Daily Photos & Frugal Travel Tips

Paris Train Station

The Dining Car

The Club Class room came with a free bottle of water, towels (not for taking) and a toilet case (with soap, comb, sewing kit, toothpaste, toothbrush, razor and shaving cream, paper tissues and earplugs - this you can take)

Barcelona Train Station

ELIPSOS Trenhotel Train Trip From Paris To Barcelona

Instead of paying for another night at a hotel in Paris and flying out extremely early to catch the cruise ship from Barcelona, the hubby and I decided to take the ELIPSOS Trenhotel Train (or night train) from Paris to Barcelona.

There were three classes of travel to choose from. We chose the Club class. The two of us had a roomette to ourselves (double bunks), a sink, shared the washroom at the end of the car, and breakfast was provided.

Grand Class travelers had their own private washroom, a shower, and both dinner and lunch were provided. (We bought a baguette with brie cheese and pastries and made our own dinner)

Tourist class fits 4 people to a room (singles will be put in same sex roomettes) and no meals. For the price difference, we prefered having our own room.

The trip was comfortable (the beds, of course, were small and so was the room). The meal wasn’t anything to rave about, a step or two above airplane food. We did see a bit of the countryside before it got dark. That was a treat for the hubby who usually has to drive.

These trips do go on sale so keep checking back on the website

I knew at a glance that this building was building for an Exhibition. It was, the Paris Exhibition of 1900. It is built of glass and ironwork. It was designed by four different architects with the lead being Charles Girault. It is still an exhibition hall today which means it is open to the public (but usually for a fee).

Not all buildings in Paris are 100’s of years old. The Opéra Bastille was opened in 1989, the bicentennial of the French Revolution. It takes up almost an entire city block and one critic called it a ‘hippopotamus in a bathtub’ in that delightful French way of describing things. It was designed by Carlos Ott.

Getting tickets is very, very difficult. Performances are sold out months in advance.