Disneyland Paris

It is no secret that we love Disney World!  And we have missed the annual passes and frequent visits that living in Gainesville made possible.  So it was a no brainer that while we were in Paris, we would be visiting Disneyland Paris.  We had heard all the negatives, and knew that this would not compare, but we had to go.

We stayed one train stop away from Disney.  Talk about expensive, their hotels there were crazy!  so we got off the train, walked out of the station, and we were there.  Disney has 2 parks and a small Downtown Disney type area.

We started in the Studios park.  It is supposed to be like Hollywood Studios in Orlando.  There were some things that were familiar, like the Tower of Terror and the Rock'N Roller coaster.  However, there wasn't a whole lot there that we wanted to do.  They did have a Toy Story play area with some rides geared toward the younger crowd, but 2 rides was plenty for us.  

The other park is Disneyland Paris.

We were happy to be walking down Mainstreet USA, even if it wasn't towards Cinderella's castle.

While it was small, there were some cool, and familiar rides…..

Space Mountain 2.  So much cooler than the original.  It is still inside, but is a much
crazier ride.  I could only do it once, but the kids went on multiple times

Small world.  I dragged the kids on this one, but it was worth it.
  Reminiscent of the one at Disney World but it really has
just a little something extra.

Buzz Lightyear.  Here the guns are not attached.  This gave me and Sam
the edge.  Typically we score the lowest, but Sam out did us all, and
I was in second!

Of course they had the speedway.  We didn't wait in line, but I made the kids
pose for a picture.

The Phantom Manor (if I remember correctly).  It is a
creepier version of the Haunted Mansion.

Thunder Mountain.  This was my favorite roller coaster.
It even goes under water over to a small island.

There were other familiar sites, like Casey's hot dog place.  However, this was the off season, and several things were closed, including Sam's favorite, Cassey's.  It was a fun adventure, and I am glad we did it.  However, it is no Disney World!

Paris 2014

France was more than just the marathon.  The marathon happened to be on the first Sunday of the kids' spring break, so we made the most of the time we had in France.  Typically, we try to stay just outside of major cities in order to get a cheaper hotel.  However, I wanted to be close to the start and finish of the marathon, so this time we stayed in the heart of Paris.  While we didn't have an unobstructed view of the Eiffel Tower from our room, we could see it.

I have to say, the Eiffel Tower didn't look to impressive from here.
I was a little disappointed, until we walked over there.

While our hotel was pricey, we were fortunate that it included a nice breakfast.  This I knew when I booked the rooms, but we had a pleasant surprise when we arrived.  Not only did we get breakfast included, there was also a small buffet of snacks in the evening.  While most Europeans would likely just munch on the snacks at 5:30 and eat a dinner much later, that was not our plan.  The buffet has nice rolls, cold cuts, and cheese.  So this was our dinner.  Paris is very expensive, and having to only find lunch while we were out was a bonus.  The buffet also had sweets, and Mike and I each got a complimentary glass of champagne each night.  Additional glasses would have been 13 euro each!

Sam discovered a love for macaroons!  And I do mean love.  She made sure to try every flavor each night!  The last night she was sad because there were no macaroons, but they did have eclairs, yum!

Now, everything I read about prepping for a marathon said to rest the days just before the race.  That is probably really good advice, but we were in Paris and had a day and a half before the race.  So there was no way I was going to just take it easy and sit in the hotel.  Friday afternoon, after arriving in Paris, we hit the race expo, brought my stuff back to the hotel, had a snack, and we were off.  First stop was the Eiffel Tower.

I didn't know Tommy had photo-bombed us until I loaded the pix onto the computer!

 I had tried to get tickets before we left, but they were all sold out.  Fortunately, there was almost no line for the elevator tickets, and there were only 2 other people on the elevator with us.

We skipped the first floor and went directly to the second floor to check out the views.  That was good enough for me and Tommy, but Sam and Mike went to the top.  It was light out when we arrived and dark enough for the lights by the time we left.  It was beautiful!

Saturday, we started the day with a trip to Versailles.

We walked though out the palace, and it was gorgeous, and no pictures could do it justice.  Sam was excited to go here.  She remembers watching a dvd we have about the splendors of the world when she was little.  I guess Versailles was one of the splendors, and it made a huge impression on her.  She was telling me all about the history of the palace and the grounds, and it was from the video she watched 8-10 years ago.

From Versailles, we headed to Rodin's garden to see the Thinker.

There were all sorts of sculptures and pieces of art in the garden and in his house.  It is really cool to see things I have read about in my history books.

Of course we had to get some lunch, and Tommy and I were looking forward to having a croque madame.  What is that, you ask?  Let me show you a picture….

 It is France's version of a grilled ham and cheese.  Only, the ham is on the inside and the cheese is on the outside.  Then, it is topped with a fried egg!  So good!  And we got to eat it sitting in the open window of a French bistro!

The day after a race, is also a day to rest…..for the weak!  We headed to the Louvre.

We got there relatively early and missed the major crowds.  Of course, the first place we went was to see the Mona Lisa.

And we got there before the crowds.  This particular section of the Louvre was my favorite.  The paintings were amazing, again so crazy to see the real thing after seeing the pictures in books.  Aside from the art on the wall, the halls were so elaborate and beautiful throughout the museum.  We spent a long time walking through the Louvre, but we did not see the whole thing before the kids, especially Tommy, had had enough.

We headed out for lunch (another croque madame for me and Tommy) and then over to Notre Dame.

To round out our time in Paris, Sam got a beret and we went to see the Statue of Liberty…

And taking a little time to figure what to do next….

We loved Paris!  Prior to moving to Italy, I would never have had France as a place I wanted to go for vacation.  Enlgand, Ireland, Belgium, Spain?  Yes, but not France.  I am so glad we went.  It was beautiful, clean and the people were very friendly.  I was a little worried about the French being rude and my complete lack of knowledge of the French language, but we had no issues.  Most places, the people had some English and if not, I have mastered pointing to get what I want and we watch the cash register closely to see what we owe.  Aside from the fact that we still have a long list of places to see and an ever shorter amount of time to see it all, I would love to go back to Paris!

Paris Marathon 2014

Four years ago my thoughts on running were, "why run if no one is chasing you?".  If I was going to work out, running would have been last on my list of options.  About 3 1/2 years ago, a crazy friend I had known for only a short period of time had the bright idea to run the princess half- marathon at Disney World, and for some reason I agreed to do it, too.  The training for that was tough, but by the end of the training I knew I could finish the half and thought I might consider a full marathon in the future.  Then I ran the half.  It was a blast, but I knew a full marathon was not in my future!

              Just past the 22K mark, with a smile on my face!

Fast forward to April 2013.  We had moved to Italy and I had pretty much lost my running base.  I was starting to run again and had a regular running partner.  On a run one day, she suggested we run a marathon while we live in Europe.  It sounded like it would be cool, so I agreed.  She went right home and did some research and decided Paris would be good.  Neither of us had been there and it was the same week as our kids's spring break.  We worked at building a base over the summer and the real training started around September or October.  I can't even begin to tell you how many miles we put in or how many hours of cross-training we did between Zumba, yoga, and a foam-rolling class.  We tried to be smart about our training and not ramp up miles too quickly, but still get in all the training necessary.  I think we did pretty good.  We had some muscle cramping issues, but no injuries for either of us.  I was so thankful to have a running partner, it made long runs much more bearable.  I dreaded the 10 miles on the treadmill I had to do when we traveled for swim meets or over Christmas.  I am not sure I could have accomplished this on my own.

We left for Paris on a Friday and the race was the following Sunday.  I hadn't really felt nervous until Friday morning, then I had a ton of nervous energy.  However, once we got to Paris I was good.  Saturday night and Sunday (race day) morning I was totally calm.  I met Lani and we headed to the corral for the slowest runners, which was good by us.  We had no goal other to finish before the 6:00 hours alloted to us.  I didn't even care if I was last!  

Before we started, with the Arc in the background

     Our pace flags

We got to run past all of the major landmarks, starting at the Arc De Triumph, the Louvre, the July pole, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and some beautiful neighborhoods.

     20K, almost to the halfway point

Selfie with the July Pole

     Notre Dame is way off behind me

     Mile 18 at the Eiffel Tower

  There were people lining the streets cheering for us like we were celebrities.  We even saw some friends from Sig who were in Paris for spring break, knew we were running and took time to watch the marathon!  They had bands periodically, which really helped keep me going or boost my energy.  There were also all sorts of characters running.  In our corral, we had a guy dressed like sponge bob, a guy dressed like a coffee cup, and one dressed like a bear of some sort.  At some point we caught up to a dude dressed like Luigi, from Mario Brothers.  We kept passing him and then being past by him as we stopped for water and oranges.  It became our mission to beat him, but towards the end it didn't look promising.  We slowed down a lot at the end.

     Luigi, just before we past him for the last time,

              and we did beat him!

        The cup and bear (or dog?)

      We hadn't seen them since the beginning,

         But we beat them too!

  I won't lie, it hurt.  At about mile 16, I was talking about doing another marathon, if it was in a cool location.  By mile 20, it was a different story!  We had done 20 miles for our longest training run, and 6.2 is A LOT of miles after 20!  

    A VERY welcome sign!

But we stuck it out and ran across the finish line!  It was an awesome experience and an accomplishment I never thought I would achieve. 

       Looking good for running almost 6 hours!

      My race bling!  It was cool hearing people cheer "Bravo, Cindy"!

      (Notice it says 4h30 for my corral.  That was the slowest option for registration, not a 

       realistic goal!)

   

 Thankfully, the recovery was not too bad.  I was sure to stretch and roll and I was walking up and down stairs and around Paris with little soreness the next day.  After swearing to my family that I was retired, a couple of days after the race I now think I might do it again.  Of course it would have to be a cool location and the stars would have to align just right, but it is a possibility.