Photos in order: Getty Images; Nikko Lencek-Inagaki (1); Dennis Hensley (3)
Story by Dennis Hensley
It's April in Paris! My boyfriend John Michael and I just wrapped up part two of our Adventures by Disney "Flavors of France" tour with three days in the City of Lights. Before coming on this trip, I didn't know how the Disney brand would manifest itself. Would there be light parades around every corner? Would Lilo and Stitch be our guides? Turns out our guides were the chipper and capable Andrew and Jamie, who made our journey as fun and painless as possible. I think that's where the Disney magic comes in; they take care of everything.
Our tour of the Louvre was quick but informative. For example, I didn't know that the Mona Lisa had once been stolen. Here's a question: if you steal the Mona Lisa, who do you sell it to? You can't exactly tell people it fell off the back of a truck.
Then we hit the Eiffel Tower, which I had seen before but never been up inside until this trip. It blew me away. I love how audacious and masculine the design is -- it's just cold, hard steel, sticking straight up into the sky.
After our day's adventures, JM and I checked into a charming, gay-owned and reasonably-priced place called Hotel Central Marais. All the gay boys here have short, buzzed hair including the hottie waiter at the burger joint we noshed at, Kofi du Marais. The guys also carry baguettes under their arms, which I'm going to start doing back in Los Angeles. I doubt it will catch on but it's worth a shot. Au revoir for now!
