Fall in Paris

Venturesome undertaking, bold decision. This is how I describe our trip to Paris at the very end of Oct and the very beginning of Nov. To buy flight tickets and book a room, to hire a car and arrange entrance tickets to Parc Asterix and Disneyland and to set out into a world city so that we can spend a couple of days and Halloween in the French capital are those things that a mother can do for the sake of her son who came to envy his mother's travellings by air and wish to fly, too.

What is a daring deed? Orientate ourselves in a foreign country without GPS but with the help of a simple paper map and find the right way based on the signs. Is it? Or is it rather anachronistic? How many of you wanna try the same in the recent world? I proudly present that I haven't been lost in France, found all those places very well that I wanted to, using neither GPS nor mobile apps. Intentionally? Partly. So to tell you the truth, this trip easily could go into nightmare because of lack of orientation support and money. But I was always smart enough to find solution and to trust myself and my smart little boy's great help and I wasn't shy to ask for the neccessary instructions from local people. Everything went well but I didn’t expect to leave a huge amount of deposit at the car rental company upon arrival.

Unfortunately, this wasn't calculated into our budget, so I definitely needed to be very careful with handling our money. Additionally, they tried to persuade me to upgrade the cathegory and to use accessories that I did not want to. Finally, I firmly made them understand that I did not want to pay more than I had already paid in advance. However, this rental company is one of the biggest ones around the world but it seemed that this attitude is the normal.

We arrived in the evening and found our hotel after a while which also made me disappointed. At least it was clean and regular and they did not want me to pay more than already paid at the reception. Dominik really enjoyed the bunk bed. My girlfriend told me afterwards that she knows well such kind of hotels from her childhood with good memories and that reminds her capsule hotels in the Far East. Looking out of our window I saw the lights of the Eiffel Tower in the distance - about one and half hour drive from us and thought that this would not be the night to go there. I just wanted to fall asleep.

Our first morning was chilly but with richly coloured sky and the airplanes came close above us since we were quite close to the airport. Packed in, ready for the first two adventures for that day. Our car was a brand new little one with only 400 kms drive as shown on the dashboard. It gave me absolutely pleasant driving experience. We reached Plailly well before the park opening hour, so had time for breakfast and reserve the best parking area ever. After getting in, it was still a bit cold but the much to see started to warm us up. We dropped in the eagerly expected world of Asterix and Obelix involving 6 different worlds (Egypt, the Roman Empire, Gaul, The Vikings, Ancient Greece and Travel through time).

Nice figures, buildings and rides, somewhere Halloween style. My personal favourite was the Village Gaulois where the only task is to look around and enjoy that you can feel yourself just like you are part of the real Gallic life. Dominik's favourite was the Le Défi de César where Caesar was recruiting spies and after a strange photo booth you become a legionary and can try how it feels when the boat is turned over by Obelix. Parc Asterix is a bit cheaper than Disneyland and seems a bit older, opened in 1989. It is good to be aware of the story and the characters when you visit.

Some imperfectness could be discovered (in comparison with Disneyland who surely does not allow to happen such defectivenesses or would be amended immediately) such as faulty displays that could be disturbing in an attraction where it would be important to have perfect visualization. The park was as just much OK that we were able to leave it before the complete close.

And the next turn to drive into the downtown of Paris, very probably during the rushing hours. No problem, we had time, Dominik could sleep in the car. My only duty was to find the right and shortest way while having endless patience, and avoiding even the smallest accident. Wow, what a challenge! Even one of my cousin who is an international forwarder driving all over Europe says that he hates driving in Paris because of its complexity and steady traffic. Although, it was not India but do not wish to enter so often the roundabout around the monument of Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile for example. What a mess! It can be dangerous not to indicate the lanes in a roundabout, so you have to be very cautious when enter and also when leave it.

I strictly followed my handmade itinerary and was awaiting for La Tour Eiffel to pop up. It did. And it was wonderful. I excelled in finding the most suitable parking place close to the tower that at first sight could seem to be a difficult effort aaaand wow, in the other minute we were amazed at the foot of the iconic symbol of Paris. And hardly could stop looking up. Then we took a look at it from the direction of Trocadero. Thank God Dominik was grateful for not going up, otherwise we had had to wait hours for entering. We were waiting for the first play of lights which could be seen in each hour and then left. The way back to the hotel was not less crowded and successful as coming there. I was so so proud of myself. Coping with the streets of Paris with my own resources was a very good achievement, honestly.

And Disneyland on the following day was the icing on the cake. Both of us were full of great expectations after Disneyland California. I was wondering before how similar it should have been or whether it must have been the very same. And we weren't disappointed. Disneyland Paris (formerly Euro Disneyland, located in Marne-la-Vallée, established in 1992) made the very same impression like in America.

Once entered, we found ourselves on the Main Street, U.S.A. just like in California. Definitely tried and compared those attractions that were tried in America and found that they are equal in every detail, even the entrance of Star Tours and even the real restaurant and the length of counting while sliding down fast and the hair on the shin of a sitting pirate in the Pirates of the Caribbeans. I was very happy with this recognition. We got on most of the rides that were said not to be missed. Once finished, we hurried to the other park, the Walt Disney Studios. 

And what we definitely needed to experience and became unambiguously our favourite: the Ratatouille. 4D experience, shrinked down to the size of Remy and duck, dive, dodge and scurry to safety in a dazzling chase across the gigantic kitchen of Gusteau’s famous Parisian restaurant. Although, we had to queue and wait 80 min, but we could not leave Paris without this treat because the cartoon itself takes places in Paris, too. So this was our last ride and I think worthy end of the day and also of our trip to Paris.