Adorable

Tom's co-worker asked for a picture of him with a baguette and beret, so we duly complied! In general, we did a horrible job of taking pictures of each other (there's more of me since Tom is the photographer in the family), but c'est la vie.

I am going to continue to update the blog - still have a few more posts to go - but I'll let you know when I post for the last time. Thanks for following along on our travels. It's what we live (and work) for!

Our day in jolly old England

Gare du Nord was about a ten minute walk from our apartment - very nice, especially with no luggage. We took the 6:43 Eurostar, which got us in to London at around 8:00AM (1 hour time difference). Since it was a beautiful day, we decided to do the London Eye, and got tickets for the first flight at 10:00.

Here's the shadow of the Eye in the muddy Thames.
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.A class of students from France was on the pod behind us.
Um...yeah...we didn't eat here.
We did eat at the Masala Zone, which was wonderful.

This was in the section called "street food." Spicy lentils, and this interesting concoction: a puff pastry filled with veggies; there's an opening on top and you fill it to the brim with the spicy liquid in the beaker. and then pop the whole thing in your mouth. Yum and fun!Next we had what was called "thali," which entailed a choice of curry, rice, papadum, and three sides: lentils, okra, and potatoes. All delicious.We had to squeeze in a pub - so many choices. This one did have quality ales, as the signed advertised, and served at the perfect temperature, of course.
The view of Oxford Street from the top level of the double decker bus. Our day passes covered both the Tube and buses and was well worth it. St. Pancras Station, I discovered before we left for the trip, has the longest champagne bar (in the world, I think.) Yes, we purposely got there a little early for our 8:05PM train. What a great idea, and what an utterly sophisticated way to travel.
We also hit The National Gallery TWICE (hey, it's free) and heard a wonderful piano quartet during the lunchtime series at St. James Church (Schubert and Dvorak). It was a great 12 hours in London!

Oops - we're home!

Well, I'm not very good at this blogging stuff, am I? It was hard to make the time when I just wanted to save all my time for PARIS.

Anyway, I'll update it over the weekend with some pictures and thoughts on our last few days.

It was a fabulous trip!

A Very American Weekend in Paris

On Friday, we met Nancy, an expat whom I know from the Slow Travel France Forum. She has lived here for 20 years. It's one of those great stories. She was planning on staying a year and voila! She met her husband here, and they make their home in the Montmartre Quarter. Anyway, she was delightful. She took us to a weekly market nearby, and we chatted for a bit at a cafe. Actually, we are going to see her tonight and get to meet her husband and some friends.

Here's a picture of some beautiful fish at the market.

We ended up buying some sausages and roasted potatoes that we reheated for dinner. At about 12 Euros for s dinner for two, it was delicious AND a bargain.

On Saturday, we went to a place called Hidden Kitchen. This is a private supper club run by a lovely, young, extremely talented couple from Seattle. It's a 10-course meal with 7 wines, and it was amazing. There were 16 of us – all American visitors – and we had a wonderful time. The food was truly out of this world.

Here's just one course, but it seemed to be the favorite of a lot of guests: pan-fried mackerel with glazed fennel barley and preserved lemon chutney.

On Sunday, we went to the Salon of Mr. Jim Haynes, an American who has been having Sunday dinners for over 30 years. Here's a pic that shows the set-up: small apartment (although we were able to spill outside), food cooked by a friend, LOTS of people. Jim is the guy in the lower left corner, gray hair, glasses. He's quite a character! We met travelers like us, expats, and some locals. It was a really fun time.

Virginia may be for lovers, but Paris is for kissers

I organized a kissing "crawl" for us yesterday. I'll wait while you put your finger in your mouth in a gagging motion.....

Done?

OK, well I had a great collection of guidebooks from all over the world when the levee broke. My first "guide" book that started the collection from scratch again was from my friend Denise called, "The Best Places to Kiss in Paris." I vowed to use it. So, I narrowed it down to 16 places, (there were more than 100!) organized them by time of day and location, and off we went. What a great day! We started in the 18th at the "I love you" wall at 8:30AM; went to the 17th to the Square des Batignolles (we had never been - wow! a Paradise in Paris - pics later); then we went to the 2nd to a grand movie theatre called the Rex (we couldn't get in without a ticket so we kissed in the lobby); then to the Pont Marie; then to the Carnavelet Museum - a new one for us - great museum; then to the Quai de la Tournelle; breather for lunch, and back to the Metro Abbesses. We only hit 7!!

Tom says his favorite place was the Pont Marie. Mine was behind the Louis XIV statue at the Carnavelet. Oh yeah, the book also tells you whether you should be discreet at a certain location or just go with it - I mean, this is Paris....

I'm having a hard time keeping up with the pictures, but I will try to post more soon. We're busy!

What do you want to do today?

Lah tee dah - how wonderful to wake up in Paris with no agenda!

Yesterday, we started our day by wandering around our neighborhood. I am loving Montmartre as a base. We walked through the Place du Tertre (not my favorite spot in Paris) which was amazingly uncrowded. I saw an artist hounding a couple - literally following them - to haggle a price for their portrait. Not sure if they succumbed...

Then we wandered into a lovely, sedate-for-Paris church named St. John the Evangelist. We both lit candles for our fathers there. My father will be gone for 10 years this year; Tom's Dad is the hospital with pneumonia. He's getting better, but we are keeping in close touch.

Now what? Let's go to the Orangerie! I hadn't been in about 20 years, and Les Nympheas still took my breath away. We spent nearly 3 hours here - in addition to Monet, there's a wonderful collection of Impressionists.
http://www.musee-orangerie.fr/

Then it was off to find lunch - more like a snack - since it was past 3:00. We found a little sandwich stop off the Boulevard St. Germain - wonderful bread - and sat for awhile, rested our feet, and people-watched. That is one of my favorite activities in Paris.

Time to shop for dinner. What fun! Let's see, we bought vegetables from the produce guy, cheese and butter from the fromagerie, a baguette from the baker, and some lovely veal chops from the butcher. I didn't see herbs at any of the above, so we did have to go to the supermarket. Ah well..

Anyway, I love the kitchen here, I love the stove, I love the pots - we had a great meal last night. After dinner, we went cafe-hopping for a couple drinks - and more people-watching.

Pictures later....

Paris is like an old friend

We had some friends visiting us last weekend whom I have known since I was 15. We've done a good job of keeping in touch over the years, but I always find it amazing that it never seems like any time has passed when I see them. It could have been last year, it could have been yesterday - it's just so comfortable.

That's how Paris feels. There's no awkward, getting reacquainted time. Over the past two days, we have been to a couple places I have never been in Paris (and this is my 11th time here!) and yet, it's all so familiar - the sights, the sounds, the smells, the people - they're all so familiar and so comfortable and I feel so at home here.