Day 5: Paris (am) and drive to Paris, Disney (pm)

Mostly written by Carrie B:

After a rainy day in Paris the day before, we woke to a clear sky. It was still cold outside but the sun made the day much more enjoyable. After the girls did their morning work, we packed up the car and checked out of the hotel. Our plan was to continue on the hop on/hop off bus so we could actually see the sites of Paris from the top instead of being enclosed on the bottom without a good view of the city. As we were walking to see the Louvre and then catch the bus, Carrie L. and I became distracted by window shopping and decided that we couldnʼt leave Paris without shopping just a little bit. As Carrie and I shopped, the girls had fun trying on sunglasses and picking out souvenirs for their friends and cousins. We also took time to go in the real souvenir stores and purchase tourist items like t-shirts, post cards, berets and such. The men at the shops were happy to see the girls and spoil them with gifts. They have so many key chains now we donʼt know what to do with them!

An hour later we were back on track and continued our walk to the Louvre. Once we were there, we decided to stay on the outside instead of going inside the museum. The girls had fun chasing the pigeons around the courtyard and Carrie and I took several pictures...yes, we even put on the berets and snapped photos like obnoxious tourists do (Carrie Lʼs idea of course)!

After spending time at the Louvre, we were all a bit cold, cranky and dreaming of Starbucks, so we decided to walk back to the hotel with the intention to drive around Paris and then to Disney (Mostly because we so enjoyed driving around Paris the first time). As we were walking, the girls mentioned that they were hungry and thirsty so we found a cafe in which they could eat lunch. The girls ordered hot chocolate and crepes while Carrie had bruschetta and I had a baguette. The food was wonderful and everyone was happy except for Ellie. She was not impressed by the crepe! Elise had a crepe with Nutella and she didnʼt have to say a word about how much she enjoyed it, I practically saw hearts in her eyes with her first bite.

When we left the cafe, it had warmed up considerably and the girls had a renewed energy. We walked towards the hotel and on our way we saw a couple with Starbucks coffees. It didnʼt take long for Carrie L to walk over to them and ask where the Starbucks was that they received those wonderful drinks in and they pointed down the road and to the right. We followed their directions and on our way we passed a giant fountain in which the girls quickly began running in circles and burning off their new found energy. Carrie L was on “Mission Starbucks” and she came to me and said, “I think that man gave us wrong directions, doesnʼt that look like a green awning down there in the other direction?” As I looked, I could not see what she was describing to me and I told her that I think she was seeing a Starbucks mirage. She laughed as I pointed out the real Starbucks sign in the direction the couple had told us it was in to begin with.

The street our apartment is on!

As we made our way to Starbucks, we both burst out in laughter in what was staring at us.  Remember we are now RIGHT behind “Our Novotel?”  Also, recall the fact that we couldn’t find that apartment for HOURS and HOURS?  Check out the road that was directly BEHIND our hotel.  Yup.  The one our original apartment was on. That place is haunting us!

As we were standing in line waiting for our coffee, I mentioned to Carrie that since the girls were no longer cold maybe we should finish up the day on the hop on/off bus just as we had planned on doing. Since the weather had been so bad the day before, we agreed we would feel cheated if we didnʼt go back out to see the city. We made our way on foot to Notre Dame where we looked at the details in the architecture, took pictures and jumped on the bus for our last tour of Paris. We stayed on the bus the entire tour and took in all the sites including Champs de Mars, Musee du Louvre, Musee dʼOrsay, Opera, Champs Elysees-Etoile, Grand Palais, Trocadero, Arch and of course, the Eiffel Tower. True to form Ellie fell asleep on the bus while Elise and Grace had fun sitting together and looking at the sites. Seeing Paris was wonderful but my only regret was not being able to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night.

After we completed the full tour and arrived back at Notre Dame, we walked back to the Novotel and got in our car to drive to Paris Disney. Disney is a quick 30 minute drive from the city center but we werenʼt about to assume that we would arrive there so quickly and without problems. First, we had to return the key to the apartment that we rented and never used. Although the management team of the website in which we rented from was very kind to us and understood our concerns, we werenʼt lucky enough to have the owner of the apartment refund our money. So, here we went back to the same shady alley that we all know and love to replay my scene from Mission Impossible and return the key. This time it was daylight and since I had completed this task before, I had all the confidence in the world that I could do it again...and I did. I got back in the car and Carrie L said that our good friend, Mr. GPS did not recognize Disney Paris. Well, why would he? He was still obviously perturbed with us from the night before.

I quickly looked for an address but couldnʼt come up with one for the actual park, as all I could find were locations for corporate offices. Once again, we enlisted Peter for the task of helping us figure out where we needed to go but this time he had a hard time finding the information as well.

As we were driving in circles on the complicated streets of Paris for the second time in two days, we drove past the miniature Statue of Liberty. We had already taught the girls that the same man who designed the Eiffel Tower also designed the Statue of Liberty and that it was a present from France to America. Grace and Elise saw the Statue of Liberty but Ellie did not. Ellie response was, “Youʼre joking guys! Are you lying?” We kept trying to point it out to her but she did not see it. When she finally did, she was so shocked that we had been telling the truth. As we continued to drive, we realized that we were driving past the Eiffel Tower once again and since it was getting darker, the lights had been turned on and it was brightening up the sky. The girls loved seeing the lights, as did Carrie and I, and I took the opportunity to stick my camera out the passenger window and take as many pictures as I could. Looks like I got my “Eiffel Tower at night” moment after all!

Night Shot!

We pulled up to a red light and a few moments later a car pulled up next to us. When we looked to our left, the man in the car was looking straight at us. He was so close it seemed as if he was in the car with us! Then, Carrie burst in to laughter and said, “Look at how close this guy's mirror is!” When I looked over, I noticed that his mirror was overlapping ours and if we werenʼt quick enough when the light turned green, his mirror would take ours out! The funny part about this situation is the guy didnʼt even notice that he was that close to us...at least he didnʼt act like he knew. I had never seen anything like that in my entire life.

A few minutes later, after Peter had figured out where we needed to go and texted us the address, we had found our way out of the city and were on our way to Disney. Of course, it took us a lot longer to get out of the city than we thought it would...oh well, at least we were able to check seeing the Eiffel Tour at night off the list!

I received a recommendation from a friend of mine in Singapore (whoʼs husband helped to open Disney Paris) to stay at the Davy Crockett Ranch at Disney where we would have our own cabin and enough room to accommodate all five of us...something we had struggled with finding at every hotel along the way. The girls were more than excited as we pulled up to the ranch to check-in. Carrie L went inside while I stayed in the car with the girls. Iʼm not sure who had it easier as the girls were jumping all around in the car, singing “Itʼs a small world after all” over and over again. It took Carrie a long time to check-in and when she returned to the car she couldnʼt believe the experience she had just had.

Carrie L:


I think I am just jaded from our first night in Paris so I may be extra sensitive to somewhat stressful situations. As I walked into our “lodge” to check in, there were three people working the front desk. Two of them, as I could see while I waited in the line, were clearly competent in English and in the workings of the “ranch” (I still chuckle as I call it the “ranch” for reasons you will learn more about in the next couple of posts). I, of course, had the pleasure of working with the man who clearly started his first day of work at the ranch today and, as I believe, learned English today as well.

I think it took me longer to check in to our accommodations than it did for us to drive to Disney from Paris, including the time it took to get back on track after getting lost in the city. Why? Well, of course when one is learning a job AND a language in the same day, it would stand to reason efficiency wasnʼt high on his list. Honestly, I just donʼt think I have the energy to get into all the details of what exactly this experience was like for me, but letʼs put it this way. I was told that because the cabin is new, I have to remember to put the key in the box in refrigerator after I get in. That way, the lights will work. Excuse moi? Parle vous English, Mr. Disney Worker? I am to put a key in a box in the fridge to turn on the lights? Oh, boy, this is going to be fun. Canʼt wait to get on that ranch. Oh yeah, and once I get on the “ranch” I can go to the Trading Post to get my free cleaning kit. Cleaning kit? Surely he meant something else we were getting for free, right? I didnʼt ask for clarification...I would just figure out what he really meant once I got that kit.

I couldnʼt get back to that car fast enough. Davy Crockett...take me to your cabin.

Carrie B:


Buffet dinner at the ranch

Since we arrived later than expected due to our whole “lost in Paris again” mishap, we had missed dinner and were pretty hungry. Carrie L made a reservation for us at 9pm at the Tavern buffet. We walked in and sat down while Carrie went to pre-pay for dinner. When she came back to the table she said it was 85 Euro (!!) for us to eat. I didnʼt really care until I saw the offerings on the buffet. The buffet was filled with fried foods, limp lettuce salads and lots of unhealthy options....you know, ranch food. Due to our options, we all picked at the food and then decided to get back to the cabin and get some sleep before we spent the next day at Disney.

The upside down phone

We pulled up to our cabin and the girls piled out of the car. We, once again, unpacked the car and took the luggage up to the door. We opened the door and we erupted in laughter. The bedding was tones of brown camouflage and pictures of Mickey Mouse in a coon-skin cap. The curtains were a 1970ʼs brown, green and yellow with giant leaves from top to bottom. The couch was about 12-inches deep and maroon in color with a Native American print. The inside was adorned with fake wood laminate flooring, walls and cabinets. In fact, there wasnʼt a piece of wood in the entire place! The cabin was very cold and there was no internet connection...well, there was an internet connection for people that donʼt use Mac computers but that didnʼt pertain to either one of us. Wifi was nonexistent which made it very difficult for us to keep up with the blog or have any contact with the outside world. Even the telephone was a mystery to us in which Grace even remarked, “What is wrong with this phone? Itʼs upside down!”

Carrie picked up that backwards, upside down phone to enquire about other accommodation options that provided wifi for, as she explained to the front desk, “We are working and require wifi as part of this trip.” The response? “None of our hotels have wifi but you can go to the McDonalds or the gas station down the road and use their free wifi.” Really, Mr. Disney Worker? Disney practically invented the word “magical” and we have to go to McDonalds to get internet? Iʼm Lovinʼ It.

Carrie and I sat down the bags and tried to make sense of this 400 Euro a night cabin. After coming up with nothing, we changed into whatever warm clothes we could find and opened a bottle of wine we had brought with the wine opener we found in the kitchen.  It was such a high quality opener, check out what I had to do to get it open.   By this point Carrie and I were in hysterics, as things like this seem to be par for the course for us in Paris. 

Oh, and by the way…it WAS a cleaning kit.  As in, you have to CLEAN your own trailer and they give you the kit to do it.  For FREE.