Day 8 - Paris Wrap Up

Our trip is coming to a close. Today we wrapped up Paris but visiting Versailles, moseying around Notre-Dame and climbing the Arc de Triomphe. We took a short Metro ride from our apartment to Gare d'Austerlitz to catch the RER C to Versailles. When we arrived we followed the crowd to the Chateau and started our tour. It was chilly, grey and windy but it was still incredibly warm in the Chateau due to the number of people. After finishing the interior tour we checked out the gardens for a bit and then decided to head back to the city.

When we exited the Metro near Notre-Dame the sun had broken through the clouds and it had turned into a relatively nice day. We strolled around the area browsing the river-side stalls, people watching and just taking it all in. We found a lovely plant vendor area near the Cite Metro stop. We then decided to head back to the apartment to organize our bags, tidy up and relax a bit.

We left again for dinner, stopping in a cafe near our apartment. Then it was off to the Arc de Triomphe. We arrived to a lineless entry and began our climb...all 284 steps...to the top. The view from the top was spectacular and we spent lots of time just admiring the city.

We eventually decended, hopped the Metro back to our apartment, and are now settled in for a short sleep before heading to the airport in the morning. Tomorrow we return to North America!

Day 7 - Museums, Gardens and Monuments Oh My!

Today was spent touring a wide variety of places around the city. We started the day by hopping the Metro to Le Louvre! We arrived just outside the museum, walked through a side entrance and into the main lobby (bypassing the very busy pyramid entrance). We used another audio tour from the guide book and took a somewhat whirlwind tour (2+ hours) of the museum. We exited Le Louvre similarly to how we entered, via a lesser known route, and ended up in the courtyard near a quaint sandwich cart. We stopped for lunch and watched an elderly Parisian woman feed the pigeons.

We then walked across the river to the Musee D'Orsay and used yet another audio tour to pass through the museum while being educated on various histories. Musee D'Orsay has a lovely rooftop terrace overlooking the right bank. It was available at a perfect time during our tour to take a little break.

We crossed the river again and strolled through Jardin des Tulleries. After traversing approximately half of the large public park we selected some lounge chairs in a shady, out of the way area and took a short nap. Refreshed we finished walking through the park, out the far side around Place de la Concorde, and up the grand Avenue des Champs Elysees all the way to Le Arc de Triomphe. We didn't spend much time here though because we wanted to catch the sunset from Sacre-Coeur.

We took the Metro to Montmartre, stopped at a fantastic patisserie for macaroons, and hiked up the hill and steps to Sacre-Coeur. We were not alone, but there was plenty of room to sit on the steps, enjoy our pre-dinner treat, and take it all in. Once the sun had set, and we watched a guy who would blow away any competition on America's Got Talent, we started down the hill and found dinner at a small restaurant at the bottom.

After dinner we took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night. We walked along Quai D'Orsay catching glimpses of the tower through the trees and then crossed Pont d'Lena to view the tower from Jardin de Trocadero. As the clock struck 22:00, the tower lit up with hundreds of strobe lights. Glistening like diamonds the tower sparkled for the next four minutes. When the lights stopped, we went to the nearby food vendor, Peggy ordered a crepe and I ordered some ice cream. We then strolled through the garden, up the steps of the Palais de Chaillot and to Trocadero Metro station for the ride back to our apartment.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Paris and we plan to jam it full of things we haven't done yet. It will be tiring, but also a lot of fun.

Bon soir!

-Sean

Day 6 - Historic Paris Tour

Today we completed a historic Paris tour compliments of one of the Paris guidebooks I bought Peggy. The tour kicks off a Point Zero, the birthplace of Paris on Ile de la Cite in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral. To start our day we walked from our apartment to Notre-Dame. We passed one of the main firehouses along the way (the trip wouldn't be complete without at least seeing a firehouse). We arrived at Notre-Dame just as I planned...we were walking along a street with the cathedral completely out of sight, we rounded the bend and there it was in all it's glory. Peggy's jaw hit the curb as she got to see it with her own eyes for the first time ever. It was fantastic!

We first queued for the Notre-Dame Tower Climb, 400 steps of history (complete with grooves worn into the granite from the tens of thousands who have climbed before us). The first staircase (pictured below) took us to the upper room of the north tower. The ceiling here is amazing (also pictured below). We took a short break here to learn a little history and browse the gift shop (because no historic attraction is complete without a gift shop). 

Then it was onward and upward to the Chimera gallery, approximately 2/3rds of the way to the top or 46 meters (that's almost 151 feet for those keeping track at home) from the entrance level. From this level we had a good view of the city. We were also able to access the South tower belfry and see "Emmanuel" and "Marie" the two largest bells of Notre-Dame. Emmanuel weighs 13 tons and Marie (installed in 2013) weighs 6.2 tons. These bells are only rung on major Catholic feast days. The remaining bell ringing is left to 8 smaller bells in the North tower.

After viewing the bells, and wooden bell tower framework, we continued our climb to reach the top of the South tower and boy was it worth it! The view of the surrounding city, all 360 glorious degrees was breathtaking...and not due to climbing 69 meters (226 feet, 397 steps)! Once we had taken in the view and some photos we started down the steps to the base of the South tower. We then went inside the Cathedral.

Our audio tour took us through part of the Latin Quarter, to the Shakespeare and Company bookstore, a few other historic sites and the often overlooked and very underrated Sainte-Chapelle (built in accordance with the wishes of Louis IX to house the relics of the Passion of Christ). Sainte-Chapelle is within the Palais de Justice. There are two sanctuaries here, the lower one was used by the palace staff while the upper (more ornate) sanctuary was reserved for the King and his close friends and family.

A few other stops along the way and we finished at Place Dauphine near Pont Neuf. We then moseyed back to Notre-Dame, purchased some cold beverages and sat by the river to relax and people watch. A short walk across Ile Saint Louis led us to the Metro which whisked us back to our apartment. We went out later in the evening for some pananis and sodas.

Tomorrow we visit Le Louvre and Musee D'Orsay along with some other highlights.

-Sean

Day 5 - Marne la Vallée-Chessy to Paris

We said goodbye to Disneyland Paris and boarded the RER B train to Paris. After a quick change to the Metro we were moving closer to our apartment. We arrived later than planned and our Airbnb hostess was running some errands, so we blended in as best we could on the small side street with our American-sized luggage. When our hostess arrived we dropped our luggage in the locked closet in the basement and went to explore the neighborhood while the cleaning woman finished tidying up our place.

We returned a little while later to finish checking in. After a quick rundown by our hostess we settled in for an afternoon siesta (it's a Spanish thing I know, but we were really tired). Refreshed and reenergized, we headed out on the Metro for the Paris icon, La Tour Eiffel!

We spent the rest of the night somewhat aimlessly wandering Paris. We ended up at Villa Borghese on rue Bréa in the 7th Arrondissment. The place was busy when we arrived, always a good sign, and the food was good.

We walked for a little while longer and then hopped the Metro back to our apartment. Tomorrow we're doing a walking tour of Île de la cité in the morning.

-Sean

Day 4 - Disneyland Paris Half Marathon and Wrap Up

This morning we accomplished what we came here to do, we completed the Disneyland Paris Half Marathon! This is my 4th Disney race and Peggy's 6th and it was hands down the best course out of all of them. The start area was walking distance from our hotel. The race started at 7AM, so we got up around 5AM, got ready, had breakfast at our hotel's restaurtant and walked to the start.

There were four corrals (A, B, C and D), but they split those up in to 100-200 people chunks to space everyone out on the course which would wonderfully! We started in Walt Disney Studios then went right in to Disneyland Park and ran through the majority of both parks. All of the cast members that were on the course were very enegetic and cheering every runner that passed. It was fantastic!

We went backstage from there and on to the ring road surrounding the Disney property. This took us to Val D'Europe, a small village to the east of the Disney property. There many locals were out to cheer us on as we ran through their town, around the pond at the center and back out the way we entered.

We spent some more time on the ring road before turning toward the hotels. We ran around Hotel Santa Fe, through Hotel Cheyenne, and down the path to pass in front of Hotel Newport Beach before arriving at the finish line. We had water, Powerade and actual food (apples, cereal bars and granola bars) available on the course to keep us going! At the finish line they provided water, Powerade, bananas, nuts and a fruit and nut mixture.

After the race we walked back to our room and took a nap. We then went to Walt Disney Studios to hit two of the big rides we had yet to experience, RC Racer and Crush's Coaster, which were both great. We also made a final visit to The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror before switching to Disneyland Park for the Disney Dreams night show at 10PM.

We're planning to leave the hotel mid-morning and take the train in to the city. The next four days will be spent exploring Paris! 

-Sean