A tale of two cities… and a few other places… COMPLETED - Page 18 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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There are other changes as well.
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PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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Looked like a yummy dinner! I love a good beef bourguignon.
You did stay up later than I’d have thought with that full of a day. What show kept you up?
It was obviously very memorable going on, as I couldn't for the life of me remember and I had to go and look it up but it was called Strike and it was the second part of a two-part story.
Monday 18 September – part one: “I thought it was oatmeal”
We woke up about 7:30am, which wasn’t too bad, given we fell asleep about 11:00pm. I only woke up once, so not bad at all. Hopefully Jan had as good a night’s sleep…
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go for a swim when I woke up, but I figured I’d suck it up and get on with it. I headed down to the first floor, and I saw a sign for the fitness centre and sauna, but not the pool. Fortunately a woman was coming out of there, and I asked her in French if she spoke English, and she said I asked if the pool was in there, and she confirmed it was. Good!
It was deserted when I got in there, so I picked up a towel, and headed into the women’s changing room. They had a total of five lockers in there so I guess they don’t have many takers for these facilities then… all bar one appeared to be in use, which made me wonder how busy the pool would be, but worse the one that was available didn’t work. Ok, now what? I decided to take my bag with me. It really only had clothes, and toiletries in it, and as I do backstroke one way in the pool, and breaststroke the other, I’m constantly looking the same way, so I could keep an eye on it.
I headed out and into the pool, and set my bag down. Just as I was getting into the pool, a guy walked in, and said “bonjour” to me. I replied, and I assumed that he’d be joining me in the pool. He didn’t. Instead, he walked around the pool once, then sat in the chair right by my bag. Ok, great… still I can keep an eye on it, and him.
At first I thought he was just some random guy who came to sit in swimming pools, which made me feel very uneasy. However, after a few lengths, I noticed a red bag on the window, and realised he was in fact the life guard. Well, he didn’t do much life guarding, let’s just put it that way. He spent the whole time on his phone.
I did 30 lengths, which I guess equated to 20 lengths in my usual pool (this one was smaller), which is about all I’m capable of right now. I used to be able to do 50 lengths, so it’s frustrating, but I just do my best and as much as my chronic fatigue allows me to do. I then did my exercises in the water, and at one point, I was stretching my neck, and not moving, and it was then I knew he was a life guard, as he noticed I wasn’t moving, and immediately looked up and checked on me.
I finished up, showered, and got dressed, and headed back to the room. I discovered I’d had a message from Jan when I checked my cell phone. Apparently she’d been up since 6:30am. We’d agreed to meet for breakfast at 9:15am, but it became apparent from her messages that she was already downstairs, as she’d found the appalling scrambled eggs we’d described to her yesterday. In her words “I thought it was oatmeal” Well, that says it all.
We made our way downstairs and I got some photos of the activity outside, while we waited for the elevator…
It turned out she hadn’t eaten anything yet, just topped up on cappuccino supplies – I think she said four. We settled down for breakfast, and the selection was a bit better today. At least they had croissants out today, which they hadn’t had yesterday when I went up, so I filled up on those, a pain au chocolat, a pineapple yoghurt (love these, but I can’t get at home any longer ), and some salad and cheese, and I was happy.
We headed back to the room to finish packing up, and then I checked out, and paid for the parking, while Mark headed down to the car with everything. We waited for Jan to come down, then loaded in her cases as well. And before anyone asks, yes, it was a heck of a lot easier than on our Scotland road trip.
All loaded up, we were off, and headed out through the airport…
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Thankfully, getting out was much easier than getting to the hotel.
Great photos in Paris. Amazing views from the Eiffel Tower and you can just see so much. I remember the lines to get up to the 3rd level and they are insane! Looks like you had a great dinner. Glad Jan is enjoying it and that was quite a moment for her in Notre Dame in a tribute to Bill!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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Great photos in Paris. Amazing views from the Eiffel Tower and you can just see so much. I remember the lines to get up to the 3rd level and they are insane!
That really surprised me. I guess it shouldn't have done, but the last time we did it, it was 2008 and we went on a weekday morning, so had no such problems. It was the same story the couple of times before that too, but then again, it was a long time ago and I guess everywhere just gets busier and busier. Just look at Disney - there are attractions now that have waits that we always used to just walk on to.
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Looks like you had a great dinner. Glad Jan is enjoying it and that was quite a moment for her in Notre Dame in a tribute to Bill!
Wow very rare that a hotel pool has a lifeguard these days. I’d have felt very uneasy about his presence at first too.
The eggs looked like oatmeal?!? Wow, that’s really wrong. Cripes! Your choices for food sounded much better.
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It was. I do enjoy swimming in the morning, as it wakes me up and gets me going, but because of where the pool is that I swim at is located at home, I don't often go in the morning, as it gets so busy on the roads in the morning rush hour. I only go when it's school holidays, as then it's a lot quieter on the roads on the way home.
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Wow very rare that a hotel pool has a lifeguard these days. I’d have felt very uneasy about his presence at first too.
The pool I use regularly doesn't technically have lifeguards by the pool, but there is usually someone on reception who is a trained lifeguard and they have CCTV to see what's going on in the pool - or they can just look!
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The eggs looked like oatmeal?!? Wow, that’s really wrong. Cripes! Your choices for food sounded much better.
Yes, it wasn't the greatest breakfast. That was my only criticism about our stay at this hotel. Apart from that, it was lovely.
Monday 18 September – part two: oh wow, look what’s in the duty free!
We were soon on the autoroute, and heading out of Paris. The traffic was pretty light, and we started to spot number plates from all various European countries. In total, we got 23.
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Denmark
Estonia
France
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Germany
Hungary
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
UK
Ukraine
Not bad huh? I got a few photos as we drove along.
We also spotted a few bovine buddies, who’d turned out to say hello…
We drove through a bit of rain, but luckily, nothing terrible, and certainly not as bad as on the way into Paris. About an hour into the journey, Jan declared that sleep sounded good to her, and I couldn’t blame her. At that point, I knew I’d done the right thing with this itinerary. Trying to drag her around Disneyland Paris would’ve just finished her off after a really heavy day yesterday. She definitely needed some recovery time.
We did hit a downpour about 30 miles from Calais – why does this always happen to us? However, it was pretty short and sweet, and then we were back into sunshine again. It was one of those days, where if you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes, and you’ll get something different.
As we headed towards the Tunnel, Jan was still out for the count, and in the end we had to wake her to tell we’d arrived at the terminal, as we knew she’d need her passport out.
It wasn’t that bad in terms of wait time, as there were about two cars in front of us at the ticket machines. The way it works here, which I think is better than in the UK, is that you then clear passport control the second you arrive, rather than after the shops/restaurants, which is the British way of doing it.
The wait was, as per usual, down to the British passport control, which I never have a problem with. So long as they’re checking things carefully, that’s fine with me.
When we got to the ticket machine, it once again told us we were on the shuttle that we were booked on, which was fine. It’s a shame we couldn’t get on earlier, but whatever…
When we got to the British guy, we had a good laugh with him, whereas we literally just got a glance from the French guy. Jan got her passport stamped, but of course we didn’t, as we were heading home.
We headed into the French terminal, and honestly I don’t remember the last time we pulled in here, as usually we just don’t have time. It’s certainly a different route to drive to it now, although much of the rest of it has remained the same.
I liked that the toilets had lots of photos of British icons, including some of our famous TV programmes. I stood there admiring them on the way out of the restrooms. It was a bit like a social history of the UK, if that makes sense?
Mark obviously wasn’t that impressed with the length of time we’d been in the restrooms.
We headed into the duty free store, where I found these!
Oh my goodness, I could’ve bought so much, but I restrained myself, and I stuck with just one box. Mark got a box of beer, and I got a couple of boxes of wine, as it’s so much cheaper over here. It cost me €21 (Ł18)for my box of wine, whereas it would be about Ł35 at home. It’s a huge difference, and makes the shop well worth a stop.
I personally loved the name of this wine!
Can you tell Jan was happy she found some British chocolate?
We loaded our purchases into the car, and headed back into the terminal to get some food. We saw the line for Burger King, and decided against it, and instead went to the restaurant next to it. I got a mozzarella and tomato panini, which wasn’t that great. Maybe I should’ve gone for it being toasted, but I said I was fine with it, as we were heading straight off, and I figured by the time I got to eat it, it would be going cold anyway. Mark had a pain au raisin, which I’m sure was much better than my choice.
Next: this has never happened to us before in all the journeys we’ve taken…
Poor Mark his stance is so classic. It's interesting to me how different crossing the border is everywhere you go.
I've been away from reading the boards for a bit - is it because of the demise of photobucket that we have to click each photo individually rather than seeing them in the TR?
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Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow, for all you know, tomorrow, the dream that you wish will come true.
Good job on the license plates!! I saw those windmills from the airplane. Also saw a field of them in the water off the coast of England! I don't think I've ever seen any in the water before.
The name of that wine sounds like it'd be a micro brewery beer here in the US! Very creative. Nice purchases!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
We have Fat Bastard wine here, too. Cracks me up. And that was quite a savings on the wine! I’ve not seen it in boxes, though. (Unless by box you meant case, with individual bottles inside?)
I’d be loading up on British chocolate, too!
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but it was called Strike and it was the second part of a two-part story.
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Fortunately a woman was coming out of there, and I asked her in French if she spoke English, and she said 
I asked if the pool was in there, and she confirmed it was. Good! 
so I guess they don’t have many takers for these facilities then… all bar one appeared to be in use, which made me wonder how busy the pool would be, but worse the one that was available didn’t work. 
Ok, now what? I decided to take my bag with me. It really only had clothes, and toiletries in it, and as I do backstroke one way in the pool, and breaststroke the other, I’m constantly looking the same way, so I could keep an eye on it. 
However, after a few lengths, I noticed a red bag on the window, and realised he was in fact the life guard. Well, he didn’t do much life guarding, let’s just put it that way. 
He spent the whole time on his phone. 
), and some salad and cheese, and I was happy. 
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