Paris: The Dove 10

Ten things we enjoyed seeing, doing or trying while visiting Paris (in no particular order)...

1. The Eiffel Tower: yeah, that's a given. We didn't go to the top. It would have meant many hours standing in line. But we loved seeing it both in the daytime and at night.

2. Champs Élysées/Arc de Triomphe: great shops, nice cafés, good restaurants, excellent people-watching 

3. Pastries - we tried so many yummy things! Pains au chocolat, croissant, crepes, waffles, galette, apple strudel, profiteroles, and more. And the window displays were always impressive.

 

4. Notre Dame - the church was beautiful on the outside (too crowded to go inside) - and we also enjoyed wandering around the little pedestrian streets, with lots of shops, restaurants and cafés

 

5. Passage Plantin - if you've ever seen The Bourne Identity, you likely remember the scene where Jason & Marie drove through the very narrow corridor, and then down stairs (seen HERE). This is where it happened and it was SO. VERY. NARROW. We always enjoy finding little 'famous' spots like this.

6. Orangina - the boys fell in love with this drink (okay, we really liked it, too!)

 

7. The Louvre - the building itself is art. And if nothing else you should see Mona Lisa. BONUS: kids under 18 are free!

8. Small neighborhoods - we liked exploring areas outside of the main part of the city

9. Sacre Coeur - a beautiful church (the inside was beautiful as well, and didn't take long to go through despite big crowds) sitting on the highest point in the city

10. Disneyland Park Paris - so much fun! Read more HERE

Paris: an added bonus

We were excited about our trip: because we had never been to Paris, and because we were in need of a bit of down time. But a couple of weeks before we traveled, Zack and I found out that there was going to be something else to look forward to...

A family that we've become very close with here in Sandefjord was also vacationing in Paris at the same time. It was their Christmas gift to their two daughters, whom our boys adore. We waited until just before traveling to let the boys know (mainly so they didn't accidentally spoil the surprise for the girls).

We hoped we would have the chance to grab a coffee or share a meal together. What a wonderful treat that we got to spend all day Monday and several hours on Tuesday with each other. It was fun to explore new places together - and to get to practice Norwegian at the same time! What a great way to get to know our friends better.

We will not soon forget our time with our sweet friends: lots of laughs, checking out cool cars on Champs, exploring a Christmas market, crowded trains, pastries, Notre Dame, the tour of coffee shops, and what M&M probably thought was the worst meal of their trip (sorry about the spices - but we love Chipotle!).

We are so thankful for sweet friends!

Arc de Triomphe

Car shop on Champs Elysees

Christmas Market... and a moose?!?!

Notre Dame

This shop sells some interesting things...
look in the back of the window!

Friends

Waiting on hot chocolate

She is so good with Daniel

Best Buddies

Sharing dessert on their 19th wedding anniversary

Good friends, good coffee... and always silly

Paris: a tradition continues

It has become a vacation tradition that, if there is one in the city we are visiting, we must locate and visit Hard Rock Cafe.

So on Saturday we included the HRC trek in our day's adventures. While don't always eat there, we at least stop by and see it. And the boys like to pick out a pin (a tradition they started after their cousins got them hooked on pin collecting at Disney a couple of years ago).

HRC Paris

We grabbed lunch this time around. It was a nice break from lots of walking. And the boys were excited to add one more guitar pin to their collections!

Just for fun, here are a few of the other HRC locations we've visited over the years...

HRC Yankee Stadium - 2011

HRC New York City - 2011

Prague, Czech Republic
2013

Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago - 2009

HRC London - 2011

HRC Berlin - 2011

HRC Nassau Bahamas - 2012

HRC Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
ca. 2003 (who are those two babies in the photo?!?!)

Prague, Czech Republic
2013

Paris: the big Christmas surprise

(WARNING: photo overload at the bottom!)

The trip to Paris was our family Christmas gift. The boys knew about it beforehand and were very excited. But we did have one surprise up our sleeve...

On Christmas morning, after all the gifts had been opened, we 'remembered' one more gift we hadn't put under the tree. The boys opened up the box and were excited to find tickets for one day at Disneyland Park in Paris from us.

We had been watching the forecast and it appeared that Sunday would be the best bet for avoiding rain. And it was: it didn't rain on us all day! (It didn't rain on the other million people there either. But crowds were a part of this whole trip, so we just rolled with it!)

As a little girl, I loved Disney. I went to the parks in Florida quite a few times. And I hoped to one day visit a Disney outside of America, and visit one of the parks at Christmas. So I guess this was possibly more exciting for me than anyone else!

We had a great time. The park is much smaller than Florida's Magic Kingdom (MK). We found some thing better at Disneyland Paris (DP), and in a number of cases we prefer MK.

Who Wins? Here are a few observations...

• Big Thunder Mountain: we didn't get to ride it in Florida with the boys, as it was closed. But they look very similar. Everyone LOVED this ride at DP!
• Pirates of the Caribbean: the exterior at DP is far superior. It was awesome! Inside, there is a sit-down restaurant that sits beside the beginning of the ride. Very cool! The ride itself was almost identical to the original MK Pirates. They haven't added Jack Sparrow like Orlando. I think MK's ride wins, but the overall presentation was better at DP.
• The Haunted Mansion (MK)/Phantom Manor (DP): again, I think DP wins for exterior presentation. But the ride itself had a much darker/morbid feel. We much prefer the fun and family-friendly MK version! 
• Space Mountain: this is my all-time favorite ride at MK! I have to say that the exterior of this ride is incredible at DP - a step above the original. Unfortunately, we didn't get to ride it. We had a brokenhearted 8-year-old when he found out he wasn't tall enough. And we weren't willing to split up to wait through the 1 hour-plus line. I've heard it's great!
• Animated Move Rides: Rides like Peter Pan and Snow White looked identical. They have a Pinocchio ride, which was new for us. It was VERY similar to Snow White in design, but cute.
• It's a Small World: the outside at DP was better. Otherwise, pretty similar.
• Star Tours: Orlando wins this one, no contest. DP has the old version that DisneyWorld used back in the nineties. Old, dated, grainy. We stood in line for 2 hours because William is such a Star Wars fanatic and couldn't wait to ride it. He says he wasn't disappointed, but without the high-def and 3D of Orlando, it was not the same. Plus for DP: the boys got to meet Darth Vader afterwards!
• Buzz Lightyear: it seemed a lot like the ride in Florida. But here is what we loved: we didn't have a fast pass and the line said 70 minutes. Daniel REALLY wanted to ride, so we did. We were in and out in less than 30 minutes! It was a great ride.

It was a great day, despite excessive crowds. We didn't get to ride everything, but we did cover a lot of ground, and enjoyed two parades plus the lighting of the Christmas tree. While we all agreed we prefer DisneyWorld Orlando, we are glad we took a day to experience Disneyland Park in Paris.

Entering the park (first time I've ever had to
bundle up for Disney!)

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Everyone enjoyed Thunder Mountain 

Phantom Manor

Thunder Mountain and the River Boat

On our way to Pirates

The main entrance to Pirates of the Caribbean

Great exterior at Pirates

Kristy - we took more pics at this ride than any
other, mainly because of you!

Alice had a walkthrough section of the park -
the line was LONG and we chose not to wait

The boys loved their first ride on the Teacups 

It's a Small World - the one ride that always has a quick line in
Orlando - had an excessively large line that we vetoed

Christmas Parade

Toy Story

Daniel's favorite ride

Space Mountain looked incredible - I've read it's much more
intense than the Florida version

Star Tours - Paris needs to update this ride

A highlight for the boys

Lion King

Waiting for the tree lighting

All the shops had great window displays

Headed back to the city - it was a fun day!