the real adventure begins

Oh my heck - what a day!

I've never experienced culture shock until today.

I've never been claustrophobic until showering in the itty-bitty showers over on this side of the world.

I've never stayed in a hotel with a bidet in the bathroom before.

Note to self: coming to Italy when neither Kristy or myself speak Italian may have been a bad idea...

Other note to self: exchange money at the airport in Rome.  In Paris there were change places everywhere.  No here, in the area we're staying in.


We got up this morning and said good-bye to Paris.  I was not prepared to love it here as much as I do.  I'm excited to see some of the site in Rome and experience Italy, but I don't want to leave Paris!

We packed up and checked out of our hotel.  We were too late for the hotel's breakfast, so we left our bags at the front desk (with a lot of other people's bags) and went to have breakfast at the cafe next door.  It was so good!  We had the "International Menu", which was hot chocolate (that was the BEST I've ever had!), a croissant, some fresh squeezed oj, and then an omelet.  Seriously.  So good.

After breakfast we walked across the street to the little pharmacy on the corner.  Kristy got a really bad sunburn on the back of her neck yesterday at Disneyland.  She needed some aloe vera and I needed some bandaids.  My sandals have been rubbing one little spot on my big right toe.  Other than that they've been really great shoes to have on this trip.

After our purchases we went back to the hotel to wait for our driver to pick us up and take us to the airport.  He showed up without a problem.  He was so nice and funny.  He asked us all about our trip and taught us how to say a few things in French.  When we dropped us off he gave each of us a little golden Eiffel Tower key chain.  I love it!

Everyone here has been SO nice!

We flew into Paris through the Charles de Gaulle airport and we left today from Orly.  Oh my goodness it was crazy!  No English anywhere and people everywhere.  I began to think perhaps this plan of ours to travel to a country where neither of us speaks the language may not have been such a smart idea...

Getting through check-in and security was interesting.  We weren't allowed to get in line to check our bags until exactly 2 hours before our flight - which meant we had to sit and wait about an hour.  At 1:15pm they finally let us start lining up.  It then took 45 minutes to get up to the desk to check our bags.  Crazy.

 
They told us we couldn't have any liquids in our carry-ons, so I had to quickly put my contact solution and hand sanitizer into the bag I was checking.  Finally we got our bags checked, and our boarding passes, and we went through security.  We were both hungry so we stopped to get a sandwich (which really wasn't very good), and water at a snack shop.  While we were eating they made an announcement that our flight was boarding.  I took one more bite, then threw the uneaten other half of my sandwich away, and we hurried over to our gate.  But when we got there, there was no one there.  Weird.  So, we sat and waited.

A weird, older lady cam up to use saying she worked for the government and was doing a travel survey.  W told her we were boarding soon and didn't have time.  She said something French, handing Kristy an English packet, muttered some more in French, then walked away and disappeared.  SO WEIRD!

Finally an attendant showed up at the gate and we boarded.  We flew through Iberia Airlines, but it was a Vueling operated flight.  So, we flew to Italy, from France, on a Spanish airline.  Too funny.

The flight was uneventful.  Except!  We flew over the Alps!  It was so cool and so beautiful.  Even as huh up as we were flying the mountains were huge with TONS of snow.  Incredible!

We landed in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere - surrounded by nothing by fields.  We tazied for a little bit then stopped on the tarmac and got out right on the tarmac (like when I flew into the Provo airport last week.  Kind of  crazy.).  We disembarked and holy cow humidity!  Yikes!  Maybe coming to Rome in the middle of July wasn't such a good idea...

We made a pit stop at the bathrooms inside the terminal (which were the grossest airport toilets I've ever seen and/or used), and then down to baggage claim.  There is a lot more English here on the signs and advertisements, so that made us feel a little more comfortable.  We waiting a while for our bags but they finally showed up.  Whew!  We met our driver outside customs (which we didn't have to go through since we were flying from one European Union country to another).  Our driver was so different from the two we had in Paris.  He helped load our bags into the car - a VERY nice Mercedes - but then he was silent the whole drive.  Weird.  He drove us through town past the Colosseum on our way to our hotel!!  It was so cool to get that first glimpse of some of the sights.  I'm finally here!  Going to see the Colosseum!   I can't wait!!

Our hotel was not what I was expecting based off the pictures online and reviews I read.  I mean, it's fine, but way different from our hotel in Paris.  The floors are all tile, there's a bidet in the bathroom, and the beds are basically just cots...

I'm starting to feel a bit like I'm going through culture shock.  It is SUCH a change from Paris and you can feel the difference in the air.  It's not a bad feeling just...different.  We tried to get acclimated to our surroundings a bit by going on a walk around the neighborhood.  Kristy needed to find an ATM and we wanted to see what was around.  It was a nice walk.  The hotel is in a quiet neighborhood and close to a bus stop, which is nice.

We came back to the hotel and had dinner at the little restaurant that is attached.  We each had the "Muse Menu" which consisted of a first course, a main course, a side, and dessert.  Oh my goodness!  So much food but so good!!

I had the tortellini (meat filled pasta in a sage sauce) as my first course, then some smoked, grilled mozzarella with prosciutto and a green salad as my main and side.  The pasta was amazing and the smoked mozzarella was really good.  Oh, and as an appetizer they brought us a crostini with olive oil and fresh tomatoes and basil on top.  It was delicious!  For dessert we had some really good watermelon.  We were both so stuffed neither of us finished our meals, and Kristy wasn't feeling well.  I think the stress and anxiety and culture shock really got to her today.  After dinner we just went up to our room to go to bed and plan our day tomorrow: Pompeii!

Steps walked: 5518

**I'm starting to get a really good tan from all the time walking in the sun this past week!

a dream is a wish your heart makes

Today a dream I've had since I was 12 years old came true.  We went to Disneyland Paris!

This morning we got up about 8am, got ready then went downstairs for breakfast.  The last two mornings we've ended up sitting next to a fun, older couple from California.  We've traded travel stories and experiences and given each other tips on the places we've been to but the other hasn't yet.  Today we were talking about our trip to Versailles yesterday (they were going today, and that we were going to Disneyland Paris today.  The guy told us that he worked one summer at Disneyland in California as Goofy.  (Funny side note: Goofy was one of the three characters that we saw at the park today and we saw him right as we walked in.  The other two were Tigger and one of the mice from Cinderella.)

We had another adventure on the metro where we had to buy a train ticket to take us to the park.  Once there we followed the crowd out of the station to find we were right at the gates to Disneyland!  We got through security and then through the ticket kiosks (where a person with long read hair, and a name tage that said "Anna", bu who spoke with a deep and obviously male voice, asked us what part of the United States we were from), and then over to City Hall to exchange some dollars into euros, so I had some money for the day.  We asked if they had any "First Visit" buttons like they do in California.  The guy we talked to was really nice and funny.  He said they didn't have buttons, but then he hand wrote "1st Visit" on a couple of paper badges, put our names on them and gave them to us!  So awesome!

We got on the Railway Train that goes all around the park and rode it all the way around to get the lay of the land.  Once back at the main station, we found Kristy an ATM, found a bathroom to use (which automatically flushed twice on me while I was still sitting and going!), then decided to get some lunch.  We ate at one of the restaurants on Main Street USA.  We got some really yummy pizza that had spinach and sun dried tomatoes on it.  So good!  Then we got a chocolate cupcake to share, but it was gross.  So far the only food I haven't liked over here has been the two pieces of cake we got last night and today.

After lunch we made our way to our first ride and noticed a weird phenomenon: there was hardly anyone in the park with us.

We went to the "Ghostly Manor" (Haunted Mansion) first.

It was weird to go on all these rides I know where they were all speaking French.  We got Fast Passes for Big Thunder Mountain then went on Pirates (which was the original version - no Jack Sparrow) and the Indiana Jones ride (which is an actual roller coaster with a loop) then went back to Big Thunder Mountain.  I think that one was my favorite ride over here.  It was like a combination between Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and the Matterhorn and was longer than Big Thunder Mountain is in California.

We made our way over to Fantasyland and did Alice's Curious Labyrinth, the tea cups, and It's A Small World (which, again hasn't been updated like the one in California has).

No dancing on the tea cups!  

We were going to do the Peter Pan ride, but once we were in line it stopped working due to technical issues, so we decided to get out of line and skip doing that one.  Instead we headed next door to Toad Hall (which is a restaurant over here, not a ride) to get some fish and chips for dinner.

Turned out they were closing but  nobody told us anything and there were no signs anywhere.  So we ordered, not knowing anything was up, and ended up waiting FOREVER for our food because apparently they'd already started shutting the kitchen down.  This turned out to be the longest time we stood in line waiting for something today.  All the rides only took like 10 minutes, but the food wait was ridiculous!  And is wasn't even really all that good.  Disappointing.

After eating we walked over to Discoveryland (Tommorowland) and did Space Mountain 2 - which was AWESOME but totally made my brain explode and gave me a headache because of all the spins, turns, and the 360 degree loop it did.  Oh my goodness!

Then we did Star Tours (again, the old school original version).  It was funny to experience it all in French.

Next we were going to go over to the other park they have here: Walt Disney Studios (like California Adventure) but turns out they close that part at 7pm and stop letting people in an hour before.

Since it was 6pm by this point we were out of luck.  LAME!  I was really disappointed we didn't know this or we would have started at this park and done it first so we could have done everything.  We paid for a park hopper ticket but ended up only going to one park.  Sigh.  Oh well.  C'est la vie.

We were both tired and done for the day, so we made a stop in the giant Disney store on the way out to buy some souvenirs.  I got a shot glass and a magnet to add to my collections which I'm excited about.  We got totally lost in the train station trying to find where we were supposed to buy tickets back to Paris and which train we were supposed to be on, but finally we figured it out.  Riding the train back to Paris we were both falling asleep.  There was a different guy at the front desk this evening at the hotel.  I'm kind of sad that we didn't get to say good-bye to our Greek friend, but this new guy was very nice and we had a fun conversation with him.  Everyone here has been so nice!  It's been great.  Definitely going to give them great reviews online when we get home.

We leave tomorrow to go to Rome.  I'm really said to be saying good-bye to Paris, but excited about seeing everything in Rome.  I can't believe this part of the trip is over!

Oh!  When we got back to out room I decided to try and check us in for our flight tomorrow which turned into an experience!  LOL.  The website was all in French.  So I was trying to figure out what I could, and Kristy was looking things up in her French to English dictionairy.  We were both laughing about how ridiculous it was.  I think we got it figured out.  I guess we'll see when we get there tomorrow.  Apparently there is some big parade going on tomorrow up at the Arc in preparation for Bastille Day on Sunday.  I hope that doesn't cause any issues with us getting to the airport on time.

Also!  There was a train/metro that derailed today here in Paris!  We had no idea about it, but when we got back to our room we had all these emails and texts from people back home asking if we were okay.  We reassured everyone that we were.  Scary!  I'm so glad nothing like that happened to us while we were here!

Steps walked: 16,956

versailles

This morning we got up...barely (we're both exhausted and neither one of us slept well last night), and headed for Versailles.  Both of us were excited to see the palace and it didn't disappoint.  After some confusion on the metro (apparently we're not getting the hang of it), we finally figured out our stops, transfers, and route.

Once in Versailles we followed the line of people walking down the street and pretty soon turned the corner to behold this magnificent building!

I thought the Louvre was big yesterday, but Versailles puts it to shame times a million.  This place is huge and the grounds and gardens seem to go on forever!  It was truly a sight to see and behold.

We stood in line for about 40 minutes to go through security, then grabbed a free audio guide at the front desk and started the tour.  I had no idea about the history of this place.  It was originally a small hunting lodge in the forest that Louis XIV visited as a child.  He loved it so much that when he became king he moved the royal residence there and began continuously renovating and adding on to the "lodge", and turning it into the wonder and marvel it is today.  We wandered through the rooms that were open for touring.  I'm pretty sure the French royals invented the phrase, "Go big or go home."  Everything was huge and grandiose, and lavish to the extreme.  The funny part is, however, it really wasn't all that pretty.  It was like they wanted to use any and everything that was considered "the best" with no real regard for if it actually looked good.  It was all just for show.  Like the ENORMOUS chapel that was added on to the palace.  There is a portico (not sure if that is right word) that juts out right next to the chapel with the words, "All the glory to France" inscribed on it.  Kind of contradicts the whole worshiping God and giving Him the glory.

As we were leaving I thought the whole thing was a great literal representation of "the great and spacious building" talked about in the scriptures in Lehi's dream.  A great example of all the vain things in the world.

After we finished the tour (which was again inundated with Asian tour groups), we made our way out to the gardens in back.  OH. MY. HECK.  I was not expecting how HUGE the park is!  It literally goes on for MILES.  I can't imagine all the work that goes into maintaining the grounds.  It is vast and overwhelming.  But so gorgeous!  Luckily, the weather today was gorgeous as well.  It was a bit overcast this morning when we woke up and actually a little chilly.  It stayed very pleasant and breezy the whole day which was very nice and we were able to truly enjoy being outside.

We walked down through the gardens looking for one of the small snack stands that were listed on the map we got, so we could get something for lunch.  We couldn't find any of them because the map really wasn't an accurate representation of what the gardens actually look like.  We decided to get off the main walkway and wandered into one of the mazes.  And got lost.  As we were trying to follow the map and the few (read: two) signs we could find I got grumpier and more frustrated with every step.  It was a great lesson on what happens when you step off the "straight and narrow" and decide to go wandering around by yourself after things you think you want.

Eventually we found the right path we were supposed to be on and we found this beautiful little restaurant nestled into the trees and plants.  We decided to stop and splurge on eating an actual meal, instead of all the bread and cheese we've been eating all week.  We both go a yummy salad with sundried tomatoes and chicken on it, then shared a hot chocolate cake with raspberry coulis for dessert.  The cake was AMAZING!

Felling satisfied and in a happier mood we continued to wander around for a little while longer - taking in the incredible fountains and all the beauty around us.  We then bought tickets for the little tram that ran from where we were at the Grand Canal back up to the palace because we were both tired and didn't want to talk all the way back up.

Our original plan was to then find the grounds where the church is building a temple here in Paris/Versailles.  But, when we looked up the address and found it on the map we discovered it was quite a distance from where we were at the palace and there was no bus line that ran up there.  So, we weren't able to go.  Oh well.  Add it to the list of things to do the next time I'm here.  Kristy told me before we left that I just have to tell myself I'm going to come back because there is so much we're not going to be able to do.  She was right.  We walked back to the metro stop, battled the crowds to buy our tickets back to Paris, then got on the train.  We finally made it back to our hotel and decided to have dinner at the cafe that's across the street from our hotel.  After dropping our stuff off at the room and washing our hands, we headed across the street.  We both ordered steak frites (steak with french fries) and it was amazing.  I'm not sure it it was so good because it was really good, or because I was tired, hungry, and this was really the first real meal (besides lunch today) that I've eaten so far on this trip.  Regardless, it was good and it was so awesome to just sit outside, at a cafe, in Paris, enjoying the beautiful weather and soaking in the atmosphere and ambiance.

We discovered a patisserie (pastry shop) next door to the cafe and went over there when we were finished, to get something yummy for dessert.  We decided to split a piece of chocolate cake they had in the case.  It turned out to be not as good as it looked, which was disappointing, but still worth it for the experience.  We turned in early (read: before midnight) because we have another big day tomorrow: Disneyland!

Steps walked: 12,522