is not a new thing!  Ours was next door to the Grevin Wax Works, the oldest of it's kind in Europe... more info on these passages HERE*

Grand Boulevard Metro

From our base we were a 30 minute walk to The Louvre so started out next morning on foot - it is a great way to find bars, eateries and bureau de change to mentally note for later  -  even a Carrefour supermarket! Avoids a lot of dithering later about where you will spend your evenings too as you will spot cafes and restaurants to go to later.

Extended happy hour (5-11pm)!

more evenings with happy hours!  

above:  Riha Turkish kebab cafe selling bread made while you wait, wrapped with freshly cooked kebab meat or (for me) feta cheese and salad.

We bought hop on hop off tickets for the Batobus tourist boat which takes you by river to every attraction and is such a nice way to see things.  There are ticket kiosks on the riverside where the boat stops but you can also buy online.  The boats are glass  topped, in the current European heatwave they were very hot and sides were opened.  I can imagine that the rest of the year they are a great way to stay dry and warm whilst gettiing good views.  This is the cheapest way to get around without effort in my view, 23 Euro each for a 24 hour pass.  We visited all the attractions on day 1 apart from the Eiffel Tower which we felt needed a day of its own.

Outside The Louvre

Above is the route the boat takes.

We didn't go inside any of the attractions as were happy to view from outside and move on.  We did spend time though at the end of day 1 at the Jardin du Plantes as it was cool in the gardens and, being a gardener, I enjoyed seeing the herbs and flowers.  Most of the plants have a QR code sign nearby so you can scan to get info about the plant in your language if you can't read the French descriptions.  I particularly found of interest the details on medicinal/culinary uses of plants.

Day 2: we again walked to The Louvre and took the boat trip again (when we boarded we had one minute left on our boat pass!) we hopped off at Eiffel Tower.  There was a queue for tickets (and to go to the top, you need to book online well ahead), but we were happy to use the beautiful gardens (which are free) to get our pics and see it close up, we also got good pics from the boat.

We spent the afternoon walking from the Eiffel Tower back towards the Louvre, keeping to the river.  Along the river we saw people sunbathing and also enjoyed seeing the houseboats.  We tried to keep in the shade and carried 2 litre bottles of water (Carrefour supermarket 0.63c cheapest!) which we refilled free inside the park near Madeleine area, where some friendly security guards allowed us to access a fenced off water fountain -- fenced off in preparation for the Bastille Celebrations due to start 14th July - hundreds of chairs were set up lining the streets in this area.  

Carrefour supermarket

Grevin waxworks

Lunches were easy: so many little cake and baguette shops around- this cafe offered a meal deal for 11 Euro of huge baguette (roquefort cheese, salad), dainty raspberry tart and cold drink.

Both evenings were spent in the hotel area (Opera)  where there were plenty of bars (with happy hours that went on into the night 5-11pm so we enjoyed light lager or house wine).  There is a huge selection of restaurants.  We chose an Israeli cafe for falafel salad day 1 and the following night, a Kurdish cafe for beef kebabs and veggie feta salad wraps for me.  There is also a KFC and a McDonalds.  There are of course numerous places for fine dining, but that isn't what we wanted.  

Pics above of view and also beautiful interior of la Fayette department store.

I had done my research and knew La Fayette department store was on the same road as our hotel, if you take the escalators up to the 6th floor, then walk the stairs to the roof, there is a great view of the whole of Paris from there, it has a glass safety rail all the way round and you can take pictures from there.

Below are pics of the general area we stayed in..

Our journey home on day 3 was easy, retracing our footsteps by metro to Eurostar for a very comfortable journey back to London.

For rail travel info I recommend *The man in seat 61* as  an online resource, he's made it his full time job so it's up to date and reliable.

Thailand 2025: Kao Lak

On departing Chiang Mai with Asia Airlines, we were allowed use of their airside lounge, it was really nice to sit comfortably and have free tea, coffee, orange juice, popcorn and mini tartlets.  the flight from Chiang Mai to Phuket was about 90 minutes, then a one hour taxi to Kao Lak where our  villa awaited .... 

which had its own 25 ft pool, lounge with 2 tv, large comfy bedroom, tea and coffee, mini fridge, rain shower.

The resort had two sides facing The sea, separated by a lagoon with a bridge for access but at low tide we found we could walk across the lagoon bed.

There were pools on both sides, open air restaurants which offered a la carte lunch and dinner, buffet breakfast.  All the food was good, we mostly ate Thai food.

The sea was shallow and the beach sandy, a lot of people were surfing.

Our villa private pool, what a treat!

From our villa, a 5 minutes walk through pine woods took us to the elephant sanctuary.

During covid there was a large intake as the decline in tourism and labour (logging) meant the owners could not afford to keep their elephants,.  Some have been at the sanctuary a long time before covid though as they can live to 100, change hands as outlive owners, and eventually are not wanted.

They are gentle although some have behavioural problems like swaying due to previous confinement and poor treatment

There are two babies age 3 and 4 years old. We visited twice and the second time I fed one some milk.

We were uncertain of how the elephants feel about the  tourist intervention, they certainly enjoy being fed sugar cane.  Some people go with them to bathe, we didnt.  The number of visitors is limited and visits are early morning or evening. They are taken out into the forest at night to forage but stay in the compound with their mahout to sleep.

We took a trip into town on market day, some pics below.  We love a good market!  We got good, strong, mosquito repellent and some nuts and snacks.  There was a 7/11 shop and a cannabis shop, which is legal in Thailand in small amounts.

The. Boat below is for the royal family, when the 2004 Tsunami hit, it was washed inland 2km to this spot and has remained there with a memorial and museum built around it.

Kao Lak has small bars and restaurants and is very welcoming.  The market is mainly for tourists, we managed to buy beer cooler sleeves!

We had a few thunderstorms with torrential rain, The monsoon season is starting.  It has been 95% humidity and temperatures in the 30s but we have adapted quickly.  We slept a lot and I read 3 book!

It has been a wonderful trip and we have made some great memories.