Everyone knows that Disneyland is the happiest place on earth. So what better place to spend a happy halloween? I am always excited when I go to Disney, the magic of it all never gets old for me and I am always running like a little kid as soon as I get off the RER at the Marne-la-vallée station. My little sister hasn't been to Disney since we went to Florida and that must have been over 10 years ago so she was also beyond excited although not to the point of running like me. Can you believe i'm going to be 22 in 2 weeks? I can't. 

Disney on halloween was amazing. The decorations were amazing, there were giant pumpkins everywhere, and Disney charm was just basically put into autumn. I'm going to start this post by sharing with you what was super magical and fabulous and what makes me fall in love with Disney all over again everytime I go back. Then I feel I have to open up about what I am noticing to be less magical as I get older and wiser. 

Disney is just kind of other worldly. They manage to create these environments where you suddenly don't feel like you're where you are anymore. They just bring their stories to life and I am ashamed to say that seeing Mickey Mouse in the parade bought actual tears to my eyes (or maybe it was because the sun was bright and I forgot my sunglasses?). I love that at Disneyland you just see so many different kinds of people there, from different backgrounds, styles, age groups, families, couples, friends etc. I saw an old man in a Mickey Mouse 1988 sweater with his ears on basically running to a ride with his wife in tow and I thought that is the kind of man I want my husband to be. They didn't even have kids with them. They were just enjoying the magic of Disneyland. It's also amazing that all of this was started from one little cartoon mouse and one man with a big imagination. I know people often criticise Disney for epitomising Americanisation but I think if it teaches you to dream, and to work hard to achieve those dreams then what's wrong with that? 

Also my sister is often too cool to smile in photos but at Disney even she is beaming from ear to ear, so that can't be a bad thing. 

Disney on Halloween was magical and amazing BUT... and there is a but, because as much as I love Disney there are some things I feel I need to bring to light to be honest about the experience. 

It was super busy. Unsurprisingly, because halloween fell on a Saturday in half term, it was completely packed which meant that the queues for rides were ridiculously long. You can also now only get one fast-track an hour, meaning you have to do more long queues and get to do less rides (boo)

Also, on the Disneyland website they had been advertising a Halloween Soirée on the 31st October from 5pm 'til 1am. A ticket for this cost 40€. We paid 69€ for tickets to go to the park all day, thinking this meant we could stay until 1am. We were rather shocked when at 7pm, not possessing the special evenings tickets and hence the stupid orange wristbands we could not go anywhere in the Disney park but the exit. We couldn't even go into the gift shops on the way out, they had staff guarding all the doors! Whilst I understand this means they can have twice as many paying customers on the day this was SO frustrating for us who had to cut short out time at Disney having paid almost twice as much as those people who arrived for just the evening. Staff were so unsympathetic when I tried to explain that it had not been at all clear on their website that a separate ticket was needed for the evening and I do plan to write a proper complaint email to Disney about the whole shambles of a system. 

It didn't ruin the magic of the day though although I am not sure I would rush to go on a special day again because Disney is magical whatever day of the year!

​This week I had my lovely littlest sister here visiting me. It was her half term week (unfortunately the week after mine) and I had quite a busy week at uni so she did a lot of entertaining herself but it was still so nice having her here. 
On Thursday I had an interview with a digital communications agency (will do a post on my search for internships soon) near Versailles so I decided it would be a great opportunity to visit the Chateau. I have been to the gardens before but never into the palace and I have always wanted so that I can see the splendour for itself. 

Versailles is just so imposing when you approach it. The gates are so gold that they don't even look like they are real. I still don't know if they are actually real gold (?) It's great because if you're under 26 and an EU citizen then entry is free which I think is an amazing way to get young people seeing art and culture and it's obviously great for me as a student on a budget. (I'm sorry that this photo is ever so slightly not straight, I wasn't quite on centre and it's really annoying)

The architecture of Versailles is amazing. Everything is so luxurious and splendid and extravagant and oh the symmetry..! There is not enough symmetry in modern buildings. I know that sounds stupid but I just think when you can look directly down the middle or up at something it's so impressive that they were able to build it so precisely and perfectly without any technology or machinery. Modern day building all have flat ceilings and flat walls (probably a huge generalisation) and they just don't have all this intricate detailing and lines that you find in older architecture. 

Versailles is so ridiculously gold and luxe that you can understand why the starving people of 1700s France got a bit wound up and decided to overthrow the monarchy. That said, it makes for great viewing for tourists of the 2010s so I am grateful to the people of France for having suffered so that I can filter the life out my photos and exploit their instapotential using hashtags like #luxe #architecture #interior to get to more than 12 likes. 

Having been inside of Versailles, I am even more glad that they didn't let Kim Kardashian and Kanye West get married there. It has enough history of its own and it would have ceased to be the palace of France if they had married there and would have become 'the place where Kim and Kanye got married'. Although it would be a stunning wedding venue so I can't blame Kim for wanting to get married there. 

The gardens are just as stunning as the Chateau, to be honest. I think they look nicer in the summer because all the flowers are out but the trees are all gorgeous red-heads at the moment so that was equally beautiful. I don't remember appreciating the colours of autumn as much as this last year but this year every time I go outside I'm like 'wow I want to instagram that tree'. See here for the Tuileries in Autumn. The one problem with instagramming autumn photos is knowing whether to #autumn or #fall. You have to be considering the american audience but then also considering the time difference. So for example if you #fall in the morning, Americans will be asleep and you won't get 12 likes. It's a real art. (I'm sure my sister who somehow gets at least 70 likes on each post with no hashtags is laughing/cringing at me right now). 

There is even symmetry in literally the entire grounds of Versailles. Stunning. They must have some seriously great gardeners. 

It was actually quite nice to escape Paris for a day. I recently decided I really quite fancy a trip outside of Paris to a random provincial town. Paris is beautiful but its also nice to see some large open spaces and some air. I plan to go to Bois de Boulogne Park this weekend to take advantage of some open space and the beauty of autumn before all the leaves disappear. 

On Sunday morning we attended mass at Notre Dame. Well actually we happened to be in Notre Dame when mass was happening on Sunday. I am not really religious but I have to say the priest's voice was very soothing and now that I have sent off my Chanel internship application I am regretting not having made more of an effort to connect with Jesus. 

We waited until it was dark and the Eiffel Tower lights were on and sparkling, because this is absolutely magical and cannot be missed if you are visiting Paris. The video I filmed of this is below. It was a perfect end to this gorgeous weather which has now turned into grey drizzle.