Short trip to Paris by train

Paris – Actually the “City of Love”?

Short trip to Paris by train – It was once again time to get away from it all. So without further ado, we asked our dear friends if they would accompany us on a short trip to Paris. You have to know, our friends are always happy about our spontaneous ideas and if time allows, they are also there.

Since we have resolved to travel by train more often in 2023, it was obvious to travel to Paris by train as well. And as a short exercise for my train ride to Lake Garda, this should be a good one. So far, we have only taken the train for business, we have not used it for vacations or short trips. So said, done, called the booking portal of Deutsche Bahn on the Internet and booked the tickets at a good price.

Well, it was not quite that simple 😁 But what should I bore you here with the drama Deutsche Bahn. The fact that you couldn’t book the tickets on the homepage, the eternal waiting loop on the phone, being connected further and so on and so forth. But no excitement helps and in the end everything went well. In the end, it turned out that there was probably a construction site on this route. Therefore, at that time it was impossible to say if and when the train would run on our planned travel day. After all, everything worked out in the end!

Public transport in Paris

Public transportation in Paris offers a variety of ways to get around the city quickly and comfortably. We have tested three of the Parisian means of transport: The metro, the bus and the Batobus.

The Metro is the fastest and most efficient means of public transportation in Paris.

The bus is another popular means of public transportation in Paris. You need a little longer, but you also see more than with the subway.

A unique mode of transportation in Paris is the Batobus, a water cab that runs on the Seine. The Batobus stops at nine stations along the Seine, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the Louvre. It’s a great way to explore the city from the water while getting from one place to another.

All three modes of transportation are integrated into Paris’ public transportation network and there are several ticket options. See the FAQ at the end of the article.

Day 1: City trip Paris – Arrival

Punctually at 7:22 a.m., the train departed from the main station in Kaiserslautern and we first treated ourselves to a sip of champagne. 😂 Time flew by! When we arrived at the train station in Paris Est, we first decided to take the safe option and went with an Uber.

Then we went straight to the hotel, where we asked in advance by e-mail if we could store our luggage. When we arrived at the hotel, we could already move into a room and deposit our luggage. Then we went straight to the Porte de Clichy metro station, which was about a 5-7 minute walk from the hotel.

Our first destinations were Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. On the way in the metro, however, hunger made itself felt and we decided to go to Creperie Broceliande, which was a really good choice. We had gallettes for lunch and crêpes for dessert. Happy, satisfied, satiated and in a good mood, we set off to visit the Montmartre neighborhood.

For the evening we reserved a table at the Hard Rock Cafe, which is almost a tradition with us. We like the atmosphere there and Andy likes to take another t-shirt or one for our son.

On the way to the Hard Rock Cafe we made a short detour to the Louvre. We didn’t go to the museum, but the whole area around the Louvre was very impressive.

Day 2 in Paris: Sightseeing & Whispering Pub Tour

The accommodation we had booked, as already mentioned, with breakfast. So we could start the 2nd day relaxed and strengthened.

On this day we tried sightseeing by batobus! At first we wanted to book a guided sightseeing tour, but that was just beyond our budget. So we stumbled upon Batobus tickets on GetyourGuide and found it a great way to explore Paris on our own. We opted for the 1-day pass for 19 euros per person. On the site of Batobus you can also look at the route in advance and decide already there where to get off or just ride along the Seine for a while.

We started our tour at the Place de la Concorde. From there, it took about 20 minutes to get to the first top spot, the Eiffel Tower. When we arrived at our first destination, we felt like there were hundreds of vendors waiting for us to sell their miniature versions of the Eiffel Tower. After fighting our way through the army of vendors and taking a few photos, we made our way to the other side of the tower, the Trocadéro. From there you should have a great view of the Eiffel Tower! We can absolutely confirm that! We then tried quite unsuccessfully as photo artists and shot what felt like 1000 photos before heading back to the vaporetto.

The second stop, by now driven by hunger, took us to the famous Parisian neighborhood of Saint-Germain. When Andy is hungry, he is unstoppable and becomes obnoxious…. Käthe then quickly reserved a table by cell phone at the Clown, also a creperie, never change a running system. At least that’s what we thought after the great experience the day before. The creperie was very busy, we only got a seat at the door. When this is constantly opening and closing and it’s freezing cold outside, the coziness unfortunately falls somewhat by the wayside. Since Andy’s hunger had already reached the maximum bearable and we also urgently needed to go to the bathroom, we decided to stay. Conclusion: The food was ok, the service of our waiter was mixed, but at least Andy was halfway full and our bladders were emptied.

The third stop took us to Notre Dame. The sight is already impressive, even if much was destroyed by the great fire of 2019 and a tour is currently not possible. We are curious to see what the “new” Notre Dame will look like in a few years….

To round out the beautiful day with our friends in Paris, we booked a whispering pub cra wl. We had this kind of tour once before in New York and it was a lot of fun.

Meeting point for the whispering pub cra wl was in front of the Cirque d’Hiver. Our German speaking tour guide Felix led us together with his boss Cali to the first bar. Admission to the pub was only possible by entering a code via a telephone keypad. Well, if the guide knows the code… The cocktails tasted very good, the ambience was great and the atmosphere was also very good. Then we moved on to the second bar, which led us to a bar that was in the back of the kitchen of a Mexican restaurant. It was cool to walk through the kitchen past the staff and into the bar. Again, the cocktails were delicious and the atmosphere was great. Fortunately, there were also some snacks, Andy’s stomach was growling again. Cali then had to leave for her next tour, Felix stayed with us and chatted a bit about life in Paris.

The tour was actually already over when Felix suggested we visit a third speakeasy. We thought that was really great and of course we accepted. Finally, the alcohol level was slowly reaching a level that demanded MORE :-). Unfortunately, we had to wait a bit outside, because the place was packed and the security was regulating the entrance. Luckily Felix knew one of the guys and was able to speed up our entry a bit before he said goodbye. The third location was in the back room of a snack bar and was awesome. The drinks were again excellent, the music exactly to our taste. One cocktail later, we took the metro back to the hotel, satisfied and slightly buzzed.

Tickets for Batobus & Whispering Pub Tour in Paris:

Day 3 in Paris: Departure

After breakfast at the hotel we started our journey home. Since we felt safe after 2 days of bus and metro experience, we took the bus to Gare de L’Est. Since we were a little early at the station, we spent the time waiting for the train in a café at the station. The train ride was again very relaxed and we were back in Kaiserslautern on time.

We decided for us to make another short trip to Paris by train. Just going to Paris on a Saturday and visiting the Louvre Museum. Then finish the evening with a nice meal and go back home the next day.

So, we can confirm a little “city of love” is true. ❤