Honeymoon- Day 27- Paris to LAX

One person's adventure is another's honeymoon.  

We were pretty busy, I admit, but it was amazing!

We walked about 145 miles in total, and I don't even know how many trains and subways we took.  A lot.  

I know Eric is ready for a pubtrans break.  

Until next time!

The nice thing about coming home is that you can do it all in just one day.

Oh, and you get to see family.

And have a little rest and relaxation.  

Honeymoon- Day 26- Quimper to Paris

Tour de France excitement lingers into the next day.  

Even though the cyclists and their teams are on their way to another city for the next segment of the race, they have a presence in the city until the late morning.

Our train leaves in the early afternoon, which gave us a little more time to explore Quimper.

This art installation was recommended by the hotel employee.  

From April until this month only, 95 wolf statues by Chinese artist Liu Ruo Wang will be displayed.

Did I do that?

Today is our last morning in Europe with cappuccinos and pastries (for awhile). 

Au revoir Quimper!

Back in Paris, we are so ready to see Moulin Rouge!  

We ate at an Italian owned lasagneria, just a few minutes from the theatre.  

Our tickets (like many others) included a bottle of champagne.

Moulin Rouge has been including champagne with their ticket prices for over a hundred years, and so is the world's largest consumer of champagne, serving 240,000 bottles to its 600,000 customers each year.

The cabaret show opened its doors in 1899. 

There are topless women dancing, doing the can-can and swimming with snakes.  There are well-trained miniature horses, contortionists, and daredevil roller skaters.  

A typical show will have 80 artists, 20 of those being men.

It wasn't until more recently that the employees had to worry about sneaky cell phones capturing videos and pictures.  They have a strict policy in place, and you are monitored the entire time.  If you want to relive it later, you have to pay.  I think it is better just to enjoy it in the moment anyway.

This is the second time I have seen it, and a first for Eric, and we were both enthralled and engrossed for the entire one and a half hours.  It is so well done.  

(And for the record, it is nothing like that terrible film with Nicole Kidman.)

Ahhh, the last full day of our honeymoon!

Not a bad ending with such iconic entertainment. 

Honeymoon- Day 25- Quimper

This morning, Eric and I took the train to Quimper.  

It was a four hour train ride, but totally worth it.  

In just a few hours from now, cyclists will be completing stage five of the Tour de France.

Not every city in France is able to host the Tour.  They need to have sufficient hotels to accommodate riding teams and spectators, be along a cyclable road and, I assume, be somewhere desirable to visit.  The last time Quimper hosted was 2004.

I didn't know too much about Quimper before arriving.  I chose it because it looked nice, and worked out with our tight itinerary.  We now know that Quimper is famous for its spin on crepes.  They have a semi crispy texture (like they are lightly fried), and are folded differently.  

There is a lot of history here; it was first settled during Roman times.

Quimper (and the whole region of Brittany) is also famous for its spectacular, vibrant hydrangea.   

We arrived at the finish line over an hour before the expected arrival time so we could shop, get free stuff, and enjoy the festivities.  

I feel like we staked out the perfect viewing spot- next to a tree, so late arriving spectators couldn't muscle in next to us, and in front of a jumbotron, so we had appropriate entertainment while waiting for the peloton.  

It is pretty exciting to witness the arrival of the cyclists, maybe even more so than the departure.  A benefit to the departure is that you get to see the bikes and gigantic team buses on display.  

Unfortunately, not everyone can be a winner, but the fact that they ride about 2,200 miles in 21 segments (23 days) is an amazing accomplishment in and of itself.

World Champion Peter Sagan was the first to arrive, his second winning stage so far.

An all-female band wearing bike helmets gave a concert in front of the cathedral.  

Quimper is interesting, and even more so during the Tour de France!

It was a long train ride, but totally worth it.

Honeymoon- Day 24- Disneyland Paris

We followed Mickey's ears through the Paris metro until the end of the line of the RER A, Marne la Vallée.  About an hour after leaving our hotel we were at Disney Village.

Kimmie's travels didn't start with cute Mickey ears, she was much too far away for that.  From Geneva to Disneyland Paris it is a four hour train ride. She left after 5:00am (and returned around midnight!). Even an employee on the train checking tickets was making comments about her trip.  She didn't get into with him but Kimmie has just been once, and wasn't able to ride more than three baby rides, so she was excited about exploring more, and spending time with us (sans child).  

Who is excited about the World Cup Semi Finals?!

France!

Our plan is to get home before the end of the game.  We learned our lesson in Colmar.  

Always base your France travels on sports fanatics.

Disneyland Paris opened in 1992 and is the most popular theme park in Europe.  It attracts 13 million visitors per year.  Disneyland CA receives five million more customers than that per year, which works out to about 14,000 more customers a day.  

Isn't math fun?!

We LOVE Disneyland Paris.  You don't have the crowds, or the long lines.  

But you have to go expecting everything to be on a smaller scale.  

What's great is that the general set up is similar to Disneyland; you walk down Main Street straight to the castle, Frontierland is on your left, Fantasyland is on your right.  Not all of the "lands" are there, nor the rides within the lands, but it makes it a bit easier to get around.  

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

-Walt Disney

This is taken from inside Sleeping Beauty's castle.

Our first ride was Pirates of the Caribbean.  

It was very similar to California (without the banjo player on the porch, but with French speaking pirates!)

I couldn't ride on most of the rides so Kimmie and Eric gave me the rundown upon their return.

Indiana Jones is an outdoor roller coaster, that has no connection whatsoever to the film.  It is like Goofy Sky School but bigger and faster.

Bon voyage!

The Haunted Mansion is currently being renovated, but there is always next time...

Skull Rock in Adventure Isle.

For the record, a floating pineapple whip is NOTHING like a Dole whip.  

It was pretty disappointing.

Hyperspace Mountain was a fan favorite of the two.

You start outside and get launched inside, where you are met with barrel rolls and full loops, in the dark.  They said it was EPIC.

 Closing one eye and having a lot of determination really pays off.

Thunder Mountain was also impressed both Kimmie and Eric.

Just like Space Mountain, it was much more extreme.  

Eric liked both rides here more than in California.  

I am so glad that Kimmie came, or Eric would have felt way too guilty to ditch me.

Each time they came back from a ride I would ask, "could I have gone?" and they would both yell, "no!"  Next time...

Autopia- I probably shouldn't have ridden this one.  It was a lot more whiplashy than I was expecting.  You can't really steer the cars, they just bang into the track, back and forth, the entire time.  

Pinnochio Village really does look like a lot of places we have visited on this trip.

Les Voyages de Pinocchio wasn't a long wait to get on, but the total ride time seemed a lot shorter than at Disneyland in CA, and the ride was so fast that it missed the hole story.

Peter Pan was even worse, or maybe we were partially disappointed after spending more time in line at this ride than any other.  Much like at the original Disneyland... it was over an hour wait!  

This picture of Main Street, hours before they closed, accurately depicts the crowds.

I know most people wouldn't get this, but Disney Village has the best cotton candy.

We got home in time to watch the end of the game at the hotel, followed by partying in the streets.  We went outside and, not too far from our hotel, found this revelry.

This street was not supposed to be closed, it was a decision made by football fans.

One person's idea of insanity is another person's normal.