A Visit to Paris, France... Thanks to Drive-In Movie Speakers?
My family and I recently got back from a wonderful visit to Paris, France. This was my second visit to the country, with the first one being 34 years ago... and while some things were the same, many things have changed. With my last visit the Euro hadn't take a hold of yet, and back then my cell phone was in a bag stuffed inside of my car back home rather than being stuck on it getting various passes and tickets, clicking QR codes, and using "tap to pay" with Apple Wallet everywhere we went! The funny thing is going back to Paris wasn't really on my radar until a few years back when thanks to a drive-in speaker inquiry from France I befriended a guy who was building his own set for his home there. That was in 2020, and after five years of back and forth via emails, then text messages, and calls I became fast friends with the guy to the point that we are sending back and forth gifts for birthdays and Christmas presents!
Fast forward to 2024 we decided for our families to meet and the perfect place would at Disneyland Paris! That is until we decided we had better delay and not try this during the Summer Olympics there. So after the postponement, June of 2025 was chosen for the trip! So Tuesday, June 3rd my family of three made the transatlantic flight to Paris. Since this was my wife and son's first time to Paris, we pretty much stuck to the traditional sites "everyone" sees, which were still simply amazing - The Louvre, the now reopened and stunning Notre Dame Cathedral, Sainte-Chappelle, Musee d'Orsay, Eiffel Tower, The Palace of Versailles, and more! And of course we had plenty of time to wander about the streets, which for me were some of my favorite parts of the trip (and were I found my favorite foods and snacks)!
And of course, we did Disneyland Paris - three days of it actually! Being huge fans of theme parks and especially Disneyland in Anaheim and Walt Disney World in Orlando, we had to see the differences in our home parks and the Paris park ourselves! Since we arrived very early in Paris, we went straight to the parks after getting in our hotel and bolted straight for The Phantom Manor, which is their version of The Haunted Mansion (and much creepier I might add)! On our second park day we bought their 'Premier Access Ultimate Pass" which is sort of their Fastpass/Lightning Lane system that pretty much let us walk right on the the rides we wanted. And our third park day we met my friend Stefan and his family and let his two young son's "lead that way" as it was their first time to the park! Experiencing the park through the eyes of two young boys reminded my wife and I of taking our son to the parks when he was little. I know they will never for get it, and I know my family won't either! Our families had so much fun together and my wife and I have already talked about going back and spending more time with them at their home (about three hours from Paris) and hopefully doing a vacation together, as well as hosting them at our home!
It was a most memorable trip and we can't wait to return!
We averaged walking around 11 miles a day and I ended up shooting about 1300 photos. Below are just a handful!
