Europa - Epilogue

We woke up at 5:00am (11:00pm EDT) to catch the shuttle to the airport for our flight.  Hard to believe after two weeks of traveling through Poland, Germany, and France, we were heading home.  We were flying SAS on our way back.  The first flight was from Paris to Copenhagen, Denmark.  We had a three hour layover so we browsed the shops, bought a few souvenirs, and had a nice lunch before heading to the gate to catch our flight to Chicago.  We boarded the plane, settled in our seats, and prepared for the journey.  I watched several movies, The Lobster, a bleak futuristic tale where single people have 30 days to find a mate or be transformed into an animal and hunted, and Sing Street, about an Irish boy who forms a band to impress a girl.  I enjoyed both movies immensely. The plane was equipped with external cameras so you could see the outside area, it was very interesting to watch.  We landed in Chicago around 6:00pm and took about 50 minutes to get through customs.  We caught the blue line to downtown and walked to Millennium Station to wait for the 9:00pm South Shore train to South Bend.  We arrived home shortly after 1:00am local time.  What a trip.  I would do it again.  It makes me want to see more of the world, places I have read about in books, magazines, newspapers, seen on TV and movies.

Flight to Denmark

Plane Selfie

Copenhagen Airport

Europa - France Part II: Paris

We took the Paris Metro from Disneyland into the City of Lights.  We visited the Père Lachaise Cemetery, the largest cemetery in the city. Among those interred are Composer Georges Bizet, Composer Frederic Chopin, Mime Marcel Marceau, Cinematographer Georges Melies, Singer Jim Morrison, Singer Edith Piaf, Writer Oscar Wilde, along with other notable persons.  We went to The Musée d'Orsay, a museum on the left bank of the River Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography. It houses the largest collection of impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, by painters including Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. We visited the Arc de Triomphe, one of the most famous monuments in Paris. It stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle, at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. We walked from the Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower.  Shane and I decided to go to the top of the tower to take in the view of the city. We arrived on the top level observation deck shortly before sunset.  We both got a flute of champagne to watch the sunset and to toast what a whirlwind two week adventure we had been on.

Paris Metro

Metro Stop

Jim Morrison's Grave

Georges Melies Grave

Art

Monet

Whistler's Mother

Degas - Dancers in Blue

Van Gogh

Musee D'Orsay

Medallion Art

Statuary

Rodin

Lady of Liberty

Statues

River Seine

Arc de Triomphe

View from the Arc de Triomphe

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Park Statue

Eiffel Tower

Under the Tower

Line for the lift

Notre Dame seen from the Eiffel Tower

River Seine from atop the Eiffel Tower

Sunset

Tower Lights

Night Selfie

Europa - France Part I: Disneyland Paris

Never ever had I imagined I would be going to Disneyland in Paris, France.  I talked about it, dreamt about it and now here I was going there!  Shane and I took the streetcar to Krefeld Hauptbahnhof and caught a train to Cologne, Germany.  We had a brief layover before boarding a train to Charles De Gaulle Airport located in Paris, France.  The trip took about five hours, traveling through Germany, Belgium, and France.  We navigated the airport to the Disney Magic Express Shuttle to the park and our hotel.  We got our room at the Disneyland Hotel Cheyenne, did some laundry, then headed to the Disney Village for dinner, shopping, and dessert.  We spent the next two days exploring the Magic Kingdom and Disney Studios.  Sleeping Beauty's Castle at the Magic Kingdom is stunning.  Watched the afternoon parade, Magic on Parade, and the night time spectacle, Disney Dreams. I loved every minute of it.

 

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Space Mountain

Me, Mickey, and Shane

Pirates

Dole Whip

Wonderland

Cave of Wonders

Phantom Manor

Peter Pan's Flight

Small World

Castle Dragon

Tower of Terror

Ratatouille

Earful Tower

Castle Selfie

Europa - Deutschland Part V: Krefeld

Shane had been an exchange student while in high school and he attended classes in the city of Krefeld, Germany.  We caught a train from Berlin to the city, arriving early afternoon.  We rented an apartment for three nights so we could visit sites throughout Krefeld that Shane had been to while in school.  After settling into the apartment and lounging for a while, we headed out to walk the streets and find some dinner.  We chose a local restaurant that served standard German fare.  The food and beer were delicious.  We wandered for a while after dinner, decided to make an early night since we had been running hard since we landed a week before.  The next morning we went to a local Bäckerei for breakfast and coffee before setting out around Krefeld.  We took a streetcar to the building where Shane attended classes.  We walked the neighborhood to the house he stayed at.  From there we walked over to the Zoo Krefeld and spent several hours visiting all the animals.  After we were done at the zoo, we caught a streetcar over to the Burg Linn Castle, a moated castle dating from the 12th century.  Then we headed back to the city center for dinner before calling it a night.  The next day was all about shopping in the city center.  We browsed many of the shops, buying music, souvenirs, clothes.  We snacked throughout the day and had dinner before going back to the apartment for the evening.  In the morning we would be heading to our next destination.

Krefeld Hauptbahnhof

Hülserstrasse

Schnitzel

Fountain

School

House

Camel

Donkey

Goats

Penguin

Cheetah

Park Entrance

Burg Linn Castle

Castle Selfie

City Center

Eis

Building

Restaurant

Graffiti

Streetcar Stop