Oh Champs Élysées

Last night we were fortunate enough to watch Miss France in the hotel room. The boys actually picked out the winner before she won. Very impressive. Then I passed out from the exhaustion of the day.

After a lovely sleep we gathered to take the metro to Paris.

Paris is much different in the winter time. There are way fewer tourists, and of course everything is dressed up for Christmas.

We went up the Arc de Triomphe and just did a bit of shopping. After the intense day in Disneyland, we weren’t up for anything too aggressive. Actually, we went to Starbucks AND McDonald’s…so American…I’m almost ashamed, although I’d just like to say that the Canadian and Swede made me do it.

 As always, Paris is beautiful, busy, and Paris.

Disney Pogo

Today, or yesterday rather, we set out on a grand adventure. It started with a rather large group of international students meeting at a restaurant for a lovely meal. After dinner we split off into groups. Those of us with luggage, and those of us without luggage.

I was in the group with luggage. Why were we hauling luggage throughout Bordeaux? Because we were going to Disneyland!

The adventure started with everyone meeting up downtown at midnight to catch two charter buses that would take us to Disneyland! Of course the buses were late, and we were standing in the cold for a while, but that didn’t slow down my jolly spirit.

The fun things about long French bus rides, is that the bus driver unions mandate that we must stop every 3 hours in order to do what the French love (smoke and drink coffee). Another fun thing is that there are about six toll booths from Bordeaux to Paris. This means, that when you’re attempting to sleep so you are bright-eyed for Mickey, you’re woken up every hour or so.

After a quick (in French time) breakfast we finally drove up to Disneyland! Freaking out! WOO!

A group of international students started following me and we headed to the first ride of the day. At this point there were about 15 people in the group. WAY too big for Disney, but we had a grand time riding together, although the line set the very cold pace for the rest of the day.

We split off into smaller groups! Yay! My group was fantastic. No one had as much Disney experience as I did, so I got to be the boss. In fact, by the end of the day I had been labeled Disney Warrior Princess, because I was having us run all over the park (keeps the blood flowing) getting fast passes, and just generally dominating the park. I also had been labeled mom, because I kept snacks in my purse and always kept the troop’s spirits up.

In the end, we had fun. I would NEVER recommend going to Disneyland Paris in the winter time. We all finished the day with wet frozen feet, and could have been miserable if not for the awesomeness of Disneyland. Many people didn’t have fun…suckers….It was a beautiful, snowy, cold, magical day.