I asked Dad, Mum and Stephen which European cities they wanted to visit during their short visit over this side of the world and they named Paris, Rome and Salzburg as their top pics. In Paris and Rome they certainly chose two of the largest and most popular cities in Europe to visit and with Salzburg they would get something a little smaller but no less beautiful and charming.

Hitting these three cities in just 11 days was going to prove interesting. I thought one of the ways of making the journey a true Euro-trip was to get everyone to use the overnight trains to travel between Paris and Salzburg and Salzburg and Rome. The fact that it was greener than flying was an added benefit. But before I get on to the train part of the journey – our first stop in Europe was Paris.

In Paris we spent a lot of time pounding the pavement – Dad loves nothing better than to just wander and explore. It’s a good sentiment because you do often miss quite a lot by just going from point to point – especially if you are stuck underground on the metro or something like that.

Here are the photo highlights of our Paris leg:

Walking around the Champs-Élysées and along the Seine

A day trip to Versailles. The Palace of Versailles was the centre of political power in France a long time ago but now welcomes many visitors to visit the beautiful golden gilded palace and lush gardens and fountains. If you can plan your visit to Versailles you would do well to buy your ticket in advance otherwise, like us, you will be subject to being stuck in the line for hours! Ticket prices are based on the bits inside the palace that you ant to enter but a visit to the garden is a must. Audio tours, for what they’re worth, are included in the entry price.

The interior of the Palace is as grand as the fence on the outside. Rather interestingly mixed in with the antique stuffs the Palace was also exhibiting some of Takashi Murakami’s work. Apparently he was on Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People list back in 2008. It was pretty cool combination of new and old.

The gardens were an absolute delight and at specified times the fountains are switched on so you can enjoy them in all their glory.

No visit to Paris is complete without a visit to the Eiffel Tower. The day for our visit was really nice – I was a bit cruel and made Stephen and my parents climb the Tower. Heh heh. But I think it would have been crueler still to make them wait in line for ages! Actually, I think we all had a lot of fun climbing the stairs. It really was a gorgeous day to be doing so.

The other must visit for many tourists is the Louvre. My family, including me, are not the greatest for art galleries and museums but the Louvre actually managed to hold our interest for more than an hour on this visit. Dad was absolutely fascinated by the sculptures. The line to get in was surprisingly long, even despite the fact it was a constantly drizzle. The entrepreneurs were out selling their umbrellas at ridiculous prices – but if you’re getting a soaking you’d probably pay the world for one!

There were some funny finds in Paris including the ability to order your own meals from a kiosk at McDonalds and the fact we went to the Hippopotamus Restaurant Grill for more than one meal! I asked Caro about the chain when I got back to London and I don’t think she would have recommended it – but we enjoyed the food enough – clearly enough to go back again for another visit!

Oh and I made sure that we didn’t leave without trying out some frog legs … even if it was in a Chinese restaurant!

So, getting on the overnight train to Salzburg was interesting. The train was definitely a step down from the train that Pat and I took when in Finland last December … but we had at least booked out the whole cabin – which, if you can believe it, supposedly fits 6 people! With 4 people we could at least convert two of the beds into a couch. It was cosy and noisy but really good for me to get to sleep because of the rocking of the train.