Last Friday we left about 1 p.m. with the Coopers and all our luggage (in our tiny car) to drive to Paris. And we drove. And we drove. And we drove. Until 8 p.m. we drove, though it was still better than catching a bus at 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning to ride for 8 hours to Paris. Ernst & Young paid for the whole office to go to Disneyland Paris on Saturday, eat, and stay in a Disney resort as kind of an office party. We decided driving would give us extra time to see a little of Paris as well. (With all the wrong turns we took, we ended up seeing a lot of Paris!)
On the way out of the Netherlands John was hungry and wanted to stop at McDonald's. Woe to us - it was on the wrong side of the road. In the U.S. this would not be a problem, but here it is much more difficult. Though it was fairly easy to find the McDonald's, getting back on the highway going in the correct direction was a challenge to say the least. Exits and entrances are never in the same area for getting on and off in either direction, so exiting and crossing over to the left side of the road means that after John successfully ordered and ate a Quarter Pounder we drove around aimlessly for 20 minutes trying to find an entrance back on the highway in the appropriate direction! (This tidbit of information about exits and entrances to the highway proves to be important to remember for the rest of our journey. Missing an exit or taking the wrong exit is torturously punishable by having to drive in the completely wrong direction for at least 10 km before being able to turn around.)
Our plan, not the plan when Erin was printing directions but the plan decided upon once in France, was to bypass our hotel and go straight on into Paris to see some stuff Friday night. What with the wrong turns, horrible Paris traffic, and circling the Arc de Triomphe, we finally parked and were on our way to the Eiffel Tower by 8 p.m. (It should be about 6 hours to Paris - so not too bad!) John took a business meeting call from the U.S. while we waited in line to get tickets to the Eiffel Tower. What an amazing view at night! We took the elevator to the very top and saw all of Paris by moonlight. Although Erin has been on the Eiffel Tower at night, she didn't go to the top nor was she with John so this was a great second trip to the Eiffel Tower for her! On the way up the Tower John wondered how many people were proposing marriage that night on the Eiffel Tower. Just 20 minutes later we witnessed at least one of the night's proposals! The bride-to-be seemed too busy showing off her ring and hugging family and friends to notice, as we did, that her fiance was looking more relieved and shocked than deliriously happy. :-) Erin decided she was glad John had looked so happy after his proposal 4 years ago.
By the time we left the Eiffel Tower it was between 9:30 and 10. All four of us were hungry, though Erin was willing to just give up on dinner and go to the hotel since she realized it would probably prove quite difficult to find coming from the opposite direction now. However, everyone else seemed intent on eating and we did find an open cafe near the Tower about 10 p.m. After a leisurely dinner, we left about 11 to find the hotel. Once again, Erin began worrying about finding this place because the directions she'd printed out were from Amsterdam going south, not Paris going north. Sure enough, we started out driving in the wrong direction for an hour, backtracked, then could not find the right exit if our life depended on it. The directions had been a bit vague in the first place: take exit 13, take the first exit at the first roundabout, at the second roundabout take the third exit, at the fourth roundabout take the fourth exit toward the Marriott, look for the sign. Hmmm. All we can say is, the French countryside is beautiful, but driving around in circles at midnight for 2 hours is NOT fun. We were so stressed out and tired. We stopped once at a gas station to ask directions, but the cashier did not speak English. Jacob also had a little trouble understanding the guy anyway as he was behind a foot of bullet-proof glass! The man at least told us we needed to turn around. Ummm, thanks. Eventually we figured it out. Don't ask us how. We were all deliriously tired by the time we found the Marriott's Village d'Ile-de-France at 2 a.m. Fortunately this story has a happy ending.
We woke right up when we saw our €119/night accommodations: a 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom, 2-story townhouse complete with a full kitchen, washer and dryer, living room, and dining room overlooking a lake! All of us decided this was much nicer (not to mention much larger) than our own apartments! We cannot describe the elegance, especially after driving for about 10 hours that day. Tasteful decor, dishes, four pillows a piece, fluffy towels, bathrobes, down comforters. Oh the bliss! Too bad we were only there 9 hours. :-( What a fantastic deal, too! All we can say is, Wow!
After seeing those plush accommodations we moved our departure time the next morning back by 30 or 40 minutes. Disneyland could wait. We needed sleep.
If you've ever been to Disney World in Florida, there's no need to go to Disneyland Paris (unless of course it's free thanks to your firm!). We enjoyed the rides we went on, but it takes away a lot of the ambiance when instructions, narrations, and pre-shows are all in a language you don't understand! Thankfully, the big shows provided narrative in both French and English, which is tedious, or headphones were provided so you could listen in your language of choice. Don't expect Disneyland Paris employees (or "cast" as Disney calls them) to be happy or even pleasant, or to speak English. Attention to details is lacking, and since Erin is a bit obsessive-compulsive she noticed. There was dirt on the carpet in our hotel room, mildew in the shower, cobwebs everywhere, trash all over the parks, and croissants and fruit for breakfast - that's all. We know, we know. We're in France, what do you expect? But this is Disneyland! There are people from all over the world here. At least offer some waffles or scrambled eggs or something. All this and we were staying at the second to the nicest Disney hotel!
Ernst & Young spent a fortune on this party. We think there were 3000 people attending, and we were all appreciative of the free holiday! The party Saturday night at Disneyland was fantastic! It began with a speech by one of the partners, in Dutch of course. OK, so that part wasn't that fantastic, but then there was a dance show and those people could dance! After hors d'oeuvers and drinks, we went to eat at a restaurant in Adventurland for an excellent dinner buffet. We also got to ride a couple more rides. We rode the roller coasters with one of John's coworkers and her husband, both from Ghana, who had never ridden a roller coaster before! It was so fun to be on the rides with them and see their reactions! After "Space Mountain" Pamela decided she had had enough of this roller coaster thing. Both of them said they'd never been so scared in their lives. At the last minute, William decided he would give it another try on "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril." He definitely had more fun on his second roller coaster. We have to say Indiana Jones is the perfect ride to go on at night!
At about 11 they had a concert for us. It was a big compilation of songs from the 1970s through today. We guess the Dutch are more into drinking and less into dancing. There were only a small group of us near the stage that were dancing, but it was so fun! About midnight John and I could no longer stay awake, so we headed to the hotel.
Sunday we met the Coopers to leave for Paris at 9:30...well, 10. Who knew it could take so long to eat croissants and drink hot chocolate? We all toured Notre-Dame and got to hear their awesome choir sing for the Sunday mass. Then we and the Coopers went our separate ways for the afternoon. We walked over to the Centre Georges Pompidou and visited the modern art museum there. That was quite entertaining and sometimes a bit bizarre. The current exhibition is called "Big Bang" with the artwork divided up into different themes like destruction, subversion, melancholy, sex (yeah, that was interesting), war, and re-enchantment. Then we ate at a cafe overlooking Notre-Dame and had a typically French meal: John had a Croque Monsieur, Erin had a Quiche Lorraine, and we shared a créme brûlée for dessert. Mmmmm. :-) We saw the Pantheon from the ticket area inside. (We were too cheap and short on time to buy tickets.) Then it was back in the car for the ride home.
Once again we left the center of the city in a huge traffic jam only to discover 30 minutes later that we were driving in the wrong direction. We got to see all areas of Paris this way, though it took a bit longer to get to the road we needed. We think all sense of directions just disappears in Europe. Possibly this is due to the fact that it takes so much attention just to try to read the signs written in foreign languages with about 8 lines of text on each one! Jacob drove on the way back home and we only took one wrong exit. The sign clearly read A22 when we exited only to promptly read A27 after we exited! This, however, proved to be the most convenient wrong turn of the trip as it only took 5 minutes to get back on track. Overall the weekend was a success. We got home at 10 last night, weary but happy.
And then we discovered we had no hot water...again! Good news though. We now know we just have to push the "reset" button on the water heater. We still do not know why we must do this or why the heater decides to just turn off by itself sometimes. It's just one of those things we're learning to put up with in our new country.
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