Hungry ghost

Aug 10
Up early this morning and on our way to France. Together we had figured out how to get to the train station using the underground – it seemed like a good skill to know. E gets anxious about being late, so she asked if we could skip breakfast in order to leave early, so off we went. We trundled our bags up the street to the underground station, only to discover that it was closed for the weekend for “refurbishment” – which I hope included cleaning. Whenever I’m in Canada, I forget how generally grubby really big cities are. We actually didn’t know where the next station was, so we got a taxi, which took us right to the door, saving us from many flights of stairs.

We found a nice, but very expensive restaurant where we could sit (because we were so early) and have breakfast.
We ordered the bakery breakfast each, no understanding that we would each get a croissant, orange juice, a hot drink (coffee!), raisin bread, whole wheat bread, many butters and lots of jam. Eunsol topped hers off with a glass of watermelon juice. We could have fed many more people with what was left.

Finally, time to board the train. Security was just like an airport – which makes perfectly good sense, then through immigration and onto the train. Boarding was really organized until we got on the train car and looked for our seats. Strangely, the seats were not numbered continuously or sequentially. We solved the problem by wandering along until we found the right seats – they were great: roomy and comfortable, with lots of leg room, and to E’s delight they tilted back so she could sleep.

As they were announcing that they were closing the doors, the conductor came along checking tickets. Sure enough, there were two American women who were on the wrong train. They had really settled in, taken off their shoes, spread out their blankets and were all tucked in ready to leave. The conductor was great…went and got help for them, called someone to get their cases from the baggage car and ran across the platform to tell the other train they were coming. People came and helped them with their bags, and practically shoved them on the other train, which started up right away.

Off we went, the only glitch was that we were riding backwards the whole way. I was really looking forward to going through the Chunnel – we had taken E’s dad to see it when it was being built. There was a really good exhibit at the time, showing how it was a built and how it was going to work. Strangely, we weren’t even aware of it – it was a dark for a short while, like going through a tunnel, of which there were many, and there we were in France!
Our Eurostar tickets include a meal: a croissant, yogurt, jam, butter, water, orange juice and coffee. Felt like déjà vu all over again. E seems to have a cold so I tucked her in and she slept most of the way. The train was remarkably smooth and quiet, and it was a lovely trip through the French countryside. Regular giggles were provided by the announcements – the voice sounded just like Peter Sellers as the Pink Panther. I had a chance to chat with the conductor, since E was asleep, and he told me that Disney contracted with the train company for a daily trip that went directly to Disneyland.

The station was at the gates of Disneyland! One of the extras you can pay for takes your luggage directly to the hotel so you can go to Disneyland right away…we took the bus to the hotel like regular people. I chose the hotel by price. Its theme is the movie cars and there are pictures of Route 66 everywhere; the dining room food theme is Tex-Mex and the rooms are decorated with licence plates. It’s a long way to come to eat chili and pizza.
We decided to wash our faces and head to Disneyland to look around. It is everything I thought it would be but much, much more so. There are a staggering number of shops, and since I am letting my travelling companion set the agenda, we seem to be visiting every single one. Each one has something slightly different in it, so you can’t be satisfied with just visiting one. We wandered around trying to find our bearings, admired the castle, and decided to go back to the hotel.

A Buddhist friend once told me about the idea of “the hungry ghost”. As I understand it, people can have a hungry ghost which makes them want stuff, but no matter how much they get, they just want more. It was at the front of my mind today as I saw people staggering around with giant shopping bags filled with Disney goods. The shops are incredibly and seem very expensive, although I can’t tell if that’s France or Disneyland or a combination of both. If you could track the purchases, I wonder where they will be in 5 years, and whether any of them will be treasured? The most amazing thing I saw today was a Swarovski collection of figurines of Disney figures…who wouldn’t want to own a 250 EUR (approx. 500 CAD) crystal figurine of Goofy?

Dinner was a buffet; what it lacked in quality it made up for in quantity. Nothing remotely different from what you could find in Buffet World in Edmonton, except the price. I am determined not to flinch about the prices, but I also want E to learn about choices. She thinks we don’t eat enough to make it worthwhile to go to a buffet although that was definitely not true of the people around us. About 70% are speaking French, about 15% speaking English but with strong British accents. The rest are Asians or West Africans. So far, we haven’t run across anyone who sounds North American.

E commented that it didn’t seem very French, and then summed it up with, “Of course not…it’s not France, it’s Disneyland!”