Adventures by Disney: Southwest - Day 3 (part 2)View from the Top
This is the moment many of us have been waiting for. To explain the significance of the moment for me, I need to go back in time a bit to a much different part of my life. For several years I toured with a variety of rock bands as a crew member doing lighting and/or pyrotechnics & special effects. < more... >
Adventures by Disney: Southwest - Day 3En route to the Canyon
It was an early morning as our luggage had to be ready for pick up at 7 am. I rolled out of bed, packed up and made my way to the breakfast buffet before boarding the bus for the ride to the Grand Canyon.
Our first stop was at Red Rock National Park to embark on a nature walk. < more... >
Adventures by Disney: Southwest - Day 2Canyons and Cowboys – Sedona
We all met for a nice buffet breakfast to before heading out for a unique tour. We walked out the front door of the hotel and were met by a line of red jeeps and our cowboy tour guides. < more... >
Adventures By Disney: Southwest - Day 1But… It’s a Dry Heat!
I know what you are thinking. I thought the same thing. < more... >
Quest for the West - ABD ReviewHi everybody, this review was written by my client who is 12 years old. She just returned last month from the Quest for the West. I thought I would share this with everyone. - Michelle
My Dad and I chose Quest for the West for its great combination of fun activities, nature experiences and nice places to stay. Little did we guess just how fantastic the trip would be. < more... >
Adventures by Disney - Day 8 & 9 – Disneyland Paris
For everybody else, Day 8 was their travel day. To the airport, a long flight, and a welcome bed many miles and many hours to the west. For Beci and me, it was also a travel day, but we were met by a driver and his swank new Renault Espace mini-van. After battling his way out of the city, we hit the expressway and as it turns out, the Espace is plenty fast, and we made up for lost time at 150 kph (just over 90mph). And while that seems perhaps ridiculously fast for a mini-van, we were actually just keeping up with traffic, and the Renault was smooth as a whistle.
Adventures by Disney - Day 7 - High SocietyDay breaks early in France. Right at the beginning of the morning, just as it starts to get light. So early that it’s still yesterday at home in Seattle. And so with the breaking of dawn (who fixes that every day?) we got up, drank our world’s best fresh orange juice, and went down to the lobby to meet with the rest of the group. < more... >
Adventures by Disney - Day 6 - Parisian Palette
Last time I wasn’t sure I was ever going to finish our Day 5 – Drawn to Bohemia post. Today, it’s Day 6 – Parisian Palette, and one of the shortest days of the entire tour. And just in time, my feet were killing me. Beci seemed to be doing fine, but I was looking for a park bench and a book today.
Which brings us to our first stop: Jardin Tuileries. These gardens originally belonged to the Tuileries palace which was built by Catherine de’ Medicis, wife of Henry II, starting in 1564. It was expanded in the1600s for Louis XIV, and again for Napoleon, who made it the Imperial residence in 1808. < more... >
Adventures by Disney - Day 5 - Drawn to BohemiaParis France. October 11, 2006. (Easily our busiest single day, the writing for this one never seemed to end. Sorry for the long posting time. –ed) We woke to a misty morning in Paris, and rather than go out to find breakfast we decide to have it brought up to our Westin room. < more... >
Adventures by Disney - Day 4 - Crumpets To CroissantsSorry about the delay in posting, we were having too much fun at Disneyland Paris, but more about that in a few posts time. Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging.
Paris, France. October 09, 2006. London is full of hidden gems, and this morning we set out on a walk to find some of them. Our home in London is just around the corner from Lincoln’s Inn Fields, one of the traditional homes of the London legal profession, and also known as the ‘Middle Temple’ because the space was formerly held by the Knights Templar. It’s full of little courtyards which all seem to be full of little surprises. < more... >
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It would be about an hour and half drive to the first of three hotels and we were entertained by a couple of activities including a game and some great facts about the area and its residents both past and present. On the way we stopped for a visited to Montezuma Castle. A 5 story , 20 room dwelling built in the 1100s (CE) into the cliff side by the Sinagua farmers.
During our visit we also experienced our first taste of what the monsoon season can mean to a gang of tourists getting caught in a desert downpour. But the guides were ready with ponchos and good advice to get us out of the open area when lighting came a little close. We retuned to the visitors center and just as fast as the huge water droplets pummeled us, the clouds were gone and the pavement dry – so we continued on. 
Back on the bus on on the way to Sedona and our first hotel – the Amara Resort & Spa. When we arrived we were handed keys and given a meet time for dinner. I opened the door to my very comfy room and found a nice welcome bag o’ goodies on the bed.
We met at 6 pm for a welcome dinner and live entertainment. But the highlight of the evening was making new friends. Not just the ones with 2 legs… but one without any and another one with several more!!
Inside of an hour we were unloaded and checked into our Disneyland Paris hotel – The Hotel New York. One note about the hotel: The bar was just off the lobby, and it smelled like a cigarette factory that had just burned down. France is just starting to regulate where people can and can’t smoke, and so by the time you arrive, bans on smoking in public buildings (like restaurants and bars) may be in effect, but while we were there we avoided the bars because they smelled like the devil.
Standard Disney plan, check in. Hit the parks. And Disneyland Paris has two. The Magic Kingdom, and the Disney Studios. We took our time walking over to the parks, checking out all the shops and restaurants in the Disney Village. Eventually we decided that we were hungry enough for an early lunch at Annette’s Diner, home of such culinary greats as the “Rock & Roll Burgerâ€, the “Green Piece†vegi-burger, and the “Euro Chick†chicken sandwich. The food was good, and the service was good in the French style (there, it’s bad service to hurry anybody, you can sit at your table forever if you want, so you have to ask for the bill).
After lunch we walked over to the Magic Kingdom. If you’re a Disney fan (and since you’re reading this blog…) you want to see this park. It has a very familiar feeling to it, but it’s always tinged with a slightly odd difference. Things are sort of where you expect them to be, but sort of not. And everything is just slightly different. For example, whenever they want to convey a feeling of “Americana†they use the Wild West. So the haunted mansion (which is actually called “Phantom Manorâ€) is designed to look like the Winchester Mystery house in San Jose, California. Inside the ride, when you get to the grave yard, you take a turn into a crypt and then descend into boot hill where spooks seem to be having a bit of a macabre party.
After bombing around the park for a several hours we decided to try the most American meal we could find – the steak house. It was quite good, and came with the standard fries or a baked potato, and American style vegetable medley. After dinner we shopped our way back out of the park and back to our hotel for a well earned rest. 
Disney Studios in Paris is small (but with plenty of room to grow as it is backed by a small forest and some open farm land). The big attractions are Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Moteurs… Action! Stunt show, the Armageddon SFX show, the Studio Tram Tour, and CyberSpace Mountain. Tower of Terror was well on it’s way to completion when we were there, having reached it’s full height, but still just a shell waiting for paint and landscaping, not to mention the ride machinery. You can do it in half a day easily, which is nice. Think of it as a non-crowded escape hatch with rides and food for when the Magic Kingdom gets over crowded.
So what’s missing from the park? Well obviously there is no Matterhorn. That’s reserved for California. But there is also no Splash Mountain, as water rides and the cool and sometimes wet Paris weather doesn’t encourage getting soaked for fun. Instead there is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril, which is a mine-ride coaster with a loop or two thrown in for fun. 
Back on our way, it wasn’t long until we were on the French version of a highway and started seeing signs for Versailles. It’s not just a gigantic palace. It’s a lovely little town on the outskirts of Paris; only about 25 kilometers drive from the center of the city. It has lovely tree lined streets and the sort of buildings you would expect extremely rich hangers-on would build as close to the royal palace as possible.
Inside we were able to watch three extremely fit young equestrians training their horses to do things that horses don’t normally do, like walk sideways, prance, and high-step like a running back about to win the big game.
Once lunch was finished, we were given free reign to tour the Parc. We could walk, or we could take bikes. Nearly everybody opted for the bikes. I was quite surprised at how much fun we had blasting around Louis the XVs gardens on a mountain bike. Beci and I had more fun than we ever expected. If you go, don’t pass up the bikes.
It is said that Marie liked to play at collecting eggs from the chickens and performing other mundane tasks in her little hamlet, and so every morning her staff would go out to the coops of le hameau and collect all the eggs, clean them all, and replace them in the nests, so that Marie would be able to collect fresh clean eggs when she arose in the late morning.
The bus back to the hotel was relaxed, and we spent some time wandering around before we got back onto the bus and drove across the river into the Latin Quarter for our final dinner together. We had another fantastic private meal, this time in the premises of a chocolatier.
The Tuileries gardens are particularly French. Large expanses of perfectly flat dirt and gravel with perfectly rectangular trees set in perfectly straight lines. Hedges groomed to the identical height and set at protractor angles. Nature at it’s French best, and quite surprisingly attractive and restful. Our morning walk was a cool one, so the gardens were mostly empty until we got up to the Louvre. There we saw the striking new glass pyramid and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. It was commissioned by Napoleon to commemorate France’s military victories in 1805. It’s also sort of the archway into the gigantic courtyard of the Louvre. 
Right next to this were a group of young men playing Soccer. In the courtyard of the Louvre. I guess when it’s in your back yard it’s not as cool. Also with Soccer you’re less likely to break a window than with baseball. Plus these guys were good, in the way that a pickup basketball game in your average inner city court in the US would be good. 
I could sit and look at just one or two pieces of meticulously carved marble for hours on end, but we only spent a short bit of time here and then moved on to some of the classic paintings. Some of these paintings are huge. Obviously all of them are beautiful works of art, but some are beautiful and larger than any wall in our house. We’re talking 15 feet tall, and 20+ feet wide. Just the ambition of starting a painting like that is amazing. Its, well, its ambitious. 
Our time with the Mona Lisa complete, we moved off to see the rest of the artistic bounty that is to be found in the Louvre, culminating with the Venus de Milo. Even lacking her arms, there is something quite remarkable about this bit of marble. It dates back to the Hellenistic age and was most likely carved by Alexandros of Antioch on the island of Milos, Greece.
This was the first time we ran into a language barrier of any kind, and it was fun rather than uncomfortable. The owner of the stand said “I have no Englishâ€, to which I responded “Je parle peu françaisâ€. Unfortunately I think this means something more like “I speak French of a diminutive sizeâ€, but that would only emphasize just how little I speak, so I figured that was just fine. I was able to order “Deux crêpes. Fromage et jambon.†His question about “Sel†threw me for a moment (Salt) but we muddled through. “Deux Coke Lite†was clear enough, and then we ran into the big problem. Something which sounded like “d’snuf a swasan doos uros†but was actually “dix-neuf et soixante-douze eurosâ€. Neither would have helped me at that point. Counting in French is a nightmare. So: Ten-Nine and Sixty-Twelve Euros. No really, they say sixty-twelve, and for eighty they say four-twenties. So the final price, 19.72 Euros, including the package of potato chips.
It would seem that there are no specific traffic laws here, only some rather vague suggestions. The chaos is amazing, but then you begin to see that they seem to have some set of inner rules that governs what car goes where next. I never did quite understand the rules, but everybody seems to get where they’re going with a minimum of sheet-metal damage.
Literally “New Bridgeâ€, Pont Neuf is actually the oldest bridge across the Seine. Its name refers to the fact that it was the first stone bridge in Paris, and was named New Bridge by the people when it was first built. No matter what its name, the views up and down the river from the bridge are enchanting. In this instance we’re looking up the river toward Ile Saint-Louis.
387 very warn steps later we had made it to the top of the Galerie des Chimières, which is the level that connects the two bell towers. Unlike most US cities, Paris is a city of Classical height. There are few buildings higher than 5 stories and even fewer higher than 9 or 10. The cathedral is one of those, rising about 16 stories above the river. The view is spectacular, and if you can stand the climb I highly suggest it. 
Once we got back to our bus we headed north toward Montmartre, home of two fantastic churches, a winery, an artist’s colony, and one of the coolest neighborhoods in Europe. We parked at the bottom of the hill as there is just no way to get a bus up the narrow roads of Montmartre. So after a short walk up a little market street we were provided tickets up the funicular railway to the top of the hill. Once there we found ourselves in very cool little square that would be our base for the afternoon. We started off by wandering over thru the neighboring square full of artists. Some of the people in our tour got their portraits painted, others joined Beci and I in a search for food. 
We then shared a chocolate crêpe with four of our fellow travelers, Jenni, Mickey, David, and Amber. We also learned to order Diet Coke. From this point forward calls of "coke-a-lite" could be heard at every meal, sometimes to the consternation of our French hosts who drink wine with meals, and Coke as little as possible.
From a visual standpoint it was probably my favorite, with a slightly older heavier look to its construction, it looks like a place where important things occurred in the history of the Catholic church, and indeed they did. Saint Pierre is where the order of the Jesuits was founded.
After a short nap we were back up and dressed in our Paris best for a night out at the best known tourist attraction in France. Our coach made quick work (OK, not so quick, but impressive still in a giant coach) of the traffic. After a quick stop to take some romantic pictures with the Eiffel Tower in the background we proceeded to the Tower for dinner. This was also the first time we saw any sort of an armed military, with a few smartly dressed French commandos walking around under the tower. After a few minutes wait we were ushered thru the standard Disney back door line passing about an hours worth of people who now wish they had traveled with Disney, but didn’t. At the top of our short elevator ride we made it to the first terrace level of the tower, at the 95 meter mark. Here we would have dinner at Altitude 95.
Once we returned from our walk we all loaded into the coach again and drove off to a part of London known as Little Venice, because of all the canals crossing thru it. There we got to take part in another bit of hidden London, a canal boat ride to Camden Locks. In Little Venice we boarded a classic canal boat and cruised thru some of the lesser seen parts of London, past the London Zoo, and into Camden town. 
From the Market, we got back on our coach, which had been magically transported to Camden, and rode off to the south bank of the Thames and Waterloo station. There we met our fourth (counting our feet). In France they call it the TGV. In the USA we know it as the Bullet Train. In the UK they simply call it the Chunnel Train to Paris. The train ride was quite comfortable and before you know it, you’re rolling into a new country, a new city, and a new part of your adventure.
Ah Paris, city of lights. This is where I post a picture of the Eifel Tower, or a lovely shot up the Champs-Élyees. Unfortunately it was seriously foggy on the evening of our arrival, so a picture of me in front of a Champs street sign is the best you’re going to get. With a free night in front of us Beci and I decided to walk from our Hotel up the Champs toward the Arc d’ Triumph. We ran into some of our travel mates at a bank machine (ATM good, cash exchange at the train station bad). We made it to the Disney Store, where we got some pictures of a few of the French plushies and their amazing hidden mickey chandelier and then headed back to the hotel. 
If you’ve never been to the Champs, it’s quite impressive. I suppose, even if you have been there it’s quite impressive. You see it in movies, or on final day of the Tour de France, but it seems to be one of those things that doesn’t translate well on film. It’s impressively wide, long, sweeping, and tree lined. Add to that the amazing buildings on each side, the specialty shops, the park-like setting of the lower third, and you have what the French like to call La plus belle avenue du monde. And they’re not far wrong. The most beautiful avenue in the world.