In the morning. we tended to our frostbite and second-degree burns from our shower at the Hotel Sante Fe. Then, Julie decided to brave the breakfast buffet a second time. Based on her description of the experience, the dinning hall would be better named, "The Petri Dish" - a cesspool of rudeness, germs, and chaotic children acting as vectors. She acquired some pastries on her mission and returned unscathed, a feat that shouldn't go overlooked. After listening to her heroic tale of securing the Pan au chocolat from the beastly brigade of bacteria, we shifted our focus to Paris.
Seine River
View opposite previous picture
We planned a full day of sightseeing in the City of Light - a "full day" is an overstated understatement, but we managed to survive. We walked to the train station and boarded the RER to Paris. The ride takes about forty-five minutes and we even had some (unwanted) entertainment. Ironically, at the Noisy-champs station, a middle-aged man boarded the train with an accordion, a speaker on a dolly, and his tambourine-wielding son. The street-rat peddling was imminent - the doors closed and we were burdened with amateurish accordion music accompanied by the jangle of an unenthusiastic tambourine. The father and son finished their set in three stops and the boy went through the train with a cup looking for compensation. At the fourth stop, Val de Fontenay, both vacated our car and high-tailed it to the next one. We heard echos of the same songs for the next few stations.
Building in Montmarte
Street in Montmarte
Arriving at Les Halles, we switched Metro lines and proceeded to our first attraction of the day, the Louvre Museum. To our delight, the line was minimal - providing us ample time to take pictures outside before joining the cattle call. A half-hour later - we were through security, had our tickets, and each a Nintendo 3DS with a headset. The Louvre is massive, even the museum map is mammoth, therefore; we spent a few extra Euro for the little gaming device. Each Nintendo is loaded with gallery maps and myriad interactive features. We selected the "Masterpiece Tour," a great way to find the works everyone else is there to see.
The Louvre
Alexandros of Antioch - Venus de Milo
Michelangelo - Rebellious Slave
Michelangelo - Dying Slave
I would hate to see the museum during the height of tourist season, it was bad enough plodding my way through the sixty tourist to wait for the front-row view of the Mona Lisa. As expected, the 3DS came in very handy, finishing our "guided" tour in less than two hours. For the remainder of our visit, we switched the Nintendos to identify works of art that were in our proximate area. We were at the Louvre for three hours and I don't think we saw half of the exhibits, but we needed to get outside and experience the rest of Paris.
Leonardo da Vinci - Mona Lisa
Coronation of Napoleon (at Notre-Dame)....the art of the segue
We got back on the Metro and headed towards Cité, changing trains at Châtelet. Exiting the station, we arrived at our destination, Catédrale Notre-Dame. Similar to the cathedral in Luxembourg City of the same name, both share Gothic design - but Notre-Dame de Paris features flying buttress supports and is much larger. We exited the church and walked east - taking a few more pictures before making our way across Pont de l'Archevêché (Archbishop's Bridge). We didn't have a "love padlock" with us, but I think the bridge has plenty.
Catédrale Notre-Dame
High altar
Archbishop's Bridge
We crossed the Seine River and continued to the Panthéon, burial site of famous French figures: Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Voltaire, and Marie Curie (only female in necropolis) - to name a few. Unfortunately, the Panthéon has an admission - one we weren't willing to pay given the Foucault pendulum was undergoing major repair (and won't be re-installed until 2017, a most complex restoration for a simple device). Instead, Julie and I walked down Rue Soufflot towards the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens). Generally, one has a slim chance to find a seat by the fountain in front of Palais du Luxembourg, but it was nearly December - there was chairs sitting in chairs to stay warm (well, they were stacked). The weather was tolerable - allowing us to enjoy the view of the palace, the fountain, and the top of the Eiffel Tower in the distance. We left the garden and got back on the Metro and headed towards the Catacombs, but we were greeted with disappointment. Upon exiting the station and crossing the street, the line was wrapped around the block. We were informed that it would take approximately two hours to get to the entrance - news that had us turn around immediately.
Locks of Love
Panthéon
Jardin du Luxembourg with Eiffel Tower
Palais du Luxembourg
We changed our course for the next attraction on our list, Sacré-Cœur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart). Our legs were already feeling the burn after several hours of walking and the sight of the stairs at Sacré-Cœur added to the lactic acid buildup. Fortunately, we had a 24-hour public transportation ticket - including access to the cable car to the top of Montmarte. Our legs rejoiced for the advancement of hill-climbing technology - as a added bonus, we got sit down for a brief two minutes. The view from Montmarte (highest elevation in Paris) was magnificent, even on a meh-weather day (like we had).
Street in Montmarte with Basilica
Basilica of the Sacred Heart
Highest point of Paris
Moulin Rouge
Moulin de la Galette
While in Montmarte, we strolled over towards Place du tetre, an area teaming with painters and caricaturist. We would have loved to purchase a painting, but the ends didn't justify the means - nor did bartering facilitate a more appropriate price. To finish our circuit of Montemarte, we did our best impressions of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - searching for giants. Instead, we found the Moulin Radet (a windmill) at the Moulin de la Galette, a place that served as inspiration for many artists (Renoir, Van Gough, and Picaso). Our last stop, the Moulin Rouge - birthplace of the can-can among other things. We didn't spend much time here, enough to take some photographs and marvel at the price for entertainment (€200 a seat).
Arc de Triomphe
Champs-Élysées
Under the Arc de Triomphe
After feigning interest in a show at the Moulin Rogue, we came back to reality and boarded the Metro at Blanche. We made our way to the most confusing traffic circle I have ever seen - the twelve spokes surrounding the Arc de Triomphe. The monument appears to be surround by a moat of automobiles - either a civil engineering masterpiece or nightmare. We continued down the Champs-Élysées and walked around the Parisian Christmas Market. From here, we boarded the Metro and went to our last stop, the Eiffel Tower. We got off at Trocadéro and proceeded to the Palais de Chaillot overlooking the tower. The top of the hour approached and we found an area on the stairs to sit and wait for the light show. The illumination was a great way to end our exhausting day in Paris. We took the Metro one last time, changing over to the RER, and returned to our less than humble abode at Disney.
View from Trocadéro
Time for the illumination
Champs-Élysées (Arc de Triomphe) near Christmas Market
Boarding Metro, destination seen in the background
Video was filmed vertically, but for some reason, Youtube insists on careening necks for this one. Apologies.
The holiday season approached and would be our first time celebrating without family and friends. Our only option, head to the happiest place on earth, Walt Disney World - or the closest thing we have to it, Disneyland Paris (the park formerly known as Euro Disney). Taking advantage of the long weekend, we drove to Marne la Vallée Wednesday night. It was Thanksgiving Eve and visions of turkey legs danced in our heads, but there would be no turkey for us this year.
It was Thanksgiving morning and we thought we would help ourselves to a hearty breakfast from the Hotel Santa Fe. As we left our room, we passed a crib in the hallway - no baby - just a fully assembled crib in the hallway. A head-scratcher, but we assumed the baby had responsible parents - plus, we had a full day of rides ahead of us, there was no time to become a search party.
We arrived at the main headquarters of the hotel, the locus of nightmares - if the Exchange and Commissary are the 8th and 9th circle of Hell, then the Santa Fe's dinning area is easily the 7th circle. The line was more than an hour long, which was confusing (like a hallway crib) because breakfast was buffet-style. On this traditional day of insatiable gluttony, there would be no morning meal.
Entrance to the Park
Horse pulling our trolly
We walked to the park and started our day the way we normally would in Walt Disney World - take a ride on the Tower of Terror. After a jolting wake up call, we walked around and enjoyed the other mainstays of Disney parks: Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain. We soon noticed the intensity level of the rides at Disneyland Paris were above those in Orlando. This was welcomed on the Tower of Terror, but Space Mountain (Mission 2) was a different story.
Holiday parade
Selfie
Space Mountain in Magic Kingdom opened in 1975, a ride that is more of a kiddie coaster by today's standards. The European version was completed twenty years later - and as with the times, the cauldron of technology and thrills cooked up something stronger. As we walked through the queue, Julie noticed the ride had shoulder harnesses, imploring me to tell her if the ride goes upside-down or has inversions. Technically, I didn't know, but I did know that a shoulder harness usually implies a loop or two - a fact I may have shared too late to turn back. The seats were secure, the countdown began, and we took off - to what may be the funniest two-minutes ever experienced on a roller coaster. Julie screamed and cursed the entire ride, a profanity-laden tirade for the ages. Turns out, the coaster has 1.5G (force) take off and three inversions - not quite like the kiddie coaster back in the States (although, I had fun).
Christmas Decorations
Main Street U.S.A.
We spent the next part of the afternoon walking Main Street U.S.A. looking for "Thanksgiving dinner" at potential restaurants. Walt's had just opened and we were able to secure a reservation for a late lunch/early dinner. Also, we were lucky enough to book a window seat overlooking Main Street, where we could watch fake snow come down every half-hour. The "American" restaurant featured a soup du jour that may have been the best soup we ever had. If memory serve correct, it was pumpkin soup with mushrooms (possibly Enoki) and cream - dinner and desert were also very good. We enjoyed the park a few more hours, repeating our favorite rides before lining up in front of the castle for the night's closing of Disney Magic and fireworks.
Holiday Mice
Unfortunately, now came the saddest part of our day, returning to our hotel room at the Sante Fe - and (for those keeping track) the crib was still in our hallway. Having spent an entire day walking the parks, a shower was needed. However, this proved to be more troublesome task than thought possible. There were only two water options, arctic squall or raining hell-fire (no wonder the French don't shower...zing!!! only kidding, we love France). Although, in theory - the polar temperature should have soothed the second-degree burns from the inferno. Julie called the front desk to ask if they could fix the shower or if we could change rooms, they proceeded to place her on hold for twenty minutes before responding. Apparently, it was like Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, there were no other rooms available and the shower would be "fixed" the following day. The shower was never fixed, the breakfast buffet line was (always) horrible, and the staff - even worse.
The Castle
However, if you are looking for that campground feeling inside a building-like atmosphere, the Santa Fe might be for you. The rooms are like a spacious tent with adequate beds and a working television. No camp fire needed to cook those beans, just run them under the scalding shower water for a few minutes and ojalá, dinner. A crib and closet on wheels might block your hallway like artery plaque, but if you are fleet of foot - it will serve as a welcomed obstacle. The only saving grace - well, there was none, but the traffic cone lamps were a nice touch.
November has been a busy travel month for us and we found ourselves with a weekend without any scheduled trips. Spontaneity beckoned, we felt like visiting a country we haven't been to - so we charted our course for Luxembourg City. After some quick research, we planned to visit the attractions downtown and would stop at the Luxembourg American Cemetery Memorial on our drive home. Luxembourg is about an hour away and is country that seems to be a cross between France and Germany (both languages spoken there, also, I hope this doesn't offend any Luxembourgians).
Catedrale Notre-Dame
Weihnachtsmarkt and Gélle Fra
Fish roasting on an open fire
We parked downtown and walked to Catedrale Notre-Dame, but our access was limited due to a mass in progress. This wasn't the best opportunity for pictures, therefore; we thought it'd be wise to return later. While walking down the street towards the Gélle Fra (Memorial of Remembrance) we surprisingly stumbled upon our first European Christmas market.
Needs more tuba
Olaf...?
Poor Santa, stuck in a globe
It was a week before most markets open, yet; Luxembourg City was trying to get ahead of the flood of European Weihnachtsmarkts in the coming weeks. This pleasant finding called for us to enjoy the atmosphere, getting our first Glühwein (mulled wine) of the season - from one of the German stands of course. As we sipped out of our commemorative mugs, we made our way towards the Pont Adolphe - unfortunately, it was temporarily the Pont Scaffolde. The bridge was undergoing some major renovation or cleaning, a minor disappointment, however; our attention returned to the festivities. When we left the market we found a small band playing traditional German music, a giant anthropomorphic snowman, and Santa in a snow globe.
Cercle-Cité
Ironworks
Chi-Chi's Authentic Amerimexican
We proceeded down Rue Chimay and stopped for lunch at a soup restaurant. Oddly enough, we were joined by the troop of winter mascots - General Snowman followed by his merry posse of penguins. After eating, we continued down the street to Cercle-Cité (Cercle Municipal) and found Chirstmas Market Part Deux (or Zwei). There was only one thing that surprised us more than the unexpected Weihnachtsmarkt, we found a Chi-Chi's - in Luxembourg City. Somehow, we weren't compelled to indulge ourselves at the famous Amerimexican establishment. We left the square and headed towards Saint Michael's Church.
Rue Large
Chemin de la Corniche
View from the walkway
Small black dot on left side was actually a drone
Why was there a drone in Luxembourg City...?
A question for Robert Stack of Unsolved Mysteries
Similar to the Pont Adolphe, the church was inaccessible due to restorations. Continuing our loop of the city, we turned right down Rue Large towards Le Chemin de la Corniche, sometimes referred to as the most beautiful balcony in Europe. The view is indeed serene - colorful homes, a river, the Dräi Trier (triple gate), and Wenzelsmauer (Wenceslas Wall) are all visible from the pedestrian walkway.
Notre Dame altar
Pipe Organ
Gothic architecture
We made our way back to Catedrale Notre Dame and were able to go inside without disturbing any religious services. The church is yet another beautiful example of Gothic architecture. We departed the cathedral and made our way towards Palais Grand Ducal (Palace of the Grand Dukes) - stopping briefly at Place Guillaume II. The Dukes' Palace had one guard who routinely stomped his way back and forth - not much security for the country's sovereign leader (although, the guard was armed). The pageantry was entertaining, although; not as amusing as the postcards found across the street. A small souvenir vendor had an entire series of postcards featuring portraits of the Grand Ducal Family (similar to the portraits you could find at a Sears). Our brief tour of Luxembourg City was complete, we were headed home, but not before paying our respects at the Luxembourg American Cemetery.
Palais Grand Ducal
Festive décor for the season
Place Guillame II
Just outside the city, near the airport lies a Memorial site for American soldiers who perished during World War II - many of which died in combat during the Battle of the Bulge. While all of those buried here are to be forever remembered, this is also the burial site of General George S. Patton Jr. He died in December 1945 after injuries sustained in a car accident, and per his request - he wanted to be buried alongside his men of the Third Army.
