Trip Report DLP About This Page:

[a_bernard]

i will be starting a trip report on my trip to Europe and DLP from May 20 to June 5

[a_bernard]

Hi my name is Anne and i went alone to a tour of Europe with a group of 35 people and added 5 days at the end to visit DLP, my first time visiting it; although i had been in Paris twice before. i was solo when i visited DLP after the tour ended. My trip was from May 20 to June 5. I loved my tour to Europe, but i was disappointed with the DLP part. I love WDW much better and i wouldn't returned to DLP, i much prefer going to WDW if i want to go to Disney, but i will go back to Europe.

[a_bernard]

i will be posting pictures for this trip, but i have to enter them in my computer first and in photo bucket before i can post them here. So i will just start with my departure day where i didn't take any pictures.

Departure Day - May 20, 2010

I was working in the morning that day, so i got up at 5:15 and left for work at 5:50. got breakfast at work (white chocolate blueberry muffin and small caramel machiato from Starbucks, worked the morning, did on line check in and printed my boarding pass. I finished work at noon, but stayed there a bit longer, went on the computer, got lunch from Tim Horton's (chicken sandwich and coffee), hung around at work and talked with co-workers, e-mailed my son, phoned my daughter.

Finally left for the airport at 2:15, arrived at the Park and Fly and 3. Took shuttle to airport. Checked my luggage at 3:15, went through security, finally got through at 3:40. Then i walked around the airport, checked out stores, then read my book. At 5:10 had a donut. Finally boarded the plane at 6:30 (a 767 aircraft), the flight was a duration of 8 hours 20 minutes in direction to London Heathrow. The plane left at 7:40, it was late leaving. I watched the movie "Shutter Island", we got our own TV. AT 9, they served us dinner (chicken, rice, vegetable salad, bun, brownie, sprite and coffee). After the movie, i slept a little, it was hard to rest, there was a kid who cried almost the whole flight and the mother never did anything to quiet or calm down her kid.

[a_bernard]

Friday, May 21, 2010 - London, England

At 2:40 am, they served us breakfast (still on the plane): Yogurt and blueberry muffin, OJ and coffee, then i watched the movie "It's complicated". Arrived at London Heathrow at 11 am (7 hours ahead of Edmonton). Went through customs, picked up my luggage, then i got met by a Cosmos representative (the tour company i was travelling with). we left for the hotel (Novotel) at noon. (1/2 hour drive). Registered at the hotel, then paid for the optional excursion for tonight (dinner and cruise on the Thames River) which leaves at 5:50 pm tonight. brought my suitcase to my room

Then i asked the Cosmos representative what she suggested me to do and she suggested Harods, the big department store, so I took the underground at 1:30 to Harods. i looked around the store, it is huge, there is no way you could see the whole thing in an afternoon. at 2:50 i was starving and wanted to try their Devonshire scones. so i went to one of their restaurants where they serve high tea and had 2 raisin scones with cream and jam and coffee, so i was stuffed after that, it was very good and i was really hungry. then i checked around and bought a Harods purse, tea and 3 containers of biscuits. I took the underground back to the hotel at 4 (Harods is at Knightbridge Station and my hotel was at 4 stations away at Hammersmith station). At my hotel's station, there was some stores, so i bought a brush and a comb since i had forgotten mine at home. I also bought a Mars bar, since i wanted to get rid of my British change. Got back to the hotel at 5, had a shower, washed my hair, changed into a skirt (which i shouldn't have, since it was pretty cold during the night cruise). Went in the lobby at 5:45 and got on the bus at 5:50. We left at 5:55 to the Taste of London optional excursion, which included a 3 course dinner at a pub on the Thames river in East London: Prospect of Whitby. We arrived there at 7:10pm, had dinner (glass of white wine, mushrooms with greens and bread, fish and chips, peas, tartar sauce, profiteroles (cream puffs), coffee. I took pictures of the meal which i will post when i enter my pictures on the computer. We left at 8:40 to Tower Pice for our cruise on the Silver Benito. Our cruise lasted from 8:50 to 9:45 (i also took pictures).

We took the but to the hotel and arrived back at the hotel at 10:40, i got everything ready for the next day and went to bed at 11:05

[chezp]

Great start!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start!

[a_bernard]

[a_bernard]

i am trying to upload my pictures. the picture you see in the previous segment is taken at the restaurant in London

[a_bernard]

[a_bernard]

the last one was our cruise on the Thames river

[a_bernard]

on the cruise

[a_bernard]

Big Ben on the cruise

[a_bernard]

isn't it beautiful at night. it was actually quite windy that night and pretty cold on the water.

[a_bernard]

[a_bernard]

Saturday, May 22, 2010 London - Brussels, Belgium

In these tours, they tell you what time to get up and what time to eat breakfast because we are on a pretty tight schedule, which i like as you have to be disciplined if you want to see a lot of things, but i always got up earlier than what they said by about 1/2 hour. So i got up at 6, showered, suitcases had to be out by 6:30, so i think that this morning i think i got up when they actually said. went down for breakfast at 6:20 (breakfasts were included during the whole trip). I always ate a big breakfast because we always ate lunch pretty late on the trip. i had made good friends last night with 2 chinese girls from San Francisco, so i sat with them and actually i spent a lot of time with them during the whole trip, but the whole group was very nice, people coming from all over the world, phillipinos, malaysians, japanese, singapore, british, americans, ukrainians and actually those girls were from taiwan. our guide was polish and our driver italian, so quite a mix.

so for breakfast i had fruits, mushrooms, OJ, coffee, container of yogurt, one egg, small cinnamon roll, croissant, jam, cheese. went back to my room at 7:30 and went back down to the lobby at 8. we took the bus at 8:40 to Dover ( a 2 hour bus ride), then we took the ferry to Calais, France (1 1/2 hour ferry). we arrived at Dover at 10:40, went through French customs, then drove to the port. we arrived at 11:10, waited until 11:45 and then walked on the ferry. I sat with the chinese girls while they were having lunch, i was too full from breakfast, it is actually the only time during the trip where we got to eat lunch so early, the rest of the time was quite late, so i did eat lunch after today. the ferry left at 12:15. we arrived in Calais at 2:45 (one hour ahead in France). on the ferry we walked around and checked out the duty free shops.

In Calais we got on the bus and left at 3:25 for Burssels (2 1/2 hour ride). we arrived at our hotel (Thon Hotel Brussels airport) at 5:50, went and got settled in our room. we then left for our optional sightseeing tour at 7pm. (we ate supper very late during the whole trip, they actually eat supper very late in Europe) and we were not allowed to eat or drink on the bus, so every meal, i ate quite a bit to hold me up to the next meal, as we really didn't have time to eat between meals as we were either on the bus or visiting. so we drove by the Nato headquarters, we stopped at 7:25 at their arc de triomphe built 50 years after their independance from the dutch. at the parc du cinquantenaire (they speak french in Belgium). we stopped for 10 mins. Brussels has 1 million people, Belgium 11 million. then we drove in the EU (European Union) district, founded in 1957 (EU building - berlemont), we stopped at the Royal Palace at the Royal Park at 7:45 for 5 mins. we stopped at 7:55 at the square La grande place or Market Square - hotel de ville, musee de la ville de Bruxelles, walk to Mannequin Boy then we got a drink included at a pub, i got white wine, then i got one of their famous waffle for dinner with strawberries and whipped cream and chocolate (at the market square).

Then i bought 6 Newhaus chocolate bars (our guide said that they were famous belgian chocolates) and 2 Leonida chocolate bars. i also bough a Brussel scarf. We had a bit of free time for dinner and shopping, so i went with the chinese girls and that's when we had the waffles for dinner and bought the chocolates (famous belgian chocolates) (i brought it home). met back with the group at 930pm and walked to the bus, got on the bus at 9:50, left for the hotel. arrived at the hotel at 10:15. i went to bed at 10:40