1 (long) day in Paris and the last lazy day of vacation

On Thursday, we had our one day to visit Paris. It was a bit overcast, but not raining...and not as cold as the previous days. We took the train from Disneyland into Paris, and from there got on the Metro to where we needed to be to get our tour.

When we arrived at our stop and checked in for the tour, we were almost 2 hours early, but we were right next to a park with a playground, so we took a break from Kevin to play (and mom to snap pics) and from there Kevin had his first lunch in a Parisian cafe.


It was everything you hear about - the service was not great, the food was expensive and not exactly tasty - and it was wonderful to be just the two of us, sipping cola and making our way through lunch. Also, it turns out that a croque monsieur is not exactly to comparable to a tosti or grilled cheese.....but Kevin bravely made it through most of his plate with the help of ketchup!
From there, we wandered back to meet the bus, and started our tour around the city in the top of a double decker bus. Kevin and I traded camera duty as we made our way around the city.
Once we were at the Eiffel Tower, the bus tour was over and our package included tickets to the second level.
I´ve been to the second level on previous visits, and Kev found it very cool. However, it turns out that you can purchase an additional ticket on the second floor to go up to the third level. If you look at a picture of the eiffel tower, the third level is really high up there! Kev really wanted to, and I´d never been, and we were there.....so we bought tickets and got in the very long line to get to the top. Almost 40 minutes later, we were in the lift, which is glass like on all sides...and Little Man didn´t want to look out! He was hugging me with his face in my jacket, and I was trying to tell the butterflies in my stomach that it wasn´t really that high up. Once we got out of the lift, it was a single flight up to the highest observation deck, and we walked around twice, snapping a few more pictures before getting in the line to go back down to the second level as the sun was just starting to set.
Back on solid ground (and very proud of ourselves for braving the third level) we walked across to the river to get on the next available river cruise. We timed it just right, and with less than a 15 minute wait, we were on one of the first cruises of the evening, enjoying the city we´d seen during the day by bus now at night from the boat.

We snapped plenty of pics, and at 8pm when we were back at the eiffel tower, we braved public transport to head back toward the disney parks and our resort. It went smoothly, but took longer than we thought.....we were back at the resort at 10.30pm, tired but triumphant!

Friday was supposed to be our 4th and last day at Disneyland Paris, but we were both pretty done after the paris day, and Kevin decided he really wanted a house day, to play games, stay in our PJ´s and be lazy. Mom was very grateful that even 5 year old batteries need recharging after a fun filled week!
Saturday we snapped our last pictures of the resort, packed the car, stopped at the village bakery for the last croissants and baguette for the road and then started the 5 1/2 hour drive home.

Lucky for Little Man, he didn't have long to wait for the next big thing - his birthday party last Friday!

Pics and a new Post to follow!

Vacation @ Disneyland Paris

For once, Mom is going to post pics while the memories are still fresh, and before life interferes with good intentions.
We had a great week this last week. Some quality time just Mom and Little Man, lots of fun and busy time 3 days at the disney parks, one whirlwhind day in Paris, and we took as many pictures as I could remember to (or whenever Little Man asked for the camera).

So, in this post, I'll put up some of my favs, staying somewhat in order of the agenda and the days we were at the parks.

We arrived Saturday night, so Sunday was our first day to hit Disneyland, which is what we got up and did, arriving at opening time. We stayed most of the morning in fantasyland (Peter Pan, Teacups, It's a small world, etc) before moving to discoveryland to take in Buzz LightYear, and then off to adventureland with Pirates of the Caribbean. We managed to end the day just in time for the Parade, which Kevin got a good view of and gets the photo credits for these pics.

Monday we took a more relaxed day and hung out at the swimming pool at the resort in the morning before heading to a nearby village and visiting the Sea-Life aquaruium.Kev's highlights were the tidepool area where you could 'pet' the rays and fish as they swim by, and the big aquarium where there is tunnel like area you walk through and the aquarium is on all sides. This was the shark tank, and we had to take a pic, but no flash allowed, so he looks a bit like a smurf!

After we finished at the aquarium, we headed back to the resort to make it an early day, becuase Tuesday was Walt Disney Studios day!

Sunday we had reasonable luck with lines for the rides we wanted to do, but that was not the case at the studios. There were long lines for everything. We waited at least 60 mins per ride, and to do the one roller coaster that he met the height requirements for and that didn't go 360, we had to wait in line for a whopping 95 mins!!! No line dimished his enthusiasim, and we had a great day. We managed to take a few snapshots, and don't let the sunshine fool you...it was 2 degrees celcius in the morning, warming up to a whole 5 degrees in the midday!

The following day, we headed back to Disneyland with Winnie and Lars, who joined us at the resort to spend one day with us at the park. We stayed at Disneyland, did the 'best of the best' rides as recommended by Little Man, and ended the day with a hoedown high tea and a meet and greet with some characters. It was a long day, but we all had a blast. The lines were longer than Sunday by a bit, but we still managed to squeeze in everything we wanted to do and still got to see a street parade and the high tea.
The following day, Winnie and Lars headed back to The Netherlands, and we headed into Paris for the day! That is going to have to be the next post, which I promise I will try to follow up with soon!