Memories... Visiting Out!

Wow, while writing yesterday's post, I was surprised by how many people visited in Italy! Not all of them came specifically to visit me, but I am still surprised by the sheer number of visitors I had. I also did a good amount of visiting myself. Here's where I visited:

• In December 2011, I headed to London to stay with Miranda. I also got to see Peter, a sweet family friend. He took me to his print shop! I had so much fun doing all the Christmas stuff there. London really is a smashing place to be.




• I visited home for the winter holidays. Ross and I made it out to Christmas with my family.


• I mentioned yesterday that when Ross was here we visited his sister Dawn in Paris for a few days.




• I visited in the US in March for Esther and Tom's wedding at West Point. That's a beautiful campus!


• I had lots of visitors in April, May, and June, so while I did visit some other cities in Italy during that time (like Riccione, as mentioned in my last post!), I didn't go for travel anywhere else until my cousin Ferg's wedding in Newport Beach. Ross joined me for that. A fun time hanging out with all the relatives!


• During true Italian Vacation Time (aka August), I headed for 11 days in Germany and Luxembourg. Esther and I saw the whole country of Luxembourg in one weekend, it was awesome. I spent a couple nights visiting with my friend Stacy in Oberkochen in the middle of that time. It's a really picturesque spot in the summer! Then Esther and I joined her husband's family near Worms for a weekend of wine. I had a blast!




• I mentioned that I traveled to Rome, Venice, and Florence and the like with visiting friends and family during the fall. My only "independent" trip in that time was to a conference in Istanbul. Now that's a cool city, layers of history underneath but modern and happening on the surface, with great food. I also had a blast with the other conference participants, they were fun. I would give Istanbul high marks, worth a trip.

I had a lot of awesome trips. While I did do a lot of visits back to the US (one for Christmas, two for weddings), I made it out a few times. I really did more traveling within Italy. I was lucky that I had so many visitors!

Last Day of Paris

On Monday morning, Ross and I headed over to Invalides, a big combo army museum and church/tomb.



This is the place with the famous tomb of Napoleon. He's in that giant red quartzite sarcophagus.



After some time in the tomb and church, we headed to the army museum part. Their collections date from pre-history, but really begin to shine in the 15th and 16th century. This three barreled pistol below is from early 17th...



This famous wyvern helmet I believe is also from a similar period.



There were cannons all over the place, including in the courtyard. Many of them have great decorative elements, like this lion's head.



Invalides was pretty great, I would definitely recommend it.

On our way back to the hotel to get our luggage and head to the train station, we saw these quaint buildings associated with a church... I just thought they were cute.

Mmm... Paris

On Sunday, Dawn had picked and awesome show for us to go to at the Grand Palais. We headed over the Alexander III Bridge on our way there.



The show we were seeing was La France en relief - From Louis XIV to Napoléon III. Yes, French military relief maps. At a 1:600 scale. Royal surveyors went around recording incredible levels of detail, which were used to create scale models out of wood scaffolding, plaster, and fancy stuff like silk floss for the trees.



They made maps of critical settlements, so you see a lot of rivers and mountains.



The maps include detailed construction of fortifications, some of which were in beautiful patterns.



The levels of detail were just crazy. Weird rock shapes, sheds, shoals in the rivers... Some of it was stuff you just wouldn't really need to know!

After the show we walked through the Tuileries Garden.



Ross and I went to the Orangerie Museum, which is really a great museum. It's not big, but it has those showpiece Monets, and well organized rooms focused on individual artists.



We took the subway back to Ecole Miltaire. They have these odd green dish seats in some of the stations.



That evening we headed to the Eiffel Tower!



Ross and I took the elevators up to the 2nd level...



And then up to the top!



The Eiffel Tower was a lot of fun. The views were great, and the clanky old machinery was pretty cool too.

Parigi!

So many pictures, so little time, again!

On Friday night we left the Disney property to visit with Dawn in Paris. We met down by the Arc de Triomphe.



We had dinner at Le Brasier, a grill place. We all started with salads and white wine, then moved on to cheese fondue and beef kabobs for the meat eaters. The food was good and the place was cute!

After dinner we took the RER A back to Disneyland Paris. The trains have a lot of different branches and run different schedules, so they have these helpful light boards with the stops of the next train listed.



After we got home we ate the lovely pastries that Dawn gave us! The decadence of eating tiny yummy pastries while lounging in bed! They were all different flavors. The light brown eclair was mocha...



The next day we left the Disneyland Resort around noon to check into our hotel near Dawn's place, by the Eiffel Tower. We joined Dawn for the grand tour of her place, as shown below! Her apartment is on the top floor of her building... All three of us could just crush into her elevator in a row. The one in my apartment is barely any bigger...



We went out shopping in Le Marais, and walked through the city. This is a cute deli and delicacies store. Ross bought canned fishes and pates, I bought yummy mustard and crystallized kumquats.



We strolled past Saint Jacques' Tower, which is the remains of a 16th century gothic church. It's beautiful and has the feel of an artifact of a lost culture.



We made it over to Notre Dame, in time for great sunset lighting. It's spectacular and pretty completely lived up to my expectations. The stained glass is great. We wandered over to the Saint Germain neighborhood, and headed back to the Eiffel Tower area.



The French are into manicured trees, which look a little scary in the winter.



This is the first of many Eiffel Tower photos to come!

Bonus Post: Disneyland Paris Resort Overall Review

Since I really need to get done talking about Disneyland Resort Paris and move on to all the other vacation things we did, I figure I will give as a bonus today my overall resort review.

TLDR version: Liked it enough, probably wouldn't bother going again.

The Disneyland Resort Paris consists of two parks, a Disney Village shopping and dining area, and a cluster of Disney (and non-Disney) hotels, located on the outskirts of Paris, about an hour from the center of the city on the commuter railroad. Ross and I got to experience a taste of all these parts across four-days-three-nights.

Disneyland Park parallels Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom, with a main street leading to a castle in the center and Western, fantasy, adventure, futuristic areas filled with the expected rides. Overall, however, I would say that there are less attractions in this park than in its counterparts. Compared to the Magic Kingdom, there's no Splash Mountain, no Winnie the Pooh, no TTA, Carrousel of Progress, Stitch Escape, Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor, Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets of Aladdin (which in Paris is in the Studios park), Tiki Room, Country Bears, Hall of Presidents (though that would be pretty useless for international consumption), Philharmagic... And there are very few different attractions to counteract that. There's a Storybook area as similar to Disneyland, the walk throughs of the Nautilus and Aladdin, Captain EO is present, and the Indiana Jones roller coaster. The walk through attractions are cute, but... The Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril roller coaster was a little disappointing. It's well-themed as a ruined temple, but has less story or exciting sights than, say, the Matterhorn. It's telling that this was a unique attraction but we only bothered to ride it once. The twinned attractions like Buzz Lightyear, Phantom Manor, etc., were a toss up as to if they were more exciting or fun than the WDW version, with several being less comfortable. Again, Space Mountain: Mission 2, a very different Space Mountain, we only bothered to ride once, due to it being rather uncomfortable with the head-shaking. We ended up spending more time on the dark rides like Phantom Manor and Pirates, which were well done.

I had similar feelings about the Walt Disney Studios Park. There were less rides than the WDW counterparts, but in this case more were unique. The Toy Story Playland rides are fairly standard rides, but well themed. (Generally, I would say the theming was a strong suit of the parks.) The stage shows were cute but a little dinky feeling. (We did not go to Lights, Motors, Action, as it's identical to the WDW version. I have to assume that it is similarly exciting.) The true gem was Crush's Coaster, which is a unique ride that is very enjoyable. It's got the longest lines in the park, but no Fast Pass!

Overall, I felt that the parks just did not have enough to do for us. Park hours were short when we were there, but the crowds were low. Taking those two factors, we could have experienced both parks to our satisfaction in two full days. I'm not saying that we could have ridden every ride and seen every show in that time, but we could have tried the unique attractions and experienced a very satisfactory selection of the other best rides and shows with no problems in that time frame. Across the four days we were there, we could have spent about 32 hours in the parks, but we only spent about 19 or 20 and were satisfied. Yes, part of it was the cold weather, but I think we only skipped about 2 or 3 hours on account of cold.

The parks were lacking in a few other areas. Maintenance seemed to be an issue. Most headliner rides were down repeatedly. We waited a few days to ride Space Mountain, for example, since it was down frequently. I felt a little more understanding about the outdoor rides since the weather was cold, but a lot of these were indoors! But really, the weather was not unusual, they should know how to handle it. Also, a lot of effects (dolls in small world, etc.) were broken. We saw one effect that worked during the first day then broke and wasn't fixed for the rest of our stay. There's also no evening entertainment. I like evening parades, but they don't have any, and fireworks are special occasion only! Bummer.

The Disney Village area is rather small. I thought that the food prices were rather high. (The shopping was pricey too, but hey, that's Disney.) But I would say overall the area was satisfactory. We did have dinner at Earl of Sandwich, which was both cheap and good. The food we had in the parks was also pretty tasty.

We stayed in the Hotel Santa Fe, one of the cheapest hotels. I would give it passing marks. It did look a little bit beat, but it was clean. We had a little trouble with our hot water, but they handled it for us well. Overall, I would say the crew members were not quite as peppy as their WDW counterparts, but were at least somewhat in the spirit of things... The breakfast at the hotel was a little chaotic, but the food was completely satisfactory. Croissants and pain au chocolat were the highlights. The bus service to the resort was frequent enough, but part of that is just the small size of the resort. The package price was also right. For two adults for three nights and four days including park hopper tickets was $620. The tickets if bought alone would have been close to $500! The more expensive hotels did look nice, some of them have indoor pools with slides and water features. I am glad we stayed on property, just for the convenience and package pricing!

In the end, I am glad I went, but I do not think I will make an effort to go again. If I happen to be in Paris for four days and people wanted to go on a week day, I would go. If Ross and I go to Paris again for other reasons, I would consider tacking on an extra night to stay at DLRP. Particularly, if I could attend for a special event, such as Halloween or Christmas, that would be an added incentive, though I think the crowds could be unmanageable during certain events or seasons if you were unlucky. But overall, one visit was enough to satisfy me. There are a few attractions I adored, but in general I found the resort lacking in that department. The maintenance is subpar. The food, crew members, and hotels as far as I experienced were at least acceptable and sometimes good. The above average part was really the theming, from the dragon's lair under the castle to the Jules Verne inspired Discoveryland.

As a final note for people trying to decide whether or not to go, here's my suggestions: If you happen to be in the Paris area for three or four days anyway, and you are curious about it, go. On a weekday, preferably. If you are a Disney lover who is going to be in Europe anyway and can get away with two extra days of vacation, then go. Getting to Paris from pretty much anywhere in Europe will be less than $200 round trip per person, and could easily be much less depending on where you are. From Milan, I did it with a $70 plane flight to head to Paris, and took a first class $70 train back. Prices should be similar from pretty much anywhere else, quite possibly cheaper if you book well in advance and get a good deal. Or fly open jaw, entering Europe by your primary destination and leaving from Paris, and only having to take one extra trip inside Europe. I would not, however, plan a special trip just to go to the Disneyland Paris Resort. It's not worth the plane fair and time zone adjustment when you could just go to the more complete destination of Walt Disney World in Florida!

OK, I think I am done now!

Returned from Venice

Today I put Ross on a bus to Marco Polo Airport from Piazzale Roma, and then headed to Santa Lucia station to head out myself. It's always sad parting from those you love...

I am way behind in my blog, and my photo uploads from Ross's visit. It will take me a while to get caught up in telling you all what I've been up to. Luckily I expect this week to be rather calm comparatively. I have no plans outlined for a while, though this weekend may bring some fashion week fun!

Lemme just give you the outline of Ross's visit. We did Disneyland Paris for a bit then stayed in the city and hung out with Dawn. That was Wednesday through Monday. We saw a lot of cool museum exhibits, a few churches, ate out, and canvased a lot of the city on foot, despite frigid temperatures. Monday we took the train back to Milan from Paris. You see a lot of countryside that way, it's rather pleasant. Valentine's day we dined out at Platz, a little restaurant in my neighborhood recommended for its gnoccho fritto (fried dough) and pizza. Wednesday I had to do a little work, but we spent the afternoon seeing the new shows at the Triennale Design Museum, then wandering around Duomo area and having aperitivo at La Rinascente. For my birthday, we had a rockin' party at my place. Friday was the Milano Autoclassico. The last few days were in Venice, the two highlights there being the proliferation of costumes for Carnivale and having a private box at La Fenice for Cosi Fan Tutte. And now I just have to live my life like it's any other day!

I am just going to give my previously mentioned photo essay of Pirates of the Caribbean here to start off the unloading of pretty cool pictures. If you know me, you know I love pirates in general and Pirates of the Caribbean specifically. When the first movie came out, I cut class on opening day to see it because I just knew in my heart that it would be great. (Yes, I will admit that the movies have gone downhill a bit since then, but the attractions at the Disney parks have remained just as awesome!)



At DLRP, they do not discourage photography much, even flash photography. The only ride they discouraged flash usage for was the Phantom Manor, where flash can really spoil the effects... I still only had it in me to take one or two flash photos on the dark rides, it just feels wrong!



A lot of the dialog was in French, but some of the classic lines were in their original English, such as "We wants the redhead!"



Not using flash often gets you a blur, but I sometimes like the watercolor impression it gives, like in this scene of the town burning.



These kind of photos can give a you-are-there sort of feeling. This one of the skull rock, though, I like because you might not have any idea where it was from if it wasn't grouped with the rest.



I did think the "wages of sin" scenes in this version looked great.



There were just a lot of extra small moments and scenes, giving the ride a fuller, longer feel over the one at WDW.

And of course, they offer on-ride photos.



We happened to be singled out to have a boat to ourselves during one slow traffic time... That was pretty cool.

Like the version at Disneyland, the DLRP Pirates has a built-in restaurant where you sit waterside to the attraction. As in Disneyland, the restaurant is called the Blue Bayou. It features dim, romantic lighting, and food with a hint of Caribbean flavor.



I liked all the small lights, from the lanterns to the candles. The atmosphere was great, and we actually liked the food!



Ross had swordfish, and I had the vegetable dinner, which included coconut curry veggies, sweet potatoes, grilled rum-soaked plantains, and a few other tastes. It all was delicious.



I would definitely go back to the restaurant again! And we did go back to the ride again, probably five times total in our trip. I think that was Ross indulging me.

The Lair of the Dragon

I am still traveling, but I figured I would post a few things from Paris to hold y'all over until I got back. (Yes, I have delusions that people read my blog!) Disneyland Paris was charming. There were a few very nice details, one of my favorite things was the chained dragon under Sleeping Beauty castle. Here's a video I took:



It roars, breathes out smoke, and wiggles its tail. Pretty cool!

In Paris, Still Alive!

Despite freezing temperatures in Paris, I am still alive. I will post more photos and the like soon, but for now, here's the view from our hotel room window:



Our hotel has two rooms with an Eiffel Tower view, and they gave us the double. Feeling pretty lucky about that! I think you can pay extra to get the view for sure. Anyway, we are at Hotel de L'Alma, picked for its price and its convenience to Dawn's apartment. So far it is delivering!