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This past June, I was able to - thanks to TPR, experience parts of Europe for the first time ever. Anyone that knows me from here on the boards, knows that I tend to do pretty photo-extensive and detailed trip reports. and I planned to do one this time too - I took over 5300 pictures. But life got in the way, and unfortunately i've experienced some major trauma in the two months since the trip. At the urging of my therapist who has been encouraging me to "journal". . I'm going to go ahead and do this trip report - it SHOULD be done, as this was an absolutely amazing trip and I really want to share it with everyone! I can't promise it will be as detailed as I typically would be. I can't remember the names of some of the coasters, or might mix up the order of things. . . but i will do my best and hope you enjoy! this was an absolutely PACKED and awesome trip, and I expect this will take me a while to get thru. . but here's the first day. and this is going to be the first (and hopefully one of the very few times) that I'll be a bit sad here. The first pic I'm going to share is of my Late Husband, Nick. Its' the last pic I have of him healthy, as he dropped me off at the Austin airport at "are you're fucking kidding me?" early morning for the first leg of my flight: eventually got boarded and was on my way to Newark. Trip started out well. . with Stroopwafel and coffee! at Newark I had an almost 7 hour layover. It hadn't started out that way, but with the flights moving around so much between when I booked them and my actual trip? yeah, eventually I just said screw it and took the long layover instead of trying to move everything around again. Besides, they offered me a discount to get into the United Lounge. . not a great discount, but a discount. so I took it and headed that way. hey. . fancy schmantzy. . Newark all "decorated" for Pride Month. um. . ok. I spy Manhattan from the airport on my way to the United lounge huh. . this is a little uninspiring. I was expecting something more . . . complicated than a Hampton Inn complimentary breakfast buffet. ohhhhh. . ^ is for the "suckers" who pop in for something quick, and don't follow the long narrow hallway back to the end of the concourse. . because if you do? it opens up to THIS: now that's more like it. yeah. . I can kill 7 hours here. time to nosh. (hey, I'm a Jew, in Newark. . I can use "nosh" here) and I can grab extra napkins to put into my bag, so I have them for the trip, since I like to have more than one with me when I eat lovely view of Manhattan from up here in the lounge. . . better than the concourse. I napped and charged my phone, and eventually my flight to Paris was ready to board - conveniently right at the gate below the escalators from the lounge. I had booked an upgrade for the Newark-Paris leg, but on one of the many flight changes, they had switched me to a plane that didnt' offer that particular upgrade. so they bumped me to (I think it's called) "Premium Plus" not quite business class, but better than Premium, and the seats beyond those (Steerage?) ooo. . wide and comfy. . I was the last row in the section with these comfy reclining seats. a peek at what the folks in the section behind us got for a meal. . . not awful (while the cart was stopped next to me) and looks much better than the Lean Cuisine that the rest of the plane got. but up here in "Premium Plus" ? we got real silverware! and, what I think, was Beef Bourguignon all I know is that it was damn good. . . view of the sun setting. . or rising. . I can't really recall at this point. Must have been rising tho, because I spent day in Paris once landing. but before landing, we got another meal service: Peach/Hazlenut Crepes with fruit and granola yogurt & a croissant. they kept us stuffed on the plane! due to delays, I arrived too late to meet up with the TPR group that was headed out for Paris Sightseeing, but AJ's plane had also had a bit of a delay and he kindly waited for me at the hotel. Rooms weren't ready yet, so once bags were stored, and he figured out the train route to take, we headed off to meet up with everyone at a small, but lovely park in the center of Paris called Le Jardin d'Acclimatation. we arrived about two hours after most of the group that was with Robb & Elissa had arrived, and had already ridden most things, so AJ and I focused on the two coasters that he had really wanted to ride (I was fine riding anything. . at this point I had been up for almost 30 hours, so was just happy to get to meet up for some sightseeing). the place is bigger than I had expecting, and if I ever go back will spend some time exploring, as it really was a lovely place with a gorgeous Carousel up front. . but since we were running late, and coasters were more important at the moment? just snapped a pic of it. (the group had stopped to grab a snack, so AJ and I had about 20 minutes or so until they were headed out and we were determined to be with them when they did) not very busy on this particular day. . but a nice assortment of family rides, and some small and powered coasters. Pic courtesy of Brad Roach, I think? it was a really fun Bobsled. to ride the other coaster I wanted to go on, I think it was a spinning mouse? I recruited Jon as well as Ian and his hubby to try and get some good spinning. and here's Ryan and Andrew riding one of the flats: oooo. . Napkins!!! someone was riding the carousel as we headed towards the front gates, so stopped to snap a pic of this fabulous vehicle, even tho she had chosen the pony to ride on as noted, lovely landscaping nice train. the group as we were about to head to the Train Station. . pic Courtesy of Robb Alvey with Elissa's excellent guidance, a few trains later we emerged from a station into the main square with the famous Arc de Triomphe I couldn't believe I was here. . seeing things that I never thought I'd see in person. it's STUNNING. this was just a quick stop - one of several - so we didn't cross the traffic to go under it, or into it. . .but what is that on top. are those people? yup! you can pay to climb to the top of the Arc De Triomphe ! if in Paris ever again? I might do that. back to the trains, and a few more stops and changes, and we come out of the station and around the corner. . and . . .. wowza. I knew I had a ticket to go to the top later in the trip (the 1st Sat at Disneyland Paris, actually). . but wow, this was still impressive as hell to see, even from this far back. love locks are still a thing in Paris. . and the city seems to have accommodated the demand by putting up places for people to put them. beware this dude with his mighty green snake! (there's a serpent there with him too) pic courtesy of Elissa (thank you! I sent this home to Nick and he *loved* it). and one of my favorite pics, even tho I really look tired. . . Brad was experimenting with the zoom on his camera to get the blurred background and asked if I would be a guinea pig. wait.. is this a statue of a woman holding birds, with birds on the birds? yup. . LOL the train station signs are pretty amazing in places. . and from the correct angle, look just monsterous. LOVED them. as we made the next stop and exited towards the Louvre, I snapped quite a bit of architecture pics. I think most all of these are parts of the Louvre, but my memory is a bit fuzzy. it's all incredible tho. Jungle Cruise has the backside of water? Paris has the backside of the Louvre. like a pervert, I was peeking thru windows. (hey, we couldn't get in if we wanted to. . the lines were INSANE in the courtyard, and the tickets were sold out that day) the famous courtyard glass pyramids. and then we walked across the street from the Louvre and walked along the famous Seine... we were going to stop and grab a bite to eat at one of the many options/cafes but first we were headed to the Pont des Arts bridge. . . which was once famous for the love locks on it (until the weight of them caused part of the bridge to collapse, and the City removed most of them from the structure itself). but here it is from a distance, with Notre Dame Cathedral in the background (still under repair from that awful fire. . you can see the yellow crane in the pic below) looking back at the Lourve archetecture here's the famous Pont des Arts bridge itself. the boards are very lose, and you must watch your step. no wonder the weight of the many locks caused issues! but there are still some that put the locks on. . at the lightposts on the bridge more architecture as we went towards Notre Dame and looking for food options. at one point I knew what some of these buildings were. . but I'm not remembering now. They're beautiful tho. they say "when in Rome". . . . but hey, I'm not in Rome, I'm in Paris. . so I'll pass on "Ass chef". . regardless if I might like it. Instead, Brad and I went to a place specializing in Crepes and Galettes (funny enough we all ended up eating in places right next to each other) interesting choices, but I ended up going for the Pedro Almodovar. . it was really really good. see? and this tiny cafe had a steep (and open/easy to fall into) Murder / Sex dungeon! never in the USA. .it was awesome. hey. . Capt. Jack Sparrow is selling chocolates at the Pirates Candies! tho we ended up going into a place that sold other options - all looked and smelled amazing. . . .and Kristen and Sarah went into a place to get a fresh baguette but how good does this look??? OMG. .looked amazing. . and I don't even like Meringue. the proof of life pic I sent to Nick outside the Baguette place - I realized I had never sent a message home after landing, and Needed to show him that I had indeed found Robb and Elissa in Paris (Kristen, Jere, and April too) another of those amazing train station signs and then we were off to the last stop today. . as everyone was pretty exhausted (and I had been up almost 36 hours at this point): Notre Dame Kristen tricked me into taking some baguette. . asking if anyone wanted to try. But she had eaten the insides out, leaving the hard crust it was ok. . it was still great, and I had a baguette, in France, while looking at Notre Dame. so .. . . WINNING. tho no trash cans anywhere . . so had to carry the bread scraps with me (or feed the birds. . which I did a little bit). and with that, we headed back to the airport hotel, where my room was ready (and James had already checked in) so could crash after a long day. tomorrow the actual TPR Europe trip starts!

I’m very sorry for your loss Bert. Thanks for posting and certainly looking forward to your report and looking back at this awesome trip that we enjoyed!

I'm truly sorry for your loss. We've never met but in your trip reports, your relationship with him always shone through, the care and love always evident.

I’m glad you decided to post this. I always enjoy reading your trip reports and look forward to reading future updates.

The maintenance staff will. It was cool to have a complicated launch system with the fins that come down for the train to pass and then rapidly come back up to stop a rolling back train from hitting the one on deck behind. But when you think about all of those sensors and actuators that all had to work outside through the hot summer sun and sit through the cold snowy winter, it is amazing that it lasted as long as it did. That is not even taking into account the actual hydraulic launch motors, cables and other stuff that all need to work together precisely to get it to just go over the top. kudos to the mechanics that kept it going this long.