Euro2011 Spring-Summer Holiday

Early last year, we thought of having a European holiday. We plan to visit my sis-in-law (and her husband) who recently moved to Belgium, and her husband's parents in Germany. We still had plenty of time since our usual planning period is 6 months to one year. Only this time we won't be travelling (and planning) alone but with the company of in-laws from Hong Kong. That would mean 4 adults and 4 children plus 2 adults (already in Europe) equal to 12 people gallivanting around Europe! 

Day 15 - La Vallee Village, France (2011)

Our last day in Paris (not technically out of France though since we will be staying in a hotel somewhere south of Lake Geneve which is still a part of France). Since it was somehow on the way to our hotel, we passed by the famous outlet shop - La Vallee Village. 

we got this brochure from Disney Village the previous night

We went around the area, window shopping and hoped to get a good buy, while the kids enjoyed the playground. Hours have passed, dozens of shops checked out, browsed through hundreds of products. At the end of the day, I didn't go home with anything hahaha. They were still too expensive for me, I guess. Well, there is always a next time.


We headed back to the road, on our long drive to our accommodation near Lake Geneva but still in French territory.

our LONG drive to our accommodation in Thonon-Les-Bains

clear blue skies... clear motorway as well...

our travel companions in the other car....

passed by a wind turbine somewhere in France

Ira still in a good (awake) mood

we're heading to Geneve. That makes it 250 more kilometers to go. That's a good percentage of the total 600-so-kms to Thonon-les-Bains, France.

While researching, we found out that they charge high for using the h-way. So we decided we would try to take the inner route and probably discover something interesting. Unfortunately, there was a parade of sorts on the inner road that we took. And it seemed that they wouldn't be clearing the streets anytime soon. We ended up going back to the main h-way (which was a short drive from where we took off) and paid a little over 10 euros for it. Bummer!

A long drive it was, past 10 pm and we were still on the road. Even with our GPS we think we're lost! We had a very late dinner (11pm) at a diner somewhere along the borders of Switzerland and France. The diner had tacos so we settled for it. Unfortunately, the person in the diner only spoke little English. Good thing his friend, who stopped by for a visit, knew how to speak in English. He became our interpreter. He also gave us some driving tips in Switzerland. Nice guy, he was.

After our late dinner, we continued our drive. The later it was in the night, the farther the place it seemed. We drove past Geneva. That was quick! The headed up to the mountains again. It was pitch dark. No one else was on the road but us (of course, it was already 1 am!). Then the GPS finally said, "You have reached your destination". We stopped, looked around, and nowhere in sight was an accommodation. We drove around the area again, reset the GPS, and for the second time, stopped at the same place which looked like an abandoned house. We thought the spirits maybe playing tricks on us. So for the last time, we drove around, ever so slowly, and finally, for real, we reached our accommodation. It was almost 2am. The house was dark. We were worried everyone's already asleep and we would be sleeping in the cars. We knocked on the front door. Then on the back door. After 10mins, someone from the inside turned on the lights and voila! the owner of the house was awakened. She was already wearing her night gown but was still perky and smiling to us. Thank goodness she was in a good mood. So we apologized for being soooo late, got our keys and headed to our respective rooms on the second floor, with luggage bags in tow. We were too tired to think of anything else.

At last, we were home. That was our home for the next 2 days.

Day 1 - Gelnhausen, Germany
Day 2 - Legoland, Germany
Day 3 - Heidelberg, Germany
Day 4 - Cologne, Germany
Day 5 - Frankfurt, Germany
Day  6 - Luxembourg then Brussels, Belgium
Day 7 - Day trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands
Day 8 - Brussels, Belgium
Day 9 - Brugge, Belgium
Day 10 - Paris, France
Day 11 - Paris, France
Day 12 - Paris, France
Day 13 - Versailles, France
Day 14 - Disneyland Paris, France
Day 15 - La Vallee Village, France (outlet shops) then to hotel south of Lake Geneva
Day 16 - Montreux, Switzerland
Day 17 - Geneva / Lausanne / Bern / Thun / Interlaken, Switzerland
Day 18 - Interlaken, Switzerland (Jungfrau - top of Europe)
Day 19 - Luzern / Zurich, Switzerland on the way to Sulz-Glatt, Germany
Day 20 - Black Forest day trip

Day 14 - Disneyland Paris, France (2011)

Fourteen days into our holiday. So far we have been to....


the land of beers, sausages and castles, Germany
the land of flavors, Luxembourg
the land of waffles, chocolates and french fries , Belgium
the land of tulips and windmills, Netherlands
the land of brasseries, macarons and crepes, Paris


Today, we ventured into the place where we all can become children again. Where we could make our childhood dreams come true. It was a day to visit Disneyland Paris!


It's Ira's first ever visit to Disneyland. Although this was already my, hubby's and Kelvin's second Disney trip (first time was in the US in 2002), as well as the HK family's Nth time (they frequent Disney HongKong), we all looked forward to a different experience. After all, this was Disney Paris. Mickey may be speaking in French!

thought of pretending to be Disney characters to get free entrance :)

Mickey Mouse landscaping - common to all Disney parks

can't wait to get their hands on the tickets

there weren't any queues when we got to the ticket counters. Lucky, lucky, lucky.

our tickets - 2 adults and 2 children 

Now here's a trivia (more like a caution). We bought the Paris Visite card because it has 20% discount for Disney tickets. Unfortunately, it was not really clearly stated that we were supposed to go within the dates that the card was valid. Unfortunately, our Paris Visite card was only valid for 2 days, excluding the day of our visit to Disney (since we planned on driving there anyway). Not sure if it was lack of research on my part (promise, i really checked and there were no conditions stated!!!) or just misinformation. We still had to pay for the tickets anyway, that's Euro 216 for 2 adults and 2 children. 

officially entering the Disneyland Paris grounds through Main Street USA

I was flooded with memories of our last visit to Disney USA 9 years ago

where the magic begins

We opened our maps and discussed which rides/attractions we were going to visit. We had to be organized since there were a lot of attractions, and a lot of us who like different attractions. Good thing we had the family from HK who were experts in the field of Disney :)

First up, the likes of the younger kids.

showing off his ability to roll the tongue ( a generic trait, that is)

getting ready to defeat Zerg

the families in action

It's a small world boat ride

the smile on Ira's face... priceless.
I'm glad our kids were pretty easy to please. They didn't ask to buy anything at all, anything expensive that is. And they didn't make a scene if their demands were not met. We could leave any theme park with no shopping bags at all! 

autopia - Ira's favorite ride

Kelvin was already big enough to ride on his own

Ira needed to ride with Daddy

Space Mountain... no takers though...

Starwars

passing by It's a Small World boat ride

spinning tea cups... the only girl's favorite ride

an adult and 4 kids in a teacup

Dumbo ride - the longest queue EVER! But we still went for it.

mom and daughter

me and Kelvin

Ira the Dumbo Pilot

a scary place inside a child's playground

going into the deep, dark pirates' world

after the Pirates of the Caribbean adventure came the shops (as expected). We asked the kids to try on pirate costumes. Ira was too smiley-faced to be a pirate.

Kelvin looked to naive to be a pirate...

fierce-looking pirate princess Shane.

walking to Frontierland - to the legends of the Wild West... yiiiiihaaaaaa!

family photo before me and hubby go on a roller coaster ride - a runaway mine train on the wind-swept sierras of Big Thunder Mountain

Big Thunder Mountain

taking the last train to go around the park

Mickey and friends. Last performance before closing time.

final farewell to Mickey

goofing around at Main Street USA.. soon enough we will be bringing Ira to the REAL Main Street USA :)

last minute shopping. Snow globe, check. Magnet, check. All done!

we were looking for something that's almost the same as the one we bought in Disney California in 2002. The numbers were bigger and the design was better. But since they don't have that in the shops we had to settle for this. At least it also had the year on it.

Caguioa family

Ramos family

tick tock, tick tock... it's finally time to leave Disneyland... 

we really had fun!

bienvenue, Mickey et amis!

although Disneyland was already closed, there were still many things to see and do around the area. At Disney Village, it's Shopping, dining, cinemas, dancing and live entertainment for the whole family.

we decided to have dinner at the Disney Village

Earl of Sandwich - the best hot sandwiches in the world.

unfortunately, we were so famished 

we finished the sandwiches before we had the chance to take pictures of them 

Day 1 - Gelnhausen, Germany
Day 2 - Legoland, Germany
Day 3 - Heidelberg, Germany
Day 4 - Cologne, Germany
Day 5 - Frankfurt, Germany
Day  6 - Luxembourg then Brussels, Belgium
Day 7 - Day trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands
Day 8 - Brussels, Belgium
Day 9 - Brugge, Belgium
Day 10 - Paris, France
Day 11 - Paris, France
Day 12 - Paris, France
Day 13 - Versailles, France
Day 14 - Disneyland Paris, France
Day 15 - La Vallee Village, France (outlet shops) then to hotel south of Lake Geneva
Day 16 - Montreux, Switzerland
Day 17 - Geneva / Lausanne / Bern / Thun / Interlaken, Switzerland
Day 18 - Interlaken, Switzerland (Jungfrau - top of Europe)
Day 19 - Luzern / Zurich, Switzerland on the way to Sulz-Glatt, Germany
Day 20 - Black Forest day trip