Europe Day 16 - Vatican Museum

On our last full day in Rome we spent the morning waiting in line for the Vatican Museums. We weren’t all that impressed.

It was crowded and largely long hallways filled with tapestries and other stuff. We wanted to see St Peter’s Basilica, but didn’t want to stand in the cold in another long line.

We headed back to the hotel, stopping at the Piazza Spagna to check out the Rome Disney Store.  

After that we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, then went back to the hotel to get ready for our journey home. We slept a while, then showered and finished packing and headed down to the Termini train station at 3:30 in the morning. We caught a night bus to the airport, then checked in for our 6 am flight home.

Europe Day 15 - Ostia

On our fourth day in Rome, we took the subway down to the Ostinese train station, and caught the Lido train to Ostia. There is a lot more graffiti on the trains and stations in Rome than in London or Paris.

We stopped at Ostia Antica, and walked around the ruins for a couple of hours. This city was the port for Imperial Rome, but was eventually abandoned and covered in silt.

Then we got back on the train and rode down to modern Ostia, about 15 minutes downriver.

We walked around a bit and the kids put their feet in the Mediterranean, then we had a late lunch and gelato before heading back. 

Europe Day 14 - Christmas at the Vatican

Our third day in Rome was Christmas Day, so we slept in then took the Metro to Vatican city. We arrived at St Peter’s Square about 11 am and were able to get a fairly close spot.   

We watched some bands and guard units march in and come to attention in the square below the Pope’s window. The square was rapidly filled up with people there to hear the Pope give a Christmas address and blessing at noon.

The address lasted for about 15 minutes, then we began making our way down to the Tiber river.  

We had lunch at a cafeteria and walked past the Castel Sant Angel.

Then we headed over the Tiber towards the Piazza Navona. It was much harder to find then I would have thought a famous square would be, and wasn’t too impressive once we found it.  

We took a few pictures then grabbed a taxi back to our hotel. After an afternoon rest we went out to find some dinner. There wasn’t much open and the places that were wouldn’t take credit cards and were just reheating food made earlier. Still the place we ate at had a quaint charm.

Europe Day 13 - Ancient Rome

On Wednesday we walked a couple minutes to the Metro station and took the subway to the Colosseum. There were many men milling about selling “selfie” sticks and other trinkets. We walked up towards the Palatine Hill and bought a ticket to the Forum and the Colosseum, then walked through the ruins of the old Roman Forum and those on the Palatine Hill, and enjoyed the views of Rome.  

After a couple of hours, we headed to the Colosseum and walked around in it.  

From there we headed up the street parallel to the Forum to the north side of the Capitoline Hill, and ate lunch near the Piazza Venezia and the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II, who united Italy in the 19th century.

From there we walked to the Trevi fountain. We were disappointed to find it was drained and covered in scaffolding. We walked to the Piazza Barberini, and took the metro to the Piazza Spagna, to see the Spanish Steps.  

There were lots of people there. We walked around a bit to look at the shops on the streets near the Piazza, then headed back to our hotel.

Europe Day 12 - Travel to Rome

Tuesday was spent mostly traveling from Paris to Rome. We made sure we got to the airport early so we wouldn’t have problems like we did flying from London to Paris. We carefully balanced our checked and carry-on luggage, then checked out of our Paris hotel and took a shuttle to Charles de Galle Airport. Everything went fine and our flight was uneventful.  

We enjoyed seeing the alps below us during the short flight. We arrived at the Leonardo Airport outside Rome and got our luggage and headed for the train station to take the express to Termini Station in Rome.  

As we were walking through the airport, however, a man from a shuttle company said they could take us into Rome for 80 euros. We figured the extra 20 euros was worth not waiting for the train and hauling our luggage from the train station to our hotel, and agreed. 

About a half hour later, the shuttle dropped us off at our hotel, a few blocks from Termini Station. The area was a little better than the one around the hotel in Paris, but the rooms were a little smaller and there was no elevator and our rooms were on the 2nd floor (we'd call it the 3rd). We settled in then had dinner at a restaurant around the corner, and decided to call it a day.

Europe Day 11 - Disney Studios Paris

On our last full day in Paris, we headed back out to the Disneyland resort to visit the Walt Disney Studios Park. While we got there before the 10 am opening, we were disappointed to find the park was opened an hour early for resort guests.

Our plan to grab fastpasses for the new Ratatouille ride then ride the Crush Coaster didn't work as well as we hoped, as there was already over an hour wait for Crush and a significant line for Ratatouille fast passes. After riding those two, we were hoping to watch a few of the shows unique to the park and then eat at the new Ratatouille restaurant but we decided instead to head back to the Disneyland park for lunch and to do some of the attractions there that close at dusk.

We did walk around the whole park and watch the Stitch Live show before heading out. The Paris Studio park has an interesting "Main Street". It is a large studio building with a "Hollywood Blvd" inside. One side of the street is shops, and the other is a food court.

We ate at the Pizza Planet in Discoveryland, which wasn't very nicely themed and didn't have great food, but was all you could eat for a not too unreasonable price. After eating we checked out the Alice maze and the storybook canal boats, then rode the train around the park. At night, we did some of the main attractions again, then watched the castle projection/fireworks show.

Europe Day 10 - Disneyland Paris

Today we got up early and took the train to the Disneyland resort. We got there just before opening, and tried to quickly go on all the rides that were unique or different in Paris and that we knew would get long lines.

Although it was crowded, through a good plan and use of fastpasses, we were able to do most of the things we wanted, like Space Mountain. Instead of Tomorrowland, Disneyland Paris has a Discoveryland - the theme is more Jules Verne/H.G. Wells/Steampunk than that of other parks, although it still has Star Tours and Buzz Lightyear.

Instead of the Haunted Mansion, Disneyland Paris has a Phantom Manor, which is themed to a western ghost town.  We really enjoyed just looking at the architectural features of the park - it is really pretty, with lots of details.

We had lunch at the Agrabah Cafe. It was a Middle Eastern buffet themed to an outdoor marketplace, even though it was inside.

By the late afternoon we were getting pretty cold and tired though, and the lines were pretty long, so we went out to the hotel that sits right in front of the park and had coffee and hot chocolate.

Then we went back in and watched the short Christmas parade and rode a few more rides and did some shopping. We headed out a little after 8 pm, about two hours before park closing, and stopped at the World of Disney store in the adjacent shopping village.  

Europe Day 9 - Versailles and the Eiffel Tower

This morning we got up and took the Metro to catch an RER train out to Versailles.  We didn't get on the one that stopped closest to the palace however, but that allowed us to walk through town and grab some pasteries.

We toured the palace but decided against paying to see the gardens, because a lot of the fountains were turned off and the plants and statues covered for the winter.

We headed back into Paris and stopped at the Eiffel Tower.

There was a long line to go up to the second floor and another long wait to ride the elevator to the top, and it was cold and windy.

Europe Day 8 - Paris

Friday morning we caught the Metro down to Notre Dame.

We then crossed the Seine to check out the Louvre. It started raining, there was a long line to get in, and we were feeling pretty grungy from not being able to change into clean clothes, so we decided to skip going in and continued through the Place de Concorde to the Champs Élysées.

There were Christmas booths set up along the street through the gardens, and we stopped and had crepes. Then we looked at a few shops and had a coffee and checked out the Disney store.

We finished at the Arc de Triomphe. I had planned to head to the Eiffel Tower after that, but with the cold and wet we decided to just head back to our rooms and hope our luggage had come. It didn't arrive until after 10 pm that night, almost 36 hours after we did.

Europe Day 7 - Traveling to Paris

On Thursday we checked out of our hotel in London early and caught the express back to Heathrow. There we barely caught an Air France jet to Paris. Everything took longer than expected, getting everything packed and checking out and getting to the airport and checking our luggage and going through security and getting to our gate. We made it to Paris, but our luggage didn't. After giving our information to the baggage people at Charles De Galle airport, we caught the train into Paris.

Our hotel was near the Pigalle station. While the neighborhood was a little rougher than the hotel in London, the rooms, while still small, were nicer, and we had free wi-fi.

After checking in we walked around Montmartre and got some lunch/dinner, then walked up to Sacred Coeur.

From Sacred Coeur there is a great view of Paris.

Europe Day 6 - Stonehenge

Our last full day in England we took the train to Salisbury and caught a bus to Stonehenge.

The bus drove through Salisbury, past the Cathedral, and by Old Sarum before dropping us off at the new visitor's center for Stonehenge.

The new visitor's center is about a mile from Stonehenge, and includes displays about its creation, a gift shop, and a cafe. 

We took a tram from the visitor's center to the site, and walked around the circle.  Our original plan was to head to Bath after Stonehenge, but getting out to it took a little longer than we had hoped, so we decided to head back to London after having a snack in the cafe. 

Upon our return to London we headed to Harrods. We bought a few souvenirs and had dinner at the Disney Cafe there.