Change of plans

One thing Brian and I have learned it’s that having a positive attitude and a willingness to be flexible can make all the difference. We woke up today freezing (because a duvet cover is NOT warm all on its own) and in an apartment that smelled bad. We got up, packed our stuff and then headed out.

We had two objectives today: see some of Paris and find a new place to stay. We went back and forth on whether to find a hotel in Paris or not, as we only had one night left. Instead, we decided to book an extra night at our next stop instead. We will get to that in a minute.

Brian and I took off on foot with a few destinations in mind. One was the deportation memorial right behind Notre Dame. We had forgotten to stop yesterday so walked back over there today, just to find that the high flood waters in the Siene had caused the memorial to be closed. Bummer! But we did walk along the Siene a lot today and it was interesting to see all the high water and the boats that were stuck because they could no longer get under the bridges.

We had a big of a trek ahead so stopped by a patisserie where Brian opted for a Croque Monsier and I got pain au chocolate (chocolate croissant). Brian’s was ok but mine was divine! The best chocolate croissant I’ve ever had, and I’ve had plenty. Yum!

Up next was the Louvre. As I’ve said before, Brian and I aren’t into art so we really went to see the glass pyramids and walk the gardens outside. Imagine my disappointment when none of the pyramids pointed downward to the resting place of Mary Magdalene (I do love The Da Vinci Code). But they were very cool to see and from the outside I could tell how overwhelming the museum must be. It’s HUGE. It must be 3 or more city blocks long and 1-2 blocks wide. Wow!

Along our walk we just kept coming across cool buildings and statues and monuments. There was something amazing to see every time we looked around. 

Our last stop was the Eiffel Tower. When we started out it was very far away...

but as we walked it got closer and closer. Finally, we arrived and got to see it up close. What a marvel! The area around it was filled with pushy people trying to sell trinkets and hustlers playing the “find the ball under the cup” game. We stopped to watch because it was a little crazy. People were paying 100€ over and over again to guess where the ball was. We weren’t about to take part, but a little old Frenchman jogging by looked at us and wagged his finger and shook his head, then pointed at the game. It was adorable to have this old French man try to save us from the hustlers.

By now we had walked at least 6 or 7 miles so we grabbed a taxi back to our apartment. Then we picked up our bags and headed to our next stop... Disneyland Paris! It was quite an interesting ride. We wanted to avoid too much train travel so grabbed an uber but apparently "Disneyland Paris" in uber isn't the actual Disneyland Paris. We ended up somewhere still in the Paris area, so we took some time to orient ourselves and grabbed a second uber to Disneyland Paris. It ended up being a spendy day for transportation. LOL

Those of you who know me won’t be surprised that we're visiting Disneyland Paris. The whole reason we even came to France was for Disneyland. One of my bucket list items is visiting all of the Disney parks, and this is the first international park to be crossed off our list.

Today wasn’t about visiting the parks but about getting to our hotel, Disney’s Newport Bay, and settling in so we could be ready to go in the morning. We had one of my favorite meals - the Hawaiian BBQ sandwich from Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney. 

We looked around the shops but were suprised with how little their Downtown Disney area is. Really not much to see there, but it was nice to be surrounded by the ambiance of one of our favorite places. 

Then we spent the rest of the evening in our sweet-smelling, clean room at Newport Bay Club. We took nice, hot showers and just relaxed.. It was paradise!

We ended up walking 10 miles today and are ready for an early night so we can be up and at em for extra magic hours in the morning. Can’t wait to enjoy some Disney magic!