Disneyland Paris

I have been a Disney lover my entire life.  The first time I went to Disneyland I was a little over a year old, but I think growing up going, provided me with the nostalgia so many are missing.  I was looking forward to Disneyland Paris the entire trip.  I actually had a countdown on my phone throughout the whole trip.  Not because I wanted to fly through everything else, but just because I could cross another thing off my bucket list.

The day started out...rainy (like usual) and we left really early in order to get to our business visit early.  We met at Team Disney in their offices for a business visit.  This business visit was really interesting and something I thoroughly enjoyed.  I noticed we spoke a lot about how Disneyland Paris started out really badly and was able to turn things around.  They are still the least profitable park, but they have definitely improved over the years.  After the business visit, we got to go into the park!

I decided to hang out with Miranda (a fellow former Cast Member and Disney fanatic), Macie, and Ashlee.  We wanted to make sure we were with people that love Disney as much as we do and would be willing to brave the rain and go on as many rides as we could.  It poured the ENTIRE day.  And when I say poured, I'm not even exaggerating, it was insane but wonderful because the rain made the park empty out rather quickly.  No crowds makes for a great Disney day!

They have two parks there, Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios.  Disneyland Paris was the typical Disneyland layout with different lands.  One major difference?  Space Mountain.  Holy cow.  Space Mountain there was absolutely incredible!  To start off, it's called Space Mountain: Mission 2 and it has more of a Rockin' Rollercoaster feel than a Space Mountain feel.  You shoot upward to begin and the rest of the ride is just a series of turns, corkscrews, loop-dee-loops and fun music.  I was not expecting this ride, but it was absolutely amazing and I loved every second of it.
As you can see by our picture on the right, we were not prepared for when the picture would come, and that's the beauty of it.

We explored the park a little bit more and then headed to Pirates of the Caribbean.  This was an AWESOME rendition of the California version.  Definitely better than Disney World (sorry, someone had to say it).  The ride was a little backward in that the skeletons came last instead of first so the story line seemed a little off, but overall, a fantastic ride!

We did a few more rides in Disneyland and then headed over to Walt Disney Studios.  This had a bit of a Hollywood Studios/California Adventures feel to it, which I adored.  They had a Tower of Terror (the last one of its kind now that California Adventure is being stupid), a Ratatouille ride (which made me so happy because that is my favorite movie) and a ride called Crush's Coaster.  Crush's Coaster was similar to The Spider at Lagoon.  Except obviously, the themeing was much better and it left me smiling. :)

The main difference between Disneyland and Disneyland Paris is that Paris has a lot of beautiful gardens and walk through attractions, which isn't always characteristic of a Disney park.  There was an Alice in Wonderland labyrinth that I absolutely loved.  I just loved the entire experience of a new Disney Park and being able to live my dreams.  I can't wait to go back someday!

After a long and very wet day, we got on the long train ride back to our creepy hotel, so happy with how the day went.

The City of Lights is glowing this evening- PARIS

I had been waiting for Paris the entire trip, and not for the cheesy Eiffel tower pictures or just to say I’ve been there.  I’ve been looking forward to it because of a certain theme park that is nearby… that’s right; DISNEYLAND PARIS!  I mean, talking about Disneyland Paris is how they sucked me into looking into going on this trip!  Paula, one of the directors, saw me walking through the Wilkinson Center on campus, with my Disney backpack on and called out, “Hey we are going to Disneyland Paris on this trip!”  Obviously, being the Disney lover I am, I couldn’t resist.  Naturally, Paris was what I looked forward to most, not to discount the other cities because I’ve been surprised by many of them!  The entire trip has been a blast!  Before we get to Disneyland Paris, I’ve got to talk about the rest of the days there.

                The first day was a very long drive from Amsterdam to Paris, which I mostly slept all the way through.  We didn’t have our beloved bus driver, Marnix, to drive us so most of us were sad, but luckily we only had to deal with him for one day.  Miranda and I (my partner for Disneyland Paris planning) had decided we wanted to go scope out the trains to get to Disneyland Paris so we didn’t run into the same problem we did in Hamburg (being 45 minutes late to a business visit).  Debrief took FOREVER, so we finally got out of the hotel around 5:30 pm.  We took Macie and Spencer with us so we could navigate the trains all together, plus having a guy with us has always eased my mind a little bit.  We didn’t have too many problems getting there and were able to walk right up to Team Disney, where our visit was going to be on the next Monday.  We took some pictures in front of the signs and Miranda and I (both former Cast Members) were like little kids on Christmas.  We didn’t even get to go into the park, but Disney Village, which is like Downtown Disney, was good enough for us!  We went to World of Disney, which where Miranda worked when she was a Cast Member, and looked around at our options for memorabilia when we were there.  We had Earl of Sandwich for dinner, which made Spencer very happy because all he actually cares about is food! J  We knew it was getting late and that it would take a little while to get home, so we caught the train back and headed in the for the night.

                The next day we got to tour the Louvre.  I’m not sure if it was because I had just gone through the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam or what, but thinking of going through another huge museum seemed a little exhausting to me.  I got a glimpse of the Mona Lisa (much smaller than I expected), the Goddess of Victory, and Venus de Milo.  Other than those big ones, I wasn’t really looking for anything much in the museum.  I feel like I’ve never done as many stairs as I did in that museum.  Every time we went up a really long stair case, there was an equally long one after it that we had to go up as well.  The museum was beautiful but again, exhausting.  I know I’m sounding really ungrateful, but hey, these are my thoughts, right?  Anyway, after we were all super tired, we decided we were done for the day.  We met up with some friends and made the plan to go see Notre Dame, which I was excited about.  Coincidentally, while I’m writing this The Hunchback of Notre Dame is playing on my Spotify playlist; perfect background music!  We grabbed some lunch (I needed some comfort food, so I got a pretty good bacon burger) and we walked to try and make the last English tour of the day.  When we got there, the line for it was SO LONG!  We waited and the though the line went fast, we missed the start of the tour.  Our walk around the cathedral was incredible though.  The outside is just as amazing as the inside.  The rose window was gorgeous and I appreciated that I knew what things were because of the History of Interior Design class I took.  There happened to be a choir singing while we were in there, which made the experience even better!  We sat and listened for a while and I was in heaven.  I’ve come to love all the beautiful cathedrals in Europe and wish there were more in Utah!  While we were in there, it started to pour outside.  Like straight up DOWN POUR!  We couldn’t go back in, so we were going to walk to the metro and go get hot chocolate at a place called Angelina’s; but the rain kept getting worse (it was cool to see the gargoyles actually spit water out of the top of the cathedral) so we stopped into a souvenir shop close by.  I could tell the owners were mad everyone retreated to their shop, so I bought my mom some salt and pepper shakers shaped like the Eiffel tower.  They seemed a little happier after that.  Once the rain let up a little bit, we headed for the metro and to Angelina’s.  The hot chocolate was really good!  Almost tasted like literal melted chocolate.  We actually had to sit down for it and we even waited in line outside.  The experience was awesome, but expensive!  It was 8 euros for one hot chocolate, luckily I split with someone because I definitely didn’t think it was worth that much.  Basically the entire day I’d been battling a headache.  I took the meds required and they didn’t seem to do much.  Jessica and Danielle were gracious enough to accompany me back to the hotel so I could go grab a nap and just relax, which is probably what I needed.  We went to the McDonald’s and then relaxed on my bed and just laughed and talked together.  We decided later that I should probably go see the Eiffel Tower at night so I could see it sparkle.  I went with Spencer (we had to promise we would go get food), Jessica, and Danielle.  We watched it sparkle from the Alexander the III’s bridge which gave us a great view.  They told me not to look at it yet and I even got a handstand picture before I actually saw it with my own eyes.  I have wonderful friends. J  We had quite the adventure getting food (we ended up back at McDonald’s) and waited for over a half hour!  This was seriously the most inefficient McDonald’s I’ve ever been to!  Anyway, I got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle!  It was magical and wonderful! J  The next day I was super nervous because we were planning for Disneyland Paris!  I’ve got a whole day to talk about so I’ll just make another blog post about it. :D

All the weed in AMSTERDAM

I wasn’t really sure what weed smelled like until my time in Amsterdam.  The entire city smells like weed!  At one point we joked about getting a second hand high because of the amount.  If not for that, I would love to one day spend a lot more time in Amsterdam, possibly even live there!  Also, the amount of sketchy shops with porn and other inappropriate things may make raising kids there rather difficult.  I absolutely loved it despite all of that though. We only spent a day and a half in Amsterdam and I could have definitely spent a lot more time there!

                The first day we got in midafternoon and decided to go explore simply because we didn’t have a lot of time there.  We went and got some food, found the I AMSTERDAM sign because the flower market had closed by that point.  One thing, after using public transportation is most of the cities we visited, I loved Amsterdam’s.  The trains were usually right on time and were simple to figure out!  Plus, Google Maps has helped me a TON on this trip.  I feel like sometimes people just want me around to navigate for them.  They assure me that isn’t true, but in Amsterdam it definitely felt that way sometimes.  Anyway, so after realizing the flower market was closed, we found the sign near the Rijksmuseum and proceeded to go to the park featured in The Best Two Years, Vondelpark.  A few people in our group reenacted the scene, which was hilarious to watch!  We found this pretty blue bridge, took some pictures and then had to go back to the hotel for dinner.  In this hostel we actually had dinner provided to us which was super nice and saved me money! YAY!

                The rest of the night was spent laughing together in our room of 8 people and going to bed way too late.   I loved every second of it though!  The next day, Julia had asked me if I would go visit the Rijksmuseum with her and Kodey the next day.  Though it was expensive, I said I would gladly go with, I mean, might as well immerse myself in cultural things, right? :D  The famous painting there that was guarded was The Night Watch by Rembrandt.  I’m not sure why, but museums absolutely exhaust me!  After about 2 hours I was done!  It seemed like a museum you could easily spend a few days in, but I had seen what I wanted and was done.  My one big complaint about it was the layout.  It made getting anywhere rather difficult.  If you wanted to get to another park of the museum you’d have to take stairs down and back up and it all just seemed rather unnecessary.  Overall, the museum was beautiful and a great experience, but maybe not worth the money I spent on it! Outside, there were some beautiful gardens and a fountain you could play in without getting wet. I had the great idea to go get some pictures inside and outside the fountain. I gave Kodey my phone and Julia saw that the fountains went down for a moment. Julia and I  hesitated just a little too long and as soon as we jumped in the water started spraying up! Mind you, I'm wearing a skirt and I got sprayed right up the legs! Haha! And there were two different walls to go through so by the time we made it to the middle, we were soaked, laughing our heads off, and made everyone around us laugh really hard! Being wet the rest of the day wasn't fun, but the memory makes me laugh still!

                After the museum, we knew we wanted to see the flower market, grab some pancakes, see Rembrandt’s house, see the flea market, and of course go see our scheduled tour for the Anne Frank house.  We went for pancakes first at a place called The Pancake House.  Now, these pancakes are not likes ones in the US.  These are more like crepes in that they are large and flat but a little thicker than a crepe.  I got one called the Caprese.  It had mozzarella, pesto, tomatoes, and onions on and in it.  It was incredible!  It tasted so good!!  Jonah leaves for Amsterdam tomorrow so I spent some time telling him what he should do and what to avoid.  After pancakes, we went to the flower market, which I was excited for the entire trip!  I was hoping to buy some import approved tulip bulbs to bring back but apparently they are out of season, so none of the shops were carrying them.  I was super disappointed.  The markets were still really fun to look at and the flowers were beautiful!  I wish we hadn’t missed tulip season!

                We went to the Waterloo market after that and looked at all the little stands.  I finally found a cute crew neck sweatshirt and bought it!  I forgot all my sweatshirts at home and knew I’d need at least one for Iceland.  The market was incredibly sketchy but also charming at the same time.  Obviously, everything wreaked of weed as well! Haha!  There were entire booths dedicated to all things weed which was funny. J  We quickly took a picture in front of Rembrandt’s house and hurried off the Anne Frank house, but we got there early so we went into a small shop and bought a stroop waffel, it was SOO good!!

                The Anne Frank house was incredibly humbling.  We actually had an educational visit, so we got a special tour.  We were able to ask our guide questions about the way they run the business and even about the Frank family.  Our group actually got to see Otto Frank’s office (something not open to the general public) as well as the kitchen where they made the product they sold (something to make jam, I can’t recall exactly what it’s called).  Then we toured the house with the rest of the general public.  I always knew the area was small, but I didn’t realize exactly how small it was until I was there.  To have 8 people in close quarters for 2 years would drive me insane.  I think the families did drive each other mad while they lived together, but they would have preferred that to what ended up happening.  Otto Frank is the only one of the 8 people in hiding that lived through the concentration camp and the liberation.  The group got separated shortly after being arrested and sent to different camps.  When Otto finally went back home, he knew his wife had died but wasn’t sure about his daughters, he quickly learned they were never coming home.  I have no idea how I would ever be able to survive something like that.  Otto is amazing for turning a tragedy into something to honor his family and his daughter’s memory. There was a short video of him talking about reading the diary.  He said he thought he knew his daughter very well, but the girl speaking in the diary was different than the Anne he knew.  He said that parents never truly know their children, especially if the children aren’t in an environment where they can truly express themselves.  Just left me feeling a little somber, but hopeful that I’ll be able to have a good relationship with my future children.

                I hope to be able to visit Amsterdam soon and spend lots more time there!

Love Never Dies when you're in HAMBURG

A few successful things happened while in Hamburg!  I was able to fill the prescription for another EpiPen because there was an international pharmacy in Hamburg really close to our hotel!  Marnix, our bus driver, was more than willing to help me with the whole situation and I’ll be forever indebted and grateful to him for looking out for me!  He even let me use his phone to call my mom, which probably cost him money but he said he always likes to help people.  Without Marnix, our trip would definitely not be as successful as it has been.  He goes above and beyond in his job!  He calls the hotel in advance to see if there is coach parking and even helps us communicate on issues we are having with restaurants or the hotel.  He is seriously one of the coolest people I’ve ever met.  I loved hearing his life story and his opinions on things.  I hope one day he can come visit Utah and our group can throw a big party for him!

                Anyway, off topic, I apologize.  The first day, I filled my prescription and then went to the Birkenstock store with Julia, Jessica, and Danielle.  I have still resisted buying some even though almost everyone else has!  I’m sorry, I’m not about to spend 50 euros on something I think is ugly just because everyone on the trip is buying them!  I’m not made of money!  Danielle and I stayed out of the Birkenstock game. J  We then navigated public transit (I’m seriously professional now) to get some dinner and spaghetti ice cream.  Dinner was pizza but had broccoli and corn on it!  It was surprisingly tasty!  I opted out of getting spaghetti ice cream because the lady didn’t speak any English and I couldn’t get her to understand me asking if there were walnuts in it.  I got frustrated and just gave up. Haha!  I didn’t really want to end up back in the hospital again.  We went back to the hotel and got there just in time because it started POURING!  Literally, water was falling in buckets off the roofs of nearby buildings.  By the way, we were in an incredibly sketchy part of Hamburg.  There were a lot of people that seem super shady and hang out outside our hotel and around the pharmacy.  I’m glad I was always in a group because I would have been terrified!

                The next day our small group went to Miniatur Wunderland.  I figured this place would just be a bunch of figurines in little replicas of the city.  I had no idea they would be electronic and move or light up!  That was absolutely amazing!  I enjoyed my time there immensely, but renewed my anger with children that have no respect for others.  Parents just let their kids get away with anything and don’t think twice about it!  When I’m a parent I hope I can figure out a way to assure my kids are respectful to other children and adults around them.  And that they will wait their turn in a line for chocolate (long story that just makes me angry for no reason).  After the Wunderland, we went back to the hotel, picked up our laundry (there’s a place that will wash, dry, and fold and it was wonderful to get everything cleaned!), and headed to our big group lunch.  I was FINALLY able to eat a nice juicy steak and potatoes and I was in heaven!  I haven’t eaten a meal that big the entire trip and it was well worth the wait.  Except I miss my daddy’s seasoning skills.  We then headed to our backstage tour of Love Never Dies, the supposed sequel to Phantom of the Opera.  We were almost 45 minutes late to our tour though and they almost didn’t put it on for us.  I mean, if the leaders of the day were on top of things we wouldn’t have been late, but they didn’t push for us to leave and get there on time.  It was incredibly embarrassing.  We got a short tour but at least they were willing to give us anything at all!  The opera was absolutely amazing.  Jim’s daughter-in-law played Christine and she is amazingly talented!  Though I did not understand anything that was being said, except Coney Island, I was able to focus on the emotion and how that affected the story.  I truly enjoyed the play and got many signatures afterward.

                Overall, Hamburg was pretty cool!  A very sketchy area though and not one I’d probably come back to.  Also, I’m sick of staying in a hotel! Hahaha!  Bunkbeds are pretty much the worst and I can’t wait to sleep in until my alarm.

 

 

 

 

COPENHAGEN'S Christus

We were in Copenhagen for about two and a half days and in that short amount of time, I completely fell in love with the city!  It was definitely not as sketchy as Rome or Prague, but still just a little bit.  Apparently they have a “hippie district” AND a red light district.  I was able to successfully avoid both districts without trying to so I’d call that a win in my book! I was, however, able to meander the city and appreciate all the beauty in the buildings, both old and new.  Copenhagen is definitely a special place… AND it has a theme park! WHAT?!

                The first full day we had Julia, Ashlee, Sarah, and I all went on a boat tour.  We were able to see the big sights of Copenhagen in a short amount of time, all while sitting on a comfortable seat!  I saw The Little Mermaid statue from the backside and it was as underwhelming as Ruth (my boss) had mentioned.  It is really small and kind of creepy looking to be honest, but I can still say I’ve seen it in person! :D  We also saw the Queen’s house and her son’s.  They have flags that fly on top of the buildings and when the flag it up, it means the residents are home; the Queen was out but her son was home.  The Queen was probably out partying at 10:30 in the morning. ;)  We were also able to go down some small canal streets and saw residential areas.  The buildings are all bright colors and so cute and quaint!  I’d definitely live there if I had the chance!

                After our boat tour we had tickets to visit Tivoli, one of the oldest theme parks in Europe!  If you know me, you should know that theme parks are where I’m happiest.  I will go from open to close and enjoy every minute of my time there!  If only I could find a man that was as crazy about theme parks and I am!  Or at least enable me to enjoy my obsession and smile and enjoy himself along the way. :D  This theme park was really cute and fun!  I was told Walt Disney got some of his ideas for Disneyland through Tivoli.  Not sure if that’s true and I haven’t had time to fact check.  I’m busy! Sue me. ;)  Anyway, overall, Tivoli was a blast!  The rides (though kind of sketchy looking) were really fun and got me pumped up for Disneyland Paris (only 5 days people!).  There was a wooden coaster called, The Roller Coaster, that my group went on like 3 times and I still always forgot where the camera was so my face was just me screaming the entire time.  We also went on a swing ride, but it was on a platform, and also raised really high into the air.  I’m not a big spinning ride fan (teacups kill me) and I didn’t really want to do this ride but I’m so glad I did! The view of Copenhagen from the top was absolutely incredible!  I wish they had an observation tower for those that don’t want to swing in a circle that high up so my friend Bailey could have enjoyed the view as well. 

Thinking about changes like this actually pushed me to evaluate things about the park that I would keep and things I would change.  First of all, smoking areas would have been greatly appreciated!  I mean, has the notion of lung cancer not reached Europe?!  Everyone smokes!  But really, a smoking area would have been nice because they just do it willy nilly and it’s really annoying.  Second, I would have more distinct areas of the park and truly theme everything to match.  They kind of tried but never really hit the mark so I’d work with what they had and improve upon it.  I would keep the stage and the gardens, they are beautiful and definitely well kept.  I’d update the computer system on some of the rides and make them more modern.  On the wooden roller coaster, an employee actually rides it with you and I’m pretty sure controls the brakes at the end.  Like, what?!  Also, there didn’t seem to be any rules, which is probably because no one will sue them if something goes wrong.  Sue happy people are ruining America, enough said.  I would also employ people more people to keep the streets clean.  Overall, I thought the park was very dirty and could have used a million more trashcans!  Enable the guests to help you keep the park clean by giving them the necessary tools!  I also think the bathrooms were gross and they were few and far between, MORE BATHROOMS!  I would also keep the restaurants in the park.  Europeans love food and spending lots of time and money on meal is important to them.  There was an awesome variety of food and I was definitely pleased with my meal.  Overall, I really enjoyed Tivoli!  I tried not to compare it to Disney parks because they are definitely both different and unique in their own ways and I totally respect that!  I loved my time there and would love to go back and visit there again if I get the chance!  Oh also, the ice cream was FANTASTIC!!

After the theme park, we were exhausted so we went back to the hotel and turned in for the night, knowing we needed to be up early for church the next morning.  Church was wonderful!  The bishop was so nice and the ward members welcomed us with open arms.  They had small headsets for us to wear and a translator sitting in the back with a microphone to translate real time.  This was immensely helpful up until Relief Society because my headset started cutting out every few words so eventually I gave up and almost fell asleep.  Though I really enjoy going to church in these countries, I feel as though I’m not really understanding the lessons as much as I could be if it was in my language.  I can’t wait to get back to the United States and really enjoy going to church to learn!  We then were dropped off in the city and walked to see the original Christus statue.  It was in a church called, The Church of our Lady.  It is a prominent statue in the back of the main area and actually took my breath away.  The detail on Christ with the nail prints in his hands and feet really made me appreciate his sacrifice for me.  The main area also have the twelve apostles leading up to Christ, whom is in the center.  We then went back to the hotel and I decided to have a relaxing day like I do when I’m at home.  Sunday’s are my rest and recoup days.  I read lots of Harry Potter and watched a little Netflix, which is so much better outside the US!  Seriously!  I watched a few episodes of Modern Family and just enjoyed the day being in a foreign country! J

Overall, Copenhagen was beautiful and magical and I hope to be able to visit there again soon.  I loved every minute of being there!  Also, I want to learn Danish.

The wall in BERLIN

Berlin is a very beautiful and vibrant city. It it very surprising to think that most of the history from this city happened so recently and that compared to other cities in Europe, Berlin is one of the youngest because they have had to rebuild most of the city.

My parents got married the same year the wall was torn down and I was born 4 years later. All the other cities we have visited have history from the BC Era! Also, we hardly read about the Cold War in school which is frustrating because it would have made visiting Berlin that much better! It was still awesome to learn the history while we were in the city with people that took the bike tour. The previous day I decided I should probably give myself a little break because I was still recovering from my walnut incident. :) 

Our group visited Checkpoint Charlie, which was one of the points where people could travel between East and West Berlin. There was a lot of animosity between the two sides and people often tried to escape, both succeeding and failing, from East Berlin and sneak into West Berlin. Splitting the city like that truly did hurt people a lot.

We also visited a museum called The Typography of Terror. It went through Hitler's rise to power and how Himmler also helped him to get rid of the inferior  race. While walking through this museum it is was eerie to see the differences and similarities between then and now. America is rallying behind someone that hates rather than accepts and believes that some people are better than others. I hope we will be able to get out of this situation and that America will continue to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

We also visited the East side gallery. I have always thought graffiti was really cool! Obviously, some is just vandalism and there was a lot of that in Berlin, but the actual art was fantastic! I wish I had that kind of artistic talent! I'm glad they kept a part of the wall and promoted local artists and continue to preserve parts of the wall that were painted. The wall obviously divided the city and one point and they are healing and moving forward. 

The rest of the day was really relaxing! I spent time with my roommate in the hotel, read Harry Potter and got ready to leave the next day. :)