We Need Darkness to See the Light
Today was one of those days that makes you want to shake your fist at the heavens and scream, "Why did you invent Mondays?"
A certain Englishman and I decided to spend the day in Disneyland outside of Paris. Fortunately we were able to get some pretty inexpensive tickets both for the park and the train. SNCF has a train line called Ouigo that is train travel on the cheap. It's pretty much for the locals since it's totally hard to figure out and sort of out of the way. These trains stop at the outskirts of major cities. But the plus side, it's really cheap.
So we got up early and made our way to the Tourcoing train station which is about a 50 minute metro ride. We stood in line for 40 minutes trying to figure out why the train wasn't arriving and we weren't moving. We finally got on board and left the station about 15 minutes late.
I wasn't too worried since the train arrives in Disneyland an hour early. We'd still have time to get where we needed to. Then we arrived at the CDG airport, Terminal 2. This is 9 minutes before we get to Disneyland.
After everyone deboarded and boarded, the train didn't move. The announcer kept making announcements, but never in English. We had no idea what was going on. A certain Englishman asked someone and they just said there was a delay.
75 minutes later we finally left. An hour and 15 minutes later! We didn't get to Disneyland until the park had been open for half an hour. I have now been up for 5 hours. I was feeling really frustrated and regretting that we had even decided to do this adventure.
The Peter Pan (my favorite attraction) ride was closed for renovations. Thunder mountain already had a 30 minute wait. Everything was off schedule according to my plan. Ugh!
Then we saw that Space Mountain had no wait for single riders. I decided to give it a go even though I knew it would make me a little queasy. We get off the ride and a certain Englishman was totally green. Not good.
It was hours before he felt like himself again. So basically the first four hours we were at the park, I had gone on 3 rides. It would have been 4 except Ratatouille broke down just as I got into my little carriage. Fortunately, I bailed before they evacuated so I got a fast pass to come back.
As the day wore on, I tried to perk up but it really felt like it was just one thing after another. After a long day, we finally made it back to the train station about 30 minutes early. Only to discover the train was going to be late again.
Screw it, I thought. Let's go back to the park. We went through security again, and scanned our tickets and walked in.
Whoa! It was like walking into a whole different park. It was beautiful. The trees were twinkling with little lights. The fountains glowed various shades of turquoise and emerald. It truly felt like a magical place.
We entered the Main Street area and every building was lined with lights. The Sleeping Beauty Castle was at the end of the path and it was glowing. I had never noticed those stained glass windows before.
As I watched all the people around me, I could feel my heart soften about the day I had had here.
I then thought about the world and my own life. God is constantly placing small little helps every where we go: tiny miracles, guardian angels, happy coincidences. But it usually isn't until after our trials come that we notice them... and we realize they have been there all along.
A certain Englishman and I decided to spend the day in Disneyland outside of Paris. Fortunately we were able to get some pretty inexpensive tickets both for the park and the train. SNCF has a train line called Ouigo that is train travel on the cheap. It's pretty much for the locals since it's totally hard to figure out and sort of out of the way. These trains stop at the outskirts of major cities. But the plus side, it's really cheap.
So we got up early and made our way to the Tourcoing train station which is about a 50 minute metro ride. We stood in line for 40 minutes trying to figure out why the train wasn't arriving and we weren't moving. We finally got on board and left the station about 15 minutes late.
I wasn't too worried since the train arrives in Disneyland an hour early. We'd still have time to get where we needed to. Then we arrived at the CDG airport, Terminal 2. This is 9 minutes before we get to Disneyland.
After everyone deboarded and boarded, the train didn't move. The announcer kept making announcements, but never in English. We had no idea what was going on. A certain Englishman asked someone and they just said there was a delay.
75 minutes later we finally left. An hour and 15 minutes later! We didn't get to Disneyland until the park had been open for half an hour. I have now been up for 5 hours. I was feeling really frustrated and regretting that we had even decided to do this adventure.
The Peter Pan (my favorite attraction) ride was closed for renovations. Thunder mountain already had a 30 minute wait. Everything was off schedule according to my plan. Ugh!
Then we saw that Space Mountain had no wait for single riders. I decided to give it a go even though I knew it would make me a little queasy. We get off the ride and a certain Englishman was totally green. Not good.
It was hours before he felt like himself again. So basically the first four hours we were at the park, I had gone on 3 rides. It would have been 4 except Ratatouille broke down just as I got into my little carriage. Fortunately, I bailed before they evacuated so I got a fast pass to come back.
As the day wore on, I tried to perk up but it really felt like it was just one thing after another. After a long day, we finally made it back to the train station about 30 minutes early. Only to discover the train was going to be late again.
Screw it, I thought. Let's go back to the park. We went through security again, and scanned our tickets and walked in.
Whoa! It was like walking into a whole different park. It was beautiful. The trees were twinkling with little lights. The fountains glowed various shades of turquoise and emerald. It truly felt like a magical place.
 |
| I'm amazed I'm smiling for the camera. I was exhausted. |
We entered the Main Street area and every building was lined with lights. The Sleeping Beauty Castle was at the end of the path and it was glowing. I had never noticed those stained glass windows before.
 |
As I watched all the people around me, I could feel my heart soften about the day I had had here.
It hit me that all these lights had been here the whole time. I just couldn't see them. It wasn't until the darkness came that each tiny light bulb gave away its hiding spot.
 |
 |
| Source |
Comments
Post a Comment