Trip Report Apologies for the Interruption = normal service now resumed!

[bonhoga]

Sorry folks to see my trip report you'll have to scroll down to Carrie Cat's version, thankfully she has been able to sort my photos for me, Thank you Carrie very much :]
K

 

[bonhoga]

Yep! you guessed...copied below!

 

[bonhoga]

And again!

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Hi All, Sorry for the delay in finishing my trip report....it was entirely down to the arrival of our first grandson, Rory David Hughes who finally made an appearance almost two weeks late I am only neglecting him now to write this because I have the worst cold ever and don't want to spread my germs to the happy new family.

How cute is he? The teddy is made from my wedding dress, I'm having one made for each of my children. The ears and paws are made from left over material from our favourite arm chair

DAY 4

Breakfast was busier today, we presumed it was after Bastille Day [maybe ?] . This was to be our day in Paris, I was by now feeling a bit DLRP deprived and toyed with the idea of telling them all to go on without me but as we were celebrating Toby's graduation thought I better behave and fall in line

We went to the train station and bought tckets [they had RATP printed on them, stll not sure exactly what they were ] but they turned out to be great value [7Euros], lasting the whole day in Paris, and we seemed to be able to use them on everything

First stop was Jonny's request...Notre Dame.
Now I remember we got off just one stop too far...can't remember whether it was Auber or Chatelet les halles. We didn't have to walk too far though and for some reason [probably having Toby] Paris seemed easy to navigate.


Toby and Erin enjoying the stroll

You can see Notre Dame behind them. The queues were huge unfortunately and Toby [who had never been to Pars unlike the rest of us, yes I know what you're thinking! How did he know his way around???] still wanted to see The Eiffel Tower and we had a table booked here at 2pm so I'm afraid we didn't go inside. Instead we walked to the Eiffel Tower soaking up the Parisien sights, a coffee and the rain



The beautiful streets.



Even the graffiti seemed artistic.

We passed by stalls selling prints and the streets seemed so quiet, we crossed a bridge which from a distance twinkled like it was covered in hundreds of jewels but as we approached we discovered it was hundreds of padlocks......I think its meant to be people's declaration of love or something, maybe carrie can help me out? But we were intrigued and wished we had brought a padlock to add .


Liz, me, davie, Toby and Jonny just after we stopped for coffees in the cafe behind this very nice Metro entrance.

Best I can do for the moment

Soapbox out - Them locks are seen as vandalism by the locals .. they are destroying that bridge which the first metal bridge built in Paris . They also keep getting cut off by the people who steal metal and then resell which is amusing for all these people who think it's going to stay there forever

3 years ago there were none and then it started following a Italian teen novel where the characters placed a lock on a bridge in Rome to declare their love . The tour guides tell people all sorts of stuff about it been really old, from during the war here in Paris etc etc but it's all bunkum - Soapbox put away

 

[Carrie_Cat]

DAY 4 continued

Well what can I say. The Eiffel Tower was The Eiffel Tower! Now it was time to set off for the restaurant [have you noticed how our holday revolves around food ?] with a detour to find a shop called Laduree where the macaroon was apparantly invented, this was slghtly harder to find and time was short now.......finally as The Champs Elysee came in sight Erin spotted it.

Don't be fooled by the two people sitting outside, the queues were horrendous....there was no way we would make the restaurant if Erin waited for macaroons, we had to go. This, she informed us was the only thing she wanted to do in Paris , so we promised to return after our meal.

Now Le Restaurant L' ile s situated on a small island in the Seine and it is a real surprise to find in a city.
The island is surrounded by gorgeous canal boats.

Look at their quaint post boxes



What a wonderful place this was....a little gem hidden away. We almost felt lke intruders and it seemed to be all locals sitting having their Sunday lunch.
Here we are getting seated


The dinner was first class, we all had Label Rouge Scottish Salmon except Toby who had lamb, and Erin who had duck. Sorry can't remember our puddings now

After lunch we explored the island, which was amazing. Very quirky. There was an art trail, lots of play areas and people having picnics.


This particular sculpture was huge and had a little door in it, which was locked. You really felt if you opened it you would fall through to Wonderland like Alice.


The boys enjoying the stroll round the island.


Lovely little corners waiting to be discovered.

The restaurant and the Ile looks amazing .. I'll have to get OH out there one Sunday and have a walk around. I'm so pleased that you all had a lovely meal out there

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Yes, now it is my favourite part of the day........we are heading back to Disney via Laduree and without Toby......who s going to see a band called Bon Iver !

The queues are still horrendous in the world famous macaroon [woah these macaroons better be worth it!] but Erin says she has come all this way and she is not leaving Paris without them .


In the queue at Laduree



Nearly at the front



Erin's bag of goodies, mixed flavoured macaroons...I never did pluck up the courage to ask how much they cost?

Finally we can head back to Marne la vallee , f any of the group were still able?

Love macarons

That's the Ladurée that had a fire in the kitchens which is why it's covered up like that (I went passed it earlier today in fact) - The maison mère is just off the Place de la Concorde and the quietest one of all is near the church at St Germain des Prés.

I won't tell you the price incase you are not sitting down but I bet they were worth every € to her

When you come again you'll have to try macaron from Pierre Hermé. He was head pastry chef at Ladurée until he left to open his own shop(s)

He does one called an Ispahan which is roses, raspberry and litchi flavours and it works so well together

http://www.pierreherme.com/galerie-...an.html?___store=english&___from_store=french

 

[bonhoga]

Carrie you're a star as always ,I feel so bad about the padlocks now.....yes we overheard a tour guide waxing lyrical about the history of how it all began and he made it sound soooo romantic, and very old .
If you can visit that restaurant I hope you love it as much as we did. The photo really doesn't do it justice, we were seated in the extension which was nice for the views but inside the main body of the place was full of character.......I think we will definitely go back.
Also there were a couple of large black canal boats moored at the ile, belonging to BNP Paribas. Any idea what they were? Mobile offices/banks? Or corporate entertainment, we should have taken a photo

K

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Carrie you're a star as always ,I feel so bad about the padlocks now.....yes we overheard a tour guide waxing lyrical about the history of how it all began and he made it sound soooo romantic, and very old .
If you can visit that restaurant I hope you love it as much as we did. The photo really doesn't do it justice, we were seated in the extension which was nice for the views but inside the main body of the place was full of character.......I think we will definitely go back.
Also there were a couple of large black canal boats moored at the ile, belonging to BNP Paribas. Any idea what they were? Mobile offices/banks? Or corporate entertainment, we should have taken a photo

K

Don't feel bad about the locks, people don't realise ..it's just getting out of hand as we've got locks on the ET now and on sculptures around the major tourist sites.

Concerning the barges I hadn't a clue so I googled and I think that you mean these

http://www.bureauxlocaux.com/zoom.p...942_peniche.jpg&id_photo=32182&id_edito=29441

BNP Paribas have their real estate hq opposite the Ile St Germain and have put the barges there to give them even more space (adding to the 35 meeting rooms in their office building ) and a fun place to hold a cocktail up on the deck

 

[bonhoga]

Day 4 .... back at Disney at last .

Now obviously we hadn't eaten for a while , but it was getting quite late and I really wanted to at least see something of the park before closing

Everyone had posted such good reviews of EOS that I suggested we have an early supper and hit the park . EOS is fantastic, the food was fresh, tasty and for DLRP village pretty good value. I had the chicken caeser salad which I think was 6.5 euors and it as good as any I've had.
I think Dh was thinking we would just eat here every meal next trip

It was still light but getting that lovely dusky way, we walked into the park and headed for Adventureland to our favourite ride....POTC

Passing through the archway .

Now DISASTER 7 was about to strike This may seem like a none event after all that had gone before and the last disaster still looming but this one ranks high with me!! Liz didn't really like POTC and didn't want to do it again I can't tell you how much I wrestled with my conscience but eventually I did the right thing and went exploring the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse with her...which I have to say was looking top notch . It was such a beautiful night, we strolled round finally meeting up with the rest of the crew before heading back to the Sequoia.

Captain Hook's galley in the dusk

On the way back to the Sequoia Jonny and Erin decided to try on these cute little mad hatter hats.

I realised back at the Sequoia that i wouldn't settle until Toby was back from Paris, so we decided to visit the Cheyenne and see if the Thrifts do still appear? Also Liz is coming to DLRP next year as part of a huge family expedition and she was supposed to be reporting back about all the options, so we thought she should see it!!

I do love the Cheyenne , and Dh and I both said another time we wouldn't bother with the Sequoia. I know some people love it and I'm sure at Christmas time it is beautiful and cozy with the fire on but we prefer the fun themeing of the Cheyenne. Jonny says we are just sentimental as it was the first place we stayed but I just like the feel of the place. No sign of The Thrifts though....they've left haven't they? It's alright , you can break it to me gently


After a cocktail and a wander round the Rio Grande we arrived back at the Sequioa just as Toby returned after a great concert, we all said "goodnight" and agreed to get up early for our last day

 

[bonhoga]

Don't feel bad about the locks, people don't realise ..it's just getting out of hand as we've got locks on the ET now and on sculptures around the major tourist sites.

Concerning the barges I hadn't a clue so I googled and I think that you mean these

http://www.bureauxlocaux.com/zoom.p...942_peniche.jpg&id_photo=32182&id_edito=29441

BNP Paribas have their real estate hq opposite the Ile St Germain and have put the barges there to give them even more space (adding to the 35 meeting rooms in their office building ) and a fun place to hold a cocktail up on the deck

Yes Carrie, those are the exact barges! The business area right opposite the ile looks like it has just been completely regenerated, so we thought they had to have some kind of corporate connection.

The business district being juxtapose with the island and the little canalboats made the contrast from city to green space even more extreme....we really loved the whole area.

K

 

[bonhoga]

Carrie, can you repost the last bit, I tried copying and reposting but it just comes up the same for me???

Thank you
K

 

[Ware Bears]

Kaye, I haven't had time to read (will be back to do that later) but have fixed your photos.

What you need to do for future ones is put

at the end - instead of [ url] and [/ url].