DAYS 12, 13 & 14: Friendly Paris, Astounding Eiffel & The House of the Mouse in France

Quotes of the days:

Tuesday upon arrival in Paris: “Your life is a hot mess.” JM upon surveying HM’s suitcase. HM’s split-second rebuttal: “Emphasis on the hot.”

Wednesday at the Eiffel Tower: “I want drugs for the deaf / mutes. I don’t really know.” JM after being accosted yet again by a gypsy asking him to sign some random survey answering EM when asked, “what did she ask you Daddy?” 

Thursday at Disney Paris: “Our waiter must have gotten the part he tried out for in that play, because he is gone.” JM after our waiter in Disneyland Paris appeared to abandon us after delivering bread and salads.

VM: We have been on the go since arriving in the city of lights, Paris, on Tuesday. So much so that we’ve come in late every night and have not had the stamina to write!

Tuesday we arrived in our Parisian flat at around 1PM. As we were early, it wasn’t quite ready for us to move in yet, but our wonderful landlady, Carole, took our bags and sent us into our new “neighborhood” for some lunch and exploring.

Like all cities, Paris is divided into a number of different neighborhoods or what they call arrondisements.  The apartment we chose is located in the 11^th arrondisement, right in an area called The Marais.  This could be somewhat compared to New York’s SoHo neighborhood. It’s got a little bit of everything. 

EM was happy to find her first store with
her beloved macaroons.

Our first linner spot in Paris was delish and everyone
was super friendly.

We had a delicious “first linner in Paris” at a local bistro close to our apartment. We also had our first introduction to super nice Parisians. The French have been infamously known for not being friendly, but we can only say the exact opposite. EVERYONE and I mean everyone from waiters to taxi drivers to people on the street who we ask for help with directions have been terrific. Especially because we don’t speak a word of French and my Spanish doesn’t help much here.

Spring is in the air in Paris! Beautiful flowers are budding everywhere.

This is why French women don't get fat...
wouldn't you eat better if you walked by this
every day on the way home from work!?!?

Yummy fresh blueberries for dessert.

We love that Parisian stores "specialize"
in everything -- cheese, bread, fruits & veggies,
and our personal favorite -- CHOCOLATE!

We finally were able to “check-in” around 4pm. The apartment was worth the wait.  Although it is a third floor walk-up and JM had the unhappy task of lugging our large bags up all three flights, the effort paid off. We have a sunny, top floor duplex apartment overlooking a green courtyard.  It reminded me right away of the 80’s show Melrose Place (without the drama)!

Each of the girls has their own space with HM sleeping in a third story loft under a skylight reachable only by ladder. Clearly a perfect spot for a teenager.

After a long day of travel, EM ended up falling asleep early. Not wanting to wake her up, JM stayed with her while HM and I went to go walk and explore the city.

We had no destination in mind and just wandered for about 2.5 miles. As the sun sets quite late here (around 8:30ish), we decided to go check out the Eiffel Tower at sunset and were sure glad we did. We had a beautiful night and loved watching the sparkles on the tower as we tried to snap pics capturing its magic. It was a fun evening.

HM happy to be in Paris.

Eiffel Tower at sunset is magnificent.

The Eiffel Tower is TALL. It is the equivalent of a 81-story building. Photo creds: HM.

The base is massive.

Wednesday, we fulfilled one of EM’s trip requests – actually visiting and climbing the Eiffel Tower. She was well rested after her 13-hour sleep so she was eager to go. We had booked a behind-the-scenes tour for 10am & were really glad we set out early as morning rush hour traffic is a bear in Paris (as in any city!)

Elevators which were put in place in 1889 still function today,
they go up on a diagonal on the tower's base.

The view from up above is really great despite fog and pollution.
We could even see the famed Arc de Triumphe. Photo creds: HM.

Eiffel gets all the credit although he wasn't
the designer.

EM finally gets to visit the subject of her shirt. Photo creds: HM.

The tour was well worthwhile as in addition to sharing some historical information about the tower, they also take you in some restricted areas to understand how the tower was built and how it functions today. And of course, best of all, it lets you skip the line to go up on the elevator to the middle level of the Tower. And given the cacophony of people at the Tower at any given time of the day, this was money well invested.

Stunning, simply stunning. Photo creds: HM

While I don’t know anyone who doesn’t recognize the Eiffel Tower, or know that it was built for a World Grand Expo in Paris, it was interesting to hear that this project went through its fits and starts like any other. To start with, Eiffel himself really didn’t design it, two men from his firm did. Next, funding for the tower became problematic especially when the backers thought the project “ugly” and that no one would come to visit it, much less pay money to climb it.

Eiffel finally funded the $56 million tower himself and he laughed all the way to the bank, when he recouped all his money within 6 months of opening. How’s that for a business plan!?!?

And while the Eiffel Tower was scheduled to be demolished after a decade of when it was first built in 1889 (it just celebrated its 126^th anniversary!), Eiffel figured out a way of keeping it alive by making it first a radio transmission tower, and then later, it actually housed a TV station in an underground bunker which we were able to visit.

It truly is beautiful and marvelous to see this iconic structure upfront.  We had a wonderful morning.

HM ready to meet the Phantom at the Palais Garnier.

In the afternoon, we had planned another “behind-the-scenes” tour at the Palais Garnier which is Paris’ original opera house. This had been an HM request as she’s majorly obsessed with the story of the Phantom of the Opera. It is a story which originated from a French writer, Gaston Leroux, and which was later used by Andrew Lloyd Weber to create his famous Broadway musical.

HM was really happy to be here.

The tour was wonderful as we had a passionate tour guide who did a good job of explaining the history of the opera house and its architect, Garnier, and how the story of the phantom came to life. While Leroux’s work was a fiction novel, it was a based on very real events that happened at the opera house, including having a real “box number five” which was to be reserved for the phantom and a real lake underneath the building.  Those of you who are fans, will get this. Those who don’t, just skip this paragraph!

Box number five really exists!

Much of the work reminded us of the
Sistine Chapel.

In addition to all the Phantom tidbits, we enjoyed hearing the many stories of how the Italian Renaissance artists which we had just seen and learned more about in Rome and Florence greatly influenced the work created at the Palais Garnier. In fact, one of the reception rooms in the opera had amazing fresco work on its ceiling which mixes Greek mythology with Christian stories. 

It was all greatly influenced by the Sistine Chapel and the work of the Italian masters. It was really something to experience it all and having it all come full circle for us.

Ultimately, HM loved the tour and EM did a good job of masking her disinterest.

Once the tour was over, we walked. And we walked. And then we walked some more. All in all, we probably walked about 3-4 miles as we moseyed our way back through the city to reach the River Seine for a 7pm evening cruise.

Paris is truly a beautiful city filled with beautiful people. We enjoyed all the people-watching as we walked through Place de La Concorde and Tulleries Gardens which are near the Louvre. The beautiful people dressed in cool clothes just hang out and truly enjoy life. There’s something to really be said for that.

EM enjoying the Tulleries Gardens.

Parisians know how to "hang out."

JM and his girls: Paris edition.

We ended our touring with a one-hour cruise on the Seine. It was a nice way to admire the Parisian architecture and to see Notre Dame from the water. We all enjoyed it.

EM was happy to see one of her
favorite shows was also here in Paris.
VM is happy that the TV hasn't been turned
on not even ONCE on this whole trip.

On the way home, we decided to learn how to take the Metro. After walking another 2-3 miles, and several asks along the way, we finally found the station. And then we were able to make our way back to the Marais. We were very proud of ourselves and feeling very accomplished. And we felt ready to conquer the Metro and train as we were scheduled to go to “happiest place on earth” Thursday, Disneyland Paris.

We awoke early this morning ready to tackle the Metro again. We stopped at our local bakery for some fresh croissants and pan au chocalat (my absolute favorite!) and we headed out.

It appears well-marked, but it truly is confusing!

And we did pretty good until we caught the Metro in the wrong direction at our changing point. It was an honest mistake as the stations are a bit confusing, and we probably had a bunch of Parisians laughing about us all day. When we realized we had made a mistake, we approached one of the Metro information officers, she quickly pointed us in a direction and opened the gates for us. Still confused, we went through as she commanded and must’ve looked like some lost puppies as she was YELLING at us from behind her glassed in booth that we were going the wrong way. Still not understanding, the folks waiting in her line got involved, everyone yelling at us and pointing in which direction we should go. Ultimately, it was comical, but we DID make it on the right train.

Even with all our nuttiness, we were still at the Disneyland Paris gates promptly at 9:30am and YES, we spent the whole day there. As many of you know, this had been JM’s ask for the trip. Being the uber Disney fan that he is, he wanted to be able to experience the Disney parks here and the girls were also very excited about the prospect.

JM and his girls: Disneyland Paris edition.

Disney has two parks here – Disneyland Park (our Magic Kingdom) and Walt Disney Studios (our Hollywood Studios). They are both situated across from each other just like Disneyland in California and the California Adventure, so it’s really easy to walk back and forth between the parks. And walk we did.

The castle was very pink, but not as big as
JM had imagined it.

Ultimately, we had a really good time, although the parks were a bit more crowded than we had counted on. It seems a lot of folks were still off for the Easter break. We had a primarily crazy mixture of French, English, Americans and Spaniards in the park. We even had some Brazilians!

We love Remy!

There are two rides that are really unique to this park – Crush’s Coaster and Ratatouille: The Adventure. Crush is a spinning coaster in the dark while Ratatouille uses some glide technology mixed with 3D animation that none of us had ever experienced before. We all deemed these two rides super cool.

In fact, we all really liked the Ratatouille area of the park.  It was really well done and the attention to detail is pure Disney. We even ended up having linner in the bistro here and had a really nice meal in a super fun ambiance.

One of our favorite parts about Disneyland Paris - the
Ratatouille area.

The attention to detail in Remy's bistro
was terrific.

JM and his girls: Ratatouille edition.

EM and HM try out their French driving skills in
the Ratatouille area.

All in all, we had a nice visit to Disneyland Paris, but we were all happy to board our train to head home.

After a full day, we were ready to call it a wrap!

JM & EM relieved that we were heading
the right way on the metro!

On the way home we experienced some heightened security on the train line and on the metro line, with random ticket checks and stations that were guarded by soldiers with machine guns. It was a bit unnerving and a reminder of the recent problems they’ve experienced here in Paris. We have seen soldiers heavily guarding the National Assembly here (the equivalent of our Congress) and even patrolling the Eiffel Tower. 

Soldiers patrolling the Eiffel Tower. Photo creds: HM

Signs supporting Charlie Hebdo.

We have also been reminded by graffiti in the city that says “Je Suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) and we also saw some banners in support of Charlie Hebdo. It sadly shows us that terrorism can and may strike at any time. And while I know there is very little we can do about that, it certainly makes me sad for those who have been affected by it thus far and for those who it may affect in the future. Prayers, lots of prayers.

Tomorrow is our last day of ‘cation. We plan to do a couple of museum stops including Rodin and the Orsay, where many Monets are housed. The Mona Lisa and the Louvre will have to wait for another trip as none of us are feeling up to dealing with the crowds.

While we are super sad for our journey to end, we are all excited to get home see our family and friends, and of course, our beloved pets!

 Random pic of the day

Even the dogs wait if line for the Parisian bread.