Disneyland Paris - Halloween and Christmas

Disneyland Paris was beautifully decorated for Halloween and Christmas.  This time, we couldn't seem to get enough of Fantasyland, where Kieran visited the sleeping knights each day (you can actually hear them snoring), Alex visited the Sleeping Beauty dragon multiple times (this enormous animatronic robot breathed smoke and roared), and I could eat crepes.  Naturally, Jeff's favorite snack, popcorn, is located all over the park!  We also spent a lot of time in Discoveryland (Tomorrowland) riding on Buzz Lightyear, Orbitron (rockets), and Autopia.  I got to try Space Mountain as well.  It's a little bit better than Disneyland's because the ride starts off shooting you up into the air instead of climbing slowly.

Ironically, we learned that the best meal at Disneyland Paris can be found at the Steakhouse, a Chicago-inspired restaurant with excellent steaks and kobe beef burgers.  Next time, skip the French or Italian eateries and chow down there!

The rest of our drive home to the UK did have a little drama.  We were pulled over by French customs police (Directorate-General of Customs)!  A policeman on a motor bike with DOUANE on the back of his jacket followed us for a long time, then motioned for us to follow him.  We pulled off of the highway and continued driving to a little rest area hidden among a ton of trees and shrubbery.  There we saw 10 policemen, 4 squad cars and an unmarked car.  (Incidentally, French customs police are really hot).  At this point, we realized that we probably weren't getting pulled over for speeding as we originally thought.  A different officer quickly surmised that we were non-French speaking morons and asked us a few routine questions in English.  Then they said, "We are customs.  You can go now."  That was all the explanation we were going to get, so we hurried along.  Were we drug suspects?  Did they think we stole Phoenix?  One of the many unanswered questions left by American tourists in France...