Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Paris memories


















ANEA visits Paris

Dateline, August 5 , 2005, meeting place Westbahnhof bus parking lot, time 8:00 p.m. As the night begins to unfold almost everybody have secured their baggages and thru the assistance of our 3 business officers, Mar & Loida Fernandez and Dingboy Ortiz we are already seated at our designated seats in the bus. Vice Pres. Rene Nunez leads the group for a short prayer before our bus started the journey to Paris, as the bus rolled the ''autobahn'' (expressway) ANEA gave sandwiches and drinks to our members and guests. Journey going to Paris will take 14 hours (minimum) so after a couple of hours they decided to play some games in order to make this long journey short and entertaining, one of which is the ''Tombola'' (raffle draw), each of the player can buy a raffle ticket which costs only 1 € and the prize that could be won is a free entrance to 'Eurodisney', which if you buy will costs you 41€. ANEA draws 6 winning raffle numbers, Jayson Salvatierra had the biggest LUCK because he won 2 ticket from the 6 numbers raffled, Mar Fernandez and Jun Salvatierra also won one ticket each and two more guests of ANEA won one ticket each , Imelda Sy and Glen Aolin.
After the raffle, it was time to have a break (cigarette and toilet break), so we stopped at a rest station, did some stetchings too, 20 minutes is over time to continue our journey to Paris. This is done every 2-3 hours. ANEA, as always so accomodating, offered guests some red wine("sleeping agent"), to help them get thru the night by, of course its FREE! ANEA always treated their guests well. A film was aslo played... for the night owl!
Morning has broken for us, and this time it's in Germany near the border of France.... time to have a breakfast, and as always it was a heavy breakfast, with rice, "adobo"(always present in Filipino trips), vegetables, boiled eggs, and a lot more... and not to forget some desserts.... ANEA is always "heavily equipt" when it comes to food and drinks (thank GOD). It was shared with everybody of course, not only to the members, even our 2 drivers, Pepi and Alex, who are Austrians tried the Filipino breakfast as well and surely, enjoyed it! And we are back on the road again....
At last, after our long and a little bit tiring journey, we arrived at Disneyland Paris! Voila !!!! It was already 12:30pm. We are all excited...took some souvenir pictures for the group and agreed that we'll all go on our separate ways and will meet after the last show outside. Disneyland is not that big, that's why we always bump with each other once in a while. It was a wonderful experience for all of us, not only for the children, but also for the child inside of us. Last program ended at around 11:45pm. We arrived at our hotel and checked-in at aorund 1:00am.
Call time in the morning is 9:00, buffet breakfast started at 8:30am.
August 7.... itenerary... city tour! And this time we have a German-speaking tour guide,'Eva' who is actually German not an Austrian, showed us the inner beauty of Paris and its famous landmarks, like Arc d' Triumph, Sacre Coeur, Louvre, Notre Dame, Moulin rouge, Invalides, she also showed us some interesting facts/story like this Obelix, a gift from the Egyptians, also the Pont Neuf which is one of the oldest bridge in Paris, and the replica of the Statue of Liberty, friendship gift of the French to the Americans, and our Paris tour was a success and completed by our visit to the EIFFEL TOWER ! ANEA enjoyed the beauty of Paris at the highest peak of this Monstrous metal art which served like a Giant watching over this lovely city. The price is worth it, the scenery is brilliant and for only 10.70 € you can reach the top of The Eiffel tower thru elevators, but if you are sporty and strong-willed and healthy, you can also reach the top using the stairs, and as a group (for a minimum of 20 persons) you will get a special discount, and the most important of all, you don't have to wait long in line. As the night falls, most of us are already exhausted, we headed back to our hotel, with a big smile! Our dinner at the hotel was prepared by the ANEA officers, headed by Miss Myrna Andaya, every family gave their share of 'baon' and it took place in our Presidents hotel room, Mr.Armand Dimacale. It was a hearty 'feast' for everybody! The boys ended our night in Paris with a little drinking session... Red wine and whisky. Next day... call time is 8:00 am Breakfast Buffet at 7:00 am.
Everybody was up and about.... although with a bit of sadness in our hearts to leave the enchanted city of Paris... and ready to head back HOME. In the bus we had again some entertainments... played Bingo... and there's also game for the kids. Lunch was, again done in a small restaurant in Germany and Dinner was in a better and bigger Restaurant in Austria! On our last hours in the bus, we watched Terminator. At around 11:45pm arrived safely in Vienna!!! Although everybody was tired and sleepy they gave their goodbyes and waiting eagerly for the next project of the ANEA! Guests gave their satisfaction and as one of our guest said "don't forget to invite us again on your next trip".
Maybe next year Italy ....
Because of the guests satisfaction, when our President announced the coming ANEA day on September 3, to be held at Pfarre Inzersdorf in 23 Dist., 3 of them already pledged their donation, like trophies, drinks and cash!

P.S.
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