2022 has just begun and I still haven’t covered our entire summer trip 2021 yet. That’s why I thought it might be nice to write about an entire, shorter trip for a change. During autumn break we decided to do a small scale road trip to Disneyland Paris. If you have read some of the other posts you might have guessed that we did not simply drive there in one go. We stopped in Reims, spent two wonderful days in Paris, visited the memorial museum in Verdun and spent a couple of days with good friends of ours in Germany. All in all it was simply amazing and magical 🙂
This is the road map! Check it out and have fun reading about our little adventure.
We started around 11.30 a.m. on Monday. Initially, we had planned to leave early in the morning, but our son’s school remained open on the 25th. Obviously, not what I would have prefered, but … Yeah 🙂
As we did not want to drive all night we decided to spend a night at a campsite in Regensburg. We slept in a barrel which was kind of nice. Even though the drum itself was equipped with heating and was really cozy and warm, we had to go to the toilet at some point during the night. If you have ever used a campsite bathroom in the middle of the night with a toddler, you can guess why it was a bit of a challenge. But we managed and had a very nice stay. We can totally recommend the campgsite! Everything was clean, staff was super friendly and they offer spots for tents and places to park your camper in addtion to the barrels we slept in. So if you are ever looking for an affordable stay in Regensburg check it out and/or send me a message for detailed info.
After spending the night in our little barrel, we were back on the road. Regensburg is a nice city, but we had been there before so we decided to skip sightseeing and be on our way. Additionally, I kinda had to be in an online conference in the evening and wanted to be back in the hotel room on time. We arrived in Reims after a rather uneventful drive. Borders were open and we did not have to stop for other reasons for more than a couple of minutes.
Our next stop was Reims. For those of you who know a bit about medieval history the name certainly rings a bell. Reims has a Gothic cathedral, which was used for many coronation ceremonies of French emperors. Entrance is free as it is a church and they have a lot of info in many languages (yes not only in French :-)) on various info stands along the side aisles and ambulatory. Ideal for reading while taking in the beauty of the church and circling the nave and main chancel.
It was not our first time at the cathedral but it still is impressive. The nave dates back to the 9th century (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/601). I especially like the old stone sculptures near the entrance, near the portal and on the walls of the church. Those sculpturs are an integral part of the cathedrale’s architecture and have inspired chathedrals and churches all across Europe. This is a transcription from the UNESCO page on the cathedral that I found online:
“More than just a decoration, the sculptures of Reims Cathedral are an integral part of the architectural composition of the building. Reflecting both the traditions of Île-de-France and the minor arts of the Champagne region, these sculptures have a monumentality and grace inspired by the art of goldsmiths who worked silver or gold. The smiling faces of the western facade, the magnificence of the composition of the Coronation of the Virgin (above the central portal), or the grave nobility of other figures like that of Elizabeth in the scene depicting the Visitation have attained universal celebrity.”
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/601 on 6th of January 2022
Those sculptures are quite unique and make the cathedral unique and special. At least for me 🙂 We have been to other French cathedrales from the same period like Notre Dame in Paris or the one in St. Denis or Chartres and Reims really is outstanding. Even though Notre Dame in Paris is kind of in its own league, I personally like the one in Reims just as much.
How do you actually get to the cathedral? Well we like to walk 🙂 In this case we left our car at the hotel. It was a small one with apartments, but more than okay for the price. It had a small kitchen so we could make our own dinner and breakfast. Having that option in France is pretty great, especially with kids and if you love French bread and cheese as much as we do! From the hotel we started our little city walk.
We passed the museum of the surrender on our way. The museum looked kind of nice with all the flags on the outside and it commemorates the surrender. The leaders of the world actually signed the unconditional surrender here in April 1945. This meant the end of World War II, at least for Europe. Unfortunately, not all the powers within the axis union surrendered in April. The war continued in the Pacific. As most of you probably know, Japan did not surrender before August, after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I did not know that the surrender had been signed in Reims to be honest. If I had, we would probably have visited the museum, but yeah I didn’t and we might return someday. You always have to leave some things uncovered to justify future stops. Next up on our little city tour was the Porte de Mars. This triumphal arch dates back to Roman times and according to local info signs it was the widest arch in the Roman world. But I did not cross-reference that bit of info so no guarantees! Today it sits on a central plaza and there are some statues in front of it. The statues look kind of interesting as you can see further down.
We took some pictures and continued our stroll towards the cathedral. We arrived at the cathedral gate around 5.30 p.m. and it was still open. So we had enough time to visit and enjoy it. We walked back to our hotel, stopped at Carrfour and had a quiet evening in our room. If you do not travel with kids, it would actually be quite nice to go out for a drink or a snack in the evening. There were some nice pubs and bistros along our way. Reims definitely is worth a stop. We enjoyed our evening there very much and it took us only an hour to get to our Disney hotel the next morning. Below you do find some pics from our little walk 🙂
Our next stop was Disneyland Paris. We decided to sleep at one of the Disney Hotels and spend two whole days exploring the parks. It was just magical and perfect. This was not my first time in Disenyland and it will not be my last time either. We had a lot of fun and I just love everything about it. Our kids are old enough to go on most of the rides, including those requiring a certain hight and they loved most of them (for some reason they do not wanna go on the Crush Coaster again, which is kind of hard for me to accept, cause I really liked it :-)). Disneyland is more expensive than other theme parks, but overall it it is worth it in my opinion, because I do think that there is something special about the parks. All the detail and effort put into designing and maintaining them is just tremendous. I think it helps establishing a special atmosphere. It gives me a unique kind of nostalgia that no other theme park ever has. It certainly is a mix of my own childhood memories of watching Disney movies and fairy tales with my parents and my brother and now as an adult being able to watch and share them with my own kids. And yeah I know it is problematic in certain ways, but I do think that they try to be more diverse, progressive and multicultural in newer movies and to overcome the old typical princess stereotype. When it comes to older movies and series I do think it is important to be aware of problematic content and not just repeating the same stories without explaining and adapting. But that is a question of opinion and you have to decide for yourself. I for one love to watch a Disney movie once in a while and I really adored everything in Disneyland. There will always be a special feeling related to Disney and I do enjoy the faster and scarier rides too. The fact that they have added a lot of Star Wars merchandise and redesigned Space Mountain was an added bonus. Personally I will always be a Star Trek fan at heart and if I had to decide between the two I would go for Star Trek (more on that issue if you read the About page), but as Sci-fi in general is kinda my thing, I do like Star Wars too. Star Tours defenitely was amazing and the kids loved it so much that we actually went twice 🙂 We were lucky enough to get on two different rides with different stories one in English and one in French.
After two days we had to leave. Our next stop was Paris. It was not our first time and I for one know Paris pretty well as I studied law in France for a semester and we did a lot of weekend trips to Paris 🙂 That’s why we did not you know start very early or did that much sightseeing and COVID restrictions made it a bit more complicated. We had planned to start with the Louvre. I mean we are museum nerds and the Louvre is one of the most amazing museums I have ever been to. We really wanted to share it with the kids. Unfortunately, we had to make a ticket reservation and could not just go there. We did not know that and it was an unpleasant surprise at the end of the ticket line (the fact that it was raining while we were waiting in line outside of the pyramid did not help at all :-(). So we had to change plans and went to the Eiffel tower first. That was pretty nice and dazzling city views are guaranteed. However, if this is your first time in Paris and you do have more time, I personally would recommand going on top of the “Arch de Triomphe” too, cause you have an amazing view over the city from there and you actually see the Eiffel Tower as well. It is kind of funny if you think about the history of the Eiffel Tower. Building it was finished in 1889 and at the time many people hated it. There is this famous quote from Maupassant, a French writer who never came to terms with this new landmark in Paris. Allegedly he said that he visited quite often, because it was the only place in the city where he did not have to see the tower. At first many people were sceptical and nowadays it is iconic and the most famous sight in Paris. So be careful not to judge too quickly or you will also be quoted as the grump who complaint about the most iconic building of your home town.
Our as it turend out second stop “The Louvre” is at least as amazing as the Eiffelt Tower. The building alone is marvellous. If you walk through the museum do not forget to take the building itself in too. The rooms and the ceilings are stunning and worth a visit on their own. It was the city palace of the French monarchs after all. Actually the museum is named after the building, the “Palais du Louvre”. The first royal palace on the site was built in the 12th century by Philipp the II. and was meant to defend the city. As the city grew and walls were errected further away, the fortress was adapted and it was turned into the Royal residence and gradually transformend and rebuilt into a beautiful palace meant to impress the king’s visitors. The idea to turn it into a musuem dates back to the French Revolution. According to online sources it was stipualted by the National Assembly. Nowadays the Louvre is one of the most visited museums in the world. The colleciton of the museum is huge and you find something for every taste and from every period in human history. The Louvre also houses the Mona Lisa, one of the most famous paintings ever. There is usually a line of people in front of it and you have to wait for your turn to get close and take a picture of it. We did not get in line as we have been there before and you kinda see it from afar as well. Taking a photo was not our priority. Sorry guys 🙂
We were worried at first, cause we were not sure if the kids would like the part of the museum with all the paintings, I mean they are 5 and 7 after all. But we were in for a nice surprise. They really loved it and we explained the paintings and the made a game out of guessing what the paintings meant and of finding things they liked in them (like animals or mermaids or famous heroes). The Louvre did close quite early though due to COVID regulation. That was a pity cause it cut our visit short. It is also the reason why we decided to take a little walk. We watched an amazing sunset as we walked down Les Halles to the Place de la Concorde and the Champs Elysée. We did not go any further, because it was getting dark and we were kinda beat, but you could actually walk all the way along the Champs Elysée and reach the Arc de Triomphe from there. It was a perfect evening in Paris. It still is and will always be one of my favorite cities in Europe! Some impressions from Paris, see if you can find the rainbow 🙂
The next day kind of marks the end of my blog entry. As I have already mentioned we drove back and spend a couple of days with friends in Germany. But before that we visited one last musuem. Yeah we are addicted 🙂 It was the Memorial in Verdun. It is called Mémorial de Verdun Champs the Bataille (which means Verdun Battlefield Memorial). If you are ever there you should really go up to the bone house as well. If you are standing on top of the hill in front of the white tower like building, you just see white crosses covering the entiere hill. There is nothing else till your eye meets the horizon. It feels like standing on the edge of a sea of suffering and death. And if you drive up to the site you see that the whole area is like covered in crates from where bombs hit! It is also possible to visit the old bunker, but check the website before you go. We have done that already and that’s why we only visited the museum. And it was also a decision based on time. We kinda spent three hours in the museum alone and going up to the bone house would simply have taken too long.
What I really liked about the musuem is, how vivid history was presented. You could really feel for the soldiers and the desparation and destruction and death. Part of the museum is interactive. You can walk over a field that shows you how it was for soldiers, walking over frozen earth in winter, trying not to get hit and find cover. They have videos and pictures and you can listen to survivor accounts in various languages (French, German and English). It really is an experience that you won’t forget. On the upper floor they display everyday aspects of soldier life as well and they even dedicated a small display on animals in battle.
Overall it was an amazing and magical trip and we are going to repeat it soon (probably next year) but with different stops on the road to Paris. Leave likes/comments if you liked what you read and if you want more details or subscribe so you do not miss anything!
s-trek 