A Quick Trip to Paris

Paris is one of those places where the world and his wife seem to have visited with their significant other in the past few years, resulting on me missing out due to my apparent lack of allure to the opposite sex.

However, when Ashleigh, Lindsay and I decided to head to Disneyland Paris for Lindsay's 21st/Disney College Programme reunion, we couldn't resist a day to see the sights.

We headed into Paris on the RER for our first stop, the Arc de Triomphe. 

It was so much bigger than I expected!

Standing underneath scared me a little it was so huge. 

After being amazed by the scale of the Arc de Triomphe, we wandered down to the largest structure in Paris, the Eiffel Tower. 

We managed to dodge the hundreds of men trying to sell us Eiffel Tower keyrings and had the obligatory Eiffel Tower photo session. 

Although we were slightly disappointed we couldn't have a baguette fight on the grass a la Mary Kate and Ashley in Passport to Paris.

Next stop was the Louvre. 

One element of Paris I was most impressed with was that if you're under 25 and a citizen of an EU country you can do pretty much anything for free.

Tip: Enter via the Mall (Carrousel du Louvre) rather than the pyramid to save queueing!

The building is amazing, you'd need days to walk around the entire museum. 

Don't forget to look up. The ceilings are even more impressive than some of the paintings.

Of course we gave Mona a visit.

...but I thought this painting opposite was much more impressive. Imagine how long it must have taken!

We had an unsuccessful trip to try and find the Pantheon, which we later discovered had been about 200m away from us as we ate lunch before walking in the wrong direction.

Admitting defeat we headed to our final stop of Notre Dame.

This was 100% my favourite place in Paris that day, maybe due to my childhood love of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

I may or may not have got excited and started re-enacting scenes and singing The Bells of Notre Dame as they began to chime...

You could feel such an atmosphere inside. Don't be put off by the long queues, it moves really fast even with people pushing in.

We wearily headed back to our hotel at Val d'Europe, before having a quick look around the Val d'Europe shopping centre. 

I picked up about a years supply of Bioderma, including one of the little baby bottles so I was happy.

The day ended with a trip to Disney Village and a Hawaiian BBQ Earl of Sandwich.

Not a bad way to end a lovely day. 

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to drop in and say Merry Christmas from Marzie and I!

Christmas celebrations ended for me today and I've just realised I've not watched Elf nor Home Alone yet, criminal.

My plans for tomorrow are to have a lie in, stay in my pjs all day and catch up on all the Christmas cookery programmes I've missed.

xx

A Day in Disneyland Paris

My friend Lindsay turned 21 in October, so we decided we'd go to Disneyland Paris to celebrate. We fixed a date in December and off we went.

We arrived at our hotel late Thursday night. It was a perfect hotel for us, right next to Val d'Europe train station so 5 minutes on the RER to Disney and about 40 minutes to Gare du Nord. I'd definitely recommend it if you just need a cheap hotel for a few nights.

It even had this cute little dishwasher.

On Friday we were up bright and early and all very excited for Disney.

We had a very extravagant McDonald's breakfast in the Disney Village and were ready to hit the parks. 

We decided on the Studios to start with as we wanted to leave the best till last. 

First up was Crush's Coaster, a lot more fun than I was expecting for a kids ride and a great start to the day. We nipped over to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and Animagique before heading to our favourite, Tower of Terror.

Not before saying hello to Bell Hop Goofy of course.

After a wander around the rest of the park it was time to say goodbye to Walt and Mickey and head over to the Disneyland Park. 

Although first I needed a picture with Walt Disney World on the compass, forever my favourite park!

Another picture was needed in front of the Disneyland hotel. I have a picture exactly the same as this from when I was 4.

The Christmas decorations were amazing, enough to get you instantly into the Christmas spirit.

Then we saw it, the Parisian version of our home, The Emporium.

Many pictures were taken and we were all amazed by how tiny it is in comparison to Walt Disney World.

Food was needed at this point and where else to eat on Main Street but Casey's. 

Food packaging is perhaps one of the only things Disneyland Paris do better than Walt Disney World, part of me was tempted to keep it.

It was then a quick rush back onto Main Street for the Christmas Cavalcade.

It's Santaaaa I know himmmm!

After much excitement we walked over to Discoveryland to ride Space Mountain: Mission 2. It was definitely an extreme version of WDW and I think I prefer it slightly. Only a 5 minute wait too!

We couldn't wait any longer, it was time to look inside the Castle.

How amazing are these stained glass windows?

We quick footed it to the back of the park, as I was late for a very important date with Alice's Curious Labyrinth.

Luckily I made it to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party on time.

Looks like Cinderella was running late though.

We couldn't stay long as it was time to ride the obligatory It's a Small World.

It was then a quick dash back to Main Street for the parade where I got to see some of my favourite friends.

And Tink closed the show splendidly.

The day was drawing to a close and we wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain before it was too late.

And we couldn't miss out on meeting Jack either, especially in his dashing new suit.

As we were in the spooky spirit, this seemed the perfect time to ride Phantom Manor. 

I just love the design of this.

Too soon it had drawn dark, Disney's Winter Dreams began and before long it was time to leave ready for our day in the city tomorrow.

Center Parcs

At the start of December my family and I visited Center Parcs in Longleat.

We all love it there. Grandma can relax by the fire, my brother and I love the plaza, Dad loves escaping from us all at the Aqua Sana and Mum loves the Winter Wonderland themeing.

Even Marzie got to come along. She was a big fan of the amount of sticks on offer and refused to leave them outside.

We love going to Center Parcs in Winter, purely for the decorations. 

We went to Sherwood Forest a few years ago and fell in love.

Plus they have reindeer, instant winner for me.

Talking of instant winners, I introduce the Dutch Apple pancake from The Pancake House...

Best way to end the holiday.