Trafalgar Hotel: Hilton La Defense (Paris)

Misterpiggy stayed at the Hilton La Defense while in Paris.  The La Defense is a business district with lots of office buildings and home to the Grande Arche and the Quatre Temps giant shopping mall.  The hotel looks like an aircraft hangar from the outside and piggy read somewhere that it used to be an exhibition/convention centre? Anyways, now there are offices, shops, eateries and the hotel inside.  

The outside.

from the shops looking up at the hotel.

and inside views, these are the views from the room looking out.

There is a main shopping concourse at street level and two more shopping levels below that. Also convenient access to the Metro "1" line.

The rooms are spacious and modern.  With 3 phones even. one between the beds.

a phone on the desk and even one in the bathroom.  mini fridge and safe too.

giant sized bathroom.

All the usual toiletries. shampoo not necessary for misterpiggy and muki as neither one has any hair.

Muki doesn't need any Qtips either.

Misterpiggy found the room to be very comfortable.  No noise leakage from adjacent rooms.  It would have scored ten out of ten if there was free wi-fi.

Misterpiggy enjoyed his breakfasts on in the hotel restaurant located on the main level. The croissants and fresh juices were the best!

Misterpiggy's rating:

Size: 1
Comfort and storage: 1
Bathroom: 1
Roomsafe: 1
Breakfast: 1
Convenience and access: 1
Cleanliness: 1
View: 1
Quiet: 1
Free Internet/Wifi: 0

Score: 9 out of 10.  Misterpiggy would definitely stay here again (assuming cost was no object).

Day 11: Au Revoir to France

Although Marie had advised that the Hilton La Defense breakfast room would not be opened until 6:30 am, misterpiggy was lucky to be let in early and he savoured his last breakfast of fresh juices and croissants. 



Marie was there to bid Adieu to those leaving at 7 am to catch their morning flights.  The check in line up was long so it was lucky that misterpiggy got to the Charles De Gaulle airport early that day.
Thanks again to Marc, our competent and skilled driver!

In summary, Misterpiggy was impressed with the professionalism of all the Trafalgar staff and would highly recommend the French Escapade tour to anyone wanting to get a taste of Paris and the south of France.

Misterpiggy enjoyed many aspects of the tour including the chance to visit a perfumery and a winery, because he would never have done this on his own.   The villages of St. Paul du Vence, Eze and Avignon were a photographers delight.  Nice was a beautiful city in it's own right and misterpiggy would like to to revisit it in the future.  The visit to the Dulac patisserie in the Rhone valley was a nice surprise also.

There were little things that delighted Misterpiggy though seemingly trivial.   Listening to the string symphonie outside the Comedie Francaise.  Light, flaky and delicious croissants and pastries.  Ditto for the crepes.  And french fries!  Now misterpiggy knows why they are called "french" fries, so crispy and light.  Ok here's a surprise one, the paper napkins in all of the hotels were as thick as linen.  Misterpiggy was so impressed with them, that he brought one back as a souvenir!

If there was one part of the tour that Misterpiggy found disappointing, it was the visit to Monte Carlo and Monaco.  Misterpiggy wasn't allowed in the hotels (he didn't bring a tuxedo) and couldn't take pictures in the casino, so he wished he had spent more time by the waterfront. Perhaps Trafalgar could make Monte Carlo an optional tour in future.

Well this wraps up Misterpiggy's trip report. He will definitely return to Paris one day to see Versailles, The Louvre in it's entirety and visit Montmartre, the Latin Quarter and stroll along the Seine.

Stay tuned for future blog posts to see and hear what misterpiggy has to say about the hotels which he stayed at duing the course of the trip.

A bien tot from misterpiggy!

Day 10: Last day in Paris

It was a particularly blustery and windy day as Misterpiggy went on the Paris city tour. Somehow misterpiggy lucked out because here he was at the front of the bus again. The tour group was joined by Katherine?, a local guide, as Marc drove down the Ave Charles De Gaulle, and then via beautiful tree lined streets near Les Invalides towards the Eiffel Tower.

Misterpiggy thinks that this building is called L'Hotel des Invalides.

And this is the Ecole Militarie.

Le pont des Invalides et le grand palais?

Marc pulled the tour bus into Champs de Mars and everyone got off the bus for the group photo and views of the Eiffel tower.

Marie had to make a mad dash from the group photo spot to the Eiffel Tower in time to buy the group tickets.  By the time the group reboarded the bus and Marc dropped everybody off at the base of the tower, Marie had the tickets and was there in line saving a place for the entire group!   And what a busy day it was.  Only one elevator was working so the line-ups were long.

Here are some pics of the Eiffel tower as misterpiggy waited to go up.

And here are the views from the second level observation deck, where it was really cold and gusty.

Unfortunately it was too windy for misterpiggy to take a picture outside lest he be blown off the railing.  For the afternoon, many of the group members took the optional tour to Versailles and Marc was driving them there, so misterpiggy made his own way back to La Defense via the Metro.

It was nice that afternoon to finally have some leisure time to see some of the stores in the Quatre Temps mall across from the hotel.  Best of all there was free wifi throughout the mall so misterpiggy could publish his exciting adventures in lovely  France!

Later that evening, everybody said their goodbyes at the farewell dinner at a restaurant on the Champs Elysees.  A final thank you to Trafalgar tour director Marie Dubois, who took care of misterpiggy and everyone so well and made for a wonderful vacation experience.

Day 9: Lyon to Paris

It was a very long day for misterpiggy on Saturday.  He had to catch the TGV from Lyon back to Paris and the train station in Lyon Gare Part Deux was bustling.  His train left promptly at 9:04 am and arrived in Paris at around 11 am.

Don't worry, he didn't jump off the platform.

Misterpiggy travelled in coach #8 which Marie had reserved for the trafalgar group.

The TGV upon arrival at Gare Lyon in Paris.

Marc was driving the tour bus back all the way from Lyon, so the tour group was met at the Paris train station by a different bus that did some sightseeing along the right bank on the way to the Louvre.

Some of the tour group were taking the optional Trafalgar Louvre tour but misterpiggy decided to explore the grounds on his own instead. One day he will return to Paris and see the Louvre museum in it's entirety.

With so little time, misterpiggy had a quick lunch at McDonalds before strolling along the river Seine and admiring the many bridges and beautiful french architecture.  He couldn't resist taking a boat ride so he boarded one at St. Germaine Du Pres and did a half loop around, getting back off at the Louvre.

Before meeting the tour bus for the trip back to the Hilton La Defense,  Misterpiggy very much enjoyed listening to the the string orchestra that was performing near the Comedie Francaise.

Misterpiggy would have preferred to stay all day at the Louvre area, except he had to return to the Hilton hotel in La Defense to check in for his last two nights of this trip. Luckily his boat ticket was good all day long, so misterpiggy took the Metro back into town in the evening and resumed his boat ride.

Misterpiggy Bato-bus arrived at the tour d'Eiffel just as the lights were coming on.  He made his way across the river to get a better vantage point. Afterwards he managed to get on the very last boat departing the Eiffel tower at 9:20 pm and returned to the original departure point.

The Metro from Palais Royale was only 9 metro stops back to La Defense so misterpiggy was snugly in bed by 11 pm.