Croissants, Characters & Culture - Paris & Disney 2007 - Days 5/6 & Conclusion

[Mike Jones]

Day 5 – Friday 1st June 2007


(Weather: Pretty good! Sunny on and off)

We went to bed last night without a definitive plan for today, as some of our options were very much weather-dependant. As the parks here don’t open until 10.00am, we don’t feel under any pressure (OCD, self-imposed!) to be up silly early, so let nature takes its course. Well, sadly, nature was busy, and we are woken instead by Adam, wandering around, bored, at about 7.20.

After chucking on some clothes, we head off for the breakfast goods. The weather feels a bit fresher today, but clear skies promise a decent day. We enjoy our meal with the kids and then take turns showering as usual.

There’s no absolute consensus about what we all want to do today, but we are all clear that we have done the parks pretty much to death, and won’t fill another day there. So it looks like Paris, but Beth is whingeing on about not walking anywhere ‘far’ today. If free to choose for everyone, Amanda and I would prefer to select another, different part of the city to explore, as we did on Wednesday. However, dragging at least one, and possibly two, tired and grumbly teens around Montmartre doesn’t appeal, so we suggest visiting the Museum of Modern Art at the Pompidou… amazingly, the kids both agree to this plan, and off we go.

We arrive at the Disney area car park at 9.45, parking in the fourth row from the top. It’s generally sunny, with large clouds, and pleasantly warm. The RER station is a lot busier than Wednesday – I suppose we are a bit later – and the line for the ticket desks is long. Amanda and the kids join it, as a back up, and I try to obtain tickets from one of the automated machines. After a couple of false starts, I succeed, although I only manage to buy one-way tickets instead of returns.

There’s a train waiting which sets off, about half full, at 10.10. Amanda and I spend the journey looking at city hotels in the Rough Guide for ‘next time’ (sans enfants!) and fending off beggars and buskers, the first time we’ve been bothered this week.

We arrive at Les Halles again at 10.50, and, having our bearings better than previously, we exit the station easily, on the right side, and walk the short distance to the Pompidou.

Everything looks so much better today, due to the sunshine.

There’s a modest queue snaking across the plaza, which we join. It moves quickly enough once the doors are opened at 11.00, and we are inside, tickets purchased, by 11.05.

As I described on Wednesday, the Modern Art Museum is located on the upper floors of the building, and after a quick restroom stop, we use the external, glass-enclosed escalators to climb to the fifth. The views on the way up are impressive.

This upper floor holds the national collections from 1905 – 1960. It’s a lovely, easy gallery to navigate, with a series of large, airy rooms accessed from the main hallway running the full length of the building. These rooms are also interconnected.

Security is very laid back, with most exhibits completely approachable, and only a few that are ‘protected’ by a low wire about a foot off the floor.

There are a few, informally dressed, gallery employees who lounge lazily, some reading, in chairs at the entrance to some of the rooms.

We stroll through, admiring a lovely mix of paintings and sculptures. Amanda is delighted when she discovers not one but three canvasses by her favourite artist, Marc Chagall. Surprisingly, there does not seem to be any sanction against taking photographs, so, although feeling a little self-conscious, I snap a few photos along the way.

The exhibits include galleries dedicated to Dali, Miro and Picasso (I’m still gob-smacked that you can walk right up to these priceless paintings until your nose nearly touches the brushstrokes!) and some wonderful, folded metal sculptures by Antoine Pevsner.

We reach the end of the main hallway, where the full-length windows afford fantastic views across the city to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur.

Returning along the hallway, after exploring a couple more rooms stuffed with Bracques, Picassos and Matisses, there’s a terrace with water feature and sculptures, beyond which you can see the Eiffel tower in the distance.

The kids seem to be absorbed too… this plan wasn’t so bad!

 

[Mike Jones]

We descend to the 4th floor, which displays the exhibits from 1960 to the present. A temporary exhibition of paintings and sculptures to one side has a warning posted that some (it’s all!) of the exhibits are of a sexual nature and may cause offence, so of course the kids dash straight in! Some of the paintings certainly raise the eyebrows a bit (I didn’t even know some of these things were actually possible!) but the kids aren’t shocked or even over-stimulated and we move on!

The gallery is laid out in similar fashion to the one above, and includes an eclectic mix of paintings, sculpture, large & small,

..and even whole rooms – Adam is particularly taken with a cave-like, black & white construction called Jardin d’Hiver (Winter Garden), while Beth takes a shine to a shiny, full-size, plastic rhino!

One room is dedicated to inflatable toys, games and objets d’art, whilst another displays a range of chairs by Philippe Starck.

We exit, happy, at 1.15, taking the escalators back down into the plaza.

Everyone’s peckish, so we buy sub sarnies from a café on a nearby corner. There’s a pleasant square to the side, with a lovely fountain – it looks much better than it did in the cloudy weather on Wednesday – so we sit there to eat our lunch.

Ok. What shall we do with the rest of the afternoon? I suggest that we take a gentle stroll around the surrounding streets, in typical, ‘Amanda and Mike City Break’ fashion, and although this is not received with enthusiasm by the kids, they don’t moan much either, and I promise them a drink and a rest after an hour or so exploring.

The Rough Guide describes the streets of the area west and north of the Pompidou, the Marais, as interesting and historic.

We head off along the Rue Ste. Croix de la Bretonnerie to Rue Vieille du Temple, and across to Rue des Rosiers, the Jewish quarter.

It’s an appealing warren of narrow, ‘old town’ alleys and buildings, some of them very ancient and showing signs of significant, structural movement.

 

[Mike Jones]

The shops are a mix of trendy jewellers, gift shops and attractive restaurants and cafes.

Many of the blocks have massive, arched doorways, allowing access into private mansion courtyards.

An hour or so later we are back in the vicinity of Centre Georges Pompidou,

….and the kids demand payment for their forbearance and fortitude. We do the Starbucks thing and take our drinks into the gardens above Les Halles complex, where we sit and rest for 20 minutes. The weather has been excellent today, although it is cloudier than earlier.

 

[Mike Jones]

We descend into the shopping complex in search of toilets, before finding the Metro interchange and buying single tickets for our return. A large, Algerian-French guy of about 30 is attempting to blag money from everyone in the queue, without apparent success. To his credit, he seems to speak several, European languages very well!

It’s 3.30 as we board the train back to Disney. Perhaps all the trains out of the city are busy, or maybe there’s an early finish on Fridays, but we are forced to stand for 10 minutes or so until the suburbs are reached and people leave the carriage. A young lad, about 18 or so, sitting next to us, spends the journey asleep, and at the Val de Europe station, wakes with a start and dashes off the train, presumably having missed his stop!

Having reached Marne La Vallee, we walk across the plaza into Disney Village and sit outside the Sports Bar. Bethany and I order drinks, while Amanda and Adam visit the Disney Store next door on some secretive mission, probably connected with my impending birthday!

They return with a mystery package and we rest up for a while with our beers and cokes. The afternoon has turned a little cloudy now, and cooler, so, feeling the chill, we move inside.

This is an attractive saloon, decked out in dark wood furniture, with flat screen TVs here and there, showing current sports events. It’s not unlike the bar in Cheers!

We finish up at 500pm and make our way across to the Disneyland Park in anticipation of our ADR at Blue Lagoon in 45 minutes.

It’s busy, with large crowds around Main Street. Pausing at the Castle for photographs,

…I again guide the family towards It’s A Small World. Amanda cottons on, and tries to make a break for it, but I keep hold of her and eventually she succumbs!

I think this attraction is delightful, and a lot fresher than the one in Florida. My beloved is not persuaded, sadly, and vows never to ride it again!

Right, it’s feeding time! We walk across to Pirates and enter the Blue Lagoon Restaurant to the left of the ride doors.

There’s a short wait while the CM on duty gives some information to a party of Germans, and then we are guided to our table, 101, just set back slightly from the beach area.

First impressions are good. Unsurprisingly, especially as it shares part of the ride interior, the restaurant is themed as a 19th Century, Caribbean island village . It’s quite convincing, and the low light levels enhance the illusion of being outside.

 

[Mike Jones]

The park closes at 7pm, so we are probably the last sitting, and the place is not full. Service is medium-slow, and it takes a few minutes before we are able to order our drinks (water for Amanda and I, Nesquick chocolate milks for the kids).

The menu range is a bit smaller than I’d anticipated, and although there are easy choices for Amanda and me, I’m worried the kids may struggle. They do ok, though, and we select the following main courses (starters are skipped in order that we can enjoy desserts, something we’ve missed a few times this week): Adam: Swordfish steak with coriander, mango salsa and flavoured rice; Beth: Pasta with grilled tomato coulis and lemon thyme; Amanda/Mike: Roasted prawns with mixed, fried veg and sweet potatoes.

We sit and watch the ride boats gliding quietly by in the foreground. There’s a large family with young kids next to us, and one of the brats, sorry, little angels, amuses herself by shooting a noisy laser gun repeatedly at the boats. Her (Brit) owners/parents seem oblivious to this having any potential to annoy other diners, but we refrain from spoiling anyone’s day by tipping her into the water, although I’m sorely tempted!

The food arrives. Ten minutes later the food is eaten! And pronounced lovely by all of us.

There’s certainly room for dessert, and we choose: Adam: Marco Polo Ice cream Sundae; Beth/Amanda/Mike: Caramelised Banana Tart with Cocoa Ice Cream. We wait about 10 minutes for service, enjoying the ambience of the place (thankfully the neighbour’s Storm Trooper has stopped potting guests off in order to eat her dinner) although I am starting to get just a tad weary of the repeated strains of ‘Yo Ho Ho, a Pirate’s life for me!’ emanating from the ride! (How the heck must the servers cope? I’ll bet they hum it in their sleep after a 5 hour shift!!!)

The tarts are fantastic (and one would have done the three of us!!!). Adam declares his sundae first class too.

We leave at 7.15 (138 Euros poorer) and walk back towards the exit. Although past closing time, the park is surprisingly busy, and people don’t seem to be in a hurry to leave. Looks like the sun has gone for good today, it’s grey and cool now, but dry.

Top of Main Street is a bit mad, due to Character Greetings underway, and we quickly move past the crowds. The children want to blow their last few Euros, so we re-enter the Village and join approximately 4,000 people in the Disney Store! It’s crazy! We last a few minutes and then three of us leave Bethany inside to finish off alone.

She reappears in 10 minutes or so, none the worse for the ordeal, and we head back to the car for 8pm. We need some snack food for breakfast and the journey home tomorrow, and drive to the DCR Village store. Once again, parking is at a premium, and we are forced to test my Audi’s 4-wheel drive by parking on a grassy slope!

Some fruit, biscuits and drinks are soon obtained and it’s off to the cabin to pack the bulk of our gear. This doesn’t take long, and at 9.45 we enjoy a last glass of wine before hitting the sack at 10.15.

Goodnight.

Mike & Amanda

Tomorrow: Homeward bound.


Day 6 – Saturday 2nd June 2007 – Home

Our alarm wakes us at 5.00am. We rouse the kids and sort coffee while they shower. Everyone is cleaned up, fed and packed by 6.30, so we set off, dropping the key in at reception. It’s misty, almost foggy, and cool.

Sat Nav guides us towards Calais via the A4, A104 and A1, all virtually empty, and we maintain a steady 80mph. We stop once, after about 100 miles, and Amanda drives the rest of the way to the channel tunnel terminal.

We arrive at 9.15, and although we are booked on the 1120 train, there’s space on the 10.10 departure, giving us time for a coffee and cake in the terminal café.

We are called to board at 945. Passports are looked at, but there’s no security check of any sort. Boarding is swift and efficient, and we leave on time. This time we are on the upper deck of a two-storey carriage.

The journey takes 25 minutes or so, and we are soon heading off towards the motorway after a fuel stop near the port. We make good time until the M25 when things slow right down for what seems like an age…

Eventually free of the M25 congestion, we stop at services on the M40, about 180 miles from Folkestone. It’s hot and sunny – typical! Amanda takes over for a couple of hours, and we progress north without further delays.

There’s a nostalgic moment for me when Adam notices some parachutists off to the left – the sat nav suggests they are at Weston on the Green DZ (Drop Zone).. Skydiving was my hobby for 12 years, and on beautiful days like this I still miss it very much.

Not much else happens. We’d hope to divert to Warrington and collect Ruby, our Staffie, from the dog-sitters there, but I call and find that they won’t be back until later. We arrive home at 3.10, after driving almost 500 miles since we left Davy Crocket.


Conclusion

We enjoyed our holiday very much. It ticked most of the boxes for entertaining the kids, and we all got something from the two trips into Paris itself – Amanda and I will certainly be back at some point for a more intensive citybreak. (Although, at the point of writing, we’ve just booked for Rome in October. Paris was considered, but we think Rome may be a bit slightly warmer/drier at that time of year!)

Disneyland Paris itself? – well, it was pretty much what I expected, and I enjoyed seeing the Disney thing from the viewpoint of a different host country. The Studios were better than I anticipated, and will hopefully grow in size and interest over the next few years. The main, Disneyland Park was fresher and more attractive overall than the Magic Kingdom in WDW Florida, but as I/we are not particularly enamoured of MK, we won’t likely be dashing back to the Paris version anytime soon. If we had young kids though, I suspect we would feel differently. Overall, there simply isn’t enough to keep us occupied within the Disney area for more than a couple of days. If we go again, it will probably be as a day-trip from a Paris citybreak.

Davy Crocket Ranch? - We stayed at DCR simply because it gave us privacy and had separate bedrooms for the kids and us. However, I have to say that I was quite impressed with the facility, and particularly with the ‘village’ area pool, shop and bar (we didn’t try the restaurant), but, they must sort that parking area out! It just isn’t big enough!

Disney Village? – I was a touch under-whelmed here, to tell the truth. There is clearly a lot of space for it to grow (much as Downtown Disney in Florida has done over the decades) but at present it feels a bit compressed and a touch tacky. It may have been better if there was a more obvious CM presence, and if they laid on a level of street entertainment – they probably do in high season. Minor niggles, reported above, include the economy measures everywhere, with stationary travelators and closed restaurants in and outside the parks.

So that’s it. We hope you enjoyed our journal and thank you for the positive comments we’ve had in reply posts. Our next trippie will be from Rome in October – we are missing Florida and New York very much this year, but, having regained a solvent position for the first time in years, we are reluctantly accepting that we should only go again when we’ve actually got the money, instead of sticking it on a card!


Mike & Amanda, Beth & Adam

 

[karenmoloney]

Thanks for a lovely read with loads of detail. You'll love Rome, I was there in mid October 2005 & the weather was lovely.

 

[Cyrano]

An excellent report and one with lots of advice which I'll keep for when youngest DD is a bit older for when we do Paris Had forgotten all about Phillippe Starck and the gallery.

 

[tennisfan]

I loved your whole report, I found it very informative & I loved the photos too

Thanks for sharing

 

[meeko cat]

Great report thanks

Interested in your journey as we are based in merseyside....

nice to see its a doable car journey

 

[hushpuppie]

wonderful reports and a good insight into what we have got to look forward to later on this year

thanks alot

hushpuppie

ps great photos too

 

[Tammy Stringer]

Another great report Mike and fantastic photos.

That banana tart looks absolutely delicious.

As for Paris it is definitely on my list of must does - just need to persuade Kev. Your report and pictures make it even more desirable

Thanks

Tammy

 

[Mike Jones]

Another great report Mike and fantastic photos.

That banana tart looks absolutely delicious.

As for Paris it is definitely on my list of must does - just need to persuade Kev. Your report and pictures make it even more desirable

Thanks

Tammy

.. I'm going to try and make one of the tarts myself... it looked pretty straightforward but tasted heavenly!

 

[TotallyAngelic]

I have really enjoyed your report Mike! It has been so informative and interesting and brought back lots of memories of when we took our two into Paris on a day trip and went to the Pompidou Art Centre (we never managed to find a Starbucks though, so I am a bit miffed about that!) Thanks such a lot for sharing your trip. I am already looking forward to hearing all about your adventures in Rome!