We'll always have (DLR)Paris!

[dwheatl]

What is a Concierge? Was it a museum? It sounds interesting!

It is a museum that is in a former palace and then prison that was built in the 13th century. It really looks like a palace on the outside, but man, you would not want to have been locked up in there!

the kissing under the bridge!

Mmm hmm! DH was not so romantic in London, but he really got into the karma of Paris once we got there.

 

[vettegirl]

Can't wait to hear what your thoughts on DLP were!

 

[3Leafs]

Mmm hmm! DH was not so romantic in London, but he really got into the karma of Paris once we got there.

I bet he did

 

[dwheatl]

On Friday, we had a hop-on, hop-off tour of Paris booked as part of our package through Costco. Our first stop was Les Invalides, the military museum and Napoleon’s tomb. This was something my sister had recommended, and we really enjoyed it. The museum had staff and volunteers from the crowd dress up in period costumes. We got some great pictures here.

Here I am with a couple of Napoleon-sized soldiers I picked up. DH took the picture. How twisted is that?

A parade. Maybe “heading” over to the guillotine for some fun? I loved the kids in costume.

Some soldiers. Napoleon said an army travels on its stomach. This guy looks like he could go around the world a couple of times.

Napoleon’s coffin. He is buried within several coffins, one inside the other. The guide said the last time they looked, Napoleon’s corpse was still in pretty good shape. And here’s a spooky fact. When my sister and her DH took a similar picture, it also looked like the coffin was in motion. Oooooh!

Oh, and one more thing about Les Invalides. They had unisex bathrooms, where everyone stood in one line, and there were two stalls. As people approached the line, they all looked confused. Being the helpful soul I am, I started shouting out, “Come on, everyone. Tout le monde.” Folks got the picture.
Then once you were done, you had the choice of flushing with a little button or a big button. You might call them “button #1” and “button #2”, if you catch my drift. Most ingenious.

Next, we hopped on the bus to the Louvre. DH had rented a wheelchair in London, and we brought it to Paris, but it’s really difficult using public transportation with a wheelchair in Paris. DH decided to just borrow one at the Louvre. However, this museum is a former palace, built over the centuries, so the floors do not run continuously from one end to the other. Just to get from one place to another, we would have to use four elevators. This was frustrating, so we really just looked for the highlights.

We got to see the Mona Lisa up close, even though there was a big crowd for it. The guard was very nice, and told DH and me to go up front, and then just move out of the way when we were ready. We read that Napoleon had kept the Mona Lisa for himself, but his wife, Josephine, was jealous and made him put it back.

We also saw the Venus de Milo, with her rock-hard abs,

and Winged Victory of Samothrace. When we were at California Adventure last week, we saw a copy of this statue. It looked older than the original.

The glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre.

When we left the Louvre, it was around 5 p.m., and we decided to go to Montmartre, even though we’d been warned that there is quite a bit of criminal activity there in the evening. We agreed not to stay too late, and to be on the lookout.

We got off the Metro and walked to the park at the foot of the hill where Sacre Couer church sits. There are many African immigrants there, trying to chat us up and give us a friendship bracelet. DH gives them the brush off, so I follow suit. I needed the bathroom badly at this point, but the ones in the park are the automated, pop-open kind, and I can’t figure out how to open it. One of the immigrants comes over and opens it for me, and said that, even though we weren’t friendly, he would help us.

We took the funicular railway up to Sacre Couer, and looked around inside. It was very beautiful. I lit a candle for all the people I loved and missed, and then we went to sit outside on the steps and look out over Paris. Sacre Couer has a great view, and there are street musicians playing along the steps. There was a big crowd sitting there, and I was enjoying the view while DH looked on his iPod touch to find the way to the Moulin Rouge. I had my backpack against my leg, and suddenly I noticed that a man had sat down on that side of me, and was inching towards my backpack. He acted like he was looking at the view, but his hand crept up to my bag. I pulled the bag onto my lap, and like a big doofus, I got out a mint and popped it into my mouth, like that was why I had picked up my bag. I don’t know why I didn’t shout, “Pickpocket.” As soon as I moved my bag, the man got up and moved away. I told DH, and we tried to keep our eye on this guy while we looked for a police officer, but there were none to be found. I asked at the railway desk, and they said there were so many pickpockets around Sacre Couer, the police hardly bother to come around.

When we got back to the bottom of the hill, the same man who helped me with the bathroom before came up to us again. He started talking to DH, who said, “No!” The man then came up to me and said, “If the man won’t talk to me, I talk to the wife.” I smiled and said, “Mon mari dit non!” which means, ”My husband said no!” This made the man laugh, and he left us alone then.

We headed over to the Moulin Rouge for the end of the evening. We met some girls out front who were from San Francisco (about 50 miles north of us). They asked if we would videotape them doing the cancan in front of the Moulin Rouge. I did, and they were very sweet. DH and I did think that we would be worried sick if our DD were in Paris without a chaperone.

The Moulin Rouge.

For those who can’t wait for DLRP, it’s just one day in Versailles and one more day in Paris away. Here’s a picture from IASW to tide you over.

 

[jessrose18]

We had a very similar experience at Sacre-- friendship bracelet men were harassing us and stepping in front of us so we couldn't walk up the stairs, this was definitely the "sketchiest" part of town we visited. Your trip report is very reminiscent of our Honeymoon trip, same places we visited, Versailles was our favorite, we rented a boat and paddled around the lake, it was the most romantic part of our trip. We also say we will go back to Paris-for our 20th wedding anniversary only 15 years away now! Can't wait to finish your report. We went to DLRP for one day when we were there right around Halloween and it was packed! But, there is nothing like seeing the pirates sing there song in French!

 

[dwheatl]

We had a very similar experience at Sacre-- friendship bracelet men were harassing us and stepping in front of us so we couldn't walk up the stairs, this was definitely the "sketchiest" part of town we visited. Your trip report is very reminiscent of our Honeymoon trip, same places we visited, Versailles was our favorite, we rented a boat and paddled around the lake, it was the most romantic part of our trip. We also say we will go back to Paris-for our 20th wedding anniversary only 15 years away now! Can't wait to finish your report. We went to DLRP for one day when we were there right around Halloween and it was packed! But, there is nothing like seeing the pirates sing there song in French!

I also loved Star Tours in French. DH and I are debating whether it was still Pee Wee Herman as the voice of the captain.

Fifteen years will fly by. DH and I can't believe that it's been almost 25 years for us. Even though we sometimes drive each other crazy, we are still crazy about each other.

 

[dwheatl]

On Saturday, we took the train out of Paris to visit Versailles. It was a short trip, and Versailles was, of course, beautiful. We listened to a Rick Steves audiotour, and enjoyed little nuggets of trivia. For instance, did you know that 3 bean salad was considered a delicacy in the time of Louis XIV? And that there were very few bathrooms at Versailles, so people wrapped themselves in the curtains or found a potted plant in which to relieve themselves. The bathroom situation is not much improved today. One of the few bathrooms there was so bad, I found a giant squeegee in the corner and started using it myself to clear the floor of water and tp.
After the palace, we enjoyed the fountains, gardens, and watching families crash into each other in little boats on the lake. We had lunch at one of the outside cafes there, and it was one of the most amusing experiences of our trip. Why? We had an honest-to-goodness grumpy French waiter! First he wouldn’t let us sit down, then when people asked for something like a menu, he would mumble to himself in French things like, “I’m all alone!” or some choice nasty words. For the record, he was not all alone. There were at least 2 other waiters, and this one didn’t seem so terribly overworked.

When another group sat down next to us and ordered their lunch, he barked at me in French, “Give them the mustard!” I laughed and told them that he’d said that, and they replied that they’d better take it. None of us wanted to get in trouble.

Our whole table was Americans, and the group next to us and we enjoyed the experience, but there were teenage girls at the end of the table, and one of them wanted to get into it with the waiter. She should have known she couldn’t win. The funniest part was when she told the waiter, “There’s a bug in my drink!” and he said, “That’s OK!” like he was forgiving her.

We made every attempt to speak French with this waiter, and when we finished eating, I stacked everything together to make it easy for him to clean up. For this, I got a rare smile from the waiter. I felt like it was a personal triumph.

After lunch, we walked to another area of Versailles that was more Marie Antoinette than Louis XIV. First was the Petit Trianon, where Marie Antoinette lived when her husband became king. We loved her china pattern, and the fact that her sisters-in-law had the same pattern, so if they had a big dinner party, they could pool their resources to have everything match. That was something I could relate to.

The next area we visited, the Petit Hameau, was one of my favorite sites of the whole trip. This was the fake farm Louis XVI had built for Marie Antoinette. It was so beautiful. I said to DH, “It’s like Disneyland built for one person!” He then pointed out that this is probably one of the reasons the Revolutionaries wanted MA gone. As pretty as this place was, that probably was not the best time to be spending so extravagantly.

My camera had a problem somewhere around this point in the trip, so I’ll post just a couple of borrowed pictures, then put a link to two articles about Versailles if you want to see more.

A pond and lighthouse in the Petit Hameau.

House with a water wheel.

Here’s the PBS site on Marie Antoinette : http://www.pbs.org/marieantoinette/life/hameau.html

A photo website for the Petit Hameau, with links to lots of other pictures of all the areas of Versailles : http://www.a-castle-for-rent.com/versailles/hamlet.htm

We had walked a long ways to get to the hameau, but we hadn’t noticed because there was so much to see. However, walking back to the train, we really noticed. Our feet were very sore that night.

When we got back to Paris, we ate dinner on the Ile Saint Louis, the island right next to Notre Dame. We ate at a café that was at the end of the island that faces Notre Dame, just a bridge away. It was very exciting to be eating in the shadow of this great cathedral. By the time we finished, we were the last customers, and there was only one waiter left. Everyone else had gone home. This was one of the times I was really glad I had gone to night school for a refresher course in French, because this waiter was one of the few we came across who did not speak any English.

Next up, our last day in Paris.

 

[Piglets Mommy]

I'm loving all of your updates! I fell really far behind, so won't bore everyone by quoting everything, but I just wanted to let you know that I am still reading and enjoying your TR!

 

[kaoden39]

I'm loving all of your updates! I fell really far behind, so won't bore everyone by quoting everything, but I just wanted to let you know that I am still reading and enjoying your TR!

Me too. I am loving the report.

 

[3Leafs]

I've never wanted to go to Europe but now seeing all the pictures and hearing the stories I wanna go now.. I think i'll call up my friend Danielle and see if she will be my tour guide

 

[dwheatl]

I'd be happy to guide you, T. And to all of my dear readers who are still reading, thanks. My next post will take us to the brink of DLRP.

 

[dwheatl]

Now, for all of the days of this trip, we had a plan, but for this day we had a PLAN! We had laundry to do (to my SGC peeps, not the fun kind), a special Mass to attend, towers to climb, and one more museum to visit.

At this point in the trip, I had not figured out that there was a problem with the camera. So, for this part of the trippie, I will again be sharing some “borrowed” photos. <me being a sneak-thief.

We found a laundromat within walking distance of our hotel, so we dragged over all of our stuff, figured out how to use the machines (with the help of some German tourists), and got to work. While I waited, I read my Paris Disneyland tour book, which I had not had much time to look at before. The good news –I had plenty of time to read. The bad news – the laundry was taking a long time to dry, and we wanted to get to the international Mass at Notre Dame.

As soon as our laundry was semi-dry, we ran back to the hotel. We draped our few damp things over furniture, pictures, etc, including the painting of a nude lady that was hanging across from the bed. DH had a nickname for her, but it is not Dis-friendly.

I had heard that European churches had stricter standards of dress than we are used to, so I had brought a dress, short sleeve sweater, and heels for this occasion. We zipped across to the Metro station, got off as close to the cathedral as we could, and ran the rest of the way. I have not run in heels since my college graduation twenty-five years ago. Nothing like showing up at church with rivulets of sweat running down, well, everywhere.

There was a line of tourists out the front, and DH wondered how we would get in. I grabbed his hand and we sneaked in through the back door. Pretty much how I imagine we’ll get into heaven one day, too. We were about ten minutes late, much like we often are at home.

There was an elderly lady on one side of us at Mass, and a young mother and daughter on the other side, and they all sang beautifully. A couple of young men came in after we did and scooted under the rope and sat down. DH says a few minutes later some ushers chased them out of the church. I wondered why they didn’t shout, “Sanctuary! Sanctuary!” (When they used to have the Festival of Fools at DLR, they had us divided into groups, and our leader would have us cheer, “Sanctuary, Sanctuary, Sanctuary, huh!” If you're a Hunchback of Notre Dame fan, you'll understand why.

When the collection plate came around, I asked the usher (in French) if they took American dollars, to which he replied, with a laugh, something like, “We accept all money, even from the devil.” I did not take offense. I thought it was pretty funny, actually.

After Mass, we went around the corner to climb the towers of Notre Dame. There was a huge line, with a sign at the front saying they allow twenty people every ten minutes. It turned out to be more like ten people every twenty minutes. I joked with DH that it must have to do with the exchange rate between American and French minutes. This “exchange rate” held true for the rest of the trip. The French just don’t seem to be in the rush that Americans are.

After about an hour and a half, it’s our turn to go up the towers. I had brought some flats to change into. Thank goodness, because the steps are almost 800 years old and a little treacherous. The towers are amazing, and I think it’s the best view of Paris that we had. We came face to face with gargoyles and chimeras, and got to see the biggest bell, that is only rung on special holy days. I have a little trouble with heights, and a lot of trouble with claustrophobia, but I was able to overcome both of these on this day so I could enjoy the experience. The towers were very narrow. The reason they could only allow a few people up at a time is that there was only room for one-way traffic on the stairs, and in some places you had to go down the stairs you had come up.

One man’s job was to sit at the entrance to one of the towers, using his leg as a gate. When one group came down, he’d move his leg and let them out and the next group in. He was very friendly, and I asked him if he felt lucky to have that job. He said yes, that it was a beautiful spot and he enjoyed being up there. I’m glad he appreciates what he has.

Here are some pictures of the gargoyles.

And the rain spouts Quasimodo slides along –

When we left Notre Dame, we were heading for the Musee D’Orsay. The Louvre is more famous, but the Orsay is filled with Impressionist art, which is my favorite. I did not want to miss it, but by the time we left the church, the museum was only open 2 more hours. We thought walking would be faster than taking the Metro (wrong), and when we got to the museum, there was a huge line out the front.

We thought there would be no way we could make it in before closing. Then we saw the magic sign – the handicapped entrance. DH walked over and asked about the entrance. The guard asked how he was handicapped. DH has cerebral palsy, with partial right side paralysis, but apparently the guard missed that. DH held up his crooked right pointer finger, and the man held the door open for us. I don’t know why that struck me funny, except that DH used to charge kids a nickel to look at his finger when he was a kid, and now the finger had paid off again.

Everyone working inside the museum was super nice, got DH a wheelchair, escorted us to the elevator, told us how to quickly make our way through the most popular paintings. We saw some beautiful works by Manet and Monet, Toulouse Lautrec and Renoir, Gauguin and Van Gogh, and many others as well. I felt so lucky that we made it through.

After the Orsay, we looked for a café where we could eat inside. The first one we asked said we could only drink inside and eat outside. I was tired of eating next to chain smokers, but I was also plain tired and hungry (we’d skipped lunch to fit in more fun), so I had a little meltdown. DH took me by the hand and found a nice place for us to eat. We shared a big salad and a plate of pasta, and had a very nice waiter who disappeared for forty-five minutes for a dinner and smoke break without telling us where he was going. That part of it was just like eating at Denny’s.

Afterwards, we took the bus to the Eiffel Towerfor one last view of Paris. We were going to go to the summit, but the lady at the ticket desk told us that people with handicaps should not go to the top, since it was more than one thousand steps to walk down to a point where someone could rescue you if there was a problem with the elevator. That didn’t dissuade DH, but I was so worn out at that point, I was happy to just go to the second level. The night was beautiful, and I wondered if we would ever go back to Paris again.

We stopped for a crepe spread with Nutella on the way to the Metro station, then back to the hotel to pack up and get ready to leave for DLRP in the morning.

In the morning, we had our beautiful, French buffet breakfast one more time. Did I mention that I loved the orange-cinnamon prunes? I know that’s a crazy thing to love, but it was like having candy for breakfast. We tried to ignore the loud Americans two tables away from us that were complaining about everything at the breakfast. Why do the French make their scrambled eggs runny? Why were some of the food labels only in French? My guess is because we weren’t in the U.S. of A.

We grabbed our bags and the wheelchair (that we had not used in Paris, since the Metro was not accessible,) and caught a taxi to the Gare de Lyon, a train station that was accessible. However, once we had used our tickets to get through the gate, we found out that the elevator was at the other end of the station. We were worried that our tickets would not be good if we used them to exit that area, but a lovely young Parisian man used his pass to open the gates for us.

Next, a worker at the station came out to help us, and stayed with us until we got on the train, then called ahead to make sure that someone would be there to help us when we got to the other station. I was very impressed with the kindness of the people at this station.

After a quick half hour trip through the suburbs of Paris, we were at Disneyland! As promised, someone was there to help us get off the train, and we were ready to have some Disney fun. (pronounced Me-Kay in French) (known as Dingo in French)

 

[sinnika]

Loving your TR and patiently waiting on the next installment.. Can't wait to hear about DLPR!

 

[dwheatl]

The Marne-La-Vallee station is literally at the gates to DLRP. I guess we could have checked our luggage there and gone straight into the parks(never mind, I just remembered we didn’t have our tickets yet), but we wanted to check into our hotel, the Newport Bay Club, before we had our fun. We walked over to the stop for the bus to the hotel, and it just pulled out as we got there. We met a very nice family from Italy at the stop, and we had a nice chat while we waited. We told them the our next trip to Europe will be to see Italy (who knows how long that will be?).

The next bus was supposed to be there in ten minutes, but it was more than twenty minutes before it showed up. Although we were first in line, people pushed their way on, and by the time I had our bags and the wheelchair on the bus, all the seats were taken. It’s a short ride, but people were literally covering their eyes. It was like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. The driver just barely missed hitting other cars, and went around turns with the wheels screeching. We walked between the hotel and the park for the rest of the trip.

When we got inside the hotel, there was a huge line for registration. Although our room was on the Admiral’s Floor, we did not have the perks for that area like the streamlined check-in, because we had not paid extra to be on the Admiral’s Floor. We were only there because that’s where an available handicapped accessible room was. We had booked through a British travel agent, I can’t remember the whole name, but it included Travel Gateway, and was mentioned in other threads in this forum (helpful, right?) They made the contacts with Disney to arrange our accessible room.

I got in the registration line while DH waited with the luggage. I was amazed at the multi-lingual abilities of the staff. It seemed like everyone working there spoke at least three languages. The first part of the check-in happened very quickly, where I was given our 3 Day park tickets and our reservation card. Then I waited quite a while to reach the desk where they told me about the room, the breakfast, and gave me the keys. It was a slow process, but I imagine part of that is having to answer so many questions in so many languages.

Our handicapped room had just two things that made it accessible, as far as I could see – it was close to the elevators/lifts (hooray), and the back end of the tub had a ledge where you could sit. It was supposed to be a non-smoking room, but clearly, someone had been smoking HEAVILY in the bathroom. I’m an ex-smoker, and I’m not too sensitive to it, but it made me cough and my eyes water, it was so strong.

We tried to open the windows to air out the room, but they would not stay open. I finally put my empty Orangina can in the window to hold it open. When I got home, I told my mom, and we had a good laugh. When I was growing up, we had a kitchen window that stayed open with the use of a sawed-off broom handle. I think I was in college before I found out that it was not designed that way, but had broken before I was born, and nobody had ever found the time to fix it. So my mom and I agreed that it was a good life lesson that served me well when we got to the hotel.

Not just any Orangina, but light Orangina!

We also got held up (time-wise, not a robbery) in trying to use our room safe to put our passports and other valuables away. We couldn’t figure it out on our own, and when we called downstairs, they said they would send someone right up. A half-hour later, two men showed up to try to unlock the safe. We had some trouble conveying that we wanted to lock it. They called downstairs, then put us on the phone. It turned out you had to use a six-digit code to lock it, while every place else that we’d stayed on the trip, it had been four. I don’t know why they didn’t tell DH that when he called the first time.

The best thing about our room was the view. We looked out on Lake Disney, and could see the top of Space Mountain, the spires of the castle, and in Disney Studios, the Earful Tower and the Tower of Terror.

Lake Disney

The other side of the hotel.

More of the hotel, and the walkway to the parks.

Next time, we’ll actually enter the park.

 

[Dianetigger]

Absolutely fabulous! Really loving this trip report, you did SO much in Paris. We enjoyed the Louvre but even with a map we found it hard to navigate!!

 

[SarahDISer]

I am just loving this trip report

 

[kaoden39]

I showed my DH the pictures from your trip report and he was surprised to see Orangeina in a can and not in an orange. The things men notice. I notice the beautiful buildings and the gargoyles he notices that.

 

[A Small World]

Great report so far.

I loved seeing your pics of London as Im taking DD there for a girly trip in 2 weeks and so was able to show her them.

Your room at Admirals floor sounded exactly like ours at first - close to the lifts and with a ledge at the end of the bath but ours was the opposite end. You can see our room in your picture. Strange though about the safe code as ours definitely only had a 4 digit code.

Cant wait to hear more about your days in the park itself

 

[lexmelinda]

Still reading and enjoying! I think your French is pretty good, Danielle. I took four semesters of college French and can only read a menu. It's hard to put together a sentence.

Loved the Petit Hambeau at Versailles, Notre Dame, Sacre Couer, Musee Dorsee (I know I spelled most of those wrong). Thanks for letting us tour Paris with you.

Can't wait for Disney!

 

[Piglets Mommy]

I'm so excited you are finally at DLRP!!!