Working at Disneyland Paris - Day 6 - Paris, Paris, Paris!
Today was an interesting one. I was meant to meet Andrew to go to the studios but he wanted to be there for around 10am, I wanted to be there for around midday so I met him then and we queued for Crush’s Coaster...65 minutes. The time did go very quickly to be fair and soon we went surfin’ the Australian Current. It wasn’t as fast as I remember it being, nor did it spin as much but it was still a very very good ride. Defo one of my faves in the Studios park.
I should note that this was my day off and I wasn’t just skipping work - same with Andrew.
We went to see Animagique, Andrew for the second time that day. I absolutely LOVE that show. It’s my favourite show in the parks. I love Crush's coaster too by the way!
After I showed Andrew the Baloo building backstage as he wanted to see it so we got on the navette “wanna baloo” and got off - as we walked in I noticed that Jessica 2 was open. The discounted staff shop. We probably spent about 20 minutes in here even though it is tiny. I got a small slightly-broken snowglobe for 2 euros instead of probably 12 [the broken bit was a non-existent hat on top of the snowglobe which I think it honestly looks better without]. I paid 10 euros for a sidebag and got a slightly dented photo album for 3 euros instead of 20. Total spend: e15, Full price: E60.
We then met up with Eilidh (when reading this remember this is pronounced Ay-lee and NOT Eye-lid, readers) to go to Paris at a 15h45 (look at me adopting the French's 24hour clock). We eventually got to the Louvre at around 5-5.30PM - we got out of the metro at Chatelet-Les Halles to actually see Paris before it went dark and we walked a good 10-15 minutes to get to our exit and then probably about another five to the Louvre.
The Louvre is free to everyone under 18 and free to EEE citizens under 26 with ID. That was fine for me and Eilidh. However Andrew had forgotten his. We had been joking over the last few days that the Disney ID could get in through anywhere security, gates, airports.
We went up to the ticket desk and showed our ID and then it came to Andrew...he put his cast Member ID down along with an EU health card. Together they were accepted and he got a free ticket. See...the ID gets us in anywhere haha.
In the Louvre we literally followed the signs to the Mona Lisa looked at it and admired how small it was compared to the humungous painting on the wall opposite, then we saw the Venus de Milo which I recognised once I’d seen it but didn’t know its name. After that we left. I’m sure we spent no more than half in hour in there. It was huge! We could have spent days there if we were to look at everything!
Then we went to the shopping area and went to Starbucks for about 45 minutes and the Apple store for about the same time - I know. Disgraceful. In Paris and in an Apple store and Starbucks.
Out the Louvre we went, and I had read online that the stop from the Eiffel Tower to the metro was a fair distance and to us all it looked walkable, surely it would just be crossing the river turning a bit left and we’d be there.
Well...through the streets of Paris we went including some dodgy neighbours we eventually got there over an hour later. Never again. The Eiffel Tower is humungous - much, much, much bigger than I imagined. The queue even at around 8 or 9pm was still huge to go up in the lift. Around it there is a park with no pathways just lots and lots of mud - my trainers look disgraceful now. Instead we opted for the Christmas market and the others had vin chaud...I’m not a fan. We got some photos and then walked it to the metro which wasn’t anywhere near as far as people made it out to be online --_-- It’s about 300m or about 4 minutes walk. One of the highlights today was when Eilidh got trapped in the barrier doors :D as you can imagine me and Andrew found it a lot funnier than she did.
We got on the train and when it started moving there was a man playing accordion in time with a stereo playing a background track. He then went around asking for tips, I think Eilidh tipped him something like 20 cents. It was really nice moment because as he started playing, the Eiffel Tower also started twinkling and we were crossing the river Seine on the bridge.
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