Army platoon patrolling
On Saturday we made the decision to hit Disneyland Paris for our last full day in France. This was mainly down to everything touristy being off limits due to the forbidden zones in place for security reasons with the Olympics starting this week Friday.
The locals thought the measures were a little over the top, but honestly with the amount of extremists France has imported over the last few years they have a right to be very concerned. Our Hotel was in St Germain and a good 10 minute walk from the Seine River and this had by Sunday become a no drive zone with no parking of vehicles allowed. Any vehicle parked in this massive chunk of Paris was being wheel clamped and towed away.
Lunch time and dead quiet.
A large section of the Metro was shut down making even the most simplest of journeys a hassle with multiple stops and diverted routes. Getting out of Paris was the answer and Disneyland was the only call to make. I was feeling sorry for all the restaurants that should be raking in the tourist big bucks from the peak of the summer month being July. The problem it is not just the restaurants, but all the businesses that supply them who are now affected.
Whilst going to Disneyland we encountered the normal police blockades plus platoons of Army soldiers patrolling equipped for combat. This is probably the safest time for a tourist visiting Paris prior to the Olympics because if there is any trouble it will only kick off when the event starts. The opening ceremony is on the Seine and why they have military gun boats patrolling the river. The roof tops along with helicopters are also a hive of activity. It makes sense now why bags are being swabbed at the airports looking for signs of explosives and experienced this travelling on Monday with most bags being held back creating even more delays.
Rain for about 2 hours at Disneyland. We saw rain twice, once at Legoland and now Disney.
The Disneyland trip was marred by me losing a backpack with all our passports and being not quite sure where I had left it. The worst case scenario was if I had left it on the train and this could be a big problem. Luckily I remembered I had left it at the security check in at the Disneyland Park itself which took almost two hours. Over the 11 day trip this was the second time I had misplaced our passports and they had lived a charmed life, but the main thing is the bag was like a boomerang and always came back.
Disneyland is not cheap and the entrance fee sent me into another minor shock costing 700 Euros. At this point I just went with the flow and we spent a good 8 hours at the park. This was mainly for the grandkids and as long as they had fun this is what really counted. My grandson loved the Star Wars simulator ride which had R2D2 piloting a space craft during a battle all in French. I am sure there was more than "sacre bleu" being said that actually made it even more hilarious with what sounded like many F words. At one point my grandson was throwing punches at Darth Vader whilst he was trying to hold our space vehicle back so he was definitely in the spirit of things.