Les Grandes Grandes Vacances de Petite Grace, Part Two

First stop: Disneyland Paris!

Hope you all enjoyed Part One of Grace’s Long, Long Holiday! Time to kick off part two, which might be a little bit shorter. I did overdo it with the pictures a little in the first one… 

Speaking of which, I forgot to share some of the pictures of all the beautiful poppies we saw in Normandy! I was in heaven. Poppies are my favorite flower and seeing them sprinkled through the fields was really magical.

But okay, on to Disney Paris.

Disneyland Paris was opened in 1992 and was originally known as Euro Disney, which is still how some people refer to it. (It’s also why they make a reference to Euro Itchy and Scratchyland in The Simpsons…) Unfortunately, it’s never really been a great financial investment for the company, and so it’s kind of got the reputation of being a redheaded step child of the Disney Parks system. 

The complex has two parks: Disneyland, and Walt Disney Studios, so basically their version of MGM or Hollywood Studios. Now, I was warned – repeatedly – by members of my family who had been there before that Disney Paris was going to be disappointing, and unfortunately… they weren’t wrong. There were parts of it that were really cute, like the brand new (relatively speaking) Ratatouille area and ride in Walt Disney Studios:

And there were lots of fun little thematic areas, like the actual dragon that lives under the castle:

And Tomorrowland’s “Discoveryland” interpretation, which is all inspired by the works of Jules Verne:

But the rest of the park is kind of decidedly bleh compared to the American parks. The food isn’t anything to write home about either, although the Ratatouille themed restaurant is extremely cute. You’re shrunk down to the size of a rat, so the furniture is all made of oversized matches, cocktail umbrellas, bottle caps, and other ephemera. Most of the dishes also come with a side of – you guessed it – ratatouille.

We also ate at Walt’s, which is placed kind of similarly to the Carnation Café on Main Street. The restaurant is decorated with photos and references to Walt Disney’s life and career, and serves upscale, American style cuisine. Our table was right near a window, so we got a cool view of the street down below us when we ate. (Although this did mean we were subjected to the awful Pirate and Princess Party for the 50th time…) 

I had an extremely tasty lemon meringue tart, which was easily the tastiest thing I had while at the park. Admittedly, the competition wasn’t especially fierce, but it was really, really good.

Theming wise, the best restaurant we ate at was the Agrabah Café Restaurant. Adventureland in Disney Paris is definitely more Aladdin than Tiki Room, and this restaurant was really, really cool on the inside. The different rooms looked just like the winding streets from the movie, and the food was pretty tasty. It was all you can eat buffet style, with a good mix of more genuinely Middle Eastern dishes and things for the less adventurous in your party. I really liked the pine nut tart.

But with that said, I tend to really enjoy the meals I have at Disney theme parks, and these were decidedly just okay on the whole. Not terrible, not something I regretted doing, but definitely not up to the standard I’ve come to expect from the American parks. I guess that’s why I’ve never found a Disney Paris food themed Instagram to follow, while I’ve got at least three different Disneyland and World food instagrammers on my feed. 

Disney Paris does do rides well, in that their coasters are fun to ride and a little more intense than their American counterparts. I was totally surprised to learn their Space Mountain goes upside down more than once, for example! But some of the charming detailing is missing. The Indiana Jones coaster really doesn’t feel specifically Indiana Jones themed, for example, while the ride in Disneyland is extremely explicitly themed around the franchise. 

In general, although a lot of the stuff looks really nice when it’s new – like the awesome Coco themed decorations in Frontierland! – Disney Paris kind of feels like Six Flags does Disney. I like Six Flags, but this just isn’t the thing I expect when paying Disney prices. The attention to detail and long term care is missing, as well as some of the magic. I’m glad I finally got to see it, but I’m not in any hurry to go back.

Fortunately, real Paris exceeded my expectations!

My dad’s family spent three years in Paris thanks to my grandpa’s job, so I’ve heard a lot about their time living here. It was really cool to be able to see all of it in person, and especially to realize how much my dad and aunts had at their fingertips as middle and high school kids. My dad said Paris was a great place to be a teenager in because the metro let you get around just about anywhere without a car, and the drinking age was pretty low, so he and his friends could go see movies or grab a beer at a pub without a problem. He took me to see their old apartment building and neighborhood. 

And of course we did our best to visit all the must sees of Paris, like Sainte-Chapelle and Notre Dame.

Predictably, my favorite place to visit was the Musée de l'Armée, which had really great World War I and World War II exhibits, along with a lot of material from the Napoleonic era, including multiple uniforms and other artifacts owned by Napoleon himself. 

They also had a temporary exhibit about toy soldiers that was really fascinating and fun to look at.

It’s also the location of Napoleon’s Tomb, so don’t forget to check that out while you’re there.

My dad also made sure we stopped by the Mémorial de la Shoah because I was so angry about the way the Holocaust was handled at the Mémorial de Caen. It was a really powerful memorial and museum, with a great permanent exhibit discussing the Holocaust in France while placing it into the bigger context of world politics. It also had a lot of material discussing Jewish resistance to the Holocaust, which is a narrative I feel sometimes gets overlooked in other Holocaust museums.

We also spent a lot of time just exploring the city. It was interesting getting to really see how beautiful Paris was in real life. It’s something I always sort of assumed was sort of being talked up, because I’ve been to plenty of big cities before, but it really was a lot of fun just walking around and taking in the architecture and public green spaces.

Despite having a (very dusty and unused for years) background in fine art, I really generally don’t love art museums. I think they have a tendency to be really snobby and undemocratic, and don’t always do much to help the public see them as something other than a snooty institution for rich people to go stare at paintings, or for the plebs to go look at fine art and gawp at it for a while in an attempt to feel cultured, versus – you know – teaching people about art movements and painters and the context behind particular works. 

That said, we still went to the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay, both of which were cool to see, but I didn’t find them a particularly fun or relaxing experience. They’re so crowded! Even going early in the day or late at night doesn’t seem to help much with the crowd, and the Louvre made Ikea look like an easy in and out store that’s not at all rat maze-ish. I had a hard time taking the time to appreciate the art while being jostled by approximately seven hundred people trying to take a bad cellphone photo of a painting or statue. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I went and all, but I like my art museums to feel a little more intimate, so I think I’ll probably skip these next time I’m in town unless whoever I’m with really, really wants to go.

Unsurprisingly, we ate very well while we were in Paris. I had one of the best steak frites meals I’ve ever had on our first night in the city, and I think we need approximately a thousand more crepe places in DC so I can get my fill. I also got a super delicious black currant sorbet that made me miss all the black currant stuff I got to eat on a trip to London as a kiddo. Wish that was a flavor that was more popular in the US!

One of my favorite things to do when visiting a large foreign city is checking out their department stores, especially if they’ve got cool food selections, and Paris definitely did not disappoint. So many of the department stores had amazing selections of cheese, pastries, spices, and other goodies.

Since I brought Mini Grace with me, stopping at a fancy patisserie was a must as well. I picked up an éclair and a giant macaron to see if the treats were really as delicious as everyone always says they are.

Honestly? They were good, but I’ve had eclairs and macarons from Hen and Heifer

that tasted just as good, if not better. But admittedly, their stuff is easily some of the tastiest, most creative pastries I’ve ever had anywhere – their macarons literally melt in your mouth, and the croissants were so popular people actually fought over them! – so maybe it’s not fair to say I prefer them over these treats. 

My dad managed to snag a really amazing apartment from HomeAway for us to stay in. As you can see, it had a pretty incredible view. 

And we walked all the way to the top of the Arc de Triomphe for an even better view!

And thus ends our trip to France. I had a really amazing time and would love to go back. Maybe next time full size Grace or Molly or Emily will tag along for a closer look at some of these places. Guess we’ll just have to see

Au revoir for now!