Doing London & Paris in April

Great combination, especially with the Chunnel train. We have done it a few times. We have not taken many day trips out of London but we have taken several out of Paris. Some of our favorites are Reims (for the Cathedral and Champagne houses), Giverny (Monet's house and gardens, Chartres (Cathedral) and Versailles. All are a fast and easy train ride away from Paris.

Paris to Versailles on the train is easy; the gardens are absolutely enormous and well worth a visit. I thought the Trianon & hameau were more interesting than the Chateau itself. There is a branch of the cafe Angelina inside the chateau, so you can have a hot chocolate or pastry if eating in famous places is a thrill. Also in Versailles is the fascinating Potager Royale--the king's walled, multi acre vegetable garden. If you are at all interested in agriculture, garden design, etc it is an interesting space. The town of Versailles has a nice central covered market, too. Several companies offer bicycle tours of the town & gardens; or you can just rent a bike in town. The gardens themselves are VERY spread out; a bike isn't a bad idea once you leave the train station.

As far as BA, my wife and I flew them last fall DFW-LHR and the service was the best we have ever had. We were in regular coach. It seemed like non-stop food, wine with with each serving and then just random offerings of drinks, all at no charge.

Both Westminster Abbey and Notre Dame have admission charges unless you're attending a church service. So does St Paul's in London.

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frick Versailles.

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Agreed. I mean it is impressive and all but I could have lived without it.

For a day trip from paris I would take a train to Reims and do Champagne houses.

Honestly, if you've never been to either, you don't need to do any day trips as both places are jampacked with things to do.

We did a day trip from London to the Cotswolds. We used the Secret Cottage tour, it was great. They pick you up at the train station, feed you at their house and return you in time to catch the early evening train back. Just don't sit in one of the last 3 cars on the train out from Waterloo, those cars are dropped in Oxford.