A Rainy Day in Paris

Following on from our pics at Disney are these ones around Paris. We visited Disney on the Friday and then left Saturday free to travel into Paris and have a look around. It was a particularly cold day with the wind blowing, but it started out sunny, and our interpretation of the French weather forecast left us thinking that would be it. We got out and saw Notre Dame Cathedral and a few of the streets on the south side of the Seine before heading off for an early lunch in a cafe near The Louvre.

Unfortunately, our interpreting skills need improving (either that or the boys down at the French Weather Bureau got it badly wrong) because as we emerged from the cafe it was raining steadily, and kept on so for the remainder of the afternoon. We tried to stick to undercover footpaths and walkways, but this can be challenging. At least you may get a laugh at our waning smiles as these pics progress. For future reference, "pluie" is French for "rain".


It was cold but sunny at 10am outside an important looking Parisian building.


It was still cold and (somewhat) sunny outside Notre Dame a short time later.


The stained glass windows in Notre Dame are even more impressive than those at Cinderella's Castle in Disneyland.


More from inside Notre Dame.


Another from inside the Cathedral... the bright light you can see is an incoming bolt of lightning, probably sent by God, to warn off photographers from using flash cameras whilst the priest is saying Mass.


More action from outside Notre Dame - it's looking a touch greyer than earlier.


You may have noticed that Keezee is missing his trendy brown cap that he was wearing at Disney - it was lost on the train and was sorely missed.


Your typical "Boat on The Seine" tourist picture.


There were so many lovely Parisian-looking buildings everywhere, we had to get a few photos of them.


And here we are now shortly after lunch, admiring the golden statue of Joan of Arc, outside the Hotel Regina on Place des Pyramides - note, rain.


This is about as close as we got to the Eiffel Tower in the end. Lucy's still loving it, whilst Keezee is trying to put on a happy face.


Our spirits were lifted slightly when we stumbled upon a bunch of market stalls selling mulled wine (for the adults) and fudge (for the kids). Caiti even decided to make an appearance when the fudge came out.


And it was nice of them to provide some warm fires to drink your wine beside.


And here we are on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées still smiling.


We made it all the way up the hill to the Arc de Triomphe, but by now we were rather cold and rather wet, and it was getting harder to raise a smile - Caiti had the right idea.


The obligatory street sign shot just to prove/recall where we were.


A warm, dry, well-lit and expensive Parisian cafe.


This is the lovely Christmas tree at Val d'Europe shopping centre.


Val d'Europe had a really cool toy shop that included an animatronic pony that responds to kids and even pretends to eat pretend carrots.


Giant escargot anyone?

The Happiest Place on Earth (or at least Europe)

The girls have been telling everyone they've spoken to about how much fun they had at Disneyland in Paris. So we thought we better post some pictures just to prove it.

We decided to visit Disney to celebrate Lucy's 6th birthday - lucky girl that she is! Even though it's a bit cold in Paris in December, the queues are smaller and you get all the fun of Christmas as well. All you need to do is rug up a bit (a lot, actually - as you might notice). Plus December is Lucy's actual birthday, so it would be a bit cruel to leave her waiting around for six months until the weather got warmer. Anyway, we think she liked her birthday present, judging by the look on her face most of the day... check it out.




A few shots taken from out the front, before we went through the gates. You can see the excitement written on the girls faces (all three of them) - although Keezee was his usual cool self [cough, cough].


Inside the gates revealed a huge Christmas tree.


Here's the birthday girl getting ready for the morning parade to pass by...


...It consisted of a train...


... with all sorts of dancing animals and French people aboard....


...led up the rear by our old friends Tigger and Rabbit.
If you click on the above pics to supersize them, you will notice it was snowing during the parade... quite magical, but somehow we don't think this was by chance (although it was definitely cold enough for snow - and it did snow for real the following night).


Lucy got Tigger's autograph, and he was kind enough to pose for a pic with us.


This family shot was taken by a nice New Zealander... come to think of it, the last time we got a family shot, it was by a Kiwi... don't know what's going on there??


Winnie the Pooh Bear is a very busy and popular bear, and has lots of personal security staff to match his stature.... this was a close as we could get.


Getting ready to enter Cinderella's Castle. It is a huge castle... Cinderella married well.


Inside Lucy bumped into Lord and Lady Percival, who were also visiting that day. She got both their autographs, and they also kindly posed for a pic.
Actually, we weren't actually sure who they were until we examined the autographs, but they looked famous, don't you agree?


From memory, this is one of the lovely stained glass windows in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.... hang on a second.


And here's Keezee trying to draw the sword from the stone and thus fulfil his destiny to become King of the Realm!
Unfortunately he was also trying to carry two children at the same time, which limited his sword drawing ability, and we sadly report he is still turning up to his old work as usual.


We voted "It's a Small World" as Best Family Ride. It was almost beaten by Peter Pan, except that Caiti and Jo got a bit scared of the dark on that one.


Lucy and her two new friends.


More autograph hunting.


This is Prince John... the cheekiest Prince we know (even worse than Andrew). He tried to make off with Lucy's pen, but luckily her new monkey friend stepped in.


As a family, we've really taken to tea drinking since we've been in England, so we thought we'd take a ride on the teacups to celebrate.
This photo was taken before the ride started, and Caiti is looking a little nervous.


After the ride Caiti was just a little more relaxed.


Somewhere in Alice's (of Wonderland fame) Curious Adventure Maze.


Somewhere else in Alice's Curious Adventure Maze.


Outside the Queen of Heart's residence, in Alice's (of Wonderland fame) Curious Adventure Maze.


The Queen of Hearts has a nice view of Fantasyland from her tower.


Here are Santa's Elves making some toys... it wasn't the North Pole, but it may as well have been if the wind chill factor was anything to go by.


Pirates of the Carribean was voted Best Adventure Seekers Ride (aka. best ride that Caiti and Jo were too scared to go on).
Thunder Mountain (a high speed rollercoaster) almost won this award, as it was rather more adventuresome, but unfortunately Lucy had here eyes closed through most of it.


OK, back on Main St waiting for the big parade to start...


... the excitment builds...


...and here they come...


We got this close to Mickey and Minnie Mouse and then.... our camera ran out of batteries .

We kicked on after dark until rather late (it must have been at least 6.30pm) and all up it was a huge day for all four of us. We missed a few good photo opportunities of the light show on Cinderella's Castle - it really was very spectacular. However, we're pretty sure there were a few other punters who managed to capture this on film, so we doubt that this wonderful sight was lost forever. Word on the street is the light parade happens every now and then (like every night), so maybe next time.

By the way, this is one of our more up-to-date blog posting in recent times... these shots were only taken a week ago. We're trying to play catchup with all our other photos and blog them as well, so keep an eye out for more - including a full report of our Paris trip: dramas included.