France 2023

Trip Introduction

In 2020 we had planned a 10-day trip to Paris for May. This was going to be our first trip to Europe where we didn't do a formal tour; instead, we would base ourselves in Paris, making a couple day-trips to other sites and a couple days at Disneyland Paris. We decided to rework that plan and in June 2023 we spent two weeks visiting the City of Lights and the French countryside. We changed the original plan to include a 7-day guided tour with Insight Vacations but kept several days on our own plus the days at Disneyland Paris.

We saw some amazing sights and met some great people on the tour. During the trip we walked over 200 miles (Julie 97, James 105). We hope you enjoy our notes and a few of the photos we took along the way.




Tuesday, 06/13/2023 – Departure

We slept in a little but were up before 7a. After showers, we washed the towels and finished packing our toiletries and some snacks. James then took the trash to his office and we were ready to go. Our friend Jamie was able to pick us up around 11a, and after a brief return visit to pick up something we realized we had left at the house, we were at the airport, baggage was checked, and through security a little after 12p for our 1:55p departure. We ate lunch in the airport, boarding was uneventful, and arrived in Charlotte early. Early enough, in fact, we had to sit for about 10 minutes waiting for a gate to open up.

After deplaning, we found our next departure gate in Charlotte, but they were in the boarding process for a flight to Rome. We back tracked a couple gates to get a snack at Wendy's in case we didn't like the food options on the plane. We boarded on time and the flight was pretty smooth. Julie was able to sleep a little, but as usual, James did not. Between the two flights and time taxiing on the ground, he did make it through all four John Wick movies (skipping the credits).




Wednesday, 06/14/2023 – Arrival and Getting Acclimated

Our flight landed on time around 9:30a local time. James decided they put customs really far from where you get off the plane in every airport so you can remember how to use your legs after long flights. We made it through the passport check and found our bag without any problems. James then fell victim to the "taxi that's not really a taxi" bit and we overpaid to get to our hotel arriving around 11:30a. Our room wasn’t ready, so we consolidated a few items to leave with the bell hops and headed out to see some of Paris.

We found the metro station nearest our hotel and purchased passes for the day. We had planned on buying a "City Pass" that included public transportation plus access to many attractions and museums. We hadn't preordered because the one we decided on had to be picked up in person or mailed; we hadn't looked at them in time to mail. We found the spot to pick the passes up and the tourist person asked a couple questions about what all we planned on doing. She recommended, based on our responses, not getting the city pass, since it was cheaper to get the museum pass, boat tour ticket, and 3-day transportation pass separately. While we wanted 4-days for the museum pass, we only needed 3-days for the metro since we had already purchased a 1-day pass.

By the time we made our purchases, it was 12:30p. We looked at several cafes but decided to get a sandwich and chips (paprika Pringles, mmmm) from a little market and eat in a park near a church. We weren't too far from the Opera Garnier so we walked by it and then headed down towards the Seine. We got to Jardin des Tuileries and turned left walking the few blocks to the Louvre. It was getting warm, and we were still dressed in our traveling clothes, so we stuck to the shade whenever possible. After getting a few photos, we found the nearest metro station and returned to our hotel. We arrived right at 3p and our room was now ready.

We retrieved our bags and headed to our room. We changed clothes and unpacked a few things before laying down for an hour or so. We headed back out around 7:30p hoping to find a bite to eat before our 9:30p tickets to the summit of the Eiffel Tower. We walked around the area between the train station and the tower not finding anything that struck our fancy, so we ended up eating some snacks from the camera bag before heading through the security check. It's free to get into the grounds below the tower, but you have to have a ticket to get to the second floor or the observation deck near the top. We took a few photos as the Sun was going down and got in line for the first elevator ride. We arrived at the intermediate stop right as the Sun was setting so the western facing walkways were packed. With the Olympics coming to Paris next year, a lot of the major attractions are being refurbished. The tower is getting a fresh coat of paint so there were also construction barriers up in a few places making walking around even more difficult. As quickly as we could, we made our way to the second elevators to go the rest of the way to the observation deck. We were lucky in that ours faced West so as we went up, it looked like the sun was rising. That also meant we could hardly move when it was time to exit the elevator with all the people at the railing. We moved around and took some pictures looking the other directions letting the crowd disperse. We then made it back down to the ground. It was after 10:30p at this point so we just headed back to the hotel stopping to get McDonald's take away (carryout) and eating in our room. It was right around midnight when we turned the lights off and got into bed.




Thursday, 06/15/2023 – Sites Around Paris

The blackout curtains in our hotel were really good. James woke vaguely needing to use the restroom and saw it was 10:10a. We decided to get out of bed. After going through our morning routines, we headed to the train station and then to the Arc de Triumphe. We had planned on going up to the roof, but with the late start, we took some pictures from the ground and then made our way in the general direction of the Opera Garnier. We found a small shop to sit and eat some lunch before finishing the walk arriving a little after 1:30p for our 2p guided (English speaking) tour. We enjoyed hearing some of the history behind the opera, including the fact it was designed to be as much of a show place for the patrons as the performances. Apparently, "season ticket holders" in the late 1800s would go to the same show 3 times a week just to be seen. The neighborhood has many banks so the ladies could pick up their fancy jewels on the way to and return them after leaving the opera. We even got to see (the door to) box 5 made famous in the Phantom of the Opera story.

After our tour ended, we made our way to L'ile de le Cité. We had 4:30p entry tickets for St. Chapelle. On the way we walked by the front of Notre Dame de Paris. This wasn't the most direct route from the train station, but James had some issues getting oriented to Google Maps. We made it to the chapel in plenty of time and the late afternoon lighting had several of the stain glass windows lit up. After leaving St. Chapelle, we stopped and enjoyed mixed fruit smoothies before returning to Notre Dame. The area directly around the cathedral is still closed due to restoration work on the fire damaged roof. There was signage on the safety walls about all the things that were being done. This included major cleaning of all the surfaces and glass inside. When we visited in 2003, the walls were all very dark from years of soot built up from the lanterns. We imagine the cathedral will be significantly brighter inside once it reopens. We ended up walking around the east end of the cathedral where they have multi-story construction offices set up. We crossed the river and walked back toward the west (main façade) on the opposite side of the Seine.

Many of the museums are open late on Thursdays so we decided to head to the Musee d'Orsay. We arrived around 6:30p and enjoyed the statues that fill the arched atrium of the old train station. We walked through several galleries with art nouveau pieces as well as various artists' paintings. We ate our evening meal at the café before looking through the impressionist gallery preparing for our trip to Giverny on Friday. We returned to the hotel around 9p and rested a while before going to bed.




Friday, 06/16/2023 – Visiting the Countryside

James set an alarm for 6:30a Friday so we could get up and around to catch a train. We wanted to visit the home of Claude Monet in Giverny (pronounced with a soft "g" like the second one in garage). We had to take the metro to one of the larger train stations and then buy tickets for a train that went outside the immediate Paris area. After having issues at the kiosks, we found an actual ticket office and made it to the 8:15a train just as they opened gates for boarding. Since all this was during the morning rush hour, the stations and trains were all busier than what we previously experienced. It was just shy of a one-hour ride from Paris Saint-Lazare station to the Vernon-Giverny stop. We then got round trip tickets on the "little train" which took us the 6+ kilometers from the train station to the Giverny bus park. We walked about 10 minutes to the entrance for Monet's home and gardens. The grounds are managed by the Foundation Claude Monet and they keep the gardens and the lily ponds across the highway maintained. It is a very popular attraction and, while we arrived about as early as you could, the grounds quickly filled so it became hard to maneuver along the narrow paths. It was very picturesque, and it is easy to see how the country setting inspired some of Monet’s paintings.

We walked back through Giverny stopping to get a drink. While enjoying our Pshitt! Lemonade (actually tasted more like American Sprite than European Sprite), we met some free-range chickens. We then returned to the parking area and waited for the little train to return so we could get back to town. We arrived at the station in Vernon with plenty of time to buy our return tickets and caught the 12:55p train getting into Paris about 2p. We returned to the Arc de Triomphe and used our Museum Passes to get to the roof. While the first 8 rounds of the spiral staircase to get to the first mezzanine required some pacing to not get winded, the view from the top was worth the pain in our legs. We decided to rest a bit and returned to the hotel around 3:30p. We also needed help getting the room safe open since James didn't follow directions when locking the laptop in there the morning before.

We left the hotel room a little after 5p and made it back to the Seine near the Eiffel Tower where we could catch the boat tour we had purchased. It lasted from 6-7p and we saw several sites including Musee d'Orsay, The Louvre, and Notre Dame. We also passed under 22 bridges of varying ages along the way. Apparently Red Bull was having a "cliff diving" competition the week we visited. After the cruise, we headed back to the area of our hotel and found a place we could sit down to eat. We then returned to our room around 9p and settled in for the evening.




Saturday, 06/17/2023 – More Sites of Paris

We woke around 7:30a and took our time getting out and about. Our only scheduled event was the welcome dinner for our tour. We headed to the metro station and realized the train we wanted to take across town wasn't going all the way due to maintenance at several stops. We found a little more roundabout way to get where we wanted to go and reached the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens) a little before 10a. The gardens were once part of a large estate and now house public places for different activities similar to Central Park in New York. The Palace de Luxembourg was designed for Marie de' Medici, the wife of Henri the IV of France (1612ish), and now houses the French Senate. There's also a monument called the Medici Fountain that felt very Italian.

We left the gardens and headed up the hill to the Pantheon. We arrived just in time to witness the beginning of a formal ceremony with several dignitaries in various militaristic uniforms. The interior has neoclassical details and is very large with paintings honoring St. Genevieve (patron saint of Paris). We opted not to climb the 203 steps to what is reported to be one of the best views in all of Paris. It was getting close to noon, so we walked down the hill to the Ile Saint Louis and found the tea room for Berthillon where we had some very scrumptious pastries and ice cream/sorbet. With very full stomachs, we headed to the nearest metro station and going to the Montmarte area of Paris. We wanted to ride the Funicular up the hill to the Basilica Sacre Cœur (Sacred Heart) and while we didn't climb the steps at the Pantheon, we did climb 181 steps to get out of the metro station at Abesses. Of course, it was hot and crowded, but as one of the highest parts of Paris, it offers great views out over the city.

We still had several hours so we headed back to the metro to get to the Cite de l'Architecture & Patrimoine (Architecture Museum). The collection includes examples of Gothic Architecture from all over France as well as an exhibit on modern French architecture. Currently they have additional elements concerning the restoration of Notre Dame de Paris, which is what James really wanted to see. We spent a couple hours looking at the exhibits and the view of the Eiffel Tower across the river before returning to the hotel around 4p.

Since it was "Arrival" day for the tour we purchased as part of the trip, we headed down to the lobby in time for the 5:30p welcome dinner. Our Travel Director was apparently finishing another tour, so we had a "stand-in" who helped us on the coach that took us relatively near our restaurant Le Rallye Passy. He had a good dinner and met some of our fellow guests on the tour. We opted not to go on the optional river cruise after the meal and were back at the hotel around 8p. We spent some time reorganizing our bags to reduce what the porters would be dealing with and then rested since Sunday would have a relatively early start.




Sunday, 06/18/2023 – Northwest Out of Paris

We started the day at 6:15a when the alarm sounded. We had to have the luggage in the hallway by 7a for the porters and then headed down for breakfast. After eating, we returned to the room to finish the morning routines and joined the group for our 8a departure time. Being Sunday morning, the traffic was light, and we made it to Rouen around 10a. Our Travel Director, Brian, gave the group a little background about the city while we walked from where the coach let us out to the city's central market. Rouen was the capital of Normandy prior to the area becoming a province of France in 1450. We then had about two hours of free time to visit shops or look at the two very different churches. One is a Gothic Cathedral James studied in his architectural history classes and the other is a more modern building designed to commemorate where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake as a heretic by the English (after she led the French army at several battles taking land back from English occupation).

We headed west from Rouen to the coastal town of Honfleur where the Seine enters the English Channel. We were again given free time to eat and explore from 1p to 3:30p. In that time there were periods of very heavy rain. We took shelter in a small street side restaurant with a canopy that periodically dumped water into the enclosure; fortunately, we were seated near the center, so it didn't affect us directly. After the rain let up, we wandered past some shops and went into the city's main church. There weren't many stonemasons in the area and as a major port town, the ship builders were called on to build the church. When you walk in and look at the ceiling, instead of traditional vaults, it looks like two ship hulls flipped upside down and pressed together.

The rain stopped about 30 minutes before we left, allowing for some nice shots of the port area. The tour headed further west to our hotel for the next two nights in Deauville. The rain started again early in the drive and we both nodded off for periods of time. The resort we stayed at was surrounded by a golf course and horse training facilities. We elected not to do the optional excursion to hear about the history of the city and go to a dinner, opting instead to rest in our room and eat at the restaurant where we stayed.




Monday, 06/19/2023 – A Day in Normandy

Monday started with breakfast around 7a and leaving the hotel around 8a. We were staying in the same hotel for two nights so we didn't have to put our luggage out. We traveled west to the city of Bayeux (by-you) where we picked up a local guide who talked to us as we visited several important spots associated with the D-Day Invasion of June 6, 1944. She hopped on the coach, and we continued northwest to Pointe du Hoc (Hawk Point) where the German army had several 150mm guns capable of shooting ships up to 13 miles away. This location could fire on the ships at both Utah and Omaha beaches. A group of US Army Rangers scaled the cliffs below the battery and captured the point just to find out the commanding German office had moved the guns inland while bunkers were built to protect them from Allied bombing. They ended up holding the point for two and a half days before reinforcements arrived. The site has been left untouched since the war and the craters from bombing leading up to the invasion are still visible.

We then headed to Omaha beach which was one of the two beaches targeted by US Forces during the invasion. It was also the longest beach assaulted on D-Day and saw the most casualties. Our guide explained many factors that played into that result. We saw a large stone memorial marker, similar to those at each of the five targeted landing zones, as well as a sculpture called Les Braves which was installed to honor the 60th anniversary of D-Day. Next, we traveled to the US Cemetery of Normandy where 9,386 US service men and women who died, mostly in the three months of fighting in the Normandy portion of France starting with D-Day, are buried. There are separate, similar sites for England and Canada. The guide indicated that only about 40% of the American's who died on Normandy's soil are there; the rest were returned home at their family's request. One of those buried at the site includes Teddy Roosevelt Jr. who was a WWI veteran, but as the General of men who had never before seen action, fought his superiors to be included in the landing craft at Utah beach. At the age of 57, he was in the second landing craft to hit the beach. He survived D-Day but died in July 1944 while still fighting in the Normandy area. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor as one of two Generals who actually stepped on the beaches June 6. The body of his brother, who died in WWI, was exhumed from another site in France and buried in an adjacent plot.

After leaving the cemetery, we made our way to Arromanches which was one of the two "ports" created after the landing to get men and materials on continental European soil. We were given a choice to visit a museum about those activities or return to Bayeux to view a "tapestry" from the 11th century that recorded William, Duke of Normandy's invasion of England which resulted in him becoming known as William the Conqueror and 300 years of Norman rule over that country. We opted to see the tapestry. What is called a tapestry is actually a piece of linen almost 69 meters (224 feet) long with needle work embroidery depicting 58 different scenes telling the story. After listening to the audio-guide that walked us through each of the panels, we left the museum to visit Notre Dame de Bayeux which was a few blocks up the street. We met the coach, which had returned to pick up the group who had stayed at the museum in Arromanches and returned to our hotel in Deauville. We had a couple hours to rest and reflect, and reorganize our suitcase, before a celebration dinner with our tour group. After dinner, we figured out how to get some documents printed we needed for later in our trip before finishing the evening in our room.




Tuesday, 06/20/2023 – West into Brittany

The morning started with having our bags out by 7a followed by breakfast and the coach departing shortly after 8a. We headed slightly southwest cutting across the Normandie peninsula to Le Mont-St-Michel. Visiting the abbey at the top of the sometimes island was one of the primary drivers for us selecting this tour itinerary. We could see the "mountain" of granite with the structures about 15 minutes before we pulled into the bus parking area. The land around the Mont is in a tidal basin and silt build up has moved the shore line closer to the Atlantic, resulting in a lot of flat space with high salt content soils as you approach the site. We met a local guide at the bus park who walked us through getting on the trams that take people out near the Mont. When the first religious structures were built there, materials had to be carted over the sand at low tide and moved to high enough ground to avoid being lost when high tide arrived. The shape and orientation of the land and tidal plane create one of the highest tidal transitions in all of Europe. When a full moon coincides with the moon being closest to the Earth in its orbit, the tidal difference between high and low tide can be 14 meters (46 feet). The tide also transitions very quickly. There have been burial sites found on the Mont dating from around 700 AD and there is documentation of the first chapel being built in the 1100s. The Monks of Mont-St-Michel supported William the Conqueror in his campaign to become King of England and were rewarded with large areas of land in both Normandy and the South of England across the sleeve (the French don't call it the "English Channel"). We spent a little over an hour with the guide getting to the Mont, passing through the village (going uphill), and then touring the cathedral and abbey itself. There were over 200 steps from where the village "ended" up to the sanctuary. After touring the abbey, we had free time to get lunch and shop in the village. We decided to pass on the souvenir shops and walk the 3km back to the bus parking area. This gave James the opportunity to get a few different photos with the bridge and causeway leading to the Mont.

The coach pulled out at 2:30p and we headed to the port city of St-Malo where we would be spending Tuesday night. We had the option of a guided tour of the walled old-city, free time to shop or head to the beach, or go straight to the hotel to get off our feet. We opted to take the tour and our guide from the morning led us around this historic old City that was home to prestigious corsairs, authors, and explorers including Jacques Cartier who established Quebec, Canada. Like Mont-St-Michel, the tides are extreme around St-Malo, and we arrived shortly after low tide so there was an extensive beach visible with people enjoying time on the sand. We learned about the fortifications around the bay and mouth of the nearby river which were never breached by the British despite several attempts. We also could see an island that was one of the last holdouts of the Nazi forces in western France; ultimately the Allies bombed the island for 10 straight days obliterating everything and physically altering the shape of the land mass. We were picked up around 5p and taken to our hotel where we appreciated getting off our feet for a while before heading back out to find a bite for dinner and see what the bay looked like closer to high tide. We were amazed at the difference in water levels after the little over an hour we spent eating.




Wednesday, 06/21/2023 – Away from the Coast (Happy Anniversary)

With only one night in St-Malo, we had our luggage ready for pickup by 7a and headed to breakfast. James wanted to be at the front of the coach, so we made sure to be outside and ready to board well before the 8a departure time. We headed southeast from the coast toward the Loire River valley. After two and half hours on the road, we stopped in Angers (the r and s are silent) where there was a large fortification with some amazing gardens in the old moat. We then traveled along the wide, shallow Loire River to visit a winery near the town of Saumur. We toured a small portion of the 8 km of limestone caves this vintner uses to age their sparkling wine. We had an opportunity to do a wine tasting, but both of us felt it would be a waste of fermented grapes. We then headed into the center of the city with free time for lunch. We finally found a grocery store where James purchased a new flavor of Pringles to try: Smokey Bacon.

The tour group then headed farther upriver to the Villandry Château and Gardens. This castle has very formal gardens, but many of them are created using fruit and vegetables which generate food for the local area. It happened that the day we were on site, a crew was filming for the period series "The Serpent Queen" based on the life of Catherine de' Medici produced by Starz in the United States. While production limited access to a few areas in the garden, we enjoyed walking through the areas we could get to. We left Villandry at 4:45p and arrived at our hotel shortly after 5p. Our lodging for the next two nights was an actual Château, which is French for castle, on a national registry. This meant each of the rooms were unique. Our room had an okay view of the courtyard but was spacious and comfortable.

We left the hotel again around 6:30p for an optional dinner at a small local restaurant in a nearby town. Along the way we passed many grape fields and our Travel Director talked about his experience picking grapes for four seasons. The dinner was very good, and we enjoyed socializing with some of the other tour participants. We returned to the hotel around 9:30p and retired to our room to rest and enjoy time together. All day long we were comparing this day to our Anniversary in Glasgow, Scotland in 2022.




Thursday, 06/22/2023 – Had Fun Storming the Castles

We were able to sleep in a little on Thursday as our coach did not depart until 8:30a. The morning was an optional excursion to Château de Chenonceau while the afternoon was an included outing to Château d'Azay-le-Rideau. Our local guide for both visits had lived in France for 17 years and was a published author on medieval France, but was originally from New York so we had very little trouble understanding her. She also did an incredible job relating events to current culture making the history more relatable; things like explaining the Loire valley was to Parisian aristocracy what the Hamptons is to New Yorkers. She focused on the châteaus being representations of how culture was changing through the renaissance of the 14-1600s and what role the particular ones we visited played in the politics of the time.

The morning started off raining, but we drove out of the heavy stuff and there were only light sprinkles after we arrived at Chenonceau. The current building spans the river Cher. There were distinct segments of the building that you could see were built in different time periods based on stylistic differences on the façade. The building and gardens were extremely picturesque and what most people envision when they think of a rural castle in France. The guide spoke about the drama of the French court as the building was largely built by a finance minister who was accused of using the king's money. The king frowned upon this, so he had the minister killed, and gave the property to his favorite mistress. The queen and the mistress had an uneasy truce since neither wanted the King looking elsewhere. Once the king died, however, the queen took the property away from the mistress offering a lesser place down the river (the mistress moved backed to Paris). The Queen in the above story was Catherine de' Medici and the time period is the mid-1500s. After the tour of the actual castle, we had some free time to wander the gardens and grab a bite for lunch.

After free time, we returned to the hotel to pick up the few people who had opted not to participate in the optional excursion. We left the hotel around 1:45p and visited a castle with a similar start: an old medieval castle torn down with a new renaissance structure on the foundation by a finance minister who was later accused of using the king's money. While this château didn't have the royal intrigues, it did hold "banished" courtiers and had a blending of Gothic, Romanesque, and French Renaissance styling throughout. Its interior layout was much more gothic with no corridors, only interconnected rooms.

We returned to the hotel around 4:30p and had a couple hours before "drinks and nibbles" on the terrace and then a celebration dinner as this would be the last night the entire group was together. We again enjoyed a great meal and time with our fellow travelers before heading back to our room around 9:30p to get ready for the next day.




Friday, 06/23/2023 – Back to Paris

We got up a little early on Friday and made sure we had everything ready for the return trip to Paris. Our bags were in the hall for the porters by 7:30a, we had eaten, and were on the coach heading northeast at 8:30a. We rode for a solid 90 minutes before a comfort stop and another hour before arriving in Chartres. The Cathedral Notre Dame de Chartres is the largest Gothic Church in France, and we were very lucky they had removed almost all the exterior scaffolding a couple weeks before we visited. You could definitely tell where restoration work had occurred. We had about an hour to walk around the outside and grab a bite to eat before meeting our local specialist at 1p to get a tour of the inside of the cathedral.

The guide was from Russia but had lived in the Chartres area for 14 years. She was clearly passionate about the cathedral's history and restoration. She talked about how the scenes in stained-glass windows were to be "read" bottom to top and left to right. Chartres has the most original stained-glass windows of all the cathedrals in Europe. We were also lucky in that Fridays is the only day of the week they remove some of the pews in the nave letting people see the labyrinth in the floor. She then took the group around some scaffolding where there is still restoration work inside the building and talked about the ornately carved choir screen which depicts the life of Jesus. There are 40 niches showing different scenes and the detail is amazing. Finally, she showed us what made Chartres, an otherwise out-of-the-way farming village, one of the major stops on the pilgrims trail, the relic of the Veil of Mary. It is claimed this is the veil Mary wore while giving birth to Jesus and he would have also touched it. The guide spoke about how the Gothic Cathedral has remarkably remained 90% intact, not counting the fire that destroyed the almost completed Romanesque cathedral, through the French Revolution and two World Wars. There was even a story about an American officer who argued against an order to destroy the bell towers for fear of snipers and was given 20 minutes to clear the building on his own. Within the 20 minutes, he had an American flag flying from the top, so the building avoided artillery bombardment; that officer was killed in action later the same day in a different part of the city.

After leaving Chartres shortly after 2p, we rode back into Paris with the coach passing some key places on the west side of town. We arrived at the hotel and were in our room a little after 4p. For all practical purposes, the tour was over as this was the last time the group was all together. There were 12 of us who took advantage of an opportunity to attend a cabaret and dinner optional excursion leaving the hotel at 6p. While the seating was tight, the food was above average, and the show was entertaining. It was close to 11p when we arrived back at the hotel.




Saturday, 06/24/2023 – Visit to Versailles

Breakfast on Saturday was included with the tour, so we headed down around 7:30a. We saw a few of the group and said our goodbyes again after eating. We headed out of our room around 8:30a to visit the Gardens of Versailles before our 12p timed entry to the actual building. It was clear it was not going to be a perfect day when we arrived at the metro station that is less than 5 minutes from our hotel and found signs indicating that particular line was not running Saturday or Sunday. We were only taking the metro one stop so we pivoted and decided to just walk across the river to the stop where we would catch the RER line out to Versailles. James put the name of the stop into Google Maps and we were on our way. Fifteen minutes later it became clear Google took us to the building the stop was named after, and not the train station. Another 11-minute walk and we get to the machines to purchase our tickets. For whatever reason, the machine would not process our credit card and the actual ticket window was not open yet. Fortunately, we had enough cash so were able to get our tickets and catch the train out to Versailles. We arrived a little before 10a and decided to stop at one of the benches on the platform to put on sunscreen while the hoard of people filtered through the turnstiles leaving the station.

It was about a 10-minute walk from the station, up some nicely maintained streets, and through the carpark to the gates into the Honour Courtyard of the palace. This is where everyone goes and stands in line to either purchase tickets, get your picture taken by the gold gate to the inner courtyard, or actually get into the building at your appointed time. We snuck between lines to get to the upper entrance to the gardens. The sky was almost cloudless, and the sun was shining brightly. We looked out over the Orangery Parteree and then headed over to the main steps from the back of the palace into the heart of the gardens overlooking Latona's Fountain. We then wandered through several of the areas on the southwest side of the great lawn finding several fountains (some running, some not). On Saturdays in the summer, there is music playing and the majority of the fountains are on at various times of the day. I should also note, we both got buzzes from our FitBits that we had walked 8000 steps before 11a. Before heading back up to the queue for our 12p entry time, we purchased crepes from a shop in the gardens to eat while we walked; eating and walking apparently is a very un-French thing to do.

Saturdays is apparently a very popular day to visit the palace. We got in the 12p timed entry line at 11:45a and were a good 400 ft from the front of the line. With the line probably averaging 2 people wide, I would guess we were somewhere between 550 and 600th and the line continued to grow behind us. The entry process was relatively efficient though; we saw the front of the line start to move right as the clock tower stuck noon and by 12:15p, we were through the doors, tickets were scanned, and we had passed through the metal detector/bag check stations. Once we were inside, we walked through several of the royal chambers, the famous hall of mirrors overlooking the gardens, several galleries with paintings of famous French war victories (no defeats), the Prince Stairs, and then a gallery dedicated to the imperial time period. Much of the time through the chambers and hall of mirrors, we felt like cattle in chutes being herded along because of the limited walking space, large number of people, and many of them stopping to take pictures and listen to their audio guides. It was a much less enjoyable experience than what we remember from our visit in 2003; but we realized that was on a Thursday in May which might have also contributed to fewer people. We also noted there was an entire wing that was closed off, including the chapel, which meant the same number of people packed into fewer rooms. We spent a little over an hour touring the palace and emerged back into the sun around 1:20p.

After standing in the shade for a few minutes, we decided to return to the gardens. However, we could not go back in using the upper entrance; for reentry we had to go outside of the Palace perimeter, walk several blocks down the street, and go in one of the separate garden only entrances. So, we did that, trying as much as possible to stick to the shade. Along the way we found a bench and sat for a bit just to get off our feet for a while. As we reentered the gardens through the Dragon Gate, we were right at Neptune's fountain just in time to see it running. We walked through several sections of the gardens on the northeast side of the great lawn before deciding we probably needed to head back to the hotel for our wellbeing. We really didn't want to buy more water but had consumed both bottles we'd brought with us and the 85 degrees plus the bright sun was just more than we could stand. We worked our way back towards the train station stopping at a McDonald's where we each got a strawberry and banana smoothie. With the metro not running, we found an alternate route back across town using one of the surface trams run by Paris' public transportation. It dropped us about six blocks from the hotel and the walk wasn't through the most well-kept area. We were glad to get back to the hotel room around 4:30p and just collapse for a bit.

Around 6p we decided to see what the route was like to the next closest metro station. We had planned on using the metro to get where we could catch the regional RER line for the next leg of our journey Sunday morning, but after the test run, we decided we really didn't want to deal with our luggage for the 20-minute trek. On our way back to the hotel we enjoyed some gelato and then learned from the hotel clerk that a cab should only cost 10-15 Euro to get us to the RER train station Sunday morning. Deciding that was probably the best plan, we headed back up to our room to rest some more and reorganize luggage for our final act in Paris.




Sunday, 06/25/2023 – Heading East to Disneyland Paris

Since we booked the extra night in Paris through our tour company, breakfast was included. We headed down around 7:30a and then returned to the room to finish getting ready and pack our things. We consolidated as much as we could to reduce what we had to deal with on the train to Saine-et-Marne where Disneyland Paris is located. We checked out, took a cab to the train station, and found our way to the platform right as a train heading to our destination pulled up. The train ride took about 40 minutes. We then found the spot in the station where we could pick up our passes and leave our bags (a service we had paid extra for) to be transferred to our hotel. We then headed into Hollywood Studios. We were getting a later start and it was going to be hot again, over 90 degrees Farenheit, so we decided to go to the park with less content, figuring we could get to the hotel a little earlier. The park was pretty busy, and we probably spent more total time standing in queues than we did riding rides. Still, we enjoyed the atmosphere as well as the rides and shows we were able to experience. We left the park a little after 4p to officially check-in to our hotel. We stayed at the Newport Beach Club Resort on property, and it was about a 15-minute walk through the Disney Village (Downtown Disney) to our hotel. We checked in, picked up our luggage, and found our room in time to rest for about 35 minutes before walking back to the Disney Village area where we had 6:15p dinner reservations. After eating, we wandered through several of the shops in the area before returning to our hotel a little after 8p. We rested some more and then planned what we wanted to accomplish in the Disneyland Park on Monday.

A large tan building with Walt Disney Studios and the number one over the entry
Soundstage 1 is the passage from the entry courtyard to the Studios Park at Disneyland Paris.



Monday, 06/26/2023 – Disneyland in Another Country

We wanted to take advantage of the extra hour in the main Disneyland Park guests staying on property have access to, so we set an alarm and got up, had eaten breakfast, and were walking from our hotel to the park by 8:20a. While the skies were still very clear, there was a little more of a breeze and the temperature was decidedly cooler with an expected high only in the upper 70s. At Disneyland Paris there is a hotel (closed for renovation when we visited) that sits directly in front of the main park. You cannot actually see any part of the park until you pass through the large arched passages where they have the ticket check and then find yourself emerging and looking up at the train station. It reminded James of coming through the train station in Magic Kingdom (Disney World) where you come in to Main Street from the sides and then "discover" the castle as you move into alignment with the roadway passing between all the shops.

We enjoyed much of the day and were able to ride the rides we really were interested in, except Pirates of the Caribbean and Buzz Light Year which were both closed for renovation; Buzz had been open on Sunday, but the barricades went up overnight. The park was busy, and we waited in line for several rides, but nothing like the 60-minute plus waits on Sunday. Julie was not pleased with James after going on Hyperspace Mountain; it was the first time she had ever gone upside down on a roller coaster. James went single rider on the other coaster that we knew had a loop in the track. We also enjoyed the Lion King show and seeing how a different culture interpreted the story with song and dance. We picked up some souvenirs and left the park around 5:30p. We had already passed Saturday's Versailles visit step count.

We returned to the hotel and rested for a bit before heading to one of the other hotels on property for our 6:45p dinner reservation. After dinner we returned to the park as James wanted to see the night show using choreographed drones and the fireworks. Unfortunately, because of how late it gets dark, these shows didn't start until 10:50p and 11p respectively. To kill some time, we rode one of the Fantasyland rides that had a longer line earlier in the day and enjoyed a couple other rides for a second time before finding a spot along a rail to watch the shows. When the shows ended, our feet were killing us and we half walked, half hobbled, back to the hotel room arriving just before midnight having walked over 13 miles each.




Tuesday, 06/27/2023 – Heading Home

Tuesday was uneventful as international travel goes. We woke up and went through our morning routines. We had breakfast at the resort before heading back to our room to make sure our luggage was organized. We had paid for a transfer from our resort to the airport so just before 11a, we left the room and headed downstairs to catch the 11:30a coach. Once at the airport, we had to walk about 20 minutes from the Disney Express stop for all Terminal B to the American Airlines counters in Terminal B2 where we used the kiosk to check our bags and get James' boarding passes. He was randomly selected for additional screening at the gate so he couldn't get electronic boarding passes on his phone. We then proceeded through security and passport control. When we found our gate, we realized we would be taking a bus to board our plane. There were two other flights in the same gate area doing the same thing which confused some passengers. We sat at the gate for maybe 45 minutes before they started the boarding process. They called the extra screening passengers early and James got to the checkpoint before any of the others. As it turned out, we ended up on the same bus which took us around the terminal to where our plane was waiting. It seemed like the buses were how they dealt with not moving the planes that had come in from international destinations and jet bridges connected directly to the walkway for incoming customs checks. We found our seats and settled in for the 9-hour flight to Chicago. The flight left on time just after 4p.

We watched movies and TV shows while cruising over the Atlantic before landing in Chicago around 6p. We got off the plane, made it through US Immigration and picked up our checked bags. We then headed out of the customs area and dropped the bags off for our connecting flight to Des Moines. One thing we don't like about flying internationally into O’Hare is you have to go out of the "secure" side of things to take the train between the international and domestic terminals. This means passing through security a second time. With James' extra screening in Paris, he did not get TSA Precheck, so Julie took the bag with the camera and computer while he went through the standard screening lines. We both made it through our respective security lines and met on the other side. After a quick comfort stop, we headed to our gate and waited for our 9p departure. The flight to Des Moines was smooth and Jamie's husband Josh was able to pick us up at the airport, dropping us off at the house a little after 11p. We were happy to be home and sleep in our own bed.