Paris - Bonne Annee

Happy New Year (Bonne Annee)!

We started off our week in Paris with a bang! Fireworks, magic, shows, and parades at Disneyland Paris. New Year's Eve at Disneyland Paris is one of the most crowded days of the year. We waited in long lines and waded our way through thick crowds, however, we still had a blast.

Since it was Disneyland Paris' 20th anniversary, we got to visit both parks (Walt Disney studios and Disneyland) for the price of one.

Walt Disney studios was much smaller, but it had a fun backlot ride (similar to universal studios in Hollywood) where we survived an earthquake, fire, and flood all on one set. We also watched a great car stunt show and watched cars drive backwards through small streets, jump off ramps, and roll on two wheels.

We didn't get to see much of Disneyland because of the crowds. We did get to enjoy the Disneyland magic parade with all of the popular characters dancing along the streets and in floats. We also watched Disney Dreams, a spectacular show that used the main castle as a canvas for highlighting favorite scenes from disney movies. The show had lots of fireworks and high powered water effects (see YouTube video). Unfortunately it was freezing, crowded, and supposed to rain so we left around 8pm. Good thing too, we were able to see the fireworks from our hotel as the rain poured down outside.

We moved to our final hotel of the trip in the Saint Germain district. Our hotel was only 2 blocks from the Louvre and a short walk to Notre Dame.

We spent the week doing all the touristy things and walking up way too many steps (200 to Sacre Coeur, 600 to the 2nd platform of the Eiffel Tower, and 300 to the top of the Arc de Triomphe). The whether was warm for most of the week. It started raining in Thursday and has been drizzling ever since then.

The great part about traveling during winter is all of the Christmas markets that line the streets of the popular tourist attractions. The markets are made up of small wooden houses with Christmas lights. They sell everything from hot wine and crepes to jewelry and souvenirs. The Christmas market by the Eiffel Tower even had an ice skating rink, so wee laced up our skates and glided across the ice with the Eiffel Tower as the backdrop.

Tomorrow we head back to the States to return to school. We will share our DSLR photos when they are uploaded - it may take a while as we've taken over 2000 photos in 2 weeks.

Happy new year!