The past 10 days have been jam-packed with activities, and even though all the bumbling and bustling around leaves me frazzled at times, I have to say that I am enjoying every minute of it. Here's the first installment: our weekend to Champagne and Disneyland the previous weekend.
B didn't have to go to work last Friday morning, but we abandoned our Versailles day-trip plan in favour of sleep and laundry. Yeah, the realities of life... but we (or rather he, haha) did toss together some yummy food. We had brie cheese, ham and a sunny side-up for brunch, and his signature smoked salmon blinis for lunch. The apartment was not a pretty sight however, with all the laundry drying on every available surface. Haha.
Ken arrived from Manchester that evening, and after picking him up at the airport, B headed off to join the rest of France in cheering for the country in the UEFA Euro 2008, while I caught up with Ken in his pretty hotel and over kebabs near our street. Unfortunately, France lost in the match against the Netherlands.
Early the next morning, Ken, B and I hopped on the train for the 45-minute ride to Reims, Champagne, where Marine and her ever-smiley dad picked us up from the station.
Would you guess that I had only four hours of sleep the night before?
Our first stop was at one of the gardens in the city. The vast green spaces and chilly morning air was enough to invigorate us all, me especially.
Next up was a tour of the cellars at Pommery. The guide's accent was too strong for me to understand much, and the modern art exhibition within the cellars was a little too distracting. The most memorable were the tiny birds flying and twittering around guitar installments.
What's a champagne tour without some champagne? It wasn't even noon yet when we had our first glasses. We headed over to Marine's flat after the tour, where her parents had prepared a yummy Magret de Canard (sliced duck breast) and apple tart lunch. And we had more champagne...
Armed with a map and driving directions from her parents, we headed on a mini road trip to see some vineyards.
After, we headed to what is supposedly the most expensive avenue in the world - Champagne Avenue in Épernay. The street houses the most luxurious champagne brands, and here we are inside Moet & Chandon.
Spot the similarity? We have to model to finance all the champagne we wish we could drink!
As we still had time, we headed back to the city centre in Reims, Place Drouet d'Erlon if I'm not wrong, for the medieval fair held in Joan of Arc's honour. The main square was lined with cafes and bars, and reminds me a little of a hybrid of Orchard Road and Clarke Quay on a Saturday afternoon.
And we chanced upon a group of jolly elderly men and women folk-dancing in the square.
It turned out that there were two train stations in tiny Reims, and careless oversight had us missing our 18:20 hrs train to Paris. The station seems to be very forgiving of such oversights, and we were able to exchange our tickets for a later ride back on the TGV. What happened after was a mad rush for a quick shower and a cab ride down to Rue Blanche to make it for the last dinner service at a duck restaurant with Nicolas. Duck for lunch and duck for dinner. A little of an overkill, but still very yummy. And we had red wine with dinner. Alcohol at breakfast, lunch AND dinner. My my.
The next morning was another mad rush, and as I hastily buttered the bread with mustard and slapped on the ham and cheese, I wondered vaguely if would all be worth it. Well, my worries were unfounded, because the little girl in me took over the minute we stepped through the gates of Disneyland Paris.
I felt like I was walking through the set of all the Disney fairytales combined. Quaint houses and buildings had candy-colored flowers hanging on their balconies, and the legendary Walt Disney castle watched over the enormous park. It was indeed magic come alive.
When I was done indulging in girly fairytales in the main square, we headed first to Discoveryland for the much talked about Space Mountain ride. The queues this weekend weren't as frightening as we had expected, possibly because of the impending rain, thankfully. The ride was a short and hardly thrilling mini-rollercoaster ride through mostly dark spaces that left all of us a little disappointed I believe.
The ride that had all three of us wondering if we should battle the queues for another time for was the Big Thunder Mountain the Frontierland. It was long and thrilling with its undulating turns and swoops, and a whole lot of fun to have the chilly wind whipping through our hair.
When we were pretty much done with all the thrilling rides, we headed over to Fantasyland. Flowers to perfect they almost look fake were planted all around this kiddy section, but we three grown-ups didn't feel at all out of place among the pram-wheeling families and tiny tots. "It's a small world" was a cruise through a mini and unrealistically pretty version of our world, and we journeyed from Mexico, to America, to China, India and even Iceland in the short five-minute ride.
This is the Storybook Land Canal Boats, a leisure boat-ride through canals featuring miniature replicas from Disney cartoons.
In the stimulated Star Tours, and the disappointing 3D presentation Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.
The rain was coming down a little strongly when we left the 3D presentation, so we headed into the warmer comforts of the indoors to catch The Legend of the Lion King musical. The setting was fantastic, the dancers were flawlessly sexy, and the music was breathtaking. Lion King had never been one of my favourite Disney cartoons (I was more a Disney Princess series fan) but watching the play and hearing all the songs like Can You Feel the Love Tonight and Hakuna Matata gave me the urge to watch the cartoon all over again. We loved it so much that we stayed for dinner in the fast-food restaurant overlooking the stage to catch the play once more, this time in French.
The rain hardly relented (though I shouldn't be complaining for the fair weather held through the morning and the afternoon despite the unfavorable weather forecast), and after braving it to catch a few more rides we had missed out, we embarked on the Disneyland Railroad for a final tour of the emptying park, before checking out the shops briefly.
I am an unwilling magician and I refuse to post up the picture of me in the Minnie ears. Haha.
I've missed out on a lot of pictures and ride descriptions, but I don't think any of you would want a scene-by-scene account of my Sunday. The Sunday I was a child all over again.
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