Paris, part deux

Well, we've had a few more days in Paris, and they've been fun, even though the weather has turned sour on us. It's been rainy and cold the last few days, so my Space Jams have stayed safely in my luggage. I wish I'd brought some other pair now. We went to Disneyland Paris two days ago, and while some of the rides were very fun, it was really quite different from the Californian version of Disneyland. I've been to California Disneyland 4 times, and I really enjoy it there. It's an immersive experience for each ride, and the lineup areas are part of the fun. They take you through tunnels or buildings, and they really build up to what the ride is going to be about. It's really cool. Disneyland Paris was not very immersive, and I really felt like that aspect was missing when we went. We would go on a ride, and line up for a long time, and the line up experience was not fun. It had nothing to do with the ride, there was just nothing going on outside the ride. All of the rides were like this, and when all of the line up areas were outside, with no shelter, that made lining up for rides an experience that was determined by the weather. If it was a nice day out, you'd be okay. But since our day was cold and rainy, that's what lining up was like. The rides themselves were similar to Disneyland, but the roller coasters were more extreme. Indiana Jones was very different. Instead of riding in a car with a lap belt that ducked, weaved, and swung around turns, the European version is a small roller coaster that loops upside down, and corkscrews through small spaces. Not themed towards the movie at all, but still fun. We left Disneyland Paris late in the afternoon, and took the metro back "home". The day before that, we went on the tour of the top half of Notre Dame. It was too late to go into the cathedral and see any of the windows, so we decided to go up the outside of the building. They lead you up 402 steps to the very top of the bell towers, where we got to see the original bell, and some panoramic views of Paris from Ile de Cite! The views were very cool, and we were pretty high up. When you're on top of one of the few tall buildings here, you can see for a very long time, because there's a zoning law that says buildings can only be 7 stories high. The area around Notre Dame is always packed, and there's a square on top of the crypt that is usually full of people wandering around, taking pictures.