An American In Paris or....~Charlie, pirates and FEs!

[Arizona Rita]

I dont know if this is standard in London or European hotels, or at least the newer ones, but in both hotels we stayed in the side of the tub came up almost 3/4 of my thigh and Im 5'8" so one really did have to climb into the tub/shower. And there were handicapped railings and we did not stay in hc rooms, so maybe it is standard.
So on Friday I go to do my morning routine and I thought I had put the tub mat down good, but apparently not because it slid out from under me and the next thing I know the tub tried to kill me! Im on my back with one leg hanging over the side in a pose that Im sure Playboy would be proud of and no mom wants her daughter to see her in and who comes running in?!!
She's standing there all wide eyed , are you ok are you ok, and I get this nervouse laugh when I dont want anyone to worry and tell her just to turn the shower off for a minute and had to force myself to get up.
I ended up with a mega nasty bruise on the inside of my thigh and consider myself lucky I didnt do worse, and the body was sore for a couple of days!
But I had something exciting to look forward to, meeting Mazda!

If you ever want directions in London just ask her! She gave the best directions and it was so easy to find the resturant where we to meet that at first we walked past it, but they also hadnt put their sign out either.
We walked from our hotel and along the way saw the Eye, and street performers including someone dressed in a really bad Mickey Mouse costume and a lizard man riding a bike.
We get to the resturant and go down the stairs and are followed by this lady and I turned and looked at her and I said "You'e Marian" I think she was a bit surprised and I told her I was Rita and hugged her. Ok, I did warn her that I was going to and she hugged back!
OK Ladies, she really does exsist! and she is just as nice and pretty in person as she looks in all her photos. I dont think ther ewas any of those awkward lulls in the conversations, Lauren ws quiet almost the whole time and found out later that she just liked listening to her talk!
Not only did she bring my packages but she also brought us each a gift.
She brought the kids bags of candy, Chris a bottle of ale, which now sits in Erics room as his London momento, and me travel stickers and she made the most darling book from envelopes to keep reciepts, etc from the trip.
I will post a photo of that too because you all just have to see it.
We had a bout a 2 hour lunch and then she walked with us to the bridge, her train station was not that far away
It was just a really nice time with her. She needs to come to the US and we should all take turns hosting her! Thank you Mazda for letting me use your home, carting all the packages and the gifts!!
After we went back to the room there was one place Chris really wanted to se so he and I went to the British Museum and kids stayed at the hotel for a break.
We saw the original Rosetta Stone, which was the highlight. We were walking down the street looking for it and then it just appear, the museum, and my gosh is that thing huge for something that looks like its sitting in a residential area!
After we went back to the hotel, we decided we were hungry and went to look for someplace and thought a pub would be good and found one stood in the doorway abit and realized this isnt where we really wanted to be so left there and literally found a hole in the wall, greasy spoon, where you have to share firmica tables with strangers and it was really good!
At home you wouldnt think to eat at someplace like this but in London, why not!
So that night Eric and and I went on a Jack The Ripper tour, led my a Yoeman warder from the tower, a scotsman, and he was just hysterical!
He told us we were going into very seedy area and that we were to stick together and if there was any problems someone from the crowd said "Run"
"Sir, we are of her majestys royal guards! We do not run! We surround ourselves with the women!"

and tomorrow
"When You Wish Upon A Star!"

 

[DisneyIsTerrific]

I'm really enjoying your trip report! It's so awesome that you got to meet up with Mazda. What fun!!!!

 

[MazdaUK]

I had a great time meeting Rita and her DH and DD! her DD was so grown-up and well-behaved. her DS was doing teenage boy stuff - just as mine would have done! And Rita and her family look just like their photos too - that's how I recognised them (and I'm terrible with faces) and they were so lovely to spend time with. She brought me some lovely gifts from Arizona - I must send her our local magazine so she can see that Bexley is a bit different I copied the mini album from one a secret sister sent me :shhh:

And yes, all baths have grab rails as standard in Europe (its something to do with health and safety legislation I think, as they didn't when I was very young), to help you lever yourself up, and they vary in height but I'd say from just above the knee to mid thigh is about the range.

I think the sister hotel must be the County Hall Mariott - it used to be County Hall, the place where the Greater London Council sat, until Mrs Thatcher shut them down and now above ground is mostly a hotel and there's an aquarium in the basement plus some exhibition space at ground level facing the Thames. The new county hall is now at London Bridge. In case you wondered

And if anyone else wants to come to London I'm happy to Tourguide Mazda for them :

 

[DisneyBarlans]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us Rita! Can't wait to hear more...

 

[Arizona Rita]

Since we had checked in the day before over at the Dis hotel, when we went over this morning check in was very easy and we were in line for a bus, on the bus and the bus was away in about less than 30 minutes.
We had a 2 hour ride through pretty residential areas, out into the country and then started to see water. There was a 20 minute rest stop which I didnt understand until we arrived at the port.
The port didnt look like a warehouse and wasnt that big. They must have done the stop for crowd control. From the time we got off the bus it again was less than 30 minutes until we heard
"Disney Magic now welcomes aboard the Zagar family!"
We went to RBD anf got brunch ressies which we hadnt been able to get online and also additional spa treatments.
We went and had lunch in Parrot Cay and after that wsa able to go to our stateroom.
Our luggage started arriving and as it did we started putting everything away right away, something we learned early on in cruising, so we could enjoy the rest of our time.
Chris continued to settle in, the kids went exploring and I did laundry!
Th epeople who dod their laundry early on are the ones who have cruised before and know the score. They are also the knowledgable ones and the usually very interesting.
While I did this, Chris also went and paid for the future sailing offers. Said he knew he was going to do it so get it done and not have to wait in lines.
He was the 2nd person on this sailing and we were known from that point on.
That night we started our dining rotation and we started with Animators Palate.
Our servers~
Head Server~ Cedomir from Chek (sp?) Republic
Server~ Jozsaf from Hungary
Asst Server~ Naned from the Rebublic
They were so excited to hear our last name because that is were Chris family originally came from and they pronounced it "right" and would talk to him about their area and were just so happy.
The show that night was
"Welcome Aboard" the show never changes! Just the guest performers.
Jay Lamont was very funny but Jimmy Tamley, not so much imho.
Rough night at sea, havnt heard the room creak that much ever!

Dover is very pretty and you could see Leeds Castle on the hill in the distance
I could hear the song "White Cliffs Of Dover" in my head as I looked out at them. Wish we had had more time there.

The port of Dover with its white cliffs! and beautiful Dover castle on the hill.

 

[Arizona Rita]

Show~ Twice Charmed

Just a nice quiet day, Lauren ran around looking for characters, Eric went to a movie, walked the ship, sat on the verandah. Nice.
I dont remember to much of this day.
Kids went to the show and I used most of the day to deliver FE gifties.
WOW! Rita kept it under a paragragh!

 

[Arizona Rita]

Show~ Jimmy Tamley

I have always wanted to go here and it is my favorite pavillion at World Showcase.
I didnt book any shore excursions here thinking the HOHO bus would get us to the 2 places I knew that I wanted to see. So thought it would be less expensive. It would have been if I had thought to buy the Oslo card. Oh well.
So we docked directly across from Akerhus Fortress, which is what the resturant is name for. You looked out from our verandah and it was just there.
Very pretty and green.
We went and caught a HOHO which took us a little around the city and then to the Viking Museum. It was interesting to see the ships and relics and the carvings were so intricate. We had to do something "Viking".
After that we were able to actually walk over to the Norse Living Museaum.
I like things like this and I think Lauren doae too, but for Chris and Eric it was alot of walking around looking at old homes and buildings gatherd over the last 100 or so years and then they have a building which has exhibits in it of Norse history, but the best piece of all was the Stave Church, which I think was just neat.
After that we got a pastry, a waffle actually, which was really good and then caught the bus back and wanderd the shops at the dock, which is where I got several things.
That night after dinner the kids went to the show and then they and Chris went and played Disney Tune Trivia. And won! Little DCL flashlights.

Norway is somewhere that I would have liked to spent more time at and possibly would/ should have gotten a shore excursion to have seen more.

Stave Church, Norse Horse and viking ship.

 

[ddavis860]

I'm lovin every min Rita!

I told DH I would love to do a Disney Cruise in Europe some day! This is just great! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

Thanks for sharing Rita! I am so wanting to be there right now!

 

[rlovew]

Thanks for sharing. Olso is a neat place to visit- I spent a day there dsuring the summer I lived in Sweden and enjoyed the buildings and art.

Rebecca

 

[Arizona Rita]

Show~ Once Upon A Song


Today was another day I had really been looking forward to.
There was a shore excursion wher altho pricey you could get into Tivoli Gardens a couple of hours before the general public and we had decided that the kids were going to be getting so much history and art thrown at them that they really deserved this.
Tivoli is, according to folklore or fact, where Walt got his inspiration for Disneyland.
When I am asked who is my favorite character I would often say, "Disneyland".
It was really important for me to see where Walt got his inspiration.
We were met in the morning by our guide, who Eric promptly fell in love with, Kristin.
We had a nice coach ride to the Gardens but people tried asking her questions about the various buildings along the way and in a lot of areas she was very vague.
I found out later that the Tivoli guides are only supposed to talk about Tivoli and the "state" guides are the "official" guides. She poined out a few areas but then very cleverly talked about other regions and where she was from and about her life on her family Fram (farm).
We started with a complete tour of the garden and learned some history about it and it was just beautiful and very easy to see where Walt would have gotten inspiration. On another thread someone said that there was a building that even looked like the Crystal Palace at WDW. Tivoli's was there long before WDW.
After the tour we rode all the rides as much as we wanted and there were some really good ones! They had a coaster called "The Deamon", with loops and corkscrews and a swing which was up on a platform that then took you even higher, which I loved. You could look out and see Copenhagen for miles but it was FREEZING!! up there, and then there was Lauren favorite.
You sit in a red baron type airplane., and theres this arm that swings out and then ends up going in circles up side down and all, meanwhile the plane that you are in is going in circles, upside down and dive bombing!
No thank you, Im not that extreme! Lauren LOVED it!!
and then there was the sweet small world knock off called the trunk which has all of Hans Christian Andersons storys in it and you ride in something that looks like a trunk. Does anyone remember the Avon small world perfurm bottles that they had in the 60/70's? The dolls were more or less shaped like that.
After this we ate lunch in a resturant call "Val Hala" which had a viking theme and the menus were all in Danish and I honestly thought I had just ordered the Medevil meal from Shrek 2, "uh, can I have that with the sword and not the crown?"
I walked around and shopped and Chris took the kids back over to go on the plane again!
We were back on the bus around 2pm, and felt that this was very much worth the money. Uncrowded amusement park, beautiful day
When we were riding back, the clouds rolled in and it started raining. When we got to the ship Chris went up to get a drink and came back and said it was actually hailing!
Later we went up to the sail away party and I swear there was no more than 30`40 people ther because it was COLD! I was close enough to get some good photos tho!

I want to add a word about the show.
On the cruise board alot of people dont seem to really care for this particular show, to the point that I have read that people have actually walked out, which is really a shame. This production showcases 5 of their stage performers singing various Disney songs, new, way old and favorites.
All 4 of us found it to be really a pleasant show, nothing over the top stage settings but just really good and I really hope to see some of these performers go on to do more.

Tivoli doesnt look like anything from the front but then go through the front and step into this!
I believe the white building is the one the other poster referred to looking like the CP at WDW.
The original Litlle Mermaid is in China right now and this is the sculptors family piece.
I am going to submit this ohoto of me to see if I can get into Disnney Files, the DVC member magazine.

 

[Arizona Rita]

Linda~ you're so right. Im getting all this journaling done now by writting all this to all of you so I can just go back and add bits and pieces later.
Its like journaling before scrapping, altho I am working on Germany right now and just finished the Checkpoint Charlie part.

Rebecca~I loved Sweden too and and thats the other place that I wished we had had more time at. When I write about it it will be interesting to see/hear what you remember about it!

Let me just take a moment to thank everyone for letting me write this all out here. If your still reading, wow and thanks! If not, thanks for putting up with me!

 

[Arizona Rita]

Show~ Mark Nizer (no opinin back, tired and didnt seehim)

Early day, show excursion left at 7:45am!
We booked a tour named "Berlin's Turbulent Past".
We first had to take a 2 and1/2 hour train ride into Berlin. Train was great and they said they would provide us with a snack there and on the way back.
They gave us paper lunch bags filled with food. Cookies and jello and an apple and other stuff! We were expecting a water bottle and maybe a pastry.
After we arrived in Berlin we got on our very nice coach and began with a drive to "The Wall".
I dont think the severity of the tour sunk in until we actually saw the remaining part of the wall that the state had commissioned artists to come in and paint very significant paintings on. It was just weird standing there realizing the freedom that we have that people couldt even think about leaving without being killed. It was hard to smile for photos, so if we look unhappy we're really not.
Throughout Berlin you can still see where the wall was because they still have the original tracks in the street and this thing was everywhere, places you wouldnt even think it would be, so weird that one part of the street was ok and the other wasnt.
We then went to the original site of Checkpoint Charlie, Telegraph Tower, a museum where there is only one statue where a mother is holding her injured military son, houses of parliment, drove past where Hitlers book burning was, a memorial to the holocost victims, Brandenburg Gate, had a German style lunch at, of all places, The Berlin Westin?! (I used to work for Westin Hotels)
but they couldnt have held lunch at a beer garden type place just as easily?
and in the afternoon went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum which they opened especially for us because they are normally closed on the day we were there, which has the original building, an original airlift carrier that is now converted into a part of the museum, and an actual building part of the museum and we ended by going to the actual airfield area and saw the memorial to the airlift operation.
This was not my favorite and I actual felt uneasy here. I would not return to Berlin. Also, Eric is into WWII not the cold war so I know he was sort of disappointed. I think of all the places we went that this is in my top 2 of least favorite places.
Ever watch Its The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown? and you know the scene wher Snoopy is crossing enemy lines? Thats the sort of country feeling I got on the train ride back which I think was neat. Big fields of green stretching for miles with the occasional duck blind thingie, and old buildings that have battle scars, mixed with the occassional really nice newer areas. And dotted all along are the little garden area that the city people have to grow their own produce.
And like I mentioned before, they gave us another bag full of food, this time with cheese, danish, candy bar, their version of a Slim Jim and the sweetest apricot Ive ever had!
(We did have a 20, yes 20! minute shopping stop?! Kind of a why bother?)
Another thing is that Berlin is filled with what they refer to as Gypsies, which turn out to be either themselves pickpockets or decoys for the pickpockets. They would walk around in the crowded areas asking "Do you speak English" and the best way to handle them was to ignore them. At Brandenburg Gate one must have heard me say something because she kept saying please and I finally told her No! very firmly and she left. These gypsies were also all women, dressed in what you would think of as steriotypical clothing.

The Wall. Sunset in Berlin, even their suncet had the colors of the German flag!

Checkpoint Charlie~ one of the watchtowers, a reinactor working for tips at where the building used to stand, billboard explaining about the wall, Lauren in front of the original building, ona of the airplanes used during the airlift, jeep and uniform displays in the museum, what a tunnel with supplies looked like, the Airlift memorial.

 

[LindaBabe]

I am LOVING this report, Rita! No Question but what I will be with you to the end - You take me back 20 - 30 years to our time living in Germany.

Tivoli - indeed Copenhagen in General was one of my favorite places I know exactly what you mean about all the history - our strategy was - education in the morning - ie museums, churches, castles, fun in the afternoon, lol.

Thanks for writing!

 

[MazdaUK]

This is a brilliant trip report Rita!

Mrs Picky here must just point out that what you could see from the boat would most likely be Dover Castle - Leeds Castle is inland near Maidstone - although depending on how far along you were it could have been Walmer or Deal castles, as there are 5 in a row (hence the Cinque Ports, which you may have noticed the crest of on some of the souvenirs).

If your coach went along the A2/M2 or M20 you passed very near my house, as the two motorways go on each side of our area. If you could have got them to make a 3-mile detour we could have had a nice cup of tea

Allotments (places to gro fruit and veg) are very popular in europe, as gardens tend to be smaller (us not having so much space). If you drive to DLRP there is a wonderful set of allotments in France near Calais, all with their own brick-built sheds and individual water buts. I'm afraid the english ones tend to be a bit less organised and more idiosyncratic ;-)

 

[DisneyIsTerrific]

It sounds like such a fantastic trip. You got to visit some really interesting places. I've loving your trip report!

When we lived in Germany (my Dad was stationed there), we took a trip to Berlin once. I was little (maybe 6 or 7). We took an overnight train to get there. I don't remember too much about the trip. I do remember my Mom being nervous on the train since we had to make stops at checkpoints. We visited the wall and we were standing on a platform on our side looking over the wall while on the other side there was a platform of people looking over at us! The only other thing I remember about Berlin is we went to the zoo and it had a huge Gorilla statue outside of it!

 

[YodasMom]

Still loving your report, Rita!!! I can hardly wait to see your photos, too!!

 

[rlovew]

Loving the report on things!

Rebecca

 

[PrincessNancy96]

Love your report...
The Germany stuff interests me and I may get in touch w/ you later to learn more..as DH's Great-Great Grandpa was in the German Congress..... I don't know dates off hand but we have a newspaper article where his Great-Grandpa returned to Germany to visit family and talked about his military career in Germany and his dad being in the Congress. Of course, we don't speak German so I'm at a stand-still on further figuring out his name...or when he served Congress...

 

[Arizona Rita]

Nancy, I'll try to include some photos of Germany. I hate those head sets that tours have you wear because I never understand everything they are saying and feel I miss half of whats going on and end of taking photos of something that looks interesting and it turns out to be the gardeners garage!

Mazda, youre right at usual! I'll go back and fix that. I need you to be my fact checker and thanks for the vocabulary for those little gardens. I think we used to call them Victory Gardens.

I'll be writting about Russia today and just wanted to say that I will more than likely get long winded, sorry! Our reception at the Folk concert was nothing like the reception Mazda got to go to! Her's was much nicer!