Euro Disney and Paris- April 2014

I have to say this, right at the beginning.  As I was going over the pictures to put in this blog, I noticed that Colin seemed to have a sour look on his face in most of the photos.  This was very upsetting to me because even though he is a pre-teen (horror), Colin had a fabulous time on this trip.  Colin loves Disney- anywhere in the world.  He enjoyed Paris and thought the French people were quite nice.  He loved going to the catacombs and asked lots of questions of our guide.  And he was amazed at Normandy.  Jesy had shown him some clips of the D-Day landing, so Colin knew what it was about.  And him and Amalie climbed all over the German bunkers.  So, I can't tell you why the "face" is in so many photos.  But, because I want Colin to read this someday and know he was a happy kid, here's a fun story.
On our first day at Disney John feel asleep almost as soon as we got there.  Which was fine because Jesy was able to go on some of the big rides with the older kids.  But, when John woke up, I knew I wanted his first ride to be "It's a Small World".  That's a Collins favorite.  Jesy and Colin were walking to Small World together, and Jesy could hear Colin singing the Small World tune and he was skipping.  Even as a small child, Colin was not a skipper.  But that's how happy he was to be at Disney.  So Colin, thank you for giving me such a beautiful memory to look back upon, even as you move forward in to those odd teenage years.  I love it!
Many of my American friends have asked me if we liked Euro Disney.  Yes, yes we did.  It reminded me a lot of Disneyland in California.  It's much smaller than the one in Florida, and of course there is a European/French flavor added in.  Honestly, I enjoyed it, as did Jesy and the kids.  It is ridiculously expensive, though.  A friend of mine here had recommended that we go with the meal plan, simply so we would not have to look at the prices on the menu.  And she was right.  Paris is insanely expensive also, and this is coming from someone who has lived in Moscow for three years.  And, I have to say that the customer service is not the same as in the US.  In the US, Disney bends over backwards to make sure that everyone is happy and having a "magical" time.  Not so much in Euro Disney.  It might just be a cultural thing, and quite honestly we had very few complaints. 

I have always thought the movie Ratatouille was a bit odd- I mean that rat.  In a restaurant.  I don't need to know about that.  My kids went crazy, though, for this animated rat at lunch one day.  Go figure.

 Kathleen- that's my child who skips.  She is always skipping.

The above photo is from the backyard of our cabin.  We stayed in the Davy Crockett cabins, which I have to say was quite fun.
Most young children, including my three oldest, are scared to death of the characters that go walking around theme parks.  Not John.  He adores them.  Will kiss every single one.  He could barely contain himself at the Mickey Mouse dinner.  And the girls were quite happy also.  Colin and my dad were there, but not as excited as the others.

The look of love and contentment on John's face is fabulous.

Mickey's dinner was one of my favorite nights, because the kids were so happy.  Ridiculously happy.  It was nice to see.
Another bright spot of this whole trip was that my Dad met us at Euro Disney.  He had been in Ireland and he flew down to meet us in France.  We were all so happy to see him and the kids had a great time with him.  John warmed up to Grandpa after a few minutes and then spent the rest of the time calling him "Butta".  John has the craziest nicknames for people.  My dad also took the train with us up to Paris, and Jesy was kind enough to watch the kids while my dad an I went for a nice drink.  I think my kids never know when Grandma and Grandpa might show up- Italy, France, Moscow.  I hope Illinois will not be too boring for them.
After five action filled days at Disney, we took the train up to Paris.  We rented a lovely, and large, apartment in a neighborhood a bit outside the tourist attractions.  Everything was a quick metro ride away and I think we hit all of the major tourist spots.  Paris was everything I thought it would be.  It was such a great last trip to round out our time abroad.  The city was beautiful, the food amazing, and in the entire 11 days we were there it never rained.  It was in the 60's and 70's every day and the sun was always out.  We could not have asked for a better way to experience Paris- with all of the lovely flowers in bloom and the trees green and full.
Paris was also exhausting.  I have done many city trips in my life; often with my children.  The combination of Disney and then Paris was almost enough to break me.  But, the Yeates clan rallied and I think we saw a lot.  These are some of my favorite photos of Paris.  The last one was taken by my demented husband.

On our first day in Paris we went to Notre Dame and the Louvre.  Notre Dame was beautiful, as was the Louvre, especially because once they saw us with a stroller we moved to the front of the line.  And then once we got inside, John fell asleep.  I cannot explain to you how nice it was to gaze at the Mona Lisa in peace.  Jesy, Colin, and Amalie were quite busy looking at I don't know what, but Kathleen and I had such a nice time looking at religious paintings in the Louvre.  She has been to Israel, so she had many interesting questions and I enjoyed the special time with her.

I know that there are mixed feelings about seeing the Mona Lisa in the museum.  Why wait with all of those people just to see her?  This is what I think:  I love seeing paintings, objects, places, that you only read about or see on TV, live and in person.  Some of my greatest joys have been visiting the Sea of Galilee in Israel, seeing the Sphinx and King Tut's mask in Egypt, walking up the steps of the Parthenon in Athens, gazing at the Pieta in Rome, and walking around Dracula's castle in Romania.  And if my kids give me about a full minute just to stare, well, that just thrills me.  There is nothing like seeing history with your own eyes.
On our second day in Paris we went to the Eiffel Tower and then toured around the Montmartre neighborhood.  John is usually quite a good sport when it comes to travel and new experiences, but he DID NOT enjoy the Eiffel Tower.  We were only able to go to the middle that day- I think it was the wind.  We had some lovely views, but I think John knew we were up high and he did not like it.  He would not go anywhere near the edge and clung to me most of the time.  Like I said, this was very unusual for him.  But, we still enjoyed the views.  Colin in particular has always wanted to visit the Eiffel Tower, so this was quite a treat for him.

 I love this photo of John.  We were finished with the Eiffel Tower and he was deliriously happy to be eating this banana.  John is such a funny kid- always dancing and moving around. And he does loves bananas.

After lunch we headed over to the Montmartre neighborhood, which is famous for the Moulin Rouge and the Church of the Sacred Heart of Paris.  We only walked outside the Moulin Rouge- probably for the best with young kids.  But we had quite a nice time in Montmartre.  It is a lovely area to walk and look at artwork.  And of course the church is spectacular.  And yes, we walked all the way to the top!

We explored the church, bought some souveniers, and did lots of walking.  But of course most of our pictures are when we stopped to have a snack.  Jesy really loved his beer- can you tell?  The above picture is Amalie and Colin on the metro.  We took the metro everywhere and the kids loved it.  Though perhaps you cannot tell from this photo.
One of the great things about France is that we got to see family.  My dad met us for some fun at Disney, and Jesy's Aunt Lori spent the day with us in Paris on Wednesday.  (She lives about an hour outside the city.)  The last time we saw her, Kathleen was two weeks old, so she really got to see a different family. 
I have always wanted to visit catacombs, and we were unable to do it in Rome.  We were able to get in to an English tour that day, and John fell asleep for about half of the tour.  Which was a nice treat for both Jesy and I.  And before he fell asleep, Aunt Lori watched him for much of the tour.

 Don't you love the way Aunt Lori is posing with our John Deere sweatshirt?

After the catacombs we took the kids to a beautiful park near our apartment.  And we just let them loose.  You want to run and jump?  Go ahead.  Climb all over fountains?  Be my guest.  The kids had been such good little tourists for three days; I felt they deserved it.  And how I love the last picture of Kathleen.  My little girl gets very grumpy in the afternoon, and everyone had better watch out.

It was truly my honor and privilege to take my children to Normandy.  My grandfather, Thomas Collins,  landed there on the 6th of June, 1944.   I never met this grandfather, but I feel like I got to know a piece of him by visiting the beaches of Normandy.

We took the train from Paris and we were met by a lovely tour guide.  We did a private tour, which made everyone's life easier- mine and Jesy's and the tour groups that avoided us.  First we went to where the German bunkers were.  This was the favorite part for my children.  They were able to run around and explore the old bunkers and walk where artillery shells had made bowls in the ground.  As I said before, Colin was particularly excited about this part of the tour because he has read up on D-Day and seen footage.  After that we went to Omaha beach.  The tide was in, so it was hard to imagine all of the boats landing.  But still very interesting.  And our last stop was the American Cemetery.  I was so proud of the United States while I was at the cemetery.  It is a beautiful and moving tribute to our fallen soldiers.  Our pictures do not do it justice.

Something that really hit me when we were on our tour- Normandy is beautiful.  Amazingly beautiful.  Our tour guide was explaining that it is often windy, misty, and cloudy there.  (Which fits in with the pictures and movies I have always seen about D-Day.)  The day we were there it was sunny and warm, and it was quite hard to wrap my head around the fact that such a military event had taken place there.

 

 You can see what I mean about the beauty of this place.  And it's so peaceful here.  A very good spot for the final resting place of many of our Americans.

 

 I love the way Amalie, and John a few pictures above this, are paying their respect.

 Here our guide is showing us events on a map.  She was fantastic with all of us.

It's hard to tell from this photo, but this is a map of the D-Day invasion.  It was such an undertaking.

 

I have loved all of our trips during this Moscow adventure, but two trips were the most important.  Two trips filled me up.  Two trips made my heart extremely happy.  Two trips made my life better by going there.  The first was our visit to Israel and Bethlehem.  Walking in the steps of Jesus towards his crucifixion and touching the spot of his birth is something I will always hold dear to me.  The second was our trip to Normandy.  I am a former military wife (and the wife of a man who went to war), and I love that I was able to pay respects to such an important event in our history.  For all of my fellow Americans who are frustrated with the ways of our country right now- go to Normandy.  It helps to see such sacrifice and bravery close up.  As I said, I was honored to take my children there.  And instill in them a bit of American pride.

John Deere has made so much of our adventures possible, so I had to add these photos:

 We actually stopped and spoke with one of the French farmers who was using a Deere.  I think he was quite tickled that someone from Deere was visiting and wanted to snap a photo of his equipment. We are such a John Deere family, which I think is something that happens when you become an ex-pat.  When you meet new people, the two top questions are: where are you from and who are you with?  I think we all feel so tied to Deere now, which is nice because Jesy likes working there.  And yesterday was "dress up as what you want to be when you grow up" day at school.  Amalie wore her green John Deere shirt, her pink John Deere hat, and told everyone she wanted to work at Deere when she was older.  She even made herself a badge so she can get into the buildings!  I loved it.