Paris - November 20-25, 2001

During our vacation to Germany to see our brother and sister-in-law, Erik and Julie, we decided to make a side trip to see Paris. The difference between the peaceful Neckar River Valley in Germany and the fast pace of Paris is night and day, and it required some adjustment. But once we were settled, Paris lived up to its expectations as the City of Lights. It was an exciting city and a photographer's paradise, as we hit most the major sites within Paris in basically one day. Below include the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and views of the city at night, from the top of Eiffel Tower.

Our trip began on Nov. 20 with a long train ride from Mannheim. We decided to travel alone to Paris to get a couple days to ourselves, but we planned to meet up with Erik, Julie and family at Disneyland Paris. The train took us through quaint French countryside before ending in Paris, where we found ourselves alone in a very busy city. We didn't speak a word of French, except "bonjour," "merci", and "parlez-vous l'anglais?" and we defiitely were not familiar with the train system -- it was a little intimidating. But immediately upon arrival, we discovered that the French actually are friendly - one gentleman helped us figure out how to buy a train ticket, and people were friendly with directions and service. The first day arriving was basically a travel day. We found our hotel - located near the Opera House - and took a brief walk around the city to see the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower before having dinner and returning to the hotel.

~Views Around Paris~
Our first full day in Paris was a very full day, and by the end of it, our feet were in a lot of pain. But we managed to hit the important sites, visiting the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Eiffel Tower at night. The path from our hotel to the major sites took us past the Arc many times, as well as through a very cute little park. We saw art and architecture, and ate at the cute French cafes. Below are some of the black and white photos from around Paris, including street artwork that Kelly liked, a bridge over the Seine, the Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame.

~Notre Dame~
We began our first morning in Paris by taking a long walk across the city to Notre Dame. The cathedral is absolutely beautiful, sitting at the fork of the Seine River. We didn't go up to the bell tower, but we walked through the inside of the cathedral, viewed the stunning Rose Window, and captured photos around Notre Dame. Pictured below: views of the Rose Window, both outside and inside, the stained glass ceiling, and the alter sculpture.

~The Louvre~
Following our trip to Notre Dame, we spent a few hours at the Louvre. The Louvre is housed inside the Royal Palace and has three main wings of art, as well as extensive gardens with scultpures and flowers (except in November, when the gardens are quite bare). We spent most of our time viewing five of the dozen or so exhibits: Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities; Egyptian Antiquities; History of the Louvre and Medieval Louvre; European Sculptures; and European Paintings. Pictured below: Kelly in the Royal Palace courtyard; Desjardins, a French sculpture from the era of Louis XIV; a beautiful black and white of the Venus de Milo; and the main entrance to the west of the palace.

~Eiffel Tower~
After a long walk around Paris during the day, we took a trip up the Eiffel Tower to get a view of Paris lights at night. We even braved the cold and heights from the very top. After making the trip, we ate dinner at a nearby cafe to finish off a wonderful Paris day. Pictured below: the Eiffel Tower lit up at night, and views of the Arc and Seine from the top of the Tower.

~Disneyland Paris~
After a very long day in Paris, we woke up Thanksgiving morning, left our hotel, and caught a morning train to the outskirts of the city for our Disneyland Paris visit. While we didn't see everything in Paris, it was fun to reconnect with Erik, Julie and kids at Disneyland for a few days of Disney fun. We met everyone at our hotel, Disney's Newport Bay Club, and took off for a rainy (but fun) afternoon in the park. It turned out to be a scary day -- Ian lost his wedding ring on Space Mountain -- but despite the trauma, we all had a wonderful time, concluding with Thanksgiving Dinner at Rainforest Cafe.

The second day in the park included a character breakfast at Walt's Restaurant. It was very fun to see Madelyn's face whenever a new celebrity walked in the room - and the chocolate croissants were pretty good, too. We concluded our stay in Paris with a couple more days of relaxing at the resort, shopping, and plenty of rides, including more times on "It's a Small World" than we can remember. The cool part about going to Disneyland Paris at the end of November was seeing all the Christmas spirit. Christmas carols played around the clock, decorations were up all over the resort and park, and seasonal shows celebrated the holidays. Of course, they have Father Christmas instead of Santa Claus, but it was still very neat to experience, especially with Madelyn and Nathan, our neice and nephew.

Nov. 25 was a travel day back to Germany, where we resumed our European Vacation. To read about our time in Germany, please click here. Our Paris trip was planned by Erik, so we don't have a lot of travel trips to share -- other than be sure to wear VERY comfortable shoes when coming to Paris. To learn more about Paris and Disneyland, please follow the links below.

• Click here for the official tourism site of Paris, France
• Click here to visit Disneyland Paris (in English)