Magne-le-Hongre, France

September 16 & 17

Tuesday was crummy weather again so I stayed in and relaxed.  Wednesday however started off OK and so I went to the Walt Disney Studios.  About an hour into it the weather turned bad again but at least it didn’t rain.

I was a little concerned about the operating hours, 10 – 7 thinking that was a rip off, but I had easily completed everything in about five hours and that’s with a break for a meal.  I had a good time, although the park is quite small, smaller than the version in Florida and I thought that one was small, oh well.  So, here are my observations for you Disney fans.

The park is small.  The Tower of Terror looks very different than in the US, it looks like a new Hotel.  The pre-show is similar but once you’re in the car thingy, it just rolls back a few feet and into the elevator shaft.  The good part was pretty good, several drops and bits of weightlessness, I was satisfied.  The Back Lot tour was pretty lame, just the catastrophe canyon and some other time fillers.  The Motures, Action, Stunt Spectacular was pretty good.  I haven’t seen the version in the US yet so I don’t have anything to compare it with.  It was enjoyable though. Read Full Article & Comments…

Magne-le-Hongre, France – Disneyland Paris

September 13, 14, 15

Since I checked in here at the Kyriad Hotel, It’s been pretty crummy weather, cold and rainy.  So I’ve been pretty much of a shut in.  A few times on this trip, it has been too hot, now it’s too cold.  But I have to say, most of the time, it’s been just right.  I couldn’t have asked for any better.  The first or second evening I was here, it stopped raining for a bit, so I bundled up and grabbed my umbrella just in case, and went for a walk.  I walked the length of the hotel row and back and wanted more so I headed for the Disney village two or three kilometers away.  The next day was a down day as well but I managed a hike to the Disney hotels and back.

Yesterday, it was cold and overcast, but at least it wasn’t raining, so I set off for Disneyland Park.  30 minutes after I got there, it turned great; blue sky no clouds and it warmed up a bit.  As many of you know, I’m a Disney freak so it was pretty neat for me to get to see a Disney park in another country.  Here in France, there is Disneyland Parc and the Walt Disney Studios.  In Tokyo, they have Disneyland and DisneySea and Hong Kong has a Disneyland.  Hey, there’s an idea for another trip during my time off… Read Full Article & Comments…

Baden Baden, Deutschland (Germany) to Verdun, France to Magney-le-Hongre, France

Hyo Yung overslept and was about to miss breakfast and so I had to roust her out of bed to get going.  I had already eaten and packed up and I wished her safe journey as I left.

I got on the road on this rainy day and made my way west and across the Rhine and back to France.  It was a nice driving day though as I tried to stick to the side roads and hopped from one small town to the next.  The weather started clearing up a little and I was driving through a town and saw a sign pointing the way to an American Cemetery.  I wasn’t sure which one, so I went to check it out.  It’s the World War I Cemetery at St. Mihiel and is the final resting place for 4,153 soldiers, most of whom were killed in 1918 during the battle of St. Mihiel in which soldiers under the command of General Pershing broke the German salient and pushed the Germans into retreat.  It was one of the first major battle victories of the relatively new and inexperienced American Army.  I noticed a few headstones that read “HERE RESTS IN HONROED GLORY AN AMERICAN SOLDIER KNOWN BUT TO GOD” and I noticed one for Sabra Hardy, an Army nurse from Minnesota.  Just like at Omaha Beach, I was struck by the landscaping and the upkeep of the grounds. Read Full Article & Comments…

Baden Baden, Deutschland (Germany)

I started the day off with another hike in the Black Forest.  I managed to get myself up the hill through that first leg from the hostel, it’s the toughest, but an awesome workout.  From there on, it’s not so steep that’s it’s miserable, but enough to keep the heart pumping.  It was a glorious morning again, a bit foggy but I hiked up through most of it and got on top of it.  Still a little bit of fog though in my path and the sunlight starting poking through the trees and created the most amazing beams of light at different angles in the forest.  It was like a shower of sunlight.

I was in search of the castle ruins I saw yesterday on another hill.  Never did find it though.  As I was hiking back to the hostel on an uphill leg, I saw a man behind me in the distance that was gaining on me over time.  He gained enough that I could hear him closing in behind me.    I was just about to turn and greet him when he started yooo hoooing at me.  I stopped and smiled and said “morgen”, he returned the greeting and started talking to me, in German of course. Read Full Article & Comments…

Baden Baden, Deutschland (Germany)

I didn’t do much of anything today really.  I ate breakfast.  And then didn’t do much, just read a little and sat around a bit.  Then I had lunch… and then kind of didn’t do much.  I got kind of tired so I took a nap… and then I woke up from that.  Le’see… ummm, I laid around a little just thinking, oh and then I read little.  Just bidding my time till dinner.

Oh, you know how sometimes you may be starring at a wall or marble flooring, wood grain, or a counter top, or anything with presumed random patterns and sometimes you see faces?  I woke up from my nap today and was starring at the wood paneling in my room.  Look at the picture and tell me you don’t see a creature with a bird beak and big sad eyes.  And look at the other one and tell me you don’t see a really happy cartoon frog face.

At about 5:00, I started writing this journal entry.  I starred out the window for a while, picked at a couple of bug bites on my arm and tapped my fingers on the table trying to think of things I did today.  I don’t know what was in that lunch but I burped a lot today.  OK, it’s 5:10, 50 minutes till dinner.  Hmmmm.

Wow, I just had one of those reality check moments.  I’m in Baden Baden Germany.  That’s so  cool.  I didn’t do anything today.  I literally just wasted this day away and I don’t care.  That’s so cool too.

I had dinner, it was good. Then read some more.  Before I knew it, it was bed time.  The most exciting thing that happened to me today was I saw a happy frog face in wood.

Baden Baden, Deutschland (Germany)

Oh what a fantastic day.  I had breakfast about 7:00am here at the Werner-Dietz-JH Hostel and by 8:00am, I was on the trail heading up the mountain.  I took a three hour hike in the Black Forest this morning.  The temperature was so cool and there was an ever so slight breeze; that’s all that was needed.  It was a fantastic hike, plenty of up so I got a great workout, but it wasn’t rocky and treacherous like the Cinque Terre hike.  I only saw one other couple and one guy by himself and a horse taking its lady out for a ride.  Other than that I had the place to myself.

Wonderful forest smells, flowers, the ground was still wet from the morning dew.  A few glossy black beetles clumsily crossed my path and I saw the grossest slugs.  Our slugs in the Pacific Northwest are pretty gross, but these were bright orange and bigger, and grosser.  I got to the top and walked a path that went around the top of the mountain and was rewarded with incredible views of Baden Baden and the surrounding areas.  It was just so fun walking in the forest and I couldn’t help but wonder why I don’t do this more often. Read Full Article & Comments…