Travel Series: Disney & Versailles
So, I hope it's no secret that I'm a Disney fan. Like- a huge one. And while I haven't taken the kids to the Disney locations in the states, I just couldn't pass up an opportunity to go to Disneyland Paris. Was that more for them or for me? Probably for me since they'll have absolutely zero memory of Disneyland Paris, but we were going gosh darnit. So our first weekend in Europe we made the trek over to France to say hi to Parisian Mickey and then visit Versailles. We would save Paris for a different day.
The thing I remember most about Disneyland? How stinkin cold it was. Seriously- it was so cold. I was so glad that we got those sleeping bags! The boys were basically in miniature ovens with how bundled up they were in their strollers. Another thing I remember about Disney is how crowded it was, so I can't imagine what it would look like in the summer time as opposed to the middle of winter. Everything was decorated for Christmas though and it made up for the freezing cold weather, the overcast skies, and the crowds. We wore our Mickey ears over our beanies, ears I bought at Party City in Virginia because we all know it would have been a ridiculous amount of money in Paris. We took the boys on a few rides but didn't want to wait in line for a ridiculous amount of time. Not to mention when a ride was over, Charles was not about leaving them and it resulted in a pretty fun tantrum. While on a train ride with Matt, Thomas and I stayed behind to take a picture with a character, ended up being Scrooge McDuck. I was worried Thomas would be afraid of him but he actually ran right up to him and gave him the biggest hug. IT was heartwarming and made the whole entire trip to Disney worth it. That's exactly what my mama heart wanted to see.
After Disney we drove over to Versailles and stayed at a Waldorf Astoria right outside the palace. When Matt expressed his excitement about the hotel, I kept my worries about toddlers in such a nice hotel to myself. It was clear that he had been away from the boys for a little bit and forgot how crazy life is with them. He learned after that trip that we should probably stick to more affordable hotels vs. the fancy ones. I mean this hotel had stuffed tigers in the lobby. It was quite extravagant. We also learned that since there were 4 of us, we couldn't get just a plain hotel room. We would have to stay in suites, this didn't just apply to this hotel, but all hotels in Europe. Fire code and such and they were extremely strict about it. I'm sure that's a rule here too but maybe they're a little more lenient? The room, despite it being a suite, was still so small! But so beautifully ordained and furnished. And the heated floors had me drooling.
We were able to walk to Versailles since the hotel was right next to the palace. The cobblestones threw us for a loop though. Our poor stroller, I thought it would break even more than it already had on the flight. I got worried that the rest of Europe would be like this but fortunately Versailles was the only place we visited with huge cobblestone. The palace didn't allow us to bring our stroller inside so we had to walk with the boys- that was another fun adventure. Charles was ok walking around but we had to carry Thomas, and he may be itty bitty but he seems to gain quite a bit of weight over time as he's carried.
Versailles was as beautiful as anyone probably imagines it to be. It lives up to its reputation. The inside was truly breathtaking. I have no words to accurately describe the colors, gold, details, fluidity, and grandeur that was this palace. I see why the Parisians who were living in poverty revolted if this is how the monarchy lived....let them eat cake. Oh I ate cake in Versailles. I ate all the sweets in Europe! Although it was cloudy and cold and the statues were covered up to preserve them from frost, the grounds were still quite spectacular. I can't decide if I prefer French or British landscaping and gardens, but at that point in my life, I was all for the well manicured gardens of that palace.
We learned quickly how challenging traveling with the kiddos would be, but that never really deters me from exploring. One thing that did though was that weekend, there was a massive terrorist attack in Berlin at the Christmas market. While being in Europe already made me slightly anxious due to the heightened threats for such activity, that one in particular put me on edge. If my boys weren't with me, I think I would have been slightly more relaxed. And while letting fear like that in is exactly what they want, hence the term terrorists, it's hard to tell a mother to just put it aside and live your life without fear. I scoured every new room for escape routes and keenly watched those around me for agitation or suspicious looks. All that training was kicking in and I was grateful for some of the training Matt and I had received and our experiences. While I don't think we could Liam Neeson our way out of anything, I feel like our training provides a small sense of comfort. Small. Anyway, travelling with the kids meant that meals in a restaurant would be when they napped as opposed to planned out- AKA- oh they fell asleep, lets hot into the nearest restaurant we see and pray the food is good. It's Europe-the food was always good. Tantrums and meltdowns and yelling and tears were likely to occur- we couldn't let it get to us. Having a stroller would limit our access to certain areas/activities and we needed to be ok with that (it also got you to the front of the line at all major attractions though!). Our time exploring would sometimes be dictated by the little dictators' short attention spans and we had to be ok with that too. Overall, travelling with kids so little required a significant amount of flexibility, bribing, some coddling, and whole lot of patience. It wasn't always graceful, my parenting tactics, but I think we came out of it ok.
The thing I remember most about Disneyland? How stinkin cold it was. Seriously- it was so cold. I was so glad that we got those sleeping bags! The boys were basically in miniature ovens with how bundled up they were in their strollers. Another thing I remember about Disney is how crowded it was, so I can't imagine what it would look like in the summer time as opposed to the middle of winter. Everything was decorated for Christmas though and it made up for the freezing cold weather, the overcast skies, and the crowds. We wore our Mickey ears over our beanies, ears I bought at Party City in Virginia because we all know it would have been a ridiculous amount of money in Paris. We took the boys on a few rides but didn't want to wait in line for a ridiculous amount of time. Not to mention when a ride was over, Charles was not about leaving them and it resulted in a pretty fun tantrum. While on a train ride with Matt, Thomas and I stayed behind to take a picture with a character, ended up being Scrooge McDuck. I was worried Thomas would be afraid of him but he actually ran right up to him and gave him the biggest hug. IT was heartwarming and made the whole entire trip to Disney worth it. That's exactly what my mama heart wanted to see.
After Disney we drove over to Versailles and stayed at a Waldorf Astoria right outside the palace. When Matt expressed his excitement about the hotel, I kept my worries about toddlers in such a nice hotel to myself. It was clear that he had been away from the boys for a little bit and forgot how crazy life is with them. He learned after that trip that we should probably stick to more affordable hotels vs. the fancy ones. I mean this hotel had stuffed tigers in the lobby. It was quite extravagant. We also learned that since there were 4 of us, we couldn't get just a plain hotel room. We would have to stay in suites, this didn't just apply to this hotel, but all hotels in Europe. Fire code and such and they were extremely strict about it. I'm sure that's a rule here too but maybe they're a little more lenient? The room, despite it being a suite, was still so small! But so beautifully ordained and furnished. And the heated floors had me drooling.
We were able to walk to Versailles since the hotel was right next to the palace. The cobblestones threw us for a loop though. Our poor stroller, I thought it would break even more than it already had on the flight. I got worried that the rest of Europe would be like this but fortunately Versailles was the only place we visited with huge cobblestone. The palace didn't allow us to bring our stroller inside so we had to walk with the boys- that was another fun adventure. Charles was ok walking around but we had to carry Thomas, and he may be itty bitty but he seems to gain quite a bit of weight over time as he's carried.
Versailles was as beautiful as anyone probably imagines it to be. It lives up to its reputation. The inside was truly breathtaking. I have no words to accurately describe the colors, gold, details, fluidity, and grandeur that was this palace. I see why the Parisians who were living in poverty revolted if this is how the monarchy lived....let them eat cake. Oh I ate cake in Versailles. I ate all the sweets in Europe! Although it was cloudy and cold and the statues were covered up to preserve them from frost, the grounds were still quite spectacular. I can't decide if I prefer French or British landscaping and gardens, but at that point in my life, I was all for the well manicured gardens of that palace.
We learned quickly how challenging traveling with the kiddos would be, but that never really deters me from exploring. One thing that did though was that weekend, there was a massive terrorist attack in Berlin at the Christmas market. While being in Europe already made me slightly anxious due to the heightened threats for such activity, that one in particular put me on edge. If my boys weren't with me, I think I would have been slightly more relaxed. And while letting fear like that in is exactly what they want, hence the term terrorists, it's hard to tell a mother to just put it aside and live your life without fear. I scoured every new room for escape routes and keenly watched those around me for agitation or suspicious looks. All that training was kicking in and I was grateful for some of the training Matt and I had received and our experiences. While I don't think we could Liam Neeson our way out of anything, I feel like our training provides a small sense of comfort. Small. Anyway, travelling with the kids meant that meals in a restaurant would be when they napped as opposed to planned out- AKA- oh they fell asleep, lets hot into the nearest restaurant we see and pray the food is good. It's Europe-the food was always good. Tantrums and meltdowns and yelling and tears were likely to occur- we couldn't let it get to us. Having a stroller would limit our access to certain areas/activities and we needed to be ok with that (it also got you to the front of the line at all major attractions though!). Our time exploring would sometimes be dictated by the little dictators' short attention spans and we had to be ok with that too. Overall, travelling with kids so little required a significant amount of flexibility, bribing, some coddling, and whole lot of patience. It wasn't always graceful, my parenting tactics, but I think we came out of it ok.
Comments
Post a Comment