PixTR: "The 3 Credits Tour" Walibi Holland - Disney Paris

[Nrthwnd]

Day 3 in Paris: Palace of Versailles'...Gardens

 

Our next attraction to take in was one we had always wanted to get back to, since our first and only visit back in 2002.

 

Palace of Versailles is really an amazing amount of real estate, including one of the biggest landscaped areas I have ever

seen. But our being there in that fall, was just after a horrific storm had come through Europe several months earlier.

Versailles was not spared, and literally 1/3 of the gardens, trees, statuary were all torn up or totally destroyed. The

management cordoned off several acres of the gardens, and proceeded to replant, repave, and replenish all the grounds

affected by the storm.

 

So, we went inside the Palace of course, and then conga-lined with the queue through what we were allowed to tour through.

For myself, once was enough. I mean, so it's a Hallway of Mirrors. Just another funhouse to me, heh. But we did always want

to come back, just to see the gardens and grounds.

 

On this trip, we got to do just that. Avoided the Palace tours (which were huge with queues the day we went) and just went

out back to enjoy the many, many gardens to see. Exhausting, but actually more relaxed then being in the Palace, we remember.

 

Also, there were outdoor art installations all around the grounds, including one that got some very sad and unwanted publicity.

 

Here's our day at Versailles...

Past The Tower on our way to our subway stop.

Good morning Eiffel!

Street Art.

Versailles Subway Station.

There it is, up ahead.

So much GOLD on the front gates, etc.

Neat way to do work scaffolding.

We're heading towards that narrow passage between the buildings.

What you see on the right when you get to the "back yard."

A mirrored installation. Hi Us!

Trying to get interesting shots. Trying.

On the other side of it, we get flipped over!

Another mirrored piece.

Everything in planter pots it appears. Easy to move around?

Everything.

In planter pots.

Even these palm trees are in planter boxes! (To be continued...)

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More of our visit to Versailles' "back yard"...

Looking back to the Palace.

The Hall of Mirrors, Sept.2002. Once was enough.

Statuary everywhere on the grounds.

Horny.

Looking down the main mall.

Modern art installation.

Old art installation.

Looking back up the mall.

Looked just like a toilet bowl (continually) draining, but sounded like thunder in a storm.

Red cube.

Actually titled...

Inside it.

[Philrad71]

A fig leaf over the genitals of the statue? That is soooo anti-Greek and Roman art.

 

Damn those Christians!

[Nrthwnd]

^ Yeah, we saw a few of the of male statues with what looked like leaves on,

added after the fact, it appeared. But, exposed boobs still ruled! Go figure.

[Philrad71]

^And let's not forget the many statues in Italy where the Christians whacked off the pee-pee's (no pun intended) of a lot of the male statues.

[Nrthwnd]

^ Patriarchy and Religion were pretty tight, back then.

[Nrthwnd]

The final part of our visit to Versailles was seeing and witnessing an ugly side of "opinion" when it comes to

art. We found out that this installation had been vandalized just a week and a half before our visit there.

The idiots who broke onto the grounds and spray painted their ugly opinions, didn't care. The poor guide at

the front of the piece would not translate any of the French grafitti that was all over it. He was very

embarrassed about what the vandals painted on the piece, and really didn't want to say what was 'written'.

 

So, if you can read French, you'll know what he was talking about.

 

Here's the look at Dirty Corner, done by the same artist who did the red cube, and that whirlpool

installation, and the response it got, a couple of weeks ago. And the rest of our visit to the Versailles grounds...

Funny little security car.

Looking back up to the palace.

Looking back at Dirty Corner.

Out the main gates, and there's still quite a crowd queued up to go into the Palace.

Well, who doesn't love parfait? (o:

This is what we came up to, in the McDs. This is a pic of an English kiosk from a McDs in Ontario,

but the Paris one pretty much looked the same. And you still had to pay at the kiosk.

Then you took your little receipt over to here, and eventually you get your order.

Neat looking building, by the train station, back into the city.

Dinner! "at home"

[Nrthwnd]

I didn't know when to post this, but now seems as good as any time soon.

 

Me and David love Paris, as one of our three favourite cities in the world.

(The other two are Amsterdam and Tokyo). And having just come back

recently (well, two months ago) from a wonderful 4th trip there - we're now

just wondering in shock, "weren't we just there a little while ago?"

 

We are thinking of the people of France, and of Paris itself.

We send love and healing thoughts to all of those affected by the recent attacks.

 

And we are coming back to visit your beautiful-ness again, soon.

 

 

(2007 photos will be posted soon, as soon as I can *^%$#@#&(= find them.)

Our first visit to The Eiffel Tower, September 2002. Too lazy to scan the shots, heh.

Next visit, April 2004.

I still had a pretty awesome beard back then. (o;

Jump ahead 11 years, and here we were, back in Sept. We <3 Paris.

[Nrthwnd]

Day 4 in Paris: The Eiffel Tower

 

When we were first planning this trip, David wanted to get us tickets for the Tower ahead of time. But sadly, we

found out the dates we wanted were already filled. )o: And we "almost" decided not to see it, based on that.

But I surmised everybody couldn't possibly be getting advance tickets for this. So we decided to get up bright and

early, the TPR Tour way, and headed over to it.

 

And sure enough, there was a small lineup waiting already to get tickets, go through the bag check bldg. and then

head up, up.......up to the top of Eiffel. Still thrilling each and every visit we make.

 

And...by surprise, I "happened" to find the annual carnival that takes place late summer - fall in Paris. We're seen

this before, on a couple of past Sept.visits. But never in the same place, and usually farther away than this.

With rides. And a couple of coasters too I found out = BONUS CREDITS! So, I roughly figured out where this

carnival was up there, then we headed back to the flat, and with the info. in my head, managed to figure out roughly

where this carnival was! (Hopefully).

Good morning Eiffel, and yes, we 're coming to visit you today.

I just love all of this, up close.

The man himself who designed it. Or at least, his head.

Our little queue. David is in the middle there, somewhere.

What we don't have to go through at a snail's pace. Bag check (and x-ray) bldg.on the left.

The French word for 'snacks' is....snackies? I smiled when I saw it.

Mmmm, just beautiful.

I got all four 'legs' of the tower, but totally forgot (of course) which is which.

USA is represented by San Francisco. And Canada? Who reps my country? Why, Calgary of course!

I forgot Versailles was several kms. away. And to find it between sweet and savory cities. (o;

Looking down towards The Trocaderos.

L'Arc de Triomphe.

What's this? What's this? I can't believe my eyes!

It's a Carnival! With rides! Of every shape and size!

I took a photo of this little island. It's called Liberty Island, I remember.

'Cause there's a mini of the Statue of Liberty there. France just wanted to keep

a smaller copy of what they gave to the United States.

Not exactly "Where's Waldo", but Notre Dame Cathedral gets a little lost in there. (To be continued...)

[Nrthwnd]

Here's the rest of our Eiffel Tower Day. It included the discovery that our washing machine in the flat is not as

"timely" as we thought it was. The time for the entire wash cycle was posted at 1 hour, 49 minutes. Turns out the load

took over THREE *(* HOURS to get done! We were not amused at that. And the washed clothes turned out 'ok.'

 

Life. And we had our last burger (and only burger in Paris), at a spot right (literally) under our noses/flat!

By the time we were ready go go back down, the Tower was pretty crowded at the top.

Looking down a staircase we aren't going down, heh.

My artsy shot of Eiffel.

David tries his hand at an artsy shot, too.

The merry-go-round has been in this spot, by the Tower, for every visit we've made there.

Just one more.

Notre Dame.

Water fountains in front of buildings can be nice.

We found a pet shop that really catered more to cats than dogs - woo hoo!

More art like this should be on these metal "blinds" in front of shops.

The washing machine that wasn't that fast. At. All.

Time for an early dinner!

And right below us, is HD Diner, a sort-of retro restaurant.

Lots of stuff to look at.

Hmmm. Lucky Charms, Canada Dry, Mountain Dew, Pop Rocks...retro?

David holding our corner spot.

We started with a soda for David, and a milkshake for myself.

Then he had fish & chips, while I had a burger with a lot of MEAT on it. And once again, really great fries!

The burger was really good, too. And David enjoyed his fish & chips as well.

When the evening was nice, the bar's patrons would spill out

into this little side street, between us and the fancy men's store. Good night!

[Philrad71]

Terrorists be damned...I still want to get to Paris in the very near future.

 

So beautiful!

[Nrthwnd]

^ And if you visit the city around this same time we did (mid-September) you may acquire those

BONUS CREDITS I got the next day, after our Eiffel Tower visit.

Two of the three DLPR shirts I got, on the visit. J'aime Paris.

[Philrad71]

^ Mid September is when my b-day is...now I know what I am putting on my wish list for next year!

[Nrthwnd]

^ And just to add MORE to your anxiety about getting to Paris....

 

Disney Paris is really an amazing place to stay at, if you can afford the upper tier hotels, like

we did with the Sequoia Lodge there. We did it all online, including getting the (to us)

affordable Half-Board Plan, which gave us one meal per day of our stay.

 

And as well, the 5-5-5 (nights' stay in each) way we did Amsterdam, Paris AND Disney was perfect.

I don't know how much time you guys could afford for such a trip, but two weeks worked out

great for us.

 

And the Thalys 1st class train from Amsterdam to Paris was luv-------ly. And affordable, too.

As is the local Parisians' weekly transit card, Decouverte that covers from Versailles to Disney.

 

http://parisbytrain.com/paris-train-metro-week-pass-navigo-decouverte/

[Nrthwnd]

Day 5 in Paris: Touring Monet's "The Water Lilies"

 

The second museum we agreed on going to was a first for David as well as myself. The Musee de L'Orangerie holds

what only can be described as A LOT of curved murals painted by the same artist. And although my art history is

very very limited about this, the murals were actually painted this way (curved) to fit into the newly built gallery,

at the time.

 

Here's Wikipedia's info about it.....

 

The Musée de l'Orangerie is an art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings located in the west corner of the Tuileries Gardens next to the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Though most famous for being the permanent home for eight Water Lilies murals by Claude Monet, the museum also contains works by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Rousseau, Alfred Sisley, Chaim Soutine, and Maurice Utrillo, among others.

 

The lower part of the gallery is where all the other artists' paintings and sculptures are displayed, courtesy of the family who donated the $$$ to build the main Gallery itself, for the murals.

 

Here's some photos of it all, which they allowed everybody to take. And thankfully, NO SELFIE STICKS allowed, lol!

On the way to the gallery, we passed The Louvre and it's iconic glass pyramid. Didn't look too busy...

...Until we walked past this. Definitely busy for a Saturday (Sept.19).

Cleopatra's Needle, with a particularly shiny point.

TPR Tour Group.

"Hey TPR - whassup?"

So lovely a view...

...We decided to include ourselves in it, too! The t-shirt I am wearing has Vancouver's iconic Lions Gate Bridge

on it, created by a friend who wanted me to wear it to Paris. "Just for comparison with Eiffel," he told me, lol.

Here we are.

What we came to see.

A Wikipedia shot of one of the two main rooms for the murals.

They try to keep it so quiet in here, it's like a hospital waiting room. But everybody was aware of each other,

and polite, and not very talkative. And not one selfie taken - at - all. (o:

Discussion about the murals happens everywhere.

Me and some lilies. (To be continued...)

Edited November 27, 2015 by Nrthwnd

[Nrthwnd]

After we toured all the murals, we continued downstairs, where an art collection resided,

care of the family who donated towards The Lilies display upstairs...

 

Being from modest origins, Paul Guillaume worked in a garage. He found African sculptures which he displayed. This aroused the attention of Guillaume Apollinaire, who in turn introduced him to many of the artists of the beginning of the century in France. He soon organized important exhibitions, such as the Première Exposition d’Art Nègre et d’Art Océanien, on 13–19 May 1919, with a catalogue by Henri Clouzot and additional text by Apollinaire. Apollinaire, who died the previous year, had also collaborated with Paul Guillaume on the pioneering study Sculptures Nègres in 1917. This exhibition – drawn from Guillaume's private collection – placed African art at the heart of Modernism.

 

After his death, his wife Domenica married architect Jean Walter and continued Guillaume's collection, selling his most "extreme" paintings and acquiring impressionist paintings. After her own death, this collection of 20th-century paintings became part of the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris.

 

Domenica was once accused of the murder of Paul Guillaume, who died early and suspiciously. Some speculate that she was cleared of all charges in exchange for giving the collection to the French state after her death.

 

After that, we went to The Tuileries, where we had our traditional afternoon wine, which we've done every visit we've made to Paris. Voila!

And then I took off to find out where that "rides park" was. With (possible) Bonus Credits, woo hoo!

The collection is mostly paintigns with some models and miniatures here adn there on display.

Like this miniature of Guillaume's office, where he conducted his business.

One Picasso...

Two Picasso...

Not Picasso....

Gift shop! (o;

Outside the Museum. I didn't know what to make of this.

Oh look, dead tree on display.

Actually, it's L'Arbre. And the artist was born the same year as David!

Where we are.

What the area looks like, from the Museum.

Us and our wine, toasting another great Paris visit!

This bird would not shut up! Non-stop....twittering.

After drinks, I was off to get (some?) BONUS CREDITS! (To be continued...)

[Philrad71]

That Monet exhibit is awesome...it looks like a cyclorama!

[Nrthwnd]

Finishing up our little traditional "Tuileries Cocktails," David and I separated, him back to the flat, and myself, on to persue where

we "think" we saw a carnival set up, at the edge of a park area, that 'might' have one (or more) coaster credits to ride!

 

After our Eiffel Tower visit the day before, we got out the maps, and roughly figured out where I should travel, from

the Tuileries to the eventual stop for this carnival. And after actually getting off at the right transit stop, it was easy

to just be pointed in the right direction, by a helpful local who knew where the carnival was.

 

Unfortunately, my only regret about visiting it (this was early afternoon), that the carnival looked like it might be really

great in the evening with all the rides' lights on, etc. No matter. Got my credits, got some food and drink as well, and

enjoyed this extra adventure on the trip.

What I was setting out to find, as seen from the Eiffel Tower.

I'm HERE....somewhere.....

But I find the stop, I'm supposed to get to.

Looking back, from where i came. The train station was behind the outdoor cafe.

A sign below a sign. It's a sign!

And slowly, it comes into view.

Ooooo, looks like at least two coasters there.

It's an annual fair in Paris.

There's a circus here too, and I really wanted to see it, to see what it was like,

but shows weren't scheduled until much later in the day. Maybe next visit. (o;

Looking down the 'midway.'

Spinning mouse. Check.

Thriller dark ride. Check.

Best part about it, was right at the end of it. No spoilers! (o;

Space funhouse. Pass. (Too much physical work for me.)

The looked cool to ride.

Until it went like this. Nope, not riding it now.

Delta Flyer was not flying.

Satan was not swinging.

The other dark ride. Check.

With a great facade on it.

The outside actually looked better than what was inside the ride, lol.

But the ride op came in and gave me a good scare near the end of it. Much appreciated.

[Philrad71]

^That could "almost" pass for a US county fair...looks slightly more ghetto than I was expecting.

[Nrthwnd]

^ But monsieur, it is called "Ghetto Fair de Paris", voila!

Preview - One of my many MANY shots of DLP's lovely castle. Taken 20.9.15

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Continuing on at Le Carnival a' Paris.... (...or something like that)

 

There was another credit here, called Taxi Driver, and it was a pretty good speedy little coaster! I was surprised how fast

it went, and there was hardly any painful spots on it. The third credit, however, I decided not to ride. There are only so

many Worm Coasters I will ever go on solo, without a group along. And this was not one of them. So I passed.

 

I also found the only food place set up at the site, but it had a great variety of stuff to choose from. And right beside it,

a nifty cocktail bar, with many cocktails (alcohol and non-) to choose and enjoy. I decided to stick with a beer, but had this

great sweet beer called Desperados. Had tequila in it, and it was awesome! So much so, I had another one with my food.

Taxi Driver. Second Credit. Check.

So fast, I really couldn't get a good "action shot".

I didn't do it, and am now kicking myself for missing the opportunity to experience 8D!!!

The flume splashdowns looked a bit tooooooo wet for my liking. Also a pass.

The Worm. Or La Pomme as it was called.

Just your basic happy worm coaster.

With the all-important Sign.

I also skipped riding this.

How happy was the sailor?

Happy enough to rip off PoTC in it's theming.

Ooooo cocktails!

In hindsight, I wished I'd had a Meet Jack Black. Or Sex on The Beach.

But I settled for a bottle of Desperados.

View from my 'bar stool.'

Nope. Wasn't going to do that, either.

The beer was good!

Um, shouldn't there be one more period after the "T"? Details, details...

Food stall! And are those two holding hands??? omgomgomg..... Family!

The smells from this were amazing. So much meat to eat.

I had a shawarma instead of anything more 'exotic.'

The Europeans do love their mayo with their fries, lol.

But it was all good. And the fries I still can't get over how even here at this fair, they were awesome!

(To be continued...)

[Philrad71]

^Looks awesome, Bill!

 

And I hate to say it, but I would also rather have mayo on my fries than ketchup. I know it's bad for me, but I don't have fries all that often...so that makes it okay, right???

 

I think one of my lifetime goals is to get back to Europe so I can have Belgian-style fries w/mayo on them!

[Nrthwnd]

^ yeah, well, up to this trip I have had practically everything on my fries, including pulled pork,

variations of poutine, melted cheeses, etc, but the One Topping/Combination I will never have again...

 

...is Currywurst. I tried it in Berlin years ago, with a local friend who pointed out that "this was one

of The Best Currywurst places in the city"! I was impressed. Of the currywurst, sadly, I was not.

 

It wasn't the fries. It wasn't even the chopped up sausage that's on top. It was the "curry sauce" all over it.

Which to me, tasted like curried ketchup and loaded up so thick on everything it was just too - much - sauce.

 

I ate up to 2/3 of it, then complained "so good I can't eat any more." Sure I lied, but for then, it was fine.

 

Anyway, mayo is OK in my books on fries. And ketchup too. Just not that much.

Basic Currywurst. Sarcastic 'Yum'. Actually, this looks much better than what I got back then.

[Nrthwnd]

After I finished my great meal, I took one more walk around the Carnival, then headed back to our flat...

And yes, Eiffel is everywhere.

Top level.

Middle level.

This looks wierd enough, but the body on Mickey? Looks like a peanut body! Creepy.

And this backdrop doesn't exactlty say "jumping on trampolines" to me.

Bye bye Carnival.

Photo taken from the train I'm on, on a bridge over the Seine.

It was a very crowded Saturday afternoon, I found out when I emerged from the train station.

This band played great swing music! But nobody was swinging.

If you leaped over this, you'd be in the Seine!

How do you get around Paris? With HAPPYMOOV! (o:

GrrrrBLING!

Shhhhhh.

Even the little ones are taken care of.

Walking by Centre Pompidou. A massive gallery with a permanent art exhibit, and visiting ones.

It's massive, and exhausting to go through in one visit. We did it in 2007. And nearly died.

Tubular!

As I am checking out of the food store, a protest parade goes by.

Later on...

The bar below us, is busy again.

My Crazy Mouse on-ride pic.

I am there.

Where it travels around France. (o: Now, on to Disney Paris!

Edited December 6, 2015 by Nrthwnd

[Nrthwnd]

City of Paris to Disney of Paris! (Arrival Day)

 

The great thing about knowing ahead about certain things in another foreign city, it helps plan the trip more easily

without too much last minute stuff to do (knock wood). We already had our weekly transit pass which covered five

zones of Paris, including the Disney Resort. Our last day of the pass, a Sunday, and we were off to Disney, arriving

several hours before our actual "check in time." No matter. We were allowed to check in, get our park and meal

tickets, park our luggage with the storage room, and head off immediately to the Walt Disney Studios with an

afternoon reservation for Bistrot Chez Remy in the new Place de Remy in the Studios.

 

Unfortunately, we completely forgot that any Sunday around the world = locals day off. It took us nearly one

hour to get through the front gate, with no designated queues like Disney Japan. And once through, we quickly

realized that we werent going to get many attractions in before our meal reservation. I did insist on getting

my last Credit of this tour - being RC Racer. But what was listed as a 1/2 hour wait turned into over an hour. Grrrrr.

 

We also checked on Ratatouille before the meal, but it was having one of it's "hourly fits," of which we've read

in past reports. And we checked after eating, but after it being up and running, it was down....again. So we gave it

a pass for Arrival Day, headed back to the hotel, and got into our lovely room at the Sequoia Lodge. Had a rest before

venturing out again, this time to Disneyland and eventually catching a performance of Dreams at the Castle...

Upon exiting the train station, we immediately saw this. That means...we're here!!!

Lake Disney, and beyond it, the Sequoia Lodge, our hotel for our five nights' stay. (o:

Looking the other way, once we got to the other side.

General layout of the Lodge.

What's inside it all. The pool, steam room and sauna were to the right, above the Yellowstone Lodge, there..

And we were approximately three floors above where you see the Beaver Creek Tavern.

Luggage stored, tickets in hand, we headed to the Studios.

Eep. What a mess of a "queue" ha! We eventually got through it, but still...messy.

Tower will be visited another day.

After finding out Ratatouille was currently a no-go, we headed to Toy Story Land. Crush's Coaster

was down for maintenance, but we already knew that ahead of time. Also the train around Disneyland.

And we waited approx. one hour for this credit.

The Parchute Jump will also be done on another day.

RC Racer on the move! It was alright, as I did a solo re-ride later on.

Back to Plaza de Remy for our meal!

Evening view of Bistrot Chez Remy - not my photo (thanks to whoever took this!) - but it shows where we headed.

Our view from our table. We were beside the glass partition between us, and a view of the unload area

of the ride. I totally forgot to snap a photo or three of it. )o: The food was too good, is my excuse, heh.

The meal. A great steak with (again!) luscious fries, a wonderful dipping sauce, and of course ratatouille

in the bowl there. And my first-ever taste of Icy Lemon Fanta! It was all awesome.

....And almost all eaten, lol! It was really a great eating start to our visit at Disney Resort.

Dessert was a chocolate mini-lava cake for David; Tiramisu for myself. With a cookie!

Afterwards, back to Ratatouille. It was down again, so we gave it a pass till tomorrow.

And left the park, to check out our hotel room. (o: (To be continued...)