Lazy Days In Portugal

Today was another chill day for the Honeyduo which we felt we deserved even though we probably didn't. We, again, slept in but this time only until about 10:00am when the guy to check the gas buzzed to come up. Jess went and collected him and brought him up and we battled the language barrier or English vs Portuguese while he worked.Jess had to have me light the burner because she's still afraid of blowing herself up or something but her being hyped up psyched me out so I did singe myself a little but the stovetop worked so we were cool! After that the guy was finished so we thanked him and sent him off before beginning breakfast. We made toast (shocker) and orange juice and sat on the back porch overlooking the garden, eating and talking and just enjoying ourselves.

It's always amazing to me how Jess and I spend literally all our time with one another yet we never run out of things to talk about. We could talk for hours(and we often do) and still have more to say. It's just the way with us. So there we say and talked for some time before we got the idea to try the Napolitianas we'd gotten the previous day. They're quite similar to the pastries we got in Paris and we thought they'd be the perfect contenders for a Pastry Comparison. According to our food research prior to leaving America, Portugal pastries are considered as good as Paris ones, though some claim them to be better. Being big desert fans ourselves we just had to compare! Result so far: I preferred the Paris pastry. The crust was flanked and the chocolate tasted better, however the Portugal pastry seemed to be dark chocolate while the Paris one was milk or semi-sweet. I don't like dark as much as the other two, so that might be a contributing factor.

That initial test having been taken Jess and I, again, split up into "our" parts of the house, Jess relaxing in the living room resting her foot, giving me the bedroom and free reign into the kitchen. I finished off the chocolate sticks we'd gotten, ate a great number of muffins, and in an attempt to keep me from eating us out of house and home,made some ice to chew on! In between these food runs I watched Monster High webisodes which turned into a multi-hour ordeal because perhaps each episode is only 3 minutes long but not do those minutes add up!

Eventually Jess reemerged and we were both hungry so we attempted to work the oven to make our pizza. We Googled how to do it and I think permitted it out, it just didn't work. Or we're just bad at it. I actually managed to convince Jess to hold the button for me while I worked the match but nothing stayed lit, which was a setback but not the end of the line for us daring heros (or at least enginuitive college students!). We cut the kinda thawed pizza into individual slices then cooked them 2 at a time in a pan on the stovetop. The bottom got a little burned, but it best no pizza at all!

We both gathered in the living room to eat out food and check out what was on TV. Big Bang Theory was on, which I hadn't seen in forever! It may not be the funniest show ever, but it certainly got a laugh out of Jess and I as we happily munched on our pizza. I was still hungry after that so I made some of the peas we'd bought (on the stovetop again cause there's no microwave) and we are those as well. When the Big Bang Theory episodes were over, some Disney movie 8 Below came on but we had no interest and instead watched some Boomerang cartoons in Portuguese. I don't think we learned anything, and we didn't get any of the jokes, but it was colourful so that's something! Scooby-Doo's voice actor in Portuguese has such a deep voice! He sounded like he studied the blade. Wild!

While we were in the living room Jess and I elected to visit the archives the following day and got our route all mapped put. It was only a train and metro ride away, so it seemed simple enough. This time Jess got directions for the walking parts as well, so we can be taught! Eventually I returned to the bedroom where I did the enormously interesting tasks of: Watching Monster High, and Eating The Last Muffin. It's all very important. With those matters handled and a plan for the morning, we both went to sleep, ready for another day of adventure!

Two Settings: Stop and Go

Not much to report really! Jess and I took a much needed rest day to recuperate after 11 days of non-stop go-go-going. We woke up around 9:00am, as usual, but chilled in bed until about 12:00pm when we both reached maximum capacity for time without food. I had several Nature's Valley bars set aside for the morning so we would have food before shopping so we both ate one then headed out. There's a shop literally a block and a half from us, basially the same distance as the one we used in Paris, which is great! We literally didn't plan at all for what we'd do if there weren't food places close to us. I mean, we assumed there would be, but we didn't even consider that there might be. We're quite lucky.

Neither Jess nor I read Portuguese so we just had to guesstimate what everything was from the packaging or the way it looked. Most stuff we could figure out, like fruit and orange juice, but we couldn't figure out what the pastries we bought had in them. We decided we just didn't care and threw them into the cart anyway! I love the carts in Portugal and Paris! They're shaped like slightly larger shopping baskets but the have wheels on the bottom and a second larger handle so you can hold it or use it lke a wagon. It makes sense though, since the stores are so small and a full shopping cart would either not fit or clog up a whole aisle! American stores and shops are all so large, so the bigger carts make sense, but that doesn't mean the little European carts aren't adorable!

With only my Trusty Paris Purse (still sans zipper) to carry everything we carried and held a lot of the food as we paid the 14 euro it cost for literally so much food. I dunno what rent is like in these countries, but in terms of groceries the price is totally right! We carried our food back and made ourselves a ham and cheese sandwich each, glad to have an actual meal for the first time that day. It occurred to me then that the oven was a gas one that I had no idea how to work, prompting Jess to message the AirBnB owner because Google wasn't gonna cut it. While we waited on a response we explored our new abode a little. We got a full place to ourself this time, a whole apartment with all kinds of space! There's a bedroom kitchen, living room, dining room, bathroom, front patio, back windowed patio, and a garden in the back! Totally royal! It's also got a washing machine, so I'll get to do some laundry for the first time since Killarney! Exciting, isn't it!

Jess then took a shower and I tried to figure out the oven but I only succeeded in turning off the heat on Jess, which she definitely didn't appreciate, and leaking some gas into the kitchen. So I'm not a contender for Top Chef, sue me. Post attempts at kitchen-utilization Jess went into the living room and I chilled in the bedroom and we both just vegged out for a bit. Jess thinks she sprained or pulled a toe in Paris and is trying to rest it up, and it was nice to just have our own space for a while. I did some writing on the back porch then watched some Netflix in bed until Jess reemerged from her chill-zone to see about dinner. The AirBnB owner had messaged her back instructions on how to work the stove, informing us that a person would be coming the following day to refill the gas or something like that. Because of whatever the issue was his instructions said to turn the switch for the burner we wanted to about medium, then light a match and hold it to the intended burner while holding the switch in for 30 seconds. I went through about 6 matches attempting it because Jess was too scared to go near it and I couldn't light the match and push the button in at the same time. Eventually I figured out how to use my knee to hold the button and got it working so we could make grilled cheese! I accidentally turned the stove off once and had to relight it, but I was basically an expert at that point!

Grilled cheese was had in the living room where we decided to test the TV. All the channels have Portuguese subtitles that we can't figure out how to turn off but hey, we might learn something! We found a channel showing Young Sheldon and decided to watch. The show is alright, very different from Big Bang Theory and Sheldon isn't unlikable just the least entertaining of the family to watch. After that the channel showed Joe Somebody, some Tim Allen movie Jess and I had never seen but watched as we snacked on some more of the goodies we'd gotten, and discussed plans for the following day. Those plans were to basically do the same thing, but plan for going to either the castle or the archives the day after. The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, a movie we adore but have also seen several zillion times, came on after Joe Somebody so we passively watched that before meandering off to bed. Like I said, not that much going on, but we really needed a break!

The Show Must Go Wrong

 

We said goodbye to Paris and hello to Portugal on yet another long and arduous day of travel. The whole 'being in another country' thing is fun, but the 'going through airports and figuring out metro systems' thing could be better. It is an adventure though and that is what travel's supposed to be about so I guess it's all part of the experience! We had the Paris metro system down pat by the day or departure so we weren't worried about that at all as we got up and began getting ready for our day of travel. Our flight on Easyjet from Paris to Lisbon was the only one so far that hasn't allowed one carry-on bag and a smaller handheld bag, instead limiting us at just one carry-on. This wasn't a huge issue for us as we'd actually planned for more of these flights to be One Bag Only, but our two backpacks got stuffed to the brim as we shoveled everything in as best we could! Checkout time was at 11:00am and we were packed up and ready by that time but we putzed around and ended up leaving just as the housekeeper showed up. She was very friendly and helped us put the key back where it belonged and let us take a double check of the flat before we headed out towards the metro.

As we walked it occured to us that despite being in the Moulin Rouge area we never actually saw the Moulin Rouge. It just never occured us, being so busy hopping on metros all over the place to everywhere! We also did not do any of the things our friend Alex recommended to us. This friend Alex spent around 6 months in France and did not get to Paris at alll. I didn't even think that was legal. He instead stayed in some weird outside-ish part of France that I believe had something to do with the invention of modern cement or whatever so everything's grey and the sun never shines. Alex reported he saw sunlight only once leaving the city perimiter, it's like a cursed land or something. He's a French major so he had to study abroad and he picked there because he thought it would be less touristy, and it was but there was a reason for that apperently. Anyway, he recommended we do the safari (which sounds like a joke, but it's not) and see a few other things that we definitely didn't do given we forgot everything he said except the safari cause that was funny. Advice we did take from him was to get a 5-day metro pass. We bought ours at the Tourist Information booth the day we arrived for 72 euro, as I said before, but we only knew about it because Alex told us, so I suppose his advice to us was not completely wasted! It's funny I should mention Alex here for the first time when I've been telling tales of him to everyone throughout this trip. People keep asking Jess and i if we speak French and we tell them we took French class with Alex (aka Birdman) for 4 years and while Jess and I learned nothing he did this thing where he said "I'm gonna learn French" and then he did. We asked his his secret once during our fourth year and he kindly told us "I pay attention in class" which is fair. The boy had the patience of a saint with the two of us as we sandwiched our seats around his so we could ask him questions and casually cheat and he always let us and we passed the class knowing how to count to 10 in French and say Bonjour and that was pretty much it. He is, like I said, currently a French major because he actually did put effort in. It's weird how that works...

Anyway, we did get to see a great many things on this trip despite skipping the Moulin Rouge and safari and everything else Alex may or may not have mentioned so we are still pleased with how we spent our time on the trip! We discussed our many achievements in Paris as we boarded the Metro 4 Montrouge to Garde de Nord where we cause the RER B all the way to Charles de Gaulle terminal 2. We arrived at the airport around 12:30am, giving us a whole 5 hours before our flight took off. Classic. We got through security with 2 hitches: Jess's shoes had metal on them and she forgot to take them off along with her money belt and Jess sent her backpack through the machine without removing her laptop first. So she and her backpack got pulled to the side, but I claimed the backpack so the person could search it while Jess was getting scanned with the wand thing and some weird foot scanner. The line for security was wicked short though as they separate you by terminal (we were 2 of 3) and then by letters (ours was D our of I dunno how many) and then by gate numbers (we were 54 so we were in the 50-60 group). All this info was listed on our ticket and the gate number screens everywhere so it was super efficient and way better than at Orlando Airport where you kinda sorta get separated into 3 groups of like a zillion airlines and you wait for 30 minutes on a good day.

That being handled we had still basically 4 and a half hours to wait, but really more like just 4 because boarding happens 30-40 minutes before the plane takes off and you get in like 10-20 minutes and that's not hanging around time, that's waiting in line time, which is categorized differently mentally. Jess and I poked into some of the stores in the airport and looked around before settling down on one of the seats facing the walkway so we could people watch. My iPod, however, had died, so we wanted to find a seat next to some charges. We found one, but two girls jacked it before we could grab it because I was busy reorganizing my bag after getting my tablet out. Eventually Jess found us some seats and held them so I had time to re-pack my bag before moving over to join her. There we sat for several hours, playing on our phones and tablets, listening to our iPods, and chit-chatting until an announcement played saying the flight had too much carry-on luggage and were asking for volounteers to have their luggage put in the hold. Jess and I then joined the line of people forming because we were already gonna be hurrying to make our 9:00pm check-in time and didn't have time to wait for our backpacks if they got put in the hold. We didn't have to have ours put in the hold though, and we got to walk up the staircase was onto the plane because we were in the back, so that was cool!

The plane ride was 2 hours, but on a technicality only 1 hour because we traveled back in time. Portugal is 1 hour behind France so we left at 5:30pm, flew 2 hours, then landed at 6:30pm. Crazy right! From there we had to go down the stairs of the plane and get into bus-things that would take us to the terminal. That was fine, but on the way down the steps I dropped my backpack cause I was carrying it in my arms and some of my papers flew under the wings of the plane and the guys working had to go grab them for me and that was kind of embarrassing but there it is. On the tram we waited for it to leave which took a while cause 3 women were just taking their time getting off the plane or something, then we got stuck in traffic of some kind at the terminal for about 7 minutes only to find out the entrance was literally 20 more feet from where we'd been stuck which was wild. By then it was about 7:20m and we had to find the metro. Tourist information wasn't as helpful there as we couldn't buy a pass and they guy seemed confused himself about how to get where we were going, but we found our way to the metro and bought a ticket of some kind cause I'm still not sure what we bought. The guy manning the ticket things said it was right and we trusted him and went with it! The got us through to the correct metro, Aerporto vm to Sao Sebastiao. It was then Jess realized she never screenshotted the check-in directions or the walking directions from our final stop to the AirBnB. We're so bad with this whole 'looking up walking directions' thing, think we're Magelian or something. As we switched metros to take the Sao Sebastiao Az towards Reboleira to Jardim Zoologico Jess got some wifi and was able to look up the directions withing the 6 minutes we had before our metro arrived!

Once we got to Jardim Zoologico we had to get to the Sete Rios railway station, which was in the same building as the metro just like the metro was in the same building as the airport so it wasnt hard to find. We got a little confused there about whether our passes worked for the train, but there wasn't anywhere to tap before you boarded so we assumed we were set and them promptly got confused about which train to board and on what side. Our directions said to take the Roma-Areeiro - Setubal towards Coina to get to Corroios, but none of the trains we called that. We walked up and down basically all the staircases on every side of the tracks before making a gut choice to go with the train that wasn't called Roma-Areeiro but did go towards Setubal and Coina. We turned out to be right and gladly boarded the correct train to our destination! We arrived at Carroios around 8:20pm where we suddenly found our our cards weren't letting us out of the exit gates. A very nice attendant came to help us and we worked out through light English and Portuguese that Jess and I had the right card but were supposed to use them to get loaded for the train at Lisbon. He took us over to one of the electronic ticket stands to have us buy the ticket, but because our cards are Zapping (whatever that means) we had loaded them in advance with money for the train (which musta been what that initial attendant had tried to explain to us at the airport) so we just had the money applied to the train ticket and tapped in and out of the station so it acknowledged that we'd ridden the train and we were all set! It was wild, but we made it work and everyone was happy!

From here things should have been smooth sailing. It was 8:40pm and we had 20 minutes to get to our AirBnB on time. The walk was supposed to be only 12 minutes so we thought we were set. We were wrong. We took a hard right instead of a soft left apparently at one of the turns and walked the wrong way for 20 minutes. We figured it out once Jess got her Google Maps up, which even without wifi was able to track where we were and what direction we were moving, and began the long trek back. We hoofed it, but still arrived at 9:15pm where we somehow figured out which door we were supposed to ring the bell of and a lovely woman, I assume the housekeeper the AirBnB owner told us about, let us in and showed us around. She was so sweet and friendly and told us how to work everything and was lovely to be greeted by after the day we'd had. As soon as she left us we connected to the wifi, told everyone we had arrived at our place, and ate the Nutella sandwiches I had brought from Paris because I knew we wouldn't have time that night to go shopping for food. Then we got real comfy-cozy because we knew we got to sleep in and do whatever we wanted the next day!

Pardon et Non Merci

Jess and I had all of Paris to explore and a whole day to do it in! One of the perks of traveling on your own and without a group is that you get to decide where you go, what you do, and when you do it! Jess and I climbed out of bed around 10:00-ish again and had a heart breakfast of more Nutella on bread while I screenshotted the directions to all the places we could potentially want to go! We decided to go to the Pompidou first, then Notre Dame, then hit the Eiffel Tower and see how we felt from there!

We began the journey by taking the Metro 4 Montrouge to Etienne Marcel which was supposed to be a 6 minute walk from the Pompidou, but while I had screenshotted the metro directions I neglected to even look at the walking map of how to get from the metro to the buildng. Jess and I wandered the streets for a good while trying to find our bearings but we really didn't mind as we got to walk the city of Paris, checking out the window displays to see the latest Parisian fashions. Most of it was casual business wear apperently, but some of it was just lovely! After walking in the complete wrong direction for a while we found a mad on a bus stop that managed to point us in the right direction and we eventually found ourselves outside the pompidou. While we didn't go in we had to at least look at it in memory of that time my mother and my uncle Brendan went to visit it but my mother never actually got to go inside because she was waiting for Brendan before going in but he was actually already in the museum! By the time they found each other it was already time to leae and it's a moment my mother has told us about for years so we too had to go and sit outside the Pompidou as she had.

  There's a large plot of cement outside the entrance that many
people were spread out on, reading, eating, chatting, and lounging, so Jess and I fit right in taking a seat and taking in the absolutely hideous building in front of us. I mean it's wicked ugly. What's the deal with modern buildings all being designed to look like they're still under construction? Why did we go that route with architecture? In the Pompidou's defense though, it is a modern art museum and there is a large hampster-tube type thing winding around the museum which visitors can walk through to see the view, so it kind of had to look ugly on principle.

After that detour we walked back to the metro (without getting lost) and took the Metro 4 Montrouge again to Saint-Michel where we located the Siene and followed it to Notre Dame! On the way we heard a particularly good musician playing in front of the Saint-Michel Fountain which was an excellent soundtrack to our walk towards possibly the second biggest tourist attraction in Paris. We took loads of pictures here from every angle we could get of the majestic cathedral. Again, we did not go into this building as there was a line leading almost into the street to get in and we were more there to see the outside architecture. We took a seat and people-watched, a favourite pastime of ours, and enjoyed a cookie each from our stash of treats. There were several doors open around the cathedral so we poked our heads in and saw some of the stained glass windows and interior design and the literal wall-to-wall crowds of people and were quite content with having done things our way.

On the way back to the Metro we saw a number of little shops on the bridge-side and we took a look at the wares. Paintings, magnets, postcards, posters, and keychains were the main sellers, but some were quite unique and fun to peruse! We didn't buy anything, but it's always fun to look! At that point we had to pee and just weren't willing to pay the 80 cents to a euro 50 to use the public toilets and took the Metro 4 Clignancourt back home. We did a quick shopping trip and picked up some canned ravioli and kiwi for our dinner that night so we wouldn't have to do it later and stopped off at our flat to relax for a minute. We were there about 20 minutes, eating a snack, refilling our water, and using the bathroom before we set out again into the great unknown. Well, sort-of known.

At the metro we took the Metro 4 Montrouge to Strasbourg - Saint-Denis then boarded the Metro 1 Sevres to Iena. There we followed our intuition of which way to go and as we turned a corner on an empty street we got a fabulous first look at the Eiffel tower! It really is a rather ugly monument, but it's too iconic to not absolutely adore! We walked the streets until we arrived at a heavy construction zone where patrons seeking the Eiffel tower were directed around to the East Entrance.

It was a bit of a walk but we arrived there and navigated our way past through the forest of street vendors. At this point we were experts in getting by these folks who sell mostly useless bits of nonsense such as Eiffel tower trinkets and water and whatnot. We learned early on that the best way to get through is to master the use of Non Merci. You say it as you go and keep walking. They're going to ask you more questions or ask where you're from or things like that but they really really don't care and just want you to hang around longer so they can convince you to buy things. Don't do it man, just say "Non merci" and carry on with where you're going. This phrase was the second most common we used besides "Pardon" which is used all the time because 1: French people stand real close together and you will whack someone or get whacked and 2: Tourists just stop in the middle of everywhere and you smack into them as well as other people trying to avoid the people stopping. My advice for anyone going to Paris would be to definitely get used to saying those two phrases often and liberally.

Moving on, we reached the ticket centers of the tower and had to ask to be directed to the one that sells the Combined tickets, which have you use the stairs until the second floor then let you take the elevator to the top. The price is way reduced because you have to use the stairs part of the way, and there was a discount for us because we were under 25, so it came to 9 euro and 50 cents for each of us and it is not advertised as being for sale anywhere. They clearly don't want people to know about that offer but we knew in advance and went to a literally empty line that advertises Stairs Only Tickets and bought our passes for a 19 euro combined and started right on the journey up!

Jess and I are expert stair-climbers (sure, that's a thing) so we had a pleasant time going to the first floor and exploring their restaurants and gift shops and then the second floor where we also explored before getting in line for the lift. The shops are all generic gift shops ad the restaurants are way overpriced but it is Paris and it is the Eiffel Tower and whoever sells bottled water there makes a fortune because people taking the stairs never thing to bring enough. We had a light snack on a bench on the second floor as we took in the view before we joined the masses in line for the top. The line to get up was a little long and it had started to rain some as we stood there but Jess and i had our trusty umbrella with us which worked to keep us dry, block the wind, and keep people from standing to close to us, so it was a win-win-win!

On the elevator one girl magically discovered a kinda-sorta fear of heights that everyone basically ignored because we just couldn't be bothered to care about some teenage American trying to make a scene. It was a fabulous view going up which we got to see through the glass windows before we exited, went up one last small staircase, and looked out over the top! As expected it was very busy at the small point, but people mostly came, took a picture, and went back down, which seemed a waste to us but it's their money! They sell champagne at the top which a number of people were buying but Jess and I had our water and snacks and were quite content! We were up there for quite some time enjoying ourselves and the view before we decided it was time to go and got in line to go down. The line was much shorted to go down but was long enough to plan our next stop. As we rode down and began the descent via stairs we decided we wanted to and really had to see the Louvre and the Arch de Triomphe, both of which I'd saved directions for in case. We took plenty more photos once we reached the bottom and walked away from the tower, getting shots of every good view we found because why not!

Back at the metro we took the Metro 9 back to Strasbourg where we then took the Metro 4 Monterouge to Chatelet before boarding the Metro 1 La Defense to the Palais Royal Musee du Louvre! We got out at what they call the Carousel de Louvre which was a literal carousel fo confusion! It's basically a shopping center under the Louvre but it's near impossible to find the exit and I totally think that's intentional! We were walking forever, which wasn't a huge deal because it is a very pretty shopping center as it is near the Louvre and it all artsy-themed, but it was still a maze to locate the exit. We did eventually find it though and exited right outside the Louvre! We, once again, did not go in, but we just wanted to see it and admire it and we definetly got to do that! Once more we navigated the street vendors and tourists with Pardon and Non Merci and found the perfect photo-op spot for this Kodak Moment! The place really is beautiful, even just from the outside! It was crazy to think about all the people who'd been there before and all the people who woud come after us! It was like that for everywhere though, thinking about all the people on their own journeys with their own lives seeing what we were seeing. What a trip!

As it was about 7:30pm we stayed as long as we felt right before heading back on the Metro 1 this time to Charles de Gaulle - Etoille where we exited right at the Arch de Triomphe. We sat and ate our sandwiches on a bench across from the Arch because we were famished at that point from the hours of walking, climbing, and Metro-riding! We watched plenty of people not far from us take pictures together in front of the Arch, happy as could be! Not far from where we sat was the way to the Arch, an underground tunnel which was so cool! Jess and I walked until we saw a line where we saw you had to purchase tickets, which we thought was weird, but got in line anyway to ask about their Under 25 free ticket. About halfway through the line though a security guard explained to someone else that the ticket was just to see the top of the Arch and wandering around is free. They certainly didn't have any signs saying that, but Jess and I hopped out of line and walked up the very thin no-ticket staircase up to the Arch. As we did so the rain had started up again and a pair of girls came running down demanding to return their tickets because of the raid. Tourists.

We pulled out our umbrella and casually strolled the area of the Arch, taking in the statues and architecture as we both realized we had no idea what the Arch de Triomphe was for or about. We still don't know, but it sure was pretty! Lots of people had ducked into the tunnel to avoid the rain so it was fairly empty as we perused our surroundings and got some great clear shots! Having had enough and being very tired though, Jess and I made our way back through the tunnel and to the metro for the ride home. We took the Metro 1 back to Chatelet where we reboarded the Metro 4 Clagnincourt to the Chateau Rouge, our stop home!

Once there we putzed around until about 11:00pm when we made our ravioli (we elected to save the kiwi for breakfast), pulled out some cookies, put on some old French music and ate dinner up on the 'mezzanine' of the flat, a little nook reached by ladder with a large sky-ward window. There we ate and talked until we both couldn't function and listened to the sounds of Paris as we fell asleep.

A Twins Guide to Disneyland Paris

  I never thought in my whole life that I would make it to Disneyland Paris! Even when we were planning on going to Paris I never even considered Disney until mom said she had free tickets! Having family that works at Disney is such a perk-fest! I was told by a bunch of silly nothings that Disneyland Paris is just a 'waste of our time' because it's not 'authentic Paris' but eff off losers I went to Disney in Paris and it was wonderful! We got up a little later than I planned because my clock was set for 9:00am but I forgot Paris is one hour ahead and we actually got up at 10:00am. We had breakfast for Nutella on french bread, which was delish, and were out the door by 11:15am. A later start than I wanted, but it's all good. We boarded the Metro 4 and rode it until we got to Les Halles then took the RER to Marne la Vallee Chessy. We ran into a slight problem on the RER as the first one we boarded needed to be emptied for some reason, so we all got off and had to wait about 15 minutes for the next one. There was a woman on the speaking explaining what happened, I think, but as we don't speak French we had no idea what was going on! The next metro came with no problems though, so whatever the issue was it had to do with the train and nothing else.

We arrived at the station around 12:45 and walked right outside to Disneyland Paris! Naturally there was a long walk to actually reach the park entrance but it was a pretty walk with fountains and flowers. Now there are actually two parks at Disneyland Paris: Disneyland Paris and Disney Studios. Jess and I had no idea what was in either but we had a park-hopper ticket so we were gonna find out! Much later though because we ran into a weird issue at the gate. In order to get in we needed to have our paper printouts scanned in order to receive a ticket for entry. We were directed to the Cast Member ticket booth area where there was only one person in line in front of us. Great right? No really because something major was going on with him and were were in line for 20 minutes waiting. The man working the booth said a few things to the people behind us in line in French but Jess and I didn't understand him until he told us in English to just go to Guest Relations and went back to what he was doing with the other person. We ended up in the wrong spot and went to the ticket line rather than Guest Relations cause we couldn't find Guest Relations and the woman in the booth told us to go to the Cast Member ticket line. I explained 3 times that the man there had sent us elsewhere before she gave us directions to Guest Relations which had a seriously long line. We waited it though, once sending me to check the Cast Member ticket area to see that the same guy who'd been holding up the line before was in fact still there, until we got to the front of the line. We ended up following a man who'd apparently been trying to convince the person working to just let him use expired tickets for about 20 minutes, maybe more but that's how long we were in line and he was there the whole time. When we got up to the front of the line was when he 'had enough' and walked off in a huff to literal applause from inside the booth. The man there was very helpful and got us set up in no time to go in.

By the time we entered the park it was 2:00pm, which was kind of a bummer cause I wanted to be there sooner, but the park was open until 11:00pm, and Studios park was open until 8:00pm so we figured we had enough time, and we totally did! We started at the Snow White Ride which was basically the same as the one they used to have at Disney World before the put in the Seven Dwarves Mine Train and we loved it then and we loved it now! Jess and I are big fans of easy-going kinda narrative-following rides! No surprise we next hit Pinocchio's Journey or whatever they called it in French, a ride similar to the one we rode years ago in Disneyland California! Again, it was very cute and we enjoyed ourselves immensly. After that ride we checked the map and saw that the Ratatouille Ride was in Disney Studios, the park that closes at 8:00pm. We decided we didn't wanna rush through rides in the main park so we headed over to the Studios to ride what we wanted there before we did anything else. It was a brief walk and a pleasant one before we entered the fancy Disney Studios. The park is very much like Disney World's Hollywood Studios in terms of rides (Tower of Terror, a Toy Story World) and in terms of it being obviously the lesser liked and fun of the two parks. There aren't many rides and it's mostly shows so it's not a bad park, just not Jess and my vibe.

On the way in we were greeted by a Cast Member doing surveys, which Jess and I love doing, and we had a lovely chat! When we greeted her she asked if we spoke English and we said yes and that we're American and that surprised her. She told us she thought we were Italian. She was the second person so far to claim we look European instead of America. We talked about how our father's family was from Italy and that might explain it and she told us she's from northern Italy and we discussed last names and lineages and all that jazz before we ever actually got to the survey! Dubbing her a solid interaction we made our way over to Ratatouille. The ride had a 5 minutes wait for single riders, so that was the obvious way to go, and Jess and I ended up in the same cart just different levels anyway. I was next to an English girl and her sister who after a few minutes asked if I was British or French. That makes three. I don't know what vibe I'm giving off and I'm not sure if it's good or bad.

The ride was way cool with 3D incorporation and a smooth riding cart that reminded us of the penguin ride at Seaworld the way it moves about on the tracks. We then meandered through the Toy Story area and admired how cute everything was and took a few pictures. We ended up in the area with the shows and that was apparently the end of the park. A small thing, but they seemed to have a decent number of people in the park so it clearly wasn't a total bust! Still, having seen all of the park and having nothing else we wanted to ride, Jess and I headed back to the Disney Park.

We wanted to ride Phantom Manor but we found out it was closed for restorations until September. A bummer for sure, but not a big deal as we hurried off to Adventureland! We stood in line for Indiana Jones which was about 40 minutes and not really super-duper fun. It was a roller coaster but Jess and I were expecting it to be more like the one in Disneyland California but there wasn't any storyline going on at all. It was still fun, but also weird because there's an upside-down loop but they just let you take your stuff on. Jess and I have an open bag (cause the zipper's broken) and we only had Jessica's peacock sarong tucked over the top to protect the things inside. Nothing came out cause it wasn't a hard loop and we held it close, but still very interesting! I wonder how many people lose all kinds of stuff! Disneyland Paris is way more chill that Disneyworld apparently!

After that we found ourselves in Adventure Isle, an exploration area with caves, docks, and waterfalls to enjoy! We looked out of Skull Rock, saw the Swiss Family Robinson's wreckage, and explored the dark maze of interconnecting caves! It was way fun! We exited out towards Pirates Beach and made a bee-line for Pirates of the Caribean! The ride is much longer than the one in Disney World with only 2 instances of Captain Jack added to the ride. The Buy A Bride scene is gone from the ride which I didn't mind at all! The Red Lady looks swell as a pirate and the glittering gold and jewels for sale made perfect sense for the scene. There was also a segment of a female pirate fighting either another pirate or a 'landlubber' which was pretty cool too!

 

Post-Pirates we returned to Fantasyland which we'd left earlier that day. We found a cute Mister Toad themed that we poked our head into then found ourselves outside the Mad Hatter Cafe where we took a break and ate our Nutella sandwiches. We relaxed as long as we needed then entered Alice's Curious Labyrinth. The area is a literal maze all themed after Alice in Wonderland that was literally too cute for words! Jess and I only made a few wrong turns before arriving at the Queen of Heart's palace which had a rockin' view of the whole park!

Following that we rode two rides that aren't available at Disney World: Le Pays des Contes de Fees and Casey Jr. - le Petite Train du Cirque. The first was my favourite ride in the whole park. Its a serene and tranquil boat ride that carries you past miniatures of fairytales and Disney movies. Jess liked Eric's castle, but I adored the Aladdin Cave of Wonders where you actually went into a cave with sparkling jewels paving the walls! The other was equally cute, a little train ride that takes you around the area of the boat ride with a lovely little tune playing as you go! If I were to go again I might just spend all day on that boat ride and only leave for intermittent rides on the train!

Next was It's A Small World! There I got a text from my landlord about my mail that of course came through just as I left the wifi zone and I had to sort that out but I got it settled just as we boarded out boat! The ride was, again, longer than the one in Florida and interestingly enough had North America sections! They had the wild west, American-Indians, Canada, and Hollywood! It never occurred to me before that we don't have a North America section! Jess and I had a hoot over the Canadian hockey players and the American football players! Classic!

After that it was off to the future in Discoveryland! We hit Hyperspace Mountain first because we assumed it'd have the longest line but it was only a 25 minute wait! I guess Thursdays really are a slow day for Disneyland Paris! The ride was obviously themed something else before the Star Wars changes and some of the original bits are left in the walkthrough that give that away, but the ride itself was so cool! It is true that the Space Mountain in Paris goes upside down and it was really fun inside the ride where there were spaceships blasting and apparently a mission going on in French that sounded really cool! Mostly though I heard Jessica's one true talent: the R2-D2 scream which she does so well I thought it was part of the ride before I realized I was only hearing it in one ear. That.s the thing I really like about roller coasters though, the screaming. No other place can you just scream as loud and as long as you want without anyone giving it a thought. It's very cathartic and perhaps that's why so many people enjoy thrill rides.

Star Tours was next and we got 3 (yep 3) scenes we hadn't seen before and saw some excellent French dubbing over Finn, Poe, and Maz. The crowd in that ride was very excited and we just all had a ball together as we flew through space! After that was Buzz Lightyear's Lazer Blast. Buzz Lightyear and the Fairytale Boat Ride were the only two rides in the park, as far as we could tell, that were constant motion rides, meaning they go at a singularly slow speed and people just get on and off without it stopping for loading and unloading. This is apparently very complicated for everyone in the park and both rides very often stop moving to correct issues of people not getting on in time or properly. This was no problem for us on either ride though as I loved getting extra time on the boat ride and we just racked up the points on Buzz Lightyear! Jess beat me by about 40,000 points and it was a sad day for us all. Particularly me. I'm usually a knock-out at those games.

Last ride of the day was Lancelot's Carousel which Jess loved because she love carousels! It was sunset as we rode given that it was about 10:00pm at night (that's sunset in Paris, wild right?) and it was a lovely end to our day in the park.We slowly meandered out, discovering a fun little Aladdin walkthrough that had little figurines of the Aladdin story that was cute to see, and checking gift shops only to end up getting a coin momento because I love those things even if they're a little pointless. In Disney Village, basically the Downtown Disney or Disney Springs or Disneyland Paris we scouted out a bathroom before making our way to the metro station. Or what we thought was the metro station. As we entered we were kind of confused about where to go because it looked different than we remembered. Then we heard an announcement saying the building was closed and we kind of freaked for a second cause we had to get home. Upon asking the man directing people out, however, we discovered the RER station was in fact next door and happily trotted over to the very open and running station where we caught the next metro to Les Halles then the 4 back to Chateau Rouge where we had a dinner of yesterdays pizza, took a shower, and crashed for the night!