We are nearing the end of our second day in Naples, and I have to say we are much more impressed today than we were yesterday. Today we went on a tour of the Pompeii ruins in the morning, and then we toured Naples in the afternoon. The Pompeii ruins were truly fascinating. The weather was 30+ degrees again, but it is not so bad when you are enjoying what you are doing. We spent about 2 hours touring the ruins, and our tour guide was excellent. We had to listen very carefully to understand her English, but she was extremely knowledgeable and very interesting. Pompeii was totally buried in volcanic ash many years ago, but as there was no lava, they were able to excavate and discovered much of the city of Pompeii was still intact.

When we were done at Pompeii, the bus took us back to Naples and dropped us off at a spot for lunch. After an hour, they returned to take us on our afternoon tour of Naples.

As we were the only people doing the second part, we had the bus to ourselves and our own private tour. This guide was also very good. She answered every question we had, and one time when my husband asked about a building in the distance, she not only told us all about it, she had the bus driver take us over to see it. They gave us half an hour to tour the building while they waited for us on the bus. Later on we asked her for suggestions as to where we could go to find shoes for our granddaughter as we had had no luck in Paris or on our first day in Naples. She said they could do better than that. When our tour was over, they took us to an area of shopping and told us they would come back in two hours to pick us up and take us back to our hotel. That was so nice of them, AND we were able to find shoes!

We were up at 4:00 a.m. this morning to catch the plane into Naples. After about an hour and a half of flying, we landed in Munich, Germany for a short wait and a plane change. Then it was another hour and a half, and we landed in Naples. We took a cab to our hotel, and the driving is just as scary here as it was in Paris.

I have to say that so far we are quite disappointed with Naples. After checking into the hotel, we headed out to do some walking and find somewhere for lunch. The area around our hotel is all little shops and street vendors. In this way, it is a lot like Paris. Naples is a very old city, so the buildings are all old and smell very musty. Most of the shops have air conditioning, but it isn't very good, and they all leave their doors open. It is 30 plus degrees here and feels like a sauna. What really shocked me though was all the garbage on the street. I don't think we saw any garbage cans anywhere, and it looks like everyone just drops their garbage right into the street :-(.

We were told that we HAD to have pizza while here, so we found a little street cafe, and that is what we ordered for lunch. The man who waited on us spoke no English and the menus were in Italian, so it ended up being a little bit of guesswork, but we all ordered a different kind. My granddaughter must not have been feeling very adventurous, as she ordered an 'American,' and this is what it looked like when it came.

I guess that is Italy's idea of American -throw on some French fries! :-)

It ended up being way more than an individual sized pizza, and I think we left more food behind than we ate! In the end, we agreed that the pizza we had in Paris was better.

I am not sure how we are going to fill the next couple of days here, but I am sure looking forward to heading to Ravello on the Amalfi Coast on Friday. We have a few days to explore there before my nephew's wedding on Monday.

We spent our last evening in Paris just walking around looking in an area we hadn't been to yet. We started by going to the Centre Pompidou. It is considered to be an 'inside-out' building, and it houses France's national and contemporary art museum. I have to say that we weren't overly impressed, but we did find a couple of other interesting things and tons of neat little shops.

Check out the neat streets.

We were going down some narrow little street full of different shops when all of a sudden we came to some large open doors. It was another church - very old and very musty smelling. It was wide open, so we went in and looked around. Check out my 360 panorama below or go to the link. http://360.io/CpK9Rt

That's all for tonight, as we have to be up at 4:00 a.m. To catch our flight to Naples.

We are on the climb up to Sacre Cour. First, we toured through a narrow street filled with street vendors. I think the only purchase we made from here was a couple of scarves.

Then we began the many stairs up to Sacre Cour. I didn't count, but there sure were a lot of stairs to climb.

Good thing there were places to stop along the way. We went up part way and stopped for a picnic lunch, and then further up we stopped and sat by the fountains for a few minutes.

There were stairs straight up the front, as well as more winding steps up the side. We tried both.

Finally we made it to the top! We weren't allowed to take any pictures, but it is another beautiful church like Notre Dame - just much smaller and not as elaborate.

The view from the spot was pretty awesome though.

Now we are back once again relaxing in our hotel room trying to figure out how to spend our last evening in Paris. We fly to Italy at 6:55 tomorrow morning.

We made it back to the Eiffel Tower to beat the long lineups. We probably were only in line for 30-45 minutes before we got up to the tickets. After having all of our bags checked (and x-rayed), we got to go up in the elevator.

I knew that I would not be able to go to the top, as I also have fear of heights :-(. I told my husband and granddaughter that they could go up to the top and I would wait for them on the second floor, but they very kindly said they would stay with me. Perhaps they, too, are a wee bit afraid of heights and just can't admit it :-).

All I can say is that the view is breathtaking. I have to admit that even on the second floor, I could not force myself to go to the edge. I was able to do it when we went down a few steps to a 'closed in' observation deck though, but it still left my legs a bit shaky and my stomach a bit upset.

The Eiffel Tower is definitely one of those 'must see' sights in the world! It is truly magnificent!

We are just waiting for our granddaughter to wake up so that we can head back to the Eiffel Tower to stand in line for the tickets to go up the tower.. We tried to get them online, as the first day when we went, it was going to be a several hour wait, but the earliest we could get was for Tuesday, and seeing as we leave for Italy tomorrow, that won't work. We are going to get there just as it opens or just a bit before, and hope that the line-ups aren't too bad yet. Wish us luck! It would be horrible to have to leave Paris having seen, but NOT gone up the Tower!

Well, I think I told you about our pleasant commuter train ride out to Disneyland, but I sure can't say the same about the ride back! It was somewhere around 8:00 p.m. when we went to get back on the train, and there was standing room only. After we got on, more people continued to get on as well. By the time the train left, it was pretty crowded, and there are three levels on these trains. As we continued into the city, it seemed that at every stop more people got on than got off. People would see that there really was no room, and yet they still pushed their way on. At one point, a family of 5 got on with two huge suitcases and two backpacks. I don't know how they did it except that I felt their suitcase banging against my leg until they got off. Of course, with that many people crowded on, no air conditioning in the world could keep up. Just imagine the aroma of that many people who have been out in the sun all day, now crammed together into 'sauna-like' conditions, with their arms up holding on to a pole, and you might have some idea how it was for us! And to top it all off, the ride takes about 40 minutes! Now I know how sardines feel!!!



I would have taken a picture, but there was no way I could have gotten it out. It was that crowded.

Some rides never change, but I can never understand how people can get off a ride with these looks on their faces, claiming it was the best ride ever! I guess some day I will just have to try Space Mountain for myself. NOT!!!!!!

After getting my favorite ride out of the way, we moved onto the rides that my granddaughter and husband wanted to go on. The rides were all pretty much the same as in the U.S.A. - the Teacups, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Haunted Mansion, etc. I sat out of all the fast moving ones, as I have motion sickness, and my stomach can't handle them. There were enough slower-paced ones to keep the day lots of fun for me, too.

They have the 'fast track' system here, too, but we only actually used it once, as the line-ups weren't that bad. I think the longest line my husband and granddaughter waited in was 30 minutes. I think that was the Peter Pan ride, and in the end, they said they enjoyed It's A Small World more than that one!

The weather was pretty great, too! Our first few days in Paris were very hot and very humid. In Disneyland, it was partly overcast and it didn't get into the 30+ degree weather, so it was very pleasant.

If I were to compare Paris to U.S. Disneylands, I would say that Paris' felt smaller and definitely not as crowded. I was disappointed that I didn't see the Disney characters walking around the park. I saw one chipmunk, and my granddaughter said she saw Goofy from a distance, but that was it.

We finished off the day at Disney with the evening parade. It is their 20th year in Europe, so I was expecting something really huge! I was wrong. It was very short, but still neat to watch.

Today, we left the history of Paris behind and spent the day having some good old North American fun. :-) It was a full day of Disneyland Paris.



We left our hotel early this morning, so we could catch the RER (commuter train) to the outskirts of Paris where Disneyland is located. It was a nice ride in an air conditioned train with hardly anyone on it. It was a nice relaxing ride!



As soon as we entered the Park, we came across my most favorite ride. I have been to Disneyland, California several times, and each time we go, I get teased about my favorite ride. Well now you are probably wondering what it is. Check out the picture and video, and I am sure you will recognize it right away :-). I don't care. My family can tease me all they want. 'It's A Small World' is, and always will be, my favorite ride.