Disneyland Paris: Our Pictoral Trip Report

We didn't want to end the reporting on our trip to Europe without letting you see some of our pictures from a truly Magic Kingdom. We jumped on the RER and headed for Parc Disneyland. It is just a 45 minute ride from central Paris. The train drops you right in front of the main gate. While there were many similarities to the other parks, it did have some differences. Some better and some worse.


Snow and the boys were there. Can you name them all?


Team Helios on the road.


First stop, Pirates baby!


A nice mound of booty.


My kind of bedroom.


Very cool with the mist of the morning.


A nice stern rail.


We had a great lunch at the Blue Lagoon inside the Pirates of the Caribbean.


Their version of space mountain. It was killer.


The castle was a little smaller then Orlando, but they did have a dragon in the basement.


Pet dragon keeps the crowds down.


The inside of the Castle.

Thunder Mountain railroad was faster then ours.

The Haunted Mansion is the Phantom Manor. We liked the graveyard.

Side view of the castle

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There was one thing that would make our friend Larry turn into a 10 year old kid again. A full size Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Now that was cool.

Sitting right next to space mountain.

Captain Nemo's quarters.

Cool piping.

The giant view port with giant fake squid attacking every few minutes.

Ship map.

It wouldn't be the boat without the organ

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It was a great time. We hit just about every ride that we wanted. And of course we went on Pirates twice. Well, we are sailors after all.

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The day came to a close and we retreated to our Paris hotel. With the Orlando, California, and Paris Disney under our belts we just have to get to Tokyo and China and we will have a clean sweep. Hmm, sounds like a good goal.

We have recovered from our jet lag and are hard at work preparing the boat to come north next month.

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Enjoy

P&J

A Fine European Vacation Continued

Once we made our way back to Munich, we caught another train toward the south of France. Our overnight destination was Nice via the town of Nancy. I wondered if the males there are called 'Nancy boys', but Pat wouldn't let me ask anybody.

The trains in France are a little different than the German ones. They seemed a bit crowded.

The line to the bathroom was ridiculous.

And the bartender looked familiar, but we couldn't place him.

It was one strong drink.

After a surprisingly good night sleep on board, we awoke to a wonderful view of the Mediterranean Sea.

Many sailboats enjoying the breeze.

We made our way through the town of Nice to the beach and got our first look at the Med. The weather was perfect 64 degrees and sunny. We sat on a bench and enjoyed a breakfast of cheese stuffed red peppers in olive oil and hot coffee. Feeling refreshed we walked to the top of a cliff near the beach and had a beautiful view of the city.


Nice in the morning.


The blue was unbelievable

On the quay wall.

James doing his Rocky Balboa imitation.

After strolling through the outdoor markets, taking in the smells of spices and fresh baked bread, we made our way back to the train station so we could continue on to Avignon. I must say that cruising along at 160 mph does leave you breathless. We reached Avignon early in the afternoon and found our way to our hotel. The hotel was in the center of town surrounded by cafes, shops, and plenty of moped traffic. You took your life in your hands by just going across the street. Our room was a very nice affair with a balcony and an outdoor shower. I thought that was rather interesting until I found out that the outdoor shower was a cold shower only. Yikes!!

Hotel de l'horloge is in the middle

The view from our fifth floor balcony.

We did the tourist thing and scouted the town. Apparently the Pope stopped by a couple of hundred years ago to avoid being killed in Italy. Since it looked like he needed to stay for awhile, he decided to build himself a little place to live. Being the Pope, he was used to a certain standard of living so the Palais des Papes (Popes Palace) was constructed. The next ten Popes lived here until it was safe to return to Italy.

Just what a Pope dreams of

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After 3 days in Avignon, we boarded yet another train bound for the city of lights, Paris. We arrived at our hotel just a stones throw from the Eiffel tower. The room was a little run down, but twice the size of a normal room in Paris. The elevator was another story. Apparently a small closet had given its life to make way for the "elevator". Imagine stepping into a coffin standing on its side and listening to the wires squeak as it pulls you up at the speed of glue running down hill. Ya, something like that. We had to take it one person at a time to keep from going into a claustrophobic fit.

After breakfast we once again assumed the tourist stance. With umbrellas in hand we went in search of art and headed for the Louvre. It was a rainy day so everyone else in Paris was doing the same thing. Every language on earth was represented. We did catch some interesting pictures.

Shhhh....Mary Magdalene. Don't tell anybody.

Those taggers are out of hand in Paris

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And finally someone came up with a grave marker that I would be proud to have as my own.

Just a little marker for prosperity

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After leaving the Louvre, we strolled down by the Seine to the Pont Neuf and kissed in the rain. The last time we were here James asked me to marry him, so it brought back wonderful memories.

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As we wandered along the sidewalks and looked through the shops James came upon a terrible sight. Gnome Prison. That's right Gnome rights activist everywhere must be alerted of this travesty of Gnomes justice. I plan to start a letter writing campaign.

Just need to pick this lock and let the revolution begin

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After the great "Gnome Jail Break" we were hungry so we had lunch at a great little place called Le Pre Verre. With our sad attempt at speaking french we ended up with the special; grilled pork salad and a fillet of perch with a mango, ginger chutney. It was delicious.

Great place to eat.


See any hunchbacks?

Again with the Rocky Balboa thing

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We have intentionally left out our trip to EuroDisney so we could do it all in one post, so stay tuned. With our stay in Paris concluded it was time to once again return home. After a quick cab, subway, bus and moving sidewalk trip we boarded our flight for the good old US of A. We were looking forward to getting back to menus written in English, bacon and eggs for breakfast and lawyers battling over where to bury the latest celebrity casualty. There really is no place like home.

After conducting our small search of Europe we came to the conclusion that Elvis is really doing a great job of keeping out of sight.

Enjoy

A Fine European Vacation

Home Again, Home Again

While traveling around Europe is wonderful, we agree with Frank Sinatra, "Its oh so nice to come home". Now that we have a steady wifi signal and an American style keyboard an overall blog of the trip is in order. We will break it down into a couple of posts to keep it readable. So here we go.

First we needed to pack. As a pseudo backpacking trip we kept the amount of clothes small.

All this in one backpack. The bed frame was really hard to fold!

To get the really cheap fares, we didn't quite have the direct flight to Europe. American Airlines was nice enough to have us fly west from Raleigh to Dallas, before we made our way east toward the Continent. We had an uneventful flight to Frankfurt Germany, took an easy tram ride to the Marriott and collapsed for about 5 hours. Jet lag was not our friend. We voted this the most comfortable room of the whole trip, though I am not sure any room wouldn't have been comfortable at that point. After our rest, it was off to the Altstadt or Old Town for some sight seeing.

The view from the Marriott

The historic skyline of Frankfurt

We had some great Goulash and apple wine and walked along the river. Our time in Frankfurt was short and the next day we were off to Munich.

Love that Eurail Pass. Yes, that is lunch hanging from the carabiner

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As "Backpackers" it wouldn't be right if we didn't embrace the life style and stay at a Hostel. We checked into the Munich Wombat Hostel to a 6 person dorm room (3 bunk beds). Our roommates were a nice couple of Korean kids in their second year of University and the other two were an Argentinian guy and a German girl. These two had just met and were on the fast track to young love. They would sleep all day, stay out most of the night till around 5am when they would come back to the room and talk to each other until they fell asleep. This made us fell a little old, but it was a fun thing to experience.

Nap time in our hostel bunk bed
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Munich is a beautiful city. They have the Glockenspiel and the Viktualienmarkt. Really big clocks and killer produce markets are the stuff of a budding chefs dreams. Not to mention the Hofbrau house. Nothing like a gallon of beer and an "Om Pa" band to make your night just fly by. And I think it should be totally acceptable for old men with beards to wear short pants overalls and stockings up to their knees.

The Glockenspiel

The Viktualienmarkt stalls were incredible

May Poles are erected in the town let you know what trades were available. In Munich everyone was represented.

A very dapper statue in the market place. We never did find out who he was.

From Munich it was on to Garmisch and the Alps. The train ride was very foggy with little visibility. It was snowing when we arrived and we couldn't see the mountains. Imagine our surprise when we woke up the next morning to an incredible view of the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany. The Edelweiss Lodge is a military facility that looks like Disney built it. The rooms were large and nicely furnished.

The view from our room

The lobby of the lodge. Disney wants their resort back!

The Zugspitze out the front of the lodge

After the snow a beautiful day for lunch at an outdoor cafe

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After touring Garmisch and Partenkirchen, we took a bus tour to Neuschwanstein castle. The bus went through Austria passing the relics of many centuries; cool medieval castle ruins and former boarder check points. At the Neuschwanstein Castle we opted to ride up the mountain in a horse drawn wagon. The views were incredible.

Next the tour went to the Pointing Church, built in the middle of nowhere. It held a statue of Jesus that had produced tears in the mid 1700's. There had been a number of miracles certified by the Vatican and ultimately a larger church was built to accommodate the Pilgrims who now came to visit. It was quite a sight in the middle of farmland.

On the left there is a medieval castle ruin

On our way to Neuschwanstein, you pass a smaller palace that is still in the "Family". Tough life!

Neuschwanstein Castle

The view of the Alps out of the back windows of the castle

The Pointing Church, or in German, Bruderschaft zum Gegeisselten Heiland auf der Wies was in the middle of a field

The interior was amazing for a country church

The statue caused miracles ultimately recognized by the Vatican

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After the tour we spent the next couple of days messing around the area eating way to much pork. As is the backpacker's way, we loaded up our stuff and moved on. Next stop was the south of France. No signs of Elvis but James did get Hansel and Gretel's autograph.

The next post is coming soon.