Opel Zoo

We had heard good things about the nearby Opel Zoo and since the kids and David still have off this week, we decided to check it out.

There are carrots and boxes of pellet food you can buy to feed many of the animals, like these very hairy camels. A lot of people brought carrots and bread from home, too, to feed to them.

A rather scary-looking meerkat

"If I could talk to the animals....just imagine it...."


Just seconds before the ostrich tried to make off with a piece of James' hand


We all loved the coloring of these ducks.


There was a large petting zoo full of donkeys, sheep and goats.


Along with all the zoo animals were all the family dogs people brought with them. I should not have been shocked by that, but I was. Bringing a dog to the zoo? I guess who's to say that a dog wouldn't enjoy it?

This picture does not do justice to just how big this slide was. It was another case of "You would never see this in the U.S.!"


8 seconds, James.

David giving the kids a spin

The kids all look like they're riding a huge record on these disks

Another strange-looking spinning see-saw thingy. The awesome playground was worth the price of admission.

Disneyland - Last Day

With David and the older two in downtown Paris, the little ones and I went back the Disneyland to ride some of our favorite attractions again.

I was determined to get a picture of Rebecca and Sulley, even if she were screaming her head off. With Emilie for moral support and me not insisting she exit her stroller, Rebecca handled this meeting OK.

The Cars Race Rally is sort of like the Mad Hatter's Tea Cups ride, except that the cars spin really fast all on their own.



Le Pays des Contes de Fées (Fairytale Land) is a boatride where you see small models of scenes from different fairytales (even a few non-Disney ones!). Here Belle from Beauty and the Beast reads to some sheep.

If you look carefully, or click on the photo for a closeup, you can see Prince Eric on a balcony keeping a lookout for a certain mermaid.

Entering Aladdin's cave

The longest line we encountered on the whole trip was for Casey Jr.- the little Circus Train from the movie Dumbo. We waited, right during lunchtime, for over an hour, with me holding a whiny and hungry Rebecca for most of that time. I kept grumbling under my breath, "This had so better be worth it." And it was. Casey, Jr. is a zippy little roller coaster that went by many of the fairytale models with the Casey theme song playing from the movie. That's the Beast's castle in the photo.

It was time for lunch -- and fast! The kids were hungry and grumpy. For our last day, and because we had just stood in line for so long at Casey Jr., I thought a sit down meal was in order. I nixed the first place we came to - a Princess character lunch where the menu consisted of lots of food the girls would never eat like foie gras, scallops and veal. The next place we hit was the Agrabah Café in Adventureland. I was satisfied with the Mediterranean-oriental buffet (i.e. lots of couscous) and the kids chowed down on the pita bread. Then, we entered Frontierland and I saw a sign for a Tex-Mex buffet. Zut, alors! You don't see Tex-Mex, or even just Mexican cuisine much at all in Germany. I missed my chance.

You can have the greatest rides around, but what do little kids really like? A simple playground, like Pocohontas' Indian Village.

Canoe slides in the background

Rebecca on Bullseye from Toy Story 2

Sleeping Beauty is a lucky princess indeed. She has castles in Disneyland California, Hong King Disneyland and here at Disneyland Paris. Be on your guard, however, as there is a sleeping dragon under this castle.

In the end, it was true that we saw many, many smokers, but being outside most of the time, it wasn't an issue. There were places at the parks that needed touching-up, but this Disneyland was hardly rundown. And we did not encounter a single rude Cast Member. The weather could have been better, but on the other hand, the lines were not bad at all. This Disneyland trip more than lived up to our expectations.

Paris

Deciding it would be shameful to be so close to Paris and only visit Disneyland, David took Micaela and James on the 45-minute train ride to the heart of the City of Light. They were the ultimate tourists, choosing to visit Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, and the Eiffel Tower.

Construction began on Notre Dame de Paris in 1163. There is a stone reference marking point here in the square in front of the cathedral called Point zéro. When road signs say "Paris - 30 kilometres," the distance is the measurement to this exact spot.

Home of poor Quasimodo. Victor Hugo wrote The Hunchback of Notre-Dame to support preserving the cathedral instead of "modernizing" it (i.e. tearing it down) after it suffered severe desecration during the French Revolution.

The Louvre has been around, in one form or another, for the past 800 years. The Louvre Pyramid, the main entrance of the museum, was designed by I.M. Pei, a Chinese-American architect.

When David, in all seriousness, asked James if he had ever seen a real live mummy, James answered, "Dad, there's no such thing as a real live mummy."

At the outbreak of war in September 1939, most pieces of the Louvre's collections were evacuated. The works were hidden in numerous sites, mostly châteaus in the French countryside.

Napoleon had this painting by Leonardo da Vinci moved from the Louvre to his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace; later it was returned to the Louvre.

Inaugurated in 1889, La Tour Eiffel was supposed to be torn down after 20 years. It was allowed to remain standing when it proved to be valuable for communication purposes.

The tower met with much criticism from the public when it was built and was considered by many to be an eyesore. When novelist Guy de Maupassant — who claimed to hate the tower — was asked why he ate lunch in the Tower's restaurant so often, he answered, "Because it is the one place in Paris where you can't see it."

View from the half-way up the Eiffel Tower; La Basilisque de Sacré-Coeur, Montmartre in the distance. When the line for the elevator stalled, the Nylunds took the stairs.

Looking across the Seine to La Conciergerie, the former royal palace and prison. Dating from the early 14th century, nearly 3,000 prisoners of the French Revolution (including Marie-Antoinette) spent their last days here before meeting the guillotine.

Disneyland Park - Take 2

Rebecca and I felt better today and the weather looked promising. We started the day with a character breakfast at Café Mickey in Disney Village (although we still picked up our yummy breakfast at the stand in our loop to have for dinner). The cappuccino and eggs and bacon hit the spot.

Geppetto from Pinnochio

Friar Tuck from Robin Hood

No explanation needed for this guy

On to Disneyland Park where David sped off the with big kids to Tomorrowland and the little ones and I headed straight to Fantasyland.

Disneyland Paris is in it second year of celebrating its 15th anniversary.

Believe it or not, Rebecca was actually very excited to ride Le Carrousel de Lancelot and at one point even cracked a smile.

It's a Small World was one of Rebecca's favorites.

Dumbo is probably one of the most basic rides, but always has one of the longest lines. Seeing all the kids' faces break out into expressions of pure joy when they first fly up on Dumbo's back is priceless.

Sleeping Beauty's castle in the distance

Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty mistaking Rebecca for the baby Aurora

Waffle lunch

Space Mountain Mission 2 is a much smoother ride than its predecessor in Florida and its loop-dee-loop in the dark did not lose its charm -- even after the 5th ride.

Big Thunder Mountain

The Pirates of the Caribbean

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril. James somehow shrank overnight as he was even further away today from reaching the minimum height requirement than he was yesterday, even with rolled up socks in the heel of his shoes. He was so disappointed to miss this ride, but Micaela and David both swore Peril did not even come close to Space Mountain, Rock-n-Roller Coaster or Crush's Coaster.

Once Upon a Dream Parade

This Tigger can really bounce!

The Toy Story movies were a bit hit in France

King Louie from The Jungle Book grooming Emilie

Ariel and Prince Eric

Disneyland Park

One nice thing about staying at Davy Crockett's Ranch was the breakfast. Every morning, you go to a little shed in your loop and pick up your breakfast: instant coffee, milk for hot chocolate, orange juice, croissants, rolls, jelly, Nutella, butter and the most delicious baguettes David and I have ever had.

Today, however, it was my turn to be sick. Rebecca and I stayed home in our cozy cabin watching Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zach and Cody (in English!) while everyone else went to Disneyland Park. Once again, most of the attractions were the same as in the Magic Kingdom, but there were many new ones. Everyone loved Big Thunder Mountain (Emilie's first big roller coaster ride) and thought that The Pirates of the Caribbean was better than Orlando's. The one ride James was too short for was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril roller coaster. The measuring stick brushed his hair, but did not rest on his head. David and James are going to fashion some kind of lift for James to put in his shoes and he'll try again tomorrow. The kids also raved about the hotdogs they had for lunch which were reminiscent of American hotdogs (not like the "crunchy-skinned" German ones).

David opted to go camera-less to fully enjoy the day, but did get a few pictures with his cellphone camera.

Emilie and silly Stitch. That's Space Mountain Mission 2 behind them, which does a loop-dee-loop and was declared the best ride of all.

Waiting for the parade with Sleeping Beauty's castle in the background