As we mentioned, London was quite busy, being Easter weekend. On Saturday, we started our day by heading to the British Museum. We looked around a bit, saw the mummy exhibit, and had lunch.
Next, we went to the London Eye. We had preordered tickets, so we could just pick them up and get in line (which was like a 45 minute queue. (If you had just shown up, you had to buy tickets for a boarding time that was 3 hours later, so you couldn't get in line until then.)
The London Eye was very cool. They didn't cram the pods, so you had room to move about and see. The entire revolution takes 30 minutes. It was pretty cool, Right on the Thames, and again, we had nice weather, so you could see quite a distance.
After the London Eye, we went to Leicester Square and purchased half price tickets at the TKTS booth for Cabaret.
Next, we took the public bus throughout London to see the sights - we went past St. Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben, The London Eye, The Tower of London, and across the Tower Bridge. We were pretty tired, so we picked up dinner and took it back to our hotel.
Cabaret was awesome - Just a top notch performance in every sense of the word - the sets, the dancing, the acting - just an amazing show. But - gah - I was just crying after the show becasue I always feel so guilty for being so fortunate. I know, I am weird.
On Sunday, it was time to fly home. Luckily, the subway station right by our hotel is the Piccadilly line, which goes to the airport, so we didn't have to transfer of anything.
The long flight home had lots of good movies, which helped past the time. I watched The Pursuit of Happyness, Charlotte's Web, and Ms. Potter. I cried during each one - not too bad, though, because it kept my eyes moist on the dry flight. Grant watched The Pursuit of Happyness, and then on his PSP, he watched the South Park movie and 6 hours of Battlestar Galactica.
Overall, it was a great trip. I thought a week would not feel worth it - having to fly all the way to London and back - but I didn't. It was a great time, an awesome experience.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Friday, April 06, 2007
Friday - DLP to London - Bobbi Jo
This morning, we got up, packed our bags (always my least favorite part of travel) and grabbed the TGV to Lille, France, where we met the Eurostar. Our train was 10 minutes late getting to Lille. When we went to check in for the Eurostar, we were told we needed to go to the ticket office first to get tickets (our print out was not enough.) The self check in did not read our American Credit Card, so we had to wait in a line of about 12 people to get our tickets. The only problem was, at this point, our train was due to leave in 20 minutes, we had to go through passport control, and they kept making announcements that check in for the Eurostar would close soon.
We got our tickets with about 5 minutes to spare, and ran over to check in where they literally closed the gate behind us. We had to present our passports to both the French and the British authorities. Luckily, the lady took our tickets and checked us in while we were waiting for the British officials to finish with our passports. Then we ran through the metal detectors and put our bags through the x-ray and made it to down to the platform about a moment before the train pulled into the station.
Did I mention that the Eurostar is like an airline, and the ticket was "nonflexible," meaning if we had missed it, we would have had to buy another ticket, at full fare, and lost the money we spent on the first set.
Anyway, after that stress, it was nice to relax on the train for the last hour and a half of our trip.
Once we got to London, we followed the online directions to our hotel - but the directions were really bad - we walked about a half a mile and there was a subway station MUCH closer to our hotel. (The good news is that the stop closer to our hotel has a line that goes directly to the airport, which will help on Sunday.)
We are staying at the Marriott Renaissance Chancery Court - Super posh digs. After settling in, we wend to Leicester Square to the TKTS booth to get tickets for a show. First of all, it is unbelievably crowded. The streets were just pouring with people. Second of all, as you get off the subway, there are a ton of signs directing you to the "real" 1/2 price ticket booth - and there are 4 or so so-called "real 1/2 price ticket booths," with lines 30 people long. (For the impatient, there is even a ticket window down in the tube station!)
However, at the TKTS booth (the for real real ticket booth) there was no line, and we got tickets to see Evita in the 4th row of the "stalls" - ie. the Orchestra section, and then end of the row. 55 pound tickets for 27.50, (and the 2.50 service fee.) I love the TKTS booth.
Next we walked to our theater to see where it was. After that, we stopped at a grocer store and then went back to the hotel to unpack, and book a ride on the London Eye for tomorrow.
Our show started at 7:30. It was amazing. The sets were brilliant, and the cast was impeccable. The lady who played Evita is an actress from Buenos Aires, so her accent (which was at first distracting) was authentic. She was an amazing dancer. The other thing that was distracting about her was how tiny she was. Che was awesome - attitude, voice, he had it all. The whole cast was amazing. We were so close it was easy to see facial expressions, spit, you name it. And because we were on the aisle, Grant had plenty of leg room (the row in front of us had one less seat.)
We just got back on the tube and I have been serenading Grant with Evita tunes...
We got our tickets with about 5 minutes to spare, and ran over to check in where they literally closed the gate behind us. We had to present our passports to both the French and the British authorities. Luckily, the lady took our tickets and checked us in while we were waiting for the British officials to finish with our passports. Then we ran through the metal detectors and put our bags through the x-ray and made it to down to the platform about a moment before the train pulled into the station.
Did I mention that the Eurostar is like an airline, and the ticket was "nonflexible," meaning if we had missed it, we would have had to buy another ticket, at full fare, and lost the money we spent on the first set.
Anyway, after that stress, it was nice to relax on the train for the last hour and a half of our trip.
Once we got to London, we followed the online directions to our hotel - but the directions were really bad - we walked about a half a mile and there was a subway station MUCH closer to our hotel. (The good news is that the stop closer to our hotel has a line that goes directly to the airport, which will help on Sunday.)
We are staying at the Marriott Renaissance Chancery Court - Super posh digs. After settling in, we wend to Leicester Square to the TKTS booth to get tickets for a show. First of all, it is unbelievably crowded. The streets were just pouring with people. Second of all, as you get off the subway, there are a ton of signs directing you to the "real" 1/2 price ticket booth - and there are 4 or so so-called "real 1/2 price ticket booths," with lines 30 people long. (For the impatient, there is even a ticket window down in the tube station!)
However, at the TKTS booth (the for real real ticket booth) there was no line, and we got tickets to see Evita in the 4th row of the "stalls" - ie. the Orchestra section, and then end of the row. 55 pound tickets for 27.50, (and the 2.50 service fee.) I love the TKTS booth.
Next we walked to our theater to see where it was. After that, we stopped at a grocer store and then went back to the hotel to unpack, and book a ride on the London Eye for tomorrow.
Our show started at 7:30. It was amazing. The sets were brilliant, and the cast was impeccable. The lady who played Evita is an actress from Buenos Aires, so her accent (which was at first distracting) was authentic. She was an amazing dancer. The other thing that was distracting about her was how tiny she was. Che was awesome - attitude, voice, he had it all. The whole cast was amazing. We were so close it was easy to see facial expressions, spit, you name it. And because we were on the aisle, Grant had plenty of leg room (the row in front of us had one less seat.)
We just got back on the tube and I have been serenading Grant with Evita tunes...
Thursday - Disneyland Paris - Grant
Thursday - Disneyland Paris
I’m writing this on the TGV from Disneyland Paris to Lille, where we will catch the Eurostar to London. Yesterday we went to the Disney Studios Paris, which is similar to MGM Studios at Disney World. Both Bobbi and I had heard bad things about the park so we were expecting the worst. We were pleasantly surprised.
We started the day off by watching Moteurs…Action, which is a stunt show with cars. They do really cool stuff with cars…lots of burn outs and crazy driving. It is a lot of fun to watch. The show originated at Disney Studios Paris, but was brought to MGM Studios at Disney World 2 summers ago because of its popularity. The show was just as fun to watch as the MGM Studios version, but a little harder to follow, as the show is hosted “live” by some “reporters”. The show is spoken in both English and French, alternating. One of the reporters spoke French, the other spoke English. They would tag team and I thought they did a good job with the “hand offs.” For example, when the French person was done speaking, the English person would say “That’s right….” and go on an repeat what the French person just said in English.
The language makeup at Disneyland Paris is VERY interesting. I would say that around 30% of the visitors speak French, another 30% speak, 10% Italian, 10% Spanish, 10% German and 10% other. EVERYTHING is in English and French. Many of the signs and attraction names are in English first and then French, which surprised me. The same goes for the menus. In attractions with TV monitors, they have 3 different video monitors, with the middle monitor containing the video and spoken audio (sometimes French, sometimes English) and then they would have captioning in 6 different languages on the TV monitors to the side.
Our favorite thing at the Disney Studios was Animagique, which was a really cool . It was a live action, musical show with Disney characters. The show starred Donald and Mickey. Donald spoke English and Mickey spoke French. It was really cute. Half the songs were in English and the other half in French. The show used a lot of blacklighting and reminded me of “Voyage of the Little Mermaid” at Disneyworld…only better.
They are building a Tower of Terror at Disney Studios as well. From the outside, it looks like a carbon copy of the one at California Adventure! They also have Aerosmith’s Rockin Roller Coaster which is nearly identical to the one at MGM Studios.
(Bobbi's Comments: One thing - half of the park - literally - was walled up because there was so much construction. Two new attractions will open this June, and of course, Tower of Terror, that Grant mentioned.)
We were able to do everything in the park in 6 hours, then we headed over to Disneyland and did some of our favorites for a 2nd time (Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Thunder Mountain). One really cool thing about Disneyland here is that they have lots of sit-down restaurants. At 6PM I was able to make a reservation at Walt's, an American Restaurant, for 8:00pm. (which is when the park closed). The food was very good (definitely American style) but the service was just as French as ever. For example, it took 20 minutes after we sat down before we ever saw the waiter, and a 3 course dinner took 2 hours! It didn’t bother us. We were seated at a window overlooking one of the streets on Main Street.
After that, we headed back to the hotel and packed!
(Bobbi's Note: To me, the one thing that reminded me the most that we were not in America was the armed guards patrolling the bus stops with machine guns.)
That’s all for now.
I’m writing this on the TGV from Disneyland Paris to Lille, where we will catch the Eurostar to London. Yesterday we went to the Disney Studios Paris, which is similar to MGM Studios at Disney World. Both Bobbi and I had heard bad things about the park so we were expecting the worst. We were pleasantly surprised.
We started the day off by watching Moteurs…Action, which is a stunt show with cars. They do really cool stuff with cars…lots of burn outs and crazy driving. It is a lot of fun to watch. The show originated at Disney Studios Paris, but was brought to MGM Studios at Disney World 2 summers ago because of its popularity. The show was just as fun to watch as the MGM Studios version, but a little harder to follow, as the show is hosted “live” by some “reporters”. The show is spoken in both English and French, alternating. One of the reporters spoke French, the other spoke English. They would tag team and I thought they did a good job with the “hand offs.” For example, when the French person was done speaking, the English person would say “That’s right….” and go on an repeat what the French person just said in English.
The language makeup at Disneyland Paris is VERY interesting. I would say that around 30% of the visitors speak French, another 30% speak, 10% Italian, 10% Spanish, 10% German and 10% other. EVERYTHING is in English and French. Many of the signs and attraction names are in English first and then French, which surprised me. The same goes for the menus. In attractions with TV monitors, they have 3 different video monitors, with the middle monitor containing the video and spoken audio (sometimes French, sometimes English) and then they would have captioning in 6 different languages on the TV monitors to the side.
Our favorite thing at the Disney Studios was Animagique, which was a really cool . It was a live action, musical show with Disney characters. The show starred Donald and Mickey. Donald spoke English and Mickey spoke French. It was really cute. Half the songs were in English and the other half in French. The show used a lot of blacklighting and reminded me of “Voyage of the Little Mermaid” at Disneyworld…only better.
They are building a Tower of Terror at Disney Studios as well. From the outside, it looks like a carbon copy of the one at California Adventure! They also have Aerosmith’s Rockin Roller Coaster which is nearly identical to the one at MGM Studios.
(Bobbi's Comments: One thing - half of the park - literally - was walled up because there was so much construction. Two new attractions will open this June, and of course, Tower of Terror, that Grant mentioned.)
We were able to do everything in the park in 6 hours, then we headed over to Disneyland and did some of our favorites for a 2nd time (Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Thunder Mountain). One really cool thing about Disneyland here is that they have lots of sit-down restaurants. At 6PM I was able to make a reservation at Walt's, an American Restaurant, for 8:00pm. (which is when the park closed). The food was very good (definitely American style) but the service was just as French as ever. For example, it took 20 minutes after we sat down before we ever saw the waiter, and a 3 course dinner took 2 hours! It didn’t bother us. We were seated at a window overlooking one of the streets on Main Street.
After that, we headed back to the hotel and packed!
(Bobbi's Note: To me, the one thing that reminded me the most that we were not in America was the armed guards patrolling the bus stops with machine guns.)
That’s all for now.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Disneyland Paris - Bobbi Jo
Today, Grant and I went to Disneyland Paris. It was only opened until 8:00, and it felt pretty crowded - but when you do the parks like Grant and I do, its possible to see quite a bit! We did really good!
Once we got our tickets, we started out by picking up fast passes to Big Thunder Mountain. (At Disneyland Paris, Frontierland and Adventureland are reversed, so going counter clockwise, after Main Street, Frontierland comes first.
The fastpasses here work the same way as home, except the window they give you is only 30 minutes. Also, I had read somewhere that they don't take them after time is up. I don't know if that is true, but we didn't want to risk it if it was.
Luckily, the Big Thunder Fast Pass was only about an hour and a half away. So while we waited, we rode Phantom Manor. I had forgotten how neat the queue was - it is like Tower of Terror at MGM, where you really feel like you are in the front yard of a wealthy mansion. The ride itself was not narrated (after the elevator scene, which was in French,) and although essentially the same as our at home, has a bit more of a plot. Also, the grave yard scene is COMPLETELY different.
After Phantom Manor, we went over to Adventureland. This version of Adventureland is my favorite version out of all of the parks I've been to - Partly becasue it is so big, I think. It had a middle east entrance, Aladdin themed, a portion of it is jungle themed, with Jungle Book music and the Indiana Jones roller coaster, Adventure Island, full of caves, bridges, sunken ships, The Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, and of course, Skull Rock, which is adjacent to a pirate ship and across the harbor of the looming fort that serves as the entrance to Pirates of the Caribbean.
Pirates was our second ride of the day, and it is every bit as wonderful as I remembered. Like Adventureland itself, this version of Pirates is my absolute favorite. The story line makes more sense, the drops serve as part of the story, and te queue completely sets the mood.
After Pirates, we still had a little time before our Big Thunder Fast Pass, and we had not eaten yet, so we ate lunch at "Cowboy Cookout BBQ." After lunch, we grabbed fast passes for Indiana Jones (remember - you can get a new fast pass as soon as the one you hold is useable, so grab a new one before you ride, if possible!) and then went to Big Thunder.
Big Thunder is a great ride. The layout is not the same as ours, but it is a similar ride. What makes it truly awesome, thought, is that the whole ride takes place on an island in the middle of the Frontierland River. (By the way, similar to the Magic Kingdom in Florida, DLP (DIsneyland Paris) has lots of water - small ponds, creaks, etc. There is a "river" in Fronteirland that surrounds Big Thunder, and is home to the river boats - one called the "Mark Twain." Anyways - Big Thunder Mountain loads on the "land" side, and the train goes under the lake via a tunnel to the island where the majority of the ride occurs - at the end, you roar back through the tunnel again. So cool.
Next, we hiked over to Tomorrowland - Oops - sorry - Discoveryland - to get a fast pass for Space Mountain. Then we went back to Adventureland and rode Indiana Jones, which is a small roller coaster. The ride itself is short, and a bit bumpy. After the ride, as I was getting out, well, I'm not sure how it happened, but I lost my footing, and knew I was going to fall - I started running/tumbling forward, hoping to regain my balance before I slammed my face in the ground, and saw a bench by a wall in front of me - I knew if I could crash into that, it would hurt a lot less. I made it and slammed into the wall with my hands and arms absorbing the shock and fell on to the bench. Literally, all of this took place in like three heavy run steps. I looked like a huge klutz - seriously, Funniest Home Videos. Everybody was staring. Oh well. I avoided serious injury, although my back and shoulders are pretty sore from the jolt.
On to better things. We went back to Discoveryland via Fantasyland. FIrst, we visited the dragon that sleeps under the castle. (I think we woke him up, because he got kind of cranky.) Then we rode "it's a small world," which is like ours in fast forward - a lot to take in, very neat.
ALso - we noticed - usually when you ride Pirates and its a small world, its a relief becasue you know its going to be nice and cool and AC'd. It was add (and welcoming) to have the rides be so WARM, because it was so cool out side - high of 55 with 10 MPH winds throughout the day - Grant says perfect theme park weather. I'm glad I had my scarf.
After "Small World," we got a FP for Star Tours, and then rode Space Mountain. This is NOTHING like ours - a full on rollercoaster with loops and everything. I liked it, but the ride WAS kind of jerky. Grant bopped his head on his restraint a few times.
Next, we walked through the Nautilus, Captain Nemo's submarine, and then went on Star Tours - we ended up NOT using our fast pass because we wanted to see the queue, and the line wasn't too long. The ride was mostly in French, however, parts of the soundtrack were in English - "Star Tours, you are going the wrong way..." and "Star Tours, what are you doing here? This is a combat zone, it's restricted. Ease off on your main thruster."
After that, we went over to get a fast pass for Peter Pan, but they were all out. So instead, we went over to Videopolis and watched a live stage show (the 5:00 show was in English) of "The Legend of the Lion King." (Before it started, one of the High School Musical songs played - it was a French Music Video of a French singer singing the song with clips of the movie in the background.)
After the show, we went over to Fantasyland and caught the train to take it all the way around the park. They have the Grand Canyon diorama, too, but here it is between Main Street and Frontierland.
After the train, we went through Alice's Curious Labyrinth, which is a hedge maze that take you through different scenes of Alice in Wonderland. I truly love this attraction. My favorite part is when it takes you into a spiral with the bird in the middle and the music playing from the scene where the animals are running in circles trying to dry off while the waves continue to get them wet - you feel like your running in a circle with them! The maze ends at the Queen of Hearts Castle, with a lovely view of Fantasy Land - after climbing more SPIRAL STEPS, of course!
We wanted to ride the story book canal, but they had closed at 6, so instead, we rode Snow White, Pinocchio, and then jumped in line for Peter Pan before the line closed at 8:00. These three rides, except for tiny differences, were carbon copies of Disneyland (Anaheim)'s version of these rides. ALl of the cars, though, had DisneyWorld stadium seating and one extra row from Disneyland's
As we got off Peter Pan, the park closed. We went to Main Street (walking down the arcade behind the stores) and did come shopping. Then we went to Disney Village and had a fast food dinner, with a crepe with nutella for dessert. (The guy making the crepes was from Finland - nice guy.) After cramming on a bus with 3,000 other people we finally made it back to the hotel. I don't even want to know how long it took me to type this - so I am going to go to bed now.
Tomorrow, Disney Studios Paris, and back to Disneyland to finish up! Au revoirs!
Once we got our tickets, we started out by picking up fast passes to Big Thunder Mountain. (At Disneyland Paris, Frontierland and Adventureland are reversed, so going counter clockwise, after Main Street, Frontierland comes first.
The fastpasses here work the same way as home, except the window they give you is only 30 minutes. Also, I had read somewhere that they don't take them after time is up. I don't know if that is true, but we didn't want to risk it if it was.
Luckily, the Big Thunder Fast Pass was only about an hour and a half away. So while we waited, we rode Phantom Manor. I had forgotten how neat the queue was - it is like Tower of Terror at MGM, where you really feel like you are in the front yard of a wealthy mansion. The ride itself was not narrated (after the elevator scene, which was in French,) and although essentially the same as our at home, has a bit more of a plot. Also, the grave yard scene is COMPLETELY different.
After Phantom Manor, we went over to Adventureland. This version of Adventureland is my favorite version out of all of the parks I've been to - Partly becasue it is so big, I think. It had a middle east entrance, Aladdin themed, a portion of it is jungle themed, with Jungle Book music and the Indiana Jones roller coaster, Adventure Island, full of caves, bridges, sunken ships, The Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, and of course, Skull Rock, which is adjacent to a pirate ship and across the harbor of the looming fort that serves as the entrance to Pirates of the Caribbean.
Pirates was our second ride of the day, and it is every bit as wonderful as I remembered. Like Adventureland itself, this version of Pirates is my absolute favorite. The story line makes more sense, the drops serve as part of the story, and te queue completely sets the mood.
After Pirates, we still had a little time before our Big Thunder Fast Pass, and we had not eaten yet, so we ate lunch at "Cowboy Cookout BBQ." After lunch, we grabbed fast passes for Indiana Jones (remember - you can get a new fast pass as soon as the one you hold is useable, so grab a new one before you ride, if possible!) and then went to Big Thunder.
Big Thunder is a great ride. The layout is not the same as ours, but it is a similar ride. What makes it truly awesome, thought, is that the whole ride takes place on an island in the middle of the Frontierland River. (By the way, similar to the Magic Kingdom in Florida, DLP (DIsneyland Paris) has lots of water - small ponds, creaks, etc. There is a "river" in Fronteirland that surrounds Big Thunder, and is home to the river boats - one called the "Mark Twain." Anyways - Big Thunder Mountain loads on the "land" side, and the train goes under the lake via a tunnel to the island where the majority of the ride occurs - at the end, you roar back through the tunnel again. So cool.
Next, we hiked over to Tomorrowland - Oops - sorry - Discoveryland - to get a fast pass for Space Mountain. Then we went back to Adventureland and rode Indiana Jones, which is a small roller coaster. The ride itself is short, and a bit bumpy. After the ride, as I was getting out, well, I'm not sure how it happened, but I lost my footing, and knew I was going to fall - I started running/tumbling forward, hoping to regain my balance before I slammed my face in the ground, and saw a bench by a wall in front of me - I knew if I could crash into that, it would hurt a lot less. I made it and slammed into the wall with my hands and arms absorbing the shock and fell on to the bench. Literally, all of this took place in like three heavy run steps. I looked like a huge klutz - seriously, Funniest Home Videos. Everybody was staring. Oh well. I avoided serious injury, although my back and shoulders are pretty sore from the jolt.
On to better things. We went back to Discoveryland via Fantasyland. FIrst, we visited the dragon that sleeps under the castle. (I think we woke him up, because he got kind of cranky.) Then we rode "it's a small world," which is like ours in fast forward - a lot to take in, very neat.
ALso - we noticed - usually when you ride Pirates and its a small world, its a relief becasue you know its going to be nice and cool and AC'd. It was add (and welcoming) to have the rides be so WARM, because it was so cool out side - high of 55 with 10 MPH winds throughout the day - Grant says perfect theme park weather. I'm glad I had my scarf.
After "Small World," we got a FP for Star Tours, and then rode Space Mountain. This is NOTHING like ours - a full on rollercoaster with loops and everything. I liked it, but the ride WAS kind of jerky. Grant bopped his head on his restraint a few times.
Next, we walked through the Nautilus, Captain Nemo's submarine, and then went on Star Tours - we ended up NOT using our fast pass because we wanted to see the queue, and the line wasn't too long. The ride was mostly in French, however, parts of the soundtrack were in English - "Star Tours, you are going the wrong way..." and "Star Tours, what are you doing here? This is a combat zone, it's restricted. Ease off on your main thruster."
After that, we went over to get a fast pass for Peter Pan, but they were all out. So instead, we went over to Videopolis and watched a live stage show (the 5:00 show was in English) of "The Legend of the Lion King." (Before it started, one of the High School Musical songs played - it was a French Music Video of a French singer singing the song with clips of the movie in the background.)
After the show, we went over to Fantasyland and caught the train to take it all the way around the park. They have the Grand Canyon diorama, too, but here it is between Main Street and Frontierland.
After the train, we went through Alice's Curious Labyrinth, which is a hedge maze that take you through different scenes of Alice in Wonderland. I truly love this attraction. My favorite part is when it takes you into a spiral with the bird in the middle and the music playing from the scene where the animals are running in circles trying to dry off while the waves continue to get them wet - you feel like your running in a circle with them! The maze ends at the Queen of Hearts Castle, with a lovely view of Fantasy Land - after climbing more SPIRAL STEPS, of course!
We wanted to ride the story book canal, but they had closed at 6, so instead, we rode Snow White, Pinocchio, and then jumped in line for Peter Pan before the line closed at 8:00. These three rides, except for tiny differences, were carbon copies of Disneyland (Anaheim)'s version of these rides. ALl of the cars, though, had DisneyWorld stadium seating and one extra row from Disneyland's
As we got off Peter Pan, the park closed. We went to Main Street (walking down the arcade behind the stores) and did come shopping. Then we went to Disney Village and had a fast food dinner, with a crepe with nutella for dessert. (The guy making the crepes was from Finland - nice guy.) After cramming on a bus with 3,000 other people we finally made it back to the hotel. I don't even want to know how long it took me to type this - so I am going to go to bed now.
Tomorrow, Disney Studios Paris, and back to Disneyland to finish up! Au revoirs!
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Tuesday - Paris - Disneyland (Grant)
Today was a travel day for us. We checked out of the Hotel Monge around 11AM, leaving our luggage their so we could see Notre Dame and the Catacombes.
We had seen the inside of Notre Dame yesterday, but we didn't climb up to the top of the bell tower. Today we did just that. The line was about an hour long. And for $7.50 each, we had the privilege of climbing the 380 steps up to the top of the bell tower. They weren't normal stairs either, but very narrow spiral staircases! The trek up was definitely dizzying, but the vistas at the top were worth it. It was cool to see the gargoyles up close. The weather was sunny with a bit of haze and not a cloud in the sky.
After walking back down the 380 steps, we went to a bakery and had lunch. We split a ham and cheese sandwich and a nutella crepe.
After that we took the metro over to the catacombes. There was a line of about 30 people, but it only took 5 minutes. The catacombes are huge! They are 25 meters below the street (down yet another spiral staircase). The catacombs in Paris alone make up approximately 186 miles of tunnels! Only about 1 miles worth is open to the public. It was really cool, with rows and rows of bones, separated by a row of skulls every 2 feet or so. It was interesting how they used big bones (like femur bones) and skulls stacked neatly in front to form a wall, and then filled in behind it with all the smaller bones. We spent a good 45 minutes down in the catacombes. When we finally came to the surface, we were nowhere near when we entered. Our map didn't cover this part of Paris (it was not downtown) so it took us a while to find the nearest metro stop (it ended up being 2 stops away from where first entered the catacombes!) We went a long ways underground.
Next, we headed back to our hotel to grab our bags and then took the RER to Marne Le Vallee and Disneyland Paris. We got to our hotel around 5:00PM, the train ride only took 30 minutes. Out hotel is the Dream Castle hotel http://www.dreamcastle-hotel.com/content/en/1.php which is less than a mile from the Disney complex. The hotel is brand new and very nice. Definitely the most "American" hotel we have stayed at. We are on the 3rd floor overlooking the gardens.
Tonight, we took the free shuttle to Downtown Disney (they call it Disney Village) and had dinner at Chef Mickeys. They had a prixe fixe menu for $34. You got an appetizer, main dish and dessert. Our waittress was very pleasant and spoke excellent English. I had Mushroom Soup, ribs with french fries, and chocolate fondue for dessert. Bobbi Jo had a mozzarella/goat cheese/tomoato tart, Penne Pasta and chocolate fondue. After that we walked around some of the Disney hotels, looked in a few of the shops and then took the shuttle back to our hotel.
Sorry for no pictures, I'll try to post some in the next couple of days.
We had seen the inside of Notre Dame yesterday, but we didn't climb up to the top of the bell tower. Today we did just that. The line was about an hour long. And for $7.50 each, we had the privilege of climbing the 380 steps up to the top of the bell tower. They weren't normal stairs either, but very narrow spiral staircases! The trek up was definitely dizzying, but the vistas at the top were worth it. It was cool to see the gargoyles up close. The weather was sunny with a bit of haze and not a cloud in the sky.
After walking back down the 380 steps, we went to a bakery and had lunch. We split a ham and cheese sandwich and a nutella crepe.
After that we took the metro over to the catacombes. There was a line of about 30 people, but it only took 5 minutes. The catacombes are huge! They are 25 meters below the street (down yet another spiral staircase). The catacombs in Paris alone make up approximately 186 miles of tunnels! Only about 1 miles worth is open to the public. It was really cool, with rows and rows of bones, separated by a row of skulls every 2 feet or so. It was interesting how they used big bones (like femur bones) and skulls stacked neatly in front to form a wall, and then filled in behind it with all the smaller bones. We spent a good 45 minutes down in the catacombes. When we finally came to the surface, we were nowhere near when we entered. Our map didn't cover this part of Paris (it was not downtown) so it took us a while to find the nearest metro stop (it ended up being 2 stops away from where first entered the catacombes!) We went a long ways underground.
Next, we headed back to our hotel to grab our bags and then took the RER to Marne Le Vallee and Disneyland Paris. We got to our hotel around 5:00PM, the train ride only took 30 minutes. Out hotel is the Dream Castle hotel http://www.dreamcastle-hotel.com/content/en/1.php which is less than a mile from the Disney complex. The hotel is brand new and very nice. Definitely the most "American" hotel we have stayed at. We are on the 3rd floor overlooking the gardens.
Tonight, we took the free shuttle to Downtown Disney (they call it Disney Village) and had dinner at Chef Mickeys. They had a prixe fixe menu for $34. You got an appetizer, main dish and dessert. Our waittress was very pleasant and spoke excellent English. I had Mushroom Soup, ribs with french fries, and chocolate fondue for dessert. Bobbi Jo had a mozzarella/goat cheese/tomoato tart, Penne Pasta and chocolate fondue. After that we walked around some of the Disney hotels, looked in a few of the shops and then took the shuttle back to our hotel.
Sorry for no pictures, I'll try to post some in the next couple of days.
Paris - Monday (Bobbi)
Monday - Paris (Bobbi)
Its 12:40 and we just got back to our hotel!
So this morning, Grant and I got up and went to Notre Dame. The line looked really long, but moved quite quickly, so we probably stood in line for all of 10 minutes before we got inside. There was a mass going on. It was very odd to have mass going on in the middle, and hundreds of tourists wandering around. Of course, it was quite odd to see this fantastic architecture and beautiful stain glass accompanied by a penny smashing machine. The stain glass was quite pretty, and the little (naves") set up for the saints were interesting, but all in all I found the church to be very dark and not appealing. Not my favorite European church. I like the bright ones with the bright paintings. Although, I did think the outside of Notre Dame was awesome.
We thought about going up to the top, but the line for that was an hour and a half long, so we passed on that.
Next, we went to St. Sulpice, where we met up with Gary. St. Sulpice was a famous site in the DaVinci Code. It is the church where Silas (the monk) believes the Priory of Sion hid their final clue, but turns out the location was a decoy. In it, there is a meridian line that runs at an odd angle across the middle of a church, and straight up and obelisk. There is also a pair of stain glass windows with the letters PS inside, which the book claims reference the Priory of Sion.
The church denies (via posters posted near the obelisk) much of what Dan Brown describes in the book regarding the church history. It claims that the line is just a meridian line, not THE "rose line" that runs through the center of Paris. It also states that the church was not built upon an old pagan temple. Finally, it states that the "PS" stands for Saints Peter and Sulpice, the patrons of the church. In addition, the church posted a Q and A article claiming the the Danger of "The Da Vinci Code" is that it raises doubt about the Catholic Faith. All of this information was posted in English, French, and a few other languages.
The church itself I liked better then Notre Dame on the inside. Although it's Stain Glass was not as brilliant, the church was much brighter, the naves just as interesting, and there was a beautiful chapel in the back honoring Mary. Most importantly, there were only a hand full of people inside - no more than probably 40 or 50 at its most "crowded."
We left St. Sulpice and headed towards the Lourve. We had lunch at the food court upstairs (I love the French and what they can do with their cheese!) Next we headed inside. Grant and I rented audio guides (the regular one, not the Da Vinci Code guide.) Of course, we went straingt to the Mona Lisa first - passing through the Grand Gallery on the Way, past the "Madonna of the Rocks" painting. The Mona Lisa was everything I expected - much smaller than expected, crowded, and although neat to see, really, the lingering question remains of "why is this picture so popular?" I mean, we saw some amazing pieces of work, simple and complex - you have to wonder why the Mona Lisa has drawn so much fascination - even before The DaVinci Code.
Probably the painting that stood out to me most, actually a pair of paintings, was by Paninni - Gary had described them from a previous visit, and I thought that they were awesome. It was a painting of an open air art gallery, and each painting depicted a scene from Rome. In one, all of the paintings were of ancient landmarks of Rome. In the other, the paintings of were "modern" (1700's) landmarks. It was really neat.
After that, we wondered about the Ancient Egyptian section - oh yeah, and we saw the Venus De Milo. I was afraid we wouldn't have enough time. Of course, we didn't have enough time to see even half of the place, but after two hours, we were just exhausted! We went back to the hotel for a rest, after a stop at a grocery store for some bread and cheese.
After a rest at the hotel, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. We waited about an hour to buy our tickets. (Right before we got to Security, a bird pooped on the arm of Grant's jacket. Nasty! We cleaned it up as best we could, but still...)
Then, on the second platform, we waited about an hour and 15 minutes to go to the top, which was quite terrifying, as I was pressed against the door by hoards of people and there was no shaft - just, nothing, outside of that glass.
The view from the top was spectacular! It was a clear night - you could see any landmark you wanted, and it was just beautiful. The tower "sparkle" thing happened once when we were on the ground, once when we were on the second platform, and once when we were on the very top. (The tower "sparkels" every hour on the hour for about 8 minutes.)
On the way down, on our very last elevator, we got to the bottom and the doors wouldn't open. We got stuck and had to ride back up and then down again. It made a long evening feel SO much longer, even though it really wasn't. Maybe just 10 extra minutes. But with all those crowds and waiting all that time, we were ready to get off.
Since our adventures at the tower took longer than anticipated, we went back to the hotel (arriving at about 12:30.) We said our good bye's to Gary, as he was off to Bruges, and we would be heading out to Marne-La Vallee - Disney;and Paris!
Its 12:40 and we just got back to our hotel!
So this morning, Grant and I got up and went to Notre Dame. The line looked really long, but moved quite quickly, so we probably stood in line for all of 10 minutes before we got inside. There was a mass going on. It was very odd to have mass going on in the middle, and hundreds of tourists wandering around. Of course, it was quite odd to see this fantastic architecture and beautiful stain glass accompanied by a penny smashing machine. The stain glass was quite pretty, and the little (naves") set up for the saints were interesting, but all in all I found the church to be very dark and not appealing. Not my favorite European church. I like the bright ones with the bright paintings. Although, I did think the outside of Notre Dame was awesome.
We thought about going up to the top, but the line for that was an hour and a half long, so we passed on that.
Next, we went to St. Sulpice, where we met up with Gary. St. Sulpice was a famous site in the DaVinci Code. It is the church where Silas (the monk) believes the Priory of Sion hid their final clue, but turns out the location was a decoy. In it, there is a meridian line that runs at an odd angle across the middle of a church, and straight up and obelisk. There is also a pair of stain glass windows with the letters PS inside, which the book claims reference the Priory of Sion.
The church denies (via posters posted near the obelisk) much of what Dan Brown describes in the book regarding the church history. It claims that the line is just a meridian line, not THE "rose line" that runs through the center of Paris. It also states that the church was not built upon an old pagan temple. Finally, it states that the "PS" stands for Saints Peter and Sulpice, the patrons of the church. In addition, the church posted a Q and A article claiming the the Danger of "The Da Vinci Code" is that it raises doubt about the Catholic Faith. All of this information was posted in English, French, and a few other languages.
The church itself I liked better then Notre Dame on the inside. Although it's Stain Glass was not as brilliant, the church was much brighter, the naves just as interesting, and there was a beautiful chapel in the back honoring Mary. Most importantly, there were only a hand full of people inside - no more than probably 40 or 50 at its most "crowded."
We left St. Sulpice and headed towards the Lourve. We had lunch at the food court upstairs (I love the French and what they can do with their cheese!) Next we headed inside. Grant and I rented audio guides (the regular one, not the Da Vinci Code guide.) Of course, we went straingt to the Mona Lisa first - passing through the Grand Gallery on the Way, past the "Madonna of the Rocks" painting. The Mona Lisa was everything I expected - much smaller than expected, crowded, and although neat to see, really, the lingering question remains of "why is this picture so popular?" I mean, we saw some amazing pieces of work, simple and complex - you have to wonder why the Mona Lisa has drawn so much fascination - even before The DaVinci Code.
Probably the painting that stood out to me most, actually a pair of paintings, was by Paninni - Gary had described them from a previous visit, and I thought that they were awesome. It was a painting of an open air art gallery, and each painting depicted a scene from Rome. In one, all of the paintings were of ancient landmarks of Rome. In the other, the paintings of were "modern" (1700's) landmarks. It was really neat.
After that, we wondered about the Ancient Egyptian section - oh yeah, and we saw the Venus De Milo. I was afraid we wouldn't have enough time. Of course, we didn't have enough time to see even half of the place, but after two hours, we were just exhausted! We went back to the hotel for a rest, after a stop at a grocery store for some bread and cheese.
After a rest at the hotel, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. We waited about an hour to buy our tickets. (Right before we got to Security, a bird pooped on the arm of Grant's jacket. Nasty! We cleaned it up as best we could, but still...)
Then, on the second platform, we waited about an hour and 15 minutes to go to the top, which was quite terrifying, as I was pressed against the door by hoards of people and there was no shaft - just, nothing, outside of that glass.
The view from the top was spectacular! It was a clear night - you could see any landmark you wanted, and it was just beautiful. The tower "sparkle" thing happened once when we were on the ground, once when we were on the second platform, and once when we were on the very top. (The tower "sparkels" every hour on the hour for about 8 minutes.)
On the way down, on our very last elevator, we got to the bottom and the doors wouldn't open. We got stuck and had to ride back up and then down again. It made a long evening feel SO much longer, even though it really wasn't. Maybe just 10 extra minutes. But with all those crowds and waiting all that time, we were ready to get off.
Since our adventures at the tower took longer than anticipated, we went back to the hotel (arriving at about 12:30.) We said our good bye's to Gary, as he was off to Bruges, and we would be heading out to Marne-La Vallee - Disney;and Paris!
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Paris - Sunday, April 1
This is Grant typing.
Bobbi was tired after her long trip here (nearly 6000 miles), so she slept in until 10. The weather was beautiful today...not a cloud in the sky and about 60 degrees. We decided to go to the Luxembourg gardens. On the way we stopped by a Patisserie. Dad got an apple fritter, Bobbi Jo got a quiche lorraine and I had a croque monsieur (monte christo sandwich). We took our breakfast to the Luxembourg gardens and found a nice spot to enjoy our breakfast.
After breakfast we walked around the gardens a bit. Since today was Sunday, there were quite a few native Parisians out jogging and enjoying the park as well. The flowers were in full boom...lots of pretty pink and red tulips.
After the gardens we walked to the Pantheon and scoped out the vistas from outside. It cost 4 Euros to go inside and the inside didn't seem all that interesting, so we decided to skip the inside.
Next, I was able to convince Bobbi and Dad to go to "Les Egouts", which is a museum and tour of the Paris sewer system. It definitely sounded interesting to me. I love underground stuff, and especially anything related to sewers. I was worried that it would be toned down or wouldn't be the "real thing". The guidebooks said that they purified the air, but the smell was still a bit "funky." I was pleasantly surprised, as there was nothing toned down about it. As far as the smell goes, it was a tad bit more than funky as I saw no air purification going on in the sewer whatsoever. We paid the entrance fee of 4 Euros per person, and then descended about 20 stairs down into the dark damp sewer. It was definitely musty at first, but as we proceeded we turned a corner and heard the sound of rushing water. I figured it was a storm drain or a stream. I was wrong, it was one of the main sewer lines in Paris, carrying thousands of gallons of raw sewage per hour, and there was nothing between it and us except a 4 foot high chain link fence to keep you from falling in. You could see unimaginable things floating by literally feet away from us. I saw Q-tips, toilet paper, turds and among other things, feminine hygiene products. It was awesome.
After I got over my initial amazement with the smell and the sight of hundreds of gallons of sewage flowing by me every minute, I started paying attention to the exhibits. Interestingly enough, the exhibits were in an adjacent open sewer main. You walked 3 feet above the flowing sewage on metal grates, where they had displays (in French and English) about the innovations of the Paris sewer system...which came out of necessity. We spent a good 2 hours down in the sewer museum and tour. I don't think Bobbi breathed through her nose the entire time. Another thing about the environment in the sewer....it was extremely humid and fairly warm (about 75 degrees). I can't imagine what it would be like in the summer when it is over 90 degrees outside.
After the sewer tour, we took the metro to the Pere-Lachaise cemetery. We walked around for a good 2 hours scoping out all the graves and hunting down Jim Morrison's grave. The cemetery was interesting, as all the tombs are above ground and there is no order to the way the tombs are placed. It is a huge cemetery and there are endless mazes of walkways.
We were pretty pooped after that, so we headed back to our hotel on Rue Monge. We rested for an hour or so and then headed out to dinner!
We went to dinner at Le Philosophe, a cute little bistro across the Seine from where we are staying. It was in a section of town where the streets are really narrow and all made of cobblestones. It was also an area popular with the gay crowd in Paris, as we passed numerous bars with only men, and there were lots of guys holding hands...dad loved it!
As usual in Paris, dinner took over 2 hours, so we just headed back to the hotel!
It was definitely a long day for us and we must have walked 10 miles today!
Bobbi was tired after her long trip here (nearly 6000 miles), so she slept in until 10. The weather was beautiful today...not a cloud in the sky and about 60 degrees. We decided to go to the Luxembourg gardens. On the way we stopped by a Patisserie. Dad got an apple fritter, Bobbi Jo got a quiche lorraine and I had a croque monsieur (monte christo sandwich). We took our breakfast to the Luxembourg gardens and found a nice spot to enjoy our breakfast.
After breakfast we walked around the gardens a bit. Since today was Sunday, there were quite a few native Parisians out jogging and enjoying the park as well. The flowers were in full boom...lots of pretty pink and red tulips.
After the gardens we walked to the Pantheon and scoped out the vistas from outside. It cost 4 Euros to go inside and the inside didn't seem all that interesting, so we decided to skip the inside.
Next, I was able to convince Bobbi and Dad to go to "Les Egouts", which is a museum and tour of the Paris sewer system. It definitely sounded interesting to me. I love underground stuff, and especially anything related to sewers. I was worried that it would be toned down or wouldn't be the "real thing". The guidebooks said that they purified the air, but the smell was still a bit "funky." I was pleasantly surprised, as there was nothing toned down about it. As far as the smell goes, it was a tad bit more than funky as I saw no air purification going on in the sewer whatsoever. We paid the entrance fee of 4 Euros per person, and then descended about 20 stairs down into the dark damp sewer. It was definitely musty at first, but as we proceeded we turned a corner and heard the sound of rushing water. I figured it was a storm drain or a stream. I was wrong, it was one of the main sewer lines in Paris, carrying thousands of gallons of raw sewage per hour, and there was nothing between it and us except a 4 foot high chain link fence to keep you from falling in. You could see unimaginable things floating by literally feet away from us. I saw Q-tips, toilet paper, turds and among other things, feminine hygiene products. It was awesome.
After I got over my initial amazement with the smell and the sight of hundreds of gallons of sewage flowing by me every minute, I started paying attention to the exhibits. Interestingly enough, the exhibits were in an adjacent open sewer main. You walked 3 feet above the flowing sewage on metal grates, where they had displays (in French and English) about the innovations of the Paris sewer system...which came out of necessity. We spent a good 2 hours down in the sewer museum and tour. I don't think Bobbi breathed through her nose the entire time. Another thing about the environment in the sewer....it was extremely humid and fairly warm (about 75 degrees). I can't imagine what it would be like in the summer when it is over 90 degrees outside.
After the sewer tour, we took the metro to the Pere-Lachaise cemetery. We walked around for a good 2 hours scoping out all the graves and hunting down Jim Morrison's grave. The cemetery was interesting, as all the tombs are above ground and there is no order to the way the tombs are placed. It is a huge cemetery and there are endless mazes of walkways.
We were pretty pooped after that, so we headed back to our hotel on Rue Monge. We rested for an hour or so and then headed out to dinner!
We went to dinner at Le Philosophe, a cute little bistro across the Seine from where we are staying. It was in a section of town where the streets are really narrow and all made of cobblestones. It was also an area popular with the gay crowd in Paris, as we passed numerous bars with only men, and there were lots of guys holding hands...dad loved it!
As usual in Paris, dinner took over 2 hours, so we just headed back to the hotel!
It was definitely a long day for us and we must have walked 10 miles today!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)