Paris 2016 Part 1

To continue on from where we left off in Day 4, we jumped off the Chunnel and were able to get right onto the Metro, but man, let me tell you, it was way harder to figure out where we were suppose to go with everything being in french. But we finally figured it out, and we got off right in front of our hotel. We were staying at the Westin right by Tullieres park. It's gorgeous. The lobby was full of Lillies and it smelled incredible. We got cleaned up and went out for a quick dinner, and hurried home to rest up for our full week in Paris!

Day 5 

The best part about having so much time in Paris was that we didn't feel like we had to cram everything into just a few days. So all of our days were pretty laid back, and easy going, but we still felt like we got everything in that we wanted to, and then some!

We started our first full day in Paris by strolling though the alley ways to find a bakery for breakfast. We found one quickly and got some croissants and pan au chocolats, and a few baguette sandwiches for later on. We enjoyed these on the steps of a small church and a crowd of pigeons quickly became our friends.

We then headed across La Seine to get on a river cruise to show us some main sights, and to help us get a general overview of the city. The cruise was fine, a little chilly and surprisingly not too informative. But we still got some lovely pictures and a chance to rest our feet which is always enjoyable when you are logging over 9 miles every day.

It was noon, so we were on the hunt for lunch. We walked through Tuileries gardens and found some crepes! We got ham and cheese and also Nutella with bananas. So delicious.

We kept meandering up to the Champs-Élysées, poking into some shops and gazing at the Arc de Triomphe. It was stormy and about to rain, so we did a quick Google search and found a theater not too far away showing movies in English with French subtitles. We hopped on the metro and we're headed to see Tarzan. If you haven't seen it, you should go! We liked it a lot.

We grabbed some dinner at an Istanbul restaurant which was so good, and then walked all the way home.

We grabbed some ice cream and chocolate on the way and enjoyed those in our hotel room and settled in for the night.

Day 6

Bastille day! We were anxious to get up and get out to the parade. We had grand plans to beat the crowds and have the best spot of all. Great plan, until we accidentally slept in until 15 minutes before the parade was to begin. We jumped up and hurried out the door and actually made it to a decent spot just a few minutes before everything got started. We didn't have the best view of the marching, but we could see the horses and tanks and planes and hear the band just fine.

We didn't have time for breakfast so we were ravenous for lunch. We found a bakery and grabbed two of the most delicious sandwiches I've ever eaten, and a few pastries, and a Coke Zero and enjoyed a little rest while we ate our lunch.

After our recharge, we headed out on a long nice walk to Notre Dame to do an audio tour we had downloaded on our phones. It was so fun. I really enjoyed learning about the sculptures on the face of Notre Dame and some history behind it. We wandered the surrounding city and stumbled upon the coolest gelato shop where they scoop your gelato into the shape of a rose. It was so fresh and delicious and we will probably make our way there again before we come home. It was so good. Another fun surprise that we happened to find was a French board game shop. Floor to ceiling was full of amazing games. Alex was in heaven checking at all out.

It was time to head to our firework watching spot. Alex had read a few blogs about good spots to watch the July 14th fireworks, and it was seriously perfect. We grabbed a picnic of bread, cheese and ham, crackers and some fruit and some apple cider! We munched and people watched and enjoyed the view of the sparkling Eiffel Tower. The fireworks were some of the best I've ever seen, and I'm so glad we were able to experience that.

Getting home on the metro was comical. The trains we jammed packed. Like one car drove by and these girls faces were literally smashed up against the window. It took 4 trains to come and go before we could finally squeeze into one. Luckily we only have to go 2 stops before transferring so it wasn't too bad.

It was a really fun experience to be in paris during a local holiday!

Day 7

MY FAVORITE DAY! We went to Disneyland Paris!! We woke up early and headed for the train station. We rode an awesome double decker metro all the way to the gates of Disney. The lines to get in were quite short and we grabbed our maps and set out!

We admired the castle and Alex caught a few Pokemon, and we got our picture taken right away so I wasn't worried about getting it done all day. The wait for Indiana Jones was only 5 minutes so we did that first. It's totally different than the ride in California. It's just a crazy intense roller coaster. It rattled our brains a little too much so we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean next. There are two drops on this Pirates and it is so fun. Funny to hear them singing all in French, but just as enjoyable.

We went to fantasyland and rode Small World which was so cute. Alex had never been on that, so it was a fun one to do together. All the wait times for the other fantasyland rides were a bit too long so we went to Tomorrowland. Super short wait for Space mountain, so we did that. It was so much fun, so we did it a second time right away. My hair was crazy so I invested in my first ever pair of Minnie Ears. They even perfectly matched my outfit, which I promise I didn't do on purpose.

We wandered through the shops, went on a few more rides and ate lunch. We'd hit up pretty much everything so we left Disneyland and walked over to Walt Disney Studios.

We ran right to a Ratatouille ride. The wait was so long, but since there isn't anything like this back home we decided it was worth the wait. And it totally was. It's a fun 4D type roller coaster. Combine the little mermaid ride, soaring over California and Star Tours! It was really cute and we were glad we waited to do it.

Next we practically walked right into Tower of Terror. Just as good as back home! It seriously is the best ride ever.

On to more new rides. Crush's Coaster! I didn't know what to expect, but it ended up being my favorite ride of the day. You sit in a turtle shell back to back with the other riders so you are all facing out. And you go on a crazy roller coaster and you spin in all directions. I was afraid I'd get too dizzy, but it was so smooth and so fun. I wish we had had time to do it again.

We also did a Toy Story ride that is like the boat ride at Lagoon where you swing back and forth really high. But you are in the RC car riding up and down a race track. It was really fun.

We ran to ToT again and were able to do that right before they kicked us out.

Our feet were dead so we hobbled back to the train and made our way back home.

It was seriously so fun and I'm glad Alex loves me enough to agree to a Disney day while we are on our Europe adventure!

TO BE CONTINUED...