Looking Back

My father left this morning; my sister in law yesterday. The house is a complete wreck, and I am sick as a dog with some kind of creeping crud that was no doubt aggravated by 3 days in the wind and rain in Paris... but fuck it- it was a great vacation! The entire family had a kickass time, even when we were just hanging out at home with the kids doing a whole lot of jack shit. Much fun! We are even talking about trying to go back sometime in the early fall- so Rachel can see the princesses and fireworks she missed out on this time.

As it was brought to my attention today that I am slacking on my blogging responsibilities, I will post some casual observations I made on my trip. This is despite me sitting here cycling from hot flash to cold chills with the fucking shitty fever I have.

~French people are not assholes- at least not in tourist traps. They are very bad at doing things like waiting their turn; like for hugs and pics from disney characters, or an opening big enough for their car in traffic. This can be overcome by acting as they do... (and in traffic- it becomes necessary to go into full blown asshole mode to survive.) But they are polite and nice people and are happy to help if you make the effort to ask and listen.

~Parisians are the scariest drivers I have EVER seen in my life, and I would recommend the train/bus to anyone going on walkabout down the Seine. We almost died 5 times in 14 minutes trying to get from one side of the road to the other down the length of 2 city blocks. K2 was freaking the fuck out by the time we found a parking garage, and the spaces there are far too small- even for a German rental. The passengers had to get out and in to the car before the parking job was done... and we had to spot him into the parking place to make sure he was far enough in, and close to the wall, so another driver didn't take off the ass end of the car.Trust me- use public transit in Paris.

~French cooking- famous the world over... from the little bit I sampled was not so different from German cuisine. Slight differences, like more cheeses, and the desserts are to die for (mousse is like 2 new pounds of ass fat in a pretty parfait glass- but so damn good) ... But it is not so different from what I have grown used to here: good breads, small cuts of meat, french fries (pommes fritz) with everything. Too many years in Europe eating European food, maybe. It was wonderful faire, and I hope to sample a wider variety when we go again.

~Being from the west coast, I am not used to theme parks being closed early hours or shutting down events for the winter months... In the winter Disneyland Paris closes at 6 p.m. and there is no fireworks display nightly at the castle. The princesses do not roam the park, as I suppose they don't want to freeze to fucking death in those dresses. On the west coast, for those that don't know, Disneyland is always open until midnight, and they always have fireworks over the castle. They don't close amusement parks in the winter, nor reduce their hours because it is January or February. The west coast rocks. So does Disney Paris- but I would have liked for everything to be available.

~The Europe Disney's castle is WAY prettier than the one in Anaheim. My theory being that as they have real castles in Europe that have to go above and beyond to impress. You can walk up inside the castle here, and usually there is an attraction under it with Maleficent's Dragon. Alas it was closed this time, but we can see it next time.

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I have more about the French and the trip, but I must go find a hole to crawl into for now and pray that this passes, or I slip into a fucking coma until I am over being sick... I will try to better about posting this week- but if I don't... for today, I don't give a rat's ass.