Trip report, Paris 10-16 july 2010, day four – Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally, Golly what a day

After our usual morning coffee with croissants and pain-au-chocolat from the local boulangerie we headed for the Châtelet metro/RER station, where we bought tickets for Disneyland. Again a smart way to avoid queues and save money.

Having been to Disneyland a few times before we picked out a few favourites, starting with the Dragon in Sleeping Beauty Castle. Of course we didn't miss Pirates of the Caribbean, Phantom Manor and the little train Casey Jr/the fairytale cruise. In the old days (a few years ago) people used to wave at each other when the train an the boats met. Nowadays everyone seems to sit with a video camera in front of their face. How sad!

The weather was a bit unsteady, at times there were some really dark clouds but it never started raining. Possibly this had an effect on the number of visitors at Disneyland that day, there were never any really long lines anywhere and in the afternoon we had done everything we wanted to in the park. We did some shopping in Disney Village and decided to go swimming in the Sequoia Lodge hotel. We do know the swimming pool is for hotel guests only, but when we stayed there two years ago there seemed to be little control. Of course the man at the pool desk asked for the little card you get when you check in to the hotel and then, as we didn't have one, for our room number...

No swimming for us! Instead we had some refreshments in the hotel bar, waiting for the buffet at La Cantina in the Santa Fe hotel to open. This was the first Disneyland hotel we stayed in and we still go there for dinner when we get the opportunity.

The buffet was pretty much the same as we remembered it, plenty to choose from and a nice dessert table. We stuffed ourselves, then had a nice walk back to Disney Village along Rio Grande. It seems like we are ready with Disneyland now, at least for a few years. That's nice, because it takes a full day of the itinerary. You don't pay 45€ each just to spend an hour or two there.

The Navigo cards, by the way, were a success! I adviced the girls to put them in the back zip pocket of their hand bags and then simply wave the handbag over the ticket reader. Especially the youngest one (who would actually have been cheaper of with a 5 days Paris Visite pass) looks like she has never done anything else... And so handy not having to hand out/collect those tiny paper piece tickets every time we've passed a ticket control in the metro!

Trip report, Paris 10-16 july 2010, day three – the ups and downs of Paris

Every year when we have returned from Paris we have met the same question; did you see the Mona Lisa? The first three years we stayed at Disneyland and took day trips to Paris, and going to an enormous museum with long lines and big crowds was not what I felt would give the girls the best impression of Paris. Besides, you don't see much in a crowd if you are much shorter than the rest of the crowd. Well, the girls have grown, in year or two I will probably be the shortest member of our family, so there were no excuses anymore.

Having done my homework during the winter I learned that the best way to enter the Louvre was by taking the metro line 1 to Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre and go to Carrousel du Louvre, the big shopping mall under the Louvre. We bought our tickets in a tobacco store after a few minutes in line and followed the crowd toward Place de la Pyramide inversée. We got through the security control at the Richelieu wing and saw a lot of sculptures, masterpieces like Rubens and Rembrandt and so on. After a while our impressed "Ohh" started to sound lamer and lamer so we decided to have a meal and some shopping instead and then go back another day.

Actually one of the most impressing things I remember about this visit is the enormous line towards the main entrance, which we saw through a window. We couldn't see where the line started but it sure seemed like a bad way to spend your vacation in Paris?

Shopping, yes. Summer sales in Paris... We went to C&A on Rue de Rivoli, then to Yves Rocher to buy shampoo. Apparently we thought there would be more time for shopping later?

In the evening we went to Arc de Triomphe, another of those Paris "musts" we have managed to avoid. It was much bigger than we expected and to our big surprise there was no line at all, we just paid the entrance end went straight up to the top! Or maybe it would be more correct to say "in circles to the top", I don't know how many turns the spiral stairs made, at least there where 284 steps. The view was spectacular; we took a bunch of photos from the platform at the top. Definitely a place I'd like to go back to some day!

Trip report, Paris 10-16 july 2010, day two – things can only get better

After a good night's sleep and some breakfast in our room we felt ready for new adventures. We popped down to the Metro station, bought two Mobilis and two Ticket Jeunes and boarded the first cart of the automated line 14. Not quite as adventurous as on the video, but amusing enough for a Sunday morning...


We switched to line 4 at Châtelet and headed for Porte de Clignancourt. Flea market time! We strolled around for a few hours, bought a few things – some 3€ necklaces, a pair of shorts and a handbag and had café crème with croissants. The antique market was interesting as usual, but with surprisingly much rubbish. Who on earth buys all that shattered junk?

After the Flea Market we went back to the hotel for a meal and some rest. Then my husband and I decided it was time to buy Navigo Decouvertes for the following week. We went back to "our" metro station and got really good help from the man at the information desk in the tricky task to buy cards, personalize them with names and photos and finally recharge them for the following week.

In the evening we planned to climb the Towers of Notre-Dame, having heard that their infamous long lines tend to be shorter in the evenings. Well, they weren't. We went inside instead, listened for a while to the evening mass and started a rather planless promenade by going north across the Seine.

Next stop was Hôtel de Ville, then we passed Centre Pompidou and suddenly we found ourselves near Tour Saint-Jaques, a landmark I have seen from Place du Châtelet and been curious about. Time to explore what was in the tower. Much to my surprise we found a statue of Blaise Pascal inside it.

After that we decided we had walked enough for the day and took the metro from Châtelet to our hotel.

Trip report, Paris 10-16 july 2010, day one – the bad beginning

How I regret not having written trip reports for our previous Paris trips! Oh well, the fifth time is lucky...

Anyhow: Our trip actually started the day before, when we went to Sweden in order to catch the early Air France flight to Charles de Gaulle Airport. It was hot, in the middle of one of the not-so-frequent Swedish heat waves. We headed for Connect hotel in Arlanda City, a usually very nice hotel with good family rooms. (Two connecting doubles.) Their family rooms are situated on the west side of the building and have some kind of terrace with stairs to the ground level. Very nice indeed, unless during a heat wave since the only source for fresh air in one of the rooms is the door to the sunny terrace. After a short night with bad sleep we left for Arlanda Airport.

The flight went well, we found our luggage and headed for the RER station. I had planned to buy Mobilis cards for me and my husband and Tickets Jeunes for our two daughters. Apparently they had replaced the old ticket machines with rollers with new ones with touch screens. I did not manage to find the Mobilis alternative and when I asked one of the RATP informants she pointed towards the ticket office with one open desk out of five and a very long line. D'oh!

Eventually it was my turn and I was informed they didn't sell Mobilis. Double d'oh! I bought single tickets for Paris and left with a rather sour expression on my face. Since CDG is in zone 5 I really can't understand why a Mobilis card for zones 1 - 5 shouldn't be sold there?

By now we feel rather confident with the Paris Metro system and got to our hotel near the Bibliotheque Francois Mitterrand station without any further adventures. Next setback, our room would not be ready until three o' clock. We left our luggage and went for a walk in the area, including Decathlon and Monoprix.

We went back to the hotel, got our room on the street side of the second floor. This didn't worry me much; we stayed in the same hotel last year so I know Rue de Tolbiac is a rather quiet street at night. What was way worse was that our room didn't have a coffee machine! A pure disaster for me, the born coffeeholic! The lady in the reception promised to "speak with the chamber maid" about the missing coffee machine, so my hopes for a quick solution wasn't too high but after a few minutes she delivered a coffee machine. Hooray!

This was when we should have made Paris by night but after a microwave dinner based on our nos achats from Monoprix the rest of the family seemed ready for a quiet evening. I didn't oppose.

Packa pappas kappsäck...

...fast inte med vare sig tapetpaketet eller betongkartongen (som det väl borde ha blivit i mitt fall, tapetpaket var mera morfars gebit). Börjar vara dax att fundera över vad man vill ha med till Paris och se till att det är tvättat. Skulle väl inte vara så svårt om man packade bara åt sig själv, men nu har jag tre följeslagare med åsikter och önskemål om vad de vill ha med sig och ansvar för att packningen inte ska bli för stor men ändå innehålla allt som behövs. D'oh!

Väderleksprognosen som jag länkat till är ju ytterst hjälpsam, varannan uppdatering förutspår solsken och varannan regnmoln. Fast det är ju en utgångspunkt för att packa för växlande väderlek förstås?

Sedan bör man undvika att få med sig någon katt (och helst inga katthår, tack!) vilket är lättare sagt än gjort i det här hushållet.

Säkra kort i min packning är i alla fall följande:

• dubbla sportbagar på vägen dit, eftersom packningen har en tendens att växa under resans gång. Dessutom vill man (jag) inte tillbringa hela sista kvällen med att packa smutstvätten så prydligt som möjligt för att få allt att rymmas.
• ett litet tvättsnöre, portionsförpackat handtvättmedel och några klädnypor.
• extrapar bekväma skor.
• tunn, men varm tröja för svala kvällar.

R.I.P. bloggen.fi

Hej alla!

Gör nu ett försök med blogspot, har en känsla av att det bloggen.fi:s gamla bloggare skulle behöva i dagens läge inte är en finlandssvensk blogg, utan en finlandssvensk startsida, med lista över olika finlandssvenska bloggar, nya inlägg och kanske en chatfunktion. HSS-media börjar nog ha förverkat sitt förtroendekapital, känns det som.

Själv har jag inte bloggat aktivt på ett drygt halvår, så jag förlorade personligen inte särskilt mycket på den senaste kraschen. Förargligast var det med dotärns bokrecensioner o.d. som vi nu får vaska fram bland Googles cachade sidor. Jag hör ju till dem som borde förstått sig på att säkerhetskopiera (sic!) och gjorde det nog, månadsvis, på "den gamla goda tiden", men i samband med portalbytet som ironiskt nog sades vara nödvändigt av säkerhetsskäl tappade jag bort den rutinen. Nog om det, nya tag!
anpe