Paris Wedding Show

Looks pretty exciting to me! I shall have to check it out.

Thanksgiving In A Bag

This is a kind of Lays potato chips that we discovered at the "supermarche." We had to buy it of course. The flavor– Turkey, Thyme and Rosemary? It tastes exactly like all the flavors of Thanksgiving in one bag- or bite.

"Mac Doh"

Our first trip to McDonald's at the mall close to our hotel. The menu was similar to what we have in the States, everything just sounded fancier, like the "Royal Cheese." Also beer was a drink option, definitely something that would not be offered back home, that was weird.

Our First Trip to Paris: New Years!

So today marked the last day of 2007 and we decided to celebrate with a short trip to Paris for the New Year before our actual move into Pairs in a few days. We took the RER A train in from where we are staying into Paris. The train and metro system is pretty easy once you learn the basics. We ended up following the crowd and learning from there. We got off the metro at the Trocadero exit which is right across the river from the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing to walk out into Paris and the first thing you see the Eiffel Tower. It’s really tall and looks exactly like all the photos you see. From there, we found our way to our hotel a few blocks away. We went exploring after checking in. We found my apartment-to-be and also walked by the Arch de Triumph. There is so much to do in Paris and we are so excited to go back to Paris and live there.

Arch de Triumph

Okay, now onto New Years. For dinner, we ate at our hotel. It was a really nice seven-course dinner. We started out with bread and marinated scallops to preserved duck to lobster in coral sauce to venison to an assortment of cheeses to a nice fruit dessert to coffee and chocolate. Though the portions were not big, with seven courses, it was enough food. It did however, take us 3 ½ hours to eat.

Before we walked to the Eiffel Tower for New Years, I gave Sara a little present in a blue box. I gave her a Tiffany & Co. promise ring. I wanted to give her the promise ring to show my love for her and of course, my commitment to marry her; a little something before the diamond ring. She was completely surprised and loved the ring. We will try to put a picture up of it soon.

After dinner and the ring, Sara & I walked to the Eiffel Tower to bring in the New Year. There were TONS of people everywhere and the street was closed down because well people stopped driving. When it struck midnight, the tower lit up with little lights everywhere and the crowd erupted. Everyone lit their own fireworks and was yelling. People were on top of cars and tour buses blocked streets. It was really cool to see first hand and is a memory Sara & I will always have together.

Euro Disneyland!

After sleeping in leisurely (like we seem to do everyday this week, as we adjust to the time difference) we woke up, and went to the grocery store to get food and make breakfast in our Villa before we caught the bus to EuroDisney. The transportation systems around here and especially in Paris are amazing! They totally crush any kind of system that we have in the States, except maybe Bart in the bay area could compete with it.
Going to the store or “le supermarche” was a really cool experience. Europeans are so smart, they give you a push-cart without a basket so you can attach an upper or lower basket depending on the amount of space that you need. It’s all removable and interchangeable. Obviously everything in the store is in French so we had to guess what things were by the pictures. My very limited French helped me figure out a few things like what an apple is called (“pomme”) and what kind of soup to buy. I really liked the whole experience, Eddy and his parents seemed a little overwhelmed, but they got used to things as we went along. We also stopped at the “la boulangerie” or bakery to get a couple of baggets. That is another amazing thing about France, the bread. Oh my goodness it is yummy!
Disneyland is not too far from where we are staying so it is a quick bus ride from here to there, except that along the way we stop at other hotels where we pick up more people so we can get packed together like sardines. But other than that the thought in the transportation system is efficient. There were so many people at Disneyland! It was a mad house. There were all kinds of people there from the U.K., Ireland, Russia, and France of course but not so many from America. I wouldn’t be surprised if we were the only American’s there. I think it was off-season for tourists so all the European locals took advantage of the holiday. It made listening to people in line pretty interesting with all the accents around us.
We actually went to Disney Studio’s first where Eddy bought me some French Minnie Mouse ears, which are adorable (I have always wanted a pair). There we got to see the magic of making movies behind the scenes, like how special effects work, car stunts, and pyrotechnics. It was pretty cool, especially the tanker scene from our tour of the back lot where a truck tanker exploded in front of us (hot! by the way) and the car stunt show we went to. That was amazing! Make sure you check out our video from the show on this post.
After our studio visit we went to Disneyland. We tried to go on Space Mountain in Futureland, but the wait was an hour and a half, so we decided to pass on that and explore. The first ride we actually went on was the carousel, because it was the only one with a normal sized line. After that we went through Sleeping Beauty’s castle and then to get some “French fast food.” By then it was dark so we tried to squeeze in a few more things like the Pirate ride and the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. Those were pretty cool, however, Pirates had a super long line. After all that and the time difference we were pretty exhausted so we left the park to catch our bus back to the hotel and went to bed. We saw way more than that, but it was such a packed day that it’s hard to describe everything, especially 2 days after we went there, so make sure you look at the pictures.

Our Villa

After we got off the plane, aquired our rental car and drove to the hotel (The Marriot at the Magne le Hongre), they gave us this lovely Villa to stay in. The whole resort is really beautiful, it looks like a little French Village. Here are the pics of it (we are the tiny one in the corner):




Once we got to our room we could not stay awake. We were so exhausted from the flight that we went to bed around 3pm here and didn't wake up til 10pm. Of course then we couldn't sleep so we stayed awake til 2AM and went back to sleep til 10AM. Our whole sleep schedule is way-WAY messed up. We are getting more used to it now though. Once we woke up on Sunday and got ready we headed to EuroDisney!!!

The Flight Over

Eddy was sad because he spilled my sprite on me an hour into the flight so I had to sit there for 9 hours with wet jeans lol (they eventually dried so it was ok) and I wasn't mad.

The screens in front of us that showed our flight progression. They also has movies and games. That was what entertained us for most of the flight.

Eddy asleep, wearing the eye mask to keep the light away. It was almost impossible to sleep on the plane. Seriously uncomfortable!