Forrest Brown

Yes, I know I live less than an hour away from Disneyland in Anaheim, but I’m still a big enough geek that wanted to go to Disneyland Paris while I was in France.

Lot’s of things are similar to other Disney parks, but there’s enough differences to make it worth checking out. One of the biggest differences was Tomorrow Land. The Paris Tomorrow Land has a cool Jules Verne theme to it and Space Mountain has a pretty wild looping roller-coaster.

Entrance to Main Street USA

Walt Disney Studios Park

I'm the taller one.

Let Go! Let Go!

The attention to detail and maintenance was definitely not as good as the other Disney parks I've been too.

Like some of the other Disney parks, there's a hotel above the entrance to the Disneyland Park.

Le château de la belle au bois dormant (Sleeping Beauty Castle)

Pull!

Disney Village

I only found a couple of hidden Mickeys while I was at Disneyland Paris.

Carrousel

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres is a Latin Rite Catholic cathedral constructed in the French High Gothic style between the years 1193 and 1250 in the town of Chartres, France.

Chartres Cathedral

Vertical panorama of the part of the inside of Chartres Cathedral.

Vertical panorama of one of the entries to Chartres Cathedral.

There's currently a lot of restoration work being done on the Cathedral. Here you can see some of the before and after.

The Cathedral can be seen rising from behind some of the buildings of Chartres.

I was driving around after leaving La Rochelle when I spotted these ruins of a 12th century monastery.

Abbaye des Châteliers

When I was walking around La Rochelle I found a little area with some interesting graffiti.

Since I had to rent a car to get to the Motocross of Nations, I had decided to spend a couple of days after that driving around and seeing some of the French countryside. My first stop was the seaside town of La Rochelle.

Day two the the 2011 Monster Energy Motocross of Nations. Yesterday was the qualifying races to narrow the field of teams down to the 20 top countries. Today is the Main event, which is actually three races (motos) where two riders from each country race in each moto. The combines finishes of all three riders in the three motos is used to determine the overall winning country.

It rained some overnight so the track started off a bit muddy. The weather is a bit wild, it’s switching back and forth between warm and sunny and cold and poring rain. If you don’t like the the current weather, just wait 30 minutes and it’ll change to something completely different.

Lot's of Red While and Blue, but it's from the French Flag.

Chad Reed from Australia get the hotshot in Race 1 (MX1 + MX2). Ryan Dungey is in 5th or 6th place.

Ryan Dungey moves up to 2nd and chases Chad Reed.

The race started in the sun, but about half way through the clouds moved in and the rains started.

Ryan Dungey in the poring rain.

The start of Race 2 (MX2 + Open). Team France's Gautier Paulin gets the hotshot. The two Team USA riders are back in the pack.

Blake Baggett ended up 17th in Race 2.

Ryan Villopoto battles with Ken Roczen from Germany and Jeffrey Herlings from the Netherlands. Villopoto ends up 3rd in Race 2.

Race 3 (MX1 + Open). The sun is shining and Team USA is in the lead. Ryan Dungey in 2nd place.

1st place Ryan Villopoto hits a downhill jump in front of the French crowd. The crowd was going nuts during Race 2 when France was winning, but things have gotten a lot quieter with USA in 1st and 2nd.

Ryan Dungey, 2nd in Race 3 (MX1 + Open).

It's Me!