Paris Experience - (Last installment) on Disneyland Resort

This post would be the last of the Disneyland Photos, I forgot to publish it...(blame my lack of memory space --- > in my brain).

This installment is about the Disney Village, the only park which is free. It is especially built for tourists who only want Disney items for souvenirs and giveaways.

Enjoy the sun-up, sun-down photos. =)

Everything Disney. - Rainforest Cafe.

Disney Fashion Boutique. - Mickey...again.



Disney Store.

Planet Hollywood.



Charlton on a Corvette. - Alexie outside a store.

The Paris Experience - Disneyland- Disney Studios

Disneyland Resort Paris is located 32 km from the center of Paris at a new town called Marnee La Vallée, where most disney-themed hotels are also located.


The Resort has two theme parks, Disney Studios and Disneyland Park plus an entertainment district, Disney Village.















We headed first to Disney Studios and were delighted to see the big Mickey ears on the water tank...hubby, comic as usual requested for a photo. ---->

Disney Studios Park is divided into themed lots. We didn't wait much in line to see the featured videos but did lots of photo ops.

Charlton on a sweeping broom (Beauty and the Beast).


















Daniel with (Disney Pixar) Monsters Inc.'s Mike Wazowski, the only photo were he isn't crying.










Reason why Daniel never came near other mascots again. Sulley (again from Monsters Inc.) surely lives up to his name of being the top scarer!










Alexie beside Luigi and Charlton beside Guido in their tire shop (Cars, Disney Pixar).










Alexie with Minnie Mouse, we had to wait in line for an autograph and photo op. Tip: Bring your own pen and autograph book, the DisneyPrincess-designed pen costs 2,90 euros, the autograph book: 4,90!















Charlton was not in the mood then, so Alexie had all the photo ops with the mascots. This is either Chip or Dale...I cannot tell the difference. =D








We were also in line for Pluto's autograph but lost the chance because Goofy who did nothing but goof around run away with Pluto somewhere! T'was really fun, though the place is huge, its worth moving about, following the crowd, snapping photos and reliving the stories of the cartoon characters we have been familiar with through the years. Surely is a place for children but is definitely also a good time for the child-at-heart!





















Mickey Mouse, Disney's icon. Walt Disney and Mickey, how it all started.

The Paris Experience - Louvre

Musée du Louvre, Richelieu Wing

The present-day Louvre has been the result of a series of successive building projects completed over the past 800 years. Wikipedia page. It is located on the Right Bank in the 1er arrondissement between the Rue de Rivoli and the Seine River, the same river that flows to where the Eiffel tower is.

Home to many notable works of art and perhaps the most visited museum in the world, the Louvre used to be a palace under the reign of Philip II.
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We arrived in Paris coming from Marne La Vallee via RER at the Opera Station, hubby brought his navigator so it didn't took us much time to find the museum. We had some photo op on the way, which I will upload in the following posts.

An antique dealer's shop opposite the Louvre. We were quite ecstatic seeing this, we actually thought that this is the musem. lol.

Inscription at the entrance of the Louvre Museum.

(Half) Pyramid at the courtyard. The pyramid being the entrance to the Louvre.

View from inside the pyramid. Escalators and elevators are available for use.

Niké en chiton ionique. Also called the Winged Victory of Samothrace. It is one of the surviving masterpieces of Hellenic sculpture despite its significant damage. Believed to date from 220-190 BC.

Taking a rest from the long walk as hubby takes more photos of the paintings on display.

Greek sculptures--severed head. Either the parts were lost or the sculptor intended it that way, since during that certain era, sculptors would make less visible parts of statues, also body parts are made separately then assembled together.

Three muses...hah...hubby's fave? Nah, he posed beside almost every statue.

Venus de Milo. One spectator said that it was perhaps during transport, that the hands of the statue got lost. I jokingly said Hercules threw a discus and accidentally destroyed the arms...referring to the Disney movie Hercules. =D Kidding aside, here's what really happened.

Painting on the ceiling...this could be of Roman origin.

Great sphinx of Tanis. This is one of the largest sphinxes outside Egypt. According to archaeologists, certain details suggest that this sphinx dates to an earlier period - the Old Kingdom (c. 2600 BC).

La Joconde, The Mona Lisa. Perhaps the most famous painting in the world, a portrait by Leonardo da Vinci of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, that has been finally established as a fact just this month. The La Joconde has been subject to many critics and research and at one time; a robbery. Thus, it has been displayed at the museum's Salle des États inside a purpose-built, climate-controlled enclosure behind bullet proof glass. A wooden rail prohibits the viewers from coming too near the painting. But the guards were so kind to have let us go past it, see here.

By the way, Jean Reno who played Bezu Fache in the movie Da Vinci code which was set at the Louvre, did a narration: the Da Vinci code soundwalk for the museum. The audio guide gives the listener historical facts and meanings of many paintings at the museum.

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The Louvre is not just big...but really really big, we were not able to finish touring it. Half day won't be enough for hubby, an artist and admirer of art and for me, an art lover who once dreamed of becoming an artist. =P The Louvre is truly an art lover's haven, no wonder it gathers as much as 8million visitors a year!

(This Photo is courtesy of the Free online photos.)

Paris Experience - MyTravel's Explorers Hotel

Saturday, morning after we arrived. Changed clothes to at least be presentable at the dining hall, lol...didn't bother about unruly hair.

We woke up earlier than we normally would at home, I guess everyone's excited.

The Explorer boat, this is were the pool slide is located. From top view, the side with the dolphins is where the bar and restaurants are. From the glass window, one can see the pool.

The breakfast buffet is open from 7-11am, a selection of coldcuts, cheeses, jam are in this 'boat.'

Bagels, croissants and other bread are offered too. There's also an array of joghurt, pudding, flans but if you're not for these sweets, fresh watermelon and pineapples can be eaten without limit. =D

The last installment for boosting you up in the morning are diverse cereals plus hot choco, milk, coffee or cold fruit juices.

Charlie having ham for breakfast and Daniel having chocolate cereals.
The breakfast experience surely made us go through every single day full of energy.

Traders Cafe Bar. Never got the chance to probe.

Marco's Pizza. Ten euros for an 8-slice pizza which you can pick up after 10 minutes. They also have other finger foods, I remember sighing as I bought 2 french fries for 8 euros! Its Paris after all. *sigh*

We were able to use the other kid's facilities such as the arcade room, ball corner, slides. etc., we also took a dip at the pool but unfortunately forgot to take photos. The pool was then closed for renovation while we were there...sayang!

Hubby was a little surprised to see lots of Africans as crew in the hotel forgetting that many countries in Africa had been French colonies. We were staying in the hotel only when sleeping and an hour after waking up so there were lots of time for cleaning. However, hubby and I are a little disappointed to see that there would still be coffee or sugar spill still on the table that we've left in the morning.

Anyway, the experience is good, out of ten I'd rate it 7.5, this place after all is one that Charlie remembers well and would like to return to.

The Paris Experience - Arrival

The Paris/Disneyland trip was not planned ahead, hubby was mumbling about it for sometime but I didn't took it seriously. Then it just happened, we boarded the City Airport train from Floridsdorf, hurried to the Vienna International Airport because the plane will leave at 7:20 and we only have that 20 minutes to do all the stuff you do at the airport...To think that Daniel's stroller will be regarded as a baggage..hubby carried it all the way through while I have Daniel with me. We made it in time to Gate 3 only to find out that the flight has been delayed for another hour. =S

The two hour ride went smoothly, none of the kids throwing up or having ear pressure =P...we had a good meal though I unfortunately forgot what it was. We arrived at Charles deGaulle at 10P.M. local time. This is my second time to be in this airport and I still feel lost in its hugeness. We boarded a bus that will take us to the Hotel, My Travel's Explorer at Marnee La Vallee. It took us another hour 20 minutes and the kids were able to sleep.

<---Can you spot hubby here? This is the lobby of the Hotel. The crew were really nice save for one who gave us 'very little' trouble before we left.

Having the theme 'explorer/pirate,' one can see boats, mermaids, ships and other sea creatures lying about.

The hotel boasts of 2 Bars, 3 Restaurants, a Disney Shop, an Explorer's shop, indoor children's corners, indoor adventure play area, heated indoor pool, with an adventure boat that leads one to the pool slide.

The hotel is approximately an 8-minute free shuttle ride to the Disney Parks and Disney® Village and Chessy TGV/RER regional train station. It was not as convenient though since passengers could fill up both from leaving and arriving to the hotel.

---> The kids sitting on a wooden chair at the lobby, still groggy from the very limited sleep they got. We went directly to our room, which was not easily found...there were many elevators yes, but they will lead you to certain floors. We eventually found our way, changed to PJ's and went straight to sleep as fun awaits us the next morning.

<---Our hotel room, a room which our son, Charlie, would later on often ask to visit and stay at again.