A successful day trip by metro and on foot
As a sightseeing day for Paris we had chosen a Saturday. Blue sky, a spring-like breeze and the sun was beaming with us.
Since we did not want to take a cab or the train, we dared and drove the 30 km to Paris with our campervan - right into the city - according to the motto "nothing ventured, nothing gained". After some searching we found a suitable parking place southeast of Paris near the small park Lac de Saint-Mandé. Our Citroen Jumper is fortunately only 6 m long and basically not much wider than a normal passenger car. With a larger motorhome you would not have a chance here, the city is built too narrow for that. But there are a bit outside of Paris many possibilities to park even the big motorhomes.
„We fell for the charm of Paris after just a few moments.”
A short walk to the Saint-Mandé metro station and a few metro stops later, we were finally standing in the middle of the hustle and bustle. Riding the metro in Paris alone is quite an experience, even for a city slicker like me. And since we are the kind of tourists who make little to no plans beforehand, we just stood there and walked - always following our noses. I knew only one thing, I want to see Notre Dame, at least from the outside, I want to stroll along the Seine and eat an ice cream, I want to see the Eiffel Tower and I want to try to immerse myself in the city.
And what can I say, it was just great! I got my ice cream by the river, we walked around Notre Dame, wandered the streets, walked over bridges, feasted on macarons, drank coffee, rested on a playground, looked at the beautiful botanical garden Jardin des Plantes, snacked on ice cream again and ended up back at the Lilly after over 7 hours completely exhausted. At the end of the day my watch showed over 17,500 steps. Only the Eiffel Tower did not make it onto the list. Unfortunately we only saw it from a distance and after the following two days at Disneyland we didn't want to do it anymore.
The car was also, how could it be otherwise, completely intact in its place. Thanks to the built-in GPS tracker, we could but in between also always a little schmulen on the app, whether everything is still in order. That was very reassuring. All in all, we can say that we are absolutely addicted to the magic of Paris and we have definitely not been the last time in this city.
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