Europe Day 20 & 21 Glasgow and Train to London

On Sunday, since our plan to visit the Highlands died with our rental car, we spent the day on the hop on hop off bus, seeing and learning about Glasgow. If you like museums, Glasgow has several that don’t charge admission, and one could easily spend a day doing that. We also checked out some bookstores and other shops and had lunch at the Hard Rock (No 41).

After lunch we visited the cathedral, one of only two medieval cathedrals in Scotland to have survived the Reformation virtually intact. It had many beautiful stained glass windows.

This morning we got up early to catch the 7:15 train to Edinburgh. Once there we transferred to a train to London Kings Cross. It was about a half hour late. We arrived around 1:30 and took the Underground to our hotel. Around 2:30 we checked into the same Kensington hotel we stayed at on our first night.

We dropped off the bags we took to Scotland then traveled across town to grab the luggage we had left in London. While doing that, we learned something new about the Underground - you don’t have to buy tickets. A gate attendant told us that if each person in your party has a unique international credit card, you just tap it going in and going out and it charges less than buying a paper ticket. If only we had learned that at the beginning of the trip. By the time we got back it was almost 6 so we had dinner at the hotel and retired for the night.

Europe Day 18 & 19 Scotland

Once we arrived at the Edinburgh train station we made our way to the car rental area and picked up a car. The agent said we could leave our luggage in the car and walk around the city a bit, so that is what we did. Our first stop was at a nearby pub he suggested, the Brewdog, where we enjoyed burgers and drinks on the patio. From there we walked up the Royal Mile to the castle. Tours were sold out for the day so we started back down. 

We stopped at the Hard Rock for a drink (No. 40), then walked back to the rental car and drove to Glasgow and checked into our hotel. 

This morning after breakfast we drove about 45 minutes northeast to Doune. We toured Doune Castle, home to Duke Robert of Albany, a powerful lord in the 15th century. It was used to film Monty Python and the Holy Grail and the series Outlander. We spent about an hour touring the castle, and could have spent another hour if we wanted to hike the paths to the village and back.

When we went to leave the car wouldn’t shift out of reverse. We called the car rental company and they said they’d send someone out in an hour or two, so we sat in the car and worked on contingency plans. My plan had been to visit Stirling next then drive back to Glasgow to check out downtown. On Sunday we were going to drive along Loch Ness to Inverness, then stay the night in Aberdeen. All that went out the window. 

Instead we waited 3 hours for a tow truck to come and then he drove us to a lot in Falkirk. We did get to see the Kelpies and Stirling castle from the motorway as we drove to the lot. From there we had to take a taxi and a train and an Uber to get back to our hotel. By then it was after 5 o’clock. We were able to cancel our hotel in Aberdeen and extend our Glasgow hotel one day. We tried booking a day tour up to the Highlands for tomorrow but they were all sold out. We decided to have dinner at the hotel restaurant and just check out Glasgow in the morning.

Europe Day 17 & 18 Trains to London & Scotland

We got up early yesterday and took the train to Disney, then boarded a high speed train to Lille Europe, where we transferred to the Eurostar for the trip back to London. The first leg of our journey from took about an hour, the second an hour and a half, but we gained an hour due to the time change, arriving in St Pancras London about 10 am. By the time we made it out of the station, called an Uber, and checked in at our hotel it was 11. Our hotel was on the north side of London, just northwest of Regents Park.

We took the underground to Oxford Street to look at the Disney Store, then headed to Piccadilly Circus to check out the Waterstone book store and eat dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe there (Number 39). 

This morning we were again up early, this time to head to Kings Cross to board a train to Scotland. We probably should have used Uber to get to the train station, since buying three underground tickets cost about the same as the Uber ride would have, and took a little longer. We left most of bags at the hotel in London, which made it easier to get to the train as well as store our luggage on the train. Because we didn’t decide to go to Scotland until we were already in Europe, the seats I purchased weren’t together, although they were in the same car.

The train made a fair number of stops, so took almost 5 hours to arrive in Edinburgh.

Europe Day 15 & 16 Disney Paris Resort

Yesterday and today the parks opened at 9:30 so we slept in a bit and left the hotel around 9. The Paris resort consists of two parks, a retail area with some restaurants and a cinema, and a half dozen hotels. Our tickets allowed us to hop between parks so that’s what we did. Of course we spent most of our time in the Disneyland Park, since it has more attractions and more we wanted to experience. 

 

The Disneyland park is truly beautiful with lots of great details. It’s also well laid out. Frontierland and Adventureland are swapped from where they are in the American castle parks, and instead of Tomorrowland it has a Discoveryland, which has a steam punk vibe. Several of the classic rides are really well done here but with slight differences. Their version of the Haunted Mansion, Phantom Manor, is cool because it’s set in Frontierland. 

The Walt Disney Studios Park is still fairly light on attractions. They are currently working on a Frozen expansion and supposedly are planning more. The Toy Story area at the Studio park is just flat rides, so we just walked through it. The old “backstage” tram tour is now a Cars Route 66 ride. It’s kind of lame. Two of the most popular rides at the Studios are Ratatouille and the Crush Coaster, and we didn’t care about doing those. Crush Coaster is a spinning mouse we had done in 2014, and it was a one and done for us.

Just recently they revamped their black lot area into an Avengers Campus. The Spider-Man ride was similar to Midway Mania and the Avengers coaster was a bit dark and rough. We didn’t eat at any table service restaurants in the parks; there weren’t many reservations available and the menus didn’t appeal to us. It was fairly cool both yesterday and today, with highs in the mid 60’s. Crowds weren’t too bad, most waits were in the 30 to 60 minute range and some were walk on. There was a fair amount of construction walls up and several attractions were closed. I would have liked to watched the fireworks show, but it wasn’t until 11 o’clock.

At Disney and in Europe generally, people aren’t allowed to smoke inside anymore but make up for it by smoking near building entrances and at outside tables. We saw several nice beer gardens and sidewalk bistros that would have been nice to stop at but they all had smokers at them. At Disney most smokers stuck to the designated areas, but they were often near restrooms so we had to pass through a gauntlet to use them. This afternoon we walked through Disney Village and checked out some of the hotels. They were nice but not as grand as those in Orlando or Anaheim. I did enjoy the Art of Marvel at the New York Hotel. We had dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe, then headed back to our hotel.

Europe Day 14 Disneyland Paris

After breakfast today we took an Uber to a hotel in Val d’Europe. I wanted to stay at a Disney hotel but in order to get a cast rate I had to call France to book it and there was almost no discount. It was very frustrating. We ended up booking a couple of rooms at a hotel one train stop away from the Disney resort.

We stayed at the Moxy, a fairly new hotel. The rooms were fairly small but we had two. They would be fine rooms for a single business traveler but not so much for family on vacation. There was no mini fridge, no breakfast, and not much storage room. Not even a coffee maker. We dropped our bags and headed to the RER station, where we bought a book of 10 tickets to go back and forth from the parks.

We went to guest relations and showed our blue IDs and maingate passes and were issued tickets. We entered Disneyland Park just after noon. We had a snack and rode Phantom Manor, Pirates, and Small World, but mostly my two former merchandise cast members wanted to check out the shops. The park was still celebrating its 30th anniversary so they had stuff for that. We had some pizza for dinner then headed out.

While Susan and Jenn looked at the stores in Disney Village I went over to the Studio park and rode Avengers Assemble Flight Force, a revamp of Hollywood Studios Rock n Roller coaster. The girls then headed back to hotel to rest and I went back into Disneyland to ride Star Tours and Hyperspace Mountain, which is their version of Space Mountain with a Star Wars overlay.

Europe Day 12 & 13 Paris

 

While Jenn attended her con, Susan and I walked to the Metro and headed into the city. We walked around Norte Dame, which we hadn’t done when we came in 2014, and took photos of stuff along the Seine. Of course Norte Dame was being reconstructed from the fire, so we couldn’t go in. There was bread festival going on in the square in front.

 

From there we headed up to the Hard Rock Cafe (No 38), stopping to shop a bit on the way. There were a ton of people lined up outside waiting to get into the Grevin Museum next door. Since it was a Saturday there was a 45 minute wait for a table, but we were able to sit and eat lunch at the bar.

After lunch we took the Metro to the École Militaire and took photos of it then walked up the Champ de Mars and took photos of the Eiffel Tower. We hadn’t really seen it from the south side when we came in 2014.

Then we walked to the Hôtel des Invalides, where the Tomb of Napoleon is located, then to the closest Metro Station. We made our way back to our hotel, stopping to grab some food for dinner, then went up to our room to rest our feet. According to our watches we had walked almost 20,000 steps and 18 flights of stairs.

This morning we headed out again, this time starting at the Place de la Bastille. There wasn’t much to see there besides the column.

 

From there we headed up to the Pantheon, which sits on Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, the hill at the heart of the Latin quarter. This building started construction in the 18th century as a church but was converted to a monument and resting place for prominent French citizens. Looking around inside at the art and crypts and stuff was well worth the entrance fee. I had read that the views from the top are spectacular but I decided not to pay extra and wait to do that.

We then walked down to the Luxembourg Gardens and by the Luxembourg palace. From there we hopped on the Metro and rode to the Place du Concorde. We walked through the Jardins des Champs-Élysées, stopping to eat panini sandwiches on a park bench, then looked at the shops including, of course, the Disney store. After that we headed back to the hotel.

Europe Day 10 & 11 Lyon to Paris

In Geneva, we boarded a train to Lyon. It was crowded, but we were able to store our luggage and find seats in the same car. Around 2 hours later we arrived at the Lyon station and caught a cab. After some confusion with the cab driver about whether our credit card would work, we arrived at the hotel ten minutes later and our card worked fine. Our hotel was right on the Rhône river north of downtown, near a large park, and like Frankfort, a convention center and concert venue.

After dropping our bags we took an Uber to the Hard Rock for dinner. (No 37), then walked around a bit looking at the shops and buildings. The Hard Rock was also near the Rhône, but on the other bank and a couple miles downstream. 

After a bit it started to sprinkle and it was getting late so we headed back to our hotel. With the trouble we had with the taxi and the ease of using Uber, we vowed to use Uber whenever possible for the rest of our journey. If we ever make it back to Lyon, hopefully we’ll have more time so we can explore the old town more.

Yesterday morning we headed to the train station and boarded a high speed train to Paris. Two and a quarter hours later we arrived at the Gare de Lyon station in Paris. We then took an Uber van to our hotel.

In Paris we stayed at the Novotel East, near the Gallieni Metro station. Jenn was attending a convention there. It was an okay hotel - the rooms were small and dated, so there weren’t enough plugs to charge all our stuff. The neighborhood wasn’t great either, but we expected that. When we went to check in, somehow they had lost our reservation, even though we had prepaid months ago. It took about an hour to work things out. Once Susan and I got to our room, however, we began to discover things wrong. The AC didn’t cool the room down, the toilet leaked, and the next morning we discovered the shower didn’t work. After breakfast we went to the front desk, and they moved us into a room where everything appeared to be working. Although later we found the AC still didn’t cool the room down much.