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| Sacre Coeur |
One of Toby's big wishlist items for this year was the bullet train in Japan or the TGV in France. I will admit to a little mental resistance against a trip to Paris in November. Expensive, a hassle to plan, potentially cold and wet, and the kids don't love trapsing around a big city. Fortunately Crystal has a more positive outlook and she spearheaded this grand adventure, which I think I can say we all thoroughly enjoyed.
A word before we get started. I tend to steer clear of too much detail of the nuts and bolts in favour of readability (I know, can you imagine?!). Here, I'm going a bit more detail, partly in case anyone wants to follow in our footsteps and partly for us, if we come back to Paris sometime. Enjoy.
Having grabbed the kids from school on Thursday lunchtime, we headed to the grandiose train station in Chamonix and took the train, very much sans grands vitesse, down the valley to St Gervais. We crossed the platform and 9 minutes later we were on a bigger regional train to Bellgarde from where we finally boarded the big one. After lurching left and right around the outskirts of Bellgarde, we got going at a grand vitesse, somewhere around 300kph, and in a straight line. A couple of hours later we were pulling into Paris Gare de Lyon from where we walked to our Hotel Richard in the Voltaire neighbourhood. We dropped our bags and walked to Basalte Restaurant-Bar, a funky hangout for young Parisians and a middle-aged family from Ottawa. It was fun, the scatty staff were kind to us, and we ate well while admiring the complete absence of hiking clothes.
Friday morning and the big day had arrived! Disneyland Paris. The forecast was inauspicious but the magic was guaranteed. A term time Friday in late November with a forecast of rain and 4 degrees wouldn’t suggest crowds but this is Disney where reality is suspended and the magic transcends reason. We took the RER train from Gare de Lyon for 45 minutes and were deposited right on the doorstep of the park. I made my best value purchase of the day at the station, a one euro coffee from Relay, just the right strength, just the right amount of water and milk, just the right price. Then it was the COVID pass check, then the backpack and security check, and finally the ticket barrier and we were in. First impressions count and you gotta hand it to Disney, the ability to create these places where seemingly every detail is taken care of is extraordinary.
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| Arrival, Disneyland Paris |
We decided to kick off with Thunder mountain, although not before a dash to the washrooms to put my running tights under my jeans! 4 degrees and breezy. Roller coasters are fun. Line ups are not, but this one wasn’t bad as it winds through the mine works with all the ropes, pulleys, ironworks and finishings to complete the effect.
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Thunder mountain, hold onto your hat!
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| A European Starling joined us for lunch |
Other highlights of the day were Ratatouille, Buzz lightyear's laser shooting ride, the madhatters maze, small world, the RC Racer (I really thought my stomach was stronger), and Crush’s coaster which was really good and almost worth the hour long wait in the pouring rain and freezing cold in the dark! Dissappointed that Hyperspace mountain was closed for renovations but c'est la vie.
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Buzz
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Mes enfants
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A surprising thrill in Catastophe Canyon with Cars
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RC Racer, stomach discomfort the like of which I have not experienced
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| 2021, still Goofin' |
We took the gastrotour down a notch and had burgers in Studio 1 for dinner before discovering that the fireworks were not on, doing one more run through Buzz Lightyear, and then heading back to the big city for bed.
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La nuit, les lumieres
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| Iconic |
My overall assessment? I went to Disney Florida as a kid and I do remember it being quite magical even though I can't remember much about it. There's no doubt that there is nowhere quite like Disney but the crowds, the queues and the cost make the equation a delicately balanced one. Admittedly we went in less than perfect weather but that also make is significantly less expensive. Sometimes we do this thing with the kids before bed where we ask them what they were grateful for. Quite unprompted Toby said, "Well, our gratefuls are going to be easy tonight!". Perhaps that is all you need to know.
Saturday morning update from the Eiffel Tower: my lizard brain and its hyper responsive amygdala don’t like heights, confined spaces, and numerous other perceived dangers. They set off a chain of unpleasant physiologic symptoms while my fancy new fangled prefrontal cortex, with all its hyper rationality, wrestles with those deep layers of prehistoric wiring to make sense of this world famous wonder of 19th century engineering. I got part way up the stairs to the second level before calling it quits so I’m sheltering for warmth at the first level while the rest of the family take the lift to le sommet.
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A whole lot of steel...
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| ...and rivets |
Not sure how well this mix of present and past writing works but by Sunday morning I am now too tired to re-write it. We had met up with Dave, Michelle, Milly and Tommy from Ottawa. They have been living in Brussels for the past 3 years. After the Tower we wound our way towards the Arc de Triomphe stopping at a cafe for croque monsieurs, onion soups (funnily enough they don't call it French onion soup), coffee and warmth. Back into the rain and cold, we got up close with the Arc, it's memorial poignancy pehaps the more so for the grey rain. For contrast we then wandered the Champs Elysee, ducking in and out of the Christmassy shopping malls, and for Crystal and I, recalling the July day several years ago when we stood there watching Mark Cavendish win the final stage of the Tour de France.
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Le dejeuner, table d'enfants
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Table adults
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Arc de Triomphe
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| Christmas spirit, Champs Elysees |
With more rain forecast for the afternoon, and having heard that the Louvre is quite good, we hopped on the Metro and made our way towards art and history utopia. We thought we should get the Mona Lisa out the way first. What a circus. Long lineups for a slightly distasteful selfie fest. I actually have a new found appreciation for this artwork since visiting the DaVinci museum in Florence which brought my attention to the ethereal and otherworldly background, largely hiding behind that famous smile and those curious eyes. Still looking forward to reading Walter Isaacson's bio of da Vinci.
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Who're you?
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| Ah-ha, that's what she's looking at |
The highlight of the Louvre, I think for the family, were the Lois III apartments with their extravagantly decorated rooms and lavish furniture. Toby remarked that he would like this for his living room, but not with all the people. But in fairness, once we had trekked to that wing of the Louvre, there were far fewer people and it was much more airy and peaceful.
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When your treasure chest is a treasure
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Tea time
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| This room had a nice vibe, and some solid sculptures |
Finally, we decided to head up to Montmatre where our friends were staying and join them for dinner. Coming out of the Metro, we were met by the classic cobbled streets, fairylit cafes and bars, and a small Christmas market selling roasted chestnuts and mulled wine. Another gem of a restaurant, Mamie Colette, where we crowded in and enjoyed their homemade boeuf bourgignon, aligot, chocolate mousse, and some wine and coffee to wash it all down.
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| Dinner, Mamie Colette |
As if it was not already late enough, we hauled the kids up the final steep streets through the rain to Sacre Coeur. We sat for a while and observed the evening service while the kids wrote their prayers! We said goodbye to our friends and took the subway back to the hotel.
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Sacre Coeur
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Paris on a cold, wet night in November. Atmospheric.
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| Some of the metro trains are driverless. Bad for the unions, good for the aspiring train driver kid |
A couple of details to wrap up. Hotel Richard was a convenient location and one of the less expensive hotels I could find. It was clean and the beds were fine. Other than that it lacked any kind of character or charm and I feel I could have done a little better with some more dogged research. Other than we found a good bakery on the way to the station which supplied lunch for Disney and the train home, and the meals out at Basalte, Mamie Colette and the cafe on the way to the Arc de Triomphe were all good or great. Train rides are fun, the TGV is comfortable, although it was crowded on the way there. Overall, I think we all really enjoyed the trip and we got the right balance between world famous and local gems. I came to a realisation on this trip. I like big cities, I like the buzz and the people and down and dirty. That much I already knew. I also love the outdoors and nature. When I lived in London, I craved adventures in the Lake District or the Alps. While I've been living in Chamonix, I have not craved the city. I like both, I crave one, not the other. Lucky for me, I can have both!
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"Our" boulangerie
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| Time to go home |
A quick backtrack to last weekend. Things had been quiet of late as we knuckled down to planning, booking, admin ahead of our next move on December 9th. We had a very nice visit from Leslie, Renzo, Ramona (2 yrs) and Bennett (7 months), friends from Ottawa who now live in Geneva. The sun shone and we stayed close to home, eating raclette and drinking tea, coffee and red wine. All very lovely.
And as a final note as we chug our way through the now snowy French countryside on the way to Annecy, there is snow, and pretty scenes abound. I will tell you about Annecy, the bus ride home, and Chamonix in the snow, next time.
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