Paris! - Part 2/2
Pleasantly plump from our food tour, we rose the next day to get to Disneyland at the very respectable time of 9:30 a.m. I guess they are not big fans of early starts here in Europe.
We thoroughly enjoyed our Disney day. Euro Disney is more petite than California Disneyland, but not by much. When we arrived, the park wasn’t so crowded. We thought, “Maybe Europeans don’t like Disney that much.” Turns out they like to sleep late. By noon, it was as crowded as any other Disney experience we’ve ever had. We loved every minute of it regardless of the crowds! The Cinnamon Sticks were in heaven. And we got to ride all the major rides and quite a few minor ones, too. It turns out Space Tours, which puts you in a flight simulator with 3D glasses, was one of the most nausea-inducing rides we experienced. The girls loved, loved, the Phantom Manor, and we all enjoyed Hyperspace Mountain (once).
After the evening parade, our oldest Cinnamon Stick encouraged us to head to a special restaurant. She watched the “Behind the Attractions” series on the Disney channel before we went to the park. And she knew everything about Disneyland Paris. There is a restaurant that is only in Disneyland Paris called Walt’s, and she expertly navigated us there through the overwhelming post-parade crowds. Despite arriving sans reservation, the hostess was kind enough to squeeze us in. The restaurant is inspired by a menu for Walt's housekeeper, accompanied by several rules like “no more than one vegetable per meal” (which the restaurant gratefully ignored). Walt was known to eat chili straight from the can for lunch (he was so busy), and this inspired my entré:
We enjoyed our day at Disneyland and can’t wait to go back!
The next day was Easter, and we were happy that the Swedish Easter chicken had found us in Paris!
Lucky us, the museums in Paris remain open on Easter, so we spent the day touring some of the best. We started at Musées d'Orsay. It turns out they have a great café with drinking chocolate because… Paris.
We spent most of our time on the top floor looking at the Impressionist Masters. I’m always surprised at how interested the Cinnamon Sticks are in museums when they have an audio tour to explain the art to them. I often run out of steam after an hour or so of browsing.
After that, we were so hungry. Where, oh, where can we eat? Oh, there’s another lovely cafe.
After lunch, our daughters turned into Parisians. They are no longer the Cinnamon Sticks; they are now called Les Deux Croissants! Please say that three times fast with a French accent:
Freshly powered up, we ventured to the Musée Rodin. Since it was a lovely day, we spent all of our time touring the gardens:
Strangely, after such a sunny afternoon, the weather turned stormy when we left the Rodin. We were caught in a spring shower. Oh no, what to do? Oh, look, another lovely cafe!
Once the rain passed, we walked from the Rodin to the Place De La Concord. We found a rainbow and a lovely little Carousel!
Although we didn’t go to the Louvre, we visited the area to enjoy the view.
We ended the day with a nice pedicab ride. At first, I had reservations. Our cabbie appeared quite old. “Don’t worry,” he said, “it’s electric. I don’t really need to pedal.”
That ended our last day in Paris. The next morning, we were due to return to Stockholm. We managed to squeeze in a little stop for chouquettes and some window shopping at the famous Galeries Lafayette.
Will we return to Paris? Oui oui…
To be continued…