We found it! If Dream Castle was the world’s biggest cigarette packet then Euro Disney was surely the world’s biggest ashtray!!
For me personally EuroDisney was TRAGIC. You could not walk 2 metres without walking into a cloud of cigarette smoke – the stores were the only reprise however everyone just stood in the doorway and it wafted in anyway. As per Disney at holiday time’s the queues were 80 minutes plus to get on any rides so we bypassed most and went into anything with a wait time of less that half an hour.
The kids enjoyed the ‘Disney’ atmosphere but Koji is very vocal about cigarettes and hated it as much as we all did so made his voice heard as he walked through each cloud.
On the plus side – the crepes off the roadside stalls were awesome – best we’ve had – but not worth the $226 Euro it costs us to get in the place.
America has the theme parks down pat and are probably the only one’s worth visiting if you’re travelling that way.
We went to visit the outlet village and were finished in 10 minutes. Unless you were after Jimmy Choos for $400+ Euro – there was nothing of interest.
We hit a French supermarket and stocked up on bread, cheese, meat and anything that looked interesting and went back to the hotel for an in room dinner and early night. The only meal at the stinky hotel is a $33 Euro per person buffet. Everywhere you look at the hotel they are set up with kids games – airhockey, pool tables, video arcade games etc… each one cost $2 Euro to play on a timer.
The room was well equipped with tea, coffee and sugar satchels but if you used up that days supply you just had to ring room cleaning and they would refill it for you at a cost of just $6.00 Euro per person. And if you wanted breakfast (that you had already paid for) – well that was only an extra $20 Euro per person for it to be delivered to your room.
Needless to say we were stoked to be leaving the next morning and we left as early as we could to drop the car off at Europcar and catch the train to Paris.
So we drive to the Europcar drop off point – about 11kms away in another town – it’s in the industrial area – miles from the nearest train station and the attendant doesn’t speak French. Ahhh the joys of travel. After a lot of charades etc… finally the guys sitting next to him, started speaking in perfect English and offered to drive us to the station in the same car we had just unpacked. Stoked with that we threw him a tenner and waited for our train to Paris.
The comfort of the Swiss trains was well and truly over as we barged our luggage on the train packed with hundreds of people heading into Paris for work or play. We stood the 35 minute train ride squashed in the corner on top of our luggage.
Arriving into Paris du Est we jumped in the first taxi to our hotel which was only a few kilometres away on Boulevard Montmatre. As per usual the room wasn’t ready but we had a Metro station at our door so were happy with that!
We wandered some little old arcades and found a place for lunch – a creperie. We ordered whatever we could slightly recognized on the menu and washed it down with a French hot chocolate.
We then headed off to see the Notre Dame cathedral – with it’s amazing stained glass windows – huge line – but it was moving fast so we joined the queue and did the walk throughout the cathedral. From here it was off to Haagan Daas for another crepe and hot chocolate – any patterns here????
Each night the boys are enjoying an episode of Miranda (thanks Marie & Shelley!) – Very funny when you’re walking down the street and Tom breaks out in (voice and all) “What have you done lately to make you feel proud!” or “SUCH FUN!!!”
Big sleep in in Paris – rising about 0900 – today we caught the Metro up to the Sacre Coer in the Montmatre area… gorgeous little area full of quaint streets although a bit touristy as well. After a fantastic Italian brunch - We took the many steps up to the cathedral – the dome of which gets whiter and whiter with every rain – and it was jam packed full of Christmas markets. We wandered around, took some photo’s and watched a few street performers. From there we made our way back to the hotel for a rest in the hope of taking on the Eiffel Tower that night. Everything we had read (and what we had experienced previously was don’t bother with the lines to go up to the top. The only sane way to do it is to pay the extra and 24 hours before hand – and on the internet only – lash out on the fast track pass which takes you to the front of the line. Apparently, though at night the lines are meant to be much, much better so we pinned our hopes on that. About 5pm we headed off and popped out at Trocadero – I think it was. The view from the top of the hill was amazing – the massive thing was shining like gold and leading all the way down to it was more Christmas markets and ‘as I say’ thousands of people!!!
We took some photos and headed down and through the markets – all the stalls are looking the same by now – and made our way to the base. The queues were still tragic. Hours and hours of wait time to get up and with two little boys lacking patience at the best of times – told them to take some photos and bailed.
Paris between Christmas and New Years is not good – the queues for ANYTHING are incredible. We wandered back up the hill and grabbed some dinner before retiring back to the hotel.
The next morning we were all set to do our tour of the Champes Elysee – nothing special we know, but walking around Paris is the best way to see things so we left the hotel and followed in the general direction of the Louvre – we stumbled through gorgeous little arcades and stopped at patisseries along the way. After quite a few kilometres we ran smack bang into the Louvre and as per our intention took some shots and wandered on past – the kids are not museum age and again – the queues!!!! E did the big walk down towards the 3000+ Egyptian plinth, taking photo’s along the way of us imitating statues – thanks cousin Shelley!! – and got a few offended looks when the kids ran on to the grass and tried to climb the statues…..
We made our way to the start of the Champes Elysee and of course, hit more massive Christmas markets – ok – so we are well and truly over the Christmas markets now – but the kids stopped and got a massive fairy floss each which kept them going for a bit more.
We wandered along and stopped for lunch in a little bar then the boys continued on to the Arc De Triumph while I hit the shops – I met them in about half an hour and then we walked back down the other side until we found the Metro.
Next stop the massive La Fayette shopping area – think Harrods but then thing getting into the MCG on Grandfinal day – it was appauling. We walked in and the look on Nigels face said it all – there was a Maccas on the 5th floor so we battled hundreds trying to use the escalators and then decided the stairs had to be the best option. The airconditioning wasn’t working inside and with so many thick layers of winter clothes on – it was unbearable. Nigel retreated and took off with the boys to walk back to the hotel (about 10 minutes away). I decided to persevere and lasted about 10 minutes more, left with no purchases and took the metro home because I was lost. I walked into the room right behind Nigel and the boys.
The next day was our last full day in Paris so we decided to venture out and explore Bercy Village. It’s basically a little ground of shops and cafes in a little cobblestone type atmosphere. After taking a wrong turn and walking an extra few kilometers we finally made it – nice little area but possibly not worth the journey as it’s not really historical – just a man made shopping area – I can’t complain though – I did end up with bags here – but Nigel made me carry them all the way home too.
After a while Koji and I headed back down to Boulevard Haussman and the chaos at the shops at La Fayette. We managed to get through a slightly lesser crowd – being New Years Eve and made a few little purchases along the way. We then walked back and went in the totally wrong direction and ended up in Place Vendome – it was time for the GPS on the mobile – don’t want to see that bill when we get home – but we got ourselves back on track and found Nigel and Tommy who had come to meet us. All the restaurants had set New Years eve menus which we couldn’t decipher so we ended up at a terrible Italian café and had terrible spaghetti – we got great crepes on the way home for desert though – so we were all happy. Big repack of the suitcases and we were ready for bed. All the car horns went off in the street at midnight and Nigel said there must have been a street party because it was covered in rubbish and alcohol bottles outside our hotel the next morning.
The streets were quite as we took our shuttle to the airport and checked in at Charles De Gaulle airport for the trip home.
We’re now sitting on our Emirates flight – about an hour out of Dubai – the kids have eaten and played games all flight, and I’ve bawled my way through The Cup and Red Dog – awesome movies and very fitting to be watching on the way home. (Greg you look more like Dale in The Cup than in The Castle!!!)
We will have a couple of hours stop over in Dubai and then hit the 10 hour flight to Perth. I have a sleeping tablet on standby.
