Espirit de France ABD July 2014 Trip Report!

[winniethepooh77]

My family and I had a FANTASTIC time in France for 10 days this July! This was our 3rd ABD trip but it is the first time I will be writing out a trip report and will be one of my first posts on here. I am going to try to post a report of each day fairly quickly so that I can remember everything. I am also posting the trip report on my blog (marywdw.wordpress.com) but will probably include more photos on here if I can figure out how to post photos! I would highly recommend the Adventures by Disney Espirit de France trip to anyone and our tour guides for this trip were great! We did two days on our own before the ABD (Adventures by Disney) tour began and were able to quickly get over jet lag. Can’t wait to re live my trip through writing the day by day trip report!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Exciting. We did Esprit de France in 2012 and I know they've changed a bunch of stuff. Looking forward to reading it.

 

[sayhello]

Cool! I'm looking forward to your report! And welcome to the ABD Forum!

Let me know if you need any help with how to post pictures!

Sayhello

 

[Sarabi's Cubs]

Can't wait to read it!

Laurie

 

[winniethepooh77]

We decided to go to France two days before the ABD trip started so that we would get over jet lag before having to tour and walk around all day. My mom, dad, 16 year old sister, myself, and our three neighbors all went on the trip.
We arrived at the airport all packed and ready to go after having waited all day to leave. Our flight was at 9pm and we were excited to arrive in Paris. I did not sleep during the flight and it felt like the plane was taking forever to arrive. We finally arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. We went through customs quickly before meeting our Adventures by Disney transfer to the hotel in Versailles. It was about a 40 minute ride from the airport to Versailles. The hotel that we stayed in for the first three nights was the Hotel Trianon which was a very nice hotel. My sister, Emma, and I had an adjoining room with our parents. After our neighbors arrived at the hotel, we walked through this beautiful line of trees into the town for a late lunch. My dad was fascinated by these trees and was wondering how they kept them so neatly trimmed.

Where we ate lunch was good however we did not have ice in the water (which continued to be a trend for the trip) so we were a little hot while eating. I had chicken and gnocchi but the bread was the best part of the meal. After this we walked around Versailles and had ice cream to cool off. The hotel was about a 15 minute walk from the main part of Versailles. We passed the Palace of Versailles every time we went into town which was nice.

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In total, we walked around 8 miles this first day according to my Dad’s “Breeze” app. We returned to the hotel and I napped while my sister and one of my neighbors went swimming. Around 7:30pm we showered and got dressed for dinner. We walked around Versailles for about an hour trying to find a place to eat for dinner that had something we would all like and air conditioning. Needless to say we did not find somewhere to eat before 9pm and we figured a sit down dinner would take too long at this point, since we planned to wake up early and venture into Paris the next day.

We ended up at McDonald’s! We try to eat at McDonald’s in each country we visit to see what different items they offer. This McDonald’s had crepes and better McFlurry’s than in the states plus pasta salad! Here are some photos below! It definitely was not what we had planned on but it worked out.

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We walked back to the hotel after window shopping since all of the shops had closed at this point and crashed as soon as we got in our rooms. We needed to get our beauty sleep for sightseeing the following day!

 

[winniethepooh77]

Thanks for all of the interest in the report! Took me a while to figure out how to get everything to post sort of correctly, so please excuse the awkward spacing!

 

[mare1203]

Exciting to see a report for this adventure! Definitely following along

 

[winniethepooh77]

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After looking at some other trip reports, I noticed that many people introduce their travel party at the beginning of the trip report. I decided to follow suit. Above is a picture of my family. I am on the left and then is my sister, Emma, my mom and my dad. We have been DVC members since 1992 and decided to take this ABD trip to France for a couple of reasons. We wanted to see France and my parents thought it might be the last big family trip for a while since I will be busy in college. None of us speak French other than Bonjour so it was interesting trying to speak the language at times. When we did not know how to say it in French, we resorted to Spanish (which we had all taken in school) instead of English which was weird but it was like our minds knew we were in a different country and English would not be the correct response. My mom's dream destination would be Scotland. My dad enjoys traveling to London. My sister would like to visit Greece. I would like to visit China and South Korea one day but I do like visiting Europe and Walt Disney World of course.

 

[winniethepooh77]

We ate breakfast at the hotel which was very good before heading to Paris. At breakfast, they had a wide variety of items to choose from at the buffet including crepes and pancakes. They also had yummy green apple juice. It tasted like they had literally made it fresh without any added sugar. It was about a forty five minute train ride into Paris after walking 20 minutes to the train station. It would have been half an hour but the hotel did not tell us when we asked for directions that the one train line did not go all the way to the stop near Notre Dame during July and part of August so we had to transfer. It was helpful that my dad had downloaded a Paris metro app before we arrived in France so that we could navigate the metro a little easier.

A worker at the train station had come on the train and we all said “Bonjour!” and she replied with “Bonjour!” and then went into a long French paragraph about how the train stopped here and everyone had to get off. We must have looked like deer in headlights before we said “Uh, do you speak English?” and she quickly translated everything she had said for us.

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We got off of the second train and walked to Notre Dame. We wanted to climb it but the line for that was about an hour and the temperature was climbing quickly. We decided to wait to do this, but we did get in the long line to go into Notre Dame. This line moved much quicker and was only a 15 minute wait. I was glad I had watched the Hunchback of Notre Dame right before the trip because it was still fresh in my mind.

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The inside and outside of the cathedral was beautiful. It was fairly crowded inside and would be easy for someone to get separated from their party so remember this when exploring Notre Dame. We heard the bells which were pretty and sound very different from St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Also in front of Notre Dame is a little circle which is the center of Paris so that was cool to see and stand on.

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After visiting Notre Dame we wanted to find the Shakespeare and Company bookstore which is featured in the movie “Midnight in Paris”-a fantastic movie by the way which one of my best friends recommended to me and I would definitely recommend to anyone visiting Paris. It took us a while to find the bookstore because we were trying to use a map and we ended up resorting to using data on our phones.

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We finally found it and were starving by this point so we took a few pictures, my mom bought a few things, and we ate at a cafe next door which was very good.I had a chicken burger and ratatouille because I wanted to say I tried ratatouille in France (like the Disney movie).

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We then took the metro to the Musee d’Orsay and the Cluny Museum. We had bought RER/metro unlimited passes for the whole day which was around 11 euros and ended up being a very good deal. At the Musee d’Orsay we saw works by Degas and Picasso as well as many other artists. The museum used to be a train station and it was very pretty inside. Photos of the artwork inside were not allowed however in this one part, photos seemed to be okay because it was a room with just the clock and gift store.

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At the Cluny Museum we saw the famous Unicorn Tapestries and other ancient French artifacts. We noticed that similar to when we were in Italy, many of the museums do not have air conditioning as they do in the United States. There are also fewer guards in the museums we went to in Europe compared to the ones we have been to in the US. On the way to one of the museums, we stopped to get water and macarons which were amazing. The chocolate macaron I had was even better than the ones I had at Laduree later on in the trip.

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We walked around trying to find a metro station and ended up getting ice cream and walking through a nice park for a bit. We also passed a carnival that had a flume ride which was very tempting

We took the train back to Versailles because it was around 97 degrees and we were tired and sweating. Our neighbors had asked the concierge earlier to make reservations for dinner for us back in Versailles since we thought we might be back by dinner. When we got to the train station we stopped by Starbucks for a nice cool drink. I don’t usually drink Starbucks drinks but it was so hot that the drink was refreshing. We had a nice dinner at a more French place (compared to McDonald’s the previous night) in the town of Versailles and called it a night. The dinner did take longer than the night before because dining in France is not as rushed as it is in the Northeast. During some of our meals in France I felt like they took forever, but others enjoyed not having to rush from one course to the next. Make sure to let the waiter know when you sit down at a restaurant in France if you are in a rush. Day 3 includes climbing Notre Dame and the start of our ABD tour!

 

[winniethepooh77]

I got my wisdom teeth removed recently so this post is a little delayed! Sorry!

On our second day, July 18th, we were very tired in the morning but we were down at breakfast by 7:30am. My mom and two of our neighbors decided to stay at the hotel for the day and shop and go to gardens. But our 12 year old neighbor, Lauren, decided to come with us into Paris to climb Notre Dame. We had a little bit of trouble finding the Metro station and then when we got there we found out that the train that we thought ran into that station did not. So we again had to transfer trains a few times before reaching the final stop near Notre Dame. A quick note about the Metro doors. There are no touch sensors on them like there are on the Disney monorail. My neighbor made it halfway through the doors before they started closing so my dad put his arm out and both her leg and his arm were stuck. Everyone survived but it was definitely a bit scary for a minute before the doors reopened.

We waited about 45 minutes to climb Notre Dame but it was much cooler outside compared to the previous day. I can’t remember the exact number of steps to the top but it was close to 400. Climbing up only took about 10 minutes but they let each group have five minutes at each level so it took a little longer with the added time. The panoramic views of Paris from here were the best we saw all trip. We could see the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe from here. Seeing the gargoyles up close was neat as well.

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We stopped for a quick ice cream snack after the climb as it was getting a little warmer as the day went on. We then took a taxi to the Louvre where we were able to bypass the long lines to buy tickets and get in to the museum with our Museum Pass.

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If you are visiting Paris for a day and going to a few museums definitely look into getting this pass. It was well worth the price for the museums we visited in the two days and it was nice being able to cut the lines to get in. We saw the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, Wedding at Cana and the Winged Victory all within probably 45 minutes. The Louvre is a HUGE museum so you need to know what you would like to see ahead of time.

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We then had a late lunch at one of the cafes inside of the Louvre. I had pasta which was great for being from a museum cafe and a cold water bottle which was also very nice. We took the train back to Versailles and waited for the moms to get back from shopping to go visit Marie Antoinette’s play village or the “Queen’s Hamlet.”

It was a bit of a long walk to get to the “Hameau” as it is called and we did not have much time because we needed to get ready for the Adventures by Disney welcome dinner. So we quickly went and walked back. My mom stayed a little longer to take pictures since it was one of the things she really wanted to do in France.

Our welcome dinner was very nice. Our tour had 33 people on it I believe and 2 tour guides- Emily and Mohammad who were fantastic! Each family introduced themselves and then we had a yummy dinner in one of the conference rooms in the building all of our rooms were in. We all wore name tags for the dinner as well. A musician played the accordion while we ate which was a nice touch. We received our first Disney pins of the trip. We got an Adventures by Disney pin, a Bienvenue pin, and a pin with the number three on it because it was our third Adventures by Disney trip. The ABD pin was on a lanyard which also included Mohammad and Emily (our tour guides) cell phone numbers in case we needed to contact them during the adventure. The following day we headed to the Palace of Versailles!

This last picture is of the Louvre. It really is a massive museum.

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[Cousin Orville]

Glad to see you had a chance to spend some time in Paris prior to the ABD. What did you enjoy more: d'Orsay or the Louvre? As impressive as the Louvre was, I'd have to give it to d'Orsay - what a beautiful museum. Looking forward to your next posting.

 

[winniethepooh77]

Hi Cousin Orville,
Yes, it was nice having a few days before the tour started to get over jet lag and explore a few things that were not included on the tour. I agree with you on the museums. The Louvre was impressive because of its grand size and how you would need probably weeks to see everything in the museum. I definitely liked d'Orsay more. It was neat to see the remnants of the train station structure and it was not as overwhelming or crowded so I was able to see more and spend more time at each piece. Thanks for following and reading my trip report!

 

[winniethepooh77]

The night before I had a little sore throat but Advil had helped it to subside. When I woke up this morning though I unfortunately had a sore throat and seemed to be on track for a cold. Somehow I manage to not get sick when I am at school with hundreds of other students who are sometimes sick but I get sick on vacation. Anyways after this start to my day, we met the Adventure Guides on the bus to head to the Palace of Versailles! Yay!

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We did not wait for long outside of the Palace before we headed in. Our big tour group split into two groups (one with each Disney guide and a Palace of Versailles guide). I understood why as soon as we entered. It was 9am and the Palace of Versailles was packed! We had earbuds and a Voice Box while the guide had a microphone to tell us all about the Palace.

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There were hundreds of people inside of the Palace of Versailles and it was cramped and crowded. At some points it was hard to stay with the group because there were so many other tour groups around us. I could not believe how many people were inside the Palace already as there was a huge line outside with people not in groups waiting to get in and buy tickets.

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It definitely helped to be on an Adventures by Disney tour and have a “Fastpass” to the front. The tour inside of the Palace took a little under two hours and then the guide brought us to the surrounding gardens for a bit. The gardens were very pretty and I wished that we had gone to the water show which is held in the gardens certain nights during the summer. We had been planning to go the previous night but it was thundering and the forecast did not look good.

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Lunch was inside of the Palace in the Cafe where the tour had a private room. We had salad, beef bourguignon (there was a vegetarian option as well but I am not sure what type of quiche it was), and an amazingly rich chocolate dessert. And everywhere we ate during the trip we had rolls which I enjoyed. The lunch was relaxing and leisurely-it did not seem like we had a place to be in the afternoon which was nice since we had been standing and touring for two hours.

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After lunch we got on the bus and had a bit of a bus ride to Monet’s Garden in Giverny. Here, we were given a great tour of the garden and learned about a few different plants. Monet planted bamboo in his garden but it was surrounded by water so that it would not spread. We learned too that for years the gardens were abandoned and many of the local kids played in them before the land was turned into a sort of museum. In the gardens we found Tinkerbell had left us a present! She left us our pin for the day which is pictured below. We also were able to go inside Monet’s home. He had a blue room in his house and a yellow house as well. I wish my parents had painted rooms in my house as bright as the ones in Monet’s house. Oh well.

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After spending ten minutes in the gift shop we split into two groups again. If you are someone who likes to spend a lot of time in gift shops, Disney does not give you more than 15 minutes in any gift shop on the tour just as a warning. One group went with our tour guide Emily to a part of Giverny to practice sketching flowers in the Impressionist style of Monet. Another group went with our tour guide Mohammad to get ice cream courtesy of Adventures by Disney. Only five people chose to get ice cream while the rest went to be artists. The ice cream group met up with the artist group towards the end and got to see the postcards they were working on.

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We then got back on our coach bus to ride to our next hotel in Deauville which was about a 2 hour drive. Everytime we got off the coach bus we were able to leave whatever we wanted on it as the bus driver stayed on the bus when we were not. The tour guides also provided us with snacks and water whenever we needed them and we made “comfort” stops for bus rides longer than 2 hours. We listened to French music on the bus rides this first day. It was a tiring but great start to our first day on the tour!

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Our hotel for the next three nights was the Royal Barriere Deauville. It was located very close to the beach and Boardwalk which was nice. The photo is taken from the hotel room window. Next door to the hotel was a casino as well. The Royal Barriere did not have air conditioning in the guest rooms and the toilet was separate from the rest of the bathroom. You could open the windows to let a breeze in but I am sure it gets hot during mid day. The seagulls flew close to the hotel and you could hear them all day-something I enjoyed but other guests might not have. My family went out to eat with our neighbors and got seafood. I was not feeling well because of my cold and I wanted to rest up for the next day so I stayed back in the hotel writing postcards. The next day we journeyed to Mont St.-Michel!

 

[Cousin Orville]

We liked Deauville. We didn't spend much time there other going out for dinner in the evenings, but it was a very pretty small seaside town. I would have liked to go walk out by the beach, but never had the time.