At least that’s what it feels like at the moment. I just got back from Brussels, had a week at home, then headed out to Paris for a week at Disneyland.

A Big Old (New) Tent

In preparation for our glorious British summer which always provides wall to wall sunshine, we’ve bought a tent. Not just any tent. No, this is an inflatable tent. The Berghaus Air 6.1 Nightfall to be precise. What started as a plan to buy a simple family-sized tent escalated once we got home from GO Outdoors. I swear it was smaller in the shop, and I don’t remember checking my watch while walking the length of the tent. I realised something was off when I unfolded the ground sheet and suddenly half the footprint of the garden was gone. There’s no way the tent covers the whole thing, right? No, it’s the whole footprint.

It’s an impressive structure and remarkably easy to put up. Peg down the corners. Inflate the pillars. Peg out the guy ropes and the remaining loops. Struggle to bend the poles into the porch-hood-thing. And that’s pretty much it. We weren’t prepared to slum for real, so we also got a tent carpet for the inside with the added benefit of protecting the material of the tent proper. There is a ridiculous amount of space inside this thing which will come rather in handy when we have to clear things out for the air source heat pump installation (coming soon).

To Paris

Our journey out from Bristol was somewhat fraught with a delayed flight which was very nearly cancelled, but after being hustled onto the plane we managed to narrowly make it before the flight crew went out of hours (explanation here). We briefly contemplated booking another flight or even travelling to London to get the Eurostar, but thankfully drastic measures were not required in this case. Seeing the state of passport control on the French side, I’m surprised more flights aren’t delayed.

We made it and the remainder of our travelling went more smoothly. The TGV was a delight as usual, trimming the journey from the airport down from about an hour and a half to ten minutes. We stayed in Sequoia Lodge which was only fifteen minutes walk from the parks which was great when carting round a small child who didn’t always want to sit in a pushchair.

The Food

The first time I visited Disneyland Paris I had reservations about the food. I was expecting high cost, low quality, and to an extent that’s true inside a lot of the standard in-park restaurants. The hotels are actually quite good though, with the meal plan including an all you can eat buffet with a wide range of options. Each hotel has a slightly different offering, with the Newport Bay Club focusing on seafood while the restaurant in Sequoia lodge provides a variety of meat options. The breakfast options are myriad too, although I’m reliably informed the scrambled eggs were not good and tasted like reconstituted/powdered eggs. The continental options were great and that’s what you really want on the continent.

It’s not just buffet. On one evening we had dinner in the Manhattan restaurant in the New York Hotel (Art of Marvel) which serves Italian-style cuisine. The food quality was much higher here and the level of presentation was impressive. Some of the combinations were a little strange (proscuitto and candied fruit?) but I had some delicious sea bass followed by a large cannolo (of Sicilian fame).

Return to Monkey Island

I’ve run out of time for this evening, but sitting on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride made me want to play more of Return to Monkey Island, the latest adventure game in the Monkey Island series. It’s wonderfully animated and beautifully written, and a worthy entry in the series. Not only that, but the puzzles make sense which isn’t something you could take for granted in earlier installments in the franchise. The nostalgia is strong with this one…