Bonjour, Paris (again)

The last stop on my gypsy travels through Europe is Paris. The first time around, I only got to explore the city for a few days, so there is a lot I still want to see.

My mom met me in Paris, and it was good but weird to see her. On the one hand, I’ve been away for three months. But then again, I’ve had the chance to see and talk to her over Skype pretty regularly. More than anything, now that my trip is nearing its end, I feel like it went by so freaking fast!

The flight from Warsaw was ok, although my trip started with having to pay over $100 for my overweight luggage. Hey, you accumulate a lot after three months of travel. Plus my grandma gave me a humongous suitcase that I can literally fit into!

Although the plane I was on was probably the smallest I’ve ever flown in, the flight itself was relatively ok. I think I actually prefer flying in those smaller jets. But this one only had three seats per row. And of course I was in row 13 again!

Flying into Paris

My mom and I reunited at our hotel, Relais du Marais. Our room is ok – a bit small and not in the most central location, but at least it’s very clean. And not across the street from non-stop construction. And close to the metro and busses. So overall, a pretty decent value.

Hotel review: Au-Royal Cardinal

Our hotel room in Paris was pretty nice – even bigger than the one in London. No nightmares so far like the tiny box Adrian and I had in Barcelona.

The Au-Royal Cardinal offered us a really nice, clean room, with a big bathroom and two balcony windows. The windows provided some much-needed ventilation since it’s been non-stop hotness since we arrived in Europe.

Our hotel was a short walk from the Notre Dame & Ile St. Louis, which are not bad landmarks to be near. There was also a metro stop (Cardinal Lemoine) literally a block away which got us to all the major attractions.

Unfortunately, the location of the Au-Royal Cardinal is ridiculously noisy right now. I never really understood why noise was such an issue for some people on hotel review sites, but now I get it! Between the traffic, the people and the construction site outside our window, it was actually hard to fall asleep. The jack-hammering was borderline funny in its absurdity.

Other than that, I did actually really like the hotel:

1. It has an elevator
2. It has balcony windows – one of which is in the bathroom, which is a blessing
3. It has a safe (that’s free and that actually works!)
4. The staff was really helpful and answered our many questions. One guy even told me I was very beautiful (thank you for the self-esteem boost)!
5. It was close to a number of major attractions, and close to public transportation that got us to the further attractions.