Final route...

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I found that my new Nexus 7 had location tracking on and Google recorded this track of our adventure.

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Use the right hand side index to review the trip in December 2012

Adventures by Chance

Here is where you can see Chance's view of the trip. His writing is much better than mine.

Adventures by Chance

Tivoli

Tivoli is an amusement park in downtown Copenhagen. It is in the historic district.  There are high speed looping coasters and small kiddie rides. We arrived there by train by only traveling three stops south from our Hotel.  The train station is not the easiest to navigate but the trains are spacious and smooth.  During Christmas Tivoli is transformed into a Christmas village.  Reading Danish is quite hard and the food translation is equally as hard.  Of all the places we could eat at in Tivoli we stopped at a Japanese restaurant.  Chance and Steph ate at the buffet sushi bar while Sally and I had traditional Stir fry wok for our 27th wedding anniversary dinner.  Before we left the hotel Chance and I discussed how we over dressed the whole trip and tonight we just put on fleece coats.  Well it was -3 Celsius with a stiff wind.  We saw all the sights but the cold was getting to the girls so we headed back to the hotel to pack and get our last european night sleep.  As we were exiting we ran into masses of people waiting for a firework show. It was decided we see enough fireworks at Disney and waiting 45 minutes in the cold was not worth it.  Starting at 9 PM fireworks were going off all over the city until the wee hours.  The only thing we could figure out was everyone was getting ready for the New Year.

A danish waffle covered in chocolate with ice cream and other toppings.

Highly themed park which was clean and a lot to do and see.

Stephanie did not like the cold

Ferry ride and parting with the car

We trudged on to Putgarden Germany where we caught a ferry to Denmark.  The ride was very scenic passing tractors, Unimogs and three wheel motorized rickshaws.  We stopped at a local Apothecary to get some throat lozenges and aspirin for Chance and Sally.

We queued up for the ferry and only had to wait about 10 minutes before we rolled onto to the M/F Prins Richard.  To give you an understanding of size of these ferries some are big enough for the North South regional trains to roll on!

Within in minutes of shutting off the car they had loaded hundreds of vehicles and the ship was departing.  No lifeboat drill, no registration of custom forms just hoards of people shopping at the gift shops, playing video slots and eating at the cafe.  The 45 minute ride went by fast as did the exit off the ship.  Danish custom officials asked us a few questions and waived us through to København.  Yes I did spell that right.

We were two hours behind schedule and I was worried that we might miss getting the car to the dealer for shipment back to the US.  I never plotted out where the dealer was located and of course it was as far north as possible with our airport hotel far south.  Due to insurance and US customs you can only leave items purchased from Volvo in the car. Once at the hotel we unloaded everything and I remember Sally saying what about this big purple thing? I played the husband selective listening card and started to work on the fact that we lost a key. Chance realized the car would not lock and he could start the car. This made us realize the key was in the car. After a lot of searching it was found in between the seats.  Sally and I drove to the dealer leaving the kids behind.  We tried to go through an automated wash station only to find it overly complicated and in Danish.  With little time we skipped trying to wash it.  The GPS routed us right through downtown increasing our stress levels. We arrived at the dealership after 40 minutes; Sally took pictures to document the condition that we left the car while I filed out all the customs paperwork. The dealer washed the car through their carwash and one last inspection was done.  Our XC60 is now back in the hands of Volvo Cars.  2700 miles were logged without a scratch.  After an expensive taxi back to the hotel we went out on another adventure.

Long drive North

We drove North from Assesses stopping in Lieges Belgium.  We were looking for a Belgian Harry Potter book but after spending an hour driving around we stopped at their Christmas village.  We drove all over Liege which looked like a small Detroit. GPS does not discriminate on the type of neighborhoods it will route you through.   This Christmas village was huge with a big area with 25+ bar huts an area for food and rides for the kids.   It was lightly raining outside and we wanted more food than what was served at the Christmas village huts. We went into a mall and found a cafeteria in the back of a department store.  Imagine a cafeteria inside an old Woolworths. The food was great, hard to translate, and this was definitely eating like a local!
Still not finding the book we followed the GPS out of Belgium through part of the Nederlands.  This was unplanned because we were only counting on driving in seven countries so now we have done eight.   We should have tried for Luxembourg!   We had problems again getting gas but finally found a station in a small town with an attendant that was fascinated with meeting Americans.  He was grinning ear to ear as we drove off waving.  France and the Netherlands are going to completely self serve stations but you must use a special card.  In France I talked a gentleman into pumping 50 euros using his card and me giving him cash.  We had gone below E and the computer was at 0 miles till tank empty, that was a close call!  

From the Nederlands we drove North through Germany to Nuemuenster.  As we were traveling up A1 I noticed Bob's GPS pointed out we within 60 miles of the shipyard where I spent  a lot of time in 2010.  After a quick review at a truck stop we realized a Papenburg detour would put us way behind schedule so Sally and I opted to keep driving North.   As we approached Bremen we noticed the GPS had some favorites saved; one being called Bremen waterfront shopping.  We jumped off A1 looking for dinner and found yet another Christmas village and mall. Our first suburbia mall.  We ate in the food court with each of us choosing something different.  Once full we pressed on North.   Numuentser was not an ideal location to the ferry but it had an affordable hotel.  Unfortunately this is where Chance started to get sick along with Sally.  Sore throats, runny noses and aches.  

Chateau de la Poste

I said Chalet after I booked the hotel for Wednesday night but instead it was an Estate.  We were feeling Royal last night especially after a few Belgium dark beers.

http://www.chateaudelaposte.be/

26, December 2012

We awoke early to pack and store our luggage in the hotel lobby.  Front desk clerk told us to not worry about our bags so we were off to breakfast and the Louvre before 7:30AM. Our hotel was on the #4 line of the Metro which intersects with Les Halles which is the largest train station in the world.  We tried to get on the yellow line to Da Ravioli street but found a sortie with the same name only to realize once on the street we were about a mile from the Louvre entrance we wanted. The only place we found open for breakfast was a McCafe which really was nice because the front of the store had authentic Parisian pastries and coffees.  A couple of biscuits were ordered as well.  We started to walk to the Louvre and jumped in a cab when we realized how far away we were.

Stephanie led the tour and we spent about three hours walking around.  We saw everything we wanted except the Medieval footings and the Venus De Milo.  By starting at opening we were sometimes the only ones in a room looking at paintings.  The room with the Mona Lisa had maybe 50 people.  By the time we left the entrance had a substantial queue.  

Once we exited the Louvre we stopped at a real cafe to get lunch before our exit from Paris.  We chose another street cafe and ordered their Ravioli which was baked perfectly.   We took the Metro to the hotel to find three bags missing after some charades with the front desk she showed us the missing bags put away in a closet.  We loaded up and took the 45 minute ride to Disneyland where the KIDS talked us into a couple more hours inside the park before we repacked the car and headed to Belgium.  We found there is a dragon under this castle. Amazingly despite the weather forecasts we did not have any rain to contend with during our Paris visit.

The Circus hotel by Disney only sold Wifi by the day so we plotted a McDonalds in Metz France where we found out that rooms that sleep 4 are rare.  I spotted a cheap special on hotel.com (Did I mention all my bookings through booking.com were wrong) that indicated a chalet that slept four and was in Assesse Belgium.  This was far from the route I wanted to take but Google maps plotted a route within 15 minutes of my original plan.  Everyone agreed a night in Assesse would be a night to remember.  We drove into France in the rain and we drove out in it as well. We drove three hours in another rain storm with high winds.   As I exited off the Highway there was no road sign for Assesse.  I started to get worried as we drove through single lanes through small farm villages then onto long winding roads through farm country.  The Chalet ended up being a .......  

Noel a Paris

Today we slept in and got a late start.  The pace is wearing on the older Wagner.  Our first stop was another cafe for brunch.  Eggs Benedict for Gregg and Sally, a burger for Chance and Stephanie found a Spanish treat.  We were then off for a long walk to the Natural History Museum but we found a few public parks and Cathedrals along the way which burned through our day and the Museum closed.

This was in the Theatre District which by circumstance, not Chance, we walked through. 

All the statues in the parks were adorned with a Christmas theme, mostly with Rudolph's nose. 

This was one of the most spectacular Cathedral and we just walked up on it.  

Peek inside a Paris corner-store, there was just one other aisle but look at all the wine! 

This girl can eat her weight in French Onion soup but wine.. not so much.

 We headed to the St Luis district which is where we enjoyed the night before.  There we found an open Cafe serving a nice set menu for Christmas day. We were close enough to not only hear the Bells of Notre Dame but to also feel their grandeur to start the 5:30 Mass.  We walked around some more and then took the metro back to the hotel.  Big day tomorrow; Louvre, car pick-up at Disneyland and a drive to Mons Belgium.

The Traveling Wagners wish all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas.

Christmas Eve in Paris

Christmas Eve in Paris.  We walked and took taxi's all over the city.

Eiffel Tower

Champs-Elysees

"Arc de Triomphe

Two Christmas villages

Three cafes

and the most memorable stop was the mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was in French and we are not up on Catholicism rituals but it was inspiring to watch and listen.

Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, Andre Vingt-Trois led a procession of about 100 clergy for a commemorative evening mass.
The Gothic structure which sits along the River Seine has had some work done including much improved lighting and a new viewing platform. A renovated organ and new bells will also help maximise the experience for visitors.


“The Notre Dame Cathedral is the most visited monument in France,” said euronews’ Paris correspondent Giovanni Magi. It is a symbol not just for French people but also for pilgrims and tourists from all over the world.”
Built in the 12th century, Notre Dame survived the Hundred Years War, the French Revolution and two World Wars. So a larger than usual camera-snapping flock should be no obstacle.
From a news article-

Back to the tower to ride up and see the city of lights.  

First Dinner in Paris

Sally chose an upscale restaurant for our first French dinner.  We were going to sit outside but we were ushered inside.  I think they were closing the patio.  We were under dressed and ignorant about French cuisine but we ordered our meals and all loved what we received. Chance had Duck, I had traditional Veal stew and the girls had French Onion soup.  We finished the meal with creme brulee.  We noticed we consumed our meal in the time others were just working on one course.  Americans why do we rush so much.

Picture from their website.  

We went back to the hotel to watch the day turn to Christmas Eve.  The Wifi in the room is fast so I was able to update pictures in previous blogs.  It is amazing how little sleep I am functioning on.

Paris

We did not even get out of the metro station into downtown Paris before Chance made friends with a homeless man and his chicken.  A euro later and a picture we started to look for our hotel.  Yes the chicken was very alive.

We found Hotel Dupart across the street.  Without any resting we are off to eat and see the sites. 

Magic Kingdom

This park is so well themed.  The attention to detail and all the ornate touches make this a really classy park.

Grand hotel over the park entrance

Sleeping Beauty's Castle with a little color added by me to compensate for the overcast day.

Lunch at Luck Strikes

This has to be the largest Disney Carousel 

It's a small world is not small

Looping Space Mountain

Sally and I left a little early to go back to the hotel and gather our luggage for our time in Paris.  The metro line runs right next to Disney.  We met the kids, decoded where our hotel was downtown and then mapped out our train route.  We purchased our tickets and we were off with the masses heading into Paris.  

 The fast train ride was around 45 minutes with only one connection.  There was a disturbance as we walked through the connecting station with Police and some men.  A police dog was barking at the crowd to keep back as we walked by.  Sally started to freak a little but Chance and Stephanie exclaimed that it was like another day ay Cypress Creek.