The last leg and the trip home

Hello from England!


Friday March 23rd

All-you-can-eat breakfast at our hotel, which was great because it came with entertainment too: a rugby team. They were older teenagers of formidable size & appetite, in various states of black-eyes and bruises.

Close to our hotel live the parents (Peter and Mary) of one of Ted's good friends (Ben), so we wanted to say hello. To our delight, not only did they insist on coming to pick us up, but they had us over for tea. They live in a cute brick home that backs onto a large field and countryside. They also keep a lovely garden and a couple of chickens, named Boss and Heather. They brought them out of the coop and showed us how tame they were. I got to pet them and even hold Heather! Loved it, haha. They very generously offered to drive us to the airport tomorrow and feed us some fish n' chips before we go!

After our visit with them, we headed to the train to meet up with another couple of Ted's friends, Russ & Rachel. Russ drove us to Old Trafford, so that I could see where Manchester United plays. This was quite the sacrifice for him as he is a rather devout Leeds fan. He and Ted were trading gibes the whole time we were in the car. :)

Russ and Rachel drove us into downtown Manchester and took us around the city. So gracious they were, in fact, that they arranged for us to see the Queen! It's true, the Queen was in Manchester and was drawing quite the crowd. By the time we figured out what was going on, there she was, driving past us with her royal wave on display. Tee hee! I saw the Queen!

Manchester has a lot of character and the buildings seem to be a mix of modern/contemporary, and traditional/historical. Really, who can ask for more than that? We walked about town, took in some street markets, buskers, performances, and of course stopped into a few coffee shops and pubs. A little later we met up with some more friends of Russ & Rachel's and headed to dinner.

The place they chose was East is East and it was an excellent Indian restaurant. Upstairs it was quite posh, more like a lounge or a bar. Downstairs was a full-sized restaurant. The menu was huge, I think there was a hundred items on it. We started with some large flat crisps and a variety of dips, naan, samosas... And then I ordered some tiger prawns in some kind of tomato cream sauce (mild of course). It was delicious and a welcome change from what we had been eating on this two-week excursion.

Russ and Rachel graciously took us back to our hotel and we settled in for the night. Tomorrow, a real English football (soccer) game!


Saturday March 24th

Breakfast at the hotel and then some extensive packing since we'd be checking our luggage that evening. Once we were done, Peter and Mary picked us up and surprised us by giving us a little tour of Horwich, Chorley, and more of the countryside. It was a beautiful day, and according to them, most unusual for this time of year.

We came back to the Reebok Stadium in Bolton to watch an English Premier League football match between the Bolton Wanderers and the Blackburn Rovers. It's quite the experience! Ted is a fan of ManU, but there were not ManU games scheduled this weekend. However, Ted enjoys a great game of football and a great game it was. It started with both teams paying homage to a player on the Bolton team who had had a heart attack a few days earlier. It was pretty exciting, although I asked Ted a zillion questions and we had to be careful what we said since we were sitting in the Bolton fan zone. Cheering, chanting, singing... It was a fun time.

After the game, we walked back to Peter and Mary's, and I visited the chickens straightaway. They were proud to present me with the 2 eggs they had laid. :) We had one more good visit over the fish & chips, and off we went to the airport. Our flight was a short one, only to London, where we would crash for the night before our long flight home in the morning.

We had booked this one night at easyHotel, which is kind of like inserting yourself into a bento box. It's very cheap, and I think it's a great option for people who only need a bed to crash in for a few hours. Ted wanted to stay in the airport all night, but I was not a fan of the idea. So, easyHotel it was. Tiny, tiny room. No windows. Tiny, tiny bathroom. No free TV. No extra towels. If you stay more than one night (and why would you?) they don't clean your room until you leave. I thought it was a great idea, for a few hours. Ted, not so much. Maybe our awesome hotels in France spoiled him. Orrrrrr maybe it was the two ants he saw on the floor. Anyways, we inspected it (especially the bed), and it was clean. Coupla ants didn't phase ME. Still, it was good to get outta there.


Sunday March 25th

Early rise this morning. Private car hire to Heathrow. Breakfast at the airport. Air Canada seemingly not on strike. Long flight. We flew over Stanley Park and Downtown Vancouver, and over SFU and I could see our place from the little airplane window. A grin stretched ear-to-ear for the whole way down. Home, sweet home!

Cheers,
E!

The Trying Train Travel Tour

Hello from Britain!


Thursday March 22nd

Today is our big travel day. We have to wake up at 7:30am (the earliest we've done so far on this trip!) and make our way to the train station. Our train leaves Biarritz just before 10:00am and we will arrive at our hotel in Northern England (Horwich, to be specific) at around 11:00pm. It will be a long day.

A few random observations as we get ready to leave France...
- I've seen several people wearing berets. Very cute!
- We almost ate at the "Steack" house near to our hotel but Ted said he couldn't do it on grounds of poor spelling.
- Automated stores: kind of like a huuuuge vending machine that looks like a store window on one side and an ATM on the other.
- Every French city we've been to has a carousel somewhere in it. Not a whole carnival, just the carousel.
- Each elevator has its own call button. There might be 4 elevators, but you call them individually.
- At restaurants, nobody comes by mid-meal to check on you. And they don't bring the bill unless you ask for it. I'm guessing the French might find our system at home kind of rude?
- Pelote Basque! Also known as Jai Alai. Why didn't I know about this sport? There are courts everywhere. Alain explained it to us. Emily's dad played professionally. Ted says it was featured in the opening credits of Miami Vice. Where have I been, under a rock?

Saw my first purse dog at the Biarritz train station. Wretched little thing yapped at every passerby, and according to Ted, bit her owner in a frenzy of madness. I have oohed and ahhed over lots of dogs on this trip, but not that one.

In Bordeaux, a bunch of police got on the train, looking for... we don't know what. But it did lead me to a bunch of bad jokes about the BoDoPoPo. The train ride from Biarritz to Paris was about 6 hours, and then we needed to change train stations from Paris Monparnasse to Paris Nord - not far across the city, but far enough. We had 2 hours to do it, or so we thought.

Our train was rather long and crowded, as everybody and their dog (quite literally) seemed to be going to Paris. When we got off the train (which had arrived in Paris 20 minutes late), we needed to walk the length of it back to the main part of the station, amidst all of the trembling smokers who immediately lit up after exiting the coach. Sheesh. While waiting at the taxi stand, I noticed a huge pile of cigarette butts on the ground too. Ok Paris, you seem to have combatted dog poop, now can you start dealing with people throwing their disgusting-habit-trash on the ground?

Our driver took us through the stop-and-go rush hour traffic as quickly as one could go, but when we arrived at the station it was only 30 minutes before our next train left. We still had to fill out our landing cards, go through France customs, go through English customs, and go through security. Oh wait... What's this? Our train is leaving 15 minutes EARLY?? What the...! What a nightmare. We were running through the station and didn't have time to stop and tell the attendant who said "we cannot guarantee that you will make the train" that it certainly isn't fair to sell a non-refundable ticket and then move the train time up without any reasonable notice. Not that more notice would have helped us anyways, we got from A to B as fast as we could have.

Anyways, we did make it on the train, with 2 minutes to spare. Unfortunately some girls had taken our seats and we had to wait for them to vacate before we could sit down. All was sorted out though. At some point Ted reminded me that because England and France are different time zones, the train ride was actually 2 hours instead of the 1 that our ticket seemed to indicate. So all in all, it will be a 14 hour travel day. And so far, no dinner...

When we arrived in London, we needed to walk a couple of blocks from the London St. Pancras station to the London Euston station. Once we got there, we needed to retrieve our tickets at a kiosk, but we only had a 10 digit code and they were asking for a 8 digit code (of course). Worse, the main office's computer was down, so they directed us to the general ticket area, which of course had a long line.

Anyways, we got our tickets with time to spare, I managed to grab some snacks from the Marks & Spencer at the station, and we headed down to the platform in anticipation of this 2 hour leg of our journey. We got on the train. People were in our seats. Of course. Then an announcement came on that said all of the reserved seating was messed up. So Ted and I spent our 2+ hour train ride standing in the alcove beside the toilet!! Ted did his best to calm me but I was choked. And tired. And hungry, but I didn't feel much like eating with people going to and from the restroom mere inches away. Sigh.

It was fine, though. We got to Manchester, took another train to Bolton and then another train to Horwich Parkway. By then it was 11pm. The hotel was directly outside the train station and was a welcome sight!

Tomorrow, we explore Manchester! Almost time to come home!
E!

La Belle France

Bonjour from La Belle France!


Tuesday March 20th

This morning we had breakfast at our hotel before heading out into town. I wanted to check out the Tourism Centre in case they had any information about something we might miss. We then proceeded to walk around town, discovering the Chapelle Imperiale, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Hôtel du Palais, which Napoleon had built for his wife, and then we sat a while at La Grande Plage (the Grand Beach).

Surfing is very popular here. I believe, in fact, that Biarritz is the surfing capital of France. So it wasn't too surprising to see people running down the street in wetsuits, with surfboards. We watched them warm up and then dive in to take on the waves. I imagine in summer, La Grande Plage is packed with people. It was a little cold for sunbathing, and so there were only the surfers, spectators and the odd person sleeping on the beach. Still beautiful, though.

We walked along the promenade that follows the water's edge, stopping at every viewpoint. Sure is lovely here! I know that we were supposed to watch out for dog poop on the streets, but there wasn't much at all, even in Paris. People have dogs all over the place, and although I never saw anyone picking up their dog's business, I also did not see much on the ground.

Towards the end of our promenade, we stopped at the Virgin on the Rocks which is a statue built by some fisherman some time ago. Apparently they prayed to Mary when caught in a terrible storm and promised to build something to honour her if she helped them to survive. Right behind was the Museé de la Mer, which was partly a museum and partly an aquarium.

The highlight of the Museé de la Mer was watching the seals outside. There were 4 adult seals and 1 baby. They are so funny to watch! They are like really fat dogs. While we were watching them, a school group came in and a zillion small children rushed at the fences, screaming and laughing and fighting over each other to see. Thus, our time at the Museé was at an end. :)

On our way back to our hotel, we stopped at a Chocolatier that was right next door. Oh, happy day! So many treats there, our mouths were salivating. Ted chose an "écureuil" which means squirrel, but we can assure you it was allll chocolate. I chose a petit caramel avec sel, and a pastry with apricots and pistachios. YUM!

Tonight we are having dinner at Los Dos Hermanos (The Two Brothers), which was recommended to us by Alain & Sylvie. I think Alain was mortified that I had declared the Niçoise Salade to be my best meal so far, and wanted to introduce us to some true Basque cuisine. He made us the reservation, arranged a tour of the kitchen, and said that we would be treated "as true friends" and "like king and queen." We could hardly say no to that!

This week, many restaurants in Biarritz are doing a "menu" which is exactly like dine-out Vancouver. For €29, you get a choice of appetizer, main dish, and dessert. LDH was participating, so Ted and I ordered the "menu" and made sure to choose all different things so that we could share everything.

We started with squid, roasted red peppers, garlic sardines, potato pie, chorizo, sausage and Serrano ham. We ate it all, it was so delicious! Then we shared the main dishes: Spanish-style Hake (fish), T-Bone steak, scalloped potatoes, roasted peppers and a kind of zucchini quiche. So. Good. And don't forget the wine and sangria! For dessert we had small tastings of chocolate mousse, creme brûlée, some kind of muffin, ewe cheese with cherry jam & walnuts, tea and coffee. OMG. I was in heaven! The only thing we still needed was a wheelbarrow.

At the end of our meal, the owner took us into the kitchen for a tour and a look at the "plancha," which we gathered to mean the flat grill. We saw the storeroom and talked about where all the food comes from and the Basque-style of cooking.

Turns out the owner (one of the 2 brothers), before getting into the restaurant business, was a French National ice hockey player! He is friends with Christobal Huet, who used to be in the NHL. Cool, eh? He knew all about the Canucks and the Sedins, and used some colourful language when talking about Ovechkin. It was pretty funny. He then brought us to the bar and despite our protestations, had us doing some shots. He told us that Alain was an extremely intelligent man, and used to be quite the big-wig in the journalism world before he decided to freelance. Then he gave Ted a little football, kissed us both on both cheeks (me a little more vigorously), and said goodbye. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and a highlight of the trip!


Wednesday March 21st

Today we are checking out of our hotel. Due to a couple of mistakes back home, we had one extra night in Biarritz and had decided to treat ourselves to a fancier hotel for our last night in France.

Before heading to our new hotel though, we had booked a Market Tour with a company called Biarritz By Locals. They offered a number of tours, all done in English, and they had been rated pretty highly so we were looking forward to it. We met with Emily, our guide, in front of a church that was right beside the Halles Market. It was much like Granville Island market in Vancouver, albeit smaller.

Emily grew up in France but with an American mother, so she spoke near-perfect English. That was nice for me, since even though I often get the gist of Ted's conversations, I usually ask him to translate them for me. Since we left Paris, less people speak English and so Ted's been earning his keep. ;)

We started in the fish market with some fresh shrimp, sea snail and langoustine. I tried it all. I even tried an oyster, which I knew I wouldn't like. But, I wanted to try everything. Garlic aioli and white wine helped. This was a gourmet market tour! Then we went to a stand that specialized in duck, where we had some pâté - fois gras. Tried it, didn't like it. Ted liked it quite a bit, although he found that it upset his stomach later because it was so rich. Then we had Bayonne ham (similar but different from Serrano ham), saucisson (pig stomach), chorizo and sausage. All accompanied by more ewe cheese. Emily says France is not big on crackers.

While we snacked on this last petite feast, we discussed wines with a local wine shop owner. The first wine we tried was a Bordeaux, 90% merlot, unoaked and kept in metal vats before bottling. We liked it. It was an "easy" everyday wine. The second wine was from Spain, also a red wine. Ted liked both of them equally. We can't remember the names of either of them. Maybe we had had too much wine by that point. :P I must have, because I remember asking if the shop owner had any wines with dogs on the labels...

Our last stop on the tour was to the coffee shop that was run by Emily and her Mom. We relaxed with our hot drinks, and digested all the crazy food we'd just tried! We agree that the Market Tour was a definite highlight. Not just because of eating food, either. Emily was a wealth of information and we learned a lot about the local culture. We asked a ton of questions, and was never disappointed. Highly recommended.

Then we were off to our new hotel. It was located at the edge of town by the beach and the lighthouse. I remember booking a room with an ocean view, but apparently we actually booked the Superior Suite with an Ocean View, which is their best room. The suite was huge. Pretty much the size of our apartment back home. And the sunset and the sunrise from our patio was excellent. Given that we kind of booked this by accident, we made the most of it, but our previous Biarritz hotel was very very good and we could have easily stayed there an extra night. Ah well. I'm not a ritz & glitz type of person really... All the excess in the world sometimes gets to me. I prefer a little more modesty, manners and humility. Anyways, we enjoyed our one night living the high life!

Ted went shopping and I didn't really feel like venturing out in the rain, which had just started. So I booked myself a pedicure. What was that about humility and modesty? Hehe. It was a treat. When I arrived at the spa, they brought me into a room for my pedicure. They didn't speak much English at all, so I was on my own. Turns out I had booked a "medical pedicure." Umm... not really sure what that is, but the lady seemed to think that I didn't need it. She said I had "beautiful feet" and arranged for me to have a specialist come in to paint my toes. Talk about excess! Anyways, I had it done and off I went, trying not to think about €.

For our last dinner in France, we wanted some more Basque food given that we loved everything we'd eaten last night. We were told to try Tantina de Burgos, a short taxi ride away. They were also doing the special "menu" so we did the same thing and shared all the food. It was similar stuff to what we'd had at Los Dos Hermanos, some of which Ted thought was even better. I myself preferred LDH. We had grilled squid, stronger sangria and chocolate cake. Steak, potatoes, fish, roasted peppers... it was great. Another hit!

Back to our crazy hotel. Early-to-bed for a long day ahead tomorrow!

Bon soirée,
E!

J'adore le France!

Allô mes amies!


Sunday March 18th

We are sad to leave Bordeaux but it had to happen sometime. We checked out of our hotel and walked over to the tram stop. A few minutes later, we were back at the train station. While we waited for our platform to be determined, we had a snack at the coffee shop, where I helped a struggling customer translate their request to the barista. So proud of myself! I can do it without Ted! Okay, now, back to speaking English and relying on Ted. :)

One cool thing about the train platform is that there's a little digital display showing you where to stand for which coach car you are in. Trés helpful! It may have been there in Paris but I didn't notice it - I was probably too stressed to notice anything. Another thing we noticed on this train ride is that people are allowed to bring their dogs and cats onboard. Cats in a carrier, of course.

When we arrived at our hotel in Biarritz, we were pleased to be offered a free upgrade with a garden & ocean view. Our room is also very pink. ;) We spent a little time arranging tomorrow's plans with my friends Alain & Sylvie, who live in the adjoining town, Anglet. They are generously driving us to La Rhune, which is a place where you catch a train to the top of a mountain for some fabulous views.

The weather went downhill. Windy and heavily raining. We hadn't had dinner yet though, and there was no restaurant in our hotel. We had to wait a bit since the dinner hour in France starts around 7pm. So, we ventured out and found a place down the street. It was like running around in a monsoon. My nicely-kept hairdo was... hmm. You can imagine.

Restaurants here are pretty much closed on Sundays so we had to take what we could get. Anyways, it was an Italian-type place. We've noticed that at restaurants, they always bring a bottle of tap water to the table. The salad is basically just leaves of some kinda type, and it always has the same dressing, no choices. I ordered a Schweppes, thinking it was ginger ale, but it was "Indian Tonic." Heh.

We reflected on the best parts of the trip so far (the Louvre, the Museé d'Orsay, and sitting outside in the square in Bordeaux), and talked about the likelihood of an Air Canada strike delaying our flight home on the 24th (any news on that?).


Monday March 19th

This morning we had breakfast at our hotel - the one meal that they do. When asking for "un peu du lait" (a little milk), the woman corrected me and said I should ask for "nuage du lait" (a cloud of milk). Cute! Then we prepared for our trip to La Rhune.

Alain & Sylvie picked us up in their little white car and we headed off towards the Pyrenees. Alain wanted to practice his English so we spent much time chatting and talking about France and politics, and we asked lots of questions about living here. Sylvie deftly navigated the narrow roads and one-way streets as we headed out of town. We drove through the beautiful Basque countryside. The green fields and red & white houses were beautiful. The Basque country is so different than everything else we've seen so far.

After about 30 minutes, we arrived at La Rhune, and we bought tickets for the next Petit Train, which was leaving in about 25 minutes. The train was a "geared Pullman car," whatever that means. Entirely mechanical and very cute. Open air, with cloth drapes you could tie together, although everyone left them open to enjoy the spectacular views. However, open air and high altitude and moving train = coooooooold. We knew it would be, but by the end of the trek, I had wrapped my scarf around my head, pulled Ted's toque on over top, and also my hat. Then the hood on my jacket, too.

The best views ended up being on the train ride up, because at the top it was all fog. Too bad, because Alain insisted that it would have been gorgeous. We only had a few minutes at the summit because it turns out our train would be the last one due to how cold it was!! The ride down wasn't nearly as cold and was exceptionally lovely.

After we left La Rhune, Alain & Sylvie drove us down the coast and we visited St. Jean de Luz, a splendid little town. We went out to the old fort by the water and took photos of the hillside and the harbour. Alain encouraged us to come back here if we have time since there is a direct bus from Biarritz.


Before parting from our new friends, they brought us to one of the viewpoints in Biarritz. On the way there, we got pulled over by traffic police for a minor infraction but to everyone's relief they let Sylvie go with a warning. Our excursion at an end, we were brought back to the hotel and said goodbye with the very French double-kiss on the cheeks. :)

Tonight we had dinner at Le Royale and I enjoyed a very good Niçoise salad-yay! No raining on us today. The forecast here seems to change by the minute and Alain says it is frequently characterized by "giboulées" but I hope the rain holds off. I didn't really bring enough clothes for cold weather though, sunny or otherwise, so I may have to do some shopping!

Cheers,
E!

Beautiful Bordeaux

Bonjour!


Thurs Mar 15th

Today, we leave Paris. We packed up our things and took a taxi to the train station. At first I scoffed at Ted's insistence that we go almost an hour ahead of our train, but it turns out he was right. It was a zoo in there, and we had no idea where to go. When we bought our tickets online at home, it said we needed to find a kiosk to get our train tickets printed. This was in addition to the rail pass that they had UPS-d me already.

Every kiosk that we tried didn't work. There were people everywhere and time was ticking by. We had left the hotel without eating, and for me, that equals an irritable, anxious, stressed individual who kinda wanted to kick people. Don't worry, Ted had me under control. He found where we were supposed to go, got me some food and we got on the train with no problems. It wasn't the first time I was extremely grateful that he could speak French.

The train ride was pleasant, actually. I'm glad we did trains instead of renting a car. Especially when we saw the plethora of extra-narrow one-way streets in Bordeaux. Anyways, when we got off the train, a blast of summer hit us and I almost got sunburned waiting at the taxi stand. We relaxed at the hotel for a bit, and then headed out to find some eats. Found an Italian place in the middle of a square, and happily ate outside. Rich, rich pasta and cheesy bruschetta. We couldn't even finish it.

Back to our hotel for an early night's sleep, or so I thought. Turns out our hotel (which we really, really like) was located right in the middle of all the action. At the time of booking that seemed to be ideal, but all the drunkards outside our window kept me up until easily 3am. Seriously, who is drumming and screaming at 3am??


Friday March 16th

Lazy start today, which I relished. We just wanted to walk around town and see beautiful Bordeaux. And beautiful it is! I am so pleasantly surprised by this city. It's definitely got a "downtown" kind of feel, but you are surrounded by old buildings and cobblestone streets and history. It's not as impersonal as Paris. I think I even like it better. It was cooler today, which was nice.

Something that we've noticed that is common in France is bicycles for rent. They have little stations, and you just go pay to unlock a bike, and then ride it around and return it to any bike station. Very cool.

Also, café life is HUGE in France. Almost all restaurants have outdoor seating and everybody sits facing the street. My Top 10 Paris book described it as a sport, called "posing," that is mostly popular with young people. :P

After opting for a picnic lunch, Ted and I happened upon an art gallery as we wandered around town. All local, independent artists. It was really cool stuff, and I even got the name and email address for one of the artists in case he was selling anything online.

We also found our way to the Tourist Info office, and booked ourselves a morning city tour and a half-day afternoon wine tour to the Medoc region, for tomorrow. :)

We then headed to the Jean Moulin Centre where there was a free showing. It was particularly heavy: an account of the Holocaust and the French Resistance during WWII. There was hundreds of real photographs, depicting all sortsa horrors. Tried not to dwell on it too long, and focused on feeling very lucky for all I have in my life!

The main strip here is Rue Saint Catherine, which is right beside our hotel. It runs for about 2km, and stores line each side all the way. Super trendy shops everywhere. Reminds me of Robson Street, except it's all pedestrian access only (which I love), and it's got the old feel to it (which I also love). Towards one end of the street, the clientele gets a little rougher. And there are beggars, most with cats or dogs. Lots of gypsies around too.

Ted and I have noticed that we do not see overweight people very much at all. Wonder why?

Quiet night in, ordered pizza from room service and relaxed. Did I mention that we had our room changed? It doesn't face the busy street anymore and is wayyy quieter. Trés bien!


Saturday March 17th

Breakfast at the hotel. Then our city bus tour! Unfortunately although there were about 50 people on our tour, only a few of us spoke English so I felt that we got the short end of the stick. The guide would say like 200 words in French, and then "translate" it into about 50 words of English. I think we missed out on some details. Ted says that she translated everything perfectly, but I'm skeptical.

We got to see a lot of Bordeaux's architecture, which dates back several hundred years, including areas of the city that were only for foreigners. We also saw a Nazi submarine base that was made out of concrete and apparently a few different countries tried to unsuccessfully bomb it, so they kept it and turned it into a modern art gallery. Go figure.

Once the city tour was done, we got a couple of baguette sandwiches and sat on the steps to the Grand Theatre to eat. We also tried something that is called a Canelé, which looks like a small muffin but is basically a Creme Brûlée in muffin form. Good, if you like that sort of thing. It is a specialty in Bordeaux!

Then we were off again on our half-day wine tour. Our guide spoke much more English this time because it was about 50/50 now. Ted didn't like her from the start and I think it's safe to say that many people didn't like her by the end. She was a little kooky. After her 3 glasses of wine, she took us all captive on the way back to town, ranting about the decline of French wine culture. Blaming young people (because they don't drink wine, they prefer rum & coke, which is "just dangerous"), blaming the English, blaming Northern Europeans... Oh and she's never been drunk (yeah right, how about right now, lady?), and you don't become an alcoholic from drinking wine, etc. etc. The Americans in the back were heckling her loudly and rudely (they were drunk too). Ted and I were Switzerland.

Despite the return-trip entertainment, we quite enjoyed the wine tour. One place in particular was fantastic and we learned quite a lot as well as had some great tastings. Wouldn't it be great to live here!

Back at the hotel we had a bit of a break before dinner. Ted picked us a nice place called L'Ombriere and I managed to order my first real salad on the whole trip. I've really been missing vegetables over here. It seems that every restaurant has the same menu items, and none of them are veggie-based. Lots of ham, cheese, snails, gizzards, pâté, duck, seafood... I wonder if there are any French vegetarians? Ted ordered a rib-eye steak that was so large it was as big as his head and attracted attention from the other customers. He gave it a good go, too, but we also had dessert coming to us. Bona fide French mousse au chocolat for me, and gateau de chocolat for Ted. Yum.

Back to the hotel. It's starting to rain. Uh oh.

Cheers! Hope all is well at home.
E!

Crossing items off the bucket list!

Bonjours mes amis!


Tuesday March 13th

This morning we left the hotel in search of breakfast and stumbled upon what I'd like to think of as the best street in Paris! Rue Cler is absolutely gorgeous and straight out of a movie. Little grocers, bakers, butchers, cafés, florists, all lining a cobblestone alley. Beautiful. We took our meal at Café Central and enjoyed some true ambiance.

The ambiance included a man talking to a paper bag, and a woman selling chocolates out of her pocket. Very interesting people-watching! But it was excellent, really. So nice. We'll definitely go back.

Our first stop of the day was to Hotel Invalides, which is quite an impressive structure. Not only does it house Napoleon's tomb (le wow), but it is also home to several museums. We spent time in the WWI and WWII museum, which was formidable, if a tad dark. Once we got outside, Ted shushed me when I questioned some of France's actions during the war, because apparently it's a touchy subject over here. On the other hand, Ted can get away with referring to someone's countenance as looking like "two cats in a sack fighting over a ham" and that's seemingly fine. :P

Then we headed to the Musee d'Orsay, which was rather amazing if you like museums and art. Lots of Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh, etc. Somehow it's quite the experience to see these things with your own eyes. Although I'd classify myself as someone who is more enthralled by architecture than art, I couldn't help but be taken in by it all.

Lunch at the museum - my first bona fide Croc Monsieur, which is like a grilled cheese with ham in it. Oh, and with more cheese on top. Delicious.

We walked back to our hotel and got ready for our jaunt to the Eiffel Tower. We bought our tickets online yesterday which turned out to be genius, because when we got there, there was a ridiculously long queue. We bypassed it all, and headed straight to the top to catch the last of the sunset. The view at dusk is lovely. A bucket list item completed - the top of the Eiffel Tower!

The day was beautiful and wonderful, but we have more to do tomorrow!


Wednesday March 14th

This morning, you guessed it, we headed back to Rue Cler. This time we ate at La Roussille, where we enjoyed an "American" breakfast and free wi-fi - yay! Then we headed to the Metro and got off at the next bucket list item - The Louvre. Ted and I did the "divide & conquer" routine which was a smart move since we wanted to see different things. Le W.O.W. Was I impressed yesterday? Holy crow. The Louvre is mind-boggling. I saw:

The Horses of Marly by Coustou
The medieval moat underneath the Louvre
St. Mary Magdalene by Erhart
Code of Hammurabi
Colossal Statue of Ramesses II
Venus de Milo
Psyche and Cupid by Canova
Captive (The Dying Slave) by Michelangelo
The Mona Lisa by Da Vinci
The Wedding Feast at Cana
The Winged Victory of Samothrace
Napoleon III's apartments
... but by far, my favourite was The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche, completed in 1833. Look it up. It's breathtaking. So is her story.

And after that, we were off - more to do today! We headed to Sainte Chappelle, and although we weren't really sure what to expect there (it was a recommendation in my Top 10 Paris book), we were pleasantly surprised. The most amazing interior with sky-high stained glass windows on every wall. I'm sure that my photos won't do it justice. Loved it.

Then, just down the street, Notre Dame. Awesome, yes, but I don't know how much more can impress me at this point. The building itself is so unique. Love the outside more than the inside. Right next door, we also headed to the underground crypts. Not skulls and tombs, though, more like excavated passages and roads. It was okay.

Then to the Pantheon. We didn't go in, but instead took it all in from the outside. Then down the road to our last daylight stop, the Gardens of Luxembourg. A huge outdoor park with much gravel and trees, not so much grass. But many, many people lounging in chairs. We took our mid-day meal here - this time, a ham, cheese and tomato sandwich. Way to mix it up!

Metro back to our hotel. Relax. Dinner at La Mariette, our first real French, French-food. A tiny little place with seating for about 18 people. Very nice, a little fancy. The food was delectable, although mine had fois gras in it (goose liver) which I did not like. I think I am maybe not fancy enough for the Fancy French food. :P Ted made fast friends with the chef and our server, telling them stories about our chef-friend Saddler and the weather back home. I can get the gist, but I am mostly not comfortable jumping in.

Tonight, we get ready to leave Paris. Tomorrow we are off to Bordeaux!

À bientôt,
E!

Nous arrivons en France

Allo!

Ted and I have arrived successfully in Paris. Our flight to Chicago was without incident, although some guy sitting in front of us was teacher-bashing and Ted was trying to keep me from crawling over the seat or otherwise throw something in his general direction. :) We had a 6 hour layover in the Chicago airport, the highlight of which was seeing Juliana Marguiles. We ate lunch, tried to sleep and then tried to come to terms with the fact that our next flight would be filled with a bunch of American teenagers on a school trip. :P


Mon Mar 12th

Once we de-planed, we headed to the baggage carousel where Ted tried to steal a sitar-player's luggage. We swore that it looked just like ours, but not sure he believed us. Taxi to the hotel, wherein Ted insisted he only knew "un peu" French, but I was only able to catch a word here and there. The driver, on the other hand, spoke way too fast for me. He laughed when I asked Ted how to say "Wow" in French. Apparently, it's "Wow."

Our hotel is small and old but cheap for Paris. I'll have to take a photo of the in-room hair-dryer for you. It's quite hysterical. We napped for 4 hours (we only meant 1.5) and then went for drinks at Les Cocottes de Constant, a bar recommended in my Top 10 Paris book. Then we walked to the Eiffel Tower (wow!) and surrounding area. Love it. The streets are old and everything so ornate. History is everywhere.


Unfortunately, so are cigarettes. I thought maybe the Parisians had smartened up since I last visited in 2001, but alas. Stinky smoke everywhere. Butts all over the ground. Blech. Ted says it's actually better than he expected, so it must have been REALLY bad back in 91 or whenever it was that he was last here. Come ON people!

We ate dinner at La Tourville, which was good and not so good. Good because no smoking is allowed inside (although everyone outside was lighting up), good because the food was good, rich, and simple. Good because of the people-watching and great company. Bad because my water glass was not clean on the inside. Bad because a mouse ran around under our table. Bad because our server kinda disappeared after a while. Overall, it was... ok.

We've noticed that people immediately start speaking English to us. Especially me, but even Ted says that when they notice his accent, they switch to English right away. Either they don't want to hear us (me) butcher their language, they want to put us (me) out of our misery, or they want to practice their English.

We are so tired now because over the last few days we've had almost no sleep. So tonight, early to bed, and getting ready for new adventures tomorrow!

Cheers,
E!

ps - stupid French keyboards, arghhhh! I cqnt type qnything properly qnd >I hqve to fix ,y mistqkes over qnd over: Sorry qbout the spelling qnd grq,,er;