Sometimes it refreshing to hear a first time visitor’s experience of Paris   Mariella , daughter of our Florida specialist Noula visited Paris for the first time just before Christmas  and here’s her account. 

‘The Eurostar is always an adventure, exactly all that you could ask for when travelling from London to Paris. Exiting the train, you find yourself in the famous Gard du Nord – Paris’s international station – it’s daunting yet stunning but it is the streets just outside that you long to explore.

I had the pleasure at staying at the Hotel Lorette Opera which is a casual 15 minute walk from the station. And within the 15 minutes you realise you are in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. You pass quaint cafes, flower shops and all things Parisian. The hotel is best described as an undiscovered gem; the decor is very arty and pretty with lovely little pieces of furniture. The rooms are more than you could ask for, in size and in cleanliness, with views of a picture perfect terrace, and of course the streets of Paris. On walking in the reception staff are very accommodating and friendly, going that little bit further to make your stay comfortable. And as well as all this, not only is it near to Gard du Nord but it is a 5 minute walk from Sacre Coeur, a beautiful church and area from which you can see all of Paris and get yourself a one of a kind painting from the artist that congregate around the inspiring atmosphere. Paris’s centre of bohemia is not too far from the Moulin Rouge which is a tourist hot spot and although is most famous is not something to go out of your way for.

Paris is famous for its museums, and there are many of them. The Louvre is a must see, with its location being in the centre and right next the Seine, it is perfectly finished with a walk along the river bank. Here you can pick up an antique book or an old French film poster, or pop into a little cafe and have a crepe, all of which will put a smile upon your face. One exhibit that is currently on at Galleries Nationales is the Renoir exhibition; his progression through painting is beautifully displayed and can be appreciated by those in the know, and by those who know a little less. Although the gallery is located on the Champs-Elysées, it is better to pre-book tickets then to wander in after a spot of shopping.

Although most are afraid to venture too far from the city centre, an absolute must see is Versailles. Only 25 minutes on the metro and you are taken to a palace of amazing history and beauty. the gardens are breath-taking but so are the roofs above your head; the use of gold along with the statues is something quite unlike any other. Throughout the tour inside you learn tid bits of exciting facts, as well as witnessing the place in which the history of the French monarchy occurred. Hidden away is a little library with bricked walls, where you can finds books in many languages that can explain more about French history and its monarchy. I imagine in the summer time the palace to be stunning; however, in the winter with a little bit of snow it was just as exquisite.   

They call Paris the city of lights; it could be the city of many things as there is just so much culture, sights and things to do (as well as visiting all the stores). One thing that Paris will never fail to accomplish is to bring a feeling of warmth to all that visit. 

Any other first time views of either Eurostar or Paris  out there ??

Noticed in the Guardian last week that the Grand Palais’ impressive hall has under gone something of a transformation

A memorial to nothing … Christian Boltanski’s work at the Grand Palais, Paris. Photograph: Didier Plowy

I must admit that I have been won over by the huge peices at the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall but can see that they do provoke a Marmite reaction , which is part of the point.

From the 23rd of Feb the Grand Palais returns to a more traditional form of Art with the acclaimed  Turner and the Masters Exhibiton moving from the Tate Britain moving to Paris  before going on to Madrid.

Very well recieved in the UK the exhibiton shows how Turner was influenced by those who came before him , I enjoyed it.

However it’s probalbly worth noting that my main achievement in Art was a 17% exam score - so what do I know. 

19th Jan 2010: it is that time of the year again!!! For the Travel Industry it is a date to be remembered. In fact yesterday, The Travel Weekly honoured the trade’s favourite suppliers and it revealed the winners of the 2010 Globe Travel Awards at a lavish ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel. 

 A total of 47 awards were featured and winners included key travel suppliers like Eurostar as Best Rail Operator and Favourite European Short-break Provider, P&O Ferries as Best  Ferry and Walt Disney World Florida as Best Theme Park operators.

Over 1,000 guests attended The Travel Weekly Awards which represents one of the key events of the year for the Travel Industry and the celebrity host Alan Carr, supported by the co-host Kirsty Allsop, did his usual bit to spice the evening up presenting the awards to the several winners.

We , like Eurostar , are just coming out of dealing with the fallout of the trains stuck in the tunnel. I can only imagine how it felt for those who were on the affected trains and also those whose journeys were affected. Eurostar do have to provide a robust explanation of  what happened and how they propose to deal with situations like this in the future. These questions have partly been addressed in Richard Brown’s open letter
   and will also be further and probably more critically dealt with by the independant commission set up to look into issue  which is due to  report in the next week or so.

We too have lessons to learn from having to deal with this situation the team here, despite having at times to deliver difficult news , dealt with the situation as well as they could in the circumstances. As with the majority of travellers we suffered from not having information being passed to us from Eurostar and therefore were not able to communicate as effectively as we would have hoped.  When we were passing information on that  was sometime contradicted online and also by Eurostar staff themselves causing our customers even more distress in an already stressful situation.

One area where we definitely needed to improve was to advise those customers who were already on the Continent - again the same problem arose  in terms of not having correct information to pass on from Eurostar but also by the fact that many customers , being independent travellers were uncontactable - that aside it was certainly something that we didn’t handle well. Our PR company Faust PR  were in Paris for their annual Xmas trip - their insight into the problems experienced have been invaluable . When there were further disruptions due to the snow in the last week or so we were able to deal with this in a much better manner but the process does need streamlining.

I really want to emphasise that we did our best in what were difficult circumstances in what was our busiest weekend for travellers in 2009 and while hoping that we do not have to deal with such an occurence in the near future  - feel sure that we will be better placed to deal with them.

I’d like to thank the team here at Short Breaks for the way they dealt with the Eurostar disruption  and all our customers who were affected , the vast majority of whom have now rebooked what will hopefully have a trouble free break.

St Rumbold's Cathedral

Have you ever heard of the Flanders Region? Do you know how far it is? Did you know that one of the Flanders cities has a link with the famous composer Ludwig van Beethoven?

Well, I understand for many could sound surprising but the Flanders region is only just over 2 hrs from us and includes cities like Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp, Ghent, Leuven and many more. However, with this blog I would like to introduce Mechelen.
Mechelen may be small, but it is perfectly formed and ideal for a weekend break.

The capital of the Lowlands or Burgundian Netherlands Read more…