A Year Ago...

A year ago today we began this blog as a place to plan, narrate, and document our back to back Disney cruises in the Mediterranean. What a wonderful adventure it was. And it's fun for us to look back at our posts. Join us in the time machine as we go back to our first post.

http://medcruise2013.blogspot.com/2013/02/this-journey-began-with-promise-several.html

Article: Long Weekend in Barcelona

Should you find yourself in Barcelona with a few days pre- or post-cruise, this recent article from Fodor's Travel has some ideas for things to do. We loved our days there and hope others will as well.  

Long Weekend in Barcelona
http://www.fodors.com/news/long-weekend-in-barcelona-7404.html

Article: 10 Must-Pack Items for Every Cruise

We thought this is share-worthy for our readers who are planning a cruise.

10 Must-Pack Items for Every Cruise
http://www.fodors.com/news/10-must-pack-items-for-every-cruise-10250.html

Shared from Fodor's Travel.

Saluting our veterans

To all of our family, friends and loved ones who have served in the Armed Forces, we salute you and your families. Thank you for your service.

Choosing a flight time

An early step in trip planning is to scope out possible flight times and prices. We prefer nonstop when possible, and typically fly from Atlanta. While our trip to Barcelona had only one flight per day, it appears there are two to Paris from Atlanta on Delta. The Barcelona flight leaves at 5:30, so the 5:50 to CDG is similar, but I wonder if the 11 pm flight that arrives at 2:00 might be better because the hotel room or apartment would be ready to check in when we got there rather than having a half day to wander around before we could get a shower and some rest. Which would you pick and why?

Paris - What to see and do?

I posed a question to my Facebook friends asking them if a friend was planning a trip to Paris and she had five full days in autumn to spend there, what would they tell her to be sure to see and do.  I find that when exploring a new destination that one of the best resources is to ask people who have been there to share their highlights and experiences which often lead to sites and events that one might otherwise miss if relying solely on guide books.

 

In the first morning, over a dozen people responded with some great ideas – some I have heard of but don’t know much about, and some that I’m going to have to Google.  Here’s what they have offered so far*:

 

Notre Dame – and don’t miss the gargoyles

Versailles – and don’t skip the gardens

Arc de Triomph

Champs Elysees

Monmartre

Musee d’Orsay

Boat trip down the Seine

A day in the countryside

Sacre Coeur

Catacombs

Cite des Sciences et l’Industrie

Savor the food – paninis and crepes from the street carts

Ice Cream shop near Notre Dame that sculpts the ice cream into the shape of a rose

 

 

* I exempted the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, and Disneyland Paris from the question because these are things we know we would want to do.  DH visited Paris as a teenager but his opportunity to go to the top of the Eiffel was cancelled due to lightning.  And just like you can’t go to London without a visit to the British Museum, the Louvre is a must-do for us.  And if you’ve been a reader of this blog for any length of time, you’ll understand that Disneyland Paris is non-negotiable!

 

Have other places someone should be sure to visit while in Paris? Or things to do that one might not think about at first glance?  Share them in the comments and you may see them featured in a future blog post!

 

Where to next???

I was thinking today about what direction I’d like to take this blog now that we’ve pretty much exhausted the “what we did, what we saw” portion of our summer 2013 adventure.  I’ve been putting together our photo book at Shutterfly, and while there, I paused to look through our photos from 2010 when we spent several days pre-cruise in London before sailing from Dover.  I’ve posted before about how important it is to have some pre-cruise days when traveling a far distance to allow for adjusting to the new time zone as well as giving your luggage time to catch up with you if there were delays.  But I haven’t written about spending some days either pre- or post-cruise somewhere besides the departure port.  Because we were already spending a month on vacation, staying in Barcelona pre- and post-sailing made the most sense for us, but for some of our fellow passengers, they extended their 12-night cruise and spent several days in places such as London, Paris, and Venice.

 

Because we have been to London and Venice, and even though we would like to go back, if you all are in agreement, I’d like to turn our attention to planning some days in Paris.  We don’t have a date in mind, but we do know we want to make it over there at some point in the not-too-distant future.  We have some local area friends that we’ve talked about taking a river cruise with in Europe and think that when we do that, would be a great time to spend several days in Paris either before or after.  And because I like to have time to research places, now seems as good a time as any to start!

 

 

Jusqu'à la prochaine fois…