A French Disney home for the holidays…. COMPLETED About This Page:

[cubfancolleen]

They do that padlock think on part of the Great Wall in China. I do wish they'd stop as it's quite an eyesore, and I hate to think the structural damage. Do you really want to be responsible for damaging something like a famous bridge in Paris, or the Great Wall, just for a silly superstition? I'd hope my relationship is built on more than a lock stuck on a bridge.....
The weather sounds miserable. You were a trooper continuing to take pictures!

[SuperDave]

Funny, with an historic bridge like that in Paris that this has only been occurring since 2008. Kind of weird, considering the history of the bridge and wonder who and how it started?

[chezp]

Originally Posted by lauriep

I've seen a lot of publicity about those locks recently. They've done some structural damage to the bridge and there's talk of blocking foot traffic so people can't put the locks on. That would be a real shame as it's the romantic views of the city available from the bridge that started that fairly recent tradition.

You're right, that would be a shame if they blocked access to the bridge.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

They do that padlock think on part of the Great Wall in China. I do wish they'd stop as it's quite an eyesore, and I hate to think the structural damage.

Oh wow, I had no idea that they did that - what a shame, as that's such an ancient structure and such a landmark.

Do you really want to be responsible for damaging something like a famous bridge in Paris, or the Great Wall, just for a silly superstition? I'd hope my relationship is built on more than a lock stuck on a bridge.....

Well said!

The weather sounds miserable. You were a trooper continuing to take pictures!

Well, we didn't have much option in fairness, as they did make it clear that the Segway tour goes out in all weathers.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Funny, with an historic bridge like that in Paris that this has only been occurring since 2008. Kind of weird, considering the history of the bridge and wonder who and how it started?

Whoever did, it sounds like they've got a lot to answer for!

[chezp]

Sunday 16 November – part nine: that was nearly a squished dog!

We set off again, and this was then by far our longest time out on the road, and this was the only time that we went on the road, as the rest of the tour was on the pavements. However, on Sundays, they close certain roads, and then they’re open to pedestrians, cyclists and Segway riders. It was very neat to get out on the French roads with no traffic around. I bet the French drivers were cursing us though, as they went down from two lanes to one.

We were then back on the pavements, and we did occasionally stop for red lights when Drew would tell us things. He pointed out the flame from the Statue of Liberty, which was a present from the Americans in return for the French having sent the statue over originally. Now it’s become an unofficial tribute for Diana, Princess of Wales, as the road tunnel she died in runs underneath here, and there’s no pedestrian access, so people tend to leave their tributes here.

I have to say here that Drew was very good at getting us over roads, and my goodness, we had a heck of a lot to cross. We were told to wait for him to say “good to go” when we were on a pedestrian crossing and if it was a crossing with a red or green man, to wait for the green man and hold back for the red man. Obvious really, but we did have a couple of occasions where it would change midway through all of us crossing, with some on one side of the road, and others on the other side, but as Drew said “we’re in no rush”.

We did have some interesting encounters with pedestrians, shall we say? Obviously some people just couldn’t hear us coming, and some groups were taking up the whole pavement, so Drew would occasionally have to yell at people to get out of our way. I did say to him that perhaps the Segways should be fitted with bells, as that would make life easier. He said they were thinking about that, but they were concerned that it might become irritating to pedestrians. I did my best to persuade him that it was a good idea, as I think it would make the guide’s lives easier.

We did find one couple who weren’t moving for anyone. Let’s just say they were engrossed in each other, shall we? Well, I guess Paris is the capital of love…

Then we were back at the Champs de Mars, but this time in the middle of it, with a view one way towards the Ecole Militaire and the peace monument…



... and the Eiffel Tower the other way…



This was to be our final stop for the day, so once we’d done our photos, we headed off again, and here was where I nearly had disaster number two, as a little dog came running in front of me, heading for Drew’s Segway. Apparently some dogs don’t like Segways, and he was obviously one of those, but my goodness, he came very close to being a squished dog, and as Drew said, there was nothing I could’ve done about it. I was so shocked by the whole thing I let out a squeal. I was fine, but I was just so shocked by the whole incident. It just goes to show that you need to keep an eye on animals at all times.

With that, we made our way back to the start point with no further incident. Despite the driving rain, it had been a wonderful tour, and we’d both really enjoyed it. I think it was only when we got inside the shop that we all realised just how cold we were. They were very good, and pulled out a heater for us to all huddle around and warm up. I went to use the restrooms, so I could wash my hands afterwards in the very hot water and then use the hand dryer, which helped a lot.

Finally, when we started to feel the warmth returning to our bodies, we said goodbye to the rest of our group, and thanked Drew profusely for what we felt had been a wonderful tour. I don’t know if anyone else tipped him, but we certainly did, as we felt he deserved it.

We made our way out, heading this time for the Metro station we’d wanted to get to earlier, and thankfully it was only about a five minute walk, as neither of us wanted to be out in the rain for any longer than we had to.

When the train arrived…



… there was a woman trying to get to the two seats I’d seen. I guess I must’ve had a very determined look on my first face, as I got there first and she gave up. Trust me woman, we’ve been outside for three hours and we’re soaked through. You do not want to mess with us!

As some of our journey was outside, I was able to get a few shots as we went along, which was neat.



Soon we were at Charles de Gaulle Etoile, where we were changing to the RER train. We didn’t pass through any ticket machines – remember this, as this will be important later. When we got to the platform, it was very easy to work out which train ours was…



The platform was huge…



We both thought that when the train arrived, it would be a mad scramble for seats again, just like on the Metro, but thankfully and there were plenty of seats to go round. Just as well, as I don’t think either of us could’ve stood any longer today.

I think we both had the same thought on the train on the way back, wondering if there was any availability at one of the hotel restaurants, as neither of us wanted to go out again in the rain.

Next: the non-meat eater samples the food in a steakhouse…

[SuperDave]

That was quite an experience with the near miss (or hit) with the dog! There certainly is no shortage of them in Paris as the Parisians are quite avid dog lovers!

The biking situation in Paris on Sundays is quite an event and I think it may start in Les Halles, where hundreds start to begin their weekly bike run!

[xwewhisper]

Love the chilly pics in front of the Eiffel Tower and glad you were able to get seats back Makes life so much easier with something so simple sometimes!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

That was quite an experience with the near miss (or hit) with the dog!

It was definitely an experience!

There certainly is no shortage of them in Paris as the Parisians are quite avid dog lovers!

The biking situation in Paris on Sundays is quite an event and I think it may start in Les Halles, where hundreds start to begin their weekly bike run!

Oh wow!

[chezp]

Sunday 16 November – part ten: the non-meat eater samples the food in a steakhouse…

When we got to Marne La Vallee, we saw the Americans who’d been keeping us company on the way out – now how about that for a small world moment? We needed their help a minute later when we got to the exit and the tickets wouldn’t activate the machine. I think what happened was that when we got off in Paris, we had to use our tickets to exit and then had to use them a second time to get out of Chatelet Les Halles and that confused it. The Americans passed us their tickets through the barrier to see if they’d work, but they didn’t. We found the barrier for strollers, where you press a button to be let out (there were no staff around, which was helpful) and thankfully as it opened to let someone else through, we were able to dart out. Scary, especially as we had proper tickets – they just wouldn’t activate the barriers.

We headed back to the hotel after that scare and, after I got my eye drops (I had to miss one of my four doses a day today, as the drops can only be out of the fridge for up to six hours and I knew we’d be longer than that in Paris and indeed we were), we asked about booking for either Inventions or the California Grill, the two hotel restaurants. We were out of luck, as we were told that they were both fully booked until 9:30pm.

Oh well, we had a bit of time to get dry before we headed out, so we went back to the room and cranked up the heating and got out of our wet things. It was probably only now I realised just how soaked my outer layers were…

Around 7:00pm, we headed down to Café Fantasia to get some mulled wine to warm up a bit more. The place was absolutely packed and we got the last table available. Obviously we hadn’t been on busy times. The frustrating thing was that they still had the two side rooms, but they were closed off. If it’s packed in the main area, just open those up!

Our drinks came very quickly, and the check with them, which we took as a sign that they were keen for us to get moving tonight – I guess not unexpected, given how busy the place was…

We made our way out about 7:20pm, and it was still raining outside, as we headed through the Disney Village to the Steakhouse. I got some photos on the way…



We headed inside, and literally we were the only ones checking in, and this place certainly wasn’t that busy. We were asked to wait for a few minutes at what obviously used to a bar, but isn’t any longer, and within about 30 seconds of sitting down, we were taken through.



Thankfully here they used a bit of common sense that would’ve been welcome at Chez Remy, they seated all the adult couples together, which meant no screaming kids anywhere near us. Why Disney can’t always do this, I don’t know.

Now I will say here that I found some of the theming, around the beef product and its rather obvious links to cows a little hard to deal with, but at the end of the day, I knew I was coming to a steakhouse, and I knew what I might get. It’s certainly no worse than the Yachtsman Steakhouse.



The reason I had gone for this place was that, ironically enough, it had a lot of choices for a non-meat eater, and I must admit I had some thinking to do about which menu to go for. I don’t think I’ve said this before, but here, it’s much cheaper to go off the set menu, rather than a la carte. The set menus can either be two or three courses.

We opted to share a bottle of the rose wine we’d enjoyed a couple of nights ago at Walt’s with dinner. As Mark said later, this is the most we’ve probably ever drunk on a Disney vacation!

I went for the Chicago menu of €32.99, and I started with the cassolette of queen scallops, mussels, and salmon in a garlic cream sauce, served with an olive madeline.



Oh wow, this was very good, although the cream was very rich, and as a result, there’s no way Mark could’ve eaten it with his dairy allergy.

Mark had the Gold Coast menu at €39.99, as he wanted to try the crab cakes with Cajun spices and snow crab claw tempura. He enjoyed it, but I tried a bit of one of the crab cakes, and found it to taste quite bready, which wasn’t really to my liking.



For main course, he had the beef sirloin with chips (fries) and peppercorn sauce, and an unannounced salad (on the menu anyway!) turned up as well…



I had the sea fillet of sea bass with potato flakes, Ratatouille and yellow pepper coulis, a similar dish to yesterday at Bistrot Chez Remy, but given their set menu was almost double the price of this one, I wasn’t expecting much, and you know, it was fine for the price we paid for it, although I felt the rice could’ve done with some seasoning.



Mark’s dessert was chocolate shortbread tart with spiced pear with dulce du leche. Sadly I couldn’t have that, as I’m allergic to pears.



However, I think I did better on my dessert anyway. I got the flambéed vanilla crème brulee with brownie pieces, and wow, what an impressive display the flambé lighting was!



It was very nice, although personally I felt it didn’t need the brownie pieces, which were a bit heavy in the rest of the dish.

Once again, the service was really nothing to write home about, and Mark ended up sorting out the wine for the table again, which I think is really poor. It’s a shame, as it really was only at Chez Remy did we have decent service.

Steakhouse

Appetiser 8½ 8½
Entrée 8 8
Dessert 8 8½
Service 7½ 8½
Atmosphere 8 8½
Value for money 8 8½

Average score: 8.22

Next: what the heck have they done to my beloved donkey?

[disney_duke]

Great finish to your Paris tour! That sure was an amazing tour, I can imagine it's much more fun without the rain.

Glad you could get a decent meal that night, even if you did have to venture out again for it. What a shame about the lack of service you keep encountering though..

[chezp]

Originally Posted by disney_duke

Great finish to your Paris tour! That sure was an amazing tour, I can imagine it's much more fun without the rain.

I bet it is!

Glad you could get a decent meal that night, even if you did have to venture out again for it. What a shame about the lack of service you keep encountering though..

Sadly, that has been something we've seen time and time again at Disneyland Paris...

[DMA]

You must have been chilled to the bone when you finally got indoors! I know I would have been. And that kind of cold sticks with you for the rest of the day.

Pictures of the Creme Brulee are very cool! It almost looks like the flame is moving.

[SuperDave]

A nice end to Paris, but too bad the two of you were so cold from that cold rain! Glad you had a pretty good meal to warm you up, even though the service was a bit laxed again....a recurring theme!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by DMA

You must have been chilled to the bone when you finally got indoors! I know I would have been. And that kind of cold sticks with you for the rest of the day.

we were chilled to the bone that day.

Pictures of the Creme Brulee are very cool! It almost looks like the flame is moving.

The flame pretty much was moving as it burnt. I was so pleased they did that.