A French Disney home for the holidays…. COMPLETED - Page 26 - 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.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
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.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
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Beautiful pictures over the river. Ahhh, Paris! And macaroons!
I haven't heard of this museum, looks very interesting! Any museum that has a stained glass section is a good one.
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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
What an amazing morning in Paris. Is it weird to say that the building is so impressive and beautiful (I think it is weird when you think that this was a prision) but again it was once built as a castle so it carries that royal feel in terms of architecture and beauty.
Yet so sad when you see all those names, and the cells....and realize what went on here
What an amazing morning in Paris. Is it weird to say that the building is so impressive and beautiful (I think it is weird when you think that this was a prision) but again it was once built as a castle so it carries that royal feel in terms of architecture and beauty.
It's not weird at all. I think it's a stunning building and one of my favourites in Paris.
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Yet so sad when you see all those names, and the cells....and realize what went on here
Well, let me know if you make it over this side of the pond. I know our Alaskan adventures don't overlap next year so I think the closest we'll be getting to you next year is our week long trip to Boston... hopefully one day we'll be able to tie up.
Sunday 16 November – part five: this would have been better without exhibits…
We then headed upstairs in the Musee National du Moyen Age…
And the first room we came to was home to the Lady with the Unicorn, which is a series of six tapestries and is an example of the millefleurs style, developed in the 15th and 16th centuries.
There was some more beautifully displayed stained glass…
Although there wasn’t much explanation in the next room, I was blown away by the detail on the items in here…
There were yet more tapestries and statues in the next room, and I was glad we got here when we did, as this room was apparently closed every day from 1:00pm – 2:00pm. I have no idea why.
We then entered the former chapel:
I was a bit disappointed that the Gallo-Roman frigidarium, which dates back to the 1st and 2nd centuries, can’t be seen in its natural splendour, as now it’s home to exhibits. I’d personally have preferred to have seen it without those, as I found them tough to get into, as they were displayed in a traditional museum format. Additionally, if you didn’t speak French, you had to pick up a guide to look at as you made your way round, which must be frustrating for any non-French speakers.
We made our way down to the RER station…
…. my goodness the corridors here went on for what seemed like forever…
Double decker trains? There are some like that in Chicago - the ones that run into the city from the suburbs. When I was a kid, I HAD to sit upstairs whenever we took the train in.
Those tapestries are beautiful! I assume there's been some restoration work done, given the vibrant colors, and the fact that they don't look moth-eaten!
Double decker trains? There are some like that in Chicago - the ones that run into the city from the suburbs. When I was a kid, I HAD to sit upstairs whenever we took the train in.
I don't blame you, it's such a novelty, so why not?
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Those tapestries are beautiful! I assume there's been some restoration work done, given the vibrant colors, and the fact that they don't look moth-eaten!
An odd museum. Here's some stuff, but we're not gonna tell you what it is. And we randomly close off rooms for an hour at a time.... good luck!!
A double decker underground, neat! Yes, the Metra in Chicago is what my husband rode in every day downtown when we lived in the burbs. But to see that underground is weird!
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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
Sunday 16 November – part six: what an awesome sight!
We were going to catch the Metro from the RER station near the Eiffel Tower, but when I put my ticket in to enter the RER system, it wouldn’t let me. I’m sure they used to allow free transfers – not anymore I guess.
When we came out, we were greeted by quite an awesome sight…
The only problem was we needed to cross the road here to get to where we needed to, and it was a five lane highway. Well, when three other people decided to do the same thing, we decided it was safety in numbers, and we made it across there Ok, although a bit of running was involved…
We’d talked about getting something to drink, and we came across one kiosk, but it didn’t do hot chocolate, which was what I fancied, so we walked a little further, and came across a kiosk with some of my favourite words in the French language – crepe (now you all know what that means, right? ) and gauffres, French for waffles, so we both got crepes, mine with coconut…
.. and Mark got a sugar one, along with a hot chocolate each. It was €13.50 ($17)very well spent. As we sat on a wall of the pavement, Mark watched kids jumping into the basketball court, which was fenced off, and then getting back out, only to meet the local police officers…
As we walked along, we got some stunning views of the Eiffel Tower…
Now please note the colour of the sky in some of these shots. Think it looks a bit ominous? Hmmm…. Well just stay tuned, that’s all I’ll say for now.
We made our way round what appeared to be residential streets, looking for the place that does Segway tours. At first, we really thought we were in the wrong place, but it was here. The guys in here were all so friendly, and the majority were either American or British. Apparently out of quite a big set of staff, only two are French! They had free restrooms here, which of course I just had to go and use before we set off.
We were introduced to our guide, Drew, who comes from Yorkshire. See what I mean about staff being American and English? He was absolutely lovely and a superb guide. I told him about my chronic fatigue, and how that makes it hard for me on Segways, and he was very understanding, and kept regularly checking how I was doing, which was really nice.
Our group was made of five of us – we had a Russian girl called Olga, Craig, an Australian, and his partner, whose name I just couldn’t catch, who was from Kenya. Apparently they met in Singapore, where they now live. Olga was absolutely terrified when she first got on the Segway. Mark told me she was literally trembling. I was sitting around the corner at the time, relaxing, and trying to get as much sitting down in before our tour, as I knew it was supposed to be three hours, which was a long time for a Segway tour. However, she really got into the spirit of it. Craig had been on Segways about as many times as we have (and that’s quite a few now ) and the other girl was fine. Orientation must’ve taken only about 15 minutes as a result.
Sadly, as we were doing that, the rain that had been threatening finally arrived, and it first started to rain lightly, then more heavily. We both had our Disney waterproofs on, and everyone else ended up buying a poncho from the tour people (good money maker, huh? ) and then we were off…
Our first stop was the Ecole Militaire or the Military School, which Napoleon attended, and is still used as a military school to this day. It was built by Louis XV in 1571 to educate 500 sons of impoverished officers. Drew told us he’d seen a woman in high boots and with a whip coming out of the cavalry section the other day, and he just hoped she was military! He told us how the Nazis had made this their base, and the British didn’t want to bomb it, so they shot at it, and sure enough, a few minutes later, we could see the gunshots in the building, although I couldn’t get any photos of this, as every time we were on the move, I put the camera away to stop it getting too wet.
We also learnt about this structure – it was unveiled a few years ago, I think Drew said about the year 2000, but I could be wrong about that. It’s supposed to represent peace and it looks unfinished because it is. The artist says it won’t be finished with a roof put on it until there’s world peace. Sadly me thinks he could be waiting a long time to put that roof on it. Drew also explained how it was one of the three most hated buildings in Paris, and we’d be seeing the other two during our tour. It’s so hated that a couple of years ago on Bastille Day, one guy threw a bottle through one of the panes, smashing it. The artist said he’d leave it as it was symbolic, but Drew cynically (and probably truthfully) said he must’ve run out of money, as recently it has been replaced. No sooner than that was done, another one was smashed, and that’s now awaiting repairs too.
Drew also explained that this is the Champs de Mars, of field of Mars, and of course Mars is the God of war. Originally, this was a parade ground for the Ecole Militaire, more of which in a second…. Now it’s used for the annual Bastille Day celebrations in July, and it has also played host to events as wide ranging as balloon lift offs and horse racings, but of course the most famous is the 1889 World’s Fair, which was why the Eiffel Tower was erected.
The sky sure turned dark and rainy quickly. The first few shots of the Eiffel tower are lovely. Great start to the segway tour!
__________________
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
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) and we could admire it together! 
I think it's a stunning building and one of my favourites in Paris. 
He told us how the Nazis had made this their base, and the British didn’t want to bomb it, so they shot at it, and sure enough, a few minutes later, we could see the gunshots in the building, although I couldn’t get any photos of this, as every time we were on the move, I put the camera away to stop it getting too wet. 
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